First developing country to submit Biennial Update Report

Following the recent COP20 meeting at Lima, Namibia has become the first developing country to prepare and submit the first Biennial Update Report (BUR) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Not only has Namibia become the first, it remains the only country to submit this report to date.

At the 16th Conference of the Parties (CoP) a decision was taken, obligating developing countries, also referred to as Non-Annex I parties under the UNFCCC, to prepare and submit BURs every two years, with the first deadline December 2014. The BUR contains a comprehensive national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory for no later than four years from the date of submission. It also includes information on mitigation taken and additionally, the report spells out financial, technological and capacity-building needs and support received. Biennial update reports are an integral step towards the implementation of the framework for developing countries’ measurement, reporting and verification to enhance the transparency of mitigation actions, their effects and the support received. Results from the GHG inventory indicates that Namibia is a sink of GHG gases, meaning we absorb all our GHG emissions and those of other countries. The preparation of this report was coodinated by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, through the Department of Environmental Affairs.