Locations
Introduction
The effects of climate change in Libya are becoming increasingly evident. Recurrent drought spells are causing acute water shortages, leading to the displacement of communities migrating to urban areas. Coastal communities have also experienced flooding, with rainfall becoming more intense. The summer heat waves are growing hotter and longer, exacerbating water and electricity shortages. Given that these climate-induced impacts will only intensify over time, Libya urgently needs to enhance its capacity to mitigate and adapt to these challenges. This project aims to support climate action in Libya as part of UNDP’s comprehensive strategy to address the climate crisis.
Objectives
The UNDP's "Support to Environment and Climate Change Mitigation in Libya" project aims to help Libya prepare for climate impacts by reducing emissions and strengthening institutional capacity to adapt to climate change. This project complements other UNDP initiatives in climate change, energy transition, and water security, as these areas are closely interconnected. The project focuses on three components designed along the following areas:
· Climate Policy and Planning Support: supporting national policy development and capacity to engage in international climate and environmental processes.
· National and Local Adaptation for Climate Resilience: building the capacities of national and local institutions to mitigate climate change, foster gender-responsive green growth, and transition to renewable energy to adapt to climate impacts.
· Enhance National Capacities to Monitor and Reduce Methane Emissions: reducing green gas emissions from the oil sector as part of Libya’s Methane Reduction Pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
Major Achievements
- Supported Libya in accessing vertical funds under the Global Environment Facility (GEF), including a project under development worth USD 5.8 million on “Integrated management for ecosystem restoration, sustainable land, and water management for enhanced climate action” and a global flagship program on the “Biodiversity Finance Initiative”.
- Supporting the Ministry of Environment and the National Climate Change Committee in developing the first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), a Long-term Climate Strategy, and a National GHG emissions inventory. Recent milestones include collaborative review events to set low-carbon mitigation targets ahead of submitting the first NDC for COP30 and finalizing a national carbon inventory to establish the foundation for evidence-based policymaking.
- Working with civil society organizations to raise awareness on climate action, collecting different perspectives from Libyans, particularly women and youth, on how they can best contribute to adapting to and mitigating climate impacts. Outreach has expanded to include school-based campaigns, focus group discussions, and targeted communication materials to boost public engagement.
- The Libyan National Meteorological Centre’s (LNMC) capacity is being strengthened through a series of capacity-building initiatives, including a strategic partnership with the Moroccan Direction de la Météorologie Nationale (DMN). To date, three targeted training workshops have been delivered, successfully training 71 LNMC staff on areas including Tracking System Operationalization, Archive Development, and Early Warning Systems and Weather Forecast from National to Sub-National Level. In addition, there are ongoing preparations for a dedicated workshop on the role of women working in meteorological services.
- Supporting the Libyan National Meteorological Centre with automated weather stations to improve its weather monitoring capacity.
- Coordinating a workshop on the role of women in the Libyan National Meteorological Centre and Early Warning Systems.
- The development of a national management drought strategy is being rolled out. A series of country studies presented in a national workshop set a foundation for the strategy development process and advisory technical support on the review and guidance throughout the process confirmed by the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development.
- Engaging with the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to roll out Methane Emissions Reduction efforts in the industry. Through an active technical partnership with UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) and other key partners, satellite-based preliminary methane assessments and hands-on "Leak Detection and Repair" (LDAR) training workshops are being conducted to equip NOC engineers to measure, track, and report emissions in line with Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0 standards and the Global Methane Pledge.
