Over the last two decades, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has become one of the major international bodies searching for scientific and political agreements between developing and developed countries. As a result of the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, new types of commitments and responsibilities have emerged for signatory parties. The National Determined Contributions (NDCs) appear as a key instrument for outlining what will be done in terms of climate policy in each country.
Latin American countries have made promising progress in adaptation to climate change, but they still remain highly vulnerable to its effects. For that reason, they are taking seriously their need to strengthen their capacities. Several countries in Latin America are currently reviewing their NDCs, which will eventually influence climate strategies not only at the national level through NDCs and national adaptation plans (NAPs), but also at international negotiations, where developing country parties will look for support for their implementation.
There are still important leadership gaps regarding the key elements essential to this implementation. Such gaps are mainly related to a lack of capacity and knowledge on the part of climate decision-makers and negotiators. This project is designed to fill these gaps by strengthening the capacities of climate change policymakers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Uruguay in the use of scientific evidence for the development of climate policy, negotiations, and reporting on the implementation of plans.
This project will build on work initiated in Africa, where IDRC supports scientists that inform climate negotiators. In order to enrich this mutual learning, this project will also work in full synergy with the IDRC-supported project called “Strengthen the use of scientific evidence to inform climate policy, negotiations, and implementation in Africa” by sharing experiences, best practices and expertise to stimulate interregional climate actions in the framework of the upcoming Conferences of the Parties of the UNFCCC.
