Day 3: The SDG Super March consultations focused on Goal 13 «Climate Action»

Today's national Sustainable Development Goals consultations in Turkmenistan covered «Climate Action» Goal 13. Consultations were co-led by the United Nations Development Programme and the State Committee for Environment Protection and Land Resources. The goal includes take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.

«There is no country in the world that is not seeing first-hand the drastic effects of climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and are now more than 50 percent higher than their 1990 level. Further, global warming is causing long-lasting changes to our climate system, which threatens irreversible consequences if we do not take action now.

The annual average losses from just earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones and flooding count in the hundreds of billions of dollars, requiring an investment of US$ 6 billion annually in disaster risk management alone. 

The goal aims to mobilize $100 billion annually by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries and help mitigate climate-related disasters.» [1]

Representatives of about nine national ministries and agencies discussed the proposed five global targets and seven indicators to the Goal 13 and their relevance to Turkmenistan. Participants of todays’ consultation agreed to adopt three of the five global targets as globally defined, and five of the seven corresponding global indicators were adopted unmodified. One of the global target will be clarified further. Three indicators were modified to the Turkmenistan context.

The issue of climate change is a high priority for Turkmenistan. The targets that created the greatest attention were on how to integrate climate issues into development planning. Therefore, the participants agreed the importance of approving the National Economic Programme of Action on Adaptation and Mitigation, NEPAAM, 2016-2020.