2020 Program

Welcome to the Third edition of the Paris Peace Forum! This introductory moment will be the opportunity for the Forum community and friends to meet again and welcome all new participants online. This very particular edition will indeed allow participants to live an exclusive experience on the event’s interactive platform.

The Finance in Common Summit will stress the crucial role of Public Development Banks in reconciling short-term responses to the crisis with sustainable recovery measures that will have a long-term impact on the planet and societies. By rallying and challenging a new and significant global community with enhanced capacity of action, and by promoting sustained collective action, the Finance in Common Summit seeks to contribute substantially to the success of the UNSG’s “Decade of Action”.

Due to border shutdowns and population lockdown, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the illegal drug market in an unprecedented way, whilst exposing the minor nature of some drug-related offences with the release of tens of thousands of incarcerated people globally. This disruption suggests more availability, more potency, and cheaper substances on the market in the coming months. The panel will explore whether the Covid-19 pandemic brought a new understanding of the interconnectedness between drug policy, public health, and criminal justice; and if drug control reforms are achievable in the foreseeable future.

On 15 April 2020, 18 world leaders called for an urgent debt moratorium and unprecedented health and economic aid package to help the African continent withstand the multiple shocks caused by Covid-19. The call made it clear that “only a global victory that fully includes Africa can bring this pandemic to an end”. The initiative urged for action in four sectors: support to African health systems, research, humanitarian aid, and economy. Seven months later, has the common call for action really made a difference? What could be done now to improve the situation in a tangible way?

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, mayors around the world are leading important efforts to protect their cities, and to build them back, stronger, healthier, greener, and more equitable than before. With the support of organizations such as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (Global Covenant), cities are laying out roadmaps for a strong and sustainable recovery. These roadmaps champion investments in policies and programs that will bolster the economy, protect our planet, and reduce inequities, and call on national governments and central banks for support. With mayors leading the way, there is hope that the pandemic and climate change can be tackled at the same time.

Numerous studies have established a relationship between human interference with nature and transmission of diseases from animals to human. There is therefore growing evidence that the destruction of biodiversity has created the conditions for the spread of new viruses such as Covid-19. Awareness is growing, and new responses are emerging: a new discipline, global health, focuses on the increasingly visible links between the well-being of humans, ecosystems, and other living things. This session will look at crucial issue of nature conservation as well as the investments, and changes in human behavior, in agricultural practices and in the consumption of natural resources required to solve the issue.

The values of sport and the Sustainable Development Goals are universal. This event will present how Public Development Banks (PDBs) can work more closely with the Olympic World to achieve sustainable development by mobilizing actors (Alliance Dioko) for the Dakar 2026 YOG, as part of the legacy of Paris 2024; ii) launching a Sport & Development coalition to promote funding with a high impact on development through sport, and; iii) launching the “Sport en Commun”, a platform for connecting sport and development to initiate and support this coalition.

While the Covid-19 pandemic affected all people, it did not affect them all in the same way. For vulnerable populations such as refugees, those trapped in conflict zones, disaster victims or women in precarious conditions, access to basic health services, adequate shelter, and education infrastructure, which was difficult before the virus, became even harder. Local and international actors have put in place humanitarian aid emergency plans to avoid starvation and prevent the spread of Covid-19 in locations where health systems are ravaged and access to water is limited. This session will explain why actions to save lives and protect dignity that take gender, cultural and geopolitical specificities into account are more necessary than ever.

In spite of the aggravation of existing gender inequalities it brought about, how can the Covid-19 crisis be turned into an opportunity to build more gender-equal societies? The Generation Equality Forum, postponed until 2021, organized by UN Women, France, and Mexico in partnership with civil society, will be the first global feminist meeting after the crisis. It will bring together states, civil society, and the private sector to adopt concrete solutions to advance gender equality in the next five years. The Paris Peace Forum will be an important milestone in this mobilization.

The Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace has since its inception set a new standard for multistakeholder discussions for cybersecurity norms. Through the Paris Call Community of Action numerous stakeholders have over the past two years sought to collect and demonstrate how the different principles could be implemented, and implemented well. Ensuring that these lessons are shared and linked to cybersecurity capacity building initiatives is the logical next step in ensuring longevity and global success of the Paris Call. However, how do we link this initiative to the ongoing work on capacity building? How do we ensure that the effort is relevant to stakeholders around the world. Our panel will seek to answer these and other challenging questions, with a specific focus on implementation across Africa.

Session organized by Microsoft

Reliable information is indispensable to ensure the resilience of societies in times of crisis. As seen in many countries, disinformation, misinformation, and hate speech can take root and disrupt efforts to effectively address the impact of the virus. How can these so-called “infodemics” be prevented and countered? During this session, the Forum on Information & Democracy, created to implement the Partnership signed by 38 countries, will present the achievements of its working group on infodemics, supported by the Alliance for Multilateralism. The European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments will showcase its “Inform and Protect” project that aims at supporting national and local media in their efforts to promote transparent and fact-based information while disseminating tools to tackle the spread of harmful content and protect privacy rights.

Green banks can accelerate domestic low-carbon, climate-resilient development and spur green economic recovery. This event showcases the growing global movement to establish new green banks or transform existing institutions. It will launch the State of Green Banks 2020 report, followed by a panel discussion with country representatives in different stages of green bank development. The report, a product of the Green Bank Design Platform, represents the first comprehensive review of green banks. It provides an analysis of 34 countries that can be utilized by funders, countries, development finance institutions, and others.

COVID-19 has thrust health care workers into the global spotlight. Essential to the pandemic response, yet too often denied the protection and conditions needed to work effectively, health workers embody the crisis and opportunity of our era. Nurses, community health workers, and home carers are more likely to be women and migrants, increasing their exposure to inequality and abuse. As countries scramble to train and replenish their health workforces, a new era of regional and global cooperation is needed to protect and develop this most essential public good.

Speakers will present and explain the financing solutions to challenges faced by the private sector in Africa, especially SMEs, in the current crisis context. Panellists will present and discuss roadmaps and concrete actions taken by Public Development Banks, European DFIs, private banks and financial institutions in delivering efficient and accurate financing solutions. They will exchange on their respective and collective role in supporting the viability of existing companies impacted by the pandemic, in a responsible and sustainable way.

The agri-food sector is one of the largest economic sectors globally with huge significance for livelihoods, a large environmental footprint, and massive untapped business potential. To place the sector on a more sustainable, productive, and inclusive path, in line with the SDGs, PDBs operating in the sector must mobilize finance from different sources, including development, climate and commercial finance. This event will bring together experts from agricultural banks, farmers representatives and the International Fund for Agricultural Development to showcase innovative approaches to strengthen and leverage this catalytic role. It will energize, inspire, and launch an agenda for learning and action.

The Covid-19 crisis is a reminder of the relationship between health and the environment. The Ministerial Meeting of the Alliance for Multilateralism will launch the “One Health” High Level Expert Council. This Council will aim to gather and disseminate reliable information on the links between human, animal, and environmental health in a context of biodiversity erosion.
The meeting will also be an opportunity to present the report of the Infodemics Working Group of the Forum on Information and Democracy and to reassert the right to reliable information.

The European Innovation Council (EIC) is Europe’s most ambitious initiative to support and scale up breakthrough and disruptive innovation with transformative potential at global scale. Agility is a key feature of the EIC, which responded fast to the COVID crises: 36 innovative solutions were supported within 3 months of the outbreak, both to fight the disease and to mitigate its economic and social consequences. The EIC also awards prizes with global impact, such as the 2020 EIC Horizon prize on affordable high-tech for humanitarian aid. Looking forward, this session aims to discuss the potential of breakthrough innovation to help overcome the current crisis in its different dimensions both for Europe and globally.

Session organized by the European Innovation Council

The pandemic has further challenged, to the brink of collapse, the alignment of finance with the SDGs and Paris Agreement. With external finance to developing countries expected to drop by USD700 billion in 2020, what can be done to stop the bleeding and “build back better”? The French Presidency of the G7, the OECD and UNDP have developed a framework to better align finance with the SDGs and respond to the challenge of financing sustainable development in times of crisis and beyond. A panel of eminent persons will announce and discuss an ambitious agenda to shift the trillions available in the world economy towards the SDGs, and make finance better work for the sustainable development of our economies.

