In cooperation with the working group on environmental technologies, the CELA Hamburg team organizes the second networking seminar informing about market perspectives of renewable energies in selected Latin American countries, in particular Bolivia and Peru. In his key note, energy specialist Klas Heising (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ GmbH) who just returned from his mission in Bolivia, will provide latest insights into local conditions and highlights options for implementation and export of these climate technologies.

The event is held in German language, participation is free of charge:
„Marktperspektiven für Erneuerbare Energien in Lateinamerika“,
Donnerstag, 10. Mai 2012, 14.30-16.00 h

Referent: Klas Heising, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

HAW Hamburg, Campus Bergedorf, Hörsaal N 2.24
Wegbeschreibung: http://www.haw-hamburg.de/ftz-als/lageplan.html

The aim of the ENLACE travel grant scheme is to promote exchange between Central American and European researchers as well as to encourage contacts between research institutions for joint participation in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The grant scheme works as a mechanism to facilitate networking or even joint proposal writing.

More information: www.enlace-project.eu

Audience of the seminar

On 1 March 2012, the Universidad Católica Boliviana (UBC) hosted the second international capacity-building seminar at the university campus in Pa Paz, Bolivia with approximately 90 participants from authorities, enterprises and the academic sector. It was a great honor for the organizers of UBC to welcome the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr Pedro Crespo who stressed the importance of international cooperation in his opening speech. Next, UBC’s rector Dr Hans van den Berg welcomed the participants and reminded the audience of the ongoing need for more awareness of climate change, its causes and consequences.

EU ambassador Kenny Bell

The third speaker of the day was EU ambassador Mr Kenny Bell who highlighted the role of the ALFA III programme and in particular the contribution of the CELA project as important efforts in combating climate change. The embassador recalled the EU’s commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 20% in 2020 and reiterated the need for a global Kyoto follow-up agreement to curb carbon emissions.

Next, Professor Walter Leal introduced the CELA project to the audience, underscored the unique position of universities to meet the global challenge of climate change and explicitly pointed out that climate change related work may offer a brilliant future for the students many of which participated in the international seminar as well. The following presentations touched a broad range of issues, such as low carbon development perspectives, the carbon footprint as a tool to define action courses as well as opportunities and constraints for investment in green technologies. Moreover, the CELA partners from Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, Estonia and Germany illustrated the situations and opportunities in their home countries and elaborated the theoretical foundation of the CELA project as such.

• Find detailed contact addresses of the Bolivian partner Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB) here.
• Further information will be provided by CELA’s Nicara Bolivian Climate Change Technology Transfer Centre.

Prof. Walter Leal

Valeria Revilla

Dr. Nelson Amaro

Prof. José Milan Perez

M. Sc. Luís Camacho Caballero

Dr. Javier Aliaga, MIBA Franziska Mannke

The presentations of the seminar are available here:
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

Find details about the seminar here.

Background

Latin American (LA) developing countries are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Despite the fact that adaptation to climate change has a high priority among many LA governments, a current lack of technology and access to resources hinder these countries to adapt successfully. Therefore, there is a need for international assistance to enable Latin America countries to cope with the many challenges climate change poses to them. It is on the basis of the above needs, that the project CELA – Network of Climate Change Technology Transfer Centres in Europe and Latin America is been implemented.

It is widely known that the LA region is among the most vulnerable regions in the world in respect of the impacts of climate variation, climate change and extreme events. Technology can provide a concrete contribution towards addressing current problems.

In order to discuss the extent to which “green technologies” can assist government agencies, universities and businesses to cope with climate change, the Capacity-Building Seminar “Coping with Climate Change in Latin America- challenges and opportunities for clean technologies” is being organized. It will introduce and disseminate experiences on technology-based adaptation to climate change in the Latin American region and foster information exchange and networking among actors in the field.
This event is part of the ALFAIII-funded project “Network of Climate Change Technology Transfer Centres in Europe and Latin America” (CELA -http://www.cela-project.net/), a project which promotes joint research collaboration, technology transfer and exchanges of experiences between Europe and Latin America in the field of climate change and its related  technologies.

Aims

The specialist seminar aims to:

a) present the project CELA and its regional relevance as a tool to support cooperation in the field of climate change among European and Latin American universities, as well as its first results;

b) debate the extent to which “green technologies” can assist government agencies, universities and businesses to cope with climate change, as well as the financing schemes which may be used to support them

c) present some of the current experiences on technology-driven adaptation to climate change in the region.

