Is Transparency a Luxury in the Face of Climate Change

(and the Economic Crisis)?

Joseph FotiWorld Resources Institute

Americas Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information

- April 28, 2009 -

No.

Mitigation

•Measured, reportable, and verifiable

•Regulation of carbon markets

•Civil society as third party verification

•A2I and participation as safeguard for

environmental integrity

Adaptation Over-simplified

incremental benefit from a given activity due to climate change

0 100

Resilience

Coping

Resilience

Beyond Resilience:

Development

Government is Important to Development

I II

III IV

scope of government

stre

ng

th o

f g

overn

men

t

Government is Important to Adaptation

•Information provision

•Strategic Planning

•Regulation and management

•Provision of public goods

What is being done?

Int’l

National

Programme / Sectoral

Project / local

Adaptation Funding: LDCF, ODA

Copenhagen 2010

Project level interventions

Individual initiative

Sectoral Action Plans

NAPAsAgency policies

Transparency and Accountability in

Adaptation Planning: Approach

•NAPAs: 15 countries

•137 proposed projects

•Institution-building, accountability,

transparency

Transparency and Accountability in

Adaptation Planning: Findings•Construction and training

emphasis

•General lack of information about expansion and strengthening of institutional mandates.

•Total lack of measures to improve institutional transparency and accountability.

What should be done?•Establishing language in Copenhagen for:

- Investment in institution-building

- Minimum transparency and participation (Aarhus, Espoo)

•Support for independent CSO monitoring of government accountability

•Maintenance and continued investment of existing national safeguard mechanisms

- EIA, SEA, emergency info, and PRTR