Tonga on track to submit its second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) by 2020

The workshop brings Tonga’s NDC one step closer to submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), meeting Tonga’s obligation as a Party to the Paris Agreement, to submit a new and enhanced or more ambitious NDC by 2020.

Nationally Determined Contributions or NDC are actions that Parties to the Paris Agreement plan to undertake to address climate change. A party’s contributions to address climate change is ‘nationally determined’ according to its national circumstances and priorities. Tonga’s first NDC was submitted in 2015 and the 2020 NDC will be Tonga’s second and enhanced NDC.

In his opening remarks, Paula Ma’u, CEO for MEIDECC stated, “That Tonga’s 2020 NDC is founded on the progresses and recommendations of the Tonga NDC Review Report that the Prime Minister of Tonga launched earlier in September this year. The 2020 NDC embodies Tonga’s ambitious climate change actions which is in line with the Paris Agreement’s requirement for new NDCs to be an enhanced progression from the current NDCs”.

A statement said Ma’u reiterated the importance of the workshop, in consulting all relevant stakeholders, to reconfirm Tonga’s NDC targets based Tonga’s national circumstances, capabilities, priorities and needs.

The workshop brought together key stakeholders from the four key Mitigation sectors; Energy, IPPU (Industrial Processes and Product Use), AFOLU (Agriculture, Forest and Other Land Use) and Waste as well as key Adaptation sectors; Fisheries, Water, Biodiversity and Agriculture, to validate Tonga’s 2020 NDC targets before submission to Cabinet for national endorsement.

“The NDC plays an important role in a country’s contribution to addressing climate change. The targets set forth in this 2020 NDC allow sectors to keep track of climate change activities”, said Mafile’o Masi, Head of the Waste and Pollution Control Division from the Department of Environment.

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