26 September 2016

The last in the series of European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi) regional workshops took place in Dar-es-Salaam on 14th and 15th September. Ecbi organises three workshops annually for junior developing country negotiators from Asian, East and West African countries.

The workshop was attended by over 40 participants from 20 countries, many of them LDCs. Most were government officials and non-lawyers, and totally new to the UNFCCC process, whilst a few had previously attended some negotiation sessions. The training combined formal presentations on a number of thematic areas relevant to the climate negotiations post-Paris with practical interactive exercises, such as mock negotiation sessions, a session on technical and legal language and one on how to develop a group position scenario.

LRI, who is one of ecbi lead organisations, presented on mitigation, INDCs and Review Mechanisms, and helped facilitating the mock negotiation sessions.

The last ecbi training event this year will be a pre-COP training workshop for LDC negotiators.

11 June 2016

This week LRI lawyer and executive director Christoph Schwarte is in Thailand to support government and civil society in analysing the content and implications of the new Paris Agreement on climate change. On Tuesday, he gave a presentation at a workshop hosted by the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation, GIZ and the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning of the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.

The workshop concluded a one-year project to provide legal and technical analysis and support to the delegation of the government of Thailand in the international climate negotiations. During the course of 2015, in the lead-up to the Paris conference, LRI prepared various briefing papers and met regularly with delegates from Thailand during UNFCCC sessions. The workshop in Bangkok focused on the Paris outcomes and the resulting next steps in the climate negotiations.

In addition, Christoph also took part in the first ever climate justice expert meeting for Asia, in Khao Yai on Thursday and Friday. The meeting was organized by the Climate Justice Programme and the Heinrich Böll Foundation to develop legal strategies, particularly in light of research that quantifies the cumulative historic greenhouse gas emissions and the proportionate responsibility of large fossil industry, at the national, regional and global level. Participants discussed ongoing cases and developed new initiatives to strengthen coalitions of lawyers and advocacy organizations in Asia and the Pacific.

9 May 2016

LRI was invited again to participate in a workshop organised in Douala, Cameroon on 2-4 May 2016 by COMIFAC, the Central African forests Commission. The objectives of the workshop were to unpack the Paris Agreement and its implications for the Congo Basin countries (Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and São Tomé and Principe) in order to enable these countries to put together an action plan of implementation of decisions taken in Paris, to review the countries’ INDCs and to prepare for the next meeting of the subsidiary bodies (SB44).

It was attended by approximately 30 participants, made up of the countries’ national focal points, lawyers from the relevant ministries, REDD+ national coordinators, COMIFAC representatives and funding partners.

LRI presented on the outcomes of the Paris Agreement, commitments made by developing countries, entry into force process and next steps, whilst others focused on climate finance and INDCs analysis.

This workshop was followed by another one on 5-7 May, organised by the Conférence sur les Ecosystèmes des Forêts Denses et Humides d’Afrique Centrale (CEFDHAC), a platform for the protection and sustainable management of Central African forests that serves as a forum for discussion and coordination between the main stakeholders, including goverment representatives, parliamentarians, the private sector, NGOs and other civil society organisations. Participants numbered 50. LRI presented on the main elements of the Paris Agreement and implications for countries in the region.

21 April 2016

Working under the umbrella of the European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi), LRI with the International Institute of Environment and Development and Oxford Climate Policy has published a “pocket guide” on the Paris Agreement.

The Guide summarizes the key provisions of the new climate agreement, which was adopted in Paris on 12 December 2015, at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It will be open for signature by governments in New York from tomorrow (22 April 2016).

The Guide is meant as a companion for government and non-government participants in the negotiations under the Ad Hoc Group on the Paris Agreement (APA), and also for national-level stakeholders who wish to understand what the Paris Agreement means for national-level implementation.

An electronic version can be downloaded here: https://legalresponse.org/legaladvice/pocket-guide-to-the-paris-agreement/ For hard-copies, please contact Anju Sharma, Head of the ecbi Publications and Policy Analysis Unit: Anju.Sharma@OxfordClimatePolicy.org

18 April 2016

The european capacity ­building initiative (ecbi) organised a two-­day capacity ­building workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 14 to 15 April 2016 for junior developing country negotiators. LRI is one of the ecbi lead organisations and LRI lawyer Subhi Barakat presented at the workshop on a variety of issues.

The workshop brought together participants from eight different countries, including least developed countries and a small island developing state. Half of the participants were women, and half of the presenters were from developing countries.

Few participants were already familiar with the climate change regime, few were lawyers and almost none had attended negotiation sessions in the past. The workshop covered all aspects of the climate negotiations and focussed on the Paris Agreement and next steps for developing countries.

LRI facilitated sessions on mitigation and practical negotiation skills. Participants were encouraged to engage in discussions and also took part in mock drafting and negotiation sessions.