The Bali Action Plan is centered on four main building blocks: Mitigation, Adaptation, Technology, and Financing, with NAMA forming an important part of the mitigation component. The Bali Action Plan called for future discussions to address:
Measurable, reportable and verifiable nationally appropriate mitigation commitments or actions by all developed countries, and;
Nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing country Parties, supported and enabled by technology, financing and capacity-building, in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner..
The Copenhagen Climate Conference did not produce the global agreement envisaged in the Bali Road Map. The Copenhagen Accord, however, did retain the concept of NAMA, but in a narrower definition only applying to Non-Annex 1 countries, and did not specify what form they should take:
What is meant by Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action?
Different countries, different nationally appropriate action on the basis of equity and in accordance with common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities
Developing countries will effectively implement national action depending on the effective implementation of the commitments by developed countries in providing financial resources and transfer of technology.
India has argued that NAMA means voluntary reductions by developing countries that require to be supported and enabled by technology transfer from developed countries. By definition, NAMAs will vary by country. Indonesia, for example, might focus on integrating climate change policy with other aspects of economic development, such as progressive reduction in oil subsidies, poverty reduction through promotion of alternative income to reduce illegal logging, and exploit more fully the country’s renewable resources, especially geothermal.
As of September 2012, about 50 countries have submitted information of their NAMA to the UNFCCC. The detailed contents of their submissions vary greatly on each country, ranging from their intention to be associated with the Copenhagen Accord, target sectors, specific actions to be taken, to GHG emissions reduction targets.
List of NAMA's submitted
A list of NAMAs is available at http://www.nama-database.org/.
Some have criticized NAMA as heading away from carbon pricing and encouraging enormous subsidy programs funded by developed countries and implemented on a voluntary basis by developing countries.
