The 2000 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory of The Gambia shows national emission total of about 20.02 Million Tons CO2 Equivalent (TCO2E) and per capita emissions of 13.5 TCO2E. This is insignificant compared to other country emissions. However, as a Party to the Climate Change Convention and its Kyoto Protocol, Gambia is willing to participate in mitigating global emissions and their concentrations in the atmosphere with the first step of conducting a mitigation assessment and developing this NAMA document. Trend analysis of climate data from 1951 to date shows a progressively warming and drier Gambia. Using General Circulation Model outputs, national temperatures are projected to increase by about 0.3OC in 2010 to about 3.9OC in 2100. Rainfall is also projected to decrease by about 1% in 2010 to about 54% in 2100. This confirms previous results of in the First National Communication that with increase in temperatures under a warming climate, rainfall in The Gambia would correspondingly decrease. The development challenges of The Gambia will be significant as the country faces complex economic, social and technological choices based on the climate change impacts already enumerated in the preceding paragraph. This is compounded by the inadequate capacities, inadequacies in the existing technologies and the non availability of domestic funding from both the public and private sectors for climate change.

The overall objective of the NAPA is to contribute to the alleviation of the adverse effects of climate variability and changes on the most vulnerable populations with the prospect of a sustainable development. In this area, some adaptation measures, consistent with the orientations of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) contained in the Rural Development Strategy (SDR), were identified. These adaptation measures are all in synergy with the measures of the Post-Rio convention adopted by Niger, especially the United Nations Framework on Climate Changes (UNFCCC), Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), and the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). The NAPA process started in 2005.

Occupying a total area of 11,300 sq km, with a population density of 130 persons per sq km, The Republic of the Gambia is one of the most densely populated countries on continental Africa. Because The Gambia possesses only minimal commercial mineral resources and manufacturing sector, agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for many Gambians, employing more than 68% of the workforce and accounting for about 40% of the Gambia’s export earnings contributing about 26% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Agriculture is predominantly subsistence and rain-fed with farmers relying on traditional shifting cultivation and livestock management practices. Over the last fifty years cropland area increased from under 100,000 ha to over 300,000 at the expense of natural woodland and wetland ecosystems. Over 51% of The Gambia’s population resides in urban areas. Driven by variable and degrading climate, decline in agricultural productivity in rural areas, and changes in economic activity (tourism, petty trade and small scale manufacturing) in the ecologically favorable West Coast Region, urban population has increased from 110,000 in 1973 to 680,000 in 2003. Between 1980 and 2001, built-up area in the Gambia has increased from 2,725 ha to more than 19,000 ha with over 50% of the increase occurring in Kombo (KMC and the districts of Kombo). The Gambia’s climate is Sahelian characterized by high variability in the amount and distribution of annual precipitation. Analysis of long-term climate data shows that the past 50 years have seen a decrease in total amount of precipitation, length of rainy season, and increase in length and frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts and dust storms. The low-lying topography, combined by high dependence on subsistence rain-fed agriculture and inadequate drainage and storm water management system in a context of rapidly expanding un-regulated urban expansion has placed the Gambia among those countries most vulnerable to climate change. This study examines threats associated with anthropogenic climate change; vulnerable ecosystems and ecosystem services; and examines how to integrate responses to climate change and adaptation measures into strategies for poverty reduction, to ensure sustainable development.

The Republic of The Gambia ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1994 committing the country to the adoption and implementation of policies and measures mitigating the causes of climate change and adapting to its adverse effects. This Second National Communication (SNC), prepared and submitted in fulfilment of Articles 4 and 12 of the UNFCCC follows and builds on the Initial National Communication (INC) submitted in 2003. Similarly, its preparation follows the UNFCCC guidelines and includes information on The Gambia‟s greenhouse gas inventory for the year 2000, a discussion of measures to mitigate emissions in the energy sector, vulnerability and promising adaptation measures in key socioeconomic sectors as well as other activities contributing to building resilience to climate change.

The development of this First National Communications has enabled my Department of State to develop an institutional framework that has brought together and consolidated the networking and dialogue between different economic sectors, CBOs and NGOs, and grassroots level communities. Technicians and scientists of different backgrounds and disciplines have pooled their expertise and worked together to develop this informative document. In this National Communication we have outlined the emissions of greenhouse gases from the major economic sectors and activities of the country, developed plausible climate change scenarios and based on these scenarios we have assessed the potential impacts of the projected climate change. The National Communication also contains measures and strategies to mitigate the concentration of greenhouse gases in the global atmosphere and adapt to the negative impacts of climate change. No detailed cost-benefit analysis was conducted on the mitigation and adaptation measures due to inadequate capacity to cost the effects of climate change. The potential impacts of climate change on crop production, biodiversity and wildlife, coastal resources, forestry, fisheries, rangelands and livestock, and water resources have been studied in great detail. Most of the impacts are negative and the populations are vulnerable. Although The Gambia is a small country, there are opportunities to invest on small-scale projects to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to adverse impacts of climate change. These projects would be in policy development, fuel switching including the efficient use of both renewable and non-renewable energy, use of efficient modes of transportation and conservation and sustainable use of forests. Cooperation between developed countries and The Gambia will enable all Parties to meet their commitments based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. The mitigation and adaptation measures presented in this first national communications will require funding to build national adaptive capacity and provide appropriate technologies to address climate change.