Background
Global climate change causes significant economic and social transformation in some regions and sectors likely to bear greater adverse effects. Climate change will cause significant changes in the quality and availability of water resources, food supply, agriculture production and quality of life. Due to the regional variability and severity of climate impacts, most adaptation measures will be developed at national and regional level but implement on the local level. Development of policy framework for adaptation on climate change must not exclude the citizens and representatives of civil society as the voice of citizens.
The goal of the project “Civil Society Organisations in the Process of adoption on Climate Change in Local Communities in Serbia” was to strengthen the role of civil society in the process of climate change adoption and to improve their capacity to participate in the implementation of strategies, laws and policy of climate change and sustainable development in Serbia.
The successful implementation of EU Climate&Energy package in Serbia depends on capability of local communities to apply EU standards and capacities of local actors to develop sustainable policy framework and obtain citizen participation in decision making process. The adoption on climate change, not consisting only of EU standards applying, will rapidly challenge local communities in the socio-economic, financial and administrative mode. The Initial National Communication of the Republic of Serbia under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change strongly emphasizes that the main goal of the state is, above all, to build and strengthen the existing capacities of national experts, but also decision makers, representatives of academia, industry, the private sector, non–governmental organizations and the media in the area of climate policy.
Specific objective of the project were:
- to improve existing policy framework for adaptation on climate change by strengthening capacities of 30 CSOs with knowledge to participate in policy making process in the area of adoption on climate change (introduction to GHG reduction strategy and CDM, development of public awareness on climate change, measure for development of local policy framework for climate change adoption)
- to introduce civil society organizations with the aims and recommendations of The Initial National Communication of the Republic of Serbia under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and European Commission White Paper “Adopting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action“
- to develop conclusions for partnership of local actors (CSO, local authorities, business sector) in planning and implementation of climate change policy in Serbia
- to enhance networking process among civil society organization dealing with climate change on the local level in Serbia.
Target group and final beneficiaries
Target group of the project were civil society organizations dealing with environmental issues and climate change and with capacity to participate in decision making process and to underpin process of local communities' adoption on climate change in Serbia. Since the legal package for adoption on climate change will be established in the nearest future the role of civil society organization is to act as public consciousness and the voice of citizens but also as bridge between public authority and local community. Project were not focus only on civil society organisations but on the civil society as a whole, including professional organizations, media, political parties and other relevant local actors fro so called third sector.
The Program of the workshop you can download here.
Project partners:
Fondation Konrad Adenauer
Time and place:
Belgrade, March 21st 2012