Information System

The vision and mission of the proposed system is to establish a capacity-building information exchange system, to be utilised (1) by the participating agencies to promote and facilitate information exchange, and cooperation and partnership in support of capacity-building in the context of climate change, including the implementation and review of decisions 2/CP.7 and 3/CP.7, and more broadly, the implementation of Convention within three broad areas:

• Active participation in the Convention and Kyoto Protocol related processes,
• Development and implementation of national climate change policies and programmes,
• Mainstreaming climate change considerations into sustainable development.

The capacity-building information exchange system will promote:

a) International cooperation and sharing of related training, research, information and expertise for capacity-building;
b) Joint development of information products and resources (e.g., definitive guidelines and training packages on specific issues);
c) Less duplication of related efforts; and therefore
d) Quicker, better and more cost-effective implementation of capacity-building initiatives, and of the Convention overall.

It is envisioned that the capacity-building information system will, initially, support three modules:

Resource Library: The Resource Library (now under development) will be a collection of relevant materials provided by partner organizations (initial list of documents sent by partner organizations attached as Annex 1) or developed specifically to respond to identified needs. Initially these will include, but not be limited to, the World Bank (WB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) secretariats. The Resource Library will contain diverse but pertinent and targeted information; including training materials, process documents, project documents, and policy documents responding to agreed-upon categories.

Information Distribution and Exchange in relation to the UNFCCC intergovernmental process: Further to the request in decisions 2/CP.7 and 3/CP.7, a component of the system will be to collect, process, compile and disseminate, in both printed and electronic formats, information needed by the Conference of the Parties or its Subsidiary Bodies to review the progress in the implementation of the capacity-building frameworks. Information will be drawn, inter alia, from the initial national communications of non-Annex I Parties, national communications of Annex II Parties, submissions by Parties and reports of the GEF. An attempt will be made to extract information that is directly linked to projects / programmes and activities responding to decisions 2/CP.7 and 3/CP.7 from the submissions by Parties, IGOs and NGOs.

Capacity-building Forum: This module will, at a later stage, offer features for members to participate in an "on-line forum for information exchange on capacity-building" to develop common understanding and cooperation amongst each other. The forum will include a web board and discussion groups, news services, and calendar of events, and will be available to registered users only. (This module is currently being tested)

(1)The 3U principle: useful, usable and used.