Paraguay's Second National Communication

Paraguay's Second National Communication

Introduction

The creation of a National Communication offers countries the opportunity to contribute with technically sound studies and information that can be used for designing mitigation and adaptation measures, and project proposals that can and will help increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change. Activities generally include: V&A assessments, Greenhouse Gas Inventory preparation, Mitigation Analysis or Education, and awareness raising activities. The ultimate goal is the integration of climate change considerations into relevant social, economic and environmental policies and actions.

Agriculture constitutes the fundamental pillar of Paraguay's economy. Soybean and cotton contribute more than 50 percent of the national exports. As Paraguay is reliant on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, Paraguay’s economy is vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The Second National Communication contained, among other, the proposal for a national mitigation programme, which includes initiatives to reduce GHG emissions through various programs, including through carbon sequestration and substitution programs for the forestry sector.

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Paraguay is a landlocked country, located in the center of South America, bordering Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. Currently, Paraguay does not have a formal climate change adaptation strategy.

Paraguay’s climate is subtropical to temperate, characterized by a rainy season in summer and a dry season in winter. The mean temperature of Paraguay is 24 degrees Celsius. However, thermal variations exist. The mountains, plateaus and valleys located in the east of the country contribute to a temperate and humid climate, contrasting with the warm, dry tropical climate of the Chaco plain in the west. Substantial rainfall occurs in the eastern region, becoming semiarid in the far west (CIA 2009). Mean annual rainfall in the southeastern region is 1800 millimeters. Mean rainfall in the northwest is 700 millimeters. The river Paraguay divides the country into two environmentally very different regions: the Oriental Region and the Western Region. Paraguay’s terrain consists of grassy plains and wooded hills east of Rio Paraguay, low, marshy plains in the Gran Chaco region west of Rio Paraguay, and dry forest and thorny scrub elsewhere (CIA 2009).

Agriculture, cattle raising, and forestry constitute the base of Paraguay’s economy, representing 16.5 percent, 7.8 percent, and 2.7 percent of Paraguay’s GDP, respectively. Agriculture constitutes the fundamental pillar of Paraguay's economy. Soybean and cotton contribute more than 50 percent of the national exports. As Paraguay is reliant on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, Paraguay’s economy is vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Like most countries in the region, Paraguay has submitted only one National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), laying out the actions that the government has already taken and the analytical basis for its policy response to climate change and its commitment to take future actions within an official international framework. The Communication established the First National GHG Inventory with 1994 as its base year; it includes an analysis of options of mitigation measures, as well as general guidelines on the national strategy to be adopted for the implementation of the climate change convention and a vulnerability evaluation and adaptation options for the agricultural sector.

The Second National Communication is currently being developed and it contains, among other, the proposal for a National Mitigation Program, which includes initiatives to reduce GHG emissions through various programs, including through carbon sequestration and substitution programs for the forestry sector.

A National Action Plan on Climate Change is currently being developed. Its mission will be to analyze the priority sectors, such as the forestry and agricultural sector, with the objective to identify and propose general measures aimed at reducing the impact of climate variability and to the mitigation and adaptation of the adverse effects created by this variability. It will serve as a guide for the elaboration of the future national Climate Change Strategy.

Sources:

  • CIA – The World Factbook. 2009. Paraguay. [online]. Available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pa.html. [8 November 2009] and Paraguay - Executive Summary National Communication - 10 April 2002.
  • World Bank Country Notes on Climate Change Aspects in Agriculture. Accessed on: 24 May 2010 at http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/0,,contentMDK:22077094~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:258554,00.html
  • For additional information and for the complete Paraguay - Country Note on Climate Change Aspects in Agriculture refer to the World Bank Country Notes.
Thematic Area
Area
Infrastructure/Climate Change Risk Management
Climate-related hazards addressed:
Drought/Water Scarcity
Level of intervention
  • Community
Key collaborators
  • Country Office
  • National Governments
Primary beneficiaries:

Through improved identification of national circumstances, government agencies and other actors will increase their abilities to insulate at risk urban and rural populations from the adverse effects of climate change.

Implementing agencies and partnering organizations
  • Government of Paraguay
  • Global Environment Facility (GEF)
  • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Project status
Completed
Funding Source
Global Environment Facility - Trust Fund
Financing amount
420,000
Co-financing total
410,000

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Key results & output

  • Sustainable development and the integration of climate change concerns into medium- and long-term planning
  • Inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases
  • Measures contributing to addressing climate change
  • Research and systematic observation
  • Climate change impacts, adaptation measures and response strategies
  • Education, training and public awareness

Potential Adaptation Measures:

  • To incorporate surface to the natural regeneration of the vegetation.
  • To improve the public services of transport.
  • To prohibit the import of used vehicles, besides controlling the state of the vehicles in general.
  • To apply technologies with use of alternative fuels as solar energy, biodiesel, alcohol etc.
  • To implement a new tax politics with approaches more desarrollista.
  • To foment an agroindustrial politics.
  • To promote the organic agriculture, the biological and natural control.
  • To revalue the traditional technology.

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Monitoring & evaluation

In 1992, countries joined an international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable.

Parties to the Convention must submit national reports on implementation of the Convention to the Conference of the Parties (COP). The required contents of national communications and the timetable for their submission are different for Annex I and non-Annex I Parties. This is in accordance with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" enshrined in the Convention.

The core elements of the national communications for both Annex I and non-Annex I Parties are information on emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and details of the activities a Party has undertaken to implement the Convention. National communications usually contain information on national circumstances, vulnerability assessment, financial resources and transfer of technology, and education, training and public awareness.

Since 1994, governments have invested significant time and resources in the preparation, collection and validation of data on GHG emissions, and the COP has made determined efforts to improve the quality and consistency of the data, which are ensured by established guidelines for reporting. Non-Annex I Parties receive financial and technical assistance in preparing their national communications, facilitated by the UNFCCC secretariat.

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