Europäische Union

Dauer des Videos : 60'

Haftungsausschluss : Die Verdolmetschung der Debatten soll die Kommunikation erleichtern, sie stellt jedoch keine authentische Aufzeichnung der Debatten dar. Authentisch sind nur die Originalfassungen der Reden bzw. ihre überprüften schriftlichen Übersetzungen.
Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1407 - 1691 - Draft report Establishing Global Europe
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Development
Robert Biedroń, Michael Gahler

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

AMENDMENTS 661 - 1053 - Draft report Establishing Global Europe
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Development
Robert Biedroń, Michael Gahler

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

On Monday, Parliament and Council negotiators agreed provisionally on changes to EU policy on the return of non-EU nationals staying illegally in the EU.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

ÄNDERUNGSANTRÄGE 1 - 309 - Entwurf eines Berichts Einrichtung des Programms für agile, schnelle Innovation im Verteidigungsbereich (AGILE)
Ausschuss für Industrie, Forschung und Energie
Ausschuss für Sicherheit und Verteidigung
Tonino Picula, Ivars Ijabs

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

From 25 to 27 May, a delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) of six MEPs led by the Committee Chair David McAllister (EPP, Germany) visited Cape Town, Pretoria, and Johannesburg, South Africa.
The delegation met South African political leaders and partners to discuss deepening EU-South Africa cooperation. Key topics included international relations in a changing geopolitical landscape, security, political ties, and the Global Gateway, the EU's strategy for global infrastructure investment.
Press release
Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Extraordinary meeting of the International Trade Committee and joint meeting with the Internal Market Committee and the Industry Committee. Both on Tuesday 2 June
Committee on International Trade

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

On 3 June, SEDE Members will have an exchange of views with the European Commission on the selection of projects under the European Defence Fund’s 2025 call for proposals. On 4 June, following the EP resolution, SEDE will also discuss the follow-up with the European Commission on drones and new systems of warfare and EU’s need to adapt to be fit for today’s security challenges. ...

Debriefs will be held on the SEDE mission to Canada on the growing importance of the EU-Canada Security and Defence Partnership as well as on the participation of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly at Spring Session in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

ENTWURF EINES BERICHTS über die politischen Beziehungen zwischen der EU und Syrien
Ausschuss für auswärtige Angelegenheiten
Nathalie Loiseau

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

L'intégration européenne semble en panne, et l'administration Trump met au défi les politiques de l'Union dans les Balkans comme en Ukraine. Acteur majeur de l'élargissement, Pierre Mirel revient sur deux décennies de tâtonnements et d'avancées, avec la conviction que ce processus a plus de sens que jamais. Entretien.

- Articles / Questions européennes, Elargissement UE, Courrier des Balkans, Albanie, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Bulgarie, Croatie, Kosovo, Turquie, Macédoine du Nord, Serbie, Slovénie, Monténégro, Ukraine, Blocage UE

The next meeting of the Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE) is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 3 June 2026 from 9.00-12.30 and 14.30 - 18.30 and on Thursday, 4 June 2026 from 9.00-12.30 in Brussels (room SPINELLI 3E2).

Further information about the SEDE meetings can be found here.
_______________________
SEDE missions 2026:

• Taiwan - 30 March - 2 April 2026
• Poland and Czechia - 16-18 February 2026
• Ukraine - 5-6 February 2026

SEDE missions 2025:

• Djibouti - 27-29 October 2025
  
• Greenland - 15-19 September 2025
  
• Norway - 27-30 May 2025
• Moldova and Ukraine - 14-17 April 2025
  
• Bosnia and Herzegovina - 24-27 February 2025
• Israel and Palestine - 5-8 February 2025

SEDE missions 2024:

• United Kingdom - 28-30 October 2024
• Ukraine - 25-26 October 2024

SEDE Committee meetings' calendar 2026
SEDE Committee meetings' calendar 2025
EP calendar 2026
Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

A delegation from the Employment and Social Affairs Committee was in La Réunion to assess youth employment initiatives and to meet government representatives.
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Wartezeiten, Entfernungen und Kosten erschweren medizinische Versorgung – Vielen Geflüchteten fällt es schwer, sich im Gesundheitssystem zu orientieren – Abbau von Zugangshürden entscheidend Geflüchtete stoßen in Deutschland insbesondere in den ersten Jahren nach ihrer Ankunft auf erhebliche Hürden ...

On 3 June 2026 at 17.15 – 18.30, senior UN and EU officials will outline why the EU-UN peacebuilding partnership has consistently demonstrated its value. As deliberations intensify for the next MFF (2028–2034) and the Global Europe instrument, the discussion will explore the value of sustained investment in peacebuilding, including through concrete examples to showcase impact and will seek the perspectives and guidance of MEPs in advancing that case.


