UNDP participated in the third Biennial Update Report (BUR3) Inception meeting/workshop on 19 July at the Namibia Institute for Public Administration and Management (NIPAM). The workshop was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, UNDP Namibia as well as members of the National Climate Change Committe. 

The BUR3 is a new UNDP supported Project intervention to reinforce Namibia’s capacities to meet its reporting obligations and commitments to the UNFCCC Convention. BURs are reports that are to be submitted by non-Annex I Parties, containing updates of National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories, including a national inventory report and information on mitigation actions, needs and support received.

The Head of Programmes at UNDP Namibia, Ms. Martha Naanda gave a presentation on Monitoring and Evaluation of the UNDP-GEF co-financed /supported projects, while the BUR 3 Project Manager, Mr. Reagan Chunga took the representatives through Namibia's history with the BUR and how they are reported on.

Namibia is a signatory to the UNFCCC, since 1995 as a Non-Annex I (NAI) party and to the Paris Agreement (PA) since 2016. As a signatory to the convention, the country is obligated to prepare and submit National Communications as mandated in article 4 and 12 of the convention. In accordance with enhanced reporting as mandated in decisions taken during COP 16 and 17 for non-Annex I Parties, Namibia is also required to prepare Biennial Update Reports (BURs), every two years with first deadline having been in 2014.  Thus far Namibia has prepared and submitted 3 NCs, namely: The Initial National Communication (INC) in 2001, the Second National Communication (SNC) in 2011, the Third National Communication (TNC) in 2015. The country has also submitted 2 BURs, namely: the First Biennial Update Report (BUR1) which was submitted in 2014 and the Second Biennial Update Report in 2016, making Namibia one of the leading NAI in timely meeting its reporting obligations under the convention. Namibia recently commenced with the preparation of its Fourth National Communication (NC4).

The BUR reports provide updates on actions undertaken by a Party to implement the Convention, including the status of its GHG emissions and removals by sinks, as well as on the actions to reduce emissions or enhance sinks.

The scope of the BURs is to provide an update of the most recently submitted National Communication (NC) and to provide additional information in relation to mitigation actions taken or envisaged to undertake and their effects as well as support needed and received.

The Third Biennial Update Report (BUR3) will build on the work done and achieved under the previous BURs and NCs in terms of providing an update on: the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory covering the year 2016; the mitigation measures and their effects and the associated domestic Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) system; Institutional arrangement and national circumstances; and on constraints, gaps, and associated technical and financial needs. This Enabling Activity (EA) will be carried out over a period of 2 Years, commencing in 2017 until 2018. As some of the outputs and outcomes between BURs and NCs are similar, BUR3 will be implemented together with the on-going NC4, being coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), Division Multi-lateral Environmental Agreements (DMEA), Climate Change Subdivision, NCs/BURs Project Management Unit.