The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) has the pleasure of inviting you to a conference on:
Low Carbon Development and Poverty Reduction in Low Income Countries – Opportunities and Challenges for Development Assistance
Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 09.00-16.00
Danish Institute for International Studies
Main Auditorium
Strandgade 71, ground floor, 1401 Copenhagen K
Summary of the Seminar
Background
The world’s low income countries are facing an enormous task in the years to come. Not only are they continuing their uphill battle for economic growth and poverty reduction; they also have to wrestle the global climate changes that are threatening exactly these countries the most. Authorities and organisations in many of the most vulnerable developing countries are increasingly concerned about how to adapt to climate change, protect populations from storms and floods, prevent drastic declines in agricultural output due to drought and water stress, ensure water supplies, tackle health problems etc. These concerns often push aside any considerations and debate on how the developing countries can contribute to a more carbon neutral world and on how low carbon technologies can contribute to development in these countries.
Recently, however, there has been an increasing interest in “low carbon development strategies” among developing countries. These interests primarily focus at exploring the opportunities for funding and technology transfer within the global climate change mitigation mechanisms or other similar schemes, but also look at reducing future dependencies on fossil fuels, benefitting from sustainable management of forests and land use, and ensuring “cleaner development” in general. Such efforts would lead to more robust and resilient development and would contribute to global climate change mitigation by avoiding or reducing future green house gas (GHG) emissions from these growing economies.
For low income countries, the challenge is how to address economic development and poverty alleviation while at the same time engaging in climate change adaptation and low carbon development efforts. In the context of development assistance to low income countries, much emphasis has been placed on adaptation efforts, while the calls for low carbon development are more recent and less well explored. Moreover, in some regions practical experiences with low carbon development within the established carbon finance mechanisms are limited and require inspiration and innovation from outside the established frameworks. In particular, the options for combining low carbon development with direct poverty alleviation need to be better understood in the context of development assistance.
By bringing together a broad range of stakeholders from the private sector, NGOs, researchers and policy makers, the conference will provide an opportunity to discuss and exchange experiences on some of the key issues (practical as well as policyrelated) in addressing low carbon development in the low income countries. The outputs of the conference will feed into a Danida-commissioned study on options and constraints for donor support to low carbon development in the least developed countries carried out by the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS).
Programme
09.00-09.05 Welcome
09.05-09.15 Low Carbon Development in Low Income Countries –
Linking to Poverty Reduction
Jacob Fjalland, Research Assistant, DIIS
Mikkel Funder, Project Researcher, DIIS
09.15-09.45 Considerations on Low Carbon Development – Perspectives
from Bolivia
Javier Gonzales Iwansiw, Environment and Development
Researcher, Stockholm Environment Institute in Oxford, UK,
and Nur University, Bolivia
09.45-10.15 Making REDD work for the poor
Jessica Brown, Research officer, Overseas Development Institute
(ODI), UK
10.15-10.45 Organic Farming in Low Income Countries – an Example of
Pro-Poor Low Carbon development?
Henrik Egelyng, Project Researcher, DIIS
10.45-11.00 Coffee Break
11.00-11.30 Low Carbon Energy Development and Poverty Reduction in
Sub-Saharan Africa – Opportunities and Barriers
Ishmael Edjekumhene, Senior Program Manager, Kumasi Institute of
Technology and Environment (KITE), Ghana
11.30-12.00 The Role of Existing SMEs in Developing Low Carbon Energy
in Africa: The Case of the MFP Programme i West Africa
Ivan Nygaard, Scientist, Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable
Energy, Roskilde, Denmark
12.00-12.30 Is There a Market for Danish Companies in Low Carbon
Solutions for Low Income Countries?
Anders Hauch, Regional manager, Confederation of Danish Industry (DI)
12.30-13.15 Lunch
13.15-15.00 Facilitated Discussions in Two Parallel Sessions
Session 1: Energy – facilitated by
Gordon Mackenzie, Senior Scientist, Risø DTU National Laboratory
for Sustainable Energy, Roskilde, Denmark
Session 2: Forestry / Agriculture – facilitated by
Poul Erik Lauridsen, Programme Coordinator, Care Denmark
15.00-15.45 Presentation and Plenary Discussion of Key Points from
Break-out Groups
15.45-16.00 Closure of Conference
Practical Information
The conference will be held in English.
Participation is free of charge and includes lunch, but registration is required.
Please use the registration form below no later than Monday, 12 January 2009
at 12.00 noon.
Please await confirmation by e-mail from DIIS for participation. DIIS will be closed from 24 December 2008 to 4 January 2009 both days included. |
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