03 Nov 2021

Botswana’s participation in the ongoing United Nations Framework climate change conference (COP26) is expected to enhance the country’s policy implementation. 

 This was said by Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism permanent secretary Dr Oduetse Koboto in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.

 He said collaborations and benchmarking exercises during the conference would assist Botswana in implementing its recently-adopted climate change and integrated waste management policies. 

“As the climate change regime gets developed in the negotiations, it creates a platform and modalities for support in implementing these policies. Of key importance is the establishment of carbon markets at local level, whose trading mechanisms get reviewed at international level and are incorporated in the negotiations,” he said. 

Dr Koboto underscored the need for the country to be aware of any new developments during the course of implementing the policies. 

He said the conference also provided a good platform for innovation and technology transfer opportunities beneficial to Botswana’s transformation  into a knowledge-based economy. 

The presence of various technology developers at the conference could go a long way in enhancing technology transfer to  Botswana, said Dr Koboto.

“A lot of technology developers present in the conference foster collaboration and partnerships which we continue to explore and exploit in the interest of our nation to lure such developers to invest in development of their technologies in Botswana. Such collaborations will help create jobs thereby reducing poverty, while at the same time contributing towards reducing global emissions through technology development,” he said. 

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Wildlife, Tourism, Natural Resources and Climate Change Committee, Mr Polson Majaga said for Botswana to become a knowledge-based economy,  climate change stakeholders had to take bold decisions in support of the aspiration. 

He said the current impacts of climate change in Botswana, which had resulted in veld fires, heat waves and floods, called for urgent action and stakeholder collaborations. 

The country could learn from other countries participating in COP26 which had developed smart technologies towards addressing climate change effects, said Mr Majaga. 

He said the conference should be a decisive point for all parties to implement the Paris Agreement in order to ensure capacity building in developing countries. 

Such commitments, he said, would enable developing countries to implement their adaptation and mitigation plans. 

“COP26 is a decisive conference to operationalize the Paris Agreement. 

We would like to see international bodies concluding the agreements and ensuring implementation. 

There has been more talk and no action, and this is the time to put forward tangible implementation plans to reduce global emissions. 

This would help in capacity building towards adaptation to climate change effects in developing countries,” Mr Majaga said. Ends