BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - The United Nations seeks to involve young professionals from developing countries in implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through a new fellowship programme run by two key UN agencies based in Bonn, Germany.
According to a press statement released in Bonn on 15th May, the fellowship initiative will offer work experience in a vibrant international policy environment at the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC).
“Young, qualified professionals from developing countries represent one of our best resources for building capacity for climate action,” said Patricia Espinosa, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary.
“As we move with determination into the new era of implementation of the Paris Agreement, we need to equip young people with the skills to green economies and build resilience, and this initiative is an example of how organisations can prepare young people for the challenges of the future,” she said
The United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) will help identify and recruit the young professionals, and provide them with an exciting research environment.
Upon completion of the scheme, the “Early Career Climate Fellows” will be able to work in their home countries or internationally, deploying the valuable experience and insights they have gained in Bonn.
“We will also be building their skills so they can better secure employment in the work-place. Many of the young people we will be supporting need real-life experience to get on the job ladder. What we are doing is also a living example of Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) under Article 6 of the original Convention. It ranges from education to training in respect to climate change: So we are securing a great, dynamic human resource and giving back with a positive, empowering experience in partnership with UNU,” said Espinosa.
Professor Dr. Jakob Rhyner, Director of UNU-EHS, said: “There are 1.8 billion young people in the world today, more than ever before in human history, and about nine out of ten live in developing countries. Efforts for sustainable development and climate protection must build on their enthusiasm and ideas. The UNFCCC-UNU-EHS Early Career Climate Fellowship Initiative offers young people from developing countries a unique possibility to start their career at the interface between international climate policy development and research.”
Academically outstanding young graduates from developing countries who are less than three years into their careers, especially women from least developed countries, are encouraged to apply.
Fellowships may last from six months to two years and the work experience with the UNFCCC will be tailored to fit the specific skills and backgrounds of each fellow.
The collaboration will get underway following the UN Climate Change Conference, which runs to 18 May.
BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Multilateral Development Banks and other financing institution have been urged to boost climate finance in support of new international agreement and sustainable development pathways especially in Africa in line with the COP 21 Paris Agreement;
The call was made at climate discussions in Bonn May 13, 2017, on how Multilateral Development Banks can mobilize and deploy climate finance in developing countries to permit them carryout the different projects outlined in their NDCs.
According to Dr Stephen Singer, CAN International, multilateral banks have crucial parts to play in achieving the goals set out in the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Delivering on the Paris Agreement is all about radical economic transformation and fostering sustainable, low-carbon and strong growth. Economic policy and finance, and this multilateral banks and finance ministries, will be at the core,” he said.
Experts called for a strong partnership between multilateral banks and the provide sector to be able to stand the challenges of growing urbanization and emerging markets.
“What these financial institutions do over the next two decades will determine whether we succeed or fail to deliver this global agenda.
During that time, the size of the world’s economy is likely to double, and the amount of infrastructure will probably increase by a still larger factor, with strong urbanization and growth in developing and emerging market countries,” noted Peter Bett of the Department of Business, Energy and industrial Strategy, Robert Moore UK.
According to conference participants,investments in sustainable infrastructure will not only help us to realize the goals of the Paris Agreement but will also allow the different countries meet up with the challenges to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.
Gareth Philips, of the African Development Bank Group pointed out that the world is set to invest aboutUS$90 trillion in infrastructure over the next 15 years. That means spending will increase from about US$3.4 trillion per year to about US$6 trillion with most of this investment located in developing and emerging market countries.
“If this infrastructure is not sustainable, and instead locks in high-carbon activities, the world will lose its chance of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of holding the rise in global mean surface temperature to well below 2 Celsius degrees above its level in the middle of the 19th century,” he said.
Sustainable infrastructure is not only low-carbon but it is also climate-resilient. It must be able to cope with the current climate and with those impacts of climate change that we cannot now avoid. And it is clean, efficient and smart.
All new infrastructure, including for energy, transport, water and communications, must be sustainable, as was emphasised by the report on ‘The Sustainable Infrastructure Imperative’ by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate in October. This is particularly true for cities and towns, which already host the majority of the world’s population.
Urbanisation is taking place at a remarkable speed. Only sustainable infrastructure can help to reduce pollution, waste and congestion, and ensure that we can live and breathe in our cities. If we get the infrastructure right, we will have resilient and inclusive towns and cities
where poor people have a chance to raise their living standards and escape from poverty. And those in rural areas will see new opportunities to move, and more will be able to access, energy, transport and water supplies.
Participants agreed that the ‘nationally determined contributions’ to the Paris Agreement can help each country to have sustainable and inclusive growth and to reduce poverty. But noted that building low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure will drive growth, and will allow countries tackle together economic development, and climate change mitigation and adaptation, the two being intimately intertwined in both urban and rural areas.
