The Project will help Botswana to prepare its Third National Communication to the Conference of parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the First Biennial Update Report

Botswana ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on 27 January, 1994 and the Kyoto Protocol on 8 August, 2003. The Department of Meteorological Services under the Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism is the focal point for climate change. A National Committee on Climate Change (NCCC) chaired by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism was established in 1999 and reconstituted in 2012 to oversee the preparation and implementation of the climate change activities. Botswana is developing her Climate Change Policy which will be supported by a Strategy and Action Plan to operationalize the Policy. The draft climate change policy is currently under-going a public consultation process. The vision of the policy is for Botswana to become a society that is climate resilient, and to craft a development pathway that follows a low carbon development pathway,

Climate change enabling activities under UNDP/GEF has supported capacity development in government and to increase public and political awareness. The preparation of the two previous NCs has led to the preparation of GHG inventories as well as an assessment of impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change. During the transition period between the first and second NC, Botswana prepared Technology needs assessment (TNA) in key areas of adaptation and mitigation capacity building as well as improvement of systematic observations. In addition, over the time since the Second National Communication, there is an increase in the investment such as the Botswana Police has introduced bicycle patrols at some police stations in the city of Gaborone and there is support to develop an inventory to assess the carbon stocks and also develop reference emission levels (RELs) in the forestry sector. Activities of the project are ongoing and training on field inventory and calculation of emission factors has been done.

Despite the activities implemented during the preparation of the two previous NCs, challenges still exist with respect to estimation of GHG inventories, projections of climate change and also the integration of climate change into development. The country needs to continue strengthening its technical, financial, institutional and human resource capacities to fully address national and global environmental concerns and to achieve environmental sustainability. Climate change considerations are not fully integrated in sectoral policies and development plans.

The preparation of the two previous NCs has led to the development of expert teams for preparation of GHG inventories as well as the assessment of impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change. The same expert teams will be used for the preparation of the TNC and BUR in order to ensure the continuity and sustainability of the process as it is recommended in the UNFCCC decisions. Also different stakeholders will be involved in the process, the drafts of the TNC and BUR will be presented and discussed in multiple stakeholder consultation workshops. The TNC and BUR process will also require strengthening of the institutional arrangements.

The objective of this project is to prepare and submit Botswana’s Third National Communication (TNC) to the UNFCCC and other new information required to meet Botswana’s obligations under the UNFCCC, which is the biennial update report. The project objective is in line with the GEF’s climate change mitigation strategic objective 3 under GEF-6 which is to Foster Enabling Conditions to Mainstream Mitigation Concerns into Sustainable Development Strategies, programme 5: Integrate Findings of Convention Obligations and Enabling Activities into National Planning Processes and Mitigation Contributions.

The project will further enhance the national capacities to prepare consecutive BURS and NCs, develop an efficient GHG system, enhance national capacities on V & A assessments and capacities on mitigation analysis and will raise awareness on the climate change issues. It will also contribute to putting climate change issues higher on the national development agenda through strengthened cooperation and increased involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the process. In addition, it will build national capacities for participation in different mechanisms related to GHG mitigation and to fulfilling other commitments to the UNFCCC

The TNC responses to climate change will not just focus on economic and scientific solutions but will address gender concerns by recommending the building of adaptation capacities of both men and women to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change and reduce the negative effects on their livelihoods. The project initiatives of TNC will play a key role in promoting the need to integrate gender dimensions into climate change policy. The TNC process would develop strategies and policies to close the gaps in gender equality towards access to energy security and natural resource management in the context of adaptation towards climate change. Also, there is need for the TNC process to identify resources and expertise for implementing such strategies, which promote gender equality.

The project objective will be achieved through a series of activities including updating of national circumstances, conducting the national GHGs inventory, and preparing measures for adaptation to the ongoing and future climate changes and for mitigation of climate change.

Outcome 1: Updated Report on Botswana’s National Circumstances

This outcome would involve the updating of the information on (i) Geographic profile (ii) Climate profile (iii) Natural resources: water resources, forests, land use, biodiversity (iv) Economic and sector profile: agriculture, livestock, energy, mining, transport, industry, tourism, fisheries, (v) Infrastructure: population, public health, education, environment. (vi) Institutional arrangements relevant to the implementation of the UNFCCC and NC preparation process. Information provided on national circumstances is critical for understanding Botswana’s vulnerability, capacity and options for adapting to the adverse effects of climate change, as well as options for addressing GHG emissions within the context of sustainable development. There is a need to update the climate profile with recent extreme weather events.

Outcome 2: Information of GHG inventory for 2006 and 2012

Development of National GHG inventory system: It is necessary to build on the base of existing knowledge of institutions engaged in the preparation of earlier national communications for the estimation of GHG emission Inventories There is need to bridge the gap in activity data identified in inventory preparation of SNC . There is need also to continue with: (i) Institutional arrangements (i.e., the team that worked on GHG emission inventory for SNC) and further strengthening and streamlining of the institutional structure to sustain and take care of long term reporting requirements of national GHG inventory and the estimation of GHG emissions. (ii) Establishment of database management including methodological issues to an extent possible iii) Development of system for archiving and continuous update of the GHG database

The national GHG inventory in the SNC covered the year 2000 as a base year and was prepared using the 1996 IPCC Guidelines. The inventory in the TNC will be done for the years 2006 and 2012 as base years. The energy sector will include inventories of: (a) GHGs from fossil fuel combustion; (b) methane (CH4) emissions from biomass energy combustion; (c) CH4 fugitive emissions from coal mining and post-mining activities.

