Since 2005, when the Republic of Belarus became a full-fledged Party to the Kyoto Protocol, the UNDP plays an important role in addressing capacity-building and enabling environments to assist the country in implementation its commitments under UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol. UNDP supported several country’s national submissions with due regard of UNFCCC reporting requirements, e.g. the Fourth National Communication, reports on the Bali Action Plan, etc. According to Resolution No 485 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus on the “Approval of the Regulations for the Procedure of Maintaining the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory” dated 10/04/2006 and an Order No 417 of the MoE dated 29/12/2005, the “Bel SRC Ecology” operates as a designated National Centre for Conducting GHG Inventories and Maintaining National GHG Cadastre. Bel SRC “Ecology” is responsible also for the preparation of annual National Reports and National Communications of the Republic of Belarus to be submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat. To comply with these responsibilities Bel SRC “Ecology” prepares annual GHG Inventory. During the review of National GHG Inventory in October 2008 the group of international experts made comments and recommendations for improvement of existing National inventory system. Following these recommendations Bel SRC “Ecology” is in process of enhancement of National GHG Inventory System including collection and processing of incoming information as well as estimation of GHG emissions. Moreover, one of the immediate goals is to increase the level of assessments from Tier 1 to Tier 2. According to Marrakech Accords, the sustainable operation, constant improvement and maintenance of a reliable national GHG inventory system is one of the known eligibility requirements to access to the Kyoto flexible mechanisms. In view of expected ratification of the Belarusian amendment to Annex B and large pipeline of potential GHG emission abatement projects in the country it is very important for Belarus to be fully prepared to carbon transactions. It is also important to note that the reliable data and trends of GHG emissions constitute sufficient background information, which is to provide accurate prognoses of future GHG emissions. This issue is of utmost importance for Belarus in order to prepare and support the country’s position in the future climate change agreement and provide a rationale for post-2012 emission reduction targets. Objective The objective of the assignment will be to prepare a Briefing Paper on analysis of existing GHG inventory system of the Republic of Belarus along with recommendations for its improvement in particular for ‘Land-use, land-use change and Forestry’ sector (LULUCF). |