Comoros

National Focal Point

• Ministère de l’Agriculture, de la Pêche, de l’Environnement, de l’Améngement du Territoire et de l’Urbanisme (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Environment, Land Use and Urban Planning)

National Strategic Documents and Timeframe

• NDC: 2015 – 2030
• National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) (2006)
• Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Sustainable Development (SCA2D) 2015-2019
• Strategic Program Framework on the natural environment, climate change and reducing disaster risk 2011-2016

National Institutional Arrangements

The NDC provides that the National Council for Sustainable Development (CNDD) will lead the program in collaboration with the Ministries and the other departments concerned.

Priorities and Needs

The NDC notes that Comoros is, like other island developing countries, highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. It provides that the main hazards affecting Comoros are: the increase in temperature; sea level rise; more intense tropical cyclones and changes in precipitation; the modification of the wind regime; ocean acidification; and changing fundamental cycles.

The NDC further provides that Comoros’s economy is highly dependent on agriculture (~50% of GDP) and the vast majority of its population lives in coastal areas. It emphasises that the effects of climate change are already highly visible.

It is said that the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change are rural communities and poor farmers who often lack the capacity to withstand its impacts.

Current and Planned Adaptation Efforts

The NDC provides that it will be important to:

• Enforce the enforcement of regulations for the restoration of degraded areas
• Promote intensive agriculture
• Increase the involvement of women and communities in environmental decision-making in view of their growing role in the development of the domestic economy
• Build resilience of people to disasters and climate change

The NDC sets out the following adaptation projects already underway in Comeros, noting their respective sector/objectives, and their state of implementation:

• Agriculture: Renforcement des capacités et de résilience du secteur agricole aux changements climatiques aux Comores (CRCCA) – reducing the vulnerability of agricultural systems to climate change and climate variability
• Water: Renforcement des capacités de gestion des ressources en eau pour une adaptation aux changements climatiques (ACCE) – reducing the risks of climate change on daily life and impacts on water resources
• Integration: Programme d’Appui à l’Union de Comores pour le Renforcement de la Résilience au Changement Climatique (AMCCA) – improve the mainstreaming of climate change strategies, projects and mechanisms for planning, coordination and monitoring
• Water: Programme conjoint adaptation eau – reducing the risks of climate change on daily life and impacts on water resources in 5 pilot sites
• Coastal zones: Réhabilitation des Bassins versants, des forêts et des moyens de subsistance adaptatifs – strengthening resilience I the Comoros by rehabilitiating watersheds, forests and diversifying livelihoods
• Risks: Résilience face aux risques dus à la variabilité et aux changements climatiques – enhance adaptation and resilience capacities of communities most vulnerable to climate change and variability in Comoros

The NDC then lists the main objectives in terms of adaptation for 2020 and 2030 in the following sectors: water; agriculture and livestock; health; risk reduction and disasters; and integration and awareness.

Synergies with Disaster Risk Reduction Efforts

Comoros’s adaptation objectives include synergies with disaster risk reduction. In terms of risk reduction, the target by 2020 is to have an early warning system and effective intervention able to be implemented across the country. Two targets are set out for 2030, namely, that: 100% of the population located in vulnerable zones will either be moved or will have facilities protecting them from climate hazards, especially flooding risks; and the country will have a system of construction standards that take into account climate change, from 10-year and 100-year floods, to flooding linked to sea level rise and cyclonic swells.

Requirements for Additional Planning, Financial and Technical Capacities

The NDC provides that to achieve its adaptation goals, the country will have to successfully integrate these climate change adaptation measures into various sectoral policies, build capacity, and mobilize sufficient financial resources.

The NDC also notes human capacity building, technology, and financial needs for its implementation.

In terms of financial support, the NDC sets out that around US$ 300 million will be needed for climate change adaptation measures. It explains that about 10% of this could be the share of the national budget.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The NDC sets out that with regard to adaptation measures, monitoring could be done through sectoral working groups and Development Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation Committees (PSCES)