The United States, Russia and Gabon have submitted their new climate action plans to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
US President, Barack Obama
These Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) come well in advance of a new universal climate change agreement which will be reached at the UN climate conference in Paris, in December this year.
The US INDC, for instance, also includes a cover note and additional information. Including the United States submission, 33 Parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs, covering all the countries under the European Union plus the European Commission, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland.
Gabon has, by submitting its new climate action plan to the UNFCCC, becomes the first African country to do so.
“I deeply appreciate Gabon’s initiative and welcome this first INDC from an African nation,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.
With Russia’s submission to the UN of its climate action plan, 32 developed countries covering nearly 80 per cent of the total emissions from industrialised nations have delivered their contributions to the Paris Agreement.
The emissions figure is based on the National Reports supplied to the UNFCCC by industrialised-country Parties to the Convention.
“Russia’s timely and welcome submission has added an additional and important momentum to this global effort. Industrialised countries are expected to lead the world in reducing greenhouse gases. I encourage the remaining industrialised nations to come forward with their submissions as soon as they can,” said Figueres.
According to UNFCCC data, Russia’s contribution means that two thirds of industrialised countries covering nearly 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrialised part of the world have now set out their ambition for the new agreement which nations will reach in Paris, in December and which will come into effect in 2020.
The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.
With the submission by the United States of its climate action plan alongside those of Switzerland, the members of the European Union, Norway and Mexico, well over 30 countries have now made their contribution to the new, universal Paris climate change agreement of 2015.
Climate change is impacting Switzerland. Photo credit: startribune.com
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: “According to UNFCCC data, two thirds of industrialised countries covering 65 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrialised part of the world have now set out their ambition for the new agreement which comes into effect in 2020 – importantly many of these contributions also speak to longer term aims representative of progressively increasing ambition over time.”
“Over the coming months, we expect many more nations to come forward to make their submissions public. The pace at which these contributions are coming forward bodes well for Paris and beyond,” she added.
More industrialised countries are expected to come forward with their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) over the next few months, followed by many developing countries.
Looked at from a global perspective using International Energy Agency data that takes CO2 from fuel combustion as a measurement proxy, the European Union countries, Switzerland, Norway, Mexico, and the United States account for approaching one third of world emissions.
World-wide Effort to Assist Developing Countries with Plans
In order to maximise the total number of nations contributing, a significant world-wide effort is underway to assist developing nations prepare their INDCs for submission, many of which are building on work linked with their Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) Governments, ranging from Australia, Germany and France to the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as UN agencies and intergovernmental organisations, are providing financial, technical and other assistance to around 100 developing countries.
These range from Bangladesh, Colombia, Senegal, Ethiopia and Gambia to Lebanon, Mali, Dominican Republic, Tunisia and Turkmenistan.
For example, the French government has committed around 3 million Euros to support the preparation of INDCs of approximately 20 Least Developed Countries including Small Island Developing States.
Other major players include the Global Environment Facility and the UN Environment Programme; the European Union through programmes such as Clima South, Clima East or ClimDev; Germany through the GIZ; and the US through various channels including the Low Emission Development Strategies
partnership.
Developed countries are also providing support through international initiatives and organisations such as the Low Emission Capacity Building (LECB) programme of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN).
“It is most encouraging to witness this government to government cooperation and how bilateral and multilateral organizations have stepped up and coordinated support to developing countries to ensure they get maximum benefit in preparing INDCs,” said Don Cooper, head of the UNFCCC’s Mitigation and Data Analysis programme.
“In order to deliver ambitious INDCs, countries and organisations have built on existing adaptation and mitigation planning and also specific policy processes to reduce energy consumption or promote clean energy and energy efficiency,” he said.
INDCs Initial Foundation of Long-Term Global Effort
Governments will reach a new, universal climate agreement in Paris, in 2015, which will come into effect in 2020. Their goal is an agreement where every country contributes now and into the future, based on national circumstances, to prevent global warming rising above 2C degrees and to adapt societies to existing and future climate change.
