Addis Abeba — Lack of capacity and shortage in number of delegates for negotiations is one of the major snags for most of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the climate change negotiations, it was disclosed.

"Here in Ethiopia, the national adaptation plan of action has been prepared in order to identify the immediate and urgent adaptation needs of LDCs. But implementation of projects did not start in most of the LDCs because of the issue of compensation that was supposed to be received from developed countries after negotiation," said Kidane Asefa, Director General, National Meteorological Agency and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), focal point at the European Capacity Building Initiative (ECBI), at the regional workshop for Eastern and Southern African countries on climate change held on Tuesday at Hilton Hotel here.

The three days regional workshop was aimed at trust building between African LDCs and the developed countries to strengthen the position of the former in the negotiation with the latter at the head of states meeting to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 7, 2009.

According to the organizers, the workshop is expected to discuss on ways of reducing greenhouse gases, adaptation or preparing for a changing climate, technology transfer and finance.

Two major strategies that countries need to employ under the Convention are mitigation and adaptation. Creating public awareness on climate change, cooperation in systematic climate monitoring, research and technology transfer are also obligations included in the climate Convention Kidane said.

Adaptation is considered a critical response to the impacts of climate change because current agreements to limit emissions, even if implemented, will not stabilize atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and climate change. Adaptation can reduce present and future losses from climate variability and change. It is neither a one-off intervention nor a stand-alone activity, he said.

Over 35 countries in Africa are found in LCDs category and among those, 13 delegates from Eastern and Southern African countries who speak English participated in the workshop.

The workshop was organized jointly by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), European Capacity Building Initiative (ECBI) and National Metrological Agency of Ethiopia (NMO).