BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE – The on-going #COP27 is putting Eswatini on the map with regards to being environmental friendly.
Eswatini has made a commitment to reduce emissions that are harmful to society by 14 per cent between this year and 2030.
The country made this commitment at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt. This was during a summit by the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) summit.
Leading the Eswatini team was NDC Coordinator in the country Dr Deepa Pullanikkatil, who is also an environmentalist, who confirmed that the country was looking into being environmental friendly by reducing emissions.
“According to Article 4, Paris Agreement, all countries should produce long term low emission development strategies (LT LEDS). So far only 56 countries have submitted. Eswatini will need to develop her LT LEDS soon. NDC Partnership provides support for this and we can apply for this,” said the environmentalist.
She went on to say to mitigate to climate change impacts, Eswatini has submitted her Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) which lays out commitments in adaptation, mitigation and cross cutting sectors.
“We have committed to an economy wide emissions reduction target of 14% reduction in emissions from now until 2030.”
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.
Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.
The Paris Agreement is a landmark in the multilateral climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.
