By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN – Jordan is preparing its third report on climate change that identifies sectors emitting greenhouse gases and the effect of the phenomenon on gender and socio-economic conditions, officials said on Saturday.
The Third National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) constitutes an inventory of sectors that emit the highest amounts of greenhouse gases, Hussein Badarin, who heads the environment ministry’s monitoring and assessment directorate, said yesterday.
National communications among each country measure each country’s greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, predict the rise in such emissions in 30 years and lay the foundation for an analysis of the way forward on climate change, he noted.
“The report also helps us evaluate our climate change mitigation measures, policies and strategies to list programmes and projects for climate change adaptation,” Badarin told The Jordan Times yesterday.
Jordan issued its first national communication to the UNFCCC in 1998, becoming the first developing country to submit such a report, and the second in 2009.
The third report will also evaluate the impact of climate change on several sectors, mainly agriculture, energy, waste, industry, change in land use and forests.
“A new component will be added to this report which is the impact of climate change on gender in Jordan and how gender can be used in mitigation and adaptation measures,” he underscored.
The report’s proposal is expected to be referred to the Global Environment Fund for approval in May, he said, estimating the report to cost between $1-2 million.
Badarin said the report is expected to take two to three years to be completed, noting that it amasses massive amounts of information and statistics from various sectors.
The 2009 national communication indicated that the energy sector was responsible for emitting 74 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in the Kingdom, with carbon dioxide constituting 98 per cent of the emissions.
The waste sector came second, accounting for 13.5 per cent, followed by industrial processes at 7.9 per cent, land use conversion and forestry at 3.7 per cent, and the agriculture sector at 0.9 per cent.
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=34905