“Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century.  It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.” – António Guterres

Climate change is heating the Earth at an unprecedented rate with very real and dangerous impacts for human societies, with impacts projected to increase into the future. In the Kyrgyz Republic, increasing temperatures are leading to more frequent and intense extreme events, such as drought, unpredictable seasonal weather, and an increasing number of natural disasters such as landslides, mudflows, and avalanches. These impacts cause loss of live and livelihoods, and negatively affect the country’s key economic sectors, including agriculture and energy, resulting in economic losses and poverty. Climate change poses a significant challenge to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and thus it is of the greatest urgency to act on climate through reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate impacts.

International community action is essential to addressing climate change. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement brings together nations to promote and support ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to climate impacts, while providing enhanced support to developing countries to successfully implement these measures. Through the Paris Agreement, countries agree to reduce carbon emissions and transition to sustainable development trajectories with the aim of limiting global warming to well below 2°C, with a target of 1.5°C. This is to prevent the most dangerous impacts of climate change and to deliver a safe, healthy world to future generations.

The Kyrgyz Republic committed to combating climate change and accelerating the transition to climate-resilient, low-carbon sustainable modes of development, and has been party to the UNFCCC since 2000, and has ratified all relevant subsequent agreements, including the Paris Agreement. The country also submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) in September 2015. This will be followed by submission of the 1^st Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2021, outlining how the Kyrgyz Republic plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across its economic sectors.

The NDC revision process will collect relevant data and conduct stakeholder consultations to help update national circumstances, investment needs, review mitigation potential of certain economic sectors, and identify catalytic actions to raise mitigation ambition while also generating mitigation co-benefits and help achieve progress across relevant SDGs. 2021 will be an important year for the Kyrgyz Republic, and the world, for addressing climate change.

The science is clear: climate change is the biggest threat to the Earth and future generations. Every effort to tackle climate change - international and national, at a household and individual level – is important. Let us all contribute as we can to making peace with nature and to tackling climate change to protect the world for future generations.