Representatives of the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia came together in Chisinau to discuss effects of climate change. The platform discussion was created by the European Union through the Clima East project. The experiences of the countries of the region and of the EU are presented at the conference, IPN reports.
Several mandatory agreements are to be signed within the conference until 2020. The goal is for the temperature changes should not exceed 2 degrees Celsius. “The problem of climate change became a priority that should not allow us indifferent to the decision-making process at all the levels – local, regional and national. Moldova is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. The aspects of climate change are included in a separate chapter in the Association Agreement between the EU and Moldova. Thus, Moldova will have to focus more on the reduction of gas emissions,” said the head of the Ministry of Environment’s Policy Analysis and Monitoring Division Maria Nagornyi.
Moldova is vulnerable to climate change and it is expected that the impact of this will intensify on different sectors of the economy. UNDP Representative in Moldova Dafina Gercheva warned about the very changeable periods, when a lot of challenges appear for the developing countries. “One of these is the climate change that has a visible negative impact on the environment. We can see many problems that appear in the animal life. The trees grow dry quicker. Biodiversity must be respected because the damage will increase in the future. There shouldn’t be a plan B as we do not have a planet B,” stated Dafina Gercheva.
The costs of natural disasters associated with climate change such as drought, floods and hail are significant It is alleged that both the intensity and frequency of the disasters will essentially increase in the near future. The consequences of the most recent events are catastrophic. The losses sustained as a result of such catastrophes rise to billions of dollars.
Clima East is a European Union funded project package assisting the Eastern Neighbourhood Partnership countries and Russia in approaches to climate change mitigation and adaptation. We expect that Moldova and the other EaP countries will communicate and inform each other about the commitments that will be formulated at the Paris conference of this December,” said the representative of the EU Delegation to Moldova Aneil Singh.
A pilot-project was implemented in Moldova within Clima East, entitled “Mitigation of effects of ecosystem adaptation to climate change in the Orhei National Park”.
