Phuket, Thailand, 20 – 24 November 2023 ‒ UNEP’s OzonAction Asia-Pacific Compliance Assistance Programme (CAP) team organized three meetings in Phuket, Thailand from 20-24 November 2023 on: a) the Pilot Advanced National Ozone Officers Training Workshop, b) the Joint Meeting of National Ozone Officers (NOOs) in parallel with c) the Thematic Workshop to Enhance Awareness and Communications under the Montreal Protocol – attended by the South Asia (SA) and Southeast Asia (SEA) Networks of National Ozone Officers and communications and outreach participants.
The Pilot Advanced National Ozone Officers Training Workshop
Held on 20–21 November 2023, the Pilot Advanced NOOs Training Workshop was attended by 15 participants (9 female/6 male) from nine SA/SEA countries. The training, delivered through an open dialogue approach, was designed to offer extended support to the NOOs, who play a crucial role in their national implementation of the Montreal Protocol. The responsibilities of NOOs have become much more intricate due to additional obligations under the Kigali Amendment to phase-down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) while concurrently implementing their hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) phase-out programme, necessitated development of an advanced training to fulfill their commitments under the Montreal Protocol.
The training delved into more sophisticated topics related to operational activities for Montreal Protocol projects in particular, the complexity of an HFC phase-down such as overarching national strategies, calculating HFC baseline consumption, managing HFC controls in carbon dioxide equivalencies (CO2e), steps for ratifying the Kigali Amendment and near-term implementation, longer-term implementation of the Montreal Protocol, climate-friendly alternatives (including safety issues), stakeholders and capacity building, optimizing Multilateral Fund (MLF) projects, deeper understanding how reported country programme data is used and how to infer trends, updated Article 7 data reporting, and project management.
“Advanced training was designed and planned very well addressing all aspects of Montreal Protocol Obligations with having brainstorming events I.e exercise works, group discussions, puzzles and quiz programme. These made the training workshop very joyful while gaining more knowledge and sharing experiences. Hope, it was definitely be one of the best training workshops we had so far.”, said Modeeka Tilakaratna, Assistant Director, Air Resource Management and National Ozone Unit, Ministry of Environment Sri Lanka.
The Joint Meeting of South Asia and Southeast Asia Networks of National Ozone Officers
Held on 22 – 24 November 2023, the Joint Network Meeting was attended by 72 participants (37 female/35 male) from 18 countries. It facilitated the discussion and regional collaboration among South Asian and Southeast Asian countries for the implementation of the Montreal Protocol, focusing on sharing experiences and best practices. The Joint Network Meeting comprised both plenary sessions for cross-cutting agenda items and breakout sessions to facilitate discussion of network specific agenda items and the identification of focus areas for 2024.
Key topics of discussions included updates from recent Montreal Protocol related meetings, the latest information on the refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) sector, advancements in alternative technologies and ozone science, preparation of the Kigali HFC Implementation Plans, considerations for energy efficiency, financial support for the inventory of controlled substances, and strategies for their collection and disposal. As a follow-up to feedback from Parties on the usefulness of adopting the informal Prior Informed Consent (iPIC) mechanism to strengthen enforcement of licensing systems, the Joint Network Meeting offered opportunities for countries to share their perspectives and experiences through iPIC consultations.
“This is the second Network Meeting that I attended after taking responsibilities as the National Ozone Officer. The Network Meeting provided opportunity for us to obtain important update and sharing experiences and perspectives related to the Montreal Protocol implementation in various aspects. In addition to useful information from resource persons, we have learned good practices from other countries during the meeting, which can be adapted for our national implementation”, said Ms. Nouansy Thiphaxay, National Ozone Officer of Lao PDR.
Participants were able to ask more country specific and general knowledge questions in the sessions delivered by the Ozone Secretariat, the Multilateral Fund Secretariat, Montreal Protocol Assessment Panels - Science Advisory Panel (SAP), Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP), and Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP), other implementing agencies, countries, and/or resource persons. The sessions with the SAP, EEAP, and TEAP were especially useful because they provided a much more intimate atmosphere where countries could dive deeper into the science and technology most pertinent to their work. These science briefing helped to drive home key messages about the importance of work in the ozone units.
The Thematic Workshop to Enhance Awareness and Communications under the Montreal Protocol
The Asia Pacific region held on 23–24 November 2023, its first dedicated Awareness and Communications Workshop which was attended by 14 participants (10 female/4 male) from 11 countries who have been nominated as members of the Working Group on Communications for the Montreal Protocol (WGCMP). The primary goal of the training workshop is to enhance the capacity of members in communications and outreach endeavours.
Participants were expected to achieve a deeper understanding of strategic communications and outreach within the Montreal Protocol framework and empowered to strategically identify their target audience groups, determine compelling content and storytelling approaches, and amplify materials and activities that maximize outreach and engagement.
Trained on a wide range of strategic communications elements, the members of WGCMP utilized their gained collective wisdom and collaboratively engaged in an exchange of thoughts, paving the way to develop regional strategy and to identify innovative ideas and solutions for the upcoming year.
“Awareness and action taking are keys to bringing true impacts under the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment. We will continue to better conduct more effective outreach and communicate to educate with a wide range of stakeholders including the public to ensure that a unique contribution of each stakeholder is counted in every effort towards ozone layer protection and climate change mitigation.”’, said collectively by the Members of the Working Groups on Communications for the Montreal Protocol
UNEP CAP team expressed its sincere gratitude to all the countries and resource partners whose active participation, thoughtful contributions, and engagement created an environment of community and shared knowledge. The meeting and training workshops were organized by UNEP OzonAction Compliance Assistance Programme (CAP), Asia and the Pacific Office as its part of approved 2023 Work Programme under the Multilateral Fund.
For more information:
Elisa Rim
Montreal Protocol Programme Management Officer, South Asia Network
Email: elisa.rim[at]un.org
Pipat Poopeerasupong
Montreal Protocol Programme Management Officer, Southeast Asia Network
Email: poopeerasupong@un.org
UNEP CAP Asia and Pacific Office
