The Gambia
Overall NDC Equity Score
Aspiring
Emissions Reductions
Average
The NDC sets a relatively ambitious target, however, heavy reliance on international support and lack of clear implementation roadmap may diminish execution efforts.
Gender Justice
Aspiring
The NDC includes gender as a cross-cutting principle and could benefit from adding specific metrics on gender-responsive outcomes and inclusion.
Youth Inclusion
Aspiring
The NDC establishes youth empowerment as a key priority, but could be improved by moving from primarily recognizing vulnerabilities to their role as agents of change.
Summary
The Gambia is a Least Developed Country in Western Africa that has one of the more ambitious NDCs in the region, communicating an target of reducing emissions 49.7% of 2010 levels by 2030, conditional on financial and technology transfer support from developed countries. Uniquely, their NDC dives deep into the different emissions reductions strategies for the agriculture sector (i.e. rice ecology, reducing food loss, livestock, etc.) with the aim of reducing emissions nearly 76% of 2020 levels by 2030. Without conditional support, The Gambia will only be able to reduce emissions 2.6% by 2030. Though quite ambitious, the heavy reliance on international support and lack of clear implementation roadmap may diminish their ability to implement its ambitious goals.
On gender justice, the NDC strongly highlights the vulnerability of women to climate change, provides clear indicators of their involvement in the NDC development process, and mentions the significance for increasing their participation in driving solutions. For example, both the National Women Farmers Association and the TRY Oyster Women’s Association were listed as groups that were consulted in the public participation process of the NDC. Further, women are identified as highly vulnerable to food scarcity, holders of limited adaptive capacity in the NDC, and key participants in the green workforce transition. This NDC takes gender justice one step further by acknowledging the need to address low participation of women in decision making at both community and national levels. Though clear data and specific metrics are not identified for strengthening women’s involvement, it’s clear this NDC takes their vulnerability and role in the climate crisis seriously.
On youth inclusion, the NDC mainly highlights the vulnerability of young people to climate change with a much smaller focus on young peoples role in addressing climate change. Though specific groups and details of youth inclusion remain limited, and there are not formal laws for youth inclusion as there are for women, the NDC does acknowledge that youth were included in consultation efforts and established youth empowerment as a key initial priority area. Efforts to highlight specific vulnerabilities facing young people and identification of key indicators for their inclusion would strengthen this NDC.
Highlights
- One of the most inclusive NDCs in the African Region.
- Provides clear indicators of the consultation of women in the NDC development process.
- Includes the vulnerability of women and young people to climate change.
- Mentions the significance for increasing women and young peoples' participation in driving solutions.
- Emphasizes the importance of reaching and working with rural communities and farmers.
Lowlights
- Emissions reductions rely heavily on international support.
- Signals for sustained engagement of women and young peoples is unclear.
- Lacks disaggregated data on the impact of climate change and gender.
- It's unclear if young people were also consulted in the NDC development process.
Key Recommendations
The Gambia has of the most inclusive NDC development processes in the African region, and the world. With strong evidence for how women were included in the design process combined with multiple signals for increasing their inclusion in the implementation processes, it’s clear the Gambia is headed in the right direction to achieve gender justice goals.
The best practices for engaging women in the process could be utilized to strengthen youth inclusion. Further, increasing intersectionality and creating indicators based on gender and youth disaggregated data would strengthen this NDC. The following are key recommendations for the improvement of future NDCs and other national climate plans:
For Gender Justice
- Include gender and climate disaggregated data and indicators.
- Encourage and identify the participation of women’s groups in sustainable resource consumption to reduce over-reliance on forests and support an increased focus of their role in the just transition.
- Gender inequalities contribute to vulnerability, malnutrition, and reduction in the adaptive capacity of women and girls; thus, the NDC should make a stronger reference to this connection and enhance the inclusion of women in designing solutions.
For Youth Inclusion
- Increase the inclusion of young people in NDC consultations.
- Recognize youth as stakeholders, who have greater visibility of their rights and needs, and provide capacity-building and financial support to empower them to take lead on climate action projects.
- Enhance climate education and climate action projects in schools to encourage long-term implementation of climate solutions.
NDC Ambassador - Author
NDC Mentor
