Modelling Tools for Sustainable Development Policies: Building National Capacity to Address the Economic, Social and Environmental Dimensions of Development

On 16 November, DSP/DPAD organized a side event at the COP22 in Marrakesh entitled Modelling Tools for Sustainable Development Policies: building national capacity to address the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development. The objective of the event was to present on-going work on capacity development to inform national policies. Diana Alarcon introduced DESA's vision of capacity development as a tool to strengthen countries' capacity to estimate the inter-linkages across development dimensions and the options countries have to improve policy impacts. Eduardo Zepeda (OPTIMUS) introduced the tool box available to countries and development practitioners on an open source basis. Mark Howells (KTH) presented country examples of the policy insights derived from the use of available tools.

Attendance to this side event was restricted by room size, there were not enough seats for people willing to participate. The audience included government representatives, think tanks, academics, civil society organizations, and business people. Presentations were followed by a large number of relevant questions asking about details on the modelling tools and their application in various national contexts. There were several expressions of interest from government representatives to learn about ways to join DESA's capacity development projects in this area as well as inquiries from other participants on possible collaboration on the development and use of tools. Bilateral conversations followed once the time slot for this session was exhausted. Several areas for possible collaboration were identified with a number of participants.