On April 19th and 20th, four national appropriate mitigation actions aiming to control the negative impact of climate change in the Republic of Moldova are being discussed during a workshop. This given that our country is vulnerable to climate change, and heat waves and droughts, frosts, storms or floods show the "hard way" for several years already.

The workshop was conducted in the framework of the Low Emissions Capacity Building Programme in the Republic of Moldova. The budget of the project is 642 thousand dollars and is financed by the European Union, United Nations Development Programme, and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany, and the Australian Government.

The four action points have been developed within the Project Low Emission capacity Building Programme and cover the following areas:

1. Promoting cogeneration power plants with a small capacity (project that will enhance the capacity of local energy production).
2. Promoting efficient lighting (project to increase energy efficiency).
3. Afforestation of the unworkable for agriculture lands and forestry protection belts (project related to increasing forested areas, with direct impact on lowering emissions and indirect benefits for the environment).
4. Obtaining energy from waste as appropriate mitigation actions at national level (project that will solve the problems regarding the solid waste treatment).

Within the workshop the participants discussed the funding requirements of the four actions and identified the entities suitable for implementation of the mitigation actions. Another aspect, equally important, was considered the proper use of the monitoring, reporting and verification system so that the project could rely on accurate data and be able to foresee potential risks.

"At the first stage the proposed actions are developed as pilot projects, but at the end of the day we want to be able to replicate the actions nationwide and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in Moldova. We plan to come up with concrete mechanisms for climate change mitigation", mentioned Vasile Scorpan, manager of the Climate Change Office, Ministry of Environment.

The implementation of the mitigation actions are of particular importance to the achievement of national commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, commitments that were undertaken by signing the Association Agreement with the European Union.

"Globally, this project is implemented in 25 countries and aims to support each of the participating country to develop their own mitigating actions. It’s important that the selected initiatives are implemented by government agencies and is establishing a clear path for developing the national program to mitigate climate change" said James Vener, representative of LECBP Global project, New York.

These types of actions have an essential contribution in overcoming the climate change and every country has identified its priorities in the fight against global warming.

In the same context, Sergiu Ungureanu, Project Manager of the LECBP Moldova said that "in order to succeed in combating climate change we must realize that the efforts begin with each of us and we must cooperate cross-sectoral and with the private sector to promote these actions".

The actions were developed in cooperation with international experts and contain the best practices in project writing on climate change. Proper implementation of these projects will help strengthen local capacity and open up new possibilities for the development of local businesses.