UNFCCC-GIR-CASTT DAILY JOURNAL ENTRY FOR 11th AUGUST, 2022                                                                                                       
Entered by:
Sybastian Manners
Saint Kitts and Nevis


The trainees assembled at the lobby of the CO-OP Residence at 8:50AM for their COVID-19 checks. Today was the date set for the 13th International Greenhouse Gas Conference at the Grand Ballroom of JW Marriot in Seoul. Some trainees made their way to the conference venue immediately after health checks but some trainees returned to their room to continue preparing. The venue was a 15-minute walk away from the CO-OP Residence so trainees opted to get to the venue on foot.


Photo 1: JW Marriot Building


After arriving at the venue, we were certainly surprise the well decorated ball room and pleasant staff. The room possessed all the traits of an international sitting as dignitaries and specially invited guest entered the venue. We were soon seated awaiting the commencement of the program. At this time the master of ceremony and technical team were doing audio visual checks to ensure that the systems were working properly.



Photo 2: JW Marriot Grand Ball Room


The conference was call to order by the master of ceremony who thanked all for coming, highlighted the specially invited guests and invited to the stage, president of the GIR Mr. Heung-Won Seo to give opening remarks. Upon conclusion of remarks by Mr. Seo, the master of ceremony then invited to the stage the moderator of the side event panel discussion, Mr. Jigme Jigme Transparency Manager, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change who gave some opening words and invited the panelist to join him on the stage. The panelist selected from the group of trainees for this event were Cristian Grisales of Colombia; Senior Climate Change Executive at CAF, the Green Bank of Latin America, Lini Ariva of Indonesia; Environmental Scientist, Mycotech Lab, Anne Monyenye Omwoyo of Kenya; Director, Country Government of KISII, Yoisy Belen Castillo of Panama, Climate Change Analyst, Ministry of Environment, Sybastian Manners of St. Kitts and Nevis; Physical Planning Officer, Department of Physical Planning and Environment and Nguyen Thi Minh Hue of Vietnam, GHG Inventory and Mitigation Team Leader, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.



Photo 3: Panelist and Moderator seated on stage


Each panelist presented on the challenges and opportunities as it relates to their countries Green House Gas Inventory reporting efforts after which there was a short panel discussion where the floor was opened to questions from the audience. This segment concluded with some closing words by the moderator after which we remained in the grand ball room for lunch which was served by the pleasant staff. Some was a selection of meat and vegetarian dishes.


Photo 4: Dessert; Grilled Pine Apple and Blue Berries


After the luncheon period we continue with the main event of the conference which began with welcoming remarks from Wha-Jin Han, Minister, Ministry of Environment of Korea which came to us virtually. We then paused for a group photo and tea break. The main event was title, Key Policy Instruments toward Carbon Neutrality and the panelist for this session were Alistair Richie, Director of Asia- Pacific Sustainability, Asia Society Policy Institute who did a presentation on the EU ETS and its Role in Achieving Carbon Neutrality in the EU, Jonathan Woodland, Head of Climate Diplomacy, British Embassy in Seoul and Mark Watson, Country Managing Partner, ERM Korea. The panelist were accompanied on stage by moderator Jong-Ho Hong, Professor, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University. There were also three discussants on stage in Ji-Young Park, Deputy Director of Climate Economy Division, Ministry of Environment of Korea, Dea-woong Lim, CEO, BNZ PARTNERS (Country Coordinator of Korea, United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative) and finally, So-Young Lim, Research Fellow at Center for International Industry & Trade, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade. The discussant main role were to pose questions to the panelist that would bring clarity to key areas of interest.



Photo 5: Panelist of main event on stage for photo opt


At the end of the event the trainees journeyed back to the training venue for the follow up lecture with Ms. Sekai Ngarize on the AFOLU Sector since we did not have enough time to cover the material prescribed in the previous session.







Coordinator's comments:
I remember that I was very surprised to see you in such a gorgeous suit and told you this day you looked just like a movie star. The grey jacket and a bowtie were a perfect match which suited you very well and certainly deserved a red carpet.
I was very pleased and proud to have you as our panelist with a well-prepared presentation which helped domestic and international audience to learn more about how Saint Kitts and Nevis has been developing its national GHG inventory and contributing to the implementation of ETF.  
It was our great pleasure to invite you to this year's programme, Sybastian, as one of the best performers of the 2020 training. Thank you for participating in the programme with great passion and wonderful performance for two consecutive years. Wish an opportunity to meet again and have you share your expertise with our future trainees.