The Central African Republic’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development has worked extensively with the Supporting National Planning (SNAP) Initiative to build integrated emission inventories and increase capacity 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 ultimately result in direct in-country benefits such as improved health and economic growth.
Home to over 4.5 million people, the Central African Republic is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures, flooding, and extreme weather events. These impacts are intensified by levels of air pollution that exceed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, posing a threat to the health of the population particularly in urban centres such as the capital of Bangui, as well as the large rural population that predominantly relies on solid biomass energy such as wood for cooking fuel. Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) in the country are derived from sectors such as the energy, waste, agriculture, bushfire and land-use sectors, and pose health risks which include breathing problems, chronic diseases and premature mortality.
The SNAP Initiative’s objective is to provide technical assistance and funding for the Central African Republic to increase action on short-lived climate pollutants. This includes increasing:
Phase I – Institutional Strengthening and Black Carbon Inventory Support – Complete
Institutional strengthening activities were launched through the Supporting National Action Planning (SNAP) Initiative in 2017. The aim was to sustainably increase human and technical capacity for SLCP and climate change mitigation, to improve planning and coordination on mitigation activities, and to increase commitment among national stakeholders. The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), UNEP and the CCAC Secretariat also provided technical assistance for the development of an SLCP inventory covering Black Carbon, Methane and HFCs and other pollutants across a range of priority sectors.
A National SLCP Unit was established within the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and charged with coordinating the project. Technical and financial assistants were recruited to support the implementation of the activities and workplan. Additionally, a consultant was recruited by the SNAP Initiative to work on the development of a black carbon inventory in collaboration with SEI. To facilitate this work, consultations were held with relevant sectoral government stakeholders to coordinate national data collection, take stock of ongoing mitigation efforts, and identify opportunities for priority actions.
A workshop was held in 2019 to demonstrate the impacts of SLCP emissions on health, climate and the economy, while also outlining the co-benefits of mitigation and emphasizing the importance of gender inclusivity, with 30% of participants identifying as women. In parallel, several visits were organized across the country to engage local communities and subnational authorities in SLCP mitigation projects, emphasizing the need for black-carbon mitigation from household energy and the benefits to health, particularly among children.
As a result of these efforts, a National Strategy for SLCP Mitigation was developed in December 2019, emphasizing the need to: i) increase operational and managerial capacity for SLCP mitigation, ii) integrate pollution externalities into local sectoral development strategies, iii) create adequate economic and regulatory frameworks for the protection of air quality, and iv) promote environmentally sound technologies, v) establish a national air pollution monitoring system. The strategy was reviewed by 23 representatives from ministries, sectors, NGOs, and civil society engaged in SLCP mitigation. A report on the National SLCP Inventory was also produced, covering the energy, transport, forest and land-use, agriculture, and waste sectors using base year 2010. Within the energy sector, household energy emissions represented over 87% of pollutants between 2010 and 2018, while in the agriculture and forestry sector, biomass burning primarily for land-clearing represented over 83% of SLCP emissions.
Based on this knowledge, and with increased technical and human capacity on SLCP mitigation, the Central African Republic developed a National Plan to reduce SLCP emissions and continues to work to develop mitigation measures and improve emission inventories to provide an informed basis for effective policy making.
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