Location
Asia-Pacific Seminar Archives
CONTENTS MENU
The Tenth Asia-Pacific Seminar on Climate Change was held in Penang, Malaysia, from 9-13 July, 2000. The Seminar was organized by the Environment Agency of Japan, Malaysian Meteorological Service, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), in cooperation with the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
1.Attendance
The Seminar was attended by experts from twenty-one countries, which included Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tuvalu, USA, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The Seminar was also attended by representatives of eight organizations: namely ESCAP, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), UNFCCC secretariat, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). A number of resource persons also attended the Seminar which included those from the authors of IPCC reports, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Det Norske Veritas, Nomura Research Institute Limited, Tokyo Gas Company Limited and JGC Corporation.
2.Objectives of the Seminar
The major objectives of the Seminar were to:
- discuss and exchange views on the Kyoto Mechanisms, with a focus on technical and institutional issues related to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), including project cycle, baselines, monitoring and verification, and registry and reporting, so that the countries in Asia and the Pacific may be able to prepare for CDM projects in advance;
- exchange experiences on technology transfer in the region and discuss ways and means for its improvement. IPCC Special Report on Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology Transfer and the outcomes of the Asia- Pacific regional workshop on transfer of technology consultative process held in January 2000 in Cebu, Philippines would be shared by the participants;
- exchange scientific information, particularly on recent IPCC activities including the reports on i) land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) and good practice guidance and uncertainty management in national greenhouse gas inventories;
- discuss and exchange views on regional cooperative initiatives on climate change in Asia and the Pacific facilitated by various international organizations. Those who have experience on Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) are also expected to deliver their views;
- discuss how to further promote the regional information network on climate change, the Asia-Pacific Network on Climate Change (APNET).
3.Conduct of the Seminar
At the opening ceremony, Dr. Lim Joo Tick, Director-General, Malaysian Meteorological Service made a welcome speech. He pointed out that the previous three years recorded the highest temperature and climate change posed changes in precipitation patterns, sea-level rise and coastal erosion. He emphasized the importance of scientific data to be obtained through global observation systems and the role of scientific bodies on climate change, such as IPCC and Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START).
Mr. Hironori Hamanaka, Director-General, Global Environment Department, Environment Agency of Japan, expressed, in his address, the sincere appreciation to the Government of Malaysia for hosting this seminar. He emphasized the importance of success of COP6 in order to facilitate the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol not later than 2002. He expressed his hope that this seminar would help the participating countries in deepening the understanding of key negotiation issues and contribute to the success of COP6.
The Hon. Datuk Law Hieng Ding, Minister of Science, Technology and Environment of Malaysia, in his address, introduced Malaysia's initiatives in addressing climate change and emphasized the need of intensifying developed countries' efforts to facilitate the transfer of and access to technologies. He hoped that the Ministers present at ECO ASIA 2000 that will be held in September, 2000, will renew their commitments to address the adverse impacts of climate change.
The Seminar elected Mr. Chow Kok Kee, Deputy Director-General, Malaysian Meteorological Service and the Chairman of the Contact Group of the Kyoto Mechanisms of UNFCCC as Chairperson, Dr. Richard Bradley, Senior Advisor for Global Change, Office of Policy, U.S. Department of Energy, USA, Dr. Damdin Dagvadorj, Scientific Secretary, National Agency for Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment Monitoring (NAHMEM), Mongolia and Mr. Gunardi, Staff to the Deputy Minister for Environmental Management, State Ministry of Environment, Indonesia, as Vice?chairpersons, and Prof. Kazu Kato, Graduate School of Law, Nagoya University, Japan as Rapporteur.
4.Opening Session
In her keynote address, Ms. Christine Zumkeller, UNFCCC secretariat, outlined the current status of negotiations towards COP6. She emphasized that the success of COP6 depended on a balanced outcome from the perspective of non-Annex I Parties and Annex I Parties. This would include: decisions ensuring adequate support and encouragement for developing countries' efforts, such as for the transfer of technology, capacity building, responses to the impacts of climate change as well as impacts of response measures; and decisions on issues, such as Articles 5, 7 and 8, sinks, mechanisms and compliance, which would lead to the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by Annex I Parties. She presented elements of the work plan up to COP6 and beyond. The participants expressed their wish that the negotiation should be intensified in order to achieve success at COP6. They pointed out that a lot of work was still required to be done and that coherence needed to be ensured.
