Distr.

GENERAL

FCCC/SBI/1996/4

30 January 1996

Original: ENGLISH

SUBSIDIARY BODY FOR IMPLEMENTATIONSecond session

Geneva, 27 February - 4 March 1996

Item 4 (b) of the provisional agenda

1. Article 8.2 of the Convention requests the secretariat to facilitate assistance to the Parties, particularly developing country Parties, in the compilation and communication of information required in accordance with the provisions of the Convention (see especially Articles 4.1 and 12.1), and to ensure the necessary coordination with the secretariats of other relevant international bodies.

2. The Conference of the Parties (COP), at its first session, took note of the following conclusion, which had been reached in Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee at its eleventh session (see FCCC/CP/1995/7/Add.1, section III (b)):

"Bearing in mind the views expressed by representatives, and without prejudice to the guidance that the Conference of the Parties may provide in the future, the interim secretariat was requested to continue to facilitate the provision of technical and financial support to Parties, in cooperation with its partners, and to periodically report back to the Conference of the Parties on progress achieved, so that further guidance could be provided."

GE.96-

3. In this context, the secretariat has prepared the present progress report on the activities undertaken in the area of technical and financial support for consideration by the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). The SBI may wish to take note of and comment on the information herein.

4. Activities regarding information exchange focus on supporting the preparation by non-Annex I Parties of national communications, 26 of which are due as early as March 1997 (see annex I to this document). In this context, the goal of the secretariat is to strengthen the role of the Climate Convention information exchange programme (CC:INFO) as a service both to developing country Parties and to multilateral and bilateral organizations as a source of information on various aspects of the implementation of the Convention.

5. CC:INFO disseminates information that is divided into several modules, including:

(a) Detailed profiles of approximately 60 multilateral and bilateral organizations which are able to provide financial and technical assistance to Parties in the implementation of the Convention;

(b) Summary information, divided into country profiles, on approximately 250 activities relating to climate change. Information is given on enabling activities and response measures, with details on where undertaken, and by whom. Taken together, these activities are representative of the total of all climate change activities implemented by Parties not included in Annex II;

(c) Information on the due dates of the national communications of Parties;

(d) Information on climate change related events, such as meetings of the COP and its subsidiary bodies, workshops and seminars.

6. This modular approach will allow the secretariat to develop additional CC:INFO modules for other relevant subjects as needed (for example, the exchange of experiences on climate change projects, as well as information on technology transfer and activities implemented jointly).

7. A preliminary appraisal of Phase One of CC:INFO (A/AC.237/90/Add.1), indicated that CC:INFO is responding to the needs of Parties - particularly Parties not included in Annex II - requiring information on available international assistance. CC:INFO is also meeting the information needs of individuals and organizations working on climate change issues including the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

8. In cooperation with the staff of the GEF and its Implementing Agencies, a new classification system for climate change activities, in particular enabling activities, has recently been developed by the secretariat. The introduction of this system facilitates the identification of the issues involved in climate change projects, and the objectives they seek to achieve, with related benefits in terms of information exchange, comparability of data, and so forth.

9. In January 1996, the March 1995 CC:INFO report was updated and published. In all, more than 500 individuals and organizations now receive printed material from CC:INFO. In an effort to reduce the printing and shipping costs associated with the production of this material, new dissemination strategies are being developed.

10. These strategies include putting greater emphasis on electronic dissemination of information. In this context, two updates to the above-mentioned CC:INFO report were distributed by electronic mail during the period June-October 1995. In November 1995, after a two-month development period, information contained in CC:INFO was published on the World Wide Web (WWW). The information posted is updated weekly and reflects the information base published in the CC:INFO printed material.

11. Facilitating assistance for training and capacity building has always been central to the work of the interim secretariat on the facilitation of technical and financial support. The main activity in this area so far has been the GEF-funded United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project CC:TRAIN (training programme to support the implementation of the Convention), carried out by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and jointly developed by UNITAR and the Convention secretariat.

