Environment and Natural Resources
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Item Climate change:(Ministry of Water and Environment, 2007) Ministry of Water and EnvironmentGlobal warming, the gradual increase in the average temperature on the earth, affects every sector of development. It is a frightening reality that every country has to come to terms with, as evidenced by the highly destructive hurricanes in the USA (2005), severe droughts in Niger (2005) and the devastating floods in Mozambique (2000). Indeed, global warming may be the single most serious global problem of our time. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has pointed out that human activities are altering the climate system and that global mean temperatures are projected to increase in the range of 1.4 to 5.8 degrees centigrade during the period 1990 to 2100. Among the most prominent examples of the effects of global warming, is the gradual disappearance of the tropical ice caps as illustrated in the figure below. The previous permanence of the ice caps has been cherished sources of water for the communities living on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and Rwenzori Mountains. The melting of ice caps has serious consequences on local social and economic development as well as local ecosystems and ecotourism.Item Technical assessment of climate finance in the East African Community(UNFCCC secretariat, 2021) UNFCCCIn 2017, COP 23, in its decision pertaining to long-term climate finance, requested the UNFCCC secretariat to explore ways and means to assist developing country Parties in assessing their climate finance needs and priorities, in a country-driven manner, including technological and capacity-building needs, and in translating these climate finance needs into action.Item Republic of South Sudan National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA) to Climate Change(Ministry of Environment, 2016) Ministry of EnvironmentSouth Sudan is a least-developed country located in east-central Africa. It is the world’s newest country, having gained independence from Sudan in July 2011 after a prolonged period of civil war. In addition to the harmful impacts of long-term conflict, communities in South Sudan are also experiencing the negative effects of a changing climate. In general, the country is experiencing substantially warmer and drier weather, and the combination of these effects is leading to more droughts. In addition, rainfall is becoming more erratic, which is increasing the frequency and severity of floods. These climate change effects in turn decrease agricultural productivity, upon which the majority of the population depend for their livelihoods. Unless communities can adapt to these climatic changes and their impacts, climate change will hinder socio-economic development and contribute to existing tensions and conflict in South Sudan. National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) serve as simplified, rapid and direct channels for Least Developed Countries to identify and communicate priority activities to address their urgent and immediate adaptation needs. NAPAs emerged from the multilateral discussions on adaptation measures within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). South Sudan’s NAPA therefore specifies five priority activities (referred to as Priority Adaptation Projects) for effective climate change adaptation across the five identified priority thematic areas, namely: i) Environment; ii) Water Resources; iii) Agriculture; iv) Disaster Risk Reduction; and v) Policy and Institutional Framework.Item United republic of Tanzania national adaptation programme of action (NAPA)(Vice president’s office, Division of Environment, 2007) Vice president’s officeTanzania National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) preparation has been a timely opportunity to look at the country’s climate change related vulnerabilities in various sectors which are important for the economy. Tanzania NAPA document is informed by the aspirations of National Development Vision 2025 for high and shared growth, quality livelihood, peace, stability and unity, good governance, high quality education and global competitiveness. Since Tanzania’s economy is largely dependent on agriculture, it is deemed that sustainable development can be achieved when strategic actions, both short term and long term are put in place to address climate change impacts on agriculture and other key economic sectors. The process of NAPA preparation involved looking at the effects of climate change as a threat mainly to the agrarian population that still depends on subsistence agriculture for their daily livelihood. The past trend on droughts and floods; and recent poor harvest in 2005 which caused hunger in most parts of the country and disappearance of the ice cap at Mount Kilimanjaro is now more than ever imminent evidence of climate change due to evident temperature increases caused by global warming. The frequency of extreme weather events such as El Nino floods in 1997/98 and the recent drought are few but important reminders of the deadly effects of climate change to Tanzania. In this context, the Tanzania NAPA identifies priority areas in various sectors, and further prioritizes project activities in those sectors. These activities need immediate and urgent actions for the country to adapt to such climate change effects on a short term basis as well as putting in place mechanisms for addressing long-term adaptation initiatives.Item National adaptation programmes of action to climate change, NAPA-Rwanda(Ministry of lands, environment, forestry, water and mines, 2006) Ministry of lands, environment, forestry, water and minesAware that Least Developed Countries (LDC) lack necessary means to face the problems linked to climate change, the Decision 28 of the 7th Conference of Parties (28/CP.7) to UNFCCC has established guidelines for the preparation and implementation of National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA). The NAPA has the aim of helping the LDC define adaptation priority activities to climate change in order to obtain funds from GEF or other donors for their implementation. Rwanda, a Party to UNFCCC, received in July 2005 an LDC grant for the preparation of NAPA which will be used as a simplified and direct channel of communication for expressing its urgent and immediate adaptation needs to climate change.Item Heads of state retreat on food security and climate change, Ngurdoto mountain lodge:(EAC Secretariat, 2010) East African CommunityThe EAC region is frequently affected by food shortages and pockets of hunger although the region as a whole has a huge potential and capacity to produce enough food for regional consumption and a large surplus for export to the world market. There are many factors leading to this state affair but the most critical are: (i) inadequate food exchange/trade between periods and/or places of abundant harvest on one hand, and those with deflict on the other; and (ii) high variability in production caused by high variability of weather which is becoming worse due to climate.Item Climate change strategy (2011-2016)(EAC Secretariat, 2011) East African CommunityClimate change is contemporarily the most important global environmental, social and economic challenge, predicted to have severe impacts on a planetary scale. The adverse impacts of climate change on environment, human health, food security, human settlements, economic activities, natural resources, and physical infrastructure are already noticeable world-wide. Global warming is the most stricking indication of the pronounced Climate Change issue. It is the most direct effect of the increased trapping of heat radiation. Climate science has a firm basis in physics and is supported by a wealth of evidence from real world observations. The Reports of IPCC represent the best consensus to-date on the Climate Change agenda. The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the IPCC, completed in November 2007, finds with more than 90% probability that human action is implicated in today’s climate change, and presents the already observed and projected impacts it will give rise to. It is certain that increased greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and from land use change lead to a warming of climate, and it is very likely that these greenhouse gases are the dominant cause of the global warming that has been taking place since the industrial revolution.Item East African Community climate change policy(EAC Secretariat, 2011) East African CommunityThe adverse impacts of climate change aggravated by the increasing average global temperatures are a threat to the livelihoods of people in almost all sectors of the economies of the EAC region. Severe droughts, floods and indeed extreme weather events associated with climatic variability phenomenon of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are occurring with greater frequency and intensity in the region. This is affecting the food security situation and threatening all the other drivers of economic development. Hence, there is a need for an integrated, harmonized and multi-sectoral framework for responding to climate change in the EAC region through the East African Community Climate Change Policy (EACCCP). In view of this, the Heads of State of the East African Community (EAC) directed the EAC Secretariat to develop a Climate Change Policy and strategies to address the adverse impacts of climate change in the region and harness any potential opportunities posed by climate change in the context of the principle of sustainable development. The overall objective of the EAC Climate Change Policy is to guide Partner States and other stakeholders on the preparation and implementation of collective measures to address Climate Change in the region while assuring sustainable social and economic development.Item East African Community climate change master plan(East African Community, 2011) East African CommunityThe East African Community Climate Change Master Plan (EACCCMP) is an outcome of a consultative and participatory process for a unified regional approach to combat climate change. It was developed by the East African Community (EAC) Partner States (Republic of Burundi, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Republic of Uganda) with facilitation of the EAC Secretariat. The purpose of the Master Plan is to provide a long-term vision and a basis for Partner States to operationalise a comprehensive framework for adapting to and mitigating climate change in line with the EAC Protocol on Environment and Natural Resources Management and with international climate change agreements. The Master Plan ‘s Vision is to ensure that: The People, the Economies and the Ecosystems of the EAC Partner States are climate resilient and adapt accordingly to Climate Change. The Vision is aligned and consistent with EAC ‘s mandate and development priorities as articulated in a number of relevant environmental and climate change documents such as the EAC Climate Change Policy, EAC Climate Change Strategy, the EAC Protocol on Environment and Natural Resources Management and the EAC Food Security Action Plan. The overall objective of the Master-Plan is to strengthen regional cooperation to address climate change issues that concern regionally shared resources.Item United Nations framework convention on climate change COP23/CMP13/CMA1.2:(East African Community, 2017) East African CommunityThe twenty third Session of the Conference of Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and thirteenth Meeting of Parties to Kyoto Protocol (CMP13) were held from 6th to 17th November, 2017 in Bonn, Germany. The second session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1.2) also took place in Bonn in conjunction with COP23 and CMP13. COP 23/CMP13/CMA1.2 sessions were organized by Fiji and hosted at the headquarters of the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany. The main purpose of the 2017 UN Climate Change Conference was to launch nations towards the next level of ambition needed to tackle global warming and put the world on a safer and more prosperous development path.Item United Nations framework convention on climate change COP24/CMP14/CMA1.3:(East African Community, 2018) East African CommunityThe UN Climate Change Conference was held in Katowice, Poland from 2nd to 14th December 2018. The major objective was to adopt a package of decisions to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The session also reviewed the progress made in the implementation of resolutions of COP 23/CMP13/CM1.2 and took stock on the progress of the targets agreed during previous UN Climate Change Conferences.Item National adaptation plan of action (NAPA)(Ministry for land management, tourism and environment, 2007) Ministry for land management, tourism and environmentBurundi, a landlocked country in the middle of Central Africa covers an area of 27,834 km². Its relief forms a complex of five geomorphologic zones including the Imbo floodplain, the Congo-Nile watershed, the central plateaus and the depressions of Bugesera and Kumoso. The climate varies according to altitude. The altitudes above 2000 m, materialised by the Congo-Nile watershed have mean precipitation ranging between 1400 mm and 1600 mm and annual mean temperature oscillating around 15°C with the minima sometimes going as down as 0°C. The central plateaus, whose altitude oscillates between 1500 and 2000 m, receive approximately 1200 mm of annual precipitation with 18 to 20°C of average temperature. The zones of altitudes below 1400 m in the Imbo floodplain and the depressions of Kumoso and Bugesera have annual mean precipitation below 1200 mm and sometimes below 1000 mm, and average annual temperature above 20°C. The country is divided into two large catchments areas: The Nile basin that includes on the one hand the Ruvubu and its tributaries and on the other hand the Kanyaru, Kagera tributaries, and the Congo River basin