Coordinated International Audit on Climate Change Key Implications for Governments and their Auditors (UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol)

Report ID: 53

Scientific research suggests that climate change has the potential to affect ecosystems, water resources, food production, human health, infrastructure, and energy systems, among other things. Scientific evidence from around the world suggests that climate change has already affected natural and human environments.
Countries around the world have identified climate change as a pressing worldwide issue by adopting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. They are collectively and individually taking actions to limit greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the current and potential impacts of climate change. Substantial sums of money have been spent to date and will be spent in future to address this issue.

Supreme audit institutions (SAIs) play a major role in auditing government accounts and operations. They have different mandates but share a common responsibility to provide legislatures and their citizens with the
information they need to hold governments accountable for prudent financial management, and to varying degrees for compliance with domestic laws and international agreements, policy implementation, and program performance. The work of SAIs is independent, non‐political, and fact‐based, with the aim of promoting effective management and good governance within government.

Safeguarding Malta's Groundwater

Report ID: 126

1. The National Audit Office (NAO) conducted the performance audit, entitled “Safeguarding Malta’s Groundwater”. This report examines whether Malta’s groundwater is being adequately protected from current challenges and climate change threats. This entailed evaluating the extent to which climate change adaptation measures to safeguard groundwater are being implemented. Findings and conclusions presented in this report are as at the end of October 2011. The focus on adaptation to climate change was taken into consideration due to a parallel audit performed in conjunction with eight other State Audit Institutions within the auspices of the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI) Working Group on Environmental Audit.

2. The overall status of groundwater bodies in Malta has been classified ‘at risk’ by various risk and vulnerability assessments commissioned by the Malta Resources Authority (MRA). Out of the 15 groundwater bodies, the two Mean Sea Level groundwater bodies are considered to be the most critical in status since they yield an estimated 66 per cent of the total groundwater abstracted in the country.

3. In view of the deteriorating status of Malta’s groundwater, this audit analysed the extent to which Malta is being effective in safeguarding and recharging groundwater against current and climate change threats. The scope of this audit included the various initiatives undertaken by the responsible Governmental entities to ascertain the long-term protection of groundwater. This audit’s objectives sought to determine the degree to which:

• The prevailing and climate change threats as well as their impact on groundwater have been

identified.

• The Government has developed the relevant framework to address the current status of groundwater.

• The proposed measures and recommendations to safeguard groundwater are being implemented in an effective and timely manner.

4. The NAO’s review was primarily based on four key documents namely, ‘A Proposal for a Water Policy for the Maltese Islands’ (Water Policy), the ‘National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy’ (NCCAS), ‘The Water Catchment Management Plan for the Maltese Islands’ (WCMP), and the ‘Nitrates Action Programme’ (NAP). These key documents contribute directly towards Government’s regulatory framework to safeguard groundwater.

5. Various risk and vulnerability assessments were undertaken to determine the current and climate change threats to groundwater. The threats identified were excessive over abstraction, as well as high nitrates and chlorides levels. These risks are expected to be compounded by the effects of climate change.

Pacific Regional Report of Access to Safe Drinking Water Report of the Cooperative Perform Audit: Access to Safe Drinking Water

Report ID: 236

This report provides a regional overview of the process and outcomes of the Cooperative Performance Audit in the Pacific region on access to safe drinking water. The report records the achievements against Pacific Regional Audit Initiative (PRAI) objectives, including building performance auditing capacity within PASAI (see Appendix A), and the lessons learned from the second cooperative audit. In addition the high level findings, about access to safe drinking water in the Pacific island countries/states that were the focus of the audit, are presented.

Ten PASAI member audit offices took part in the audit: Cook Islands, the states of Kosrae and Yap of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, PICT 1, Samoa, PICT 2 and Tuvalu. Of the SAIs participating in the second cooperative audit, seven had participated in the first cooperative audit and three were new to the cooperative performance audit approach, the states of Kosrae and Yap of FSM and Kiribati.

The audit reports of the following SAIs are now in the public domain: Cook Islands, Fiji, the states of Kosrae and Yap of FSM, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa, and Tuvalu. Two additional SAIs participated in the cooperative audit. However, their reports have not yet been released and because of confidentiality issues the individual country reports cannot be identified in this regional report. As a result, when cross-country comparisons are made in this report, these Pacific island countries will be referred to as PICT 1 and PICT 2.

Key Findings

The main findings from each of the three lines of enquiry are noted below.

• The overall finding on the first line of enquiry is that most of the ten PICTs have legal and policy frameworks in place but not a single, overarching framework.
• The overall finding on the second line of enquiry is that legal and policy frameworks have not been effectively implemented in most of the ten audited countries/states.
• The overall finding on the third line of enquiry is that there are weaknesses in monitoring systems and performance management frameworks.

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.

Joint report on the results of the coordinated parallel audit on protection of the Black Sea against pollution

Report ID: 268

The initiative of conducting the Coordinated Parallel Audit on Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution was introduced by the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine during the XII INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing meeting, that was held on January 25-29, 2009 in Doha, State of Qatar.

In May 2010, the SAIs of  Republic of Turkey, Republic of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russian Federation and Georgia decided to carry out a coordinated audit of Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution.

The audit objective was to assess the implementation of commitments resulting from international agreements and collaborative projects on prevention of disasters and catastrophes and pollution of the Black Sea marine environment as well as to monitor and assess the efficiency while utilizing the public funds allocated to this end.

According to the report the cooperation was based on the rules contained in the official publication by the INTOSAI WGEA titled “Cooperation between SAIs, Tips & Examples for Cooperative Audits”, approved in 2007 at the INTOSAI WGEA Meeting.

Source: 

https://rp.gov.ua/upload-files/IntCooperation/IntAudits/31-12-2011%2010-0000/BlackSeaAudit.pdf