Numerous challenges in the field of climate change

The preparation of legal frameworks in the field of climate change and their monitoring at the level of the European Union and the Energy Community represents a great challenge for everyone, given that the entire process requires certain capacities, both when it comes to the number of people working on their preparation, and the statistical data with which we currently have That's the key message from the first day of the National Climate Change Conference organized by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Green Home.

The general secretary of the NGO Green Home, Sanja Orlandić, said that in the last few years, numerous documents have been prepared when it comes to climate change.

"All these documents are the result of our obligations in the process of joining the European Union, membership in new bodies such as the Energy Community or signing agreements such as the Paris Agreement. The preparation of legal frameworks in this area and their monitoring at the level of the European Union and the Energy Community represent a great challenge for all of us, given that the entire process requires certain capacities, both when it comes to the number of people working on their preparation, as well as the statistical data we currently have at our disposal . From the point of view of the non-governmental sector, we believe that there is a lack of ambition when defining goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," Orlandić assessed.

According to her, special attention must be paid to the transition in areas with high pollution, such as Pljevlja, where, as she pointed out, there must be clear ecological, economic and social plans.

"Policies in this area should be oriented primarily towards measures for the rational use of energy and the use of new technologies," said Orlandić.

Speaking about the project "Together for a better climate in Montenegro", which the NGO Green Home is implementing in cooperation with the Council for Ecological Construction and the Climate Action Network, and with the financial support of the Delegation of the European Union and the Ministry of Public Administration, Orlandić said that the project consists of three components which also represent the areas in which the NGO Green Home operates, and refer to cooperation with institutions, non-governmental organizations and youth education.

She explained that as part of the project, they held online education for young people, and organized the first competition "Make a video, win a bike" to which about 60 videos were submitted.

"The children presented their knowledge about climate change in a creative way and were awarded diplomas for their work, and the best ones with 3 bicycles," said Orlandić.

She said that the second segment of the organization's work is oriented towards cooperation with colleagues from non-governmental organizations operating at the local level.

"This project also provided financial support to our colleagues who enthusiastically worked on their projects and tried to apply different segments of climate change and nature protection in their environments," said Orlandić.

"We must emphasize the cooperation with the ministries of sustainable development and tourism and the economy, which has been going on for a long time, and which was confirmed by this project through active participation in the adoption of the Law on Protection from Climate Change and by-laws, as well as participation in the work of the working group that should adopt National plan for energy and climate," concluded Orlandić.

The Director General of the Directorate for Climate Change and Mediterranean Affairs in the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Ešef Husić, said that the field of climate change is a fragmented area and that we can only achieve the expected results through joint efforts.

He highlighted the cooperation with non-governmental organizations, the international organization UNDP, as well as competent institutions in this area as very important. He reminded that Montenegro was the first in the region to adopt the law on climate change.

"The idea of ​​the Law on the Protection of Negative Impacts of Climate Change is to establish a mechanism for limiting GHG emissions. Another obligation is to introduce a system of monitoring, verification and reporting on emissions, which will enable us to fulfill the GHG emissions reporting obligations of the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in a credible manner," said Husić.

He added that the Law also foresees the introduction of a national system for trading emissions, which will ensure the sectoral division of efforts to reduce emissions, which are outside this system.

"The law also regulates the issue of the use of substances that damage the ozone layer and fluorinated gases in a better way. It is very important to point out that this regulation envisages the creation of a long-term strategy of low-carbon development with the achievement of zero GHG emissions by 2050," said Husić.

The representative of the Directorate for Climate Change and Mediterranean Affairs Danijela Čabarkapa reminded that in 2015 the Government of Montenegro adopted the National Strategy in the field of climate change until 2030 and pointed out the importance of passing the Law on Protection from the Negative Effects of Climate Change.

At the conference, she also presented a plan for future projects, primarily the preparation of the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NAP), and the preparation of the Low Carbon Development Strategy.

The program manager of UNDP, Snežana Dragojević, reminded that in October 2020, Montenegro submitted its Third National Report on Climate Change (TNC) to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

"The report was prepared in accordance with the methodology prescribed by the UNFCCC, and provides information on: greenhouse gas emissions for the period 1990-2017; projections of GHG emissions until 2030 and proposal of mitigation measures; climate models and proposals for adaptation measures in selected sectors; as well as an overview of limitations, shortcomings and needs in terms of financing and capacity building", stated Dragojević.

The main partners in the project were, as she pointed out, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection, the Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology, the Ministry of Economy, MONSTAT and UNDP.

"The project lasted four years and was financed by the GEF (Global Environmental Fund)," added Dragojević.

The representative of the Agency for the Protection of Nature and the Environment, Irena Tadić, reminded that, in accordance with the Air Protection Act, the Agency is responsible for updating the National Inventory of Greenhouse Gases (GHG Inventory), which, as she stated, covers the entire territory of Montenegro Above.

"Data from the energy sector, production and use of products, agriculture, forestry and land and waste use have been updated", said Tadić, emphasizing that the energy sector is the main emitter.

Speaking about the trends in greenhouse gas emissions, Tadić said that total sink emissions range from 1581.97 Gg CO2 eq. in 2009 to 8738.24 Gg in 2011 due to large burned areas.

"According to the latest data on felling and fires in the forest area, the entire time series was recalculated with additional years for 2016 and 2017, and the results obtained indicate a much lower sink potential than was shown in previous calculations," said Tadić.

Mirjana Ivanov, from the Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology, said that there are no reliable data on the impact of climate change on people's health, because these data are not integrated with mandatory health records.

"However, there are efforts to strengthen these capacities and plans to introduce bio-forecasting to quantitatively assess the impact of weather and climate on human health," said Ivanov.

She also said that there is no comprehensive assessment of the investments needed for adaptation measures, but that the assessment of technological needs for adaptation and mitigation measures for Montenegro (2012) gives an indication of the costs for priority adaptation measures for the most vulnerable sectors: the water sector, agriculture and forestry and coastal area.