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cbiNational Institutional Arrangements

for Climate Change ActionMitigation and Adaptation

Luis Gomez-EcheverriInternational Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

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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

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Focusing on Local Institutions and GovernanceWhy the Urgency

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

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Current Institutional Landscape:Very Diverse but

There are some common features

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 Governance ChallengesCommon Trends and Problems to Addres(1)

Weak institutional structures to manage climate change

Lack of clarity of functions of climate change governance

Perceived lack of real priority for climate change – often driven solely by funding interest which in some cases distorting national priorities

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

Weak coordination at national level

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Current Governance ChallengesCommon Trends and Problems to Address (2)

Proliferation of funds with diverse administrative and other procedures creating major burden and diverting resources from other key priorities

Very few funding efforts and other support for capacity building

Weak monitoring and evaluation capacity and thus performance evaluation is weak

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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The Case for StrongNational Institutions and Funding Entities (1)

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 StrongNational Institutions and Funding Entities (2)

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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In the area of Finance -Many Relying on International Institutions

Others creating their own National Funding Entities(Partial Indicative List)

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

• 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

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National Skills RequiredSimilar to Any Finance

but Some More Complex and New

• Oversight Helping ensure mainstreaming to develop.

Helping establish/manage perform criteriaEstablishing monitor. & review systems

• Financial Sup. Receiving/managing funds from global funding mechanisms w/ different demands

Managing the program cycle of spec fundsLeveraging additional CC resources

• Standard Set. Developing relevant eligibility criteria

Ensuring standards aligned to nat priorities• AccountabilityPerformance reporting different & complex

Capacities for maintaining registers and reporting to global entities

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Conclusions Greater focus needed at climate change negotiations on resources and other

needs for strengthening local governance and institutions in developing countries 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

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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