News – Climate Change Mitigation (CCM)

Pakistan is one of the countries most affected by climate change and its impacts are clearly visible and noticeable. Likelihood of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat waves, water shortage etc., is increasing. To react sustainably to these increasing climate risks, Pakistan needs reliable information and data. However, the information available on the short to medium term impacts of these risks is limited.

The project ‘Strengthening Climate Adaptation and Resilience in Pakistan (SAR)’, through the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research (PIK) Germany, supported the Federal Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (MOPDSI) to develop an updated Climate Risk Profile (CRP) for Pakistan. The CRP will provide research-based data for informed national and sub-national adaptation planning and implementation. It will also serve as a basis for further in-depth climate risk studies to guide the local planning and development at the sectoral and cross-sectoral levels. The CRP provides an overview of future projected climate parameters and related impacts on different sectors in Pakistan until 2080. It complements the climate risk country profile developed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (2021) by taking a stronger geospatial approach. It also provides a comprehensive analysis of climatic changes and associated impacts in five key sectors. These sectors include (i) agriculture; (ii) water; (iii) infrastructure; (iv) ecosystems and (v) health. The CRP will produce high-resolution geospatial maps of climate risk assessment in these key areas and will help to identify the hotspot areas in terms of their vulnerability to climate change.

“Sub-national actors, especially in KP, lack the capacity to assess climate change risks and their potential implications for the different sectors. We need support in terms of having real time impact assessments which are reflected in the sub-national climate risk profile”. – Mr. Afsar Khan, Deputy Director, Climate Change Cell, Environmental Protection Agency, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The MOPDSI will launch the CRP report in October 2022 in collaboration with the relevant government departments from the provinces of Punjab and KP.

Link to further materials

Contact person

Dr. Muhammad Abid — Senior Advisor

Strengthening Climate Adaptation and Resilience in Pakistan

Key buzzwords

Climate Change, Climate risks, adaptation, mitigation

GIZ Pakistan has launched a new project titled “Strengthening Climate Adaptation and Resilience (SAR)” to support Pakistan for improving the conditions for climate action for adaptation and resilience as well as climate risk management, with a specific focus on vulnerable populations, especially women. The SAR Project will support the Pakistani Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) and other government partners in the entire planning cycle of climate change adaptation measures: from the preparation of climate risk assessments to the piloting of financing approaches and instruments. It will also support the implementation as well as the upscaling of measures at the local level through international and national climate finance.

Pakistan is one of the countries most affected by climate change. It is ranked the 8th most affected country in the world as per the Germanwatch’s Long-Term Climate Risk Index (2000-2019) report. Although Pakistan’s contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is low, it is considered a highly vulnerable country. Due to extreme weather events, it is particularly vulnerable to flash floods, heavy monsoon rains, cyclones, droughts and heat waves. Moreover, the melting glaciers of the Himalayas threaten flooding in the short to medium term and droughts in the long term.

According to the Climate Risk Index Report (2000-2019), Pakistan suffers economic losses of around EUR 3 billion annually due to extreme weather events. If Pakistan does not take measures to adapt to climate change, it is estimated that over 21 million people could fall into poverty by 2050. Moreover, the technical and financial capacity of the public institutions and that of the communities to respond to climate change consequences is very low.

Pakistan’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of 2021 and the country’s planning paper “Pakistan 2025: One Nation – One Vision” largely emphasise the need for adaptation to climate change. In line with these papers, as well as the new National Climate Change Policy (2021) and the ongoing National Adaptation Plan process, SAR will support the MoCC and other partners for designing and implementing measures for strengthening Pakistan’s adaptation action to climate change and build its climate resilience. The Project will also contribute towards the Global NDC Partnership, initiated by BMZ together with other partners.

