COMESA Secretariat will hold a two-day training workshop for Member States on tracking and implementation of the Transparency Clause of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The
workshop will take place in Harare, Zimbabwe, on July 30 – 31, 2019. 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.

The key provision of the Paris Agreement’s Transparency Framework (Article 13), is a requirement for developing countries to regularly monitor, analyse, and report their national
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. This includes providing information necessary to track progress towards achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); information related to
climate change adaptation and mitigation; and information on financial, technology transfer and capacity building support needed and received.

The Paris Agreement under, Article 14 requires the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) to periodically take stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement and to assess collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Agreement and its long-term goals thus the global stocktake process.

The first global stocktaking will happen in 2023 and every five years thereafter, unless otherwise decided by the CMA. Under the Paris Agreement, each country has to present a climate action plan
every five years and this will help the world to determine whether it needs to do more and how much more.

COMESA Climate Change Coordinator, Dr Mclay Kanyangarara says 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.

“Our countries have ratified the Paris Agreement of 2015 and submitted very ambitious NDCs given their circumstances,” he said ahead of the meeting in Zimbabwe. “In view of the foregoing,
COMESA is supporting its Member States to enhance their capacity in NDC implementation.” He added that with adequate capacity, it is envisaged that Member States will effectively monitor, track and report the progress achieved
in implementing their NDCs. This is essential in meeting the requirements of article 13 of the Paris Agreement.

The meeting will also be attended by the Nationally Determined Contributions experts, representatives of the African Union Commission, African Regional Economic Communities,
continental bodies such as the AfDB, relevant United Nations Agencies such as UNDP and UNEP, Development partners including the World Bank and the European Union Delegation in
Harare; and other actors that support African efforts in tackling climate change.