23 May 2012: The Durban Forum on Capacity-building, which was agreed upon at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) in Durban, South Africa, held its inaugural meeting. The Forum aims to facilitate the enhancement of monitoring and review of the effectiveness of capacity building, and to enable Parties and other stakeholders to exchange ideas and share experiences, lessons learned and good practices on the implementation of capacity building activities in developing countries.

The meeting, which took place from 22-23 May 2012, during the UN Climate Change Conference at the Hotel Maritim, in Bonn, Germany, was chaired by Tomasz Chruszczow, Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). On the first day, participants addressed building capacity for adaptation, with presentations on: capacity building activities undertaken to support adaptation in least developed countries (LDCs); LDC experience on national adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs); and mobilizing knowledge and strengthening capacity under the Nairobi Work Programme. Participants also discussed building capacity for research and systematic observation, as well as for mitigation.

On the second day, participants heard presentations on building capacity for technology, with presentations on: the Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) project; and a TNA country case study on Thailand. On finance, participants heard an update on financial support provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to capacity-building projects. The meeting concluded with discussions on monitoring and review of the effectiveness of capacity-building. [Link to on Demand Webcast of Part 1 of Meeting] [Link to on Demand Webcast of Part 2 of Meeting] [Background and Agenda]