SAR project will support its partners in conducting sector-specific assessments to understand the vulnerability of the key sectors affected by climate change. It will also support the capacity building initiatives of the partner institutions on climate risk analysis and on the proper interpretation and use of gender-sensitive climate risk data at the federal and provincial level (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab). The Project will focus on institutionalising climate-related training and awareness measures in the partner structures with a special attention to the needs of youth, women, and other vulnerable groups. In addition, it will support the development and piloting of new approaches and tools for financing climate adaptation and climate risk management. Finally, it will also support Pakistan for accessing international climate finance by building the capacities of partner institutions as well as individuals to develop gender-sensitive climate adaptation projects in line with the indicators and requirements of international climate donors.

The topic of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has attracted growing attention and is often discussed in the international community. NbS are considered to be a promising way of tackling socio-environmental challenges such as climate change, food security, human health and biodiversity loss.

To build capacity and knowledge exchange on NbS in the South-East Asia region, in total 57 representatives of all ten the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States working in forestry and agriculture came together to participate in two three-day sessions of the Virtual Training on Unlocking the Potential of Nature-based Solutions for Climate Action and Green Recovery.

The training was offered as part of the ASEAN Climate Resilience Network (CRN) activities. It covered the key aspects of NbS, including its mainstreaming, financing and governance, as well as its potential in the international arena.

NbS framework

Over three days of the training, the participants shaped their understanding of NbS by delving into key principles, concrete examples as well as challenges and opportunities related to mainstreaming, financing and govenance. The participants learnt about the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Standard for NbS. The standard serves as a framework to help design, implement and monitor NbS actions. The importance of a ‘whole of society approach’ towards mainstreaming NbS into respective policies and practices was highlighted. Moreover, the participants learnt about various instruments to help attract more private funding and close the existing NbS finance gap. There was a presentation on the different forms of governing, designing and implementing NbS and a demonstration of the importance of accounting with consideration for equity and fairness. In the final session, the participants looked at the potential of NbS in the international context and learnt about the current discussions and negotiations on NbS under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Promoting the implementation of NbS in the region

Two case studies presented by experts from the Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC) and the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) provided examples of successful NbS work in agriculture and forestry. In the subsequent group exercise, the participants were given the opportunity to discuss the cases and reflect on their own experiences with NbS. Engaging discussions yielded valuable insights into the main barriers and opportunities related to the mainstreaming and financing of NbS. The training outputs and outcomes provide a great opportunity for the ASEAN region to forge ahead with its efforts on NbS and become a pioneer in the field in the years to come.

The training was supported by the GIZ Climate-Smart Land Use (CSLU) in ASEAN project, with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It built on a training approach developed by the Sector Programme on Conservation of Biodiversity on Land, also funded by BMZ and implemented by GIZ. Experts from the region contributed to the training, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), RECOFTC and CIFOR-ICRAF.

Name and contact person:
Ms Zahra Mutiara, Advisor Climate Smart Land Use (CSLU) in ASEAN
Email: Zahra.mutiara@giz.de

Key buzzwords / “tags”
Nature-based Solutions, ASEAN, Climate Smart Agriculture Practice, Climate Smart Land Use

To raise awareness of the Guidelines among different actors in different fields of land use sector in the region, the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) co-organized the webinar in co-operation with the GIZ Climate-Smart Land Use (CSLU) in ASEAN project and ASEAN Working Group on Social Forestry and the ASEAN Secretariat. The webinar, Mainstreaming Agroforestry in ASEAN through the ASEAN Guidelines for Agroforestry Development was held virtually on 14 October 2021. It attracted over 200 people, indicating the high public interest in agroforestry development in the region.

The webinar aimed to improve understanding of the Guidelines among ASEAN Member States and non-state actors, promoting knowledge transfer and enhancing networking between different sectors, and identifying best agroforestry practice to inform climate-smart policies, training, projects and partnerships. The participants were provided by an overview of the Guidelines, nesting them within the broader Vision and Strategic Plan for ASEAN Cooperation in Food, Agriculture and Forestry 2016–2025.

The Guidelines feature six main principles, sub-divided into 14 sub-principles and 75 individual guidelines. To promote their adoption, it will require clear direction from governments to land users, national agroforestry programs, and development of monitoring and reporting systems; all through participatory approaches.

