The Government of Zambia is developing an Implementation Plan for the national climate plan it submitted under the Paris Agreement - known as its 'Nationally Determined Contribution' or 'NDC'.  This month, CDKN and Africa Development and Investment (ADI) convened a group of Zambian stakeholders who were trained in using our NDC Quick-Start Guide. ADI's Cathrine Mutambirwa reports. 

Zambia has been experiencing adverse impacts of climate change and climate variability, including extreme weather events, over the last several decades. Droughts and floods have increased in frequency and intensity over the last two decades and have adversely impacted on food and water security, access to energy and livelihoods of communities. The Government of Zambia is thus treating climate change as a development challenge and taking all necessary actions to minimise the potential for further damage.

Building on the momentum of the entry into force of the Paris Agreement and the launch of its National Policy on Climate Change, Zambia has initiated the planning process to implement its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Members of the Technical Committee on the NPCC and other key stakeholders convened in Lusaka, Zambia, to be trained towards developing an NDC Implementation Plan using the NDC Quick-Start Guide that was developed by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) and Ricardo Energy and Environment (Ricardo).

During opening remarks to the workshop, Mr. Trevor Kaunda, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources highlighted the relevance and timeliness of the meeting: the country's recently launched National Policy on Climate Change provides a framework for a coordinated approach for the implementation of climate change actions.   Both Zambia’s Vision 2030 and the Zambian NDC aim to achieve climate resilient and low carbon development.

Zambia’s first NDC includes both adaptation and mitigation actions with a goal of achieving its contribution by 2030. A total emission reduction of 47% against a 2010 base year is targeted. Like many other countries, Zambia is now faced with the challenge of implementing the NDC. CDKN and its partners – Ricardo and Africa Development and Investment (ADI) – are providing technical support to enable the country to move towards implementation. The NDC Quick-Start Guide has therefore been used to guide the development of an NDC Implementation Plan to support implementation of the Paris Agreement. The NDC Quick-Start Guide has three steps: Preparatory Work; Developing the NDC implementation plan; and Delivering the NDC implementation plan. These steps are supported by five modules: Mitigation, Adaptation, Governance, Finance and MRV.

The CDKN-led process supported an initial analysis on three of the five modules (adaptation, governance and finance) to understand the gaps that need to be addressed in implementation. The workshop focused on increasing participants' understanding of Zambia’s first NDC and in particular, its strategic orientation. Zambia’s NDC implementation is linked to the National Policy on Climate Change, and will build on existing climate-related activities. The Technical Committee provided inputs on the current status of implementation, the desired future, and the gaps that need to be addressed in order to implement the NDC. The NDC Quick-Start Guide provided a good basis for the kind of activities that need to be considered under each module and this supported the understanding of the country’s readiness in adaptation, finance and governance. The workshop went further to suggest and prioritise actions for the implementation plan guided by the Quick-Start Guide.

The outcomes of the workshop included a clear understanding of the strategic orientation and current status of implementation of the NDC in Zambia which will be coordinated through the institutions established under the NPCC.

Despite the focus now being on NDC implementation, there is generally a lack of guidance as to how countries can take forward their NDCs, which are high level and strategic. The Quick-Start Guide is filling that gap and the results of the piloting in Zambia have demonstrated the significance and relevance of the Guide.

View the Quick-Start Guide here.