Guests:
· Elizabeth Spehar, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding and Peace Support, United Nations Department of Political & Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and Department of Peace Operations (DPO).
· Peter Wagner, Director of Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), European Commission

Guests present to answer questions:
· Agi Veres, Deputy Director if the Crisis Bureau and Director of the Geneva Representation Office, UNDP
· Stella Ronner, Deputy Managing Director Multilateral affairs, European External Action Service
Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

ENTWURF EINES BERICHTS über hybride Kriegsführung und den Schutz der territorialen Unversehrtheit und der kritischen Sicherheits- und Verteidigungsinfrastruktur der EU
Ausschuss für Sicherheit und Verteidigung
Rasa Juknevičienė

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

DRAFT REPORT Towards an EU strategy to protect and strengthen the international justice system and its institutions, mechanisms and partners
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Mounir Satouri

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Alice Onyango walks through the trees on her farm. She has been an active participant of My Farm Trees, a farmer- and community-led tree-based project aimed at the restoration of degraded landscapes. Credit: Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

By Wilson Odhiambo
NAIROBI, May 26 2026 (IPS)

As 52-year-old Alice Onyango walks through her farm in Siaya county, Kenya, you can tell she is proud of her trees, as some tower over her, providing her with shade, while others seem ready to provide her with fruit for the market.

Onyango has been planting trees on her farm for over a decade, and thanks to a project dubbed ‘My Farm Trees’, she realised just how important her work is to the environment while also managing to earn a couple of shillings to help supplement her livelihood.

“I plant different types of trees on my farm, most of which are fruit trees such as avocados, oranges, mangoes, and papaya, which I can harvest and sell in the market. I also have some trees that I plant for timber and even firewood,” Onyango told Inter Press Service (IPS).

“I have been doing this for many years as my source of livelihood and it was not until recently that my neighbour told me about My Farm Trees and how it can help me better improve on my farm while also earning some token,” said Onyango.

As the world works to find lasting solutions to safeguarding the ever-dwindling forest ecosystems and fighting climate change, smallholder farmers across the globe and especially in Africa can now participate and be recognised in the effort, thanks to an environmental restoration project, My Farm Trees.

My Farm Trees is a digital platform developed by the Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT with the aim of restoring the environment by encouraging smallholder farmers to take up tree planting alongside their daily activities. By doing this, local communities are able to promote climate change mitigation while also improving their lives through the initiative.

Piloted in Kenya and Cameroon, the project has already supported the restoration of thousands of hectares of once degraded land and trained community members and is now scaling globally, giving smallholder farmers essential tools and knowledge for effective, science-based landscape restoration.

The platform works by combining capacity building, monitoring, verification and providing incentives to empower smallholder farmers to take up tree-based restoration projects. In return, the farmers are rewarded with both short-term benefits (direct digital payments enabled by the platform) and, eventually, the long-term benefits of restored landscapes for improved agricultural productivity, water regulation and climate resilience.

“My Farm Trees was designed to help with environmental restoration by encouraging smallholder farmers to plant trees and in return they get to access financial benefits and even get recognised for their contribution to climate change mitigation,” said Fidel Chiriboga, project scaling lead for usage, partnerships, collaborations, impact, and development.

“Apart from the financial incentives, the farmers also get to learn the importance of having these trees (especially the native tree species) in their environment and how they can help with their agricultural activities,’’ Chiriboga said.

In Kenya, the project is currently being implemented in Siaya, Laikipia and Turkana counties, which are regarded as areas with limited tree cover.

This grassroots initiative aligns closely with Kenya’s policy direction, where the country has in place a national ecosystem restoration strategy (2023–2032) that provides a clear framework for restoring degraded landscapes while strengthening community resilience and livelihoods. The strategy prioritises tree growing alongside improved governance and inclusive economic models that place communities at the centre of restoration efforts.

Siaya for instance, currently ranks 44 out of 47 counties, with an estimated 5.26% tree cover, compared to the national average of 12.13%.

Under national targets, Siaya is expected to plant at least 14 million trees per year over the next decade, according to the Siaya county commissioner.

Cameroonian participants of the My Farm Trees project received saplings for planting on their farms. The digital project aims to improve both the environment and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Credit: Marius Ekeu/My Farm Trees

In Cameroon, My Farm Trees has been able to attract thousands of farmers from as young as 18 to as old as 75. These include farmers from the West, Central and extreme North regions of Cameroon.

According to Maruius Ekeu, the project manager, in Cameroon, more than 145,000 seedlings from 60 tree species (45 native to Cameroon) were planted to restore 1,806 hectares of degraded lands, and the areas restored belong to 2,527 individual farmers (21% women), 315 sacred forests and 111 primary schools.

A total of $145,000 was paid through the mobile money account linked to MFT to purchase seeds and seedlings. In addition, over $150,000 was transferred as economic incentives to individual farmers as a reward for the survival of seedlings planted on their farms.

