Country Republic of The Gambia Background Geography Location West Africa Borders Senegal surrounds it apart from the coastline Area 11300 sq km Capital Banjul Proximity to the sea Adjacent Terrain Gambia river is main feature. Uplands are better drained than the swampy lowlands. Climate tropical hot rainy season (June to Nov) cooler dry season. Natural resources fish, clay, silica sand, titanium, tin, zircon Land use Agriculture - peanuts Politics Government presidential republic Suffrage universal Disputes and Unrest Has taken lots of refugees from conflicts in Senegal, Liberia and Sierra Leone Economics General picture agriculture provides about one third of GDP and relies heavily on remittances from workers overseas and tourist receipts; unemployment and underemployment remain high UN classification Developing Key sectors agriculture provides about one third of GDP and relies heavily on remittances from workers overseas and tourist receipts; unemployment and underemployment remain high GDP per capita $2,223 USD, 204th in the world Debt 116% (gross) Partners Export Guinea-Bissau 51.9% Vietnam14.6% Senegal8.8% Mali 7.2%' (2017) Import Cote d’Ivoire 11.5% Brazil 10.6% Spain 10.2% China 7.8% Russia 6.4% Netherlands 5.3% India 5% (2017) Population and trends: Population 2.2 million 60% urban. 0.03% of world total. Median age 17. Two thirds are under age 30. Population growth rate 1.87% Average life expectancy 61 Ethnicities Maninka / Jahanka 34% Fulani / Tukulur / Lorobo 22.4% Wolof 12.6% Religion Muslim 95.7% Christian 4.2% Poverty and well-being: Literacy 55.5% Male 61% Female 41% Unemployment rate Not available Population below poverty line 48.6% Inequality index (Gini) 35.9 Biodiversity: Species numbers on land 500 species of birds + warthogs, monkeys, baboons, antelope, pygmy hippopotamuses, and crocodiles. Endangered species numbers Mammals: 10 Birds: 10 Reptiles: 3 Amphibians: 0 Fishes: 24 Molluscs: 0 Other Inverts: 0 Plants: 5 Energy Electricity 3% from renewables Fossil fuel production zero Carbon footprint 3.13 tonnes per person per year (world average = 4.7) Ecological footprint 1.03gha (world average = 2.75) Sustainable = 1.63 Energy Use 1114 kWh Happy Planet Index: Happy Planet Index No data available Transport Cars per 1000 people 7 Public transport No data There is no railway. Gasoline fuel consumption 0.14 litres per capita Pollution and Waste: Waste measured Sept 2018​ (total logged by World Bank) 0.53 kg waste per person per day Air pollution​ 201 deaths per 100,000 Air pollution deaths from domestic cooking Climate Action Paris agreement pledges: Conditional Targets: 2025: reduction of 2% below “business as usual”. 2030: reduction of 3% 133% above 1990 by 2025 Progress since Paris: The Gambia is rare among the world’s developing countries in proposing an ambitious conditional emissions reduction target that would bend its emissions downwards. Deployment of renewables is taking off with a couple of large-scale solar PV projects planned in the near future. The impact of COVID-19 is still unclear and limited data availability adds further uncertainty to both historical and current policy projections. However, emission trends indicate that The Gambia will achieve its unconditional target, which the CAT rates as “1.5°C Paris Agreement Compatible.” We expect Gambia’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 to be around 5.7-7.4% lower than in 2019 Climate Tracker rates Gambia as “Paris agreement compatible.” 0.3 tonnes of CO2 per person per year. 0.03% of world population, 0.00% of world’s emissions. 272% of 1990 emissions in 2017. Progress towards meeting obligations: At a time when countries should move away from fossil fuels, The Gambia has set targets to start oil extraction in the country by 2019 and to stop importing oil by 2025. In 2018, the Australian oil company FAR started drilling The Gambia’s first offshore well in 40 years and in 2019, the Gambian government signed another deal with BP to explore oil and gas off its coast. The Gambia’s NDC also includes reductions in the forestry, land use and agriculture sectors. The Gambia plans to realise these reductions partially through afforestation. In 2018, it launched a large project to restore 10,000 hectares of forests, mangroves, and savannas. It will also replace flooded rice paddies with dry upland rice fields and promote adoption of efficient cookstoves to reduce the overuse of forest resources, conditional on international support. Sources and further reading [1] https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/morocco/ [2] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/climate-change-report-card-co2-emissions [5] https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/ [6] https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wesp/wesp_current/2014wesp_country_classification.pdf [7] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gini-coefficient-by-country [8] https://www.britannica.com/place [9] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14123260 [11] https://www.globalexchange.es/en/currencies-of-the-world/ [12] https://www.indexmundi.com/morocco/economy_profile.html#:~:text=Key%20sectors%20of%20the%20economy,broker%20for%20business%20throughout%20Africa. [13] https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-visited-countries-in-africa.html [15] https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/?country=ma#:~:text=Moroccan%20biodiversity%20includes%20more%20than,marine%20ecosystems%20are%20especially%20rich. [17] http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/05062019_wwf_marocco_guidebook.pdf [18] https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/what-waste-global-database/resource/de74cc68-e796-4e42-9793-f140719c91ac#{view-graph:{graphOptions:{hooks:{processOffset:{},bindEvents:{}}}},graphOptions:{hooks:{processOffset:{},bindEvents: [19] https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution }