COORDINATED PERFORMANCE AUDIT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Report ID: 256
Due to the serious environmental situation and high vulnerability of countries in the region, the SAIs of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Peru, members of the OLACEFS Technical Commission on ENVIRONMENT (COMTEMA) agreed in 2009 to perform a coordinated audit on climate change.
The audit had as general bbjective to assess the performance of governmental bodies responsible for implementing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in the countries of the region.
The specific objectives of the coordinated audit were:
- Examine the compliance with the commitments established in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change regarding the implementation of governmental policies, plans, programs and actions.
- Determine whether governments have developed appropriate mitigation strategies and plans for complying with the commitments of the Convention and evaluate the progress attained.
- Determine whether governments have developed adaptation strategies and plans related to vulnerability assessment to the impacts of climate change and whether policy instruments have been implemented in response to risks identified.
The audit took place between 2009 and 2011. It followed the guidelines for cooperative audits of the Working Group on Environmental Auditing of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (WGEA-INTOSAI). Hence, there were individual audit teams and individual reports in each SAI, but a common research framework. Main sources of audit criteria come from articles 4 and 12 of UNFCCC and article 12 of Kyoto Protocol.
The findings of the coordinated audit indicate progress in the implementation of UNFCCC commitments and point out aspects to improve, especially in relation to the efforts and measures towards the reduction of vulnerability in natural and anthropogenic systems facing current and potential effects of climate change.