“Any climate change deal that is leading us straight to
3oC of warming, causing untold problems of hunger, starvation,
disasters, conflicts and wars in Africa is not in the interest of the continent
and should be rejected,” says Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of Pan African
Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).
For him, “No deal at such point is better than giving
legitimacy to a death sentence”.
Ministers engaged in high-level climate negotiation
sessions at COP21 have only two choices – to reach a deal or create climate
chaos.
The African CSOs under the umbrella of PACJA have been
vocal in demands for emission cuts and provision of adequate climate finance to
address the impacts of climate change.
“We
were promised that emission cuts would be strengthened this year, they weren’t.
Instead African countries are been saddled with additional load of paying for
climate debt which they least contributed,” said Augustine Njamnshi, Technical/Political
Affairs Chair of PACJA.
PACJA has highlighted that African countries need
no less than $50billion per year for adaptation – along with no more than
1.5 degrees of warming.
The
UN Climate Change Talks are focused on increasing climate actions in the
near-term and on creating a new climate agreement in 2015 – to come in to
effect in 2020.
The unprecedented number of over 180 national climate
action plans submitted ahead of the Paris meeting constitutes a clear signal to
the world of seriousness of the issue at stake.
"The challenge we face now is to crystalize that
call into a cohesive legal framework that brings the world together in action and
implementation," said Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary.
In finalizing a agreement at the end
of this week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has reminded the Ministers of
the direction that more than 150 world leaders had provided on the first day of
the meeting and their pledge for full support for a robust agreement.
"Never before have so many Heads of State and
Government gathered in one place at one time with one common purpose. Leaders
have assured me they will work to remove any roadblocks," he said.
Africa entered into the negotiations
with a common position to demand equity,
fair deal and legally binding agreement.
The African Ministerial Council
on Environment (AMCEN) is resolved to press this agenda in Paris. “We are not beggars,” stated said Uganda’s
minister of water and environment Ephraim Kamuntu. “The financial obligation we
are asking is not charity; its climate debt”.
The consensus is that the major and historic polluters must take a fair
share of responsibility not only to cut their emissions, but also to help the
suffering adapt to climate impacts.
“Countries must be mandated to include contributions on
all the elements including provision of money for adaptation for developing
countries by developed countries,” said Robert Chimambo, of Zambia
Climate Change Network.
Mogens Lykketoft, President of the UN General Assembly,
has cautioned that a robust universal climate agreement in Paris is an
essential foundation for the world to avoid crossing the threshold of a maximum
two degrees Celsius global average temperature rise, agreed by governments to
be the defense line against unmanageable climate change. "Without your
leadership, no amount of collaborative initiatives will suffice," he said.
Story originally commissioned by Vita International.
No comments:
Post a Comment