African civil society encouraged to continue climate justice struggle

The Senegalese government has hailed the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) for its excellent tool of environmental protection and urged them to continue the struggle for climate justice.

Ms. Penda Kante Thiam who represented the Senegalese Minister for Environment urged the African Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) under the auspices of PACJA to keep the faith and to be positive in the struggle for climate justice.

Officiating the opening of a five-day Post-Warsaw strategic meeting in Dakar, Ms. Penda Kante said, “We need you as much as you need us. I believe change starts now and starts with us. We definitely need to lead by example.”

PACJA Secretary General, Mithika Mwenda called on Civil Society Organizations in Africa to be visible at the national level, to be consistence with national aspirations and to work together with their governments to achieve their objectives.

“It remains the mandate of PACJA to provide an enabling environment for African Civil Societies to share experiences and networks so as to effectively contribute into the national and international climate change debates,” he added.

Mr. Mouhamet Lamine Ndiaye who represented Oxfam at the meeting said “Oxfam will be focusing on the linkages between climate change and its impact on agricultural production and productivity”.

“We are at Oxfam are hopeful that this meeting will conclude with a clear strategy on climate change in relations to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” he charged.

The meeting has drawn 80 participants from 40 African countries with a mandate to construct a unified regional campaign strategy on climate justice.

Mr. Augustine Njamnshi, the PACJA Technical and Political Affairs Chairperson and Ms. Azeb Girmai of the Least Developed Countries Watch - Ethiopia while deliberating at this event said “Africa CSOs on climate justice needs massive and innovative mobilization strategy for advocacy and lobbying towards 2015”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/ in Dakar-Senegal

African Civil Society assemble in Dakar over Climate Change

A civil society meeting to discuss climate change and its impacts on the African development is underway in Senegal’s Capital, Dakar.

Participants are reflecting on outcomes of the UN Climate Conference held in Warsaw, Poland late last year and lay plans for enhanced peoples and community participation in the ongoing negotiations for a new climate change agreement.

Hosted by the civil society network, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), in partnership with Oxfam, the meeting brings together about 80 participants from 40 countries, drawn from research and advocacy NGOs, research and academic institutions, faith-based organizations, youth and women as well as indigenous and farmers groups across Africa.

PACJA Secretary General, Mithika Mwenda noted “it remains the mandate of PACJA to provide an enabling environment for African Civil Society to share experiences and network so as to effectively contribute into the national and international climate change debates.”

He added that “to underscore the link between climate change and particularly the UNFCCC process and the ongoing dialogue on Sustainable Development Goals, the meeting will also discuss Post-2015.”

Lamine Ndiaye, the Oxfam Pan African Programme Officer for Economic Justice, has urged the African CSOs to remain steadfast in lobbying governments to ensure pro-poor climate responses to enable vulnerable communities to build resilience and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.

“This meeting organized by PACJA puts into action what we agreed in Warsaw when we walked out of negotiations protesting inaction by world leaders,” he said, while calling civil society from the rest of the world to follow suit in such consultation in preparation for the next international Conference.

During the UN Climate Change Conference held in Warsaw, Poland on 11 – 22 November 2013, around 800 civil society observers walked out of negotiations protesting what they termed as Governments’ failure to agree on various issues such as mitigation goals, adaptation, loss and damage and finance, seen as the best deal for poor and vulnerable people.

The unprecedented action, which threw the entire negotiations into crisis, precipitated a series of discussions and reflections among CSOs, among them the “next actions after the walk-out.”

The Civil Society promised to mobilize communities in subsequent period and return into negotiations in Lima with more voices from the people across the world.

The meeting in Dakar is part of this mobilization. Among issues to be discussed at the meeting will be strategies to strengthen coherence among civil society concerning calls and demands around priority issues emerging from international climate change negotiations processes.

Participants will also agree on a mechanism for regular communications, sustained coordination, and implementation of activities in the countdown to the next climate change conference, which will be held in Peru later in the year.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh