Title of paper

4. Practical action through pilot projects

The distinctiveness of the Namibia Climate Change Adaptation Youth Action Programme are its action-focused activities, which means creating pilot projects through which young people can start taking concrete action on climate change adaptation.
While youths have already been involved in action-focused climate change adaptation projects targeting the general population, practical adaptation pilot projects focused specifically on the youth have been rare before the AAP NAM. So far, most projects were AAP NAM projects. Ongoing or already completed pilot projects are:

• 
  urban gardening project
  
• 
  urban indigenous poultry project
  
• 
  fruit-tree planting competition
  
• 
  environmental club tender.
  

Practical pilot projects have several benefits. They are excellent inspiration and testing grounds for developing new ideas.

The more an individual can be part of practical action, the more he/she will start applying the lessons learned in his/her own life. One can share experiences with others and these people might also get interested and involved.

Many youths, even if already inspired and informed, will need the possibility of joining an existing project. The encouraging experience of an existing project might also inspire them to get their own projects started.

Furthermore, pilot projects are needed to develop the knowledge and skills that are required to transform a pilot activity to something more substantial, either a large-scale programme or even a change in peoples’ behaviour.

Though the main concern of these pilot projects is on climate change adaptation, pilot projects are also able to address other challenges such as unemployment, lack of income and food insecurity. Thus, new ideas for pilot projects could be the introduction of school gardens, green days, planting trees for water management in flood areas and biogas projects (MET, 2011: 43).

5. References

MET / Ministry of Environment and Tourism and Namibian Youth Coalition on Climate Change. 2011. Namibia Climate Change Adaptation Youth Action Programme. Windhoek.

The Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol

By Natalie A Renkhoff

1. Introduction

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been one of the world’s largest policy experiments that is attempting to deal with two of the most pressing and difficult challenges of our time: climate change and sustainable development.
The experimental approach is that, to deal with these issues not primarily among states, but to promote private sector participation in dealing with the challenges. The adoption of the Kyoto mechanisms - and CDM is one of them - have opened the doors for private sector participation and contract negotiation. This was only possible by developing a system whereby emissions have an equivalent in money. It was assumed that as soon as money is involved, companies will start to trade and aim at earning money.
Since the establishment of CDM, it has become an ongoing debate among scientists, economists and environmentalists as to whether it is possible to deal with climate change from a purely economic market perspective by trading climate like any other commodity or if another approach needs to be taken.
This paper explains the background in which CDM is set and familiarises the reader with the function of CDM.

2. Rio Principles

The 1992 Rio Declaration features a catalogue of 27 multifaceted concepts which it expressly denominates ‘principles’. It starts in its operative part with the statement that “[h]uman beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature” (Principle 1). It then points to the “responsibility [of states] to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction” (Principle 2 – ‘no harm’). Some Rio Principles, particularly ‘no harm’, ‘polluter pays’, ‘precautionary action’, ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ and ‘sustainable development’ can be said to considerably determine the objectives and structure of international environmental law.

Key concepts of

International Environmental Law

2.1 Common but differentiated responsibilities

The Clean Development Mechanism is based on the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’.
Principle 7 of the 1992 Rio Declaration states:

States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem. In view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, States have common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command.

The global partnership of states is the playing field on which countries have to act differently equipped. While developing countries are able to do more to reduce their negative impacts on the environment, developing countries are restricted in their efforts due to widely expected poverty and other challenges. At the same time, developing countries are suffering most from climate change while contributing only a little to the total amount of emissions. This justifies the assumption that developed countries have to do more than developing countries to combat climate change.

Against this backdrop, the idea was born to allocate different emission targets to countries subject to their abilities to reduce emissions. When something becomes scarce, its value rises and the market becomes interested in trading it. CDM refers to the special rules that apply when a developed and a developing country is involved in the trade.