Capacity-building to receive major boost at COP24

Capacity-building for climate change action, a critically important aspect in the global response to the challenge, is set to be significantly strengthened at the December United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland.
At a specifically created Capacity-building Hub at COP24, more than 35 events will take place with a clear focus on capacity-building in developing countries for stepped-up climate action.
Events will cover topics ranging from implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs, which are climate action plans under the Paris Agreement) to utilising the knowledge of indigenous peoples to integrating gender into climate action. There will also be a dedicated capacity-building day with high-level representation on 11 December 2018.
Launched by the Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB), the hub will be officially opened on 5 December by UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa and PCCB Co-Chairs Ms. Marzena Chodor and Ms. Rita Mishaan and will run up 12 December.
Moreover, the PCCB is officially launching a dedicated capacity-building network on Facebook during the opening of the Capacity-building Hub on 5 December.
The Facebook network page will invite all capacity-building stakeholders including country representatives, UN organizations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, research, academia or the private sector to actively engage and to remain closely connected after COP24.
The Capacity-building Hub will provide all stakeholders involved in capacity-building with the opportunity to exchange experiences, knowledge, success stories and lessons learned on how best to support capacity-building in developing countries.
Greater capacity on climate change is of critical importance to many developing countries who need support to act. The newly created PCCB plays a key role in this.
Through the launch of the hub and the greater engagement via social media, the PCCB aims to scale up best practices, and in this way, contribute to reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The PCCB has a unique mandate to help countries identify needs and gaps in capacity-building and to promote active engagement with a wide range of stakeholders to increase the impact of capacity-building. This includes boosting collaboration and coherence between the actions of different actors.
The PCCB’s current focus is on capacity building for enhancing NDC implementation in the context of the Paris Agreement. This includes being in a position to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as being able to adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate change, as detailed in countries’ individual NDCs.
Both the hub and the digital network provide a platform for stakeholders to receive an overview of all capacity-building related events, tools, training and contacts.
In a special “get involved” section of the Capacity-building Hub, the PCCB also invites capacity-building practitioners attending on-site to propose a topic for possible ad-hoc inclusion into the series of events at the hub.
Practitioners may also choose to become part of a preliminary listing of stakeholders involved in capacity-building activities in an effort to further strengthen collaboration. This would enable the PCCB to gather practitioners’ contact information and make it available on-line in a centralised manner, thereby allowing for greater collaboration in the future.
The PCCB expects that the hub and its initiatives will be a successful start for much wider and more continuous outreach and networking on capacity-building beyond COP24.