“ Success in financing climate resilience projects will create huge economic opportunities. But there are also great dangers in delay and severe risks of locking in unsustainable infrastructure, said Said Chakri of the Moroccan NDA secretariat to GCF.
“The urgent need to invest in sustainable infrastructure is a central issue for both finance ministries and for the national and regional development banks,” he added.
Experts noted that finance ministries should be concerned with growth, investment, policy and resources because only credible policies will raise finance, through both direct revenue and economic growth itself.
Mithika Mwenda of PACJA raised the issue of the absence of pre-prior consents of local communities that have never been respected by investors, citing the case of Congo Basin in Africa.
“The question is whether this is going to affect financing of projects in these areas or not. Most of these investments are profit driven but there is need to balance investments and climate change challenges,” Mithika said.
This entails the need for consistency, clarity and credibility, creating an environment that is conducive for both investors and the indigenous communities, he added.
BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Civil society organisations at the ongoing Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) conference in Bonn have called on the UNFCCC to kick out representatives of big oil, gas and coal corporate organisations from the climate negotiation room, citing conflict of interest.
Article 12 of the Paris Agreement explicitly allows public participation in the climate policy making process, thus inviting everybody on board, including representatives of major fossil fuel corporations.
But now, civil society groups say that this is likely going to derail the entire process. “There will be no progress with involvement of the industry, because such players are profit oriented,” said Jesse Bragg, the spokesperson of the Corporate Accountability International.
On 12th May 2007, the UNFCCC released a report based on one of the sessions during the conference, where participants had expressed concerns about involvement of such multibillion dollar corporate groups, arguing that they were likely going to use their financial capabilities to influence global policies on climate change.
According to the report published on the UNFCCC website, some participants stressed that enhancing the engagement of non-Party stakeholders must not undermine the legitimacy and integrity of the UNFCCC process.
To that end, one group proposed that the UNFCCC process should adopt a definition of conflict of interest in the same manner it was adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in to safeguard public health policy formulation especially when it involves issues to do with tobacco.
According to Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, such actors with conflicts of interest have been locked out completely due to similar reasons cited by climate lobby groups.
The WHO Article states; “In setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law.
“This is the kind of protection we are looking for, when we are talking about climate change,” said Kathleen Roof also of Corporate Accountability International, noting that some of the biggest fossil fuel corporations knew more than 20 years ago that social and environmental devastation would follow in their footsteps, but they sought to deepen their pockets at any and every cost.
The same view is held by the umbrella of African civil society organisations on climate change, otherwise known as the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).
“By all means, we must have all fossil fuel corporate organisations off the climate negotiation table because they have always been an impediment to the process,” said Mithika Mwenda, PACJA Secretary General.
“We have seen them influence the Presidency of the United States of America, and given their money power, they will definitely bribe their way to ensure that their interests are taken good care of, despite the impact such decisions may cause to the environment,” said Mithika.
According to Corporate Accountability International, such business organisations are already represented at the UNFCCC through different accredited groups.
However, according to Sam Ogallah, also of PACJA, these groups are already recognized under the Paris Agreement, and that cannot be changed. To that effect, it means that civil society groups will need to employ innovative tactics to bar them from influencing the process.
BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - The Bonn climate talks entered high gear amid growing speculations about the present and future outcome of the Paris Agreement.
At a side event organised by civil society organisations on May 9th, participants expressed fears at declarations made by the Donald Trump administration, including no funding for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Green Climate Fund, Clean Technology Fund and the Strategic Climate Fund, calling for immediate review of the Clean Power Plan and reversing several of Barack Obama’s moratoriums on climate change.
They said such declarations will have a direct impact on addressing climate change globally and especially in the US.
“The slash of funding will have a direct impact on the implementation of climate action plans or Nationally Determined Contributions, much of which is conditional on the support of developed countries,” said Augustine Njamnshi of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, PACJA during presentation of a study on Renewable Energy Initiative for Africa.
Africa’s dream to fight against poverty with the renewable energy initiative launched at COP21 Paris he said risk being frustrated by Donald Trumps administration, participants noted, calling on other developed countries to come to Africa’s rescue.
“Considering the developments in the US, developed countries must step forward and fill up or compensate for the US. Developed countries would need to mount pressure on developing ones to undertake necessary steps to address the issue,” he said.
It should be recalled that the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative is aimed towards the implementation of 10 GW of new and additional energy generation capacity by 2020 and at least 300 GW by 2030.
This ambitious efforts experts say could pave the way forward for a low carbon development pathway for all African countries.
Thus the need to fight against any obstacle towards Africa’s lofty energy provision plans.
Participants stressed that the principles of equity and differentiated responsibility are not open to negotiations or reinterpretations and that there should be no backtracking on climate commitments.
