Background
A key limitation of the UN climate change negotiations is the lack of a level playing field between delegations, both North-South, and South-South. Another major obstacle lies in mutual misunderstanding and a lack of trust, particularly between industrialised and developing countries.
The European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi) was launched in 2005 to overcome these limitations and obstacles through a number of capacity and trust building activities. The Initiative has four main workstreams:
- A Fellowship & Trust-building Programme (FTP) to promote an informal (high level) exchange of views and ideas between senior developing and European negotiators, led by the Oxford-based UK office of BVRio, and implemented by Oxford Climate Policy (OCP).
- A Training & Support Programme (TSP) to enhance negotiating skills, particularly of new negotiators, led by the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).
- A Legal Support Unit (LSU), led by Legal Response International (LRI).
- A Publication and Outreach Unit (POU), led by OCP.
Phase V (2022-25) Management
The day-to-day running of the Initiative is managed by the members of the Phase V Management Group:
- ecbi Director: Benito Müller (OCP)
- Head of FTP: Benito Müller (OCP);. Deputy: Pedro Moura-Costa (BVRio);
- Head of TSP: Saleemul Huq (ICCCAD); Deputy: Mizan Khan (ICCCAD);
- Head of LSU: Christoph Schwarte (LRI);. Deputy: Pascale Bird (LRI);
- Head of POU: Chris Spence;
- Deputy Head POU: Leonie Gordon.
For strategic guidance, the Initiative has an Advisory Committee, consisting of a developing and a developed country co-chair, contacts from relevant negotiating groups, and co-opted members, among them former co-chairs as honorary members, all in their purely personal capacity:
- Developing country co-chair: Kishan Kumarsingh (Trinidad and Tobago)
- Developed country co-chair: Frode Neergaard (Denmark)
- African Group of Negotiators (AGN): t.b.c.
- Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS): Carlos Fuller. (Belize)
- Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group: t.b.c.
- Environmental Integrity Group (EIG): Franz Perrez (Switzerland)
- Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC): Ana Patricia Villalobos Arrieta (Costa Rica)
Co-opted:
- ecbi Director (ex officio)
- Marianne Karlsen (Norway), SBI Chair (personal capacity)
- Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu (DRC), SBSTA Chair (personal capacity)
Honorary members (in alphabetical order):
- Lennart Båge
- Jan Cedergren
- Pa Ousman Jarju
- Bo Kjellen
- Farrukh Iqbal Khan
- Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu
