The day started off in a normal way; woke up at 5:00 am, got ready for the lectures, and then went down for breakfast. I was excited to see some of the fellow students in the dining room. I am usually an early bird, the day before, I went quite early for breakfast and there was no single student at the time in the dinner, though it was quite full. Allow to say that I was impressed by the punctuality of South Koreans, believe me when I say that we usually take our time in my country to carry out daily chores, let alone waking up so early to have breakfast!!!!? Cheez. I took a mental note not to come this early anymore for breakfast in the remaining period of the training. Breakfast is my favorite meal, but I prefer having it over a light conversation than eating alone. I am a thinker and tend to be in my head very often when I eat breakfast alone!, thus the desire to be in a conversation with a friend(s) during breakfast. The meal though was fan-tastic and I am kind of looking forward to the next breakfast tomorrow.

The lectures began at exactly 9:00 am in the morning, I was looking forward to the new knowledge I was about to acquire, the country experiences that were going to be shared and the deeper connections that were going to be forged. However I did not have an idea how deeply satisfying, exciting and enriching the day would turn out to be! As I begun settling down to fully take advantage of my new team mates, their knowledge and the knowledge of our lecturers, I remembered that I am supposed to write the daily log for the day (on the second day of the training mind you). I begun thinking.… Oh God what should I write about, I have not even settled down yet and this…. Well it downed on me quickly that I cannot run away from sharing my experience, this quickly made me warm up to the idea of recording major events of the day. When I began recording the events, the experience turned out to be far more exciting and enriching than I had earlier envisaged.

The first lecture was on MRV under the Convention & Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement, it was given by William Agyemang – Bonsu from the UNFCCC. William is from Ghana and quite proud of it (who wouldn’t?). I also like Ghana, I particularly like the way they accentuate their points and goodness me their accent is just off the charts. I found myself getting really excited even before the lecture commenced.

The lecture was really informative and the class was given enough time to interact with William, ask questions and share their country experiences, some of the deeply enriching discussions were as follows;

William encouraged us to the take UNFCCC qualification exams and be part of the team that will undertake the technical analysis (review of the report under the Paris agreement). Being part of such teams would also help you on an individual level to become acclimatized and knowledgeable about the different facets of the Paris Agreement and the Convention.

We discussed about the importance of having a functional National GHG Inventory system and without which a country cannot be in position to carry out her reporting obligations, either in terms of the biennial update reports or National communications. A functional GHG Inventory is also very important for developing effective mitigation policies and responses.

William hinted on the fact that the frequency of a country’s reporting also increases the chances of attracting resources to the country since it’s an important avenue of lobbying for support in relation to the current challenges and gaps portrayed in the reports.

The class was also advised not look at the inventory process as an obligation, but rather as an important assignment/work to help drive development of our respective countries. A number of students expressed the challenge of data collection from different sectors, especially the private sector, and we concluded that data providers must be given the comfort, that the data they provide will not be compromised or used for other things like being offered to a competitor. This could increase their willingness to share their data.

We also discussed the fact that you can develop MoUs with different sectors and then surrender part of the funds to them to gather/collect data and information themselves for the NCs, BUR and Inventory. This will also improve country ownership.

South Africa, Lebanon and S. Korea have moved ahead to use the above principle of involving the sectors directly in the correction of data for their national GHG Inventories.

Finally the first session came to a conclusion shortly before lunch and William released the class to go for their lunch break. Lunch was delicious, however I do have to say that some class members are still getting used to the food. Eventually they will become acclimatised and start enjoying it in the long run. This does not apply however to my friends below who are having a blast with South Korean Dishes!!!!




The second lecture was on the Paris Agreement– looking at the key provisions and stock take for the APA item 5. It was given by Jae Jung. I have to mention that Jae has a most beautiful smile and his joy is so contagious that we felt happy throughout the Lecture period. Jae’s presentation was so thorough in terms of the different articles of the Paris Agreement that all of us learnt something new about the PA. To be honest I had previously convinced myself that there is no way reading articles of the PA or the convention could be enjoyable, but Jae has managed to make this impossible task a reality (thank you Jae).

 Shortly afterwards, four teams were constituted to discuss modifications to be considered in the upcoming MPGs for the transparency framework for action and support. Group Discussions commend and a number of observations and suggestions were given by the different groups.
 
Finally the day came to a beautiful conclusion with an accumulation of knowledge and wisdom. It left me wondering about the endless possibilities of the next three weeks. If we have gained this much knowledge in just two days…yes 2 days! , how much knowledge should we have accumulated at the end of the month? I am definitely blessed to be part of this programme. Long may it continue and blessing to South Korea for their unbelievable support.