12. CC:TRAIN is about to start on its second phase and is providing assistance to 18 country Parties in the implementation of the Convention at national as well as regional levels. A progress report on this project is attached as annex II to this document.

13. Given the priority for the preparation of the initial national communications by non-Annex I Parties (see due dates in annex I to this document), the Convention secretariat has taken steps to facilitate increased assistance to non-Annex I Parties, if they so request. Preparatory work is being undertaken with countries to better define the demand for such assistance, as well as with the GEF and partner United Nations agencies and other international and national organizations to ensure that such demands can be met in a timely and cost-effective manner. An informal consultative forum (CC:FORUM) has been particularly useful in this regard (see paragraphs 15 and 16 below).

14. The work of the secretariat in this area also anticipates the need for assistance for the preparation of national communications of developing country Parties.

15. In this context, the secretariat has initiated an informal consultative forum for the exchange of experience on climate change project development, implementation and follow-up (CC:FORUM) pursuant to the ideas that were presented to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee at its eleventh session (see A/AC.237/90/Add.3). The objective of the forum is to bring participants together to share experiences, opinions and ideas on how to develop and implement climate change cooperative activities using information from CC:INFO as the basis for the exchange of information. Participants in the forum include persons from developing countries and from countries with economies in transition who are engaged in the formulation and implementation of climate change activities, as well as agencies involved in supporting the implementation of such activities, including the GEF and a number of United Nations agencies and bilateral support programmes.

16. The first regular meeting of the forum was held in New York from 8 to 9 November 1995, and was hosted by UNDP. The meeting addressed a number of issues, in particular the provision of support for the preparation of national communications. It was noted that these constitute a commitment of a recurrent nature, and that consequently the need for enabling activities may continue beyond the preparation of the first national communications. This implies that current enabling activities should be reviewed and an assessment of their results made, so that the needs of individual countries may be re-examined after the initial communications. CC:FORUM will consider ways and means of undertaking such a review and identification.

17. In addition, the secretariat attends meetings of the GEF Operations Committee (GEFOP) and gives its views on the consistency of project proposals with the Convention as well as with the guidance to the financial mechanism given by the COP. GEFOP also provides the secretariat with an opportunity to comment on the role and objectives of enabling activities in building the capacities of developing country Parties to respond to commitments under the Convention, including that of preparing national communications.

18. The secretariat is also working on the development of ideas to facilitate inter- and intra-country information networking in the context of the implementation of the Convention. With this aim in mind, discussions have been initiated with UNDP to explore ways in which the Sustainable Development Network (SDN) could be used to provide country teams with inexpensive access to electronic communication. The secretariat has also been working with the CC:TRAIN team, as well as with other partners, to ensure that activities related to the exchange of information are integrated into all projects for capacity building and enabling activities.

19. In conclusion, therefore, it can be seen that the Convention secretariat, together with its partners in the United Nations, has developed a number of activities that are available to Parties, upon request, in order to assist them in the implementation of the Convention. These programmes could be strengthened, and additional activities could be added, on request, particularly for priority areas, such as the preparation of the initial national communications of Parties not listed in Annex I to the Convention.

20. According to decision 18/CP.1 (FCCC/CP/1995/7/Add.1), many of the activities of the secretariat on the facilitation of financial and technical assistance need to be covered from "other voluntary funding". In particular, the activities outlined above for CC:INFO can only take place if the required supplementary funds can be raised. The secretariat has prepared a fund-raising proposal that will be submitted to potential contributors. This proposal is for US$2,101,000 which is consistent with decision 18/CP.1 on other voluntary funding for the biennium 1996-1997.

