UNDP Timor Leste: Beyond Copenhagen - advancing the climate change agenda

Dili, Timor-Leste - The prevailing monsoon season in Timor-Leste, which extends from December to March is a boon to the farming comunity in the country, a backbone of the economy. But to many people, including residents of the capital, Dili, the advent of the rains is associated with flooding, landslides and soil erosion, disasters blamed on the vagaries of the weather and unsustainable human activity.

As the Government of Timor-Leste embarks on what experts say is the most ambitious development agenda since the restoration of independence in 2002, the issue of climate change is becoming a priority, with environmental activists, donors and development partners debating various policy options amid a constraining capital and human resource environment.

“Everything in the country is a priority,” reckons the Minister for Economy and Development Joao Mendes Goncalves. “We therefore have to define what is a priority within a list of priorities,” the minister quips rhetorically. He was speaking in the capital, Dili on 23 February 2010 during a post-Copenhagen debriefing meeting aimed at providing feedback to the stakeholders from the Copenhagen meeting. Chaired by the minister, the meeting also discussed the country’s preparedness to address climate change and take stock of the needs and capacities to promote society’s resilience to climate change.

In the Copenhagen Climate Conference held from 7-18 December 2009, Timor-Leste was well represented with the minister leading a high-profile delegation that was well-received by other delegates especially those from developing countries and small island states. The Timorese delegation had a rare encounter with President Barak Obama of the United States of America and was chosen as one of negotiators of the Copenhagen Accord.

The exchange in Dili, the first high-level meeting of stakeholders since the Copenhagen meeting also served a catalytic role for the National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA), the Climate Change Adaptation planning process being coordinated by the Government and UN Timor-Leste. Saying that implementation of NAPA is a ‘must’, the minister unveiled elements of what he described as a coordinated, multi-sectoral Climate Change adaptation plan for Timor-Leste or a road map for the next decade.

These elements range from improving agriculture to safeguarding freshwater; implementing a conservation program for forests, corals, mangroves and wetlands; improving living conditions for the poor and most vulnerable; infrastructure development; and better disaster preparedness and reduction as well as formulating with the help of the UN especially UNDP, FAO and UNEP, an integrated Natural Resource Management Strategy.

Meanwhile, the President of the Republic, Jose Ramos-Horta is working with his counterpart in the Maldives in rallying other Asian countries behind a common climate change mitigation agenda, disclosed Goncalves, who recently accompanied the president to the Maldives to drum up support for this issue.

In his presentation, Adao Soares Barbosa, the Timor-Leste national focal point for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said Timor-Leste needs to critically analyze the Copenhagen Accord and decide whether—or not—to associate itself with the document.

“If Timor-Leste associates itself with the Accord, it may benefit from Copenhagen Green Climate Fund for adaptation and mitigation actions will depend on support provided by developed countries.” The Fund could also support renewable energy use in the county, Barbosa stated. However, he was keen to point out that the Accord is not a legally binding document.

Timor-Leste’s stance will become clear when the Accord will eventually be discussed by Council of Ministers, noted Barbosa.

Addressing the same meeting, Acting SRSG Finn Reske-Nielsen welcomed the “shift in Government priorities from conflict to development” saying that the UN system will continue to support the government in its determination to advance the environment agenda. The Acting SRSG stressed the importance of mainstreaming climate change in all development activities and highlighted the need for Timor-Leste’s response to the challenges posed by climate change to be built upon stronger foundations.

“In order to strengthen their resilience to climate change impacts, we must first make sure that the country’s natural resources are secure, safe and healthy. We must ensure that our land, freshwater, seas, forests and biodiversity are used sustainably, and not over-used, degraded or polluted,” said Reske-Nielsen adding that the UN agencies in Timor-Leste are committed to “working with the whole of the Government to support a comprehensive response to climate change-capacity building, mitigation and adaptation.”

Underlining the commitment of UNDP to the cause of climate change in Timor-Leste, Pradeep Sharma, the Acting Deputy Country Director of UNDP who is also head of the Poverty Reduction and Environment Unit outlined initiatives undertaken by UNDP such as the NAPA, the Initial National Communication (INC) and the Capacity Development for Climate Change (supported by AusAID).

On mitigation, Pradeep emphasized that Timor-Leste is largely “a victim not perpetrator.” Like other developing countries therefore, Timor-Leste is asking for assistance from the developed countries in the areas of technical support and technological transfer as wells as capacity building and funds.