Climate Change in Latin America - European Commission

UDES - Unit for Sustainable Energy Development:
1. Enable the formation of a national commission for
inter-ministerial coordination with the Department
of Energy and of Science and Technology; this
commission shall design and oversee a national,
environmentally sustainable energy development
programme.
2. Proposing joint lines of action at an interministerial
level to foster the development of a
national energy matrix for the coming decades
that favours energy generation and the use of
fuels with low environmental impact.
3. Assimilating government environment-energy
policies and designing projects that reflect these
policies. Convening internal and external working
groups to focus on high priority environmental
studies.
4. Establishing mechanisms for technical-environmental
training in national, provincial and municipal
public sectors and private sectors involved with
energy generation, distribution and use, including
fuels used for long-distance transport.
UERA - Environmental Risk Assessment Unit:
1. Establish a methodology to asses the environmental
baseline.
2. Confirm the baseline as requested by the competent
authorities and parties.
3. Advise SAyDS on the technical aspects of
designing proposals for contracting insurance
and establishing and implementing restoration
funds and the instrumentation under their control,
if applicable.
National Coordination
The actions of adaptation and mitigation require the
participation of different areas and levels of national,
provincial and municipal public administration, of the
scientific and technological communities and of civic
society.
The implementation of policies and actions in the fight
against Climate Change is fundamentally the task of
the Office of Climate Change (DCC) of the Secretary
of the Environment and Sustainable Development
(SAySD).
In various manners, considering the fact that the
number of intiatives related to the mitigation of and
adaptation to Climate Change requires the active
participation of other actors, different working
channels have been established.
- National Advisory Commission for Climate
Change is made up of representatives from varous
state agencies. They meet monthly with the main
aim of facilitating participatory processes and
synergies between the different areas of national
government and of integrating mitigation and
adaptation initiatives into the planning of different
sectors and/or systems.
- National Commission of Science-Technology:
composed of universities and scientific and
technological institutions, who meet monthly
with the aim of integrating R&D initiatives into the
policies and measures being carried out by state
agencies.
The DCC also works together with civil and society
and the provinces, in the latter case mainly through
the Federal Council of the Environment (COFEMA).
UAAI - The International Environmental Affairs Unit is
responsible for overseeing Argentina's environmental
strategy in regional and international arenas,
promoting and coordinating international agreements
and processes and coordinating international
environmental policy.
Human resources
DCC – 6 staff; UDES – no data; UERA - 8 staff; UAAI
– no data; OAMDL – no data.
Training
The objective of training within the DCC is creating
public awareness (potential supporters, NGOs, government
authorities, etc.). It also focuses on media
relations and training.
International Coordination
In this context Argentina is committed by its own
initiative to joining the international community in
Climate Change mitigation and adaptation initiatives.
This commitment is reflected in:
1. Active participation in the current negotiation
process and the creation of the Kyoto Convention
and Protocol. On two occasions Argentina hosted
the COP;
2. Ratification of the Kyoto Convention and Protocol;
3. Participation of Argentinean representatives
in various work groups and organs of the KP,
the Convention and the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change;
4. Presentation of the First and Second National
Communication, including the National Inventory
of Greenhouse Gases;
5. Contribution to intiatives parallel to Kyoto, which
have focused on reducing GHGs;
6. Implementation of specific advanced intiatives,
which are the main development focus of this
work.
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