Objective  

The South-South Capacities Day will be held in the 5th Capacity-building Hub at COP28. The day is designed to foster discussions on experiences and opportunities aimed at enhancing effective capacity-building in the global south, particularly through south-south and triangular cooperation. The main goal is to create a shared-space to discuss challenges, lessons learned, and best practices, strengthening ongoing initiatives and guiding future actions to solve capacity gaps in the global south. The agenda was carefully designed to trigger new connections, synergies and southern-led insights. 

Topics  

The South-South Capacities Day counts with a diverse range of actors committed to bridging the climate capacity gaps in the global south and brings a multistakeholder approach to cooperation towards effective capacity building in adaptation, loss and damage and inclusive climate action. 

The South-South Capacities Day gathers different initiatives and topics around capacity building in the global South: 

• The Adaptation Fund and the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Center will showcase new solutions to identify needs and gaps and to enhance capacity building to M&E adaptation and loss and damage. 

• The Global Resilience Partnership will take further stock on how to implement and monitor Locally-Led Adaptation (LLA). 

• The Climate Group, in partnership with WRI India and Race To Zero - The UN Climate Change High-Level Champion will develop on a peer to peer learning among  participants on subnational capacity building best practices, while identifying areas of collaboration 

• The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Center will explore the south-south cooperation and learning in climate transparency. 

• The International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) will discuss the capacity needs and gaps in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and showcase effective tailored actions and models. 

• The UNDP, UNEP and UNFCCC will share from a point of view of UN agencies how to build capacities for enhanced climate ambition within the inclusion of circular economy and NDCs. 

Impacts of climate change are disproportionately affecting the global south, exacerbating inequalities and underscoring the urgent need for a just transition. Many countries, especially those in the global south, face similar climate-related challenges, such as fragile institutions, limited human and institutional resources, and delays in technology development, urging thus the need to strengthen capacity building.  

Building capacities to meet the Paris Agreement goals is a critical step for almost any country in the global south, across sectors and identity groups. Nevertheless, human, financial and technological resources to build individual, institutional and systemic capacities are scarce in developing countries. Global cooperation becomes a critical strategy to build needed capacities, and a south-south cooperation presents special benefits for a just transition  
 

Cooperation with stakeholders facing similar challenges but in different contexts generates learning and innovation, accelerating the speed and depth of change. A south-south cooperation approach promotes resource sharing, leading to more efficiency in capacity building. Furthermore, it often stands on horizontal grounds of collaboration, which values context specific and country-owned responses, ultimately contributing to more inclusive and effective global response to climate change. 

In this sense, south-south and triangular cooperation enable stakeholders from the global south to share their experiences, knowledge, and solutions, fostering a collaborative approach to capacity building. Across seven sessions, the thematic day aims to deliver inspiring examples and thought-provoking debates around the meaning of south-south and triangular cooperation to drive a just, equitable climate transition.