Building The Bahamas capacity in transparency for climate change mitigation and adaptation

Objectives

Build the capacity of The Bahamas to meet the reporting requirements of the enhanced transparency framework of the Paris Agreement

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

The project is aligned with GEF focal area CCM-3-8, i.e., “Foster enabling conditions for mainstreaming mitigation concerns into sustainable development strategies through capacity building initiative for transparency.”The socio-economic benefits of this project are indirect and long term; as such, it is not possible to attribute clear causalities (either positive or negative) to the scope of work. However, if the project achieves its stated aims, then it will contribute - again indirectly - to investment in climate-focused projects in support of future NDC ambitions, which in turn will lead to technology transfer and job creation in priority sectors. Assuming this transition to sustainable production and consumption is based on models of equitable and gender-sensitive development, this will result in strong socio-economic benefits, in line with the ambition of the national Vision 2040. The project will in fact contribute to the improvement of local and global environmental conditions through enhancing transparency related to GHG emissions, impacts of climate change, and mitigation and adaptation actions in the country.The created data and knowledge platform will improve The Bahamas's knowledge of its own efforts to curb emissions and build resilience. Moreover, as the system is developed, its linkages with other environmental data will also be analysed, established and / or improved. Crucially, its relationship to the transparency system for the National Development Strategy, Vision 2040 and the progress on the SDGs, will prove to be a powerful tool to track and evaluate policies. In fact, this project will also assist The Bahamas in achieving its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 13 by supporting the integration of climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning; building knowledge and improving education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning, and promotion of mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in the country. The project will additionally contribute to achieving SDG 5 by supporting the empowerment of women in decision-making, land ownership and through gender-sensitive budgeting.The strengthened national transparency system will enable The Bahamas to better track and manage its resources. Thus, it will allow for interventions to be planned, executed and evaluated quicker. The better knowledge around adaptation, and the M&E system established will serve to provide information about climate change impacts on these sectors. For agriculture, for example, this can mean better evidence on increasing droughts that could help farmers make informed decisions about irrigation practices and enable the government to prioritise sector resources toward drought management programmes for those affected.The Bahamas' planned climate actions will require public intervention in the form of investments. With better climate data systems, The Bahamas will be able to better track and evaluate the impact of the policies, introducing adjustments to achieve better outcomes. This increased efficiency can free up resources for other public investments and interventions, which in turn could benefit Bahamas socio-economically and this aspect of the system is expected to increase political buy-in for climate policy.Another important benefit lays on the linkage with the national planning processes. The wide array of data compiled throughout the data and knowledge platform will provide a solid basis for informed national policymaking on climate and other related matters, an element that will be fully developed as part of Output 1.1. A virtuous cycle is expected to result from the combination of coherent data that improves the consistency of climate projections and business-as-usual scenarios and leads to the further refinement of the country’s NDCs.