| Overview : Buildings have extensive direct and indirect impacts on the environment. During their construction, occupancy, renovation, repurposing, and demolition, buildings use energy, water, and raw materials, generate waste, and emit potentially harmful atmospheric emissions. These facts have prompted the creation of green building standards, certification, rating systems aimed at mitigating the impact of buildings on the natural environment through sustainable design, construction, operation and maintenance. Green product standards began to appear in the marketplace in the 1980s and increased in the 1990s. Initially, many green product standards were developed in response to growing concerns for product toxicity and its impact on children’s health and indoor environmental quality. In the 21st century, when growing concerns over global warming and resources depletion became more prominent, the number and type of green product standards and certifications grew. The focus also expanded to include a broader range of environmental issues and impacts of products during their manufacture, use, and reuse. The international community’s efforts to combat adverse effects of climate change can be traced from promulgation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its related implementation mechanisms, including the Kyoto Protocol (KP) and Conference of Parties (COP) decisions, which Botswana is party to. There is a general willingness to protect the human and natural systems from global warming with meaningful adaptation and mitigation measures that require national responses through policies, strategies and action plans. In accordance with UNFCCC and COP requirements, Botswana, through the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism (MENT) invites experienced individual consultant to develop green building protocols with financial assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support green certification on water and energy efficiency |
