I started working on climate change in 1996, as Chief of the Climate Change Department at the Climate Change Direction of the International Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries (SEMARNAP) of Mexico. During this 4-year period I was in charge of putting together Mexico´s first National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as of designing and operating the Voluntary Challenge and Registry of Actions, focused on promoting voluntary emission reduction activities and Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) under the UNFCCC´s pilot phase. Other outstanding activities were the review of Mexico´s National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for 1990, together with the review and analysis of UNFCCC negotiating texts and country positions during the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol.
Between 2000 and 2001 I worked as an independent consultant and as Academic Section Chief at the Research and Development Secretariat of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). During these years I explored the potential for the implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and voluntary markets projects, including by carrying out feasibility assessments in various sectors, as well as analyses on the opportunities of the forest and iron and steel sectors, and I contributed to the development of the National GHG emissions inventory of Mexico included in the country´s second National Communication to the UNFCCC estimating the emissions from the industrial processes and agriculture sectors.
At the end of the year 2001 I became part of the International Affairs Coordination Unit of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) of Mexico as Deputy Director on Climate Change, although after a few months I obtained the position of Director on Climate Change, Hemispheric Affairs and Forests. My main function was to coordinate SEMARNAT´s position on international climate change negotiations (particularly those taking place under the UNFCCC) and to take part in them, as well as to negotiate alliances and agreements on the subject. My main achievements in this position were the establishment of a system for following up the UNFCCC negotiations that allowed for the identification of priority issues, the distribution of responsibilities among SEMARNAT and the generation of position documents for such issues. Furthermore, I was able to lead the production and negotiation of numerous joint submissions to the UNFCCC with a number of Latin American countries, which whom a permanent working group was established. I was the lead negotiator for Mexico in the UNFCCC negotiations on a number of issues including the modalities and procedures for the CDM and the other Kyoto Protocol flexibility mechanisms. In addition, I was responsible for negotiating bilateral cooperation agreements for the promotion of CDM projects in Mexico with nine countries, as well as for designing, negotiating and establishing the Mexican Committee for Emission Reduction and GHG Sequestration Projects, which originally acted as the National Designated Authority of Mexico for the CDM.
In 2005 I began working as external advisor to the President of the National Institute of Ecology of SEMARNAT, supporting the preparation of country position documents and providing advice to the Mexican Delegation during the UNFCCC negotiations until 2008 (after the 13 Conference of the Parties in Bali), particularly regarding the development of CDM projects in HFC-22 plants, the establishment of an incentives mechanism to avoid emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (which would later become REDD+), future commitments and compliance, among other. A number of joint submissions between Mexico and other Latin American countries, for instance on HFC-22 CDM projects and REDD+, were one of the results of this work.
From 2005 to date, I provide consultancy and advisory services on climate change as independent consultant. During this period, I have collaborated with several regional organizations working in Latin America, including the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), and I have been involved in projects in a number of areas (going from climate policy, low carbon economies and the G8+5 Gleneagles Dialogue to energy and forestry CDM) with a variety of firms and organizations including Energeias, DEFRA, the Organisation Nationale des Forests (ONFi), TerraCarbon, Climate Focus, Silvestrum, the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS, now VERRA), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Rainforest Alliance, among others. I have provided advice to the Mexican Delegation and other Latin American countries in the preparation of national and regional submissions and during several sessions of the UNFCCC negotiations and have performed capacity building activities to enhance the participation of Latin American countries in the climate change negotiation process.
Furthermore, I have been part of the expert groups in charge of developing the Verified Carbon Standard requirements for AFOLU project activities, in particular, REDD, ARR and Wetland Rewetting and Conservation, as well as in the design of its Jurisdictional and Nested REDD and the elaboration of the associated Good Practice Guidance. I have participated in the validation of several methodologies under the VCS, as well as in the development and revision of a number of methodologies in the AFOLU sector.
I have also advised the Mexican Government on the design of its financial architecture for REDD+, including on the design of a national REDD+ fund and of a benefit distribution program, as well as on a strategy to promote the participation of the private sector in REDD+ activities and on the development of a proposal to obtain REDD+ funding from the Green Climate Fund. I also contributed to the methodological aspects of Mexico´s Emissions Reduction Initiative (IRE) submitted to the FCPF Carbon Fund, by developing the analyses that served as the basis for the sections of the Emissions Reduction Program Document (ER-PD) on reversals and emissions displacement. Moreover, he participated in the review of the Climate Investments Funds´ Forest Investment Program in Mexico.
Likewise, I have engaged in the assessment of Ecuador´s, Colombia´s and Mexico´s capacities to obtain results-based incentives under KfW´s REDD Early Movers Program, as well in the needs assessment for the participation of Peru in REDD+ results-based initiatives, and in the design of REDD+ registries in Ecuador and Perú.
In addition to my work as independent consultant, I am a member of the Roster of Experts of the UNFCCC and have participated in the review of national GHG emissions inventories from Annex I Parties to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, in the LULUCF sector, as well as in the review of their National Communications and Biennial Reports (BR) with regards to the provision of financial support, technology transfer and capacity building to developing countries. I have also been involved in the UNFCCC technical assessment of the Forest Reference Emission Levels/Forest Reference Levels of Guyana, Costa Rica, Uganda and Madagascar, and in the technical analysis of the REDD+ technical annex to the Biennial Update Report (BUR) of Ecuador.
My CV is available for download in English and Spanish below:
Manuel Estrada - Climate Change Consultant 