October 2020 (Panama City, Panama) - HIs Excellency Mr. Milciades Concepción, the Minister of Environment of Panama shares his perspective on the important role that regional collaboration can play in enhancing momentum for climate action.

Share an overview of successful initiatives of Panama to promote climate action: Panama has always led ambitious efforts for climate action at the international level. In the early 2000s, we were one of the proponents of what is now known as the REDD+ Framework. This semester, we chair AILAC, a negotiating block of 8 ambitious Latin American countries that seek to advance the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of the 1.5ºC Target as per the guidance of the best available science. Panamá and all of our AILAC partners firmly believe that despite the challenges posed by the Pandemic to the UNFCCC traditional process dynamics, these challenging times present a unique opportunity for Parties of all regions to be bold and to show with action and good faith their commitment to step up and face the climate crisis.

 How? Through bold NDCs that fit in a long -term pathway towards carbon neutrality by 2050, the engagement of all sectors and stakeholders towards that transformation starting now and the engagement in the necessary dialogues with our Partners , making every effort to ensure that all Parties are able to engage fruitfully in a virtual setting. In Panama, for example, we are currently drafting an executive decree to establish the Reduce Your Footprint National Program to guide sustainable recovery and the pathway to carbon neutrality.

 We are also advancing in the design of a domestic carbon market to further incentivize entrepreneurs and align our economy with a new sustainable and resilient paradigm. All AILAC countries are working to raise ambition and we are starting at home. We have a lot of expertise in our region, but we need a more robust stream of finance and technology to fast track progress and enable the necessary investments to enact the low carbon and resilient development transformation

We are not seeking out handouts, we are seeking out partners to ensure our survival as vulnerable countries, and to catalyze development and growth that is coherent with the demands for transformation and investment that tackling the climate crisis demands. Finance that is transformational, that is not mere development assistance, finance for the future not the past. This Is now truer than ever, where recovery from COVID would put to the test what our investment paths are going to be, and so what kind of future we are aiming at. Panama has greatly advanced in the past year thanks to south to south cooperation efforts with other ambitious leaders in the region, which is helping us avoid mistakes our neighbors made in the past. Thus, allowing us to speed up implementation of our efforts for decarbonization and resiliency. This is what ambitious climate action looks like and this is what we can accomplish if we work together. Latin America is preparing to lead and Panama proudly stands behind this vision.

Information/progress on the Panama´s NDC to promote climate action:

We are launching a national virtual consultation process for the update of our NDC and the definition of a more ambitious contribution. The COVID-19 crisis has made evident the need to reconfigure our governance and economic structures towards sustainability, resiliency and inclusiveness. We cannot let anyone behind in this transition to a new economic model. Everyone must feel empower to contribute and propose solutions to the climate crisis. Our consultation efforts will seek to include the voices of vulnerable and disenfranchised communities. The NDC will be the guiding pillar of our pathway to a new Panama where everyone will have access to a life of high quality supported by an environment protected and valued for all the services it provides. However, in order to sustain a vision of this magnitude we must build and strengthened the operative and managing structures that will support the implementation of the NDC. Therefore, our contribution will greatly highlight all our efforts to build a development and climate transparency framework that will allow decision makers to assess in real time advancements in different sectors and geographical regions, all this powered by machine learning. This is what a new governance structure looks like. This is what technology can help us achieve. This is the kind of revolutionary and far reaching commitments Panama seek to reflect in its NDC. 07

Importance of regional collaboration and role of the RCC Panama for the region:

Panama is privileged to count with the offices of the UNFCCC´s Regional Collaboration Center in our capital city. We have over two years working closely with the RCC. In fact, the RCC supported us for the development of the organizational component of the National Reduce Your Footprint Program through CIACA founding.  Since its inception, the RCC push us to think bigger and lead. In 2017, for example, the RCC supported Panama to establish and intensive climate academy for youth leaders, the first of its kind in the region. After the first academy, the founding cohort of leaders establish the Youth for Climate Foundation, the first civil society organization in Panama focused on climate action. The leaders that we trained in the first two academies have advanced in their climate leadership journey and have become part of government organizations, civil society organization or are leading efforts in the business world. All this work has been possible due to the unwavering support of the RCC and its affiliated initiatives. Currently, we are gearing up to design the municipal component of Reduce Your Footprint and the RCC will provide support for this effort. The RCC has proven pivotal for the strengthening of relationships among countries and the fostering of south to south cooperation venues to learn from each other and fast track ambitious climate action.

For more information, please contact rccpanama@unfccc.int