17th virtual exchange session of the Community of Practice for Climate Policy Monitoring and Evaluation

On Thursday, August 13th, the 17° virtual exchange session of the Community of Practice for Climate Policy Monitoring and Evaluation (CoP M&E) was held, supported by FIIAPP under the framework of the EUROCLIMA+ programme with support from the LEDS LAC Platform. The session focused on M&E/MRV systems at the sectoral level.

There was an introductory presentation by Álvaro Zoppati, a climate change specialist who has represented Argentina before the IPCC for 9 years, who shared an initial reflection on how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) can contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of sectoral climate policies. Following this, the experience of Uruguay was presented by consultant Paola Rava and Elisa Bandeira from the Uruguayan Ministry of Public Health, who summarised the process developed for the implementation of the M&E process for the Health sector in Uruguay. Finally, there was a space for participation and teamwork for those attending, to apply the concepts shared by the speakers to a particular case. The main messages of the session are summarised below.

CONCLUSIONS

As a result of the presentations and interventions of the participants, the following messages were gleaned from the session:

• The IPCC is the United Nations body responsible for assessing scientific knowledge on climate change. It produces periodic reports on the state of global climate change in all its dimensions (e.g. Assessment Reports and Special Reports) and develops key methodologies for the estimation of greenhouse gas emissions in the sectors (e.g. methodological guides for inventories).
• How does the IPCC approach the sectors? Sectoral analysis is done on a global and integrated scale. The sectoral approach changes depending on the report and the topic addressed, and it is usually separated by mitigation and adaptation, although recent reports seek a synergistic approach between mitigation and adaptation. The reports give a global view that is useful for countries to understand where the global conversation is going. In terms of mitigation, integrated scenarios and evaluation of sectoral measures are generated (e.g. renewable energies analysed by economic, social and environmental variables) while in adaptation, given the limitations in global comparability, conceptual reference frameworks have been developed instead of global methodologies or indicators.
• Uruguay has a long history of managing climate change, which began in 1994 with the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and was consolidated in 2009 with the formation of the National Climate Change Response System under which the National Climate Change Response Plan (2010), the National Climate Change Policy (2016) and the first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) (2017) were formulated. In addition, an NDC monitoring system has been established with methodological sheets and roadmaps for each of the proposed measures.
• Specific efforts related to the health sector began in 2004 when the Second National Communication included an analysis of the consequences of different pathologies on certain more vulnerable population groups by temperature and rainfall scenarios. In subsequent years, the effort has continued with recommendations on heat waves, the development of a strategy on climate change and health, among others. The first NDC in Uruguay already includes seven specific adaptation measures for the health sector  which are summarised below:
  • By 2020, an early warning system for extreme temperature events (heat and cold waves) will be developed.
  • By 2020 there is a Training Programme on Climate Change and Health.
  • By 2025, Environmental Health Indicators linked to climate change and the health status of the population have been identified, formulated, and are being implemented.
  • A "Study for the establishment of predictive models of the behaviour of vector diseases and zoonoses associated with climate change" is under development for 2025.
  • By 2025, a National Prevention Plan for diseases transmissible by vectors sensitive to climate change will have been formulated, approved, and undergoing implementation.
  • By 2025, there will be a diagnosis of the response capacity and infrastructure of healthcare centres and services to extreme weather events.
  • By 2025, a National Health Adaptation Plan will be formulated and approved, and implementation will have begun.
• Since 2019 and with the support of the EUROCLIMA+ programme through FIIAPP, work has been underway to define the indicators for monitoring the NDC's health sector measures. One of the main challenges faced has been the development of an evaluation mechanism for the seven health sector measures of the NDC that is framed within the need for scheduling, measurement, reporting and verification of all NDC measures (roadmaps or methodological sheets).
• In the case of the measurement related to the formulation and implementation of environmental health indicators linked to climate change and the state of health of the population, we have also sought to relate it to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The approach has activities proposed for developing the implementation of the measure and these are broken down into development phases established in a chronological and consequential manner where one phase must be completed before proceeding to the next.
• In the case of the measure related to the development of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) for Health, an indicator has been defined to evaluate the progression. In the methodological sheet, the indicator is the progress of the NAP Health phase. It is proposed that each phase of progress represents a percentage of the total (100%). This has required the fractioning of a process that is complex and continuous and that has interrelationships between processes that are not linear. For this it was necessary to reach a consensus with the working group beforehand. The considerations for this form of indicator were that it should be simple and understandable by the rest of the sectors (not just health), and that it should be compatible with the way of measuring the rest. In other words, simplify in order to be able to measure and share.
• The complexity of finding sensitive and specific indicators for the impacts of climate change on health, which depend on the territorial variable and where factors not solely attributable to the climate problem can have an influence, were also highlighted.
  • Finally, the challenge of appropriation by the health sector was reflected upon. On the one hand, the fact that the health sector has highly developed knowledge and information is recognised as an opportunity. Thus, beyond the challenges related to the technical aspects of the development of indicators and monitoring systems, the difficulty of achieving the sector's appropriation and the need to "win over" more professionals to strengthen the implementation of the measures and contribute to the fulfilment of the commitments were identified.

Links and material of interest

• Uruguay. System of programming, measurement, reporting and verification of the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 
• CoP M&E. 2020. Case study. Uruguay: Design of indicators to monitor NDC mitigation targets.

This product has been developed under the framework of the Community of Practice on Climate Policy Monitoring and Evaluation, supported by FIIAPP in the Climate Governance component of EUROCLIMA+ with support from the LEDS LAC Platform.