International workshop on Faith-based Sustainable Land

ManagementRegional 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

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Mt. Kilimanjaro

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Lake Chad

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1987 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

AMCEN

www.unep.org/roa/amcen

www.aaknet.org

Africa Adaptation GAP report

Climate change impacts

2°C World v. 4°C World

Warming limited to below 2°C still implies major adaptation costs for Africa: 4°C warming by 2100 will hit the continent very hard

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

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Enabling participation

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Awareness raising and capacity building

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!