Recently, Addis Ababa City launched its first Climate Action Plan (CAP) with the aim of making the city carbon-neutral and resilient to climate changes by taking well-prepared adaptation and mitigation actions. The Climate Action Plan of the city is based on the Paris Agreement to build a safer and healthy city for its residents by taking all necessary actions in both adaptation and mitigation measures to manage the growing impacts of climate change.
The city prepared its Climate Action Plan (CAP) after three years of research and surveys were organized by the city on the issues so as to identify the major sources of the aggravating factors of the city and the potential solutions to be taken. The launched CAP makes Addis Ababa the seventh city in Africa in implementing this climate action plan at city level, according to Addis Ababa City Environmental Protection and Green Development Commission. So far in Africa, six cities namely, Accra, Cape Town, Dakar, Durban, Johannesburg and Lagos launched their Climate Action Plan in Africa and Addis Ababa joins these cities in implementing the CAP to build an environmentally friendly and healthy city.
According to the commission, the preparation of the CAP, which includes further research and the current actual climate-related situation of the city, takes three years. The plan includes short-term, medium and long-term action plans, according to the commission, with seven thematic areas and 34 targets of mitigation and adaptation action plans.
Speaking at the opening session of the launching ceremony, advisor to Addis Ababa City Environmental Protection and Green Development Commission Commissioner Adugna Wendimu stated that the city’s climate action plan aims to combat the increasing climate change impacts by investing on actions that promote green development to build the resilience of the city.
According to the advisor, Addis Ababa is home to huge industries, factories and vehicles with high potential carbon emissions. In addition, with the ever-growing population, limitations in wastage management and treatment plans in industries, climate-related impacts are increasing on the city. In addition, the green gas emission of the city is increasing which needs actions to control it timely.
Hence, Adugna stated that the CAP aims to minimize the increasing green gas emission to the air by taking necessary researched actions and to minimize the climate change vulnerability and impacts of the city. The climate action plan of the city includes 34 climate action plans, from these, 14 of the action plans are mitigation actions while the 20 actions are adaptation actions, he noted.
The adaptation and mitigation action plans of the city mainly focuses on modernizing transportation of the city, promoting clean energy usage, implementing appropriate waste management system and developing the greenery coverage of the city, reducing energy from unclean sources, developing green areas of the city, plantation and other natural resource and land usage management actions, Adugna stated.
For him, the plan will help the city to reduce carbon emission by developing green energy access, introducing modern technological treatments in industries, applying proper waste management systems both in dry and sewerage wastages and other systems that can help to reduce the carbon emission of the city, pollution and other climate related impacts.
In addition, Adugna stated, the city’s climate action plan is based on a climate change vulnerability survey which identifies the city’s current heat, temperature, water availability, and drought vulnerability and land degradation related issues so as to make the city safer for its residents.
Based on the surveys and research, the CAP aims to reduce the city’s carbon emission by 41 percent by 2030, according to Adugna. “To reduce the city’s vulnerability to climate change and its impacts, the CAP priority area is making the infrastructural development and network of the city resilient to climate change” Adugna said adding that “the plan will manage every infrastructural network to apply appropriate climate change tackling mechanisms by consider the impacts and effects of climate change.” Hence, for him, the CAP promotes climate resilient and sustainable infrastructural development of the city including the buildings, roads and to develop the green coverage of Addis Ababa.
By developing the mitigation and adaptation actions of the city, the CAP aims to reduce diseases that come due to air pollution and other unmanaged wastages in addition to helping the socio-economic development of the city, the advisor noted. The climate action plan of the city is ambitious which needs further technological and financial support, Adugna stated adding that since it is a cross-sectoral task, it needs strong participation and integration of different sectors of the city, both at federal and municipal level.
In addition, Adugna calls donors and development partners at local and global level to support the ambitious initiative of the city for the realization of the action plan, especially in introducing climate smart technologies and direct financial support for the implementations of every plan. The plan basically is to protect the environment and ecosystem of the city, to apply practical actions in reducing carbon emission to space and to address all climate change related problems since the city is growing on a daily basis.
Presenting highlights of the CAP document during the launching ceremony, Fantu Kifle, Climate Change Mainstream Team Leader with Addis Ababa Environmental Protection and Green Development Commission on her part argued that the CAP has seven thematic priority areas and 14 targets to be addressed. In addition, the CAP of the city puts 34 adaptation and mitigation actions to build a green, safer and resilient competitive modern city.
Fantu stated that climate change is becoming this century’s greatest challenge adding cities are the major sources of green gas emissions and other air polluting factors. Hence, she said, investing on controlling mechanisms of the emissions and other polluting factors in cities plus investing on green development in cities would help both for the cities and reduce the overall impacts of climate change in general. To take appropriate controlling and other mitigation and adaptation actions, it needs defined plans, appropriate data and knowing the real sources of the problem.
According to her, the Addis Ababa CAP in this regard identifies the major sources of the problem and the necessary actions needed to address the problem. “The vision is making Addis Ababa a carbon neutral, resilient and safer city for its residents” Fantu said adding “it aims to take appropriate actions to control the climate change related problems that the city is facing.” According to the assessment, she said, the city’s carbon emission and temperature is increasing from time to time, which needs actions to control it.
Considering the real situation of the city based on assessments, Fantu said, the city has prepared a worldwide competitive document to ensure a resilient, ecologically protected and environmentally safe city so as to make Addis Ababa a suitable, beautiful and competitive city. Hence, in terms of carbon emission, Addis Ababa plans to reduce the emission by 40 percent in 2030, by 60 percent in 2040 and by 76 percent in 2050 based on the short, medium and long term stated targets.
Key actions according to the team leader are emission reduction, developing industrial energy usage efficiency, developing climate suitable transportation, developing wastage recycling, and waste management and water treatment systems mainly in industries and factories, reducing the vulnerability of hazards of the city’s residents. In addition, investing on modern infrastructural development, clean energy production, enhancing sewerage developments of the city, developing food security and promoting urban agriculture, tree plantation campaigns are the top priority actions to be implemented according to the plan under the adaptation and mitigation actions.
BY DARGIE KAHSAY
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD DECEMBER 8/2021