However, considering the nature of climate negotiations and the behaviour of developed countries reflected in their extreme reluctance to increase their climate ambitions or the support to developing countries, they expressed the need for the negotiations in Bonn to take a more open and transparent twist.
Negotiations, over the years, have also pointed out the fact that issues critical to developing countries, including means of support, adaptation, loss and damage and agriculture will suffer huge setback as the focus of the developed countries is more mitigation-centric.
Such concerns were reflected by developing countries represented by G-77 and China, LMDC, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Arab Group, Alliance of Small and Island States (AOSIS) and BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) group in the opening plenary, calling on the negotiators to seek balance between different elements of the Paris Agreement
BONN Germany (PAMACC News) - The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is offering an opportunity for young people from around the world to showcase what they are doing to combat climate change, through a video competition.
“We are absolutely delighted to be launching the Global Youth Video Competition for the third year running,” Nick Nuttall, the Spokesperson and Director of the UNFCCC said during the launch of the contest at the ongoing climate talks in Bonn, Germany.
Two winners of this contest will get a trip to the UNFCCC in November (COP23), where they will join the UN communications team as videographers and reporters. The competition is opened to young people between the ages of 18 and 30 and videos must be submitted by 18 August 2017.
“I am even more excited about viewing the video shorts that young people from across the globe will be making and sending in, in order to win a place at the UN climate conference in Bonn in November," said Nuttall.
Last year, a total of over 180 entrants from 77 countries submitted short video reports on their personal climate actions and activities to raise public awareness, of which 40 were short-listed.
The two categories for this year are ‘Climate friendly and resilient cities,’ and ‘Oceans and climate change.’
“With the Pacific island of Fiji presiding over the conference—COP23—I would like this year to especially urge young, creative people from small islands and vulnerable coastlines to get out their cameras and their smart-phones and submit cool, amazing and inspirational videos about how they and their communities are taking climate action,” added Mr. Nuttall.
The videos can be taken either by cameras or even smart phones, as long as they are able to communicate.
“We are seeking to inspire collaboration and learning sharing stories presented by young people that could be of interest for their peers around the world,” said Angelica Shamerina, Program Advisor with the UNDP-GEF Small Grants Programme, which is supporting the competition.
“For our programe, support of the young generation is a priority, especially on the issue of climate change given that the young people will face the most severe climate impacts and are the future leaders of efforts curb greenhouse emissions and build resilience,” she added.
The third Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change is co-organized by the United Nations Climate Change secretariat, the UNDP GEF-Small Grants Programme, and will be implemented through the Television for the Environment (tve) platform.
Submit your video here: http://biomovies.tve.org/en/
BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Civil society organisations across the globe working to fight climate change in different countries have called on governments to use the climate talks in Bonn to pick up from the ashes in Marrakech and push for progress in the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Like the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, PACJA, the Climate Action Network (CAN) and other prominent civil society groups have added their voice to that of other development actors, to see the Paris Agreement make significant progress that brings measured hope and pointed actions.
At a side event focused on ensuring robust transparency mechanism in the implementation of the Paris Agreement Framework, PACJA programme officer, Sam Ogallah emphasised on the need to leverage the expertise of Non-Party stakeholders to better ensure transparency.
Information to the press released by CAN-France at the ongoing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,UNFCCC, Climate conference in Bonn-Germany highlights the expectations of civil society groups with emphasis on the need to move forward from the ashes of COP 22 in Marrakech.
Sven Harmeling, Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator at CARE International, emphasised that ''the urgency to get the Paris Agreement off the ground is crucial given that impacts from climate change are becoming more glaring with more droughts in Africa and heat waves in India.''
He said the scale of ambition has to be commensurate with the urgency that are seen from impacts.
Speaking on the specifics of advancing work on implementation, he added, "We also need to see Parties at Bonn bring more clarity and progress on accounting modalities for climate finance which was a left-over issue from Marrakech."
Brandon Wu, policy director from ActionAid US, highlighted that as uncertainty on the US' position on the Paris Agreement continues, civil society groups urge the Trump administration to stay in the Agreement but it must also respect the spirit of the Agreement to meet the goals of Paris.
"Even at the current scenario we don't meet the goals of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees C and any move to scale down ambition will definitely not meet this goal- which is what Paris is all about," he added. There has been a remarkable push from Governors and Mayors to keep the US in the Agreement, he added.
Lucile Dufour of CAN-France spoke about the victory of Emmanuel Macron and it's implications to climate action.
"Although Macron did not make energy transition a priority during his campaign, he is unlikely to stop environment progress. Without a push from other leaders and civil society he will not increase ambition so we still have work ahead of us. He said France will keep the lead in global climate progress.
"If he is to do this he needs to adopt climate policies to increase international solidarity and domestic policies to raise ambition."
