UNITAR's Climate Change Programme will host a closing workshop for 14 Pilot Projects under the umbrella project Advancing Capacity for Climate Change Adaptation (ACCCA) to be held the 10 to 11 June 2009 at the Gustav- Stressemann Institute in Bonn, Germany. During the closing workshop, the 14 Pilot Projects from Africa and Asia will show case their results, share lessons and best practices and deliberate on post project activities to ensure continuity and sustainability of the project outputs.
Furthermore, the project’s results will be shared with the participants to the United Nations Climate Change Talks in Bonn, Germany at a side event organized by UNITAR on the 12th June 2009 at the Maritim Hotel in Bonn at 13.00P.M along the margins of the climate change talks.
Studies have identified the lack of scientific knowledge and understanding of climate risks, as being a major impediment for developing countries to address the impacts from climate change and variability.
The ACCCA Project and the selected Pilot projects therefore, sought to address this need by bringing together stakeholders and the scientific community to develop climate risk communication materials that support decision making and also raise awareness among vulnerable communities. Some of the activities of the Pilot Projects included the prioritization of climate risks, the assessment of available knowledge about risk adaptation including opportunities and also the development and testing of risk communication materials that would assist in the decision making process and also increase awareness within the communities.
To achieve these objectives technical support and guidance were provided by a Climate Change Science Team and a Climate Change Risk Assessment and Risk communication team of experts four centers of excellence located in both the developing and developed world.
The Pilot Project countries included: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Bangladesh, India, Mongolia, Nepal and the Philippines. Scientific teams were from Environment Development Action in the Third world (ENDA) ENDA-TM Dakar, Climate Systems Analysis Group of the University of Cape Town, South Africa (CSAG UCT ), the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Oxford (UK) and the International START Secretariat, Washington D.C and its regional centers in Bangkok (Thailand) and Beijing in China
Some of the key development sectors addressed through the Pilot Projects included; Health disaster management, agriculture, pastoralism, fisheries, responsive water management and mainstreaming climate change into sustainable development.
The activities of this project were made possible through the generous contributions of The European Commission Europe Aid Co-operation Office (AIDCO), The UK Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Netherlands Climate Assistance Programme (ETC NCAP) and the Switzerland Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).
For more information about the projects, Please visit the ACCCA website.