CONVENTION (AS AT 17 JANUARY 1996), WITH DUE DATES FOR

THEIR INITIAL COMMUNICATIONS

(listed in ascending order of due dates)

	Country name	Entry into force	Due date
1.	Algeria	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
2.	Antigua and Barbuda	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
3.	Armenia	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
4.	Cook Islands	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
5.	Dominica	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
6.	Ecuador	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
7.	Fiji	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
8.	India	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
9.	Jordan	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
10.	Marshall Islands	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
11.	Mauritius	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
12.	Mexico	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
13.	Micronesia (Federated States of)	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
14.	Mongolia	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
15.	Nauru	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
16.	Papua New Guinea	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
17.	China	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
18.	Peru	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
19.	Republic of Korea	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
20.	Saint Kitts and Nevis	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
21.	Saint Lucia	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
22.	Seychelles	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
23.	Sri Lanka	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
24.	Tunisia	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
25.	Uzbekistan	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
26.	Zimbabwe	21-Mar-94	21-Mar-97
LIST OF COUNTRY PARTIES(2) NOT INCLUDED IN ANNEX I TO THE CONVENTION (AS AT 17 JANUARY 1996), WITH DUE DATES FOR THEIR INITIAL COMMUNICATIONS (listed in ascending order of due dates) (continued)
	Country name	Entry into force	Due date
27.	Cuba	05-Apr-94	05-Apr-97
28.	Botswana	27-Apr-94	27-Apr-97
29.	Paraguay	25-May-94	25-May-97
30.	Brazil	29-May-94	29-May-97
31.	Argentina	09-Jun-94	09-Jun-97
32.	Malta	15-Jun-94	15-Jun-97
33.	Barbados	21-Jun-94	21-Jun-97
34.	Bahamas	27-Jun-94	27-Jun-97
35.	Pakistan	30-Aug-94	30-Aug-97
36.	Trinidad and Tobago	22-Sep-94	22-Sep-97
37.	Malaysia	11-Oct-94	11-Oct-97
38.	Georgia	27-Oct-94	27-Oct-97
39.	Philippines	31-Oct-94	31-Oct-97
40.	Grenada	09-Nov-94	09-Nov-97
41.	Uruguay	16-Nov-94	16-Nov-97
42.	Indonesia	21-Nov-94	21-Nov-97
43.	Costa Rica	24-Nov-94	24-Nov-97
44.	Guyana	27-Nov-94	27-Nov-97
45.	Nigeria	27-Nov-94	27-Nov-97
46.	Kenya	28-Nov-94	28-Nov-97
47.	Albania	01-Jan-95	01-Jan-98
48.	Bolivia	01-Jan-95	01-Jan-98
49.	Senegal	15-Jan-95	15-Jan-98
50.	Cameroon	17-Jan-95	17-Jan-98
51.	Belize	29-Jan-95	29-Jan-98
52.	Viet Nam	14-Feb-95	14-Feb-98
53.	Côte d'Ivoire	27-Feb-95	27-Feb-98
54.	Democratic People's Rep. of Korea	05-Mar-95	05-Mar-98
LIST OF COUNTRY PARTIES(3) NOT INCLUDED IN ANNEX I TO THE CONVENTION (AS AT 17 JANUARY 1996), WITH DUE DATES FOR THEIR INITIAL COMMUNICATIONS (listed in ascending order of due dates) (continued)
	Country name	Entry into force	Due date
55.	Egypt	05-Mar-95	05-Mar-98
56.	Lebanon	15-Mar-95	15-Mar-98
57.	Chile	22-Mar-95	22-Mar-98
58.	Bahrain	28-Mar-95	28-Mar-98
59.	Kuwait	28-Mar-95	28-Mar-98
60.	Saudi Arabia	28-Mar-95	28-Mar-98
61.	Thailand	28-Mar-95	28-Mar-98
62.	Venezuela	28-Mar-95	28-Mar-98
63.	Jamaica	06-Apr-95	06-Apr-98
64.	Oman	09-May-95	09-May-98
65.	Colombia	20-Jun-95	20-Jun-98
66.	Azerbaijan	14-Aug-95	14-Aug-98
67.	Namibia	14-Aug-95	14-Aug-98
68.	Kazakhstan	15-Aug-95	15-Aug-98
69.	Panama	21-Aug-95	21-Aug-98
70.	Turkmenistan	03-Sep-95	03-Sep-98
71.	Republic of Moldova	07-Sep-95	07-Sep-98
72.	Ghana	05-Dec-95	05-Dec-98
73.	Honduras	18-Jan-96	18-Jan-99
74.	Nicaragua	30-Jan-96	30-Jan-99
75.	Slovenia	29-Feb-96	29-Feb-99
76.	El Salvador	03-Mar-96	03.Mar-99
77.	Guatemala	14-Mar-96	14-Mar-99
78.	Morocco	27-Mar-96	27-Mar-99
79.	United Arab Emirates	28-Mar-96	28-Mar-99
80.	Syrian Arab Republic	03-Apr-96	03-Apr-99

