Enhancing knowledge about climate action plans at national level was the focus of the third Tajik Inter-ministerial Working Group meeting that was held in Dushanbe on December 22.

Organized by the Committee for Environmental Protection with support from FAO, the meeting brought together members of the Working Group, representatives of the media, government and non-government agencies that are actively part of, or interested in engaging with plans for climate action, according to the FAO Country Office in Tajikistan.

Aimed at creating a platform for fruitful discussions, facilitating peer-to-peer learning and capacity building of the Technical Working Group on their experiences on implementing Paris Agreement commitments, the event reportedly gave a good opportunity to provide recommendations that could support further actions in the path to submitting the updated document on plans for climate action to the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in January.

“Tajikistan’s impact on global emissions is small, yet it is among the most vulnerable countries strongly impacted by the effects of climate change.  Therefore building the local capacities needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change is critical for implementing the Paris Agreement”, said Oleg Guchgeldiyev, FAO Representative in Tajikistan.

In 2016, Tajikistan signed the Paris Agreement on climate change aiming to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Paris Agreement requires each country to present and communicate every five years its plans to tackle climate change, known as nationally determined contributions. Tajikistan submitted its first plan in 2017, reflecting the flexible target of not exceeding 80-90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions of the 1990 level by 2030.

In 2020, the nationally determined contributions enhancement project was awarded to the FAO Tajikistan by the Nationally Determined Contributions Partnership, which is a new coalition of governments and international institutions aiming at supporting countries, including Tajikistan, in developing new climate change plans and targets.

Tajikistan will achieve these targets through actions in power industry, water resources, construction, land use, agriculture, forestry, transportation, and infrastructure.