Mali - Institutional strengthening support

Toward the Presidential Palace by Robin Taylor. CC BY 2.0

Workstream:

Ongoing

started:

2016

Despite its small contribution to global emissions, Mali has taken ambitious action to tackle the challenges of climate change and air pollution simultaneously in view of their development imperatives. The National Meteorology Agency of Mali has worked extensively with the Coalition's Supporting National Planning (SNAP) Initiative to build integrated emission inventories and increase capacity within the government to mitigate short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as black carbon and methane. This work is paving the way for informed policy making and emission reduction strategies that will deliver direct in-country benefits for health and economic growth.

Objectives

The SNAP Initiative is providing technical assistance and funding for Mali to increase action on short-lived climate pollutants with the aim of increasing:

Institutional capacities for SLCP mitigation
Engagement of key national stakeholders
Awareness of SLCP issues and actions
SLCP mitigation action taken at the national level
Inclusion of SLCPs into relevant national planning processes and leverage financial resources dedicated to SLCP mitigation at the national level
Participation in CCAC activities

What we're doing

Phase I – Institutional Strengthening and Black Carbon Inventory Support – Complete

In 2017, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Coalition and the National Meteorology Agency of Mali (MALI-METEO) following a call for proposals organised by the Coalition's SNAP Initiative. This Institutional Strengthening agreement had the objective of increasing human and technical capacity to improve planning and coordination flor climate change and SLCP mitigation activities,and to increase commitment among national stakeholders. The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), UNEP and the Coalition provided technical assistance to begin development of an SLCP inventory that covered black carbon, methane and HFCs across a range of priority sectors.

A National SLCP Unit was established within MALI-METEO, with a dedicated project coordinator supporting the Coalition's Focal Point. Two officers within the unit were provided with technical training sessions on the LEAP-IBC tool to build internal technical capacity for SLCP analysis and tracking. Three national consultants were recruited for the development of communications strategies, resource mobilization strategies, and to develop an SLCP emission inventory. A stakeholder mapping was undertaken to identify responsible sectoral stakeholders, facilitate national data collection, and identify ongoing SLCP reduction actions as well as opportunities for additional mitigation measures.

An Inter-Ministerial Task Force was assembled with members from the Ministries of Environment, Health, Transport, Finance and Development Planning, and Agriculture and Livestock. This Task Force was used to raise awareness on short-lived climate pollutant issues and was regularly convened over the duration of the project.

An inception workshop was held in Bamako in 2019 with participation from SEI, government, NGOs, civil society and the private sector. The purpose of this meeting was to introduce the benefits of integrated climate and air quality planning and cover the activities to be undertaken as part of the project. Key emitting sectors were identified as agriculture, land-use, energy, transport and industry. Preliminary priority mitigation measures were determined as were barriers to implementation.

Collaboration with the Government of Mali is continuing through an agreement between the Stockholm Environment Institute and UN Development Programme which is supporting the development of Mali’s revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The project will focus on developing an economy-wide greenhouse gas mitigation assessment that will evaluate mitigation potential and the effectiveness of policies and measures on reducing SLCPs and air pollutants. By quantifying the SLCP and air pollution mitigation that can be achieved through the actions being considered for Mali's revised NDC, this assessment will ensure that the full impact of mitigation actions on all climate pollutants and local air quality benefits are taken into account when prioritising actions.

Why we're doing this work

The West African nation of Mali is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including food insecurity, droughts, and flooding. At the same time, levels of air pollution that exceed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines remain a threat to the health of a population almost 20 million people particularly in urban centres such as Bamako. These threats include breathing problems, chronic diseases and premature mortality.