Africa joins global ‘sit-in-action’ in demand for fair and ambitious Paris Climate outcome

In the final hours of negotiation at the COP21 Paris climate conference, global civil society groups are mobilizing a massive 'sit-in action' with people holding key demands.

Participating groups include, WWF, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, Oxfam, Action Aid, ITUC/trade unions, SustainUS, UKYCC, PACJA and CAN-I Secretariat.

The action is to build pressure in the last few hours to ensure that Parties deliver a fair and ambitious outcome for the people and the planet.

“It is about showing our strength and determination in putting forward our concrete demands in this critical juncture for the negotiations,” read an agenda plan.

African civil society, under auspices of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), have tasked all stakeholders as the conference to ensure that a comprehensive, fair, ecologically just and legally binding agreement for a new treaty is delivered by the end of this week.

It says anything less will be unacceptable to the long-suffering people of the continent of Africa.

“The present reality at the conference confirms that countries have spent the first week restating their old positions leaving most of the key debates unresolved,” said Sam Ogallah.

He has further called on Ministers to urgently inject energy into the process this week so that the agreement is fair enough reflecting the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and also addresses the issues of loss and damage, finance for adaptation and mitigation, whilst keeping the global warming well below 1.5⁰C.

According to Azeb Girma of LDC Watch, “there is serious need for financial support for adaptation in African countries, therefore Green Climate Fund (GCF) pledges need to increase. For the 2020 goal of 100 billion dollars per year, Paris is yet to make any serious progress on clarifying a pathway to achieve it.” Additionally, “the question of how climate finance can be scaled up predictably after 2020 remains unresolved with some developed countries obstructing discussions of a post-2020 pathway,” Azeb,  added.

“The time for posturing and sloganeering is over; it is time to make a deal. Paris may be the last chance we have to break the standoff that has prevented adequate climate action for decades. Negotiators can make history this week, but it is up to them to lead and not to fail,’ Rebecca Muna of ForumCC, Tanzania declared.

African groups at the conference believe that countries must agree to phase out fossil-fuel emissions to zero and lead the world to a renewable energy future if the Paris treaty is to make a difference.

Actions on adaptation and compensation for loss and damage must be addressed with regard to their true scale and be at the core of the Paris agreement. The businesses causing the problem must be held accountable and victims of their dirty actions must be duly compensated.