Public Development Banks (PDBs), which have been addressing major challenges on a local and regional scale for years, could become key components of the new global equation for a green transition and the achievement of the SDGs. How can PDBs increase their contributions to these major global objectives? How can governments make the best use of PDBs’ potential to fully serve their policies, implement their commitments and mobilize the private sector? What measures could be implemented to increase the performance of PDBs? How can financial regulatory frameworks be adapted to promote transparency and increase climate and sustainable development investments?

The EU has been committed to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic at different scales. Through a high level panel, a dynamic discussion will focus on the EU response to COVID-19, health security, global, regional and national partnerships and lessons learnt to prevent and respond to the potential next pandemic.

Session organized by The European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO)

The event will gather a range of examples of ambitious actions on Paris Alignment, both from Europe and globally, to illustrate how PDBs can and must drive delivery of the Paris Agreement by “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”. We will address both the temperature and climate resilience goals of the Paris Agreement, establishing vital links to the environmental crisis and the need for a green recovery that is socially inclusive. Entering the critical decade to 2030, PDBs will demonstrate robust and ambitious Paris alignment timelines, targets and actions.

In November 1990, the heads of state who signed the Paris Charter declared that “the era of confrontation and division in Europe is over”. Thirty years later, what is our interpretation of the historic hopes and expectations borne by the Charter’s negotiators, and of the events that led us to the divisions that once again threaten our continent’s security? What can the “Helsinki spirit” teach us in our search for prospects for the future?

Water crises generate political and social instability and threaten the security of populations. They demonstrate that water management is a key factor in building resilient societies and economies. In a context of climate change defined by shortages, floods and droughts, the central question remains how to improve access to water for all as well as international cooperation around this strategic resource. In preparation for the 9th World Water Forum, this session will present cooperation initiatives around water contributing to peace and development. It will highlight hydro-diplomacy with examples of solutions in transboundary basins.

Protracted conflicts that go on for decades, food insecurity, climate change and natural disasters continue to wreak havoc on the most vulnerable populations across Africa, the Middle East and beyond. The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the situation, affecting millions. This panel will call for coordinated actions from humanitarian, development and private sector actors to explore new approaches to financing in fragile settings, to enhance resilience and human security, and build more inclusive societies.

After nearly two decades of discussions at the United Nations and in world capitals, governments are in the final stages of negotiating the BBNJ treaty (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction), which will finally bring legal protection to marine life in our shared global common – the high seas. With new and emerging pressures from human activities threatening oceans every day, it is critical to reach a robust agreement to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of the high seas as soon as possible. This session will provide an opportunity for government and business leaders to exchange views on what is needed to successfully conclude these negotiations in 2021.

A coalition of Public Development Banks (PDBs) can contribute to the transformation of the financial system. Yet PDBs alone cannot lead a systemic shift towards green and sustainable finance. They have to join forces with other stakeholders for a worldwide economic recovery aligned with the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. How can we contribute to aligning all financial flows to the Paris Agreement and the SDGs? What is the best way to leverage each actor’s expertise? How to coordinate public and private sector efforts?

The Covid-19 pandemic has placed education systems in an unprecedented situation. At its peak, schools were closed in 190 countries, affecting 1.5 billion students, or 90% of the global student body. With almost no warning, governments and private institutions had to switch from presential to online classes, transforming the educational model and the relationship between technology and learning. This challenge has accelerated innovation, cooperation, and partnerships worldwide. It has also exposed data system vulnerabilities and inequalities in the access to infrastructure and educational tools. This session will explore the lessons that can be drawn from this crisis.

The event will bring together financial institutions with a public mandate, governments, the private sector, the Global Centre for Adaptation (GCA) and other key organisations, to identify ways for accelerating private sector finance for adaptation and resilience. The event provides the launch pad for greater public private collaboration within the context of the international Covid-19 response to stimulate private sector investments and catalyse domestic markets for the business solutions needed to address local adaptation and resilience needs, including supporting those that are most vulnerable to climate impacts.

