The twelfth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa should help build a consensus on the position of African countries in terms of climate action.
PH: DR: African institutions meet in Abidjan to define the COP 29 climate agenda
African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) brought together key stakeholders in Abidjan to align Africa’s priorities for climate action as introduction to the Climate Conference of the Parties (COP). 29).
This meeting, the twelfth conference on climate change and development in Africa, opened on August 30 on the sidelines of the tenth extraordinary meeting of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).
The Ivorian Minister of the Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition, Assahoré Jacques Konan, hosted the participants, pointed out the disproportionate impact of climate change on Africa, despite its low contribution to global emissions.
“Africa emits less than 4% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, but it is the most affected by the harmful effects of climate change,” said the minister. He urged participants to produce results hard to realize during the conference, which should be a platform for action proposals aimed at strengthening Africa’s participation in upcoming international negotiations, especially those of COP 29.
“Without urgent adaptation and mitigation efforts, climate change will cause annual losses equivalent to 5% of the continent’s GDP by 2040, and it will be the poor, women and the most vulnerable and the margin, especially in Africa, which carries the “Ambassador Josefa Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment said.
She urged partners to come together ahead of COP 29, with a focus on mobilizing significant climate finance for the continent. “We need to strengthen our compromise, our consideration and our general position in terms of receiving grants rather than relying on debt or loans, on increasing project financing and on developing carbon markets,” said Ms Sacko.
Anthony Nyong, director of the Climate Change and Green Growth Department at the African Development Bank, called on partners to do more. “We must always increase our support and funding to Africa to address the increasing impact of climate change on national economies, societies and ecosystems,” he said.
Mr Nyong said there is a huge gap in climate finance in Africa. “Global climate finance currently falls far short of meeting the needs and expectations of African countries, with less than 3% of the total reaching sub-Saharan Africa each year,” he said. He reaffirmed the African Development Bank’s commitment to double climate finance to $25 billion by next year and increase Africa’s share of global climate finance from 3 to 10 percent.
The twelfth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa should help build consensus on the position of African countries on climate action and align priorities with the results of the 2023 global stock survey, key a process of the Paris Agreement that assesses global progress towards climate goals to guide future actions and policies. Key objectives include developing robust frameworks for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and identifying funding needs for climate change and building resilience.
The tenth extraordinary session of AMCEN and COP 16 regional consultation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)http://apo-opa.co/3XrQGcb) are being held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, from 30 August to 6 September 2024, under the theme “Strengthening Africa’s ambitions to reduce land degradation, desertification and drought.”
