Transcript National Institutional Arrangements for Climate Change Action

National Institutional Arrangements for
Climate Change Action
Mitigation and Adaptation
Luis Gomez-Echeverri
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
european capacity building initiative
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european capacity building initiative
initiative européenne de renforcement des capacités
ecbi
for sustained capacity building in support of international climate change negotiations
pour un renforcement durable des capacités en appui aux négociations internationales
sur les changements climatiques
Focusing on Local Institutions and Governance
Why the Urgency
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 Mainstreaming of climate change into development strategies will be
difficult if not impossible without strong local institutions and able The
promise of new wave of funding - but success will directly depend on
mechanisms/institutions in place or to be in place at the national/local level
 Success of mitigation funding entities
 and adaptation activities depends on ability to clearly assess challenges and
opportunities and strategies to address them optimally in line with local
needs and circumstances
 Questions that arise at global level - how to identify eligible activities and
how to allocate, disburse, manage, monitor, and evaluate – also come up
at the national level but with added complexity
 Several countries taking initiative to establish national funding entities to tap
resources – and many have long established arrangements for dealing with
climate change but many may need serious overhaul - big capacity
development challenge ahead
 Urgent need to shift attention to capacity building discussion - from building
capacities of accredited entities to building broader local capacities to
assess, formulate strategies, and manage climate change programs at local
level
 Very few countries have established national institutions fully dedicated to
addressing climate change (both mitigation and adaptation)
 In most countries it is the Ministry of Environment that is designated to
help in (coordination?) implementation of climate change activities
 In many countries climate change is perceived as environmental problem
and thus difficult to establish coordination across sectoral ministries
 Narrow institutional mandates shaped by interest to obtain funding rather
than broader climate change agenda that needs to be mainstreamed into
development
 Coordination mechanisms are weak or non-existent – power or legal
mandate is absent in most countries
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Current Institutional Landscape:
Very Diverse but
There are some common features
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Current Governance Challenges
Common Trends and Problems to Addres(1)

Weak institutional structures to manage climate change

Lack of clarity of functions of climate change governance
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Perceived lack of real priority for climate change – often driven solely by
funding interest which in some cases distorting national priorities
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Little capacity to mainstream climate change into dev strategies – major
gaps between action taken and national policies and strategies where
they exist

Weak structures to mobilize, capture and manage funding
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Weak coordination at national level
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Proliferation of funds with diverse administrative and other procedures
creating major burden and diverting resources from other key priorities
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Very few funding efforts and other support for capacity building
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Weak monitoring and evaluation capacity and thus performance
evaluation is weak
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Weak capacities in key and complex areas crucial for managing climate
change actions

Tendency to create new institutions to respond to demands of new
funds with complex procedures
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Current Governance Challenges
Common Trends and Problems to Address (2)
The Case for Strong
National Institutions and Funding Entities (1)
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 A focus on strengthening national institutions could help address interest of
developing countries to deal with climate change within context of their
development
 Potential for transition to new model with greater devolution and sense of
ownership
 Timely transition is good news for climate change and development:
 For development: easier to mainstream into development priorities of
countries
 For climate change: will help countries feel as legitimate partners of
global effort
 Magnitude of climate change needs can not be fully addressed by UNFCCC thus need for leveraging other funds (domestic and global) where local
institutions will play key role
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The Case for Strong
National Institutions and Funding Entities (2)
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 National institutions/funding entities are the ones best placed to ensure that
investments are mainstreamed/ integrated into development
 National institutions/funding entities are best placed to sort out different needs
and match them to the best existing instruments
 Role of national funding entities and institutions as intermediaries vis-à-vis
global mechanism and helping identify eligible activities and coordinate
implementing entities
 Magnitude of climate change needs can not be fully addressed by UNFCCC thus need for leveraging other funds
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Funding Entity
• Amazon Fund – Brazil
• Bangladesh Climate Change
Resilience Fund
• Brazil Nat. Fund CC
• China CDM Fund – CDMF
• Ecuador Yasuni Trust Fund
• Guyana REDD Invest Fund
• Indonesia CC Trust Fund
• Maldives CC Trust Fund
Purpose
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In the area of Finance -Many Relying on International
Institutions
Others creating their own National Funding Entities
(Partial Indicative List)
• To combat deforestation and promote sustainable
development in Amazon
• To help implementation climate change action plan
– particularly vulnerable communities
• To support broad range mitigation adaptation
• To support climate change action plan
• To support low carbon economy and forests
• To protect nat. forest and promote low carbon
• To mainstream and align CC to development
• To strengthen nat. capacity thru pilot program
• Oversight
Helping ensure mainstreaming to develop.
Helping establish/manage perform criteria
Establishing monitor. & review systems
• Financial Sup.
Receiving/managing funds from global
funding mechanisms w/ different demands
Managing the program cycle of spec funds
Leveraging additional CC resources
• Standard Set.
Developing relevant eligibility criteria
Ensuring standards aligned to nat priorities
• Accountability
Performance reporting different & complex
Capacities for maintaining registers and
reporting to global entities
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National Skills Required
Similar to Any Finance
but Some More Complex and New
Conclusions
 Potential for exciting new era of global cooperation on climate change with greater
sense of local ownership and mainstreaming into development strategies if it is done
right – bringing good news to both development and climate change
 Success of global cooperation and finance on climate change inextricably linked to
strong local arrangements
 Countries with strong local institutions and clear climate change strategies are posed
to contribute and benefit the most in fight on climate change
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 Greater focus needed at climate change negotiations on resources and other
needs for strengthening local governance and institutions in developing countries
 New and additional funding prospects are good news but will pose huge capacity
development challenge in developing countries that needs to be addressed and properly
funded (fast-start-financing)
 International institutions will continue to play an important BUT DIFFERENT role
creating bridges where local institutions not yet established or weak - building
capacities and providing technical assistance
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