In December 2007, governments agreed to step up their efforts to combat climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process with the ‘Bali Road Map’. Strengthening capacity of policy-makers to develop, implement and evaluate cross-sectoral national policy options in response to international negotiations, offers an opportunity to link national action to the international negotiation procsess while moving toward sustainability.
In support of these principles, UNDP launched a $7 million project in May 2008 to strengthen the national capacity of up to 20 developing countries to develop policy options for addressing climate change across different sectors and economic activities, also as a possible input for developing negotiation positions under the Convention. The project was designed as a targeted capacity development initiative to run in-line with the negotiations.
Participating Countries
The following countries have participated in the project: Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Gambia, Honduras, Liberia, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Paraguay, Peru, St Lucia, Togo, Turkmenistan and Uruguay. Six of these countries (Bangladesh, Gambia, Liberia, Nepal, Niger and Togo) are Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
Initial Results
· 18 national inter-ministerial dialogues held; attended by more than 950 participants
· nine trainings on investment & financial flows held; one more planned in 2009
· 54 papers prepared by national experts that identify the key issues when assessing climate change in selected key sectors
· Bali Road Map resources developed and translated in all UN languages; more than 4500 copies disseminated
· National Inter Ministerial Dialogue Package developed and translated into SIX languages – English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Portuguese
· Network of national stakeholders and policy makers created/consolidated
· UNDP Methodology for Assessment of Investment & Financial Flows prepared and available in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Russian
· Knowledge platform launched and maintained including: English, French, Spanish and Russian interfaces; Publications database with more than 800 documents in multiple languages; an introduction to the climate negotiations with a live calendar and updates in 5 languages; more than 1150 site members; interactive features such as news feeds, blogs and community groups; best practices and lessons learned documented and disseminated
· Key external partnerships: UNEP & UNFCCC Secretariat (this project is a direct complement to the UNEP/UNFCCC project ‘Preparatory Meetings for Negotiators from Developing Countries on the UNFCCC Bali Road Map); International Institute of Sustainable Development; UNDP/UNEP National Communications Support Programme; UNITAR; UN STATS
· Key internal partnerships: RBLAC, RBA, UNDP’s Capacity Development Group, Gender and Water teams, and UN-REDD
· Negotiations training materials of UNDP, UNEP and UNFCCC to be posted on UN CC:Learn, the One UN Training Service Platform on Climate Change hosted by UNITAR
More Information
http://www.undp.org/climatechange/capacity-development.html