Ms. Figueres said: “In October we will produce a synthesis report aggregating the effect of all the INDCs submitted. The initial INDCs will clearly not add up to the emissions reductions needed to keep the global temperature rise under 2 degrees C, which is one reason why the Paris agreement must factor in a long term emission trajectory based on science”.
In addition Paris will need to outline how finance will be mobilised and scaled-up in order to support the action and ambition of developing countries now and over the decades to come.
Under the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, cooperative initiatives involving cities, business and others also need to be taken forward building on the many inspiring ones announced at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit last September.
“In short ambition in Paris should reflect a progressive alignment of the global economy, over multi-decadal time periods, with what science is saying. This needs to be supported by an enabling financial and technological framework and subject to regular, rigorous reviews from 2020 onwards,” said Ms. Figueres.
“The pathway to success is today clear. A global peaking of emissions in the next decade, a deep de-carbonization of the economy world-wide and climate neutrality as soon as possible in the second half of the century. Paris has the potential, the promise and the responsibility to put the world on this ambitious but do-able path,” she added.
Gabon has submitted its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the first African country to do so.
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC
“I deeply appreciate Gabon’s initiative and welcome this first Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) from an African nation,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.
Including Gabon, 35 parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs, covering all the countries under the European Union plus the European Commission, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and the United States.
The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.
Recently in Cairo in Egypt, African Environment Ministers convened to discuss African’s Climate Change Challenge. On March 6 they agreed on a final declaration officially called “Cairo Declaration on Managing Africa’s Natural Capital for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication.” Recognising the nexus between land productivity, food security and poverty eradication in Africa, they agreed to increase productivity in the use of natural resources in enhancing economic and social benefits for poverty reduction, job creation and sustainable development.
Naoko Ishii, CEO of GEF
The GEF CEO Naoko Ishii joined this high level meeting to present the GEF’s Integrated Approach Pilot programme on Fostering Sustainability and Resilience for Food Security in Sub Saharan Africa. With a growing population that will demand major increases in food production, the African continent is faced with increasing pressure on already fragile and stressed lands, and increase vulnerability of millions of smallholder farmers.
“In a sense Africa is facing a perfect storm with food deficit, climate change impacts and rapid population growth,” Ishii said. “The key is to help small holders manage their natural capital in a sustainable manner—the land, soil, water, vegetation and genetic resources that are vital for continued and increased agricultural productivity.”
The GEF as financial mechanism of global environmental conventions is well placed to help countries safeguard valuable ecosystem services that underpin sustainability and resilience of agricultural systems in the continent’s most vulnerable regions. The programme will engage a diversity of actors and partners at national and regional levels, to promote policy and investment options for scaling up interventions, and innovative tools for monitoring and assessment of ecosystem services.
This approach will bridge the gap between traditional practices of smallholder farmers and intensified systems that seek higher yields, and at the same create opportunities to integrate environmental priorities into food production systems and food value chains. This in line with the commitment of countries to the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme of the Africa Union, and will be reinforced through a high-level partnership framework that involves development partners, scientific institutions, the private sector, foundations, and grassroots organisations.
Building a Solid Foundation for Sustainable Development
The Cairo Declaration is a reaffirmation of the vital role that Africa’s natural capital plays in underpinning sustainable and resilient development on the continent. For more than two decades, the GEF has been a strategic partner supporting African countries to safeguard the continent’s natural capital. More than US$ 3 billion – nearly one third of all GEF resources to date – has been invested in Africa. In addition to major contributions to individual countries, the following represent a few highlights of regional efforts toward a solid foundation for:
In the area of forest conservation, the GEF is working with six countries in Central Africa to implement the Strategic Program for Sustainable Forest Management in the Congo Basin, which is home to the world’s second largest tropical forest ecosystem, covering 1.7 million km2 across the six countries.
Through the Strategic Investment Program (SIP) for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa, the GEF mobilized the TerrAfrica platform to engage more than 25 countries in efforts to integrate and implement sustainable land management across multiple sectors, providing knowledge, analytical and policy support.
Building on the TerraAfrica platform, the GEF and the World Bank helped 12 countries to launch the Sahel and West Africa Program in Support of the Great Green Wall Initiative, which aims to expand integrated natural resource management in areas that are vulnerable to climate change.
