28.08.2023: Malé, Maldives

Inception workshop has been conducted under the consultancy to Review and Strengthen Institutional Arrangements for Climate Change Reporting. The workshop was attended by stakeholders from various public organizations, including ministries and state-owned companies. The workshop was organized under the “Capacity Building for Improved Transparency of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Actions in the Maldives” (CBIT Maldives) Project.

The workshop commenced with welcome remarks from the Director of the Climate Change Department, Mr. Ahmed Waheed, setting the stage for a comprehensive discussion on the subject. Mr. Hamdhoon Mohamed, Institutional Arrangement Expert, presented an overview of the background information on National Climate Change Reporting and key tasks for the consultancy. Mr. Mohamed Aseel Hassan, National Legal Expert, discussed MOUs and Regulation. A group discussion was also held, allowing participants from various sectors to deliberate on the multifaceted aspects of climate change reporting.

The primary objective of the consultancy is to conduct a comprehensive review and develop institutional arrangements for continuous national reporting that align with the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement. This includes the establishment of legal frameworks to support institutional arrangements for climate change reporting

The key focus areas of the consultancy include:

1. Review and strengthen institutional arrangements for cross-ministry cooperation to systemize data collection and processing, specifically for the preparation of greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories to comply with the ETF.
2. Establishing and formalizing an institutional mechanism and legal framework for inter-ministerial cooperation in systemizing data collection and processing related to climate change mitigation, with the Ministry of Environment as the leading agency.
3. Conducting a comprehensive stock-taking exercise on adaptation monitoring to track adaptation actions for local-level adaptation planning.

In the coming months, the consultant will produce key outputs such as the stock-take and design option report on institutional arrangements for GHG inventory. This will be followed by the first stakeholder consultation under the consultancy.

By aligning the Maldives’ transparency efforts in line with the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement, the CBIT Maldives project seeks to strengthen long-term institutional arrangements, systemize data collection and processing, and develop indicators and methodologies. Additionally, the project aims to improve overall data quality and management procedures for GHG inventories, mitigation and adaptation actions tracking, and climate finance, ensuring regular and transparent reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. These efforts will inform national decision-making processes and contribute to the effective management of climate change challenges. The CBIT Maldives project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and executed by the Ministry, with implementation support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment).