Policies for low carbon resilient development aim to support climate resilient development in the poorest countries while also addressing climate change through reducing carbon emissions. This research programme seeks to bring together the two aspects of the climate change debate: mitigation and adaptation.
IIED works to strengthening the position of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in international climate negotiations. We are working to build the capacity, knowledge and expertise of LDC negotiators to ensure more equitable outcomes for the countries they represent.
Sumaya Zakieldeen, the Least Developed Countries representative to the Adaptation Committee under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Framework, on how she sees her role going forward.
It’s too early to talk about the end-game in the 17th conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks that are underway in Durban. But amid the shifting diplomatic sands of talks and texts, there are signs that some of the ground is starting to solidify.
The UN climate conference has officially opened and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is here in Durban, out in force. We’re not in prominent negotiating positions, but we play an important role behind the scenes helping support least developed country negotiators and southern partners engage with the process.
Millions of people around the world, including climate change negotiators, follow the domestic political scene in the US, and most of them have by now realized the current Administration’s predicament of facing an antagonistic Congress that will essentially block everything they try to do, domestically, and certainly internationally.
“For developing countries in general and least developed countries in particular, we can't afford to support big delegations”, said Sumaya Zakieldeen from Sudan’s national climate change negotiation team. “The coming period of negotiation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is going to be extremely ...important as it is going to shape the fate of climate change and accordingly the fate of the most vulnerable to adverse impacts... It will be exceptionally important to be there to play our assigned roles on behalf of our people and finish what we started.”
