Climate Change Enabling Activity (Additional Financing for Capacity Building in Priority Areas)

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY
Proposal for Review -
Expedited Financing for (Interim) Measures for 
Capacity Building in Priority Areas Part II
Country:	ALBANIA

	Project Title:
	Albania: Climate Change Enabling Activity (additional financing for capacity building in priority areas)

	GEF Focal Area:	Climate Change
Country Eligibility:	Eligible under a financial mechanism of the UNFCCC
	Eligible under paragraph nine (b) of the Instrument

	Date of Ratification:	October 3, 1994

	GEF Financing (Phase I):	US$ 263, 744
GEF Additional Financing (Phase II):	US$ 100, 000
Total Costs:	US$ 363, 744

	GEF Implementing Agency:	UNDP

	Executing Agency:	Government of ALBANIA

	Local Counterpart Agency:	National Environmental Agency

	Estimated Date of Initial National Communication Submission:	December 2001

	Estimated Starting Date:	January 2002 

	Project Duration:	12 months

1. CURRENT PROJECT STATUS:
The project "Enabling Albania to prepare its first National Communication in Response to its Commitments to UNFCCC" (ALB/96/G32), was launched in October 1998. The project activities have focused on:
Compilation of a national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory for the base year 1994;
Assessment of the potential impacts of climate changes in Albania and adaptation to climate change;
Compilation of an analysis of potential measures to abate the increase in GHG emissions;
Preparation of the National Action Plan to address Climate Change and its adverse impacts, and,
Compilation of the first National Communication of Albania to the UNFCCC.
Beside the immediate objective to prepare the first National Communication, the project has contributed to enhancing general awareness and knowledge of climate change -related issues in Albania; strengthening the dialogue, information exchange and cooperation among all relevant stakeholders including governmental, non-governmental, academic and private sectors; and building national capacities, and providing a permanent mechanism and trained national staff to regularly update different elements of the project, especially the emission inventory. 
All project activities, are foreseen to be successfully finalized by the end of the year 2001. The first National Communication of Albania to the COP of UNFCCC is expected to be submitted in December 2001. A draft report for the phase I of the project will be submitted to the UNDP-GEF prior start-up of the phase II of Enabling Activity.
The project has contributed to building national capacities through the compilation of the national GHG inventory, analysis of GHG abatement, assessment of vulnerability and adaptation, workshops, training sessions, and technical and consultative meetings. Each of these is described briefly below.
Capacity building for the preparation of National Communication to the UNFCCC:
National GHG inventory
The report on national GHG inventory, for the base year 1994 was finalized in December 2000 and was subject to review by the GEF-National Communication Support Program. The GHG inventory for Albania was developed according to the revised IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) guidelines of 1996 and considered five inventory related sectors: Energy, Industrial processes, Agriculture, LUCF, and Waste. The Solvent use sector has been considered as well, but since the IPCC methodology does not provide any method of estimation of emission, the CORINAIR methodology was used. Emissions of direct GHGs (CO2, CH4, N2O) and indirect GHGs (NOx, CO, NMVOC and SO2), expressed in CO2 equivalent, have been calculated. This report has provided the basis for the development of the GHG abatement analysis. More information provided on the web page: http://www. cc.alb.org
GHG Abatement Analysis:
The same national team already engaged in inventory compilation, worked on the abatement analysis as well. A detailed analysis, using LEAP model has focused on energy and transport sectors. Also a qualitative analysis was conducted for non-energy sectors. The baseline and future GHG emission scenarios (for the time horizon 2020) have been developed and an assessment of options and measures for abatement of GHG emissions has been conducted.
Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment:
The report on V&A was completed in January 2001. This report was prepared according to Technical Guidelines for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations and has focused on the assessment of the expected climate impacts in hydrosphere, natural and managed ecosystems (agriculture and forestry), energy, industry, transport, health and sanitation, tourism, and population.
The environmental and socio-economic trends with climate change are projected by using statistical models, empirical analogues and expert judgment for three time horizons, years 2025, 2050 and 2100. According to this report, the most expected vulnerable areas are water resources, agriculture and forestry especially in the coastal zone, followed by public health.