Link for registration: https://un-org-unep.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hBktdc12TBmoUZluajysbw
Background
In light of the Paris Agreement's Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), 2024 has emerged as a transformative year for climate reporting in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. While only five countries have successfully submitted their reports by the deadline of 31 December 2024, the majority of countries in the region are still in the process of preparing their first Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs). These nations face unique challenges in aligning their national systems with international requirements. The MENA region's diverse economic and environmental landscape presents both opportunities and obstacles in achieving robust climate transparency, particularly in areas such as data collection, institutional coordination, and technical capacity development.
Recognizing the needs in that context, the CBIT-GSP in 2024 conducted numerous capacity-building events to enhance transparency and support countries to meet their reporting obligation and to improve quality of their BTR reports. These included peer-to-peer learning experiences, regional and country-based trainings, learning sessions, and webinars, both online and in-person. On that path the CBIT-GSP collaborated with various organizations and agencies in the region to strengthen the capacities of countries to prepare their BTRs and achieve the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement. Key collaborators included Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)/ Climate Promise, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), UNEP - Regional Office for West Asia (UNEP ROWA), and the African Union Commission (AUC).
As we moved into 2025, the CBIT-GSP plans to continue supporting all countries across the network in this crucial process. This will involve national experts in key reporting areas of the BTR, reviewing GHG Inventories, NDC tracking, and providing a platform for sharing best practices and lessons learned on the ETF. The CBIT GSP will also support countries in their NDC 3.0 preparation and explore opportunities for enhancing NDC achievement and implementation to ensure transparency under the Paris Agreement.
The MENA Network 2025 Annual Meeting will focus on showcasing the key results and achievements from the year's activities, discussing their effectiveness, and how they have helped countries refine their reporting processes under the Paris Agreement. It will also cover the lessons learned from the support provided by CBIT-GSP and other partner organizations.
The MENA Network 2025 Annual Work Plan will be informed by the Post-Training Feedback Survey and the second Capacity Needs Assessment conducted in November and December 2024. The Annual Meeting is crucial as it offers a collaborative forum for member countries to discuss, identify, and agree upon the network’s priorities, directly influencing the Annual Work Plan focusing on the key priorities of the nations.
Objective
The primary goal of the Annual Meeting is to evaluate the progress made in implementing the 2024 Work Plan and to discuss further needs and the draft Work Plan with proposed activities for 2025. Participants are expected to discuss and jointly agree on the proposed network activities for 2025, aimed at building technical and individual capacities for climate transparency and reporting in the MENA region.
Target Audience and Language
The annual meeting will gather all network members, including CBIT GSP Focal Points and nominated national experts, coordinators/managers of enabling activities, representatives of CBIT and other transparency projects, transparency practitioners, national climate focal points and collaborating organizations and partners.
The webinars will be held in English, with simultaneous translation into Arabic and French provided. Participants are free to communicate in the language of their preference, whether it be Arabic, English, or French.
Duration and Time Zones
This annual meeting will last 2 hours (09:00-11:00 GMT), with sufficient time dedicated to discussion and Q&A sessions. The exact time of the annual meeting in your country can be seen below:
Time references:
Mauritania: 09:00-11:00 am (GMT)
Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco: 10:00-12:00 am (GMT+1)
Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Sudan: 11:00-13:00 am (GMT+2)
Bahrain, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Qatar: 12:00-14:00 am (GMT+3)
Oman, AUE: 13:00-15:00 am (GMT+4)