Africa: a climate vulnerable continent in search for negotiation partners

Africa is expected to go into the UN climate talks in Paris this December with one voice and one position, to demand climate justice for the people on the continent.

With the impacts of extreme weather conditions dawning on people and livelihoods, local farmers and communities will be looking out for a way out of their climate vulnerabilities.

Africa is therefore emphasizing climate adaptation and finance to effectively deal with the effects of climate change.

“For us in Africa, adaptation is the priority; climate change is already affecting our people, so if we have any emphasis, then it has to be on adaptation,” said Seth Osafo of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN).

But mitigation is also being forced on developing countries, as evident in African countries’ Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the UNFCCC.

“It’s been pushed on us but we have to willingly say that we are also happy to embrace mitigation; but mitigation for prosperity, mitigation for development,” said Fatima Denton of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), addressing the media at the close of the 5^th conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-V).

Africa has been regarded as the battle ground for competing global interest in the climate negotiations leading to the 21^st Conference of parties (COP21).

The European Union, for instance, seems to converge with the African Group in the areas of adaptation and finance but not on climate mitigation.

It has been argued that Green House Gas emissions of some developing countries have dramatically increased over the last 10 years at such point that they are now among the biggest emitters in absolute terms, while the already high emissions of the industrialized countries have generally remained the same.

At the 4^th EU-Africa Summit in Brussels last year, climate change was among the main challenges discussed. One of the outcomes was a Declaration in which the European Union and the African Union reiterated their willingness to work together to fight climate change and to ensure that an effective agreement will be reached in 2015.

“We believe that by discussing on the needs, challenges and priorities for Africa and by exchanging on our respective positions, we can be part of the process towards a satisfactory agreement in Paris,” said Cristina Vicente Ruiz, EU Delegation to the AU when she addressed CCDA-V. “The EU is looking forward to continue working closely with the African partners on Climate Change in the framework of our Joint Strategy to define, defend and implement our common interests”.

The top priority for the EU going to the COP21 is also to secure a legally binding, ambitious and fair new agreement that will keep us on track below the 2°C objective.

According to Mr. Osafo, getting a fair deal will require that African ministers going into the negotiations “be strong in putting forward the position of Africa”.

Africa is already looking up to China as a partner to reckon with to become climate resilient.

“We can identify areas where Africa desperately needs Chinese intelligence, technology and investment to advance in climate adaptation and mitigation,” observed Dr. Fatima Denton. “We can actually go on a partnership, building relationships where we can say Chinese can help support Africa’s renewable energy sector; Chinese can help in terms of building climate resilient infrastructure; Chinese scientists can help Africa in terms of moving smallholder farming into commercial agriculture”.

China-Africa relations have often been analyzed in the light of a zero-sum game.

But Dr. Denton says the climate partnership should not be based on a new kind of imperialism but a win-win partnership “whereby both China and Africa stand to benefit”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

EU submits its Climate Action Plan ahead of Paris 2015 Agreement

The European Union (EU) today submitted its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The EU’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes well in advance of a new universal climate agreement which will be reached at the UN climate conference in Paris in December, this year.

The new agreement will come into effect in 2020 and will pave the way to keep a global temperature rise this century under 2 degrees C.

Governments have agreed to submit their INDCs in advance of Paris with many developed and bigger developing countries expected to do so in the first quarter of this year.

In February, in Geneva, countries under the UNFCCC also finalized the negotiating text for the Paris agreement. The next round of formal negotiations will take place at UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, Germany, in June.

INDCs have been chosen as the vehicle for national contributions to the international Paris agreement. They include, for example, details of emission reductions the country will undertake and can include other action plans covering areas such as adaptation to climate change.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC has encouraged countries to come forward with their INDCs as soon as they are able, underlining their commitment and support towards a successful outcome in Paris. "Momentum towards Paris is building everywhere. I look forward to many more INDCs being submitted over the coming weeks and months,” she said.

Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in their contributions. This means that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time.

The negotiating text from Geneva also signals the ambition among many governments for a long-term goal to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the century.

Meanwhile, African civil society is advocating an agreement that will compel developed countries to communicate emission reduction targets as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that commensurate to keeping global average temperature well below 1.5°c and against principles of equity – historical responsibility, capacity, the right to sustainable development.

“We should not hold back from putting pressure on rich countries to change excessive production and consumption systems while protecting and compensating communities affected by their historical actions. Discussions around the new climate change agreement should be preceded by the rich countries honouring the promise they have already made as a signal of good faith,” said Augustine Njamnshi of the Pan African Climate Justice (PACJA).

The CSOs have told the 15^th African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) in Cairo, Egypt, that climate change negotiations under the UNFCCC have so far delivered no concrete results as growing impacts of climate change continue to stand in the way of African development aspirations.

They therefore want Developed Countries Parties (DCPs) to mobilize at least USD 1 trillion and monetize pledges to the financial entities of the financial mechanism of the Convention in order to meaningfully implement adaptation interventions and low carbon development strategies.