Furthermore, the Seminar will provide a unique opportunity for information exchange and networking among organizations active in the field of climate change in Latin America and in Europe.

Partners

The CELA Partnership:

• Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB), Bolivia, www.ucb.edu.bo
• Universidad Galileo, Guatemala, www.galileo.edu
• Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), Peru, www.pucp.edu.pe
• Tallinna Tehnikaülikool (TUT), Estonia, www.ttu.ee; and
• International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP), www.iccip.net

Draft Programme

Thursday 1st March 2012

08.45     Registration

09.00     Welcome by the Vice-Minister of Science and Technology, Bolivia (MSc Pedro Crespo)

 09.15     Welcome by the host, Rector of Catholic University of Bolivia (Dr. Hans Van den Berg)

09.30     Fostering Cooperation and Technology Transfer on Climate Change between Europe and Latin America: the CELA Project (Prof. Walter Leal, HAW Hamburg)

09.55     Green Technology Financing Scheme (MSc Daniel Suazo, National Program of Climate Change, Bolivia)

10.20     Questions

10.45     Coffee Break

11.10     Sustainability and Carbon Footprint Solution: Mapping the Future of Clean Technologies (MSc. Nicky Scordellis, Servicios Ambientales, Bolivia)

11.35     Green Technology Perspectives in Bolivia (MSc Pedro Crespo, Vice-Minister of Science and

Technology of Bolivia)

 12.00     Questions

12.30     Closure

13:00     Lunch

14.30     Investing in Clean Energy (Dr. Javier Aliaga, IISEC, Bolivia)

14.45     Climate Change Technology Transfer Centers (MIBA Franziska Mannke, HAW Hamburg)

15.00     Needs of Technology Transfer in Latin America (Dr. Nelson Amaro, Universidad Galileo – Guatemala)

15.15    Questions

15.30    Coffee break

16.00  The role of technologies in implementing the Central America strategy for climatic change adaptation (Frederick Bergman, Universidad de Ciencias Comerciales – Nicaragua)

16.15    Technology for coping with Climate Change in Perú (M. Sc. Luís Camacho Caballero,

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)

 16.30    Technology-driven adaptation to climate change in the region in Estonia (Dr. Arvo Iital,

Tallin University of Technology)

16.45     Panel discussion

17.00     Final Remarks and end of Seminar

Organizers

• Institute of Socio-Economic Research, UCB, Bolivia
• Centre for Research and Technology Transfer on Climate Change, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Organizing Committee

• Dr. Javier Aliaga,
• Prof. Walter Leal, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany
• M. Sc. Horacio Villegas, Catholic University of Bolivia
• MIBA Franziska Mannke
• Ing. Felman Ruiz
• Ing. Daniela Zenteno

Secretariat

Team Europe:  Walter Leal, Franziska Mannke, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences; and Marija Kloga, Tallinn Technical University, Estonia

Team Latin America:   Javier Aliaga and Horacio Villegas, Catholic University of Bolivia

Registration and further details:

For registration to the event and further information, please contact:

Institute of Socio Economic Research (IISEC)

Catholic University of Bolivia

Supervisor: Dr. Javier Aliaga Lordemann
E-mail: jaliaga@ucb.edu.bo

Tel. 591 2 2784159

Project Manager: Horacio Villegas Quino
E-mail: hvillegas@ucb.edu.bo

Further information will follow soon.

Under the patronage of Mayor Olaf Scholz of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Latin American business association (LAV e.V.), a Germany-wide operating business association representing decision-makers from the trade, logistics, finance and law sector, organized the Latin America Day in Hamburg with more than 400 decision-makers taking part in the event. In addition, the LAV is an active contributor of the official Latin-American business initiative initiated by the German government, fostering the mutual understanding of Latin American and European actors. The 2-day event featured a range of CELA’s key themes, such as Environmental technologies and sustainability. In the frame of the accompanying fair, CELA’s Hamburg team disseminated information about CELA, informed about current and upcoming activities and invited interested stakeholders to join the CELA network.

Sr Lic. Jaime Morales Carazo after his speech at the CELA seminar

From 1-2 September 2011, the first international capacity-building seminar was hosted at the Universidad Comerciales de Ciencias (UCC). It was a great honor for the organizers of UCC to welcome the Vice President of Nicaragua, Sr Lic. Jaime Morales Carazo who, in his speech, placed the theme of the seminar in the broader context of poverty reduction which he regarded as a common challenge for entire Latin America. Concerning Nicaragua, Sr Morales Carazo pointed out that the country was highly vulnerable to natural disasters as well as severe earthquakes which already struck Nicaragua twice in the past, severely impacting the country’s development path. Therefore, especially adaptation as well as disaster preparedness is high on the agenda of the Nicaraguan government.

