CDKN Workshop: Expert discussion with lunch and networking

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4th August 2014 8:00 – 16:00

Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

CDKN is pleased to invite you to a workshop to explore the linkages between climate change and the post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The event will bring together experts and practitioners in climate change and sustainable development from across the East Africa region. The workshop will complement similar discussions in developing countries around the world and its outcomes will be shared with the Office of the UN Secretary General in advance of the Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change in New York in September 2014.

Background
The Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 initiated a government process to create the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will build on the Millennium Development Goals to eradicate poverty, protect the environment and assure health and wellbeing to the world’s population.

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges the world faces today, affecting all aspects of global development, from poverty eradication to healthcare, to economic growth and disaster risk reduction. Without concerted global efforts to address climate change, climate impacts over the lifetime of the new SDGs, from 2015-2030, are likely to undermine the attainment of these goals.

The SDGs are scheduled to be agreed in September 2015, a few months ahead of the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP21) in Paris, France. This UNFCCC meeting is planned as the next opportunity to secure an inclusive global deal on climate change with commitments from all Parties. Handled well, linkages between the SDGs and governments’ official climate change commitments will result in mutually beneficial outcomes for both negotiations. Handled badly, there is a risk that both sets of negotiations achieve weak agreements to address climate change and development.

The event
CDKN will host a dialogue in Nairobi on 4th August 2014 to bring together experts from across government, civil society, academia and the private sector to discuss how climate change should be included in the SDGs. This is one of a series of expert events on this theme that CDKN is convening in developing countries in the coming months. The event participants will be asked to explore the following questions:

• How do developing countries in the East Africa region expect climate change to be handled in the SDGs?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages for East Africa countries of a stand-alone goal and of mainstreaming climate change impacts in the SDGs?
• What are the challenges to ensuring an outcome which is mutually beneficial for climate change and development? And how can such challenges be overcome?
• How can developing countries influence the UNFCCC and SDG negotiation processes?

Leading practitioners and academics have been invited to present their ideas on this topic in order to facilitate more in-depth discussions among participants. Watch this space for details of the speakers.

Key messages from this discussion and parallel dialogues in Latin America, Southeast Asia and London will be captured in a briefing paper to be launched in September 2014. We will also make film footage of the event available.

Bookmark this page and visit again for further details.

Register
To register to attend this workshop in person, or to nominate a colleague to attend, please contact Margaret Kamau (margaret.kamau@cdkn.org).

Image courtesy DFID.