In a bid to build momentum towards the upcoming COP 22, various stakeholders will meet on October 5th at Oasis Motel for the National Stakeholder Consultative Forum to identify the critical role that CSO’s should play in Climate Change processes in Botswana and Africa towards COP 22 and beyond.
The 12-day 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) will be held at Marrakech in Morocco, which begins on November 7. At the COP 21 in Paris, Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reached an agreement to combat climate change and accelerate and intensify actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future.
As for Botswana it can be highlighted that, “Over the years, the country has experienced significant increases in GHGs emissions from 3292 Giga grams (Gg) Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq.) to 8303 Gg CO2 eq. between 1990 and 2010. Most of the emissions are mainly due to an accelerated growth in private vehicles ownership from the UK and Asian markets and expansion of the transformation facility (Morupule Power Station) for electricity generation.”
The former minister of Minerals Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR), Kitso Mokaila, recently appealed to the European Union Ambassador for Botswana and SADC, Alexander Baum for developed countries to play a part and assist developing countries by capacitating them through technology exchange and capacity building in order to reduce emission of Green House Gases.
Prior to this, Ambassador Baum had explained that, “We can’t sit back now that Paris is over. Our EU Commissioner for Climate and Energy, Miguel Arias Canete said on the day the Agreement was reached that we already had to start acting. And we also have to step-up the action we take before 2020 – reducing emissions, maintaining finance flows consistent with low-emissions economies, and working with non-state actors ÔÇô local governments, businesses, and civil society.”
Currently there are 187 signatories to the Paris Agreement and out of these; a total of 60 have thus far ratified the Agreement, accounting for 47.7 per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions.
