By Staff Writer

FILE PHOTO : MNRE staff promoting the environment value to students on a visit to a conservation site.

A 24 per cent increase in registered vehicles and close to 30 thousand cars on the road, is cause for worry on harmful carbon emission for Samoa.

Environment Minister, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, picked up on the concern at the launching of the Low Emission Strategy for Samoa last week.

But while the worry is true enough there is little reason for serious alarm in Samoa emitting irreparable damages to the ozone layer.

The Low Emission Strategy is launched at a time of visible progress in the energy sector with hydro power now generating 50% of clean, renewable energy in the country.

Diesel fuel emissions from electricity generators was identified early as requiring immediate attention.

It followed the signing of the Paris Climate Change Accord; Samoa is a signatory of in 2015.

“With the energy sector, any long term success will include ways to mitigate and to adapt to climate friendly changes,” Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, CEO, Lealaisalanoa Frances Brown-Reupena noted when asked by Newsline Samoa.

“Electrical vehicles will blend well with our hydroelectricity to markedly drop our harmful carbon emission levels from the Transport sector.”

Lealaisalanoa is careful not to be too carried away by the promising achievements in the early going for the sector in Samoa.

Charging stations for electrical vehicles must be looked at as part of this mitigation, adaptive process.

There are other sectors the MNRE boss, and her staff are working on to curb emissions like in agriculture.

Tree planting is one of the undertakings the Ministry is trying to encourage to have cleaner air.

Nationally Determined Contribution or NDC is the second climate change focus raised by the Environment Minister that Lealaisalanoa expanded on.

“This is where it is left up to the country to determine the sectors and the impacts, they have on climate change.

“We took an inventory on emissions and where it is coming from, and this is where the Transport sector comes in.”

Government building designs are other examples of what has come under the watchdog role of the NDC.

Saving energy and making Government buildings more energy efficient is being looked at closely under the NDC Road Map.

Lealaisalanoa believes that small things like saving electricity adds up in the success of the effort over the long term.

While it is all very well for Samoa to be well organised and be well ahead of other similar island regions in the world, the next primary challenge is funding,

Having national strategies in place is what Samoa has been successful at so far.

The accessing of climate change funding is ‘the biggest challenge’ especially as a small country.

“Some of the funding requirements involves a long process and it is not just from donor assistance but in the local context as well.

“There may be land use issues that takes time to resolve, and it eats away at the time frame in actioning the project.”

But it has not stopped the door knocking by Lealaisalanoa and her Ministry team on donor assistance to fund the many strategies Samoa has in place already.

A possible advantage for Samoa’s funding hunt is being seen as very well orgnised.

Samoa is the first country in the region to submit several climate change reports on national commitments to follow up on the Paris Agreement.

An undertaking on renewable energy was handed in by Samoa in 2017 and its contribution to the Paris Agreement.

Since then, it has continued to build steadily on strategies in support of the Climate Change global effort.

Lealaisalanoa admits that a change in the public mindset is one of the key driving forces the Ministry is trying to encourage in Samoa’s climate change support.

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