Elroy Africa, Director-General Department of Cooperative Governance, South Africa, discussed the responsibilities and opportunities for government to share data in an intelligible way to enable action. He advocated for the empowerment of local level government and municipalities.

Andrew Steer, World Bank, introduced the launch of the “Apps for Climate” competition to support innovative organization of open data to create user-friendly portals for policy makers.

Hussein Farah, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, shared activities to promote, use, analyze, and develop joint information. He illustrated how open data systems can build resilience to regional challenges, such as drought and famine. He recommended technical facilities be put into place to assist local and national institutions to maintain and build data capacities for decision-making processes.

Bruce Hewitson, University of Cape Town, distinguished that while data is essential, it is not information and it requires interpretation and contextualization. He illustrated the gap in required skills with actual skills and limits of predictability in data interpretation. He raised the likelihood that local data is produced outside of a local context and without consideration of the impact of non-climatic factors.

Pablo Suarez, Red Cross Climate Centre, expressed gratitude for open data yet predicted the probability of: low user comprehension of data and limitations; slow delivery of benefits to the most vulnerable populations compared to the insurance sector; and lack of impact to better decision-making processes. He advocated for decision-based forecasting and forecast-based decision-making along with a participatory process to facilitate learning, dialogue and exploration.

Ali Mohamed, Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, Kenya, explained recent institutional framework changes to launch an open government portal, aggregating previously confidential data to promote evidence-based decision-making processes. He shared the next phase of development will focus on: improving accessibility and relevance; optimizing the website; creating more awareness; and adding datasets.
In ensuing discussions, panelist: exchanged ideas on methods of including and interpreting local and indigenous traditional knowledge; heard testimony on the usability of open data in private sector; and reviewed challenges in data interpretation.

Ana Chichava, Deputy Minister of the Environment, Mozambique, welcomed open data to help decision makers be innovative and progressive.

Florence Daviet, WRI, explained how issues in safeguards require focus on the development of grievance mechanisms.

Eva Maria Filzmoser, CDM Watch, showed that clean development mechanism (CDM) sustainability standards are often vague because they are determined nationally coupled with a lack in monitoring at projects´ onset. She advocated for the development of an appeal procedure that includes co-benefits and negative impacts in documentation as well strengthening the role of stakeholders.

Daniela Rey, ClientEarth, reported that although there was the development of REDD safeguard principles and the Safeguard Information System (SIS) at COP 16, a grievance mechanism is still missing.

Louise Brown, WRI, reported the current status of the draft governing instrument for the Green Climate Fund, which presents a framework for stronger accountability mechanisms, such as: environmental and social safeguards; stakeholder participation; and grievance mechanisms. She said that the decisions made by the Board during COP 17 will determine the effectiveness.

Alyssa Johl, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), pointed out how paragraph 92 of the Cancun Agreements provides an opportunity for Parties to develop and implement a grievance process that will consider and address communications from affected peoples and communities by the implementation of measures to mitigate or adapt to climate change.

During discussion, Kristen Hite introduced a new web-based toolkit developed by CIEL to support understanding of country requirements under UNFCCC.

Foua Toloa, Head of the Government of Tokelau, emphasized the island’s vulnerability to the change in climate and called for responsible stewardship. He said they have embraced adaptation and mitigation as an “informed and resilient community”, and naturally adapted their life style, but emphasized the need for recognition and the ability to engage without prejudice of its status

Carlo Scaramella, World Food Programme, stressed the focus in advocating climate-smart agriculture practices should be on improving livelihoods and maximizing the outcomes for poor people.

On smart-agriculture Peter Holmgren, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, reminded of the need to respect farmers, and said it remains very much an issue about policies and finance.

Participants recounted climate-smart examples from their own countries, such as: conservation agriculture like minimum soil disturbance, maximum soil cover, crop residues and crop rotation and association practices, agro-forestry by maintaining tree and wildlife species in conjunction with agricultural crop planting practices; composting; and rainwater harvesting.

Norbert Grobißen, BMU, lamented the existing tendency to wait and see where negotiations are heading, and reiterated Germany’s commitment to supporting developing countries in their endeavor to develop and implement nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs).

Harald Diaz-Bone, GIZ, introduced the TRANSfer project and presented the handbook “Navigating Transport NAMAs” as the key output from transport case studies in South Africa, Indonesia and Columbia through training sessions, international experts consultation, and workshops.

Wolfgang Sterk, Wupperthal Institute for Climate, spoke about reducing GHG emissions from transport by: identifying which transport-related activities to avoid, and which environmental modes to shift; and improving carbon content in terms of intensity and fuel mix.

Holger Dalkman, World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport (WRI EMBARQ), elaborated on opportunities for South-South cooperation on transport NAMAs. He spoke about the Large Commercial Vehicle Renovation Programme in Colombia and Mexico, and highlighted some of the challenges: lack of institutional capacity; leakage due to loopholes in regulation; the fact that funding depends on new vehicles creates large obsolete fleets; dispersed ownership; and poor transport registry.

Wendy Aritenang, Ministry of Transport, Indonesia, spoke about the need to further develop technical guidance within the transport industry of developing countries, and described the progress made in open participation among Indonesia’s transport stakeholders.

Shimane Mugeri, Department of Transport, South Africa, spoke of national transport initiatives, such as: developing a rapid public transport system, fostering of taxi stakeholder support for public transport systems; investing in the current rail system to revive interest away from freight transport; and improving non-motorized and low-carbon transport modes.

Felipe Targa, Ministry of Transport, Vice-Minister, Colombia, reiterated his government’s commitment to the climate change process. He said the main challenges in his country are: reduction of high rate of urban motorization because of economic growth; and the speed of leveraging financial support to implement the necessary changes. He stated although national transport policies have been revised and several models have been adopted to suit Colombia´s needs, a “lot more needs to be done”. He applauded the commitment from developed countries such as Germany.

During the discussion, participants debated issues, such as: fund leveraging; vertical collaboration among countries; and inconsistencies within national governments.

The session concluded with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between members of the Colombia Ministry of Transport and BMU.