Mr. Masakazu Ichimura, ESCAP, presented various work of ESCAP to facilitate further regional and sub-regional cooperative actions, in particular the development of the Draft Regional Action Programme 2001-2005 including a focus on climate change. This will be adopted at the upcoming Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific to be held in September, 2000. The Seminar reaffirmed that information on regional and sub-regional initiatives should be shared among the countries. Mr. Shigemoto Kajihara, Japan, introduced the outcomes of recent workshops and seminars on best practices, which aim to share and disseminate experience and information about policies and measures to prevent climate change. He provided the definitions and characteristics of "good practices," various examples of "good practices," and several barriers to implementation of "good practices."
The participants discussed the difficulties involved in coordinating climate change related polices with other national development priorities. However, the participants also noted that GHG mitigation measures could bring about not only GHG emissions reduction but also other environmental and social-economic benefits, such as improvement of local environment and creation of employment opportunities. In this connection, the importance of learning from other countries' experiences with successful implementation of policies and measures was recognized.
5.CDM and the Asia-Pacific region
Ms. Zumkeller, UNFCCC secretariat, provided an update on negotiations on the mechanisms. She laid out the range of mechanisms-related technical and political issues that needed to be further discussed, such as fungibility, supplementarity, liability, baselines and additionality, eligibility criteria for CDM projects, institutional issues regarding CDM. Mr. Chow, Malaysia, reported progress of negotiation on the mechanisms and presented general requirements for successful CDM projects in the context of CDM project cycle. He stressed that the decision to be adopted at COP6 should consist of simple rules and modalities which would, however, ensure environmental integrity. Noting that it could be some years before the CDM institutions can be formally endorsed by the COP/MOP, he also mentioned the need for a transition process for these institutions if Parties with to see a prompt start of CDM. The work programme beyond COP6 would include work on the possible CDM reference manual. Dr. Naoki Matsuo, IGES, made a detailed presentation on baselines for CDM projects which included technical issues such as time-dependence, system boundary, standardization of baselines including benchmarking. Mr. Stephane Willems, OECD, introduced recent OECD/IEA case studies in baseline methodologies and discused the possibility of and barriers to defining guidance on baseline determination that would be valid across sectors.
Dr. Trygve Larsen, Det Norske Veritas, described the importance of independent validation of project design and monitoring & verification plans (MVP), based on the DNV experience of GHG emission reduction projects. Mr. Murray Ward, New Zealand outlined the purposes and basic structure for a proposed system of registries that will provide a transparent accounting and reporting system for assigned amount including CERs from CDM projects. He stressed that proper accounting for assigned amount, including ensuring that no units may be held in more than one registry account, is fundamental to maintaining the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol.
The participants considered that technical issues in designing CDM, such as determination of baselines, are crucial in order to ensure environmental integrity of CDM. The participants took note of complex and challenging nature of baseline determination and supported the idea of learning by doing. Concerns about costs for determining the baselines were raised and the need was expressed for a balance between environmental credibility and transaction costs. Multi-project baselines might be one of the answers, particularly for small-scale CDM projects.
The Seminar exchanged views regarding the equitable distribution of CDM projects, use of ODA for financing CDM projects, transition of existing AIJ projects to CDM projects, and project eligibility. The Seminar noted the specific situation of some countries that have limited capacity and are less attractive for private sector investments. Some participants mentioned that the use of ODA could be a possible means of addressing balanced distribution of CDM projects.
The Seminar discussed issues related to verification and certification of CDM projects and recognized the need for the accreditation of operational entities at both national and regional levels as well as the need to minimize transaction costs. Some participants stressed the importance of initiating institutional arrangements at national level as prerequisite conditions for successful implementation of CDM projects. Several participants emphasized the importance of transparency in project information so as to ensure the credibility of CDM projects.
6.Technology transfer
Ms. Wanna Tanunchaiwatana, UNFCCC secretariat, presented the status of the transfer of technology consultative process. She highlighted the outcome of the Asia-Pacific regional workshop on transfer of technology consultative process organized from 17 to 19 January, 2000 in Cebu, Philippines. The workshop had proposed a list of possible elements of a framework for meaningful and effective actions to enhance the implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention. These possible elements, inter allia, will be considered at the thirteenth session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) with a view to recommending a decision for adoption at COP6. The participants welcomed the presentation by Dr. Sukuma Devotta, a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology Transfer, elaborating various aspects of technology transfer, such as its significance, current trends, barriers and measures for enhancing the technology transfer by private sector. He said the report highlighted that technology transfer is a complex process which needs integrated approach involving various stakeholders.
A series of presentations were made on opportunities, barriers, needs and concerns for technology transfer. Mr. Lei Tijun, China, introduced country-driven technology needs assessment in the field of power generation. He stressed the importance of listing priority technologies that each developing country may need and each developed country can transfer, and the need for eliminating political and trade related barriers. Mr. Makoto Ashino, JICA, described broad range of JICA's activities including capacity building and technology transfer for climate change. He emphasized that technology transfer should be recipient country driven and stressed the importance of needs assessment by recipient countries and co-ordination within recipient governments, especially in donor coordinating agencies, in order to prioritize climate change-related technology transfer in their countries. Dr. Mahendra Kumar, SPREP, outlined barriers, needs and measures on technology transfer, particularly adaptation technology, from the perspective of Pacific small island states. He stressed the need for capacity building, awareness raising, information dissemination and assessments of vulnarability and adaptation. Finally, on behalf of Dr. Rae-kwon Chung, Korea, the chairperson presented a "win-win paradigm for technology transfer" to be obtained by enhancing R&D programmes with participation by both developed and developing countries and by creating a market for environmentally sound technologies (ESTs).
The Seminar reaffirmed the importance of enhancing implementation of Article 4.5 of the Convention. The participants exchanged views on various needs and barriers inherent to the transfer of ESTs, taking note of different circumstances of countries in the region. The Seminar recognized the important roles of the private and public sectors in transferring ESTs. The participants noted that adaptation technology covers a number of sectors, such as agriculture, forestry, water resources, human health and that various organizations have their own programmes to support R&D activities in these fields. Some participants noted the potential of mitigating GHG emissions through demand side management and fuel efficiency. They also stressed the importance of prioritizing targeted areas for transfer of technology to address their specific needs, which vary from one country to another. The Seminar emphasized the need for promoting transfer of technology that has multiple benefits and the importance of creating appropriate enabling environment.
Ms. Tanunchaiwatana of UNFCCC secretariat, chaired the panel on possible elements of a framework for meaningful and effective actions on Article 4.5 of the Convention. Mr. Chow, Malaysia, emphasized that technology transfer under the Convention was different from that carried out under the traditional market-based transfer. He suggested a review system be set up under the Convention to examine technology transfer and further need of developing countries. Dr. Bradley, USA, highlighted the role of private sector and identified technology needs assessment and technology information as the key elements. He considered CDM as a means for transfer of clean technology to developing countries. Dr. Kumar, SPREP, proposed various actions including technology needs assessment, establishment of technology information network both for mitigation and adaptation measures, capacity building and enhancement of endogenous technology capacity. Ms. Li of GEF described various initiatives being taken by GEF to transfer technology under the Convention.
Some participants noted the need for effective information flow and capacity building. They considered joint R&D, particularly assessments of vulnerability and adaptation, could enhance capabilities. Use of existing resources in the region, such as the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and the Technical Support Unit of IPCC National GHG Inventories Programme was also suggested. The participants also suggested learning from success and failure stories.
7.APNET
Mr. Hiroyuki Inami, Nomura Research Institute Limited, presented the status and future activities of APNET, which was established based on agreement reached at the eighth Asia-Pacific Seminar on Climate Change. In his presentation, he outlined several options for enhancing the use of APNET, such as creation of a mechanism to improve information collection and updating within APNET, a message board for information exchange and capacity building programme for more effective information exchange through the Internet.
The Seminar expressed appreciation to Environment Agency of Japan for managing APNET and recognized it as a "living example of technology transfer." The participants discussed the means for increasing use of APNET. They noted the importance of setting up national websites. For those countries that do not have servers, their websites could reside on the APNET server and be updated regularly by electronic means. The Seminar welcomed the proposal for cooperation between APNET and UNFCCC secretariat in carrying out capacity building activities. Environment Agency of Japan pointed out that capacity building programmes should be designed based on identification of the need of the countries in the region and proposed to conduct a questionnaire survey before its implementation. The Seminar expressed the appreciation to Environment Agency of Japan for providing such a capacity building programme.
The participants also pointed out that potential users should be contacted by the APNET secretariat and encouraged to use APNET. The Seminar also requested the APNET secretariat to examine the setting up of message boards for several key issues.
8.IPCC reports on i) Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), ii) Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Dr. Yoshiki Yamagata, Japan, presented an overview of the IPCC Special Report on Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). The report explained several definitional options for afforestration, reforestration and deforestration (ARD) activities, and options for eligible activity under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. He explained implications of different options for calculating carbon stock change and global potential of the activities. He pointed out that many issues still remain and the deliberations on LULUCF activities should take into account the ultimate objective of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol which is to stabilize atmospheric concentration of GHGs.
