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Role of National Communications in Integrating

Climate Change into Development Priorities

Global Forum on the Environment – key issues for the post-2012 climate framework

OECD, Paris 21-22 April 2010

Yamil Bonduki

Coordinator National Communications Support Programme (NCSP)

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• INC was important in bringing attention to CC

issues in countries, but had limitations:

– Focused on Convention reporting – strategic opportunities for feeding into national development not fully exploited

– Conducted by technical experts, but limited participation of stakeholders from public and private sectors

– Investigation academic in nature – limited relevance to policy decision (for instance for climate risk management)

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Making National Communications more policy relevant

•Transforming the NC from a mere reporting process to a strategic and policy support tool •Producing the SNC document should not be the end point

•Framing assessments and studies to meet needs for national development planning and decision making

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Linking NCs with National Development Processes

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• Objective of SNC should seek to facilitate policy changes

• Outcomes of the SNC process to highlight the policy strategies in the short and long terms

Objectives of NC Projects

To explore ways to facilitate the integration of CC concerns into planning processes through the NCs – sustainability and appropriation

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• Strategy for a more policy-relevant SNC – Developing ToR that address policy relevant issues in the

different NC components

– Establishing a system from the beginning of the NC for policy dialogues and political buy-in

– NC to focus on assessments conducive to influence decision

making

– Promoting policy-oriented studies, to expand the traditional technical assessment

– Leveraging the results of mitigation and V&A studies for project formulation and implementation

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Stakeholders Participation

A strategy for stakeholders engagement through the NC process and beyond

• NC involves and seeks inputs from relevant government institutions

• Develop a follow-up strategy to keep adequate engagement beyond the NC project

• Strategy for results appropriation, with recommendations to facilitate adoption of results

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Production of knowledge and information

NC should focus on what is important

• Paying special attention to most vulnerable sectors/regions and highest GHG emission sectors

• Improving technical assessments and reliability of data to provide more solid basis for decision making

• Strengthening socio-economics analysis for more effective linkages with of CC actions and development needs

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Currently NC are more frequently being used as a vehicle to:

• Facilitate institutionalization of climate change

responses

• Generate CC knowledge and information on the basis of national priorities

• Provide a mechanism of policy dialogue for CC actions

• Implement public education and awareness activities at different levels in society

• Develop capacity building in many thematic areas of

CC

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Use of NC outputs and process - Examples

Government of Tajikistan approved the National Action Plan for Climate Change Mitigation, which identifies main directions and priorities of the State policy on the reduction of GHG emissions, among others:

–Development of renewable energy sources –Introduction of modern technologies for GHG emissions reduction

in other sectors –Reforestation and improvements in natural carbon sinks

In their NC reports, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia have prioritized mitigation measures considering different economic and environmental considerations.

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Use of NC outputs and process - Examples

•National Policies and Plans Studies of India’s NC have been used in the National Action Plan for

climate change. They have also been used as the basis for formulating policies such as water, energy and sustainable habitat.

•Natural Resources Programmes Armenia’s NC identified water resources as one of the most

vulnerable sectors. Water sector vulnerability is now addressed in the Sustainable Development Program adopted by the Government in 2008

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Use of NC outputs and process - Examples

A Partnership Approach – The Saint Lucia Experience Integrating climate change issues into public sector work plans is an important objective of Saint Lucia’s NC. One milestone was a climate change meeting attended by the Ministers of Tourism, Agriculture and Physical Planning and the Environment, their Permanent Secretaries and the Policy Advisor from the Prime Minister’s office. Major outcome was commitment of support to adaptation and mitigation actions. In a related initiative, economists and other professionals from relevant Government Ministries and private sector agencies within the financial sectors (banking and insurance) have been engaged in consultations and discussions on the economic impacts of climate change.

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Chile's National Climate Change Action Plan 

National Inputs: • Climate scenario studies • Chile's 2NC Project: a) 2007-2008 Studies:

• GHG Inventory for the Energy and Industry Sectors as a time-series for the time frame 1984-2006

• V&A study addressing agriculture, livestock, forestry, water and soil resources.

b) Organization of technical and political committees at the National level (+100 institutions represented)

International Inputs: •UNFCCC (1994) •KP (2002) •AR4 (2007) •BAP (2007)

Building on 2NC and its stakeholder approach, Chile's NCCAP is the “Umbrella Instrument” at the national level to link climate change activities with other public policies (i.e. energy planning, agriculture, etc.) and with the country's overarching aim for sustainable development.

December, 2008

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Concluding Remarks

•Countries are increasingly using NCs as entry point for CC integration into development and sectoral planning

•However, these efforts are still at early stages

•More support and capacity building is needed to strengthen linkages between NC and decision-making processes at different levels

•Next UNFCCC Guidelines should pay closer attention to assisting countries in bringing policy dimension into the NCs more effectively

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Thank You

Slide Number 1Slide Number 2Slide Number 3Linking NCs with National Development ProcessesSlide Number 5Slide Number 6Slide Number 7Slide Number 8Slide Number 9Use of NC outputs and process - ExamplesUse of NC outputs and process - ExamplesUse of NC outputs and process - ExamplesChile's National Climate Change Action PlanConcluding RemarksSlide Number 15