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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat is expected to meet in Harare today to build capacity for its member states on target indicators for tracking and implementation of the Transparency Clause of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

It is understood that the initiative is part of the capacity building support the body (COMESA) offers to its member states.

In a statement yesterday the organisation’s Climate Change Programme Advisor Dr Maclay Kanyangarara, said the training workshop will run between today and tomorrow.

“All COMESA member states are fully engaged in the on-going discussions and negotiations to find a lasting and sustainable solution to the challenge of climate change,” he said.

“They have ratified the Paris Agreement of 2015 and submitted very ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) given their circumstances.

“The transparency provisions of the Paris Agreement require developing countries to (a) regularly monitor, analyse, and report their national GHG emissions (by sources) and removals (sinks); (b) Provide information necessary to track progress towards achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); (c) Provide information related to climate change adaptation and mitigation; and (d)Provide information on financial, technology transfer and capacity building support needed and received”.

Dr Kanyangarara said COMESA was supporting its member states to enhance their capacity in NDC implementation and that their adequate capacity will effectively monitor, track and report the progress achieved in implementing their NDCs.

He said the meeting is part of the requirements of article 13 of the Paris Agreement.

The NDC target indicator tracking training, he said will specifically focus on transparency of the actions and reporting on the Paris Agreement.

“These include unpacking and interpreting the implications of the specific reporting guidelines from the preparations for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement, the status of NDC implementation, purpose of tracking progress of policies and actions, approaches to tracking progress of policies and actions and NDC financing and the role of the private sector.

“At least 17 Member States namely Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, D.R Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe will participate,” said Dr Kanyangarara.