UNEP Risø Centre participated in the Development and Mitigation Forum in Cape Town from 27 – 29 January, 2014. Convened and supported by the MAPS Programme, the Energy Research Centre of the University of Cape Town and the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, the forum aimed at climate mitigation and development researchers, practitioners and experts from the developing world to present and discuss their work and experiences on mitigation and development.
Karen Holm Olsen and Zyaad Boodoo from URC presented papers on sustainable development (SD) and NAMAs at this gathering of researchers and policy makers. Ms. Olsen presented her work on sustainable development impacts of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions by development countries. Her paper argued the need for a new integrated approach to assess the SD impacts of NAMAs; an approach that consists of SD indicators, procedures for stakeholder involvement and safeguards against negative impacts. Five elements of this new approach were suggested based on emerging approaches and methodologies for monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) of green house gas reductions and SD impacts of NAMAs.
Mr Boodoo, on the other hand, presented a review of sustainable development assessment literature that could be applied to NAMAs.
The forum provided a conducive platform to bring together research on development and mitigation with the need for action in policy formulation. ‘The forum provided an engaging and inspiring setting, for not just researchers but also development activists and policy makers who can contribute from the beginning of a research process by contributing in the process of data collection, the construction of better data, so as to facilitate better research results that ultimately contribute to better policy making,’ Ms. Olsen observed.
The Forum saw the participation of several speakers including three prominent key note speakers – Sergio Margulis, Anand Patwardhan and Surya Sethi.
The Forum is part of a series of collaborative events hosted by Southern research institutions to stimulate conversation around global and national climate governance of development and climate change, both in the context of local planning and in the lead up to negotiation of the 2015 UNFCCC agreement.
To read learn more about the URC presentations, you can contact Ms. Karen Holm Olsen at kaol@dtu.dk.