During the month of October, the Accelerator Lab Team of Guinea-Bissau paid a visit to Cabo Verde with the aim of progressing to its next learning cycle, which will focus on Digitalization at the Ministry of Justice. The visit explored synergies with the UN office in Cabo Verde as well as with their Accelerator Lab and opened opportunities for new partnerships. 

During the one-week visit, the Lab Team met with Núcleo Operacional Para a Sociedade de Informação (NOSI), the institution responsible for creating systems and applications for the digitalization of the public services across the country and abroad. The meeting focused on public services and digitalization and opened doors for a possible partnership between NOSI and UNDP Guinea-Bissau. 

The Lab also had the opportunity to attend the Pro PALOP which is the Program for Consolidation of Economic Governance and Systems and Management of Public Finances (SGFP) of Portuguese Speaking African Countries and East Timor (Pro PALOP-TL ISC Fase II) with a focus on augmenting economic governance in Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé e Principe, and East Timor. As the team will be stopping in Guinea-Bissau in the month of November, it was a great opportunity to establish contact before their arrival in order to support them better.  

Along the course of the week, the Lab also met with the Citizen House (Casa do Cidadão), the public institution responsible for implementing the 2004 Law for Modernization of Public Administration. This meeting was crucial for understanding how and why things are being done the way they are done in the public sector. The meeting gave perspective and allowed the exploration of future synergies in the testing of digitalization at the Ministry of Justice of Guinea-Bissau.  

Additionally, a meeting was conducted with the Ministry of Justice representative at the National Archive for Civil and Criminal Identification (Arquivo Nacional de Identificação Civil e Criminal - ANICC) where the Lab was briefed on the role of the Ministry of Justice in Cabo Verde, a non-public facing body, as all the services have been decentralized due to the wide and successful national digitalization strategy. 

The week ended with the celebration of UN Day at the CO in Cabo Verde. Full activities, music, and festivities were conducted to mark the day, all respecting the respective COVID-19 measures in place.  

Guinea-Bissau submitted its ambitious updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) pledge to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), marking its renewed commitment to the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement where world leaders universally agreed to advance climate actions to limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius while pursuing efforts to limit to a safer 1.5 degrees. 

Some key components from Guinea-Bissau new climate pledge till 2030 include:

• A total Greenhouse Gases reduction target of 7166 ktCO2eq (30 % of unconditional emission reduction) up to 15,093 kteCO2 with international support by 2030;
• A quantified GHG emission reduction in the three main sectors: AFOLU, energy, and waste;
• A mainstreaming gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• An alignment of the updated NDC with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with respect to SDGs 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 17; the African Union's Agenda 2063, the SAMOA Pathway and New Deal, and the National Development Program (PND) - Hora Tchiga of the country;
• The positioning of the country on the new carbon market mechanisms provided by Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, to facilitate mitigation investments;
• An articulating of the country's adaptation needs within key sectors such as agriculture, livestock, coastal and low-elevation zone management; fisheries & ocean ecosystems, energy, water resources, as well as forest conservation & management of protected areas (including dense, clear forests and mangrove areas), human health, infrastructure & urban areas, and about risk management of disasters.

Guinea-Bissau's pledge is considered ambitious in view of the country's economic situation and its level of development. H.E. The Minister of Environment and Biodiversity, Viriato Cassamá, said.

“Guinea-Bissau has committed to reduce its greenhouse gases emissions by 30 percent by 2030. ……. However, the goal can’t be achieved without political will and the will of all Guinean's as well as international support.”

UNDP supported Guinea-Bissau’s new climate pledge both financially and technically through the Climate Promise initiative. As acknowledged by Mr. Viriato Cassamá, "UNDP is an inevitable partner in the environmental path of Guinea-Bissau."

UNDP’s Climate Promise aims to support global, transformational climate action by supporting countries to enhance their NDCs in 2021 and beyond. The initiative is being delivered in over 118 countries – making it the world’s largest support offer of this kind.

Find more information about UNDP’s Climate Promise via the videos shared.

Click here Guinea-Bissau Updated NDC to read Guinea-Bissau’s updated NDC in full.