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The Botswana government welcomes pledges to fund cutting of carbon emissions in an effort to protect the environment against continuous carbon pollutions emanating from industrialization.

Speaking to the press in Gaborone, Minister of Environment Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila said the government welcomed the gesture of good intentions from the developed countries.

Mokaila who was among a delegation from Botswana together with the Vice President Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe attended the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change COP 15, last December.

According to the Minister, though the pledged funding falls short of what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a grouping of countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, determined as the amount necessary for climate change readiness.

The pledged $10 billion per year start-up fund which is 40% of the proposed amount will see Botswana get a small chunk expected to benefit development programme and the drive to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).

Considering the need for power in developing countries, Botswana is among other countries who are investing in exploiting coal as a source of power with projects such as expansion of Morupule and the multi-million Mmamabula coal fired power station.

And according to United Nations, greenhouse gases come from natural sources especially water vapor, the largest greenhouse gas and anthropogenic sources.

UN says the largest source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is a carbon dioxide (CO2) from the combustion of fossil fuels-around 75% of total greenhouse gas emissions covered under the Kyoto Protocol (table 9)

It further says among fuels Co2 emissions from coal combustion worldwide are approximately the same as emissions from the combustion of oil (mainly in transportation and household heating).

The Minister said that Botswana is willing to reduce her emissions as she exploits her coal reserves and for that will need technologies that are environmentally friendly with minimum carbon emissions including assistance in targeted capacity building and adequate finance.

The amount will also be part of Botswana’s development programme and the drive to attract foreign direct investment.

For Botswana, this provides an opportunity to develop the renewable energy programme, energy efficiency modes and other climate change adaptation strategies elaborated within the Copenhagen accord,” said Mokaila.

Overall therefore, COP 15 made some modest progress although it was not entirely what the developing countries were after.

According to the delegation, it was understandable the public expectations were high that a legally binding agreement would be reached and this did not happen.

It was also expected that developed countries would announce major cuts in CO2 emissions in line with the recommendations of the advisory body of the Convention which again did not happen.

Commenting on the moderation by the most developed countries which are proposing emission reductions of the order between 17 to 20% half of the 40% recommended by the IPCC by 2010 it was noted that;

“Developing countries would accept voluntary targets for carbon emissions and that these would be measurable, reportable and verifiable (MRV) and again this did not happen,” explained David Lesolle the National Climate Change Coordinator (NCCC).

Lesolle further said that an agreement would be sealed on the scale of financial flows of about US$400 billion per annum as recommended by the IPCC being the cost of climate change adaptation for both developing and developed countries.

However, Mokaila said what needs to be done next is that Botswana ministries of Finance, Minerals, Energy and Environment and others as well as civil society need to ready themselves to receive the share of finance available.

“The modalities for equitable distribution of such finances will be developed by COP in due course,” said Lesolle.