Tag: adaptation committee

Can COP 17 conclude with a fully fleshed out adaptation package? ECO has a few healthy ideas. A good place to start is the Adaptation Committee negotiated under the AWG-LCA.

The comprehensive draft decision text from Panama provides the basis. The AC should be operationalised and start its work as soon as possible, and it will help if Parties have nominations for members in Durban.

Parties should agree on a strong role for the AC under the guidance and authority of the COP, and allow it to report directly to the COP rather than only through the SBI. While consideration in the SBI could be productive, e.g. during the Bonn sessions when the COP does not meet, the SBI should not become the supervisory body of the AC.

The section on composition contains a proposal for two advisory members each from southern and northern civil society. It is not relevant which Parties made this proposal; rather we encourage delegates to look at the value of the meaningful engagement of civil society.

There is a wealth of supporting examples. For example, in the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, civil society representatives are full board members with voting rights. For the Committee on Food Security in the FAO, there is a mechanism whereby CSO representatives from different constituencies (fisherfolk, farmers, herders, landless, etc.) are selected and have full access and the right to talk but not vote in the procedures of the Committee. Currently, there are four CSO members as well as some from the private sector.

Further, it would be beneficial to assure a developing country majority in the AC,including specific seats for LDCs and SIDS, as well as gender balance.

Finally, Parties should ensure that the AC can provide recommendations to other institutions, including those of the financial mechanism, thereby contributing to a more coherent approach to adaptation and widening the application of conclusions and experience gathered by the AC.

ECO has noted that adaptation negotiators have worked seriously to make decent progress on the Adaptation Committee in the last days here in Panama. The time for adding new text suggestions should be over now. Parties should sort out differences, produce the negotiating text and leave only the political issues to be tackled in Durban.

COP 17 taking place on African soil is just seven weeks away and ECO is probably not the only one to note that adaptation is crucial for the African continent. Therefore insufficient progress on this issue would be an bad signal for Africa and the whole world. In no circumstances should adaptation be held hostage by other issues and used as a bargaining chip. The Durban conference must advance the implementation of the Cancun Adaptation Framework, which ECO acknowledges is not an easy task. In Durban, Parties need to finalize the modalities and guidelines of National Adaptation Plans; operationalize the Adaptation Committee; concretize the work programme on Loss and Damage and make specific decisions on activities for the next phase of the Nairobi Work Programme. ECO recommends that those few Parties that have for so long stalled and delayed the negotiations on adaptation change their behavior, otherwise they will be to blame for any failure of the adaptation track.

ECO hopes that parties will come to Durban prepared to reach an agreement on adaptation that will give Africa, the world’s poor and vulnerable peoples and communities and their ecosystems the much needed confidence to combat climate change.

Good news, everybody! ECO is pleased to see that negotiations on the Adaptation Committee have started and that there are a number of convergences. Important elements for its procedures will be broad expertise, openness to observers, and a clear mandate to strengthen adaptation under the Convention. ECO also suggests that non- governmental stakeholders should be members to the Committee to harness their expertise.

In ECO ́s view, making the Adaptation Committee the driver for more coherence on adaptation under the Convention and for raising the profile of the issue will require direct reporting to the COP (with no detour through the SBs), which some developed countries question. There are good arguments for a direct link. Regarding effectiveness and efficiency, direct reporting of the Committee to the COP is one less loop to go through, than if it reports to SBI/ SBSTA and then subsequently to the COP. But there are also legal arguments. According to article 7.2(i) of the Convention, the COP can establish subsidiary bodies where deemed necessary, in addition to the SBI and SBSTA, which were created by the Convention itself. It has been done so in the past, when inter alia the LEG, the CGE and the EGTT were created, but without automatic hierarchy under SBI/SBSTA. The COP established the Adaptation Committee through the Cancún decision, so it can be regarded as another subsidiary body according to Art. 7.2(i). In terms of the LEG, the founding decision stipulates explicitly that it would report to SBI and SBSTA, but the Cancún decision on the Committee, on contrary, does not even mention the SBI or SBSTA. Since the Committee has been founded by a COP decision, reporting to the COP is the logical step to take. Another argument is that some of its provisions ask it to directly provide information for consideration by the COP. Taking these together, ECO is strongly convinced that the correct decision on this is clear, and will be taken in order to not be an obstacle in operationalising the Adaptation Committee in Durban.

The adaptation agenda is fully packed, and there are a number of crucial issues to move forward in order to deliver a good outcome in Durban. Coming to Bonn and feeling the summer sun on their skin, delegates should imagine they were to mix the ideal adaptation cocktail, which would provide refreshment as well as substantial taste. Of course, some alcohol to get the spirits high may also be allowed. So here are some key ingredients for the recipe of a cocktail which delegates may enjoy consuming next Friday before they go home:

Advance the Adaptation Committee to promote coherence on adaptation under the UNFCCC, as well as identify key gaps related to adaptation finance within the financial mechanism, and provide recommendations for further action directly to the COP. A number of around 20 members seems reasonable compared to similar bodies. Members of the Committee should be adaptation and development experts and include non-governmental stakeholders such as civil society and research organisations with relevant expertise and experience.

Agree on a Work Programme on “Loss and Damage” that will provide the basis for substantial progress in Durban and that eventually will enable the establishment of a mechanism to be presented to COP 18 for its adoption, resulting in the scaling-up of disaster risk reduction and risk management, the establishment of an international climate risk insurance mechanism, and a rehabilitation mechanism to deal with long-term climate Loss and Damage.

Advance modalities for national adaptation planning. Modalities and guidelines should follow an inclusive and integrated approach, taking into consideration vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems. They ought to be flexible so that they acknowledge national circumstances and facilitate the use of already existing strategies. It should be agreed in Bonn to launch a “call for submissions” on the modalities and guidelines, and to request the Secretariat to organise a workshop before Durban.

Also, a further phase of the Nairobi Work Programme should be agreed upon to ensure dissemination of knowledge on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation practices reaching local levels of government, civil society and communities.

Finally, delegates should ensure that adaptation is adequately reflected in the modalities of the overall review of the Cancún Agreements.

Oh one last thing - we recommend resisting the temptation to add ingredients, which would water down the cocktail - “response measures”. This can nullify all the achievements you have made in mixing this great cocktail.

And, in conclusion, imagine this great prospect: the more progress you achieve here in Bonn, the more time you may have in Durban to enjoy the beautiful South African beaches.