A study from UN-led scientists warns that even capping global warming at an ambitious 1.5 degree Celsius is not enoughAFP/File

To address the impacts of changing climate, developing countries enhance their capacity to access and manage climate finance

Government representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu and Fiji gathered in Dhaka for the "Third International Short Course on Climate Change".

Taking place over a period of four days this week, 25 representatives from national government agencies across a range of climate relevant ministries participated in the training.

The training was aimed at improving their capacity to effectively manage the budgeting and financing of activities that support climate change related projects.

Delivered for the third consecutive year, this course builds on existing national capacities through practical learning, experience sharing and collaborative training activities. This year’s training will integrate sessions on gender responsive climate budgets, and accountability and transparency in the governance of climate finance.

During the training, international experts discussed a range of topics including mainstreaming climate finance into national and sub-national public budgeting systems and processes.

The course is a partnership initiative by the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), the International Institute on Environment and Development (IIED), Action on Climate Today (ACT) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the support of United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Government of Sweden (SIDA).

“This highly engaging short course will help countries create sustainable resources at scale to deal with the impacts of climate change," said Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, regional program manager of ACT.

"The trainers draw on models to rigorous and empirically tested course content that has proven to work in a variety of governance contexts," she said.

Meanwhile, Thomas Beloe, UNDP's climate change finance and development effectiveness advisor, said as per UNDP's commitment to address climate change and advance SDG implementation in developing countries, it will continue working with its country partners in the region to make a climate change policy.

Participants taking the course welcomed similar collaborative learning initiatives where countries are able to push for more articulated planning and resource allocation to address climate challenges.

Ms Åsa Hedén, Sweden’s head of regional development cooperation in Asia-Pacific said: “Gender equality is at the heart of Swedish international development cooperation and will remain in focus of all our efforts.

"Climate change budgets need to include the mentioned gendered differences so that climate change finance will be instrumental in promoting gender equality,” she said.

Shan Mitra, DFID senior climate and environment advisor expressed delight at his organization's role in providing support to "the important and highly relevant course".

"I am sure that this course will make an important contribution to building the knowledge and skills that governments will need, mobilize both domestic and international financing to meet the urgent challenge of climate change,” he said.

This training comes at a time where there is an increased demand for countries to take further action and reinforce its public financial systems to tackling climate change.