Annex II

CC:TRAIN PROGRESS REPORT

1. In 1993, the interim secretariat and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) launched the pilot programme of CC:TRAIN in Lithuania, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe to assist these countries to implement the Convention through training, capacity building and institution strengthening. The pilot programme was funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

2. Building on the experience acquired in the pilot phase and requests from numerous developing and transition countries, UNITAR, in collaboration with the Convention secretariat and UNDP, has developed a three-year second phase with a larger funding base from the GEF and bilateral donors. Phase II is focused on assisting non-Annex I country Parties to prepare their initial communications. It is expected to start in the first quarter of 1996 in the following 18 countries:

Africa: Benin, Chad, Nigeria, Senegal

Latin America and the Caribbean: Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru

Pacific: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Samoa

3. Phase II will assist the participating countries to prepare a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, determine the best options for reducing GHG emissions, undertake studies on the possible impacts of climate change, and identify options on how best to adapt to those impacts. In addition, the policy implications of these studies will be considered and integrated, as far as possible, in the countries' current development plans as part of a broader climate change response strategy.

4. As these tasks would need to bring together many actors from different sectors over a long period of time, the programme has adopted a country team approach. This approach involves inviting the national Government to designate a host agency, which would host a team of sectoral representatives and national institutions and experts who could facilitate both the technical studies component and the policy-making process. During the three-year programme, the country team will be trained, supported financially and technically, and made responsible for:

- overseeing the technical studies

- drafting national implementation strategies and/or national communications

- implementing national workshops and conferences

- organizing consultative meetings and public education and awareness activities

5. The team will also be responsible for consulting and involving as many stakeholders as possible in the process of conducting technical studies, preparing the national communications, and developing possible follow-on projects.

6. In order to provide timely and region-specific technical assistance, the programme employs a network of regional partner institutions. The regional partners will spearhead the implementation of CC:TRAIN in the participating countries. They will also be responsible for arranging training workshops and providing technical assistance to the countries in their respective regions.

7. At the regional level, the technical training workshops to be organized by the regional partners will start in 1996 and will deal with:

- preparing national GHG inventories

- mitigation analysis

- vulnerability and adaptation assessment

8. These workshops will be intended primarily for designated experts from the participating countries but will also be open to participants sponsored by other projects or programmes. The workshops will build on materials developed by other organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, United Nations Environment Programme and the United States Country Studies Programme. A regional calendar of training events will be announced early in 1996.

9. The regional partners will also organize regional workshops to facilitate the sharing of technical studies and national implementation strategies. These workshops will bring together country teams in the regions to identify and propose possible regional action in the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The workshops are expected to take place in late 1997 and early 1998.

10. During Phase II, English, Spanish and French language versions of all CC:TRAIN materials will be produced. The United Nations training development methodology (TRAIN-X) will be employed in the development of all training resources to ensure that they can be shared with other programmes and projects.

11. Information about the programme and its progress will be made available in the future through regular articles in the quarterly Climate Change Bulletin, regional newsletters, and through the World Wide Web on the Internet.

1. ^* The list does not include Parties that are least developed countries (which may make their initial communication at their discretion) or Liechtenstein and Monaco.

2. ^* The list does not include Parties that are least developed countries (which may make their initial communication at their discretion) or Liechtenstein and Monaco.

3. ^* The list does not include Parties that are least developed countries (which may make their initial communication at their discretion) or Liechtenstein and Monaco.