“The farmers were paid for tree maintenance between $22 and $200 per monitoring, but we have yet to carry out a survey to know what they did with the money paid to them, though most seem to prefer using it to expand their tree farms,” said Ekeu.

“On average seed collectors earned between $100 and $3,000 depending on collection efforts (e.g. tree species, seed quantity, and seed quality). Tree nursery managers earned between $200 and $22,000 depending on the number of seedlings produced and their price (varies per species),” Ekeu said.

Alice Onyango shows off a sewing machine she bought with the proceeds of the My Farm Trees project. Credit: Wilson Odhiambo/IPS

As for Onyango, she used part of the Ksh 37000 ($285.94) she received from My Farm Trees to offset her children’s school fees and the rest to buy a sewing machine.

“As my family’s breadwinner, I bought the sewing machine to help me make extra money mending clothes while I am not selling fruits or timber,” Onyango said.

Given that most of the farmers involved in this project come from rural areas which are characterised by poor internet connectivity and limited access to smartphones, the project’s app has been designed in such a way that it can be used offline.

“Farmers do not need to be connected to the internet when using the app, as it allows them to collect data while offline, which they can then share with us later on when they get access to the internet,” said Francis Oduor, project manager, Kenya.

“We also train and provide select locals (village-based assistants) with smartphones fitted with the app, and they can go around using them to help us monitor and keep track of the farmers who have registered with us but lack smartphones. A farmer only really needs to have an identification number and a registered phone number where they can receive their payments,” Oduor said.

Oduor added that the money the farmers received has been used for different purposes that range from expanding farms, buying farm inputs, paying school fees, building houses and even starting other income-generating ventures.

While planting trees is the main objective of the project, My Farm Trees emphasises planting native trees, especially those that are almost extinct in certain areas. Farmers who plant native trees receive more money compared to those who plant exotic trees. Fruit trees also fetch more earnings for the farmers compared to those planted for timber purposes.

And farmers who grow trees in drought-prone areas such as Turkana and Laikipia also receive more compensation as compared to those who grow trees in areas that receive adequate rainfall such as Siaya.

The 2-million-dollar project was funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

“The My Farm Trees project is a great example of GEF’s high-risk–high-reward strategy, whereby a seed funding of $2 million catalyses investments and contributions by many other partners. Eventually, the goal is to upscale the new technology and approach to other countries and to achieve sustainable funding through crowdfunding approaches,” said Ulrich Apel, Senior Environmental Specialist at the GEF.

The My Farm Trees project is a great example of GEF’s high-risk–high-reward strategy, whereby a seed funding of $2 million catalyses investments and contributions by many other partners.

‘’The GEF role as a financial mechanism for the global environment is to provide catalytic funding for innovative projects that test cutting-edge technologies and solutions to achieve positive environmental outcomes,” Apel said.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) serves as the GEF implementing agency for My Farm Trees. It designs the overall project and oversees delivery and coordination, working with the lead executing partner, the Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT, governments, farmers, and other partners.

“The project has been a resounding success, and IUCN and partners are presently working to develop new projects based on this approach to support global and national goals on biodiversity conservation, climate, food security and more,” said Joshua Schneck, Global Initiatives Portfolio Manager, IUCN.

According to Dr Shem Kuyah, a Senior Lecturer from the department of Botany, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and one of Kenya’s leading researchers in agroforestry, agroforestry has received much attention globally and especially in Africa because of its multiple benefits that help address the current challenges of climate change, land use and livelihoods.

Kuyah said that agroforestry has both protective and productive benefits, which allow land users/practitioners to fight environmental challenges without sacrificing or forfeiting livelihoods. Currently, the challenges of climate change, land use change and changing livelihoods require multifunctional strategies, which makes agroforestry important.

Kuyah praised My Farm Trees, stating that both incentives and training help to mitigate the long waiting period that it takes to realise the benefits of agroforestry and also maximise the benefits of agroforestry and reduce trade-offs by planting and managing the right tree in the right place for the right purpose.

“The best way to implement agroforestry is to contextualise the practice to local conditions, provide support (e.g., incentives) and training for farmers, and develop the agroforestry value chain,” Kuyah said.

“In terms of contextualising agroforestry, I would work with farmers to identify their needs and co-create options that are locally relevant. The support may help absorb some of the cost while the training may focus on helping farmers integrate agroforestry with other farm enterprises that provide short-term benefits.”

 Note: The Eighth Global Environment Facility Assembly will be held from May 30 to June 6, 2026, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
This feature is published with the support of the GEF. IPS is solely responsible for the editorial content, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the GEF.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

 

Related Articles

• Brazil’s Indigenous Communities Receive $9M in GEF Funding to Protect Lands, Traditions Under Threat
• Ambitious Great Green Wall Shows Slow, Steady Progress in Strengthening Landscapes, Improving Livelihoods
• Cleaning Up the Fields: Across Africa and Asia GEF is Helping Farmers Rewrite Their Pesticide Story