Balaclava, Mauritius (PANA) – Mauritian Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Raj Dayal said Monday that climate change is threatening the island nation’s capacity to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking at an inception workshop on the formulation of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) for both mitigation and adaptation, Dayal said that all developing countries should join hands in a spirit of solidarity and take appropriate measures at all possible levels. The workshop is taking place at Balaclava in northern Mauritius.
INDCs are measures that countries intend to undertake towards achieving the objective of the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), in particular greenhouse gas emissions reduction and limiting global warming to below 2°C, relative to pre-industrial levels.
The INDCs should be handed over before October 1, 2015, in the context of COP21, the forthcoming UN Conference on Climate Change, to be held in December 2015 in France.
The Minister said that at COP 19, it was agreed that all parties, developed as well as developing countries, will have to formulate and communicate to the Secretariat of the UNFCC measures they intend to undertake at national levels as from 2020 in the form of INDCs.
“Despite contributing to only around 1% of total global greenhouse gases emissions, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Mauritius are ironically the ones who are disproportionately affected by climate change,” the minister said.
Mauritius has adopted a multi-pronged approach to address the impacts of climate change and enhance the resilience of the population.
“Our priority remains disaster risks reduction and management,” Dayal stated, recalling that various major projects are currently being implemented but his ministry is coming with additional measures for adaptation to climate change.
These are the provision of 3.5 billion Mauritian rupees (about US$106 million) to cater for optimal water resources harnessing, storage, supply and drastic reduction in losses; establishment of a National Renewal Energy Agency, and a Land Drainage Management Authority; and the introduction of a new Climate Change Bill.
For his part, French ambassador to Mauritius Laurent Garnier stated that the INDCs will cover key sectors like energy, transport, industry, agriculture, waste as well as adaptation to address impacts of climate change.
To-date some 43 countries have already submitted their INDCs.
The main objective of the annual COP (Conference of Parties) is to review the implementation of the Rio Convention of 1992 that set out a framework for action aimed at stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.
The first COP took place in Berlin in 1995 and significant meetings since then have included COP3 where the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, COP11 where the Montreal Action Plan was produced and COP17 in Durban where the Green Climate Fund was created.
In 2015 COP21, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference will, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, aim to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.
