Cook_Islands
- 1. ?z Challenges faced by the Cook Islands when implementing its Second National Communication Project. 2 nd December 2010, Cancun, Mexico Teresa Miimetua Matamaki Project Coordinator
- 2. Background: Cook Islands SNC Started mid 2006 NCCCT Outputs V & A Assessments 3 Site specific studies 2 nd GHG Inventory report Education and Awareness activities Mitigation Analysis report TNA Adaptation and Mitigation Updated Climate of the Cook Islands (report)
- 3. Challenges for the Cook Islands SNC Project
- 4. Delay to the starting of the SNC. GEF cap on project management Stakeholder ownership functional review Stakeholder representation
- 5. Consultants vs. Staff and Country Team Consultants Existing Staff/CT Knowledgeable about respective areas Much cheaper! Opportunity for further capacity development Time needed to develop TORs, advertise and recruit Can cost $$$$$ Budget Project designed for outsourcing to consultants Policy for local consultants Limited pool locally Regional/international more expensive Quality of results may not be up to standard Focused on producing results Limited time to commit to process Limited capacity for report writing Hard to find (and keep!) good consultants but faster to produce results Cheaper option with capacity development but be prepared for the process to take more time
- 6. Additional Challenges Turn over of staff in key ministries esp AMD Consultants not delivering on terms of reference Delay in receiving funds request nearly every quarter. Remoteness of islands
- 7. NEEDS Issue of increased frequency of reporting Support Financial Support Capacity building needs Assistance from the CGE and NCSP Training
- 8. Risks and Solutions Identify potential risks or delays to project progress and develop risk management or contingency plans Communicate with relevant agencies when challenges arise and not at the end of each quarter when reporting Utilize regional expertise where available
- 9. Key Priorities from V&A Assessments Water Food Security Infrastructure Tourism Business/Government Buildings
- 10. Key findings - Mitigation Political/Private/Public interest in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Feed-back into the energy grid is available to the public Opportunities in solar and wind energy
- 11. Meitaki Maata
Editor's Notes
- #3: Background on when the Cook Islands started its SNC Report. First disbursement was received in late July of 2006. Held the first stakeholder meeting in August to set up the steering committee National Climate Change Country Team. Team was formed during the Initial Nat Com project. Extend membership to cover NGOs, RAC, Traditional Leaders. At the final stages of the project have a draft SNC report and hoping to finalise the report in Jan 2011. Main Outputs: 3 site specific V&A Assessments 2 nd GHG inventory report and its Methodology report based on the 2006 IPCC Gudielines Education and Awareness Mitigation Analysis TNA reports Climate and Weather of the Cook Islands. Upon undertaking the project we faced some challenges.
- #5: Funds did not get in country until mid-2006 and by then 2 quarters had already passed. There is an overall cap of 15% for management costs which include funding for the salary of staff to manage and deliver the project. A further complication is the fact that the management cost of the implementing agencies further reduces this 15% available to the country. Difficult to get a full time coordinator to work on the project alone. U need to have cc tech expertise as well as experiecnce in finacila and project management, with the liomited amouhnt it doent cover the cost for an experience person. For the past 2 years the coordinator has been paid for by the Government of the Cook Islands. Convention obligation and national priorities full time coordinator CC is a cross cutting issue and ther is no one agnecy mandated to lead at the national level. Where does climate change best fit cc is being addressed on an ad hoc basis. Not their priority so they wont participate, its additional to their existing full time workload. Civil society in the cooks is voluntarythey are members of out national cc country team.
- #6: The project budget doesnt allow for full time technical staff and provides instead for consultancies. There are challenges to using consultants over government staff.
- #7: The cook islands has a very small popn ie less than 20,000. we have a limited pool of technical experts both within government and the private sector. We also have a very mobile population which contributes to high staff turn over which mean alto of intitutional capacity is lost and causes delay. The Cook Is is made up of 15 islands scattered over 2 million square km of ocean. We have northern cook isl and southern cook ils. Transportation costs between islands are very expensive. We could not afford to do a v&a for every island but we at least try to do a sample of each island type and group.
- #8: As additional reporting requirements are established, it will be essential that the circumstances of SIDS like ourselves are taken into account.
- #9: Given the challenges outlined above, the cIs adopted a number of solutions. adjusted the work plans and to the plan around national calendars to create synergies with other existing national initiative and event. For example we used existing national development forums such as the National Environment Forum and the Infrastructure Forum to ensure that the priorities identified by the Nat Com were aligned with these processes. This assured alignment and also allowed for cost sharing. We were able to use regional expertise where national expertise weren't there. We also used national experts from other countries for example Samoas consultant for their GHG Inventory also did the Cook Islands GHG Inventory.
- #10: The needs of coomunities to have continued access to safe drinking water All critical infrastructure in the cook islands is located on the coastal zone.
- #11: This is largely driven by high fuel cost for electricity