Photo credit: Qatar Tourism
Doha, Qatar: The National Action Plan has provided a road map through which Qatar would fulfil its international obligations to mitigate the effects of climate change, especially in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, said a top official.
Assistant Undersecretary for Climate Change Affairs at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MoECC) Eng. Ahmed Mohamed Al Sada has said that over 300 measures have been identified to reduce the actual or expected effects of climate change.
He said that these measures include various sectors in the country, such as the economic sector, infrastructure, health care, food security, water, biodiversity, and other related sectors.
Al Sada was addressing the opening ceremony of a workshop entitled ‘Climate Vulnerability & Impact Assessment for Qatar’ to discuss the preliminary results of the climate vulnerability assessment for six sectors in the country.
The two-day event which is being organised by MoECC in partnership with Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), began yesterday in Doha.
The workshop was attended by a large number of ministry officials, more than 120 officials from relevant government ministries, and private sector entities, in addition to a large number of academics, as well as civil society organizations.
Al Sada said that Qatar has taken ambitious measures over the past years to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030 in protecting the environment, promoting green growth, and reducing the effects of climate change.
“This is done by developing a national strategy for the environment and climate change and preparing a clear national action plan for climate change in Qatar, which will continue over the next ten years,” said Al Sada.
Assistant Undersecretary for Climate Change Affairs at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change with other official during a workshop on environment in Doha yesterday.
The Assistant Undersecretary for Climate Change Affairs noted the importance of cooperation between stakeholders and national and international organisations to achieve these goals.
He highlighted the cooperation of MoECC with the GGGI, to implement the National Climate Adaptation Planning Project, which aims to strengthen the National Adaptation Planning (NAP) process in Qatar by identifying and addressing its medium and long-term priorities range in addressing climate change.
Al Sada said that the workshop is one of the initiatives of this project, which aims to conduct a participatory national assessment based on evidence, whereby the participating experts identify and prioritize the expected effects of climate change and the necessary adaptation measures to address them.
For his part, Chiden Oseo Balmes, Senior Program Officer, GGGI Qatar Office, gave a presentation on the project and the basic concepts to enhance people’s understanding and awareness about adaptation to climate change.
He said that the GGGI hopes to drive Qatar’s national adaptation planning process, by identifying and addressing its medium- and long-term priorities for adaptation to climate change.
He pointed out that Qatar is facing some challenges of climate-related impacts, noting that these challenges can be transformed into opportunities to enhance resilience, by identifying and implementing adaptation measures in the country.
Balmes called stakeholders to be part of the national adaptation planning process by sharing their knowledge, experiences and comments through this workshop.
Mahmoud Al Marwani, Assistant Director of the Climate Change Department, said that the workshop aims to draw a map of the most important challenges of climate change in Qatar, and work to create a database on the sectors most affected by these changes and their effects.
He noted that, based on this information, a plan will be developed to confront these challenges, work to solve them and adapt to the effects of climate change.
Sultana Abdullah, an environmental specialist at the Climate Change Department said that the workshop aims to share the preliminary results of the Climate Vulnerability Assessment with the attendees, noting that those results cover the sectors of energy, water, infrastructure, biodiversity, agriculture, and public health.
