The NDC Action project supports NDC implementation Mongolia, and the country’s focus on energy efficiency in the industrial sector and on climate resilient agriculture.
In this Q&A session two of our partners explain how the project has pushed NDC implementation in Mongolia by implementing adaptation measures in the agriculture sector, where Mongolia focuses on irrigation technologies to reduce water usage and labour costs, and on establishing forest strips and fencing to prevent the effects of climate change and droughts.
Altangerel Bayarsaikhan, Officer of the Department of Crop Production Coordination and Implementation, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry
How has the NDC Action project helped Mongolia reach the goals in the priority areas?
One of the key challenges the Government is facing in implementing the NDC is financial limitations. The NDC Action project supported assessing potential financial instruments, developing an investment plan, and designing a concept proposal on concrete adaptation measures targeted within the scope of the NDC. The proposal was submitted to the Climate Technology Center and Network for funding. This kind of action-oriented, efficient measures are imperative for implementation.
What needs have been met by the project?
Besides assessing and developing a concrete investment plan and project concept, which was one of the gaps, the project provided an opportunity to engage and capacitate multi-stakeholders. For instance, the solar power drip irrigation system in farming practice is cross-sectoral in nature, involving both agriculture and energy sector actors. Furthermore, the project took extensive measures to engage financial and technology representatives, who play important supporting roles in the implementation and usually remain unengaged otherwise.
What are the lessons learned that could be useful for other countries?
The insufficiency of the sustainable green financing instruments is a major obstacle for the implementation of the NDC adaptation activities. Therefore, creating enabling national policy and financial frameworks to support and promote climate activities is crucial. The suggested approach is to transform the existing system in alignment with the Paris goals instead of creating new on the side.
Turtulga Belgedemberel, Agronomist & Researcher, School of AgroEcology, Mongolian University of Life Sciences
How has the NDC Action project helped Mongolia reach the goals in the priority areas?
The capacity-building activities of the project were the most helpful for various stakeholders enabling knowledge sharing on NDC, its action plan, adaptation activities, sectoral policies, so on. Furthermore, support provided for the financial instrument assessment and identifying concrete activity, and design of concrete project concept was essential, which was further consulted with multi-stakeholders, who fully supported and validated the significance of the selected activities.
What needs have been met by the project?
Within the frame of the project, the capacity-building measures were conducted successfully, engaging over 80 stakeholders representing 50 organizations focused on NDC implementation obtained knowledge on NDC policy and implementation frameworks. In addition, knowledge was shared on climate financing instruments and investment plan development with 138 participants from 61 organizations. As a result, the participants were able to evaluate the adaptation-focused NDC activities and identified the solar power drip irrigation system as the most feasible and required measure to address both adaptation and mitigation needs.