In the area of fisheries and water resources management, the GEF has catalyzed several major efforts to promote multi-state cooperation in transboundary surface and groundwater basins. The Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Fisheries Management in the Large Marine Ecosystems in Africa includes (i) a Sustainable Fisheries Investment Fund and (ii) regional programmes such as West African Regional Fisheries Program and the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Program.
Through the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), the GEF has invested some $750 million in 47 countries actions and initiatives to reduce the vulnerability of more than 10 million people and promote more resilient management practices on more than 2 million hectares of land.
Looking Ahead
As part of the GEF6 investment cycle, the GEF has proposed a series of initiatives and programs that will help support that will help support the Cairo Declaration on “Managing Africa’s Natural Capital for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction.” Priorities such as valuation of natural capital, tackling the illegal wildlife trade, adaptation to climate change, sustainable use and management of water resources, and promoting a resilient fisheries industry are all priorities for GEF financing during this phase:
Within this GEF-6 programme, the GEF will:
Launch an Integrated Approach Pilot programme to help countries safeguard valuable ecosystem services that underpin sustainability and resilience of food production systems in the continent’s most vulnerable regions. In addition to the Environment Initiative Action Plan, the program will support implementation of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program, which includes pillars on food security and land and water management.
Launch a specific programme to help countries pilot national-level interventions that link biodiversity valuation and economic analysis with development policy and finance planning. Such analysis will help to inform policy instruments and fiscal reforms for mitigating perverse incentives that lead to biodiversity loss. The GEF program also includes specific support to reform finance flows, for instance through public expenditure reviews, and to operationalise innovative finance mechanisms such as payments for ecosystem services, habitat banking, aggregate offsets, and tradable development rights and quotas.
Support strengthening decision making processes including legislation and its implementation, strategic planning, and capacity of national agencies in Africa engaged in reducing poaching and illegal trade of tusks, horns, and associated by-products.
• support African governments and communities in their priority adaptation efforts across all of the most vulnerable development sectors: agriculture and food security, water resources management, coastal zone management and disaster risk reduction. Through regional and national investments in improved climate information services and early-warning systems, the GEF is also building the medium- and long-term capacities of African decision-makers to integrate climate change risks and adaptation options into policies, plans and budgets.
Support Africa’s Water Vision for 2025, “an Africa where there is an equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for poverty alleviation, socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment.”
Continue to support regional action by funding the implementation of the Reform Strategy for Fisheries, by piloting an integrative approach to fisheries in West Africa, and by supporting national action promoting blue growth.
With ‘Food Safety’ being the theme of this year’s World Health Day on April 7, 37 laureates of the Right Livelihood Award from across the world have endorsed a declaration on the future of nutrition, denouncing Golden Rice and Genetically Modified Bananas as ‘false miracles’ to achieving food security. Golden Rice is a genetically engineered rice variety offered by GM proponents as a cure for Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), while GM bananas are proposed to compensate for a lack of Vitamin A and iron.
The declaration, written by 1993 Right Livelihoood Award recipient Vandana Shiva and a coalition of women’s groups in India, comes as controversy escalates over the development of GM crops in Africa. According to a February 2015 report by Friends of the Earth International only four African countries, South Africa, Egypt, Burkina Faso and Sudan, have released GM crops commercially, while others are involved in testing or have placed bans and restrictions on GM crops and commodities. A GM banana project in Uganda under the National Agricultural Research Institute and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently provoked fierce resistance from local civil society organizations who claim that there are better alternatives to GM.
Food sovereignty organisation GRAIN, recipient of the 2011 Right Livelihood Award and signatory to the declaration, said in an earlier statement, “Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) – like other problems on malnutrition and hunger – is not caused by the lack of Vitamin A in food, but by people’s inability to access a balanced diet…it is a mistake to turn blindly to Golden Rice, a crop that the International Rice Research Institute itself admits it has not yet determined can actually improve Vitamin A…It is clear that the development of Golden Rice, with its avowedly humanitarian mission to solve Vitamin A deficiency serves the biotech industry in its efforts to win wider approval for GM foods. It is a tool to promote GMOs that would pave the way towards control of food and agriculture by agrobiotech corporations.”
