Climate governance: Ensuring a collective commitment

The effects of climate change are already being felt all around the world, and without a collective commitment for greater climate justice, the situation is only going to get worse. The poor, particularly in the developing countries are most vulnerable. The outcome of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) and its implementation translate into one of the most complex and costly governance challenges in the global development arena.

Without effective monitoring, corruption will significantly undermine climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives, thus thwarting the Millennium Development Goals and sustainable development agendas – the fundamental goals of the climate and related environmental agreements.

This stream will discuss the strategies and recommendations to reduce corruption risks and to increase accountability and transparency in climate governance frameworks looking into a global, regional and national perspective. Priority topics under this stream will include:

-Strategies for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and multilateral funding and insurance schemes.
-Adaptation strategies: climate-proofing infrastructures, funds to build local resilience, effective delivery of relief and aid for droughts, floods, food scarcity and mass migration.
-Precautionary and mitigation strategies: Construction projects, green branding, carbon trading corruption hotspots, illegal logging and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.