Title
Context
African countries are already experiencing catastrophic climate change and variability impacts in inter-related ways across many economic sectors - including agriculture, energy, ecosystems and infrastructure. This calls for integrated approaches to responding to increasing energy demand to power African economies, rising population pressures and provide for sustainable livelihoods, while designing and implementing climate response measures. As many African countries have outlined renewable energy and energy efficiency actions in their NDCs for implementation of the Paris Agreement, it is important that these actions are implemented in ways that capitalize on optimizing the benefits of a nexus approach to energy, food security and trade, water resources and land use. This approach requires the promotion of appropriate open source tools for assessing the energy and climate change nexus for strategic investment planning for multiple benefits of energy access, emissions reduction, land-use management and adaptation.
Land, energy and water are crucial resources that are intrinsically linked to human wellbeing. The degree to which they are being utilized begets not only resource security questions but likewise contributes to environmental degradation and climate change. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing climate, an additional layer of complexity is brought about by feedback loops and interdependencies between these three resources. Critically, efficient resource management and cross-sectorial approaches to policy making is required for resource security, effective mitigation as well as adaptation measures.
Climate, Land, Energy and Water Strategies (CLEWs) studies have been known to provide valuable insights as to the trade-offs between conflicting uses of natural resources and underscore potential synergic solutions to overcome them. The provision of policy relevant information is pivotal. Key studies point to the fact that not giving adequate attention to the CLEWs nexus can bring about development that is not sustainable.
Objective
The overall objective of the meeting is to review and validate pilot proof of concept CLEWs models by the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the Economic Commission for Africa to evaluate the suitability of opensource tools to support the implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to climate action of under the framework of the Paris Agreement through a nexus approach that also captures the socio-economic benefits of NDCs and to demonstrate the application of one of such tools in selected pilot countries in Africa.
Date and Venue
The meeting will be held on 30th March 2018 at the United Nations Conference Center (UNCC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Participants
The meeting will be attended by about 15 participants including energy experts, practitioners and researchers drawn from African countries and institutions involved in energy modelling planning and investment.
Information Note
Documents
Presentations
Climate, Land, Energy and Water strategies (CLEWs)