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1. Guidelines for preparation of national communications from non-Annex I
Parties
In accordance with Article 4, paragraph 1 and Article 12, paragraph 1, each Party shall
communicate to the Conference of the Parties, through the secretariat, the following elements
of information:
(a) A national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all
greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, to the extent its capacities
permit, using comparable methodologies to be promoted and agreed upon by the Conference of
the Parties.
(b) A general description of steps taken or envisaged by the Party to implement the
Convention.
(c) Any other information the Party considers relevant to the achievement of the objective of
the Convention and suitable for inclusion in its communication, including, if feasible,
material relevant for calculations of global emission trends.
Guidelines for the preparation of initial national communications from non-Annex I Parties
were adopted at COP 2 in Geneva in 1996. COP 5 (Bonn, 1999) initiated a process of reviewing
the guidelines, with the aim of improving them and established a Consultative Group of
Experts on National Communications from non-Annex I Parties (CGE) in order to improve the
process of preparation of national communications by non-Annex I Parties. The CGE made major
contributions to the review of the guidelines. At COP 8 (New Delhi, 2002) Parties adopted
revised
guidelines (
decision 17/CP.8).
2. Guidelines for preparation of biennial update reports (BURs) from non-Annex I
Parties
COP 17 adopted the guidelines for the preparation of biennial update reports from non-Annex I
Parties contained in annex III of decision
2/CP.17, and also decided the following:
(a) That non-Annex I Parties, consistent with their capabilities and the level of support
provided for reporting, should submit their first biennial update report by December 2014;
the least developed country Parties and small island developing States may submit biennial
update reports at their discretion;
(b) That in using the Guidelines, non-Annex I Parties should take into account their
development priorities, objectives, capacities and national circumstances;
(c) That the Guidelines should be used as a basis to provide guidance to an operating entity
of the financial mechanism for funding the preparation of biennial update reports from
non-Annex I Parties and, in the case of the first biennial update report, to the Global
Environment Facility;
(d) To urge non-Annex I Parties to submit their requests to the Global Environment Facility
for support, in a timely manner;
(e) That enhanced support for the preparation of biennial update reports should be ensured by
developed country Parties and other developed Parties included in Annex II to the Convention
by means of resources, in accordance with Article 4, paragraph 3, of the Convention, on the
basis of agreed full-cost funding;
(f) That non-Annex I Parties shall submit a biennial update report every two years, either as
a summary of parts of their national communication in the year in which the national
communication is submitted or as a stand-alone update report; the least developed country
Parties and small island developing States may submit biennial update reports at their
discretion;
(g) That the first biennial update report submitted by non-Annex I Parties shall cover, at a
minimum, the inventory for the calendar year no more than four years prior to the date of the
submission, or more recent years if information is available, and that subsequent biennial
update reports shall cover a calendar year that does not precede the submission date by more
than four years;
(h) That these guidelines should be reviewed and revised as appropriate, in accordance
with decisions of the Conference of the Parties.
3. Modalities and guidelines for international consultation and analysis
(ICA)
COP17 also adopted the modalities and guidelines for international consultation and analysis
contained in
annex IV of decision 2/CP.17, and decided the following:
(a) That the first rounds of international consultation and analysis will be conducted for
developing country Parties, commencing within six months of the submission of the first round
of biennial update reports by developing country Parties;
(b) That the frequency of participation in subsequent rounds of international consultation
and analysis by developing country Parties, based on their respective capabilities and
national circumstances, and special flexibility for small island developing States and the
least developed country Parties, will be determined by the frequency of the submission of
biennial update reports;
(c) To revise the modalities and guidelines prescribed herein based on experiences gained in
the first round of international consultation and analysis, no later than 2017;
(d) That small island developing States and the least developed country Parties
may undergo international consultation and analysis as a group of Parties at their
discretion.
4. GEF operational procedures for the expedited financing of preparation of NCs and
BURs from non-Annex I Parties
The GEF has prepared operational procedures for the expedited financing of
national communications from non-Annex I Parties to assist eligible countries to formulate
and submit proposals based on COP 8 guidelines. Under these operational procedures, up
to US$405,000 is made available to each non-Annex I Party for the preparation of its national
communication. The GEF also provides an additional US$15,000 per country for
stocktaking exercise and stakeholder consultations in preparation of the project proposals.
The GEF prepared policy guidelines for the financing of biennial update reports for Parties
not included in Annex I to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(GEF
Guideline). As per these policy guidelines, non-Annex I Parties can, for the
preparation of their biennial update reports, access up to US$352,000 through a GEF Agency or
via direct access.
5. COP 19 adopted the composition, modalities and procedures of
the team of technical experts referred to in decision 2/CP.17, annex IV, paragraph
1:
By decision
20/CP.19, the COP requested the following:
(a) Parties to nominate technical experts with the relevant qualifications to the UNFCCC
roster of experts;
(b) The secretariat to maintain and update the UNFCCC roster of experts;
(c) The Consultative Group of Experts on National Communications from Parties not
included in Annex I to the Convention to develop and organize appropriate training programmes
for nominated technical experts taking into account annexes III and IV to decision
2/CP.17, based on the most up-to-date training materials of the Consultative Group of
Experts on National Communications from Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention,
with a view to improving the technical analysis, taking into account the difficulties
encountered by Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention in the preparation of their
biennial update reports.
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Toolkit for non-Annex I Parties on establishing and maintaining institutional
arrangements for preparing national communications and biennial update reports
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Toolkit (2581 kB)
The toolkit aims to assist non-Annex I Parties in establishing and maintaining the most
suitable national institutional arrangements to meet the enhanced reporting requirements for
their national communications and BURs, in terms of the quality of the content and the
frequency of submission.
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In response to a request by SBI 18 (Bonn, 2003), the secretariat
prepared a user manual to facilitate the use of the UNFCCC guidelines annexed to decision
