Andrew Simms, New Economics Foundation, introduced a new initiative by a coalition of development and environmental NGOs and their report “Up in Smoke –The Impact of Global Warming on Human Progress.” He said this initiative engages development organizations in activities related to climate change and promotes the public profile of the issue.

Saleemul Huq, IIED, called for South-South transfers of adaptation technologies, and said solutions should be developed at the local level by people who are already experiencing vulnerability.

Sarah La Trobe, Tearfund, emphasized that, while adaptation is not difficult to implement, it requires a shift in thinking. She said measures for disaster relief and climate change adaptation should be integrated with development programs.

Maria Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros, Greenpeace International, stressed the importance of partnerships between development and environmental organizations.

Manuel Guariguata, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), outlined CBD’s activities related to climate change, noting opportunities to develop synergies between mitigation and adaptation and conserving biodiversity. He said these opportunities are rarely realized due to lack of coordination at national and international levels.

Faizal Parish, GEC, said peatlands play a key role in the global carbon cycle by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing 30% of terrestrial carbon. He said the impacts of climate change on peatlands include melting of permafrost peatlands, drying of continental interiors, and increased forest and peatland fires. He outlined next steps for peatlands management, including: assessing the status of peatlands and their importance for climate change mitigation; developing national strategies for sustainable use; and establishing regional and global management plans.

Andrey Sirin, Russian Academy of Science, outlined the cover and diversity of peatlands in his country. He identified main threats to peatlands, including peat extraction, fires, drainage and salination, and noted the need to designate peatlands as a main terrestrial carbon sink.

Daniel Blanco, Wetlands International, presented an inventory of the Patagonian peatlands, indicating that there are six main peatland zones characterized by different peatland types. He noted ecosystem services to local communities, including the provision of food and water resources.

Faizal Parish, GEC, outlined changes in the distribution and carbon content of peatlands in Sumatra between 1990 and 2002. Highlighting the negative effects of drainage on the peatland ecosystem, he noted that communities had learned to block channels dug in the peatlands in order to reduce drainage, raise the water table and reduce the risk of fire.

Habiba Gitay, Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the GEF, spoke on exploiting the interlinkages between the focal areas of the GEF, which include climate change, biodiversity, international waters, ozone depletion, persistent organic pollutants, and land degradation. She proposed a design tool to interlink the GEF’s focal areas, noting that the tool aims to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative effects of specific GEF projects on other focal areas. Identifying disincentives for projects dealing with interlinkages, she proposed to: establish fora within the GEF to develop outcome-oriented indicators; encourage the use of multiple reviewers; facilitate a full portfolio analysis of GEF projects; and encourage research projects.

Yamil Bonduki, UNDP, spoke on country experiences in implementing National Capacity Self Assessments (NCSA), outlining the future NCSA Global Support Programme, which will provide technical support to countries and develop a new vision for decentralized capacity building.

Sok Appadu, Mauritius Meteorological Services, presented the Mauritius’s technology needs assessment, including a barrier analysis of availability

and new technologies. He said demand-side management technologies have been given the highest priority in the electricity sector in Mauritius, followed by micro-solar systems and other renewable energy technologies.

Discussion: Participants enquired about ways of comparing the effects of a single project on different GEF focal areas. Gitay explained that the design tool proposed by STAP suggests checklists to identify the impacts, and indicated that guidelines for comparisons will be elaborated in the future. She stressed that there will always be trade-offs between different focal areas.

Olga Pilifosova, UNFCCC Secretariat, presented the history, structure and content of the UNFCCC compendium on vulnerability and adaptation methods, stressing that it comprises 90 methods and will continue to evolve.

Joel Smith, Stratus Consulting, discussed the selection of appropriate methods for assessing vulnerability and adaptation to climate change. He reviewed country studies conducted by the US and UNEP, and said the compendium represents a valuable, user-friendly gateway to existing methods.

Paul Desanker, Global Environmental Change Program, described PRIVA, a national-level tool for adaptation and vulnerability assessment geared toward developing countries.

Rodel Lasco, World Agroforestry Centre, presented the Philippines’

experience in sector-specific methods, and gave examples of assessments of climate change impacts on forest ecosystems and watersheds.

Sonia Vidic, Croatia’s Meteorological and Hydrological Service, recounted Croatia’s experience with top-down and bottom-up approaches to adaptation-related assessments. She emphasized that economic difficulties pose obstacles to assessment, and identified the need for stakeholder involvement and a supportive government.

Neal Leary, Assessments of Impact and Adaptation to Climate Change (AIACC), outlined AIACC’s activities, including capacity building and 24 regional assessments. He stressed that the UNFCCC compendium is only a starting point.

Bo Lim, UNDP, presented on UNDP’s efforts to provide improved technical resources, facilitate the efficient use of resources, and generate richer knowledge to support implementation. She described recent achievements such as the Adaptation Policy Framework, a set of technical resources for formulating and implementing adaptation.

John Harding, UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), recounted ISDR’s experience in collecting information on methods and tools for risk and vulnerability assessments. He noted challenges in distinguishing actual risk from perceived risk.

Discussion: Various participants said there is information overload without prioritization of methods, and noted that NGOs active in disaster management have rarely been consulted by scientists.

Virginia Vilariño, BCSD Argentina, presented a study on GHG emission scenarios in Argentina by the BCSD. She said the study considered emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide until 2012 against a 1997 base year. She noted that the study comprised three emission scenarios, excluding mitigation measures: the Agro-Exporting Model, the Industrial Model, and the Power-Based Model. Vilariño said emissions will increase between 16-22 % in all three scenarios, and explained that the scenarios show similar emission trends for the different sectors. She noted that Argentina’s contribution to global emissions will still be marginal in 2012, but stressed that, in order for Argentina’s development to be sustainable, mitigation measures will be necessary for all sectors and should commence immediately.

Sergio Raballo, CAPSA, highlighted the need to stabilize global GHG emissions and fill the gap in energy supply resulting from a transition from a reliance on fossil fuels, and underscored the role of hydrogen in this transition. Raballo presented plans for large-scale wind hydrogen

production in the Argentine Patagonia, a project entailing the construction of a 16000 megawatt wind park over ten years. He highlighted the suitability of Patagonia for the project and the opportunity for Argentina to start hydrogen production. He said hydrogen projects require involving the economic sector and NGOs.