Nigerian environmentalist Nnimmo Bassey and recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award, said the move toward GM crops on the continent is driven by profit and heralds a new form of colonization. “The modern biotech industry is really going bananas. The so-called golden rice has always been known to be a hoax. The same goes for the so-called golden bananas. The future of African nutrition and access to the right food lies in the preservation of our biodiversity and genetic resources,” he said.
The declaration states that Golden Rice has not in fact proven to be more nutritious than indigenous varieties and that natural food sources like turmeric provide much more iron than GM bananas.
“As a source of nutrition for the Global South, Golden Rice has no real benefits. But considering the precedents set by soya, corn, canola and cotton, introducing Golden Rice as a way for large companies to gain control over entire food cultures based on rice, makes perfect sense,” states the declaration. It also reveals the environmental costs, potentially damaging health impacts and consequences for small-scale farmers of GM crop production, and calls for support for sustainable agro-ecology systems with crop diversity and seed sovereignty.
Communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria are seeking government intervention in the protection and conservation of the rich biodiversity presence in the area.
Oil pollution in the Niger Delta has largely contributed to the destruction of the area’s biodiversity. Photo credit: longbaby.com
Members of the communities made the request recently during an interaction with a team comprising officials of the Ministry of Environment, National Planning Commission, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded Niger Delta Biodiversity Project (NDBP), Dr Mathew Dore. The team was on a monitoring and evaluation visit.
The Niger Delta Biodiversity Project has the goal of contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of globally significant biological diversity in the Niger Delta, which is being attained through stakeholders strengthening of the governance framework of law, policy and institutional capacity to enable the mainstreaming of biodiversity management into the oil and gas sector in the restive, oil-rich region.
Local folks noted that the best way to halt the indiscriminate exploitation and destruction of the biodiversity is for the communities, government and the oil companies to work in synergy in addressing the situation.
In Biseni community of Bayelsa State, the community decries the disappearance of some of animal and plant species which was hitherto common in their forests.
“As a result of oil exploration and exploitation, pipe line vandalism and over harvesting of animals for meat and plant fruits for food, we have succeeded in depleting the forests of valuable biodiversity that should sustain life for us now and future generation,” Mr Ndiwari Bulodisiye, a community member, said.
“There is an urgent need to conserve and protect the biodiversity and no community in the Niger Delta has the capacity or potential to do that. So we need government and more especially the oil companies to partner communities in bringing back lives into the forests,” he added.
Mr Gbabra Yoruba, a representative of the Niger Delta Wetland Centre in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, which prepared the Biseni Community Biodiversity Action Plan, said that more than 80 per cent of the community depends on biodiversity from the forest for its livelihood.
“Members of the community have also recognised and admitted that they are to some extent responsible for the rapid loss of biodiversity and that they have done little or nothing for its protection,” he added.
Mr Otufu Pasuja of the Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, University of Port Harcourt, described the Niger Delta Biodiversity Project as a big boost to efforts by communities in the area to preserve their natural heritage.
“Bayelsa is so rich in terms of biodiversity; conserving it will be making room for the next and future generation. But there is the need for the political will on the part of government and commitment on the part of oil companies for any effort at conserving this God gift to be a success,” Pasuja said.
In Abi-Ugborodo community in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State, Mr Sunday Agbeyi, chairman of the community biodiversity action plan, said the environmental degradation suffered by the area leading to loss of biodiversity would be a thing of the past if the community’s action plan to restore the environment was implemented.
He urged the state government to come up with laws and regulations that would protect the rich biodiversity of the area.
Mr Irikefe Dafe, Executive Director, Foundation for Conservation of Nigerian Rivers, a non-governmental organisation and the implementing organisation for the Abi-Ugborodo conservation project under the NDBP, noted that the chimpanzee and other animal and plant species that are common in the place are now extinct following massive deforestation and other human induced activities.
He praised the community for embracing the project and urged members to reduce activities that result in the loss of biodiversity.
