16 September 2011: The UN Secretary-General has launched the annual report prepared by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Gap Task Force, titled “The Global Partnership for Development: Time to Deliver.” This report assesses the current state of the global partnership to meet the MDGs, and includes a section on access to technology and funding to address climate change.

The report for 2011 notes that the partnership has produced important achievements, including a record volume of official development assistance (ODA) of $129 billion in 2010, increased aid to least developed countries (LDCs) and growing South-South and other cooperation for development. It also cautions against some issues that may prevent fast development progress.

The section on access to technology and funding to address climate change reviews the existing mechanisms to facilitate financing to developing countries to protect them from the adverse climate impacts and build their own sustainable future while addressing their technological limitations. It recalls that the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) in December 2010 decided to establish a Technology Mechanism to facilitate enhanced action on technology development and transfer in support of mitigation and adaptation, which includes a Technology Executive Committee (TEC) and a Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN). The report also notes that developed countries committed to provide US$30 billion for the period 2010-2012 for climate financing and agreed to establish the Green Climate Fund, emphasizing the earlier commitment made in Copenhagen to mobilize US$100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.

The report indicates that new technologies are increasingly being used for disaster reduction, but calls for more attention to be be paid to increase the resilience of countries. It formulates a series of recommendations to that end, including to: foster and facilitate the use of the new Technology Mechanism, when it becomes operational in 2012, so as to enhance technology development and transfer to mitigate and adapt to climate change; ensure that the fast-start and long-term finance commitments for climate change mitigation and adaptation are delivered to developing countries on schedule; support national Governments’ e-health and e-education initiatives and other public sector services in collaboration with the private sector through exchanges of experience and additional financial support; and support the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) in its efforts to ensure an effective international exchange of experiences, in particular among countries with similar levels of development.

The report was drafted by the Secretary-General’s MDG Gap Task Force, which brings together over 20 UN agencies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO). [UN News Centre] [UN Press Release][Publication: The Global Partnership for Development: Time to Deliver – MDG Gap Task Force Report 2011]