Client: Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (MECCNAR), The Gambia
Emerald Environment Ltd led a national capacity needs assessment for The Gambia’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI) and Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system. The assignment, undertaken for the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (MECCNAR), assessed institutional readiness across six IPCC sectors—Energy, Transport, Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use (FOLU), Waste, and Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU)—to strengthen national greenhouse gas reporting and compliance with UNFCCC Enhanced Transparency Framework requirements.
Key Findings
The assessment revealed that while sector institutions collect substantial amounts of activity data, institutional coordination, data management systems, and in-country GHG computation capacity remain weak.
- Data fragmentation is the greatest challenge, with critical emissions data dispersed across multiple government agencies, lacking standardized collection, archiving, and sharing protocols.
- Energy and Transport, the country’s largest emitting sectors, rely heavily on external consultants for GHG calculations because national institutions lack sufficient technical capacity and integrated data systems.
- Waste management has significant information gaps, particularly for waste generation, disposal, and wastewater treatment, limiting accurate emissions estimation.
- Agriculture has comparatively stronger institutional systems and activity data, making it the most advanced sector for routine emissions estimation.
- Forestry and Land Use (FOLU) benefits from established institutions but is constrained by outdated forest inventory data and limited integration with spatial and ecological datasets.
- IPPU data are generally available but require improved quality assurance, sector-specific methodologies, and stronger reporting mechanisms.