Some participants stressed the importance of capacity building for more involvement of scientists in the region in the IPCC process. Some participants noted the need of keeping an appropriate balance between emissions reduction and sequestration through sink-related activities. Some participants also noted controversial and challenging debate regarding the outcomes of different scenarios, which are dependent on the definition of sink-related activities in Articles 3.3 and 3.4. Some other participants suggested the inclusion of sink activities in CDM could be a way to address the issue of equitable distribution of CDM projects, particularly in regions where energy-related GHG reduction opportunities are limited.
Mr. Kiyoto Tanabe, IGES, outlined the "IPCC Report on Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories." He stressed the importance of this report as an elaboration of the revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines as endorsed at SBSTA 12. He also stressed that utilizing the knowledge contained in the report would contribute to enhancing reliability of GHG inventories of not only Annex I Parties but also non-Annex I Parties.
The participants recognized this report as a useful tool in carrying out comprehensive inventory works and also appreciated IPCC initiatives on a global emissions factor database. Some participants stressed the fundamental importance of accurate inventory in conjunction with appropriately designed registries in order to ensure environmental integrity in implementing the Kyoto Protocol. Several participants expressed the need for more capacity building and financial support for developing countries in the area of inventory related activities, such as determination of GHG emissions factor and identification of emissions sources. The Seminar noted the important role of the Consultative Group of Experts on National Communications from Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention to facilitate exchange of experience and information. Some participants suggested that APN could play an important role in the promotion of joint research on GHG inventory.
9.Regional cooperative initiatives on climate change
Ms. Song Li, GEF, presented GEF's new development, such as second national communication and capacity building in priority areas, Capacity Development Initiative (CDI), and the operational program on integrated ecosystem management (OP#12). Considerable interest in these initiatives was expressed by several participants.
Dr. Michael Harrison, Climate Information and Prediction Services (CLIPS) Project Office, WMO, presented WMO's activities in climate variability and illustrated their crucial role and links to climate change concerns, in particular with regard to improvements in forecasts and in developing adaptation methodologies. He stressed the importance of developing the scientific basis for providing forecasts on all time scales and for making decisions based on the forecasts. Some participants noted the importance of scientific work by WMO and IPCC, and stressed that scientists in the region should be involved in more actively, and financial assistance should be intensified.
Ms. Gulnara Zubkova, Uzbekistan, presented the overall picture of Uzbekistan's activities in addressing climate change, including identification of barriers and future plans for implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. She stressed the importance of capacity building, vulnerability assessment, development of observation system for estimation of regional impacts of climate change, necessity for updating the standard IPCC software and spreading of ESTs on non-commercial basis.
Mr. Takahiro Nagata, Tokyo Gas Company Limited and Mr. Nobuo Kakizaki and Mr. Mike Salazar, JGC Corporation, presented concrete examples of mitigation projects implemented in the region. Mr. Nagata outlined the co-generation project with absorption chiller introduced at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. He introduced several options for calculating the amount of emissions reduction of carbon dioxide of the project. Mr. Kakizaki and Mr. Salazar explained food industry waste management projects as potential CDM projects. They proposed a solution to implement small-scale CDM projects with less transaction costs, including the establishments of the non-profit third party and utilization of engineering companies for assisting project development and implementation. Mr. Chow, Malaysia, presented a briefing related to the AIJ programme of Malaysia, including institutional arrangements, procedures and possible projects categories. He noted that the governments play a leading role in promoting AIJ and CDM such as capacity building for the private sector.
The Seminar exchanged views on current AIJ projects and issues related to the assessment of additionality and the availability of domestic finance as well as on perceptions of the private sector regarding the potential of future CDM projects. The Seminar noted that there was a hesitation on the part of the private sector to expand its engagement in AIJ and prospective CDM projects as long as the rules and modalities for CDM would not be adopted by the Conference of the Parties. An early agreement was considered desirable in order to allow the private sector to develop its capacity and to ensure the prompt preparation of CDM projects.
The Seminar thanked Malaysian Meteorological Service, Environment Agency of Japan and ESCAP for organizing the Seminar, and noted the benefits of exchanging views and experiences among the countries in the Asia Pacific region. It was recommended that the major outcomes of the Seminar should be reported to the ECO ASIA 2000 and the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific, to be held in September this year in Kitakyushu City, Japan. The Chairperson's Summary of the Seminar should also be disseminated as widely as possible.
The participants welcomed the offer of Mr. Teruaki Okuno, Director-General of Environment Bureau, City of Kitakyushu, Japan to host the Eleventh Asia-Pacific Seminar on Climate Change some time in the summer of 2001 in Kitakyushu City.
Penang, Malaysia, 13 July 2000,
Chow Kok Kee
Chairperson
The Tenth Asia-Pacific Seminar on Climate Change