African
governments and civil society are joining the UN Climate Change Conference
(SB50) in Bonn, Germany, amidst very disturbing memories of recent impacts of
extreme weather events on the continent, especially in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
The African continent is
under extreme pressure more than ever due to these extreme events.
Africa Civil Society, under
the umbrella of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), has called
for urgent climate action and support to addressing such extreme events.
In Katowice last
year, there was a call for a comprehensive and balanced Paris Agreement Work
Programme to be delivered that upholds equity, justice and act as an anchor in
the Paris Agreement’s implementation.
But this
ambition is yet to be realized.
In a press statement signed by Mithika Mwenda, the Executive
Director of PACJA, African CSOs have outline expectations from the Bonn climate
talks:
Loss and Damage
We call for the commitment in the implementation of the
Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage and need a predictable a
financing approach for Loss and Damage in Africa. Africa continues to suffer
enormous economic losses in billions of dollars as a result of climate change
impacts, coupled with un-costed social losses, due to climate induced
displacement of persons thus triggering conflicts. In Mozambique, 3 million people are affected,
with estimated USD 1.4 billion in total damage, and USD 1.4 billion in
losses. The recovery and reconstruction is estimated to be 2.9 billion USD. In Malawi, the president
has declared a state of national disaster due to devastating floods, where more
than the lives of 870,000
people are affected. A post-disaster assessment done by World Bank and UNDP
indicate around USD 222 million is needed for the recovery. In addition, in
Zimbabwe El Nino induced drought has affected 5.3 million and 234 million is
required to avert hunger. It is worrying to keep hearing the answer
for loss and damage as insurance, this might be possible in developed countries
but NOT in developing countries especially in Africa, this is a far-fetched
dream.
Climate Finance
We expect climate finance to continue to be a critical
issue of negotiations. We expect a clear roadmap for fulfilment of climate
finance commitment of USD 100 billion per year by 2020 should be agreed, the
commitment should include towards an ambitious Green Climate Fund (GCF)
replenishment. Parties should also agree to discuss a new post-2025 quantified
climate finance goal from the floor of USD 100 billion. Unless there is a
direct and explicit linkage between Article 9.5 and 9.7 and Article 13, much of
this exercise will be a cosmetic display without any meaningful assessment of
support provided. As the African Civil Society, we believe that the accounting modalities to be used by developed
country Parties on financial resources provided and mobilized through public
interventions via the transparency framework must reflect the information
provided in the biennial indicative communication of support.
Adaptation
Adaptation is a core element of the Paris Agreement,
there is a need to have clear outcome that allows for operationalization of
Adaptation component of the agreement, that allows for enhancing flows of
support to adaptation actions of developing countries. There is a need for a
clear outcome that will enable the operationalization of the adaptation
communication with clear and consistent information that will enable assessment
of overall progress towards the achievement of the global goal for adaptation.
Mitigation
We should reach
clear options on issues pertaining scope of NDC’s mitigation, further action on
information on clarity and understanding without leading to diluting the clear
flexibility and differentiation in the NDCs between developed and developing
countries as per article 4.3 with clear outcomes with developed countries to
take the lead on mitigation actions, and developing countries using the
enhanced means of implementation to raise their ambition.
Agriculture
Agriculture is a key
economic driver in Africa. We welcome the progress achieved to date by adoption
of decision 4/CP.23 on the Konrovia Joint Work Programme (KJWA) representing a
major step forward in the negotiations on agriculture under the UNFCCC. Its
implementation will require joint efforts from both subsidiary bodies, as well
as from constituted bodies under the Convention and other relevant
stakeholders. We recognise the importance of the Koronivia joint work on
agriculture to provide recommendations on building the resilience of
agricultural and food production systems, and sustainable and predictable
access to adequate means of implementation, in particular technology transfer
and financing that is predictable and adequate.
Capacity Building
We emphasise that there is need to build
long-term capacity among developing countries which includes strengthening
capacity of climate change institutions; capacity building should at all times
be focused on the needs of countries and driven by countries. Further, capacity
building should adopt a multi-stakeholder approach, including all stakeholders
and supportive legislation to facilitate this. We call for provision of support to the Capacity Building
Initiative for Transparency (CBIT), setting aside of additional resources and
meeting of existing voluntary contributions pledges. We further call for
provision of financial resources to support country driven capacity building
initiatives.
Gender
We note the importance of gender considerations in
policies that supports activities on adaptation, mitigation, finance,
technology development and transfer, including capacity building, and we
acknowledge the progress made in implementing decisions on gender under the
Convention. We call for Parties to increase their efforts in ensuring that
women are represented in all aspects of the Convention process, and gender
mainstreaming is achieved in all processes, and activities of the Convention.
Fresh Energy to push Negotiations
We are calling on parties here in Bonn, Germany to fresh
energy and push the negotiations towards concrete outcomes that will address
this grave concern to Africa. The world is watching our ambition in
implementation of the Paris Agreement as it will determine whether we are
serious in addressing the climate change problem or it’s a mere rhetoric.
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