In the agriculture sector, the following inventories will be conducted: (a) nitrous oxide emissions from croplands; (b) methane emissions from enteric fermentation in domestic livestock; and, (c) methane and nitrous oxide emissions from animal manure management system. Inventory will also include activities from industrial process and waste activities. For the LULUCF sector the emissions by sources and removals by sinks in the LUCF inventory include changes of carbon in forest and other woody biomass stocks, forest conversion and changes in soil carbon. In general, the proposed expanded activities for the TNC Project (relative to the SNC Project) will involve the compilation of a more comprehensive and updated national GHG inventory. There is a need to build capacity in the validation process of forestry sector data, which in most cases are obtained remotely. The experiences gained and linkages established with the various agencies for the NCs and initiatives such as the collaboration between SADC and Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), JICA which have components of producing national forest inventories will be instrumental in the GHG preparation. The outcome will also develop a GHG Inventory Database, create activities for uncertainties reduction and also develop GHG emissions projections for the years 2015 and 2030.Improving the accuracy level of GHG Inventory will also require strengthening the institutional arrangements of the inventory process. Also a shift from TIER 1 to higher TIERS is foreseen, where possible.

Outcome 3: Future climate risk and adaptation measures assessed

This outcome will involve reassessing the vulnerability of the most important socio-economic and resource sectors: agriculture, water resources, ecosystems and human health. The reassessment will look at (i) Preparing socioeconomic scenarios for assessment of both climate change impact and adaptation across differing spatial scales. (ii)Water quality impacts and treatment costs and costs of infrastructure. (iii) Research and development for seeds and

techniques, also new infrastructure to adapt like machinery and irrigation systems

The assessment will look at the current vulnerability, estimate the future conditions and vulnerabilities and assess the risks of climate change to these sectors. The activities will include the development of climate projections using multiple GCMs and RCMs and development climate change risk and vulnerability assessment tool and framework and also identify adaptation response measures.

The proposed activities will improve research on vulnerability and adaptation assessment and will also address issues relating to gender.  The sectors that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and assessments of the potential impacts were identified in the previous NCs. The TNC will build on the previous NCs and identify sectors that are at greater risks from severe weather events.

The assessments will include inputs from indigenous knowledge report that has been compiled on the use of indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices for adaptation.

Outcome 4: GHG abatement measures

This outcome focuses mainly on the assessment of existing climate change mitigation policies, measures and strategies, and coming up with suggestions for future policies, measures and actions. Assessments will be carried out to determine the feasible policy and technology options for the country in mitigating climate change, as well as the social and economic costs to achieve these mitigation targets. Mitigation Assessments that were undertaken in the NCs will be updated using the new tools like Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning system (LEAP) that were not available during the previous NC preparations. These assessments will contribute to the ongoing work to develop Low Emissions Development Strategies and NAMAs.

Outcome 5: Description of relevant information

Assessment of capacity development needs (including education and training) and Technological Needs Assessment was submitted in the Second National Communication. This information will be updated and new potential needs assessed and incorporated into the revised TNA. Assessment of the status and needs for research and systematic observations and evaluation of financial resources and technical support received from national and international sources. There will be a need to document the capacity built in Botswana in order to sustain quality and timely reporting requirements.

Outcome 6: Compilation and production of National Communication Report

A draft national communication report would be prepared and presented to stakeholders for their input. The outputs of activities under this outcome are expected to further improve the technical inputs of climate change and integrate climate change into development at both local and national levels.

Outcome 7: Preparation of Biennial Update Report (BUR) BUR will cover an update of the following:

a)  Information on national circumstances and institutional arrangements relevant to the preparation of national communications on a continuous basis, this will contain updates on development priorities and objectives.

b)  A national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removal by sinks of all Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) not controlled by the Montreal Protocol for the following sectors: energy activities, Industrial processes, agriculture activities, land use change and forestry activities (LUCF), and waste sector activities for the years 2010 and 2011. Information on the improvement of the quality of activity data, capacity building of institutions for GHG data base archiving, including methodologies for estimating GHG emissions will be provided.

c)  Information on mitigation actions their effects including associated methodologies and assumptions. The information on mitigation action will be provided in a tabular format providing name and description of the action, methodologies and assumptions, objectives of the action and steps taken, progress on the implementation of the action and information on international markets.

d)  Information on domestic measurement, reporting and verification arrangements; nationally relevant MRV approaches and methods will be developed and adopted. Issues that will be addressed under the MRV system will include (i) the scope of MRV, (ii) institutional arrangements (iii) MRV tools (iv) GHG emission reduction target (v) background information of each sector before any regulations/policies (vi) definition of base year and baseline (vii) description of mitigation actions and plans and (viii) coverage and progress indicators.

e)  Information on the level of support received to enable the preparation and submission of BURS.

On completion of all activities and expected outcomes including the relevant outputs the First Biennial Update Report will be compiled based on guidelines contained in Annex II of Decision 2/CP.17 for submission to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Outcome 8: Preparation of the iNDC to the 2015 Agreement under the UNFCCC

This outcome will address key feasibility questions regarding national GHG reduction potential through identification and/or validation of findings from ongoing and previous studies. Moreover, appropriate analysis will be carried out to provide essential support for an informed policy decision making process with regards to Botswana’s iNDC. The planned activities within this component may include the assessment/validation of GHG baseline scenarios in specific sectors, the identification/validation of priority sectors for inclusion in INDC, a costing of/needs for action on these priority sectors, in line with COP guidance.

The Third National Communication and First Biennial Update Report of Botswana to the UNFCCC will be developed, submitted and disseminated.