Del 6-8 Junio de 2011, el programa ALFA III de la Comisión Europea invitó a representantes del proyecto a un seminario conjunto en Bruselas, Bélgica. El seminario de tres días se enfocó en el tema “Construyendo el futuro en la educación”.

En su discurso de apertura, el Sr. Basile Papadopoulus, la cabeza de Operaciones de la Comisión Europea para Latino América, destacó al programa ALFA III como una iniciativa importante para fortalecer la creación de redes entre los institutos de educación superior de Europa y Latino América. Además, él también destacó explícitamente la importancia de la promoción de la cohesión social, la reducción de la pobreza, la elución de exclusión social y la mejor comprensión de una cooperación bilateral y transferencia de tecnología entre EU-LA. Durante el curso del seminario de tres días, el personal administrativo del proyecto ALFA III dio una perspectiva al estado actual del programa y presentó las mejores prácticas en operaciones y administración financiera.

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The Centre for Research and Technology Transfer in Nicaragua Climate Change, a member of CELA project has published its dedicated website containing useful information about climate change, both for Nicaragua and for the region. It also contains other information resources on different sources of information, send articles of interest to experts who can discuss online as well as links to important sites that provide weather information close to real time. This site will to serve as a reference to Nicaraguan society of information on climate change, and a commitment to improve the quality and quantity of services in research and technology transfer on climate change. Find further information at: www.cambioclimaticonicaragua.org.

To foster the flow of climate finance to developing country priority areas and to educate and empower developing country stakeholders, the new Climate Finance Options Platform has just been launched. The primary purpose of this web-based platform is to assist developing countries in identifying sources of finance, best practices, and decision making tools for climate investments.

Another new web portal in Spanish language – Finanzas Carbono – provides a platform for dissemination of information on carbon markets to the Spanish-speaking world. The site lets users connect to experts in the field and communicate through communities of practice. The platform’s main objective is to strengthen knowledge and capacity to participate in carbon markets by the private and public sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean.

[Hamburg] The CELA project teams will kick off their brand new project collaboration from 14-17 February 2011. Hosted by lead partner Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg), project partners from Bolivia, Estonia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru will lay the foundation for their successful cooperation in terms of climate technology and know-how transfer over the next 36 months.

Latin American (LA) developing countries are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Despite the fact that adapting to climate change has 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 to cope with the many challenges climate change poses to them.

It is on the basis of the above needs, the project CELA – Network of Climate Change Technology Transfer Centres in Europe and Latin America is being proposed as part of the ALFA Programme.  The purpose of the project is not only to improve the academic quality of European and Latin American higher education institutions (HEI), but also to strengthen the role of HEI to contribute to sustainable development and social cohesion.