On June 30, 2017, GIZ Thailand together with the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment organised a stakeholder consultation meeting on the (draft) Thailand Country Programme (TCP) on Climate Change at Century Park Hotel Bangkok.  The meeting was aimed at seeking opinions and recommendations from all stakeholders, and informing participants from government agencies, the private sector and civil society about the draft TCP and how to adjust it for greater benefits.

Dr. Kittisak Prukkanone,  Acting Director, Knowledge and Database section, ONEP, spoke and gave information on the (draft) framework to seek international financial support on climate change in Thailand (Thailand Country Programme: TCP).

Dr. Kittisak said: “With the present climate change, we all must make adaptation and join hands to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the energy, transportation, Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU), and waste management sectors. ONEP is now joining hands with GIZ to draft a framework to seek international financial support for climate change management in Thailand, and to be a coordinator in seeking financial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for stakeholders who want to implement projects on climate change under the international framework. The draft framework will not be completed without the opinions and recommendations from all stakeholders. Today’s meeting allows all stakeholders to provide recommendations on the draft framework, close the gaps and make it complete.”

“GCF Fund was established under Decision 1/CP.16 at the COP 16 UNFCC meeting in December 2010 to support global perception change on the low emission of GHGs as well as the immunity and ability to recover from the impact of climate change (climate-resilient development)” , Dr. Kittisak added. 

Mr. Tim Mahler, Director of GIZ’s Climate Change project in Thailand, said: “GCF has endorsed GIZ’s rights to support the development and implementation of projects with joint developers (stakeholders) through GCF fund. Because Thailand is considered a developed country, GCF believes Thai government has also the potential to provide support. Therefore, each project proposal must clearly spell out Thailand’s problems and what we have to develop because it is not easy to get financial support from GCF. It takes quite a lot of time for GCF to approve any project. Also, we must bear in mind that we are proposing projects to develop the country, not just to acquire financial support.”

At the meeting, participants learned about the details and how to make use of the (draft) consideration framework to seek financial support on TCP. They were able to express their opinions on how best work on climate change in Thailand under the international implementation framework.

Below are some opinions from the participants:

“The criteria for seeking international financial support for climate change in Thailand should be based on the size of each project because certain criteria may not be suitable for some projects.”

“The implementation of climate change projects in Thailand will bring great benefits if different sectors take part. Right now, there are not many Accredited Entities (AE) which channel its resources to projects and programmes, and have the rights to support development and join hands with project developers through GCF funding. Therefore, I would like to suggest that ONEP and its working group encourage all organisations involved to help develop knowledge and ability in writing up projects. The Thai Chamber of Commerce, Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), Thai Institute of Directors (IOD), Thailand Management Association (TMA), the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) and other the private sectors which give importance to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should provide academic and financial support.”

After the meeting, the working group will take up the recommendations for consideration and revise the draft before giving it to the national-level committees for next consideration by July 2017.