D=15202/tableName=mediaRelease/overideSkinName=newsArticle-full.tpl
Tue, 19 May 2009
Apia , Samoa -- Ensuring that the voice of Pacific Island countries is heard at the
international level is critical for the success of the climate change negotiations. This was
one of the many lessons stressed during a week of negotiation training and consultations
at SPREP Headquarters in Apia, Samoa.
The world is now only six months away from the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change 15th Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP15) in Copenhagen,
where a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol is slated for adoption. In preparation
for the meeting, Pacific Island countries party to the UNFCCC received in-depth training
in negotiations strategy and techniques.
Dr Ian Fry, a prominent climate change specialist and a negotiator for the Government of
Tuvalu conducted sessions to help prepare participants for key issues that will be
addressed at COP 15.
SPREP’s Climate Change Adviser Espen Ronneberg is pleased that this training has
brought many new faces to the climate change negotiations table. He feels it will help
strengthen the capacity of the Pacific at the negotiating table by providing additional
trained negotiators that will have a strong understanding of the issues to be discussed.
“The training component provided valuable inputs in negotiation techniques, as well as
expert knowledge on preparation for the very complex meeting arrangements at the
international level. In addition, the Pacific has had an opportunity to also discuss the key
issues that are still under negotiation, which will allow them to gather information back
home to address concerns arising from those key issues,” Ronneberg said.
The training is an important component of activities planned during the 2009 Pacific
Year of Climate Change. “Our Century’s Challenge, Our Pacific Response” is the theme
of the year, which hopes to build momentum in the Pacific before December’s meeting of
the COP in Copenhagen.
Ronneberg believes that strengthening the climate change negotiation skills of Pacific
island country parties to the UNFCCC will also contribute to greater participation in
climate related discussions at both the national, regional and international level.
In addition to the negotiations training, the Pacific held consultations with the European
Commission on the implementation of the Pacific-EU climate change declaration in the
Pacific Islands. This represents a new and additional financing opportunity for climate
change work in the region, and could expedite action on the ground in the Pacific on
responding to the adverse effects of climate change.
The training was held 11 – 15 May at the SPREP Compound in Apia.