During the webinar, the participants discussed best practices, challenges and opportunities in agroforestry development. Representative from Lao PDR shared experience as one of the countries beside Cambodia and Myanmar developing agroforestry roadmaps under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and ASEAN’s Technical Cooperation Programme on Scaling up Agroforestry for Food Security and Environmental Benefits.

Moreover, the webinar showcased two case studies that emphasise the importance of sociocultural factors in agroforestry design. Despite their different contexts, they both acknowledge the need to secure land tenure, respect cultures, build upon local knowledge and deploy participatory processes.

As a way forward, the ASEAN Secretariat representative mentioned about the need to conduct a cost–benefit analysis of different agroforestry practices and follow up with the Member States to align national policies within the regional framework.

The webinar was supported by the CSLU in ASEAN project, with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Name and contact person:
Ms Hanna Reuter, Principal Advisor Climate Smart Land Use (CSLU) in ASEAN
Email: hanna.reuter@giz.de 

Key buzzwords / “tags”

ASEAN, Agroforestry, climatesmartpractice

As the augmenting signs of climate change and global warming pose an unprecedented challenge to humanity, many countries around the world, individually and collectively, are embarking on bold commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and implementing numerous projects and programs.

A clear example of this is the commitment of countries to zero greenhouse gas emissions (zero carbon) by 2050. Mongolia has also joined the Paris Climate Agreement, determined its national contributions (NDC) and pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

The energy sector, especially the largest consumer of energy, the construction and housing sectors, can play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is very important to make buildings as environmentally friendly and green as possible, and international systems have been already established to evaluate and validate that they are green. One of them is the EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) system, introduced by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

In September 2021, an energy-efficient private house built in Mongolia has been audited and certified by the EDGE system. In other words, Mongolia has now its first ever green building officially certified by an internationally recognized certification system.

During the event on October 13, 2021, the EDGE certificate and the badge were awarded to the home owners and construction company. The opening ceremony was attended by Mr. E. Zolboo, the Deputy Minister of Construction and Urban Development, Mr. Jörn Rosenberg, Ambassador of the Republic of Germany in Mongolia, Mr. B. Medree, President of the Mongolian Bankers Association, Mr. Daniel Passon, Country director of GIZ Mongolia and representatives from private sector. In their opening speeches they highly appreciated the significance and impacts of the green certification.

In 2020, Sakura Property LLC built and commissioned this energy-efficient private house in Bayangol district of Ulaanbaatar. This house was built under the sub-project for the promotion of energy efficient housing financing scheme in Ulaanbaatar’s Ger districts implemented in collaboration with the Mongolian Bankers Association (MBA) and Mongolian Sustainable Finance Association (ToC) in frame work of GIZ “Energy efficient building refurbishment in Mongolia” project implemented jointly by German Government, Swiss Development Cooperaton (SDC) and Municipality of Ulaanbaatar City. The house was audited and certified by Sintali-SGS an EDGE accredited company. The GIZ project financed the energy efficiency assessment and the auditing and certification process.

In 2018, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Energy Regulatory Commission and IFC to introduce the EDGE green building certification system in Mongolia. In framework of this MoU numerous trainings have been conducted and baseline data from Mongolian building Norms and Standards have been included in to the EDGE system that allowed the local application of the system. The issuing of this first certificate marks the first step in the actual introduction of the EDGE system in Mongolia. Donor organizations such as ADB have also decided to use this system in their projects and programs in Mongolia.

The EDGE green building certification system, which has been introduced in more than 150 countries around the world, evaluates buildings in three areas: energy consumption, water consumption and building materials used (embodied energy), and at least 20% more efficiency in comparing to values set in national building codes and standards must be demonstrated in those areas.

The EDGE certificate has three categories (energy savings of 20%= energy efficient, 40%= advanced, 100% = “zero” carbon). The first certificate issued to this particular house in Mongolia is an “advanced” certificate due to the 57% energy, 27% water and 42% embodied energy savings.

