Shifeta leads delegation to global conference
Namibia will participate at this year's United Nations climate-change conference, also known as COP 25, which starts today.
The 25th Conference of Parties (COP25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is taking place in Madrid from 2 to 13 December.
Namibia will be represented by several institutions and ministries and the delegation will be led by environment minister Pohamba Shifeta.
A key question for the thousands of people set to attend the COP25 negotiations is how countries will implement the Paris Climate Agreement. The agreement signed in 2016 sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. It also aims to strengthen countries' abilities to deal with the impacts of climate change and support them in their efforts. “In order to transfer and accelerate the actions on implementing the climate-change adaptation and mitigation initiatives, there is a need to ensure that key thematic areas of negotiation that are of important to Namibia including finance, adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer and capacity building are fully represented,” the environment ministry said in a statement. According to the ministry, the Paris Agreement strongly urges developed countries to scale up their levels of financial support with a concrete plan to reach a US$100 billion target a year by 2020, as well as technology transfer and enhance capacities. Therefore Namibia will during negotiations urge the scaling up of the levels of climate finance, by providing concrete pathways and accounting methodologies for the collective goal by developed countries to reach the target of US$100 billion a year by next year. The ministry said this should happen while striking a balance of the allocation between adaptation and mitigation through the significant increase of grant-based support for adaptation, and to provide adequate support for capacity building and technology transfer, as per the Paris Agreement.
The ministry further pointed out that the Paris Agreement agreed to establish a Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT). The CBIT will aim to strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of developing countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements in the Paris Agreement, leading up to 2020 and beyond.
The importance of financial support for capacity building to enable developing countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements of the agreement in a timely manner is crucial for climate action, said the ministry. “Namibia is therefore, calling for an adequate capitalisation of the CBIT established in Paris by the 21st session of the Conference of Parties (COP 21).”
The ministry said the CBIT will strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of developing countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements in the Paris Agreement, leading up to 2020 and beyond, as per the Paris Agreement.
It was also pointed out that industrialised countries are expected to provide financial assistance and technology transfer to help developing countries transition to a low-carbon economy.
ELLANIE SMIT
The 25th Conference of Parties (COP25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is taking place in Madrid from 2 to 13 December.
Namibia will be represented by several institutions and ministries and the delegation will be led by environment minister Pohamba Shifeta.
A key question for the thousands of people set to attend the COP25 negotiations is how countries will implement the Paris Climate Agreement. The agreement signed in 2016 sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. It also aims to strengthen countries' abilities to deal with the impacts of climate change and support them in their efforts. “In order to transfer and accelerate the actions on implementing the climate-change adaptation and mitigation initiatives, there is a need to ensure that key thematic areas of negotiation that are of important to Namibia including finance, adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer and capacity building are fully represented,” the environment ministry said in a statement. According to the ministry, the Paris Agreement strongly urges developed countries to scale up their levels of financial support with a concrete plan to reach a US$100 billion target a year by 2020, as well as technology transfer and enhance capacities. Therefore Namibia will during negotiations urge the scaling up of the levels of climate finance, by providing concrete pathways and accounting methodologies for the collective goal by developed countries to reach the target of US$100 billion a year by next year. The ministry said this should happen while striking a balance of the allocation between adaptation and mitigation through the significant increase of grant-based support for adaptation, and to provide adequate support for capacity building and technology transfer, as per the Paris Agreement.
The ministry further pointed out that the Paris Agreement agreed to establish a Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT). The CBIT will aim to strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of developing countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements in the Paris Agreement, leading up to 2020 and beyond.
The importance of financial support for capacity building to enable developing countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements of the agreement in a timely manner is crucial for climate action, said the ministry. “Namibia is therefore, calling for an adequate capitalisation of the CBIT established in Paris by the 21st session of the Conference of Parties (COP 21).”
The ministry said the CBIT will strengthen the institutional and technical capacities of developing countries to meet the enhanced transparency requirements in the Paris Agreement, leading up to 2020 and beyond, as per the Paris Agreement.
It was also pointed out that industrialised countries are expected to provide financial assistance and technology transfer to help developing countries transition to a low-carbon economy.
ELLANIE SMIT
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