The Gambia
The Gambia is highly vulnerable to climate change, facing risks from sea level rise, recurrent droughts, and floods. These impacts threaten the country's economy, which relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture, and its population, with significant implications for food, water, and energy security.
Adaptation
The Gambia has established a foundation for climate adaptation policies, but coordination and implementation need strengthening. Key challenges include:
- Interdependencies between natural resources: Land, forest, and water resources are interconnected, and their management must consider climate change impacts.
- Human pressure on resources: Population growth and urbanization increase pressure on natural resources, exacerbating climate vulnerabilities.
- Institutional and legal gaps: Lack of clear land policies, weak enforcement of property rights, and fragmented institutional frameworks hinder effective adaptation.
Key recommendations for adaptation:
- Coastal resilience: Strengthen coastal management through integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) policies, land-use planning, and investment in infrastructure.
- Land management: Develop a comprehensive national land policy, complete the land registry and cadaster, and enhance land security and zoning.
- Water management: Address groundwater depletion by inventorying existing boreholes, introducing licensing and fees, and improving water efficiency. Explore rainwater harvesting as an alternative water source.
- Agriculture: Promote climate-smart agriculture practices, such as agroforestry and conservation agriculture, and provide financial support to smallholder farmers.
- Disaster risk management: Develop a national disaster risk financing strategy and improve the efficiency of disaster risk management systems.
Mitigation
The Gambia's NDC target is ambitious, with deforestation and agriculture being the largest contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Key mitigation challenges and opportunities include:
- Agriculture and livestock: Limited mitigation options due to development challenges, but productivity-enhancing investments can yield co-benefits for emissions.
- Forestry: Deforestation is driven by agriculture, biomass energy, and urbanization. Community forest management and payment for environmental services (PES) can incentivize forest conservation and restoration.
- Waste management: The waste sector is a major contributor to GHG emissions. Fiscal instruments, such as deposit-refund systems and environmental taxes, can internalize negative externalities and finance waste management.
- Power sector: The Gambia aims to increase the share of renewable energy in its energy mix. Addressing land rights and improving the financial situation of the national electricity company are crucial for attracting private investment in renewable projects.
Enabling institutions
The Gambia is incorporating climate change considerations into its development objectives, but institutional and legal frameworks need strengthening to ensure effective implementation of climate policies.
Key recommendations for enabling institutions:
- Develop a national adaptation plan (NAP): Transition from project-based adaptation planning to an integrated approach across all vulnerable sectors.
- Strengthen coordination: Improve coordination between government agencies, development partners, and local communities to ensure alignment of climate change objectives.
- Establish a climate finance policy: Coordinate resource mobilization and ensure that investments are strategically aligned with national climate goals.
- Create an enabling environment for the private sector: Provide incentives, de-risk investments, and improve access to finance to attract private sector engagement in climate action.
