Transcript Powerpoint - Faiths for Green Africa

International workshop on
Faith-based Sustainable Land
Management
Regional perspective:
UNEP’s role in combating
climate change
David Ombisi
Programme Officer / AMCEN Secretariat
Regional Office for Africa, UNEP
About climate change
• There can no longer be any doubt that climate
change is the major, overriding environmental issue
now. It is no longer relevant to discuss whether or
not our climate is changing, but rather, how fast
changes will occur & what needs to be done
• It is well recognized that Africa is the continent most
vulnerable to impacts of climate change
• Shifting weather patterns threaten food production
through increased unpredictability of rainfall; rising
sea levels contaminate coastal freshwater &
increase risk of flooding; extreme weather events
are predicted to become more frequent and severe
causing devastation
About climate change
• One does not have to belong to the exclusive club of
climate change scientists before realizing that the
world climate is changing, rainforests are shrinking,
shores of lakes are receding, deserts are
expanding, sea levels are rising, and climatic
seasons are shifting
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC)
in its fifth Assessment Report (AR5), summary for
policy makers states that it’s extremely ‘likely' that
human activity has caused at least half of climate
change in the last half-century
Mt. Kilimanjaro
4
Lake Chad
1963
1987July 22, 2012
1973
2001
UNEP’s role in combating climate change
• UNEP’s mandate is to strengthen the ability of
governments to integrate climate change responses into
national development and decision making frameworks
and processes
• UNEP works to mitigate and adapt to climate change by
assisting governments and businesses to reduce
emissions, and by helping nations and communities
most likely to be affected develop ways to become more
resilient to changing conditions
• UNEP is involved in an extensive range of climate
change related activities, dealing with advocacy, science,
policy, law, technology transfer etc. But we work with
many partners in Africa
UNEP’s role in combating climate change
• UNEP and World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
created IPCC in 1988 to provide the world with Global
science base for understanding climate change
• UNEP seeks to facilitate & promote technology support
& access to finance e.g. through: cleaner production
centers; sharing of best practices; demonstration of new
approaches to financing cleaner energy investments;
and access to environmentally sound technologies
• UNEP is providing methodological guidance, knowledge
management tools & building capacity of countries to
actively participate in negotiations; build a sound
knowledge base for decision making; create necessary
governance and legal frameworks etc
Improving understanding of climate
change science
• Undertaking science-based assessment to increase
awareness of climate change and its impacts, & promote
integration of climate change into policy making
• Africa Adaptation Gap Report : adaptation costs for Africa
could reach $350 billion per year by 2070 should 2°C
target be significantly exceeded, while cost would be $150
billion lower per year if target were to be met.
• Adaptation gap is difference between resources required to
adapt to impacts of CC & those that are available
• 2014 report: Funding options & opportunities for adaptation
in Africa
w w w. u n e p . o r g / r o a / a m c e n
AMCEN
www.aaknet.org
Climate change impacts
Africa Adaptation GAP
report
Warming limited to below 2°C still implies major adaptation costs for Africa:
4°C warming by 2100 will hit the continent very hard
2°C World
v.
4°C World
impossible
Contributing to sustainable energy
• UNEP’s work on mitigating climate change comes in the
form of promoting efficient and renewable energy.
• Switching on to Efficient Lighting: En.lighten initiative, a
public-private partnership between UNEP, OSRAM AG,
Philips Lighting, with support of GEF and Australian
Government. ECOWAS established a framework to
phase-out inefficient lamps between 2016 and 2020, with
savings estimated at $220 million in electricity costs
annually
• If inefficient lamps were replaced with energy-efficient
devices, electricity demand would reduce and
greenhouse gas emissions would drop
Pushing the climate agenda
• UNEP working with AU in context of CAHOSCC
and AMCEN at policy and decision making –
common African position on CC
• UNEP support to AGN in climate change
negotiation process to culminate in new
agreement in 2015
• A UNEP-UNDP Initiative, the CC-DARE
Programme has supported Sub-Saharan African
countries in integrating climate change adaptation
into national development frameworks – now a
number of countries have cc strategies
Pushing the climate change agenda
• Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) operational arm of (UNFCCC) Technology Mechanism, led
by UNEP in collaboration with UNIDO & other international
research & development bodies aims to reduce emissions
& improve climate resilience in developing nations by
accelerating transfer of environmentally sound
technologies
• Strong backing for REDD+ which is a mechanism for
payments to reduce emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation, as well as conserve, manage and
enhance existing forest carbon stocks. Deforestation and
forest degradation account for nearly 20 per cent of global
greenhouse gas emissions, so REDD+ is seen as one of
the most cost-effective ways to reduce emissions and
minimize global temperature rises (DRC, Tanzania, and
Zambia)
Building climate resilience
• UNEP is supporting developing countries in implementing
concrete adaptation projects, & has pioneered ecosystem
based adaptation (EbA) options to enhance community
resilience and ecosystem functions.
• In Mozambique a UNEP-backed project restored
mangroves and introduced fish and crab farming to build
resilience in Xai-Xai district, an area prone to coastal
erosion & flooding. Food security for the community
depending on the ecosystem’s services has improved as a
direct result.
• UNEP is expanding its EbA work to other ecosystems and
urban and agricultural areas. At first African conference on
food security & climate change adaptation, key regional
decision makers backed an EbA approach as a means of
ensuring food security. AMCEN later adopted this decision.
Communicating and raising
awareness
• Using media and outreach activities to help deliver key
messages on climate change to the media and other target
groups
• Helping communicate successful climate change
programmes to key stakeholders to promote replication of
best practices
• Conducting awareness raising, outreach, education and
training for Major Stakeholders
• Hosting events, awards ceremonies and recognition
programmes to encourage innovation and participation
We have to improve our institutional and
policy capacity
Enabling participation
July 22, 2012
Footer text here
17
Awareness raising and capacity building
July 22, 2012
Footer text here
18
Let us leverage Africa’s agriculture
Potentially transformative
• Religious convictions shape our attitudes in very profound ways.
Discussion about environmental sustainability that draws from
faith principles would have a very positive impact
• Role of faith in promoting responsible behaviour & encouraging
a self-discipline that overcomes urge for instant gratification
without responsibility & self-interest for sake of long-term &
comprehensive benefit for humanity and environment cannot
and should not be underestimated.
• Capacity of world’s religions to provide moral direction and
inspiration for a flourishing community of life is significant.
Virtually all cultures & religious traditions vindicate value of
nature.
• Indeed, faith-based organizations have the trust of more people
than any other national or international organization
Africa Can Seize the Opportunity
 Communities across Africa are already building resilience
to climate change by stimulating their existing
ecosystems.
 What is needed is to bring these isolated success stories
to scale, to make them the rule rather than the exception.
 This is the only way that Africa will be able to achieve the
envisaged resilient, secure economic society, in which its
population does not experience the fear of want.
Believe it!