International Experts Workshops on Carbon Management and its Implications:
1st Global Methane Initiative (GMI) for Oil and Gas Sector Workshop and Exhibition
in the Middle East and The International Experts Workshop on the Adverse Social and
Economic Impacts of Mitigation Measures

On Thursday morning, moderator Awwad Al Harthi, Saudi Arabia, opened the session on energy. Rashed Al-Shaali, UAE University, discussed energy and economic diversification in the context of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Participants heard perspectives from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Singapore. During discussions, participations noted that, inter alia, countries have a variety of possibilities for transitioning to renewable energy according to geography and national circumstances.

The session on agriculture was moderated by Amb. Mahmoud Samy, Egypt. George Nasr, the Lebanese University, presented studies on environmental regulation impacts on food security. Participants then discussed the challenge of measuring agricultural vulnerabilities and the nature of the agriculture sector, noting complex linkages with other sectors. Participants considered the impacts of agricultural subsidies and food labeling, highlighting issues of international competitiveness and restricted market access.

In the afternoon, Chair Khalid Abuleif opened the last session on the way forward to address gaps in assessing the impacts of response measures. The UNFCCC Secretariat discussed reporting of response measures and their impacts. Andrei Marcu, Centre for European Policy Studies, presented on how to make response measures a global issue. Eduardo Calvo, San Marcos University, Peru, discussed negotiation challenges and opportunities. During the discussion, some participants noted the need for a mechanism or platform to address response measures. Several participants advocated feeding the workshop discussions into the UNFCCC process, emphasizing the importance of addressing response measure impacts in the pre-2020 and post-2020 period. Chair Abuleif called for further cooperation to move forward in the climate change negotiations. He then thanked the participants and closed the workshop at 6:02 pm.