Elize Shakalela

The Paris Agreement is referred to as a landmark Agreement on climate change, which establishes ambitious efforts to reduce the world temperature below 2 degrees Celsius and to adapt to the effects of climate change.

The Paris Agreement also introduces an enhanced support mechanism to developing countries to implement more effective adaptation and mitigation measures. 

To achieve its ambitious goals, the Agreement generates obligations necessary for all member states to implement.  

For example, Article 2 of the Paris Agreement, reaffirms the goal of limiting the world temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius, while perusing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees. 

The same Article recognises that the Paris Agreement is to be implemented in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities – of course taking into consideration of different national circumstances. 

Principle 7 articulates that the states shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the earth’s ecosystem. 

In view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, states have common but differentiated responsibilities. 

On the other hand, Article 3 of the Agreement outlines the obligations that all parties, including Namibia, is to undertake and communicate its efforts as defined in Article 4, 7, 9, 10 11 and 13. 

The author will now ponder on these obligations more in detail.  

Furthermore, Article 4 requires member states to set their own national determined contributions (NDC) as well as to set strategies on how they will meet their NDCs, member states are then required further by this Article to communicate same after every five years to the secretariat, who will maintain and keep record each country’s NDC on a public registry, which is to be kept by the secretariat. 

By far, this obligation is known as one of the successes of the Paris Agreement; this is because the Paris Agreement is one of its kind that managed to successfully have its member states agree collectively to reduce the world temperature by having countries commit at setting their own NDCs.

 Although, this obligation ensures that member states not only apply efforts to reduce their carbon emissions but also require member states to commit resources towards mitigation and adaptation of the impacts of climate change. 

It leaves it entirely up to each member states to set its own NDCs; this means that each member state is at liberty to set its own NDC. 

However, this flaw of each member state determining its own NDC may be cured by the Article 14, which shall periodically take stock of the implementation of the Agreement to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of this Agreement and its long-term goal. 

The first global stock take will take place in 2023 – and thereafter every five years – unless otherwise decided by the conference of the parties serving as the meeting of parties to the Agreement. 

A further obligation and expectation under this Article is specific to least developing countries, including Namibia, which requires of them to prepare and communicate strategies, plans and actions for low greenhouse gas emissions development, reflecting their special circumstances.  

This Article also requires developed countries to take the lead by undertaking economy-wide absolute emission reduction target. 

This Article allows parties to set their own NDC; this obligation also requires each state to ensure it reports progress made and the challenges faced in implementing its NDC to the Mechanism committee as will be established in terms of Article 15. 

Another obligation that the Paris Agreement devise is enhancing adaptive capacity directed to strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change with a view to contribute to sustainable development. 

In so doing, Namibia is required in terms of Article 7 to acknowledge that its adaptation action may follow a country-driven, gender responsive, participatory and fully transparent approach, which ought to take into account venerable groups, communities and ecosystems – and it should be based on and guided by the best available science and as appropriate, traditional knowledge, knowledge of indigenous peoples and local knowledge systems with a view to integrate adaptation into relevant socio-economic and environmental policies and actions where appropriate. 

This obligation requires developing countries, including Namibia, to employ not only a bottom-up approach in their efforts to adapt and mitigate impacts of climate change but also ensure the Namibian people have knowledge access pertaining to climate change, and that they are consulted in creating solutions to such impacts as it arises. 

Most notable is the fact that the Agreement encourages states to take into account indigenous knowledge and local knowledge systems to ensure working measures towards mitigation and adaptation of climate change and its impacts. 

This means that the Agreement acknowledges the important role of the local and indigenous communities play in applying their knowledge to adopt and mitigate impacts of climate change. 

It is important to note that the Articles of the Paris Agreement recognise the important role of coordination and its benefits; hence, the Agreement also encourages coordination and facilitation amongst its member states. For example, Article 13.7 requires each member state to provide regularly a national inventory report and all the necessary information to track progress in implementing and achieving its NDC. 

This obligation is directly linked to the obligation under Article 4, which requires parties to set their own NDC. 

It is important to note that the Paris Agreement have managed to formulate obligations that are specific to all countries – more so to developing countries and those specific developed countries. 

For me, this could be the indirect recognition from the Paris Agreement in recognising developed countries as major contributors to global warming, with developing countries as recipients to impacts of climate change.

Hence, Article 9 makes it mandatory for developed countries to provide financial resources to assist developing countries. 

The words of Article 9.1 are as follows: Developed country parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation in continuation of their existing obligations under the Convention.  

Under this same Article, the Agreement puts in place measures of how developed countries are to meet their financial support obligation – that is by ensuring that developed countries communicate biennially indicative quantitative and qualitative information related to paragraph to their financial assistance and mobilising climate finance from a wide variety of sources, instruments and channels, including supporting country-driven strategies, while taking into account country-specific needs and priorities. 

Article 13.9 requires developed parties and other Parties that provide support to developing countries to provide information on financial, technology transfer and capacity-building support provided to developing county Parties under Article 9, 10 and 11, respectively. 

In other respects, the Paris Agreement leaves countries with a great deal still to negotiate. 

If ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs) do not go beyond the ‘intended’ NDCs communicated before the Paris cop, emissions will continue to rise at levels sufficient to trigger warming well in excess of 2°C, and the Paris Agreement neither formulates a binding emission target, nor does it bind Parties to implement their NDCs. 

The Agreement establishes a mechanism to facilitate its implementation and promote compliance with its provisions.