Tackling climate change: the role for regional organizations at the UNFCCC
Interview with Dr. Omar Defeo at Climate Action Studio SB48
The IAI is participating in the UNFCCC 48th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) where it will present a poster on “Local Knowledge networks and climate adaptation in coastal communities” and deliver a presentation on “Science-policy action in South America: the hotspot of the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean” during the tenth meeting of the Research Dialogue to be held on 3 May (Agenda).
Climate change threatens the areas of highest biodiversity in our oceans. Regional multinational collaboration on sustainability issues related to climate change is urgently needed to find solutions to increasingly complex problems and challenges.
Long-term scientific programs and mutually beneficial policy goals are needed to track the impacts of climate change on scales sufficiently large to capture the processes and mechanisms of the oceans. To achieve this, close coordination and cooperation among countries and novel ways to communicate science at the local, national, and regional levels is urgently needed.
The IAI, as an observer intergovernmental organization, is exploring synergies with Parties to support regional-scale actions in light of national priorities in the context of regional and global environmental frameworks, and to facilitate communication of science for adaptation policies.
Among other IAI research networks, the IAI’s CRN3070 “Variability of Ocean Ecosystems around South-America” (VOCES) assesses the impact of climate variability and change on large marine ecosystems in South America. VOCES delivers advice, knowledge and data to assess and manage goods and services provided by these large marine ecosystems. VOCES identified the outstanding role of climatic drivers in regulating the short and long-term dynamics and yield in small and large-scale fisheries of the region. VOCES could not have been possible without the coordination and cooperation of national institutions within the region.
Over the past 10 years the IAI has actively contributed its scientific information to the UNFCCC Research Dialogue. The Convention calls on Parties “to promote and cooperate in research, systematic observation and the development of data archives, including through exchange of information; to support programs, networks and organizations; and improve the capacities of developing countries” (Articles 4.1(g,h) and 5). And the Paris Agreement identifies the need for an effective and progressive response to the urgent threat of climate change on the basis of the best available scientific knowledge. Implementation of research under the Convention and the Paris Agreement is supported by the IPCC, WCRP, the IAI and other research and international organizations through the research dialogue.
SciDev article: Océanos y comunicación científica destacan en reunión climática
More information on the Tenth meeting of the Research Dialogue (RD 10) and preceding poster session at: UNFCCC website