Absalom Shigwedha
WINDHOEK- According to Environment and Tourism Deputy Minister Bernadette Jagger, Namibia’s National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions are achievable.
She made these remarks at a one-day workshop to validate the Partnership Plan that co-ordinates a response for implementing Namibia’s NDCs to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change held in Windhoek this month.
Jagger said although Namibia’s NDCs are ambitious as the country wants to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 89 per cent by 2030, this is achievable as the country has the most fertile ground for renewable energy.
She said Namibia enjoys lots of sunny days which can be used to generate solar energy while Namibia’s coastal line can also be used to generate wind energy.
“We simply need to put in place the right frameworks,” she said. Jagger said Namibia has also noted that in implementing its NDCs, there will be challenges such as lack of financial and technological resources.
Therefore, she said, Namibia needs to cooperate with partners so that its NDC targets can be achieved and this is why the country joined the NDC Partnership in February 2017, with the aim of drawing on the technical and financial support the partnership can provide towards the successful implementation of its NDCs. Namibia’s NDCs target most emitting sectors such as agriculture, forestry and land use, energy, industrial processes and products and waste.
NDCs are sets of actions which all parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) intend to take up at the national level to address climate change.
They were agreed under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which was adopted at the 21st Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC held in Paris (France) in 2015.
Jagger said the negative impacts of climate change are being felt globally and nationally, through persistent devastating floods and droughts. Namibia, she said, is committed to the fight against climate change and has put in place a number of policies and programmes to address it and also streamlined climate change in its national development plans.
The European Union Ambassador to Namibia, Jana Hybaskova, commended Namibia for having come up with very ambitious NDCs, adding that he was also pleased to note that so far 22 sub-Saharan African countries have joined the NDC partnerships.
“I am hopeful that every NDC target will be met. Coordination is point one while resource mobilisation is also needed. We need to know where the needs are,” she said.
Hybaskova said the EU mission in Namibia is also making a contribution to the fight against climate change, through the funding of climate change projects such as climate-smart agriculture, the installation of solar pumps and the co-design of indigenous technology.
The Acting United Nations Development Programme Representative, Azumu Morota-Alkija, said the UN is committed to working together with the NDC Partnership in the fight against climate change.
She said Namibia is vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change and has in recent years experienced problems such as extreme weather events which have led to water scarcity, adding that climate change will hamper the country’s developmental efforts.
She too believes that Namibia’s NDCs can be achieved through partnership, and the UN system in Namibia is pleased that development partners have heeded to the call by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to help in achieving its NDCs.
Morota-Alakija said they will continue to be involved in Namibia’s national efforts to address climate change. The Deputy Director for Multi-Lateral Environmental Agreements in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Peter Muteyauli, said Namibia is ahead of many countries in terms of advancing implementation modalities of its NDCs.
“With partnership we can achieve all the targets set in our NDCs,” he said. Namibia is a party to the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol. The workshop was organized by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission, NDC Partnership and GIZ.