Emmanuel Bazunu of the Delta State Ministry of Environment and Conservation noted that the Niger Delta area had suffered severe loss of biodiversity as a result of pollution which government had failed to control.
Mr Eguaoje Festus, Assistant Director, Federal Ministry of Environment, said government was concerned about the huge biodiversity loss in the Niger Delta and was prepared to work with communities and development partners to restore the losses.
Mrs Falilat Abdulraheem, an Assistant Director with the National Planning Commission, urged the Niger Delta communities to toe the path of sustainable development by protecting and conserving nature’s gift to them.
She noted that the environment had been over-exploited and therefore required a systematic approach and involvement of all to ensure its restoration.
The Government of Mexico at the weekend announcedits ambitious commitmenttowards a new international climate change agreement. As part of its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Mexico announced its emissions will peak by 2026 and it will adopt an unconditional target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 22% from business as usual.
President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico. Photo credit: htekidsnews.com/Wikimedia Commons/Microstar
This development implies that Mexico is the first developing country to submit its INDC, which also includes plans in respect to adaptation and a target to cut black carbon or soot. Mexico is a founding member of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition which was among the many inspiring international cooperative initiatives taken forward at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in
2014.
After Switzerland, the EU and Norway, Mexico is the fourth party to submit a pledge to the Paris agreement. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), in a statement on Saturday, congratulated Mexico on its submission, released prior to the March 31st timeline outlined by the UNFCCC.
President Barack Obama and President Enrique Peña Nieto also jointly announced a new high-level bilateral clean energy and climate policy task force to improve coordination on clean electricity, energy and fuel efficiency, climate modelling, and early warning systems. The task force will be led by Secretary Ernest Moniz and Secretary Juan José Guerra Abud.
As two partners of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the commitment of the United States and today Mexico to accelerate action to increase low-carbon, clean energy and drive down greenhouse gas emissions is welcome. The USA continues to show leadership together with its bilateral partners, notably China, India and today, Mexico, in accelerating climate action.
The IISD also gave the thumbs-up to Mexico for its commitment, as well as the USA. The USA is expected to announce its INDC soon and had previously outlined a target of emission reductions between 26 to 28 percent. IISD is likewise looking forward to Canada’s finalised INDC, aligning with the other NAFTA partners.
According to the IISD, it is currently working to support INDCs in a number of countries and is firmly committed to supporting low carbon, climate resilient development around the world.
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, is encouraging countries to come forward with their INDCs as soon as they are able, underlining their commitment and support towards a successful outcome in Paris. Governments agreed to submit their INDCs in advance of Paris.
Developed countries are expected to do so as soon as possible and bigger developing countries are also likely to submit their INDCs well in advance.
Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time. Countries under the UNFCCC have already finalised the negotiating text for the Paris agreement.
The next round of formal negotiations will take place at UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, Germany, in June.
The NAFTA came into effect on January 1, 1994, creating the largest free trade region in the world, generating economic growth and helping to raise the standard of living for the people of all three member countries – USA, Mexico and Canada.
This piece was necessitated by outcome of the recently held roundtable in Nairobi, Kenya titled: “COP 21 and Beyond – Government, Business and Civil Society Partnership”. CISME made a presentation and actively participated.
Prince Lekan Fadina
CISME emphasised its mission in connection with climate change “to raise issues on climate action, create awareness, promote education, develop capacity, promote public-private partnership, citizens involvement, entrepreneurial development, research, support sustainable and climate resilient development, sharing experience and collaboration.”
The event raised a number of issues which we believe could be useful in addressing the implications of the new Climate Agreement and the investment train to the low carbon economy. l t also helped in the continuous dialogue of checklist for Africa interest.
It is evident that there is great interest globally to address climate science climate information, technology, finance and energy access. There is urgent call for Africa including Nigeria to maximise energy options, be energy efficient and work with developed countries and development institutions on the basis of addressing challenges that will be in the interest of the people. This will help in ensuring the efficient channel of climate financing to projects that will benefit the greater number of people.
