11 February 2013: Climate-related projects implemented in Namibia and Sri Lanka, and supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), were two of nine projects highlighted by the “Momentum for Change” initiative during the December 2012 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations held in Doha, Qatar. The initiative, organized by the UNFCCC Secretariat, highlights positive developments in climate change adaptation and mitigation that have the potential to be replicated elsewhere.

The projects selected in Namibia and Sri Lanka were funded by the SGP, a programme aimed at supporting nongovernmental and community-based activities in developing countries towards, inter alia, climate change abatement. In particular, one of the SGP projects selected enabled the Lanka Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA) to import the first electric vehicles to Sri Lanka and eventually contributed to the promotion of the introduction of electric vehicles in the country, including buses for the Colombo municipal government.

Creative Entrepreneurs Solutions was the other SGP project acknowledged in Doha. The project allows Namibian communities to get involved in a participatory and holistic manner in mitigating and adapting to climate change through activities that include: water harvesting; sustainable agriculture; sustainable land management; flood and drought resistant crops; energy efficient wood stoves; and renewable energy in combination with agro-forestry. The project also included the design of a fuel-efficient stove that reduces fuel wood consumption by two-thirds. [Momentum for Change website] [GEF press release] [Project on introducing electric vehicles to Sri Lanka project] [Project on holistic community adaptation to climate change in Namibia]