Thematic dialogue on South-South cooperation on technologies for adaptation

On 6 April 2016, the Technology Executive Committee (TEC) held a thematic dialogue on enablers and barriers to South-South cooperation on technologies for adaptation. The thematic dialogue took place as part of the 12th meeting of the TEC.

Objectives

The purpose of holding the thematic dialogue was to deepen the understanding on this topic and to share and learn experiences among countries regarding South-South cooperation on technologies for adaptation. More specifically, the objectives of the thematic dialogue were to:

• Share and learn experiences among countries with regard to South-South cooperation (SSC) and Triangular cooperation (TrC) related to technologies for adaptation in the areas of agriculture and water;
• Identify enablers, barriers and contributing factors  to successful development, replication and transfer of technologies for adaptation in the SSC and TrC context;
• Identify needs, process, and actions for effective SSC and TrC, taking into account different elements and specific characteristics of each region;
• Highlight potential recommendation of the TEC with regard to policy which may contribute to successful SSC and TrC for development and transfer of technologies for adaptation.

Outline

The thematic dialogue was the continuation of the work of the TEC in the area of technologies for adaptation that the TEC has undertaken since 2014, which included a workshop on “Technologies for Adaptation” and the development of two TEC Briefs on technologies for adaptation in the water sector and in the agricultural sector. The thematic dialogue comprised the following sessions:

• Session I:   Setting the context – Roles and contribution of SSC/TrC to technologies for adaptation;
• Session II:  Sharing experiences & lessons learned to promote enablers and address gaps to facilitate and upscale SSC/TrC in the development and transfer of agriculture and water technologies;
• Session III:  Potential areas of actions and recommendations to promote SSC/TrC on technologies for adaptation;
• Session IV:  Wrap up & way forward.

Documents

• Final agenda
• Background paper on South-South cooperation on technologies for adaptation for water and agriculture
• Summary report of the thematic dialogue

Webcast

The thematic dialogue was webcast.

Presentations

Session I

• Background paper on SSC and TrC on technologies for adaptation:
  Ms. Karin Vazquez – Researcher and Advisor in International Cooperation for Development

• Panel discussion on an overview of the roles and contribution of SSC & TrC to technologies for adaptation from various perspectives:
  Ms. Daniela Medina – Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture
  Mr. Youba Sokona – South Centre
  Ms. Masako Ogawa – Global Environment Facility
  Mr. Juan Hoffmaister – Green Climate Fund

Session II

• Presentation of experiences/case studies by practitioners and experts:
  
  Case Study 1: Dr. Andrew Noble – International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry areas (ICARDA)
  Case study 2 - Experiences from the Caribbean: Mr. Carlos Fuller – Caribbean Community Climate Change Center
  Supporting requests on technologies for adaptation through SSC - Experiences from the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN): Mr. Jason Spensley – CTCN

Session III

• Promoting SSC on technologies for adaptation: role of global mechanism and international communities:
  
  Dr. Teresa Liu (via webex) - United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation

• Breakout groups addressing guiding questions:
  
  Group 1: What would be required for the setting up of sustainable SSC & TrC processes?
  Group 2: What could be areas of interventions by the TEC, TM and other stakeholders?
  Group 3: What could be the recommendations by the TEC to policy makers to enhance replication and upscale potential of SSC and TrC?