By Mike Olendo
November 30, 2018 – Conservation International’s Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) Kenya participated in a Regional Climate Change Policy Dialogue convened by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in the Kingdom of Eswatini from 12 - 16 November 2018.
The regional dialogue and training brought together both State and Non-State Actors from eight COMESA Member States: Comoros, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Kingdom of Eswatini, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and provided a platform to share experiences, best practices and opportunities, discuss progress and challenges faced in implementing and meeting the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commitments, access to climate funds, technology transfer, capacity building, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification systems (MRV+). The training also focused on Green Climate Fund (GCF) proposal development and earmarking of priority areas by states.
The NDCs are commitments made by States that are signatories to the Paris Agreement which reflects their targets and ambitions to reduce Green House Gas emissions blamed for causing climate change. A key result of the Paris Agreement negotiations was the establishment of an enhanced transparency framework for tracking and reporting the progress of existing and future country commitments, with built-in flexibility included for non-Annex I Parties. For this reason, The Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) was created at the request of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to help strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of non-Annex I countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements defined in Article 13 of the Paris Agreement.
Key issues highlighted during the dialogue include:
- Need for a regional Monitoring, Verification and Reporting (MRV+): To effectively measure, report and verify countries climate actions from the eight (8) member state.
- Sustainable cities: Transport (& Infrastructure) was seen as a possible sector to reduce GHG emissions, mitigate and create adaption in many of the member states present. The opportunity lies in integrating technology to enhance connectivity - linking markets and catalyzing trade, green jobs, mass bus rapid transport systems (BRTs), piloting of electrical vehicles and walkable cities concepts.
- Carbon Credits & REDD+ Framework: This was linked to a robust MRV+ system, the need to develop REDD+ framework to ensure verifiable carbon credits are in the market as well as spur investment in carbon (blue) projects to address climate mitigation and adaptation.
The dialogue and training workshop was organized by COMESA in collaboration with the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organizations (CANGO), and the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini.
For more information, please contact Mike Olendo at molendo@conservation.org