How can public investors provide concrete measures to cope with the crisis while contributing to long-term transformations towards a more resilient economy? The massive use of debt to finance the economic recovery won’t be efficient unless it is linked with capital injections to support businesses and developmental projects. Equity financing and the specific role of public long-term investors will be key to reconcile the economic recovery with a more inclusive and sustainable development. The local, European and international solutions created and implemented by long term investors to contribute to social and environmental transitions will be presented and discussed.

In recent years, the US government has taken a hostile attitude towards the multilateral system it helped create and sustain decades. Among other actions, the Trump administration announced it was leaving the Paris climate agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, UNESCO, and the WHO. US officials also distanced themselves from the United Nations and abstained from participating in the Paris Peace Forum’s first two editions. On the occasion of the third edition of the Forum, this high-level panel will discuss the future of US foreign policy and what the elections of November 3 portend for the future of multilateralism.

With numbers of deaths and cases not declining at the global level, and even increasing or re-emerging dramatically in some countries, one may find it hard to see a silver lining in the ongoing global sanitary crisis. In this session, experts from the health sector will share their views on the current situation from a macro level, examining the epidemiological trends and the response frameworks set up by international organizations and governments, and from a micro level, highlighting examples of field solutions initiated by civil society actors. Finally, they will share their perspectives and recommendations on what to do next.

Over 60 heads of state and international organizations will contribute to this ceremony around French President Emmanuel Macron, IMF Director-General Kristalina Georgieva, Senegalese President Macky Sall and Charles Michel, President of the European Council. Don’t miss out on this highlight of the Forum’s program, which will focus on how to build a post-crisis world.

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerability in our societies to the mutually reinforcing impacts of growing inequalities, environmental degradation and climate change. Social investment can strengthen societal resilience by simultaneously generating economic, employment, social inclusion and environmental benefits. Since 2008, however, it has fallen short of mounting needs, particularly at the local level.
This event calls for more and better social investment, especially in infrastructure, as part of an integrated response to the Covid-19 crisis, the climate emergency, and rising social inequalities. It focuses on the challenges faced by local authorities, and proposes a renewed role of PDBs.

The panel will address the role and impact of development banks in the achievement of gender equality described in SDG5 and in the promotion of inclusive and sustainable finance for gender responsive policies. A presentation of a field study on gender equality within IDFC will illustrate this commitment, as well as concrete examples of the financing of gender and climate justice. The Annex on gender equality to the main Declaration will be announced and signed by the end of High-Level Event.

The session will take a critical look at the negative consequences of short-termism in peace processes. While peace agreements can end violence, they do not bring lasting peace. The panel will delve into the multi-layered nature of peace and look into specific case studies (such as Colombia, Somalia, and Mali). High-level panelists will discuss lessons learned from conflicts and peace processes, both historical and ongoing. Representatives from the International Commission on Inclusive Peace will bring Track One experience and lived experience from civil society and local peace efforts.

In 2020, all stakeholders must demonstrate their ambition to implement the Paris Agreement. By the end of the year, parties must communicate or update their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and share their long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies. Meeting this climate ambition is more necessary than ever to keep the increase in global average temperature well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels and as close as possible to 1.5°C. This session will highlight the urgency for action, the commitments of the parties and the impact of the Paris Agreement on a green recovery.

Gathering all Public Development Banks from around the world, in the presence of World Leaders and stakeholders, the Finance in Common Summit is a unique opportunity to build a new coalition of actors and launch a collective dynamic aimed at fostering the emergence of a global response to global challenges; and demonstrate the potential of Public Development Banks in redirecting financial flows towards the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Faced with the inadequacies of multilateral action, several major global health stakeholders – states, international organizations, and foundations – have joined forces within the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. This joint response aims to accelerate the end of the pandemic by supporting the development and production of diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines against Covid-19. Although the ACT Accelerator is already producing results, much remains to be done. In addition to the $3.4 billion in commitments that have already been made, $34.5 billion are still needed to achieve their objectives: distribute 2 billion doses of vaccines, 245 million treatments and 500 million diagnostic tests.

