Climate Negotiators from LDCs Sharpen Data, Diplomacy Skills Ahead of Paris Meet

27 Jul 2015, Bangkok, Thailand - A United Nations Development Programme training to help Least Developed Countries participate more effectively in international climate change negotiations commenced on Monday, with representatives from more than 20 countries slated to attend. 

The bi-lingual training is targeted at ‘up and coming’ negotiators from LDCs and is being jointly conducted with UNITAR, UNEP, and IIED, with funding from the Global Environment Facility. 

It is part of an ongoing two-year programme to provide technical support to governments in developing capacities and skills for intergovernmental negotiations and diplomacy. 

Ongoing intergovernmental negotiations are expected to deliver a global agreement on climate change when world leaders meet in France later this year for COP21, the UN Conference on Climate Change. 

"The big picture outcome we’re aiming at is for LDCs to be better equipped to voice their views and interests as a group at international climate negotiations. For this they need greater capacities to collect, interpret and disseminate climate related data to inform their positions,” said Gordon Johnson, who leads UNDP’s work on Resilience and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific. 

The series of trainings is also expected to help LDCs tackle institutional and technical barriers at the national levels, which often hinder the effective follow-up of decisions and agreements made by to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.   

The intention is not only to build individual capacities of senior, young, and female negotiators, but also to strengthen the coordination and cooperation among the LDCs, to ensure that their voices have greater collective impact on global negotiations. 

The programme is a result of a Conference of Parties 17 decision, which recognized that sufficient progress on some elements of the LDC work programme had yet to be realised and that specific support was required to enable LDCs to participate effectively in the UNFCCC process. 

Follow the story on Twitter using the hashtag #LDCnegotiateCC. 

For more information about this initiative, please visit UNDP's website

Photo: The training is targeted at ‘up and coming’ negotiators from LDCs and is being jointly conducted with UNITAR, UNEP, and IIED, with funding from the Global Environment Facility. Photo: UNDP