Wednesday, September 26, 2018, New York City: Following the second annual Bloomberg Global Business Forum and alongside the 73^rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Second One Planet Summit will be taking place at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

Building a Pipeline of the Next Generation of Scientists to help Africa Adapt to a Changing Climate

At the inaugural One Planet Summit held on December 12, 2017 in Paris, twelve international commitments were made, bringing together thirty coalitions and initiatives based on three key fields of action: Increasing finance for climate change adaptation and resilience; accelerating the transition towards a low carbon economy, and firmly positioning climate challenges at the heart of finance.

Among the thirty initiatives was ‘The One Planet Fellowship,’ a partnership of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), France’s BNP Paribas Foundation and France’s Agropolis Fondation.

The One Planet Fellowship is a $15 million initiative dedicated to supporting research on climate change adaptation. It seeks to build a vibrant, highly connected, and intergenerational network of African and European scientist leaders equipped to lead next-generation research focused on helping Africa’s smallholder farmers adapt to a changing climate.

The impacts of climate change are well known, with the United Nations warning that “climate change is costing communities and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow.” Given the urgency in the need to tackle this challenge, just how much progress has been made since the announcement of the twelve commitments? How can these be scaled out?

The Second One Planet Summit, co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres, President of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim, and United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael R. Bloomberg will account for the implementation of the commitments.

Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, Director, AWARD, will be joining partners at the second One Planet Summit as they build trust and collaboration for ongoing multilateral climate action. More information on the One Planet Fellowship including its implementation is available on its website.