The Finance in Common Summit is being held at a time when the humanitarian and economic crisis triggered by the pandemic is threatening the well-being of billions of people and risks derailing the global efforts to achieve the SDGs and respond to the expanding climate emergency. We urgently need systemic solutions to the broken global economic architecture to ensure the necessary fiscal and policy space for a decolonial, feminist and just transition for people and planet. We need to ensure the democratization of global economic governance, recognizi
ng the right of every country to be at the decision-making table, and not only those concentrating power or resources. This event will focus on providing key systemic global economic solutions urgently needed, including a critical assessment of the role of public development banks, while abiding by the human rights framework, as well as ensuring gender equality and environmental integrity.

Session organized by the Civil Society Financing for Development (CS FfD) Group

Covid-19 has already resulted in the deaths of more than one million people worldwide, increased inequality, and caused unprecedented disruption and slowdown in the global economy. In this session, key stakeholders will give the ACT accelerator (Access to Covid-19 Tools) new momentum and work towards increased funding. They will also work on the new principles we should adopt to ensure effective vaccines, diagnostics and treatments, seen as global public goods, can be made available everywhere in the world on an equitable basis.

The Black Lives Matter Movement responded to the discrimination and violence targeted at communities of color. Systemic injustices and racial discrimination, long-entrenched in our societies, have also caused higher COVID-19 mortality rates in Black and other marginalized communities. Existing and worsening economic hardship will exacerbate this heavy toll on the most vulnerable. This panel will discuss how COVID-19 recovery must have racial and economic justice at its core. It will examine new solutions to ensure the rights of Black and other communities of color are at the heart of an equitable recovery.

In 2020, the United Nations turned 75 and launched its most ambitious effort to crowdsource priorities and solutions to global challenges – from Covid-19 to the climate crisis, geopolitical tensions, deepening inequalities, and major transformations in our societies, including the digital sphere. Over one million people from all countries and walks of life took part, sharing their hopes and fears for the future through surveys and dialogues. During this session, participants will be able to ask the UN questions about this program and what it intends to do with it.

Today’s economic crisis compels us to reject the temptation to return to “business as usual”. Tackling inequalities is more necessary than ever as the most vulnerable have been hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis and as social movements have protested against systemic discrimination. Businesses and governments must seize this crisis to tackle systemic inequalities and build resilience, and align their efforts to reach longer-term goals such as SDGs.

Session organized by Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG)

The management of biodiversity and ecosystems and their contributions to people well-being and the global economy is not just an environment issue but an overarching and cross-cutting issue for sustainability, resilience and building back better in the context of unseen impacts of the Covid-19 crisis. The situation is felt by most global and national institutions and many influential individuals as a call to link human development and planet preservation in a more practical and efficient manner, through long-term approaches to development finance and public budgeting that take better account of environmental imperatives and the preservation of the ecosystem base of all human livelihoods.

The event aims to enhance awareness about Subnational Development Bank’s (SDB) role in Sustainable Financing and foster more effective technical and financial partnerships to advance SDG’s implementation, especially in developing regions. The speakers will be invited to address issues such as: how SDBs build their performance? How they connect their role and products to the new sustainable finance agenda? How do they relate to governments and other banking institutions at regional, national, and global levels? How can multilateral and national banks could expand SDBs potential to generate development impact?

According to the UN, the pandemic’s economic consequences are contributing to significant food security deterioration, including rising numbers of people pushed into acute hunger in fragile countries. It is possible that hunger will leave more casualties than Covid-19. On the front line, the World Food Programme (WFP), recipient of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, is providing more aid than ever. With sudden lockdowns, the disruption of supply chains hit the whole planet. Inventory levels and production capacity decreased everywhere, making both the production and distribution of food more complicated. For the industrial and agricultural sectors alike, political and logistical issues arise. How can the international community collaborate to prevent a worldwide food crisis?

