Namibia leads in climate change fight

Namibia has been praised as a leader for taking action against climate change and has shown its commitment to meeting reporting targets on time. The environment ministry yesterday signed the third biennial update report project document for Namibia to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement was signed between the environment ministry, the National Planning Commission (NPC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).The permanent secretary in the environment ministry, Malan Lindeque, said Namibia as a signatory to the UNFCCC was obliged to report in accordance with the convention. Namibia is also a signatory to the Paris Agreement. Parties to the convention are obliged to submit national communications every four years and biennial update reports every two years.The difference between the two reports is that national communications have an adaptation component whereas biennial reports are concerned mainly with greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation actions. To meet its reporting obligations Namibia has submitted three national communications: the initial communication in 2002, the second communication in 2011 and the third national communication in 2015. It is currently busy with its fourth national communication to be submitted in 2019. Namibia submitted its first biennial update report in 2014 and the second one was submitted in 2016. “Namibia is one of the few countries to have so far fully complied with reporting obligations,” said Lindeque. He said the project document that was signed would kick off Namibia's preparation of its third biennial update report. The ministry will coordinate the preparation process but the successful implementation of the project would require efforts from all the key stakeholders. The third biennial update report will build on work and achieve in the previous two reports in terms of greenhouse gas inventory covering the year 2014; the mitigation measures and their effects and the associated domestic monitoring reporting and verification system, institutional arrangements and national circumstances and on constraints, gaps and associated technical and financial needs. The outgoing UNDP country representative Kiki Gbeho said Namibia had for years shown its commitment to climate action and was a leader in fighting climate change. “Signing this agreement is in line with our global agenda.” Gbeho said she was looking forward to working with Namibia in the future. “You must make sure that these plans translate into some form of action. It has been an incredible run here in Namibia and we have done incredible work here.”Ghebo said she still believed that a difference could be made in the lives of the 18% of Namibians who were considered extremely poor, and that environment could play a role. The NPC permanent secretary, Annely Haiphene, said that Namibia too wanted to reach its targets of eliminating poverty. “We also want to see our people out of poverty and reach the goals we have set. We hope that by 2025 if you should return there will be a difference in the numbers and it has declined.” ELLANIE SMIT

Namibia leads in climate change fight

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-02

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Namibia leads in climate change fight

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-02

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