21 November 2012: The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) has formally launched a regional virtual knowledge platform on climate change.

The Regional Portal for Technology Transfer and Action on Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean (REGATTA) was taken live online on 21 November 2012.

REGATTA is a regional network of technology centers within Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that aims to strengthen capacity and promote knowledge of climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies and experiences. REGATTA has three components. The first is the online knowledge platform, which promotes the exchange of information and experiences between LAC countries, institutions and experts. This component also builds an inventory of the region’s initiatives on adaptation and mitigation, as well as tools, methods, case studies, best practice and lessons learned.

The second REGATTA component is networking key LAC institutions involved in climate change issues, referred to as Knowledge Centers for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences, the identification of synergies and building of capacity. Activities under this component include workshops and online “communities of practice” operated in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The mitigation communities of practice currently include those on agriculture, transport, waste management, energy and finance, while the adaptation communities include thematic ones on planning and finance and subregional ones for the Andes, Caribbean, Mesoamerica and Southern Cone/Gran Chaco.

The third component is the provision of on-demand technical assistance to REGATTA stakeholders in areas identified as regional priorities during the development of REGATTA, namely agriculture and water with regards to adaptation, and agriculture, renewable energy and energy efficiency with regards to mitigation. REGATTA also offers information on institutions and experts operating in the region on climate change issues.

REGATTA was designed to contribute to the creation of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) called for by the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in December 2010 in Cancun, Mexico. It is supported by the Governments of Norway, Spain and Sweden. Partner institutions include the IDB, UNEP’s Risoe Centre, the International Tropical Agriculture Center (CIAT), and several research institutes and universities in the Caribbean, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico and Paraguay. [UNEP Press Release] [REGATTA]