Published: FEBRUARY 04, 2022
In Tanzania, the first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) framework officially known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions was developed and submitted to the UNFCCC in September 2015, which was later officially accepted by the UNFCCC in 2018. Following the call by the Paris Agreement for increased ambitions on emission reduction, the Tanzania government in collaboration with other stakeholders embarked on the process for revision of the NDC to produce an updated version known as NDC. The process took place from 2018 and came into finalization in 2021, with participation of stakeholders from the government (from Mainland and Zanzibar), sector ministries, civil societies, development partners and private sector. Stakeholder collaborated to review the NDC considering existing national initiatives, plans and strategies, while mainstreaming gender equality, social inclusion and enhanced coordination in the key aspects of the NDC. The NDC review process went hand in hand with approval processes within the government particularly the Inter-Ministerial Committee Levels. Being a national level in scope, the NDC framework considers both Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. The approval process and submission to UNFCCC Secretariat was completed on July 2021. Level of Ambition Responding to the quest by the Paris agreement to increase the level of ambition among parties to the UNFCCC by COP26, the ambition of the revised Tanzania NDCs has been increased at 30-35% reduction of Greenhouse gases (GHGs) against the business-as-usual scenario by 2030 (URT 2019). This target is considered to be both ambitious and fair for achieving long-term goals of the Paris Agreement and is in line with local circumstance and development plans. The revised NDC have increasingly recognized the role of renewable energy and energy efficiency in both adaptation and mitigation. The participatory revision of NDC gave a renewed look at the level of ambition, Gender Equality, Social Inclusion and enhanced coordination are among the key aspects of the NDC have been considered and enhanced taking into account evidence and experience from national and international initiatives (i.e. countries that have successfully addressed such issues in their NDC submissions including Vietnam, Rwanda, Moldova, Costa Rica, and Kenya.) Beyond INDCs, the revised NDCs are accompanied by the cost implementation plan for both adaptation and mitigation sectors with a total budget of Tanzania Shillings 14,211,770,000 (approximately US$ 6,102,060). The cost to realize this ambition is considered, to a large extent, dependent on availability of international and foreign financial support. This could mean that limited flow of international and foreign financial support for the implementation of NDC may go unrealized and that situation will continue to increase in vulnerable and risky groups. It is argued that stakeholders including development partners start strategizing on ways to mobilize required resources to facilitate the implementation of Tanzania NDC. The role of the private sector and civil society should not be underrated in the process of resource mobilization and implementations. Key Target sectors Tanzania’s NDCs focus on both adaptation and mitigation actions with the financing being the third but cross-sectoral component to enable its effective implementation. It is well linked and builds on other national plans and strategies such as the national adaptation plan (NAP), climate change response strategy (2021-2026), the National Five Years Development Plan 2021-2026 (NFYDP III), The Tanzania Development Vision 2025 and other long-term development strategies that intend to enhance climate resilience. Opportunities and Policy Recommendations The government of Tanzania has made remarkable efforts on development of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which was finalized and submitted in July 2021 before CoP26. However, given the various constraints including those related to COVID-19, further efforts and commitments are required from the government and development partners in order to ensure implementation of the commitments within the NDC. Beyond formulation, NDC implementation can further be enhanced by situating NDC within narratives of sustainable development, or green growth and Local Economic Developments (LEDs) and Blue Economy thereby contributing to both economic and ecological resilience. In this regard and based on current settings, some of the sectors offering low hanging fruits opportunities for achieving best results on NDC implementation include energy sector, waste management, agriculture and forestry. Further, localization, monitoring and coordination of NDC with related climate and disaster reduction initiatives at the national, regional and international levels offers equally prime opportunities for advancing NDC implementation.