Gabon's Second National Communication - November 2011
Project Overview
The creation of a National Communication offers countries the opportunity to contribute with technically sound studies and information that can be used for designing mitigation and adaptation measures, and project proposals that can and will help increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change. Activities generally include: V&A assessments, Greenhouse Gas Inventory preparation, Mitigation Analysis or Education, and awareness raising activities. The ultimate goal is the integration of climate change considerations into relevant social, economic and environmental policies and actions.
Key Vulnerabilities:
- Agriculture/Food Security
- Coastal Zones and Marine Ecosystems
- Water Resources
- Public Health
Project Details
Gabon is located on the western coast of southern Africa, straddling the Equator at latitudes of 4°S to 3°N. The coastal plains of Gabon continue around 300km inland, beyond which a number of mountain ranges rise. The climate is typically tropical, with high average temperatures year round (25 to 27°C in coastal lowlands, 22‐25°C inland) and a single wet season between October and May, when 200‐250mm of rainfall is received.
Source: University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment. Accessed on 23 November 2009 at: http://country-profiles.geog.ox.ac.uk/.
Key Results and Outputs
- Sustainable development and the integration of climate change concerns into medium- and long-term planning
- Inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases
- Measures contributing to addressing climate change
- Research and systematic observation
- Climate change impacts, adaptation measures and response strategies
- Education, training and public awareness
Potential Adaptation Measures
Agriculture and Food Security
- Educational & outreach activities to change management practices to those suited to climate change
- Enhance irrigation efficiency and/or expand irrigation
- Develop and introduce policy measures, including taxes, subsidies, facilitation of free market
Water Resources
- Increase water supply, e.g. by using groundwater, building reservoirs, improving or stabilizing watershed management, desalination
- Develop and introduce flood and drought monitoring and control system
Coastal Zones and Marine Ecosystems
- Develop Integrated Coastal Zone Management
- Develop planning/new investment requirements
- Protect, including building sea walls, and beach nourishment
- Research/monitor the coastal ecosystem
Reports and Publications
Assessments and Background Documents
Gabon's Second National Communication - Official Document (French) - November 2011
Monitoring and Evaluation
In 1992, countries joined an international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable.
Parties to the Convention must submit national reports on implementation of the Convention to the Conference of the Parties (COP). The required contents of national communications and the timetable for their submission are different for Annex I and non-Annex I Parties. This is in accordance with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" enshrined in the Convention.
The core elements of the national communications for both Annex I and non-Annex I Parties are information on emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and details of the activities a Party has undertaken to implement the Convention. National communications usually contain information on national circumstances, vulnerability assessment, financial resources and transfer of technology, and education, training and public awareness.
Since 1994, governments have invested significant time and resources in the preparation, collection and validation of data on GHG emissions, and the COP has made determined efforts to improve the quality and consistency of the data, which are ensured by established guidelines for reporting. Non-Annex I Parties receive financial and technical assistance in preparing their national communications, facilitated by the UNFCCC secretariat.