Title of paper

5. The Namibian Climate Change Committee

We now know that Namibia has some legislation concerning climate change in place. However, where can a Namibian citizen turn to if he/she has a concern with regard to climate change or just a good idea as to what Namibia can do to better protect its environment?
The Directorate of Environmental Affairs at the Ministry of Environment hosts the Namibian Climate Change Committee.
Its function is to advise and make recommendations to the government on climate change including how Namibia can meet its obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Members of the Committee are government representatives, ministries, NGOs, parastatals and people from the private sector.

6. References

Gupta, J. 2011. Developing Countries: Trapped in the Web of Sustainable Development Governance. In Dilling, O. / M. Herberg / G. Winter (eds.). 2011. Transnational Administrative Rule-Making: Performance, Legal Effects, and Legitimacy. Oxford: 305 – 329.
Ruppel, O.C. 2013. International Legal Climate Change Regimes and Climate Change Finance from a Southern African perspective. In Ruppel, O.C. / K. Ruppel-Schlichting (eds.). 2013. Environmental Law and Policy in Namibia – Towards making Africa the tree of life. Windhoek. Hanns Seidel Foundation: 287 – 309.

7. Further reading recommendations

Ruppel, O.C. 2009. Third-generation human rights and the protection of the environment in Namibia. In Horn, N. / A. Bösl (eds.). 2009. Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Namibia. Windhoek. Konrad Adenauer Foundation: 101 – 119.
Filho, W.L. (ed.). 2011. Experiences of Climate Change Adaptation in Africa. Berlin.

The Implementation of the UNFCCC in Namibia

By Absalom Shigwedha

1. Introduction

Due to its arid and semi-arid environment and over-dependency on rain-fed agriculture, climate change poses a great challenge to Namibia’s economy.

The following sectors are exceptionally vulnerable to climate change: water resources, marine resources, agriculture, biodiversity ecosystems, coastal zones and systems, health and energy.⁷

In order to combat the challenges of climate change, Namibia has become a party to both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of 1992 and its Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Thus, Namibia is obliged to implement the provisions of these two international agreements. Since then Namibia has taken several steps on the national level to implement these agreements. The lead ministry that is in charge for the implementation and coordination of national initiatives on climate change is the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET).

2. Steps taken to implement the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol

Today, Namibia can look back on a number of policies, projects and programmes that have been implemented on national level, some of them being successful until today.

2.1 The first country study on climate change

Some of the early initiatives that Namibia undertook towards implementing the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol were the setting up of the so-called National Climate Change Programme (NCCP), which resulted in 1998 in the Country’s Study on Climate Change.

The study included an overview of the vulnerability of Namibia to climate change, an assessment of the sources and sinks of greenhouse gas and a preliminary overview of the emission scenarios as well as the corrective choices the country has to face.

The NCCP also provided for the establishment of the National Climate Change Committee (NCCC). The NCCP is a multi-sectoral body tasked with advising the government on policies and strategies that need to be adopted in preparing the country for the predicted and in some cases actual effects of climate change.

2.2 Further steps taken by Namibia

The following table gives a summary of Namibia’s climate change policies, projects and programmes until today:

Namibia's climate change policies, projects and programmes Initial National Communication (2002) Second National Communication (2011) National Policy on Climate Change for Namibia (adopted in 2011) National Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (2013-2020) National Drought Policy and Strategy (1997) Disaster Risk Management Policy (2009) African Adaptation Project Namibia (2011 – 2012) Several programmes to enhance Renewable Energies

2.2.1 National Communications

In accordance with Articles 4 and 12 of the UNFCCC, Namibia has completed several National Communications to the Convention. The Initial National Communication (INC) was submitted in 2002, while the Second National Communication (SNC) followed in 2011. At the end 2012 the Third National Communication (TNC) was officially launched.

Namibia’s National Communications each comprise a series of studies looking at the threats and opportunities associated with climate change and how policy and other measures can be adopted and implemented to address these issues.

