Vanautu LEDS - Vanautu Low Emissions Development Strategy

Vanuatu is unique among the Paris Agreement parties that have produced Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) and Long-Term Strategies (LTS). Vanuatu is already net negative for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Vanuatu’s large forest area removes more than 10 times the GHG emissions generated from human activity.Yet, Vanuatu’s own pathway of reducing emissions demonstrates the commitment it seeks at a global level to address climate change. The guiding vision for the LEDS is the following: Reduce emissions across all sectors in a way that supports resilient, sustainable, and equitable growth for its people.The Vanuatu LEDS provides sector by sector review of alignment with the vision for reduced emissions mitigation, resilience, and adaptation. It assists mainstreaming of emissions mitigation and adaptation in key sectors: energy, transport, waste management, livestock, forestry and agriculture, and water and health. It brings new insights, attention, and engagement with strategic policy challenges and in doing so, identifies new and complementary actions to those actions described in short- and medium-term strategies.Vanuatu’s energy sector has ambitious mitigation targets to 2030, as described in the National Energy Road Map (NERM) and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). For the most part, these strategies and targets align with the vision of the LEDS to reduce emissions through to 2050. Additional actions are needed to meet the LEDS vision, including enhancing existing programmes to meet the electricity demand outside of grid concession areas, promoting a clean cooking transition, scaling up coconut oil production and improving climate resilience and adaptation planning in the energy sector.Vanuatu has efficiency targets for the transport sector which will reduce emissions. This is a step in the right direction towards the LEDS vision of reduced emissions, but further steps can be taken by developing a national transport policy and accompanying institutional arrangements which consider objectives for long-term emissions reduction and climate resilience. Additional steps include better coordinated Electric Vehicle (EV) pilots, implementing vehicle and fuel standards, and industry skills development for the future of EVs in the country.The waste sector, including municipal solid waste and wastewater, is a driver of emissions as well as a source of vulnerability in natural disasters. The waste sector is a potential source of energy at household or industry scales. While the waste sector and emissions policy frameworks align with the LEDS vision, additional steps which would support waste sector transition include scaling up biogas production and consumption in urban and rural areas, as well as increasing waste management awareness and support cultural norms of safe waste management.The livestock sector is the largest single contributor to Vanuatu’s GHG emissions. The ambitions to grow this sector must consider other national ambitions to reduce emissions. There is alignment between sector strategy and climate strategy to raise productivity in the livestock sector. Higher productivity systems have lower emissions for the same herd size. Further engagement with the livestock sector is needed to understand and address climate hazards, vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation. Land uses including forestry and agriculture are the key to Vanuatu’s long-term emissions balance and a potential source of carbon credit revenue. But Vanuatu’s forests are under pressure from expansion of agriculture, timber and fuel wood gathering, and settlements. Land use policy in both urban and agriculture sector settings offers opportunity to increase resilience and adaptation. Further actions can be taken by implementing a REDD+ forest strategy, submit the Forest Reference Level to UNFCCC, and develop a consolidated programme to access forest carbon markets. For agriculture, Vanuatu can mainstream climate smart agriculture (CSA), increase land use efficiency through integrated practices and develop a framework for land use planning and climate response in the context of Vanuatu custom land practices. For both water and health sectors, Vanuatu recognises the great vulnerability due to negative impacts on secure access to safe water as well as an increased burden of disease. To meet the LEDS vision, Vanuatu can enhance mitigation efforts in the water sector through inclusion of priorities and frameworks in sector strategies, as well as further develop adaptation plans for the water and health sectors through integration of updated climate change projections into sector plans and strategies. The long-term actions identified in the LEDS are summarised in Table 1 (below). Their scope and costs, as well as needs for international assistance, will be refined through further policy development. With further refinement and endorsement, the actions identified in this long-term strategy will feature in future iterations of short- and medium-term strategies. Existing institutional structures in the Government of Vanuatu will retain oversight of domestic policy development and implementation.