Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions of the Gambia

These Gambian Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA), developed through an extensive consultative process involving representatives from public and private sectors, local government authorities and elected representatives, civil society organisations and women group, have been prepared on the basis of serious threats posed by rising temperatures, greenhouse gas effects and other climate related effects and aim at transforming climate change challenges into development opportunities and at improving the sustainable development of Gambian infrastructure and services. The contents of NAMA include: 1) Background and broad sectoral Policy considerations in core sectors, such as: Finance, Agriculture, Energy (electricity, renewable and petroleum), Tourism, Natural Resources and Environment. 2) Rationale of the Gambia NAMA. 3) Description of the Gambia NAMA. 4) Implementation barriers. 5) Proposed interventions. 6) Emission reduction benefits and other socio-economic and sustainable development co-benefits. 7) Costs and financing options for further development of the Actions. 8) Monitoring, Review and Verification Plan. 9) Actors, actions and timing.
The document contains the following list of ten actions, subdivided into eight priority mitigation projects and two mitigation/adaptation projects: Develop of a Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS); Increase energy production from renewable sources (solar and wind); Promote the use of energy-efficient cooking stoves; Reduce energy consumption by reducing transmission and distribution system losses to 15% by 2030; Improve storage facilities and promote the use of post-harvest technologies; Restore degraded grazing land through the multiplication and popularisation of forage seed planting to increase animal productivity and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from forest clearing for new farm lands; Promote and integrated crop-livestock system by planting nitrogen fixing crops; Promote the cultivation of high-yielding rice; Restore and rehabilitate degraded forest lands, protect and conserve wetlands, and develop greenbelts around human settlements, national forests, wildlife parks and protected areas through afforestation and reforestation activities; Integrated management of urban and peri-urban solid and liquid waste.
The implementation of the Actions concerns the following specific measures: increasing food security and boosting the income-generating capacity and the nutritional status of farmers, especially women and youths; transforming the agricultural sector from a traditional subsistence economy to a modern market-oriented commercial sector; increasing and sustaining agricultural production and productivity; making The Gambia a world-class tourist destination and business centre; diversification of energy system, through increasing electricity generation, promoting the use of renewable energy resources, developing a strategy for strengthening and building up institutional capacities to ensure effective petroleum resource managements; improving sustainable natural resource, wildlife and biodiversity management and protecting ecosystems; processing food and improving food preservation technologies.