In his welcome speech, CELA’s Nicaraguan project supervisor Dr Gilberto Bergman (UCC) set the context by highlighting the importance of dealing with climate change in an integral way in order to enable the highly vulnerable Nicaraguan society to adapt to future impacts. Dr Bergman presented the core elements of the CELA project to more than 100 participants from government agencies, businesses, science, non-governmental organizations and further actors from the civil society. He closed his introductory speech by stressing that “climate change is a matter concerning everyone, therefore everybody needs to act on it.” The following speaker underscored this key message:

Prof. Dr. Walter Leal

According to Prof Dr Walter Leal, CELA project lead from Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, “climate change is not a fiction, it is a fact”. The multiple impacts of climate change could influence everybody’s life in a negative way. Therefore it is a prerequisite especially for Latin American countries with highly vulnerable populations to increase the resilience of their people. Especially those whose livelihoods depend on good soils, the availability of water and suitable crops that can resists future changes in temperature and precipitation will benefit from the kind of transfer of climate change knowledge and technologies which is promoted in the frame of CELA. Finally, the German coordinator invited the participants to join the CELA network, underscoring the integrative and outreaching approach of the CELA project.

Dr. José Milan

Dr José Milan, CELA’s Nicaraguan climate expert, introduced the audience to the climatic conditions of Nicaragua, a country influenced strongly by the El Niño/El Niña phenomenon. Nicaragua is highly exposed to climate change related impacts such as droughts and heavy rains which result in reduced yields, flooding events, or increased risk of landslides. According to Dr Milan, about 30% of the population lives in the most affected region; moreover, 40% of the agricultural production, e.g. maize or corn, stems from this area. The CELA expert reported on tendencies of increasing temperature both in Nicaragua and the neighboring state of Honduras. Future projections suggest an average warming of about 3°C until 2100 which may be accompanied by a 15% reduction in precipitation. Climate models refer to higher precipitation levels for Nicaragua’s Atlantic coastline and the region around the lakes whereas the rest of the country is expected to become dryer. Concerning impacts associated with changing land use patterns, Nicaragua may in future face serious challenges due to deforestation (see pictures). In the end of his presentation, Dr Milan showcased selected adaptation measures such as water harvesting techniques.

Participant with question

The next sessions were devoted to an overview of adaptation activities in Nicaragua and the region by UNDP expert Dr Carlos Pérez. Sra Suyen Perez from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA), elaborated Nicaragua’s national adaptation strategy and action plan to the audience and presented selected micro projects. The last speaker of the first day, Sr Sergio Saez from the Nicaraguan Alliance on Climate Change (ANAC) presented detailed project experiences.

Panel discussion

The second day of the project was devoted to sharing country-level experiences: CELA’s partners from Bolivia, Chile, Germany, Guatemala and Estonia presented climate change impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptation practices from their home countries. Complementing this with further country-level experiences from further Latin American countries, climate adaptation expert Dr Harry Diaz, University of Regina, Canada, held a final key note speech.

• For further information, get in touch with CELA’s Nicaraguan Climate Change Technology Transfer Centre.
• Find detailed contact addresses of the Nicaraguan partner Universidad Comerciales de Ciencias (UCC) and further information at www.cambioclimaticonicaragua.org or send your e-mail to the CELA team.

Presentations of this seminar:
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

The Climate and Development Knowledge network (CDKN) announce its second global research call, valued at about £4 million, on the themes of climate compatible development and disaster risk management and resilience. CDKN invites proposals on the following subthemes:

• THEME 1: Climate Compatible Development, including three subthemes: 1. Designing and delivering climate compatible development; 2. Decision paths, tools and processes for climate compatible development; 3. Low Carbon Policies on Development and Growth
• THEME 2: Disaster Risk Management and Resilience, including four subthemes: 1. Design of disaster risk management systems; 2. Disaster Responses that build resilience; 3. Risk financing leading to risk reduction; 4. Costs and benefits of risk management strategies

In this call, sub-theme research areas are specified, and researchers are invited to submit research questions of their choice under the subtheme. Applications are invited for projects with a value between £400,000 and £500,000, with exceptional projects able to apply for funding of up to £1 million. CDKN will fund around 8 projects of 18-24 months’ duration, depending on quality of applications and size of funding requested.

Find further information in English here.