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Under the Convention, the developed country Parties and other
developed Parties included in Annex II shall take all practicable steps to promote,
facilitate and finance, as appropriate, the transfer of, or access to, environmentally
sound technologies and know-how to other Parties, particularly to developing countries
to enable them to implement the provisions of the Convention….. (Article
4.5). This commitment is echoed in similar provisions under the Kyoto Protocol.
Parties have taken decisions to promote the development and
transfer of environmentally sound technologies at each session of the COP. At
COP 4 (Buenos Aires, November 1998), as part of the "Buenos Aires Plan of
Action", Parties decided to give new impetus to this issue by adopting decision
4/CP.4, which requested the Chairman of the SBSTA to establish a "consultative
process" on technology transfer. Decision 4/CP.4 stated that the consultative
process should consider a list of issues and questions set out in an annex to
the decision, as well as any additional issues and questions subsequently identified
by Parties. The process should then make recommendations on how the issues and
questions should be addressed in order to achieve agreement on a "framework
for meaningful and effective actions" to enhance the implementation of Article
4.5 of the Convention.
At COP 5 (Bonn, October/November 1999), Parties decided to extend the consultative
process to COP 6 (The Hague, November 2000). As part of the consultative process,
the SBSTA Chairman, with the assistant of the secretariat, organized three regional
workshops, one for Africa, held in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, from 16
to 18 August 1999, one for Asia and the Pacific, held in Cebu, the Philippines,
from 17 to 19 January 2000, and one for Latin America and the Caribbean, held
in San Salvador, El Salvador, from 29 to 31 March 2000, along with an informal
consultation held in Golden, Colorado, USA, from 2-4 August 2000. Throughout the
process, a number of regional technical background papers and country papers were
prepared and presented all of which generated many useful information and ideas
for the development of a framework for meaningful and effective actions to enhance
the implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention. In addition, the consultative
process was able to draw on information and analysis contained in the IPCC
Special Report on Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology Transfer.
In tandem with the consultative process, the secretariat has
also continued its work on technology transfer, including through the development
of its technology information system and web pages, the launch of a pilot project
on a technology cooperation project inventory, and the preparation of technical
papers, for example, on coastal adaptation technologies.
At COP 6 in The Hague, Parties failed were not able to reach
agreement on a package of decisions under the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, and
a negotiating text on the development and transfer of technologies, along with
draft texts on other issues, was forwarded to a resumed session of COP 6 for further
consideration.
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At COP 6 part II (Bonn, July 2001), Parties adopted the Bonn
Agreements on the Implementation of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, registering
political agreement on key issues, including on the development and transfer of
technologies. Parties also completed their work on a detailed decision on this
issue, based on the Bonn Agreements, which was forwarded to COP 7 (Marrakesh,
October/November 2001) for adoption.
The Bonn Agreements provide for the establishment of an Expert
Group on Technology Transfer, to be nominated by Parties. The Expert Group will
comprise 20 experts, including three members from each of the developing country
regions (Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean), one from
the small island developing states, seven from Annex I Parties and three from
relevant international organizations. According to the detailed decision completed
at COP 6 part II, the objectives of the Expert Group are to enhance the implementation
of Article 4.5 of the Convention, to facilitate and advance technology transfer
activities and to make recommendations to this end to the SBSTA. COP 12 (2006)
will review the progress of work and the terms of reference of the Expert Group.
The detailed decision completed at COP 6 part II also sets forth
a "Framework for meaningful and effective actions to enhance the implementation
of Article 4.5 of the Convention". The framework covers five key themes and
areas for meaningful and effective actions, namely: Technology needs and needs
assessments; Technology information; Enabling environments; Capacity-building;
and Mechanisms for technology transfer. Actions to implement the framework, in
addition to the work of the Expert Group, include the organization of meetings
and workshops, the development of methodologies to undertake technology needs
assessments, the development of a technology transfer information clearing house,
and actions by governments to create enabling environments that will improve the
effectiveness of the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, and a list
of capacity building activities needed for the enhancement of technology transfer
under the Convention..
SBSTA 14 (meeting together with COP 6 part II) also heard an
oral report from the secretariat on progress in developing a technology information
system. Based on this report, the SBSTA invited Parties to contact the secretariat
to obtain a password that would enable them to access and test the system.
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