Tonga benefitted from the NDC Partnership’s support
Workshop participants and the CEO for MEIDECC, Mr. Paula P. Ma’u (seated, second from right).
15th October, 2021 The Department of Climate Change hosted an intensive workshop in collaboration with its working partner, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), to present to national stakeholders the final outputs from the NDC Partnership’s Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP) funded activities.
The NDC Partnership is a global coalition aimed at shifting the NDC focus from commitment to implementation, along with increasing ambition over time. The overarching goals of the NDC Partnership are to ensure effective support for implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and to facilitate increasing ambition over time, through an enhanced process of shared learning and collaboration. Tonga became a member of the NDC Partnership in 2019 with the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communication (MEIDECC) as the focal point contact for the NDC Partnership’s support.
Under the CAEP’s support for Tonga, GGGI partnered with the Department of Climate Change on a NDC Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework, NDC Mainstreaming, sectoral Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) procedural guidelines and provided support to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Database Management System. The support for the development of NDC awareness materials was already completed the previous year.
Ms. Dorothy Foliaki (NDC Mainstreaming & M&E Consultant) presenting during the workshop.
The NDC Mainstreaming support included a review of national and regional plans as well as understanding the processes to identify entry points for NDC integration. This NDC integration had a particular focus on mainstreaming NDC targets into corporate plans of government ministries and business plans for government enterprises (i.e. Waste Authority Limited and Tonga Power Limited).
Building on the Tonga Joint National Action Plan 2 on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management (JNAP2) M&E System already in place, a draft NDC M&E framework was also developed, with the aim of further integration into the national M&E framework, strengthening the implementation, monitoring and reporting of progress towards Tonga’s NDC Targets.
Ms. Halalilika ‘Etika (Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, GIS Division) asking a question during the Q&A session.
A procedural guideline for national greenhouse gas inventories was also developed, focusing on the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land-Use; Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU); and Waste sectors. A review of Tonga’s MRV system provided the basis for the development of the sectoral procedural guideline. Further GGGI has developed requirements for a GHG DBMS. A similar activity for the Energy Sector has already been undertaken by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in collaboration with the Department of Energy and related stakeholders.
Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs are actions that Parties to the Paris Agreement plan to undertake to address climate change. Tonga’s contributions to address climate change are ‘nationally determined’ according to its national circumstances and priorities. Tonga has submitted two NDCs to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015 and 2020, respectively.
To date, Tonga is one of the 67 recipient countries receiving targeted and fast-track support under the NDC Partnership’s CAEP initiative. Other CAEP-funded activities for Tonga are being implemented by other partners including the Regional Pacific NDC Hub, IRENA and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
ENDS
Issued by the: Department of Climate Change (MEIDECC)