Botswana’s Climate Plan: Prioritizing Adaptation Over Emissions Cuts

Botswana, a dry and sparsely-populated southern African nation, has unveiled a new climate plan that prioritizes adapting to extreme weather conditions such as droughts, floods, and cyclones over cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The plan, known as the nationally determined contribution (NDC), was submitted to the UN on Christmas Eve and has been praised by African climate negotiators as a model for other low-emitting vulnerable countries to follow.

Despite not significantly strengthening its 2030 emissions-cutting goal from a previous version, Botswana’s new plan includes specific targets to promote adaptation measures like rooftop water storage tanks and drought-tolerant crops and cows. The government emphasized that as one of the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world, its limited financial resources will be prioritized for adaptation to reduce the country’s vulnerability to climate change impacts.

Botswana plans to spend $2.1 billion on adaptation and $0.9 billion on emissions reduction by 2030. With additional foreign funding and support, the country aims to allocate an extra $0.4 billion to adaptation and $2.7 billion to mitigation efforts such as solar power and biogas plants.

African climate negotiators, including Fatuma Hussein and Julius Mbatia from Kenya, commended Botswana’s approach, noting that it reflects the unique circumstances and challenges faced by many African countries with low emissions but high climate impacts. While focusing on adaptation is crucial, they also emphasized the importance of not neglecting measures to curb emissions, as renewable energy and sustainable agriculture projects can enhance resilience and slow down climate warming.

Botswana’s climate plan, developed with support from the United Nations, highlights the country’s vulnerability to climate change, citing heatwaves, droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events. The plan includes over 50 numerical targets to address these threats, such as connecting settlements to water pipelines, promoting drought-tolerant livestock breeds, and distributing resilient seeds to farmers.

To improve early warning systems for storms and floods, Botswana plans to expand its network of automated weather stations and produce seasonal weather forecasts for all districts. The country also aims to maintain drainage systems, infrastructure, and new buildings to be climate-smart and use climate-proof materials.

In addition to its adaptation efforts, Botswana maintains its target to reduce emissions by 15% by 2030 compared to business-as-usual projections. The new plan includes specific measures to achieve this goal, such as replacing incandescent lightbulbs with LED bulbs and installing solar water pumps.

Looking ahead, Botswana is expected to submit another NDC with more ambitious targets in line with the Paris Agreement. As countries work towards a Global Goal on Adaptation, Botswana’s numerical adaptation targets are setting a precedent for measuring progress in climate resilience. African negotiators stress the need for effective methodologies to assess adaptation targets and implement actions to combat climate change.

Overall, Botswana’s climate plan showcases a proactive approach to addressing climate challenges and serves as a valuable example for other nations, especially those with low emissions but high vulnerability to extreme weather events.