The certified house is a 70m2 two-story building with a wooden frame structure and due to the electric heating, the house does not emit any smoke in winter and saves 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide CO2 per year. In addition, PV solar panels with a total capacity of 5kW were installed to provide about 55% of electricity consumption.

Innovative “Passive” housing technologies and measures applied in this house helped to reduce the heat energy demand to nearly zero and the remaining small need can be supplied by renewable energy sources. Additional measures such as installation of water-efficient appliances, the avoidance of heavy and energy intensive building materials such as concrete and brick requiring significant amount of energy to be produced (embodied energy), usage of light building structures have finally created basic conditions for the obtaining of the EDGE green building certificate.

The reduction potential of those small houses can do a significant effect also on national and international level. If only 3.000 of the new houses in UB´s Ger areas would be energy efficient, the whole emission reduction obligation of the Mongolian construction sector could be covered. Compared to other measures taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the investment is up to 10 times lower for this measure than implementing them in industrialized countries. Therefore, the partners of the EEP project and their guests during this event considered this first certified house to be one important step towards a cleaner and more energy efficient Mongolia of the future.

The importance of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices in relation to climate change and food security have been recognized by policymakers in the Southeast Asian region. It has been reflected in number of policy frameworks and tools, published by ASEAN and its Members States. Among of them is the ASEAN Guidelines for Promoting CSA Practices Volume 1 and 2. Building on the existing volumes, the third volume on development will cover more CSA strategies and practices, while reflecting on the latest CSA trends and considering the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To provide updated information and continue the promotion of CSA application in the region, the ASEAN Climate Resilience Network (ASEAN-CRN) organised the first virtual consultation workshop for developing a third volume of the ASEAN Guidelines for Promoting CSA Practices and a complementing and an Implementation Strategy on 7 July 2021. The workshop was hosted by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI).

The first consultation workshop brought together some 75 participants from different ASEAN sectoral bodies, government agencies and development organisations.  During the workshop, participants discussed the experiences with the previous volumes based on recommendations provided in the report ASEAN Guidance for Climate-Smart Land Use Practices – a Review and their implications for the development process for Volume 3. They also reflected on current CSA approaches that are being applied in the region.

The development of the third volume of CSA guidelines builds on the existing volumes, covering more CSA strategies and practices and reflecting the latest trends, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new Implementation Strategy will complement all three volumes of the Guidelines. It will provide overarching recommendations and principles for policymakers to further promote CSA implementation in the region. These documents will contribute to support the implementation of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework (ACRF).

The development process of these policy documents will be inclusive and cross-sectoral,  integrating experience and expertise from different policy fields and sectors including agriculture, fisheries, forestry, environment and rural development. The next step in drafting the documents will be continuing the desk review, data collection and validation process with stakeholders from the ASEAN Member States (AMS). The draft outline will then be circulated to the AMS via relevant ASEAN sectoral bodies for review and feedback. The second consultation workshop will be held in September 2021. After the approval from the ASEAN-CRN and ASEAN Technical Working Group of Agriculture and Research Development (ATWGARD), the results will be submitted to the ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry for endorsement.

The process is being supported by the Climate Smart Land Use (CSLU) in ASEAN project, financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ, with contributions from the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).

Name and contact person:
Ms Hanna Reuter, Principal Advisor Climate Smart Land Use (CSLU) in ASEAN
Email: hanna.reuter@giz.de

Link to further materials
Event Documentation Consultation Workshop ASEAN Guidelines for Promoting CSA Practices Volume 3
https://asean-crn.org/consultation-workshop-asean-guidelines-for-promoting-csa-practices-volume-3/

Relevant ASEAN Guidelines on Land Use
https://asean-crn.org/relevant-asean-guidelines-on-land-use/

The ASEAN Guidance for Climate-Smart Land Use Practices – a Review
https://asean-crn.org/the-asean-guidance-for-climate-smart-land-use-practices-a-review/

Key buzzwords / “tags”
ASEAN, Climate Smart Agriculture Practice, Climate Smart Land Use, Land Management, Food Security, Climate Change