Phillippe Desfosses, CEO of the French Etabisement de Retraite de la Fonction publiqu (ERAFP), saw a changing climate when it comes to the French public pension funds investment policy. Desfosses said that ERAFP will be “experimenting with decarbonising its investments of 21 billion Euros ($23 billion).” The Fund announced late in 2014 that it was working with the French Asset Manager Amundi to design a 750 million Euros for low carbon portfolio. This is an important point bearing in mind that the French government recently put in place a substantial amount towards African development and COP 21 is taking place in Paris, France.
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said recently that “there has never been so much mobilisation of the private and finance sector to show that not only must we address the climate change but must remember the future generations.”
In her presentation at the World Affairs Council of Northern California USA, Ms. Figueres said that “the demand for energy is high and we need to ask ourselves what we are going to do to provide the necessary infrastructure for the growing world population.” She went on to say that, in moving forward, innovation, technology, education, human capital development, education and awareness creation are useful mechanisms for addressing the challenges of climate change.
It is now a common term in Sustainable Development circle that “Right now business as usual is risk” because if by December 2015 a global agreement is reached, the implications will be striking us in the face. The private sector needs to get itself prepared because the agreement would ensure that not only public financing for climate friendly projects around the world will be involved, the ramp-up of government mechanism like co-investing and de-risking to encourage the private sector to get involved will be a great challenge.
COP 21 will be an avenue for the private sector, civil society organisations and governments to get the impact of the negotiation agreement.
The country specific commitment to emission reduction as contained in the various countries’ INDCs will serve as an “investment prospectus” that gives us an indication of how countries are going to decarbonise their economy, scale up renewables, increase energy efficiency, transition to carbon energy green jobs and other issues.
The global investment portfolios will be moving towards supporting climate-friendly growth, ensuring efficiency and cost reductions. The United Nations Systems such as the World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP, UNIDO and others are keying into this process of low carbon and climate resilient development.
As we prepare for COP 21 we humbly suggest that there is need to consider how we can as a nation and people benefit from the outcome – for example the Green Climate Fund, Technology Centres and other infrastructure. We must look at how we can empower, and educate our people towards the path of sustainable growth and development.
Nigeria must take leadership role in promoting and creating the enabling environment for inflow of investment, ensuring that we get the benefit of various financing, technology, knowledge and other tools that can go a long way in the unlocking of opportunities in low carbon and climate resilient projects that can lead to creating jobs for growth and development.
We see the need to explore how we can use all available assets at our disposal to mobilise all of our people to understand that the future we see in front of us demands a proper understanding of Nigeria as a member of the global world that sees the efficiency of all resources as a collective responsibility.
By Prince Lekan Fadina (Executive Director, Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management and Environment (CISME). (He is a member of the Nigeria Negotiation Team, Africa Group of Negotiators and member, AGN Finance Co-ordination Committee). Website: www.cismenigeria.com. Email: cismevision@gmail.com. Twitter: @cismevision
Norway on Friday March 27, 2015 submitted its 2030 climate target to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In December this year, a new global climate agreement is to be concluded at the UN Climate Conference in Paris.
Norway’s climate and environment minister, Tine Sundtoft. Photo credit: www.regjeringen.no
All countries are invited to submit their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), containing emissions reductions targets, well in advance of Paris and by March 2015 for those ready to do so. Norway is the third to submit its intended contribution, after Switzerland and the EU.
According to Norwegian officials, the nation is committed to a target of an at least 40% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
Norway’s INDC comes well in advance of a new universal climate change agreement which will be reached at the UN climate conference in Paris in December this year. All submitted INDCs are available on the UNFCCC website.
Including the Norwegian submission, 31 parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs. This includes all the countries under the European Union plus the European Commission and Switzerland.
The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, is encouraging countries to come forward with their INDCs as soon as they are able, underlining their commitment and support towards this successful outcome in Paris.
Governments agreed to submit their INDCs in advance of Paris. Developed countries are expected to do so as soon as possible and some bigger developing countries are also likely to submit their INDCs well in advance.
INDCs have been chosen as the vehicle for national contributions to the international Paris agreement. They include, for example, details of emission reductions the country will undertake and can include other action plans covering areas such as adaptation to climate change.
Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time.
Countries under the UNFCCC have already finalised the negotiating text for the Paris agreement. The next round of formal negotiations will take place at UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, Germany, in June.
All information such as documentation on designing and preparing INDCs as well as on sources of support for INDC preparation, is available here.
Norwegians believe that, to have a successful outcome of the Climate Conference in Paris, it is important that countries submit their contributions on emission reductions well in advance of the meeting, and that they are ambitious.
“Our target is well in line with the emission reductions that are needed to met the two degree target. I am very pleased that Norway can keep to the deadline,” says climate and environment minister, Tine Sundtoft.
According to the minister, the aim is to fulfil the emission reduction target as a collective delivery with the EU and its member states.
Sundtoft adds: “Around 50% of Norway’s emissions are already covered by the emission trading system (ETS) of the EU. In addition, a national target for emission reductions will be established for sectors outside the ETS. Norway will enter into a dialogue with the EU on an agreement for the collective delivery of the climate target. If there is no agreement on a collective delivery with the EU, Norway will fulfil the commitment independently. The ambition level of at least 40 % reduction will remain the same.
“We need more international cooperation to meet the climate challenge. A collective delivery for Norway and the EU on climate change is a step in the right direction. Both Norway and the EU have high ambitions on climate, and view climate measures in the context of long term transition to low emission societies. By linking our climate efforts, we can achieve better results.
“The solution with the EU means that the 40% emission reduction will be implemented in Europe, without the use of international market mechanisms outside of the EU and Norway. If it can contribute to a global and ambitious climate agreement in Paris, Norway will consider taking a commitment beyond an emission reduction of 40% compared to 1990 levels, through the use of flexible mechanisms under the UN framework convention, beyond a collective delivery with the EU
“It is important that the Paris climate agreement includes market based mechanisms. By using the market, countries can raise ambitions collectively.”
Ahead of Nigeria’s historic general elections, Connected Development (CODE), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Abuja, has deployed a real-time geo-specific online platform to collate and provide citizens, particularly security agencies, disaster management agencies, media and electoral officials with real-time information about the conduct of the exercise. The platform will help check other irregularities capable of undermining the outcome of the elections while mitigating violence.
A web shot of Uzabe
CODE believes that advancement in technology has made it possible for virtual communities like her to provide increasing support to election observation and electoral body response to emergencies during elections. Important cornerstones of this virtual effort are the possibility to access and take advantage of geo-spatial data, satellite imagery as well as the use of other mobile-based technologies such as Short Message Services (SMS), WhatsApp and global navigation information systems.
Chief Executive of CODE, Hamzat Lawal, stated: “Taking note of the need to connect our works with the electoral body, organisations working around democracy and governance in Nigeria, and as one of the 88 organisations accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to observe the 2015 General Elections, with support from The Indigo Trust – a UK based grant making foundation that funds technology-driven projects to bring about social change, largely in African countries, we have created Uzabe (www.uzabe.org) – a real-time (web-based map) Open Situation Awareness Room for her over 1000 observers (in 31 states of the federation) and other citizens in the forthcoming elections in Nigeria aiming to report on the opening, accreditation, voting and counting processes during election day while establishing early warning systems for vulnerable communities and strengthening mitigation of violence and emergency response during violence”.
Uzabe is also created to enable the rest of the public interface with CODE in shaping pubic discussions targeted at ensuring free, fair, credible and peaceful elections. “The technology is designed to work using SMS as its feedback mechanism as every household in Nigeria has access to mobile services,” Lawal added.
CODE’s over 1,000 observers in 31 states that has been trained would serve as Trusted Sources and would be sending geo-specific reports and descriptions of event on the scene as they unfold. “We hope to be able to showcase and tell stories on how technology tool can mitigate violence while equipping security, disaster management emergencies and the public with real-time information. Another interesting part is that the security agencies are keen and has committed on using our groundtruth reports. We would also analyse unfiltered crown (citizen) reports via Twitter and Facebook feeds that would help in enhancing the electoral process,” Lawal explained.
