An event highlighting the achievements of
the Consultative Group of Experts (CGE), and experiences and lessons learned by developing
countries’ in the preparation of their national reports, national communication
(NC) and biennial update report (BUR), was held on May 2, 2018, during the Bonn
Climate Change Conference 2018.
The CGE Chair, Mr. Thiago de Araujo Mendes, presented key achievements and activities
of the CGE in assisting developing countries in implementing the existing measurement,
reporting, and verification (MRV) arrangements
under the Convention from 2014 to 2017. The CGE, one of the oldest expert
groups and key technical support element under the Convention, has updated
4 sets of training materials, developed a technical tool and training programme
for experts to support the technical analysis
of the BURs; organized 11 regional hands-on training workshops where a total of 443 national experts were trained; and held 16 webinars that reached 728 participants. The CGE also has its own digital platform to
share every activity called CGE
e-Network.
The Chair noted that there is still great need to enhance national
capacities of developing countries to effectively participate in the existing MRV
arrangements under the Convention and get ready for the enhanced transparency framework
under the Paris Agreement, with a focus on putting in place
sustainable institutional arrangements.
Representatives from Tuvalu, Georgia, Jordan,
and Viet Nam shared their experiences and lessons learned in the preparation of
their national reports. They also
outlined some of the key next steps identified in the preparation of the next
national reports.
(L-R) Ms. Jihye Choi and Mr.
William Kojo Agyemang-Bonsu, UNFCCC secretariat;
Mr. Thiago de Araujo Mendes, The CGE Chair; Ms. Litiana Talake, Tuvalu; Ms.
Dina Kisbi, Jordan; Mr. Kakhaberi Mdivani, Georgia; Ms. Ngoc
Tran, Viet Nam.
Ms. Litiana Talake, a representative from Tuvalu, presented that one of the key
challenges identified in
preparing NCs and BURs was a
limited or lack of accurate and reliable data across all sectors. To overcome
such challenge, Tuvalu developed a centralized
information management system, and promoted information
and knowledge sharing amongst stakeholders involved in climate change
adaptation and mitigation. They intend to use their NC as the
basis for policy development for climate change.
Mr. Kakhaberi Mdivani, a representative from Georgia, highlighted that the absence of legal framework for
climate related data management and limited access to the data necessary for
higher tier methods emerged as a key challenge for Georgia. As the next steps,
Georgia is going to switch to the 2006 Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for its BURGeorgia will strengthen dialogue with the team of technical
experts (TTE) members since it was very helpful to share ideas as well as to
have inputs from them that can help improve the quality of the subsequent
reports.
Ms. Dina Kisbi, a representative from Jordan, provided an overview of the
institutional arrangements for reporting, technical and capacity-building needs;
and outcomes of the technical analysis of its BUR. In addition, she highlighted several new aspects that
were introduced to prepare its first BUR. This included collaboration with
non-governmental organizations and the
switch to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse
Gas Inventories. She highlighted that a national MRV system will be established
to support reporting by 2020 and the
country is in the process of preparing its next BUR and
NC.
Ms. Ngoc Tran, a representative from Viet Nam, identified several challenges for Viet Nam in preparing its national reports, such
as lack of understanding of reporting
guidelines, standardized process for data
collection and quality assurance, and technical
capacity and coordination among institutions and experts involved. She highlighted the need to improve institutional
arrangements including the set-up of domestic MRV system and noted the need
for additional in-country training for preparing the report, and timely and
sustainable financial and technical support.
During the ensuing discussion,
participants addressed, among others:
how to retain technical expertise gained from trainings in national
institutions; the role of documentation; and the process of conducting quality
control and quality assurance of the data collected. The interactive discussion
with the audience led to an emphasis on the need for developing countries to
put in place national system to implement MRV arrangements in a sustainable
manner, and thereby to encapsulate and build upon the country knowledge and
technical capacity.
If you missed the event, you can see the webcast in here.
The presentations are available here.