The Covid-19 crisis confirmed that tackling global problems requires global strategies, but how can we ensure the circulation of highly skilled professionals and students in a context of closing borders and travel restrictions? The current combination
of human capital flow and the shortage of talents in certain areas of the globe exposes the need to engage in talent exchange policies and to seek compatible standards. The launch of the Alliance of Global Talent Organization (AGTO) represents the first step towards filling the gap in global governance on talent flow and redefining the role of competent transnational organizations. The AGTO was first suggested at the 2018 Paris Peace Forum and will come to fruition during this edition of the event.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not value neutral. Its use raises concerns regarding privacy and data protection, gender and cultural biases, increased digital exposure for populations at risk, and an escalation of misinformation and hate speech. It is also being used to support decision making in sensitive issues such as justice. It is therefore necessary to ensure that AI is framed in a way that aligns with the highest ethical values. Given AI’s global nature, such guidance must be global as well. This session will look at inspiring initiatives which are taking form, such as UNESCO’s elaboration of the first global standard-setting instrument on the ethics of artificial intelligence, or the work undertaken by the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence.

The Christchurch Call, launched in Paris just two months after the horrific attacks in New Zealand on 15 March 2019, took an innovative approach to eliminating terrorist and violent extremist content online while ensuring the protection of fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression, privacy, and rights of victims. This was achieved by creating a framework for collective action between governments, tech companies and civil society, which new supporters continue to join. This session will provide a summary of the actions undertaken since the last in-person meeting (UNGA 2019) and present the result of the consultation open to all Christchurch Call supporters conducted to define the initiative’s next steps.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced companies to face unprecedented challenges that require quick and pragmatic responses. During the lockdown, companies and organizations showed their creative and fighting spirit by adapting and developing new business models, solutions to transform their work modes and production chains, and by coordinating with governments and the financial ecosystem to reduce economic damage. They have also played a key role to ensure the continuity of services and supply chains, while participating in national and international solidarity. This session will highlight some of their initiatives and good practices put in place during the crisis.

The decline in greenhouse gas emissions caused by the pandemic is the largest ever recorded. However, despite the Covid-19 crisis’ immense social and economic cost, its impact on global temperature will only be marginal. So far, investments for a green recovery represent only 1% of the $12 trillion currently planned by major economies. With fossil fuels accounting for 80% of the global energy mix, can we accelerate the decarbonization of the economy? This panel will discuss commitments that main actors, including in the oil sector, can make in a context where oil markets are showing unprecedented volatility and the pandemic is putting pressure on investments in renewable energies.

The Covid-19 crisis is a reminder that capitalism and the health of the planet are intrinsically connected. Beyond emergency measures necessary to revive and sustain economic activity, we need to move from unsustainable growth to a new reasoned prosperity. Companies and governments need to tackle the issue of negative externalities – from pollution, resource depletion and global warming to the spike in inequalities – to build more just and inclusive economies as well as environmentally-sustainable production systems. This session will explore innovation, inclusion, and regulation as key words for change.

Our world is facing a complex transformation: 80% of most practices and professions are being invented and reinvented each day. Everything is changing very quickly and if we are not attentive, the risk is to let men shape our world alone, as done in the past. It is urgent that women, who contribute up to only 34% of worldwide wealth creation, have access to the jobs of the future, which are in reality the jobs of today. Nobody knows exactly how these jobs will evolve. What we do know, however, is that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), and not just digital fields, are at the heart of this transformation. Therefore, it is crucial that women have the same opportunities, assets, skills, and expertise as men in order to design and fully benefit of these jobs of the future.
Listen to our leaders who lead by example, as they share their stories and their insights on how to nurture, attract and retain women for the job of the future.

The positive impact of the internet and digital platforms on our societies is undeniable. However, it is often overshadowed by narratives about vulnerabilities and the associated digital risks that cyberspace poses to states and societies. The Good Cyber Stories initiative aims to re-focus the debate by putting the spotlight on projects and initiatives with real positive impact on government policies or individuals. It also means to inspire all stakeholders to make progress collectively in cyberspace by providing a platform that encourages positive spillovers and cooperation. Join us for the official launch and panel discussion around the Good Cyber Stories 2021 theme ‘Peace and trust in cyberspace’.