Capacity Building for Climate Change

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Capacity Building for Climate Change The role
of short courses John Christensen Director, UNEP
Risø Centre
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Outline of presentation

• Climate change a global environment and
  development challenge
• Number and complexity of CC issues increasing
• Supporting participation and engagement of DCs
• Capacity building related to CC
• Current approaches to CB
• Current and potential future role of short courses

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Climate Change

• The IPCC states that the required action to
  forestall serious climate change is possible with
  strong policies, technology development and
  transfer of technologies using a broad range of
  policy and technical options.
• Climate change is an environmental problem, where
  the solution lies in making the issue a key
  development driver and therefore integrating
  mitigation and adaptation concerns and
  opportunities or mainstreaming responses to
  climate change - into all aspects of sector,
  national and regional planning
• UNEP Expert group 2007.

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Issues and Complexities

• Mitigation
• Energy sector development key to solution
• CDM Emissions trading
• Forestry land use
• Waste management
• Adaptation
• Integrating resilience in development planning
• Improving data and information about changes and
  impacts
• Early warning and disaster preparedness

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Issues and Complexities

• Processes and reporting requirements
• National communications (no MEA coordination)
• NAPAs for LDCs
• Reporting on progress re. topical issues
• Input to negotiations regional positioning
• Issues
• Technology transfer
• Mechanisms esp. CDM
• Finance incl. GEF and new Adaptation Fund

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Issues and Complexities

• Technology transfer
• CB required in relation to policy environment,
  institutional capabilities, private sector,
  finance, etc
• Further recognizing that the immediate and
  urgent delivery of technology development,
  deployment, diffusion and transfer to developing
  countries requires suitable responses, including
  a continued emphasis by all Parties on the
  enhancement of enabling environments,
  facilitating access to technology information and
  capacity-building, identification of technology
  needs and innovative financing that mobilizes the
  vast resources of the private sector to
  supplement public finance sources where
  appropriate..
• COP 13
• CDM
• Regional distribution and capacity-building CMP
  Decision
• CB to remove financial, technical and
  institutional barriers
• CB to support identification and development of
  clean development mechanism project activities,
  including start-up costs and demonstration
  projects

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CB approach and experiences

• Review of CB experiences for COP 13
• Targeted capacity-building through stand-alone
  projects and activities
• Embedded capacity-building in regular projects
  and activities
• Enabling activities (through the GEF)
• Technical support
• Special programmes for LDCs and small island
  developing States.

Many activities did not consider how to ensure
longer term institutional stability or how to
retain built capacity
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CB experiences

• Approaches have so far not been not been very
  systematic and have largely focused on short term
  convention related actions rather than building
  sustained national capacity to deal with climate
  change.
• Questions
• How to change this ?
• What is the best approach ?
• How to deal with country specificity issue
  complexity

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Is mainstreaming a solution

• Mainstreaming climate change into development
  policies is the fashionable topic right now
• What does it mean ?
• How to do it ?
• Starting with capacity building for energy and
  CDM the ICREP is maybe already one example !
• integrating energy planning with a proper
  understanding of the future role of carbon
  finance and CDM modalities
• moving from training separate CDM experts to
  mainstreaming into energy

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Energy CDM as example

• Priority Areas for Capacity Enhancement in
  future mainstreaming of Carbon Finance into
  energy sector development
• Broad awareness raising and strengthened
  educational efforts at all levels
• Getting the policy framework right including new
  analytical capabilities, understanding of CDM and
  market oriented policy tools and ability to
  implement tools in practice
• New target groups like the upcoming regulatory
  institutions
• Private sector involvement both in terms of large
  scale industries for the commercial markets and
  small and medium sized enterprises for the rural
  and peri-urban markets
• Financing institutions will play a crucial role
  need for change in the way lenders consider CDM
  investments

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What will this require

• Awareness raising programmes at national level
• Targeted training for planners and policy makers
  and regulators
• Finding new ways of engaging private sector
  companies and financial institutions
• How do we avoid that this is not just more of
  the same short term // ad-hoc approach
• There is a need to develop and implement better
  ways of building capacity

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Linking CB and education

• Project based or integrated CB needs to be
  combined with more systematic education and
  training
• National workshops and training may be used for
  senior experts
• Education and training of mid-level or junior
  staff in public and private institutions should
  be priority to develop the leaders of tomorrow
  and build sustained capacity
• short courses could play an important role in
  several areas and broad integration in education
  is required for the future

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Role of ICREP

• ICREP is an existing example of an attempt to
  provide extended training on issues related to
  mainstreaming CC into development
• With CDM CB support moving into the regular
  development assistance, it would be an option to
  integrate ICREP into bilateral CDM CB programmes
  and expand coverage to attempt to move the
  integration further
• Is this realistic and what will it take?

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Issues for Short Courses

• From the introduction on FCCC issues a number of
  areas could be identified for short courses
• Technology transfer integrating research,
  policy, finance etc
• Adaptation ecosystems
• Adaptation infrastructure
• Adaptation early warning and emergency
  preparedness approaches
• Forestry and REDD

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How to make it happen?

• Changing the current ad-hoc and issue based
  approach will take concerted action by countries,
  donors and stakeholders
• How to overcome vested interests by involved
  stakeholders
• Documenting the results and impacts of activities
  as ICREP is maybe a starting point?
• The emerging realization that CC is not a short
  term issue and cannot be solved without
  addressing core development patterns may be a
  driver.

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Thank you very much. For info on UNEP Risoe work
see www.uneprisoe.org www.cd4cdm.org