South East Asia Network of Climate Change Offices
“When you have friends, it is not difficult to work together. SEAN CC is a good example of what can be achieved collectively and in our own country by learning from each other’s experience” Mr. Sethapan Krajangwongs,, Head of UNFCCC Focal Point Section, Climate Change Management and Coordination Division, Office of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy and Planning, Thailand
The warming of the Earth’s climate system is unequivocal, and the rate of warming is unprecedented.
Yet, GHG emissions continue to rise and developing countries are facing some of the toughest challenges. Some countries and sub-regions in the developing world are particularly vulnerable to climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise. Often their population, agricultural land and infrastructure tend to be concentrated in the coastal zones, and any rise in sea-level will have significant and profound effects on their economies and living conditions. The problems may vary from country to country, but the solution can be similar. For this reason, the development of climate knowledge networks and partnerships is an essential building block on the path to low-carbon and climate-resilient development
With initial financial support from the Government of Finland, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) pioneered an innovative and dynamic support mechanism: the South East Asia Network of Climate Change Offices (SEAN-CC). South East Asia has been in a sense a precursor with its SEAN-CC Network approach, enriching it by truly becoming a “people network” where members add value every day to their work through making connections, peer-learning and by benefiting from targeted capacity building services.
SEAN-CC regional level activities are needs-based and respond to country priorities within the subregion. They are selected and prioritized by members during periodic Regional Network meetings. Additionally, a flexible funding window, whose yearly allocation ceiling and selection criteria are decided by SEAN-CC Steering Committee, supports Network members with their specific climate change-related needs. No country can mitigate and adapt to climate change without having the capacity – the knowledge, the access to information, the tools, and the policy support – to do so. Capacity building is therefore at the heart of SEAN-CC activities.
SEAN-CC offers the following of services:
- Climate change awareness and negotiation support
- Knowledge and capacity building
- Technical assistance
- SEAN-CC has helped 10 countries overcome the often difficult challenges they face as related to climate change, by accelerating the exchange of ideas and experiences between climate change offices, and through capacity building activities.
- SEAN-CC contributes to multilateral cooperation and enables its member countries to better engage in the UNFCCC international negotiations, and to adopt integrated approaches for climate-resilient and low-carbon development, domestically.
- It also reinforces regional cooperation at the ASEAN level. ASEAN member states are better equipped to contribute to a future Climate agreement. Taking a more active role in the international negotiations process is now crucial; a legally-binding, global climate agreement is to be reached at COP21 in Paris. SEAN-CC supports inclusive processes among key ministries and agencies to take ownership of COP decisions and build national consensus.
- In Malaysia for example, the corporate sector set a precedent with its voluntary GHG reporting: MyCarbon programme, a web-based portal developed where selected companies can voluntary report their GHG emissions, which is being piloted thanks to SEAN-CC’s support.
- Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in National Development Planning: SEAN-CC supports the mainstreaming of CC Adaptation in National Development Plans. The hands-on understanding of selected approaches, methods and tools in vulnerability, impact and adaptation assessment methods is part of this programme, as well as the identification of specifications to advance the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process in participating countries.
