Opening Plenary

Opening Plenary

The opening plenary will seek to answer the main question of the day: “How can we move sustainable land-use financing into the mainstream?” Sustainable land-use investments are still too often considered as risky financial undertakings or perhaps some kind of “niche investment”. It is time to explore some of the options to mainstream sustainable land-use investments in the practices and tools of traditional finance stakeholders. Companies operating in land use (for example, agriculture and forestry) and in the financial sector, as well as governments, need to work together to achieve a transformational shift towards climate smart production models. Indeed, achieving the objectives of the U.N.Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 will be contingent on finding ways to manage agricultural land and forests more sustainably than at present. The opening plenary will discuss the conditions for a paradigm shift leading to the necessary increase of resources flowing towards sustainable land-use projects. The catalyst speakers will spark the energy and positive framing needed for a fruitful day of joint thinking and coordinated action.