While the INC provided an assessment of projected impacts, highlighted the vulnerability of the country and gave some recommendations in terms of research, awareness rising, finance and technology, the SNC recommended research into a number of identified priority areas like an energy review and a vulnerability and capacity assessment. The focus was on the agriculture and water sectors. With regard to agriculture, research on a possible change in farming systems was proposed in order to enable adaptation. Furthermore a report on the projected impacts of sea-level rise on Namibia’s coastal towns and which adaptation strategies could be implemented was recommended. A report on the economic impacts of climate change was also part of the SNC.
An important part of the National Communications formed the so-called greenhouse gas inventories. Namibia has completed its greenhouse gas inventories for the first two National Communications confirming that greenhouse gas emissions from Namibia are negligible on a global scale and Namibia thus being a net carbon sink. A key reason for the country’s status as a net carbon sink is the estimated 26 million hectares of bush encroachment land in Namibia. As there are ongoing initiatives to remove invader bush to produce energy, Namibia’s status as a net carbon sink is currently unclear. It is also worth noting that the inventories do not account for greenhouse gas emissions accruing in other countries resulting from electricity imported to Namibia. These weaknesses show that the greenhouse gas inventories by only counting the amount of greenhouse gases are not able to properly reflect the problems and challenges on the energy sector faced by Namibia today.

2.2.2 National Policy on Climate Change for Namibia

In June 2011 the Namibian Parliament adopted Namibia’s Climate Change Policy. The policy aims at managing climate change impacts in a way that recognizes the national development goals and promotes integrated coordination of programmes of various sector organisations, so that the benefits for the country as a whole are maximized, while the negative impacts are minimized. In order to achieve this, the government implements adaptation measures to reduce the vulnerability of the population to impacts of climate change by enhancing their adaptive capacity whilst pursuing sustainable development (GRN, 2011: 8).
The policy is led by the following guiding principles: mainstreaming climate change into policies, legal framework and development; ensuring environmental sustainability; stakeholder participation in climate change policy implementation; awareness generation; education, training and capacity building; and human rights based development.
The policy also calls on other sectors to play a role in the fight against climate change, being these the general public, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, the media and international development partners:
General public: The policy demands active participation of the public in climate change campaigns, access to climate change information and adaptation of climate change interventions. Especially the right to access to information is of importance.

Private sector: The policy recognizes the pivotal role the private sector should play in addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation. The cross-cutting and multi-sectoral nature of climate change impacts requires collaboration between various sectors and the establishment of smart partnerships that include the private sector. This means for example that private companies are requested to play an important role as independent power producers producing solar energy and feeding electricity into the grid.

Non-Governmental organisations: The policy recognizes the important role NGO’s and faith and community based organisations play in awareness rising. They are also successful in the mobilization of financial and other resources to undertake climate change adaptation and mitigation measures at grassroots level where the local communities are.

Media: According to the policy the media shall be at the interface of translating scientific information on climate change and disseminating it to various stakeholders in an easy to understand manner. Media attention is pivotal to communities to ensure adequate availability and supply of climate change information. This helps to empower local communities to undertake appropriate action or intervention.

2.2.3 Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan

Namibia has a Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan in place which will run from 2013 to 2020. The Strategy and Action plan is supposed to help Namibia implementing its national policy and to ensure that Namibia fulfils its obligations under the UNFCCC (GRN, 2011: 7). Officially launched in February 2013, the document aims at addressing national priority areas for greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation as well as cross-cutting issues related to climate-proofing infrastructures. It intends to strengthen the institutional framework and climate related decision-making as well as to improve awareness on climate change in the public.

2.2.4 Other documents

In addition to the above mentioned documents that are specifically devoted to climate change, Namibia has produced numerous documents to address climate change related issues, especially such documents that deal with the expected impacts of climate change and global warming.
One of the oldest is the National Drought Policy and Strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture which already dates from 1997 and is currently under review. Devastating floods in 2009, 2010 and 2011 proved the necessity of having such a policy in place.
The Government paid attention to the increasing danger of natural disasters by the adoption of a Disaster Risk Management Policy in 2009. The Disaster Risk Management Policy promotes a holistic approach to disaster risk management to reduce the impacts of and to increase the resilience to natural hazards and related environmental, technological and biological disasters (GRN, 2012: 51).
Namibia also runs a couple of programmes and projects to increase the use of renewable energies to mitigate climate change impacts due to the use of conventional sources of energy. These projects are usually initiated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy in cooperation with the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Institute at the Polytechnic of Namibia.
The importance of addressing climate change issues is also mentioned in the current National Development Plan.