The LVEMP II Civil Society Watch E-bulletin

A Monthly from the East African Sustainability Watch Network comprising: Uganda Coalition for Sustainable
Development (UCSD), Tanzania Coalition for Sustainable Development (TCSD) and Sustainable Environmental
Development Watch Network (SusWatch Kenya)

April 2018\

UCSD brings the Talanoa Story from Uganda to Bonn: How do we get there?
Governments are meeting for the next round of UN climate
change negotiations from 30 April to 10 May to further
develop the guidelines for implementing the landmark 2015
Paris Climate Change Agreement.

One of the key objectives of this May session is holding the

Fiji-led „Talanoa Dialogue‟, facilitated by the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
secretariat and to benefit from the presence of high-level
officials from Fiji.
INFORSE Network members: Kimbowa Richard (Left) and Dumindu Herath (Srilanka) to be part at the first Talanoa
Dialogue on May 6, 2018 in Bonn, raising the need for local solutions to raise raising ambitions of the countries’ NDCs
For the first time, such a dialogue will facilitate the engagement of countries and a range of stakeholders in a
vital international conversation around ambition now and in the future. We are looking forward to
participating in the dialogue and ensure concrete and solutions-oriented results from the Talanoa Dialogue

The increasing occurrence of extended droughts followed by floods (that are currently happening across East
Africa), raises confidence in the Talanoa Dialogue intent for many Ugandans and East Africans. It is a ray of
hope to many who face the wrath of water, food and energy scarcity and entire livelihoods due to climate
change. From a Ugandan perspective we expect the Talanoa Dialogue to be a moment for a candid
conversation towards raising ambitions of the countries‟ NDCs. In order for all of us to reach our common
goal of keeping temperature increased well below 2 degrees and preferably to 1.5 degrees.

Therefore in the Uganda Talanoa story to be told by Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development‟s
Programme Manager – Kimbowa Richard, we view future development (as poverty reduction) at local and
national levels to combine climate and development strategies, including improved NDCs and long-term, low
emission development strategies. But local solutions exist to raise ambition of NDCs, build community
resilience & adaptive capacities and also reduce poverty.

We therefore need efficient use of available public resources and mobilization of more private resources for
local and national climate action; and innovative engagement mechanisms with the diverse stakeholders
Kimbowa Richard adds that, „ In order to achieve the above vision, the UNFCCC process, leaders and other
stakeholders need to support full incorporation of gender equality and women‟s empowerment in local,
national discourse and actions as per the Gender Action Plan. In addition, through the GCF, the UNFCCC
needs ti expand the range of partners involved in the delivery of climate finance‟.

The UNFCCC process also needs to incentivize the market to shift to a low carbon economy and support
institutional capacity building for various actors.

Ultimately, we view the Talanoa Dialogue as a moment to gather the requisite „energy‟ to restore hope among
vulnerable communities, and garner momentum through 2018 ahead of COP24 milestone., where climate
action is expected to be significantly stepped up, so as to prevent any further human suffering.

 More about the Talanoa Dialogue: https://talanoadialogue.com/

 UCSD input to the Talanoa Dialogue’s Question - How do we get there?:
https://bit.ly/2KA8Tg7

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 The LVEMP II Civil Society Watch E-bulletin
A Monthly from the East African Sustainability Watch Network comprising: Uganda Coalition for Sustainable
Development (UCSD), Tanzania Coalition for Sustainable Development (TCSD) and Sustainable Environmental
Development Watch Network (SusWatch Kenya)

Communities flag out gaps for climate action in the Lake Victoria region

Participants express their view points during the Lake Victoria Forum in Kisumu April 2018.

Sustainable Environmental Development Watch, Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development and
Tanzania Traditional Energy Development Organization in partnership with two Danish Organizations-
Sustainable Energy and International Network for Sustainable Energy in collaboration with Uhai Lake Forum,
organized for a forum for stakeholders to discuss avenues for accelerating climate action and enhanced
resilience against climate change within the Lake Victoria Day.

The forum was attended by 55 participants drawn from policy makers, civil societies, academia, media,
farmers and community members working and living along the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB). The theme of the
Forum was: ‘Accelerating Climate Action within the Lake Victoria basin’

The Forum was held against the backdrop of the fact that the communities around the Lake are the principal of
natural resources. At the same time they are increasingly the victims of climate change brought about by
human and natural causes. It is therefore important that their viewpoints are incorporated in all these policies
and in the implementation of projects while continuously being provided with climate information and climate
proofing systems.

The objectives of the workshop were o provide a platform for Lake Victoria Basin Communities to share their
contribution towards addressing climate change; to encourage EAC development plans to incorporate small-
scale community climate change adaptation and mitigation actions for effective poverty reduction; and to
provide and disseminate information on the implementation of NDC in the East Africa Community.

Among the issues that emerged from the discussions during the Forum, communities pointed oput the low
disaster management and preparedness level within the LVB. This is attributed to the low resilience of the
communities, especially against floods, droughts, disease outbreak and famine.

In addition, the need for the LVB community to engage in alternative socio-economic activities for income
generation was recommended to reduce on the raising uncertainty on livelihoods due to climate change and
environmental degradation.

The Forum also called for coordination and synergy among all the stakeholders in the LVB comprising of
duty bearers, civil societies and other organized groups, academia, media, and communities need to be
enhanced for collective implementation and achievement on accelerating climate action.

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 The LVEMP II Civil Society Watch E-bulletin
A Monthly from the East African Sustainability Watch Network comprising: Uganda Coalition for Sustainable
Development (UCSD), Tanzania Coalition for Sustainable Development (TCSD) and Sustainable Environmental
Development Watch Network (SusWatch Kenya)

PIPA Project partners make proposals to the UNFCCC May 2018

negotiations

UNFCCC climate change conference – also known as the SB48 Intersessional– will take place in the German
city of Bonn. It is the first of two intersessional meetings to be hosted this year in preparation for the
increasingly important 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) that will be taking place in Katowice this
December. COP24 has been dubbed as, “Paris 2.0” by the UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa in
a speech underlining the critical importance for ambitious action at the next COP.

The negotiations in this session on the Paris Agreement Work programme (PWP). This will establish rules
and procedures (Rulebook) needed to fulfill the Paris Agreement‟s ambition.

These negotiations are taking place in the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) which
oversees these discussions that has a central role in the finalisation of the PAWP. Parties (countries) now have
a set of informal papers for all the key issues for the PAWP (i.e. NDC guidelines, finance, transparency
framework, global stocktake, etc) and have the task of turning these lengthy documents into formal
negotiating text – with the aim of adopting the final rulebook at COP24 in December 2018.

The informal nature of these documents, however, means they are open-ended. They have no agreed content
and Parties can continue to add, subtract or disagree with any part of the text. This was not an unexpected
outcome from COP23, but it means that negotiators have set themselves up for a busy and intense 2018.

Therefore, the negotiations during May intersessional will provide an indication of whether the Paris Rule
Book will be finished at COP24 in December. Progress is key to meet this deadline, and to make the Paris
Agreement work in practice.

SusWatch Kenya, TaTEDO and UCSD aspPartners working under the Project to Promote Implementation of
the Paris Agreement (PIPA) in East Africa – through a pro-poor focus, urge UNFCCC Parties to work hard for
progress in negotiations. They also urge for specific improvements that will make the PAWP a better vehicle
for meeting the climate targets and combine it with development.

 Read the recommendations from the PIPA Project Policy brief from:
https://bit.ly/2HNYrnN

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