Resources

In the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, Least Developed Country (LDC) Parties have obligations to deliver (albeit with some flexibility) alongside all other Parties. These include fulfilling reporting requirements and having to communicate forward-looking plans to address climate change in their countries, among other tasks. Taking into account their specific needs and special situations, provisions for support have been (and continue to be) adopted for LDCs to help them undertake these commitments. This toolkit is a collection of short briefs on the ways LDC Parties engage in the UNFCCC process and which provisions adopted to date help them undertake their work.

Increasing evidence of the differential impacts of climate change on women and girls in recent decades has led to significant progress in addressing the interlinkages between gender and climate change under the UNFCCC. The two-year Lima Work Programme on Gender launched at COP20 aimed to advance gender equality mandates across all areas of the climate negotiations. It is due to be reviewed at COP22 in Marrakech in November 2016, presenting an opportunity for parties and observers to further strengthen and advance gender equality under the UNFCCC. Women and girls in the countries represented by the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group are disproportionately dependent on climate-sensitive resources for their livelihoods and have unequal access to land, water and other resources and productive assets.

The Least Developed Counties (LDCs) have worked with the two branches of the UNFCCC’s Technology Mechanism — the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) — for several years. This paper presents information the LDC Group representatives on the TEC and CTCN Advisory Board have gathered on how LDCs are currently using technology initiativesm and programmes. It aims to better understand the barriers and challenges LDCs face in implementing technology development and transfer and explores what changes to existing technology and financial institutions could lessen these barriers and challenges. 

This guide provides practical information to help prepare various reports and communications under the UNFCCC as well as take part in the relevant review processes. It also provides a glimpse into the on going negotiations to develop the enhanced transparency framework under the Paris Agreement and some of the implications for those preparing reports and communications for their countries.

Building Capacity in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to Participate Effectively in Intergovernmental Processes’ is a multi-stakeholder global programme implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Environment (UN Environment), funded through the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Programme execution is supported by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
Attending UN climate negotiations for the first time is daunting, especially if it is a Conference of the Parties (COP) session. With so many meetings happening in parallel and using unfamiliar jargon and acronyms, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process is notoriously complex. This toolkit will help new delegates, in particular from the Least Developed Countries, navigate the session. It focuses on the process, rather than the content of negotiations, and offers some practical tips for getting through the days (and nights).
Language is a powerful thing. In multilateral agreements, the choice of words is always strategic and purposeful. Particularly in the context of the climate change negotiations, the great amount of acronyms, buzzwords and legal terms can be complex, overwhelming and misleading too. This pocket book aims to be a supporting tool for a better understanding and application of the language in the UNFCCC negotiations

The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) represent 48 of the 197 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Not only are they the world’s poorest economies, they are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Since 2001, they have acted together as the LDC Group in UNFCCC negotiations. But as well as providing assistance, this has aggregated individual country experiences, opinions and interests, creating challenges, particularly when trying to remedy individual countries’ struggles to participate, monitor and implement decisions back home. This paper aims to address this disconnect by analysing LDC feedback on how they prepare, analyse, report and disseminate information on the UNFCCC negotiations.

At the end of 2015, the 196 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gathered in Paris for the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21). On 12 December, they adopted the Paris Agreement, contained in Decision 1/CP.21. Marking the successful end to negotiations that started at COP17 in Durban four years earlier, the agreement is an important milestone for the poorest members of the international community. This paper provides an analysis of the Paris Agreement and the relevant sections of Decision 1/CP.21 that give effect to the agreement, based on the positions of the 48 Least Developed Countries.

 
By: Achala Abeysinghe, Caroline Prolo
There are various legal options for the form of the final outcome from the COP21 to be held in Paris that comes under the three broad options listed in the Durban Decision.

The impacts of climate change increasingly threaten communities around the world, particularly in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). National adaptation plans (NAPs) allow developing countries to identify their adaptation needs; develop and implement strategies and programmes to address those needs; and enable actions to protect vulnerable communities. But developing a NAP is not always straightforward. This paper considers the benefits and challenges of implementing a national mandate to provide the impetus to develop a NAP, assign responsibilities and encourage cross-sectoral participation, exploring the legal forms such a mandate could take and sharing experiences from LDCs undergoing the NAP p

Evaluation report of the first training in July 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand, held to strengthen the ‘emerging’ negotiators’ understanding of the mechanics of the negotiating process within the UNFCCC, and to help them effectively support their delegation on the main issues. The training focused on specific negotiation skills and ways in which these skills can best be used to further the national objectives as well as those of the wider LDC negotiating group in the context of climate change negotiations.

This seminar was designed and delivered by UNITAR as part of a broader UNDP / UN Environment global programme to build the capacity of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to participate effectively, both individually and as a group, in intergovernmental climate change processes. 

This is the first of several training programmes to be delivered over the course of 2015 and 2016 to build the capacity of LDCs to effectively participate in intergovernmental climate change processes.