PRESS RELEASE: Media contact: Gudrun Freese gudrunf@3-c.uk.net m: +44(0)7825600487 (until 5th Dec 2011) m: +27 (0)798171467 (6 – 9th Dec 2011)

CDKN Spokespeople at CoP17

London 29 November 2011~Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) – www.cdkn.org – will have the following experts available at CoP17 for media interviews. Please feel free to contact them directly on their South African mobile numbers, listed below.

CDKN spokespeople will also be happy to help you arrange interviews with ministers or NGO leaders from their client countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

CDKN Spokespeople

Simon Maxwell, Executive Chair, 1-7 December: +27 (0) 79 811 5881
Sam Bickersteth, Chief Executive, 2-8 December: +27 (0) 79 811 2361
Tim Ash Vie, Negotiations Support, 29 November-9 December: +27 (0) 79 816 3564
Natasha Grist, Research, 1-6 December: +27 (0) 76 460 0891
Mairi Dupar, Knowledge Management and Communications, 2-8 December: +27 (0) 76 462 4091
Carl Wesselink, Africa Regional Director, 29 November-8 December: +27 (0) 72 532 0270
Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, Asia Regional Director, 30 November-8 December: + 27 (0) 79 818 0226
Pippa Heylings, LAC Regional Director, 1-8 December: + 27 (0) 76 060 3691

Biographies of spokespeople are available here.

CDKN
CDKN is a global alliance of organisations set up to channel the world’s best evidence and expertise – on climate compatible development strategies and plans, climate finance and climate related disaster risk reduction – to developing country decision-makers.

CDKN’s services – which are funded by UK’s Department for International Development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands – are provided free of charge to developing country decision makers and to some international organizations.

CDKN also provides international negotiations support to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to give them a greater voice in the UN climate talks.

With its extensive network of partners and suppliers, CDKN can respond rapidly to calls from developing countries for the information (including demand-led research), legal advice, networking, and technical assistance they need to design and implement climate compatible development strategies.

CDKN is currently providing assistance to 36 countries. Examples include:

• Long-term assistance to the government of El Salvador to build the country’s resilience to climate-related disasters, exemplified by the recent flooding;
• the Government of Kenya is developing an ambitious and comprehensive Action Plan on Climate Change, which includes multiple sectors and stakeholder groups, and is anticipated to be a model for replication elsewhere in Africa. The plan is based on Kenya’s National Climate Change Response Strategy. CDKN is one of several donors working with the Government of Kenya since early 2011 to drive the plan forward, and will be supporting their UNFCCC side event at CoP17 on Monday 5th December 2011;
• working with state governments in India and Pakistan to design and build low-carbon, climate resilient housing – for example CDKN is working with the authorities in Punjab to reconstruct settlements after disastrous floods, in a more climate resilient way (or ‘build it back better’);
• technical, legal and logistical help to Pa Ousman Jarju from Gambia, who chairs the Least Developed Country (LDC) negotiating group at the UNFCCC talks;
• working with the Caribbean Community of 18 nations (CARICOM) to produce a climate change strategy and roadmap for action; expected to be approved by heads of state in December 2011;
• working with African scientists to downscale climate models to provide finer detail through Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX);
• working with the Rwandan government to develop their National Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy, which was set out in a report published the Rwandan government on 24th November 2011. The strategy seeks to adjust policies and accelerate investment in areas such as geothermal power generation and integrated soil fertility management. This Strategy will be presented to an international audience for the first time at aUNFCCC side eventat CoP17, on Wednesday 7thDecember 2011.

CDKN at CoP17 (Stall name: SouthSouthNorth and Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano)

CDKN will have an official stall for the entire CoP 17 period with its partners SouthSouthNorth and Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano. They will be sharing climate planning tools and research, policy papers and information on their projects.

CDKN will host a UNFCCC Side Event at CoP17, which shares learning across countries and regions, on 8thDecember 2011: CDKN & MAPS: Developing Countries Collaborating for Climate Compatible Development

Media contact for CDKN enquiries:
Gudrun Freese is the media contact for CDKN at CoP17.
Email: gudrunf@3-c.uk.net
Phone (until 5th Dec): +44(0)782 5600 487
Phone (from 6th – 9th Dec): +27 (0)798171467