Tehran – To provide an inclusive platform to address climate-related issues in Iran, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Department of Environment (DOE), as the National Designated Authority (NDA) of Green Climate Fund (GCF), partnered to bring together and build capacity of around 100 local, national and international stakeholders to discuss climate finance.

The engaged stakeholders, from the public sector, academia, international organizations, private sector and civil society, have been identified previously through a mapping exercise conducted jointly by FAO and DOE under the stakeholder engagement component of the project "Green Climate Fund Readiness and Preparatory Programme of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Thanks to an opportunity provided by FAO to connect different parties from Tehran, Bangkok, and many provincial capitals across the country virtually, the participants in this meeting shared their views on the country's institutional and technical capacities, existing challenges and steps forward to address climate-related issues.

The partakers also discussed the pooled recommendations on how to enhance the NDA’s institutional capacity, amend the applicable rules and regulations, and formulate new policy priorities to both access and effectively utilise international funding resources to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in the country.

"FAO is committed to developing inclusive mechanisms to ensure stakeholder’s engagement. Consultative sessions like this as well as providing learning opportunities will increase the capacity of partners in order to secure the country’s ownership to invest in climate change mitigation and adaptation measures," said Mr Gerold Bödeker, FAO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Highlighting the joint efforts put in action by FAO and DOE, Mr  Bödeker asserted that the "country's ownership is a continuous process, and the role of the Department of Environment is key in driving institutional capacity development and stakeholder’s engagement for strong ownership in addressing the climate challenges Iran is facing."

FAO, being the lead UN agency driving global efforts on sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture and rural development, offers technical expertise to member countries in supporting their efforts to plan, access to finance, implement and report on climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in agriculture and natural resources management.