The coastal South American country of Uruguay is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, from sea level rise, to natural resource losses, and extreme weather events. At the same time, in dense urban areas such as the capital city of Montevideo, levels of air pollution are increasing with population growth, exceeding air quality guidelines established by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the protection of human health. Derived primarily from residential wood stoves for heating and boilers, the fine particulate matter air pollution poses a serious health risk to the people of Uruguay.
Despite their small contribution to global emissions, Uruguay is taking ambitious action to address these two problems simultaneously in view of their development imperatives. With the support of the SNAP initiative, the Climate Change and Air Quality divisions of the Ministry of Environment (MA) are working together to develop coherent strategies for climate and air pollution mitigation, including the integration of air quality within the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement.
The SNAP Initiative has provided technical assistance and funding to Uruguay to undertake a national planning process on short-lived climate pollutants and implement resulting mitigation measures, specifically:
Phase I – Ongoing – Institutional Strengthening
In 2018, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Climate and Clean Air Secretariat (CCAC) and the Ministry of Ministry of Housing, Territorial Planning, and Environment (MVOTMA) of Uruguay. This agreement launched institutional strengthening activities through the SNAP Initiative aiming to sustainably increase technical capacity for SLCP and climate change mitigation, to improve planning and coordination on mitigation activities, and to increase commitment among national stakeholders.
The project began by establishing a dedicated national team. An SLCP Management Committee was established within MVOTMA tasked with operationalizing and managing the SNAP project. A consultant was recruited to support planning activities and to assist the Ministry in developing an integrated SLCP, GHG and air pollution emission inventory using the LEAP-IBC tool of the Stockholm Institute of Environment (SEI). A technical working group was also established from relevant sectoral stakeholders to collect information, ensure the compatibility of SLCP mitigation strategies with sectoral plans and programs, and foster broad government engagement. In addition to MVOTMA, this technical team included representatives from the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP), the Ministry of Industry Energy and Mining (MIEM), the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), the Ministry of Public Health (MSP).
In July of 2019, a LEAP-IBC workshop was held by the CCAC Secretariat and SEI in Montevideo to extend the emission inventory developed by MVOTMA to include emission projections, assess different mitigation measures, and quantify the co-benefits of action. In addition, work was continued to assess the SLCP mitigation potential of measures already included within Uruguay’s NDC.
As a result of this work, MVOTMA is in the process of developing a roadmap for SLCP mitigation. The plan will identify SLCP emission sources from priority sectors, emission projections until 2030 and 2050, priority measures to reduce SLCPs and expected benefits of their full implementation, as well as barriers to action. SEI and the SNAP initiative of the CCAC continue to provide technical assistance in support of this objective.
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