New guides to de-risk investment in Climate-Smart Agriculture in Africa

Detailed guides on the status of and opportunities for investment in climate-smart agriculture in fourteen African countries have been launched by scientists from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

The profiles provide, for the first time, a scientific framework to guide future CSA financing in Africa and de-risk investment in the sector.

Impacts from climate change on people in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to be some of the greatest compared to other regions by 2100, yet the continent currently only receives 5 per cent of climate funding.

“Climate-smart agriculture” (CSA) practices seek to help farmers adapt to changing weather patterns, while reducing emissions and boosting food security. Yet funding, particularly in Africa, is severely lacking.

“For many large donors, private sector companies and African governments, investing in African agriculture is still extremely risky,” commented Evan Girvetz, senior scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) who leads the CSA profiles project. “Our data and evidence-based reports aim to reduce that risk, by providing a detailed analysis of the most effective approaches to the sustained adoption of climate-smart agriculture from a local to a national level.”

The CSA profile concept was originally designed to guide large-scale agricultural investments, such as the US$250 million World Bank funded Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Project, with research focused on Africa beginning in 2016.

Profiles have since been produced for fourteen African countries, which were launched at a session entitled: “Profiling Climate Risk and CSA Opportunities to De-risk Agriculture” at the African Climate-Smart Agriculture Summit in Nairobi.

Countries in focus in the CSA Profiles are: Senegal, Rwanda, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, Côte D’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Benin, Niger and Mali.

Based on a scientific framework, the profiles provide a snapshot of the key issues, climate impacts, CSA practices, relevant policies, and financing opportunities for scaling up the promotion and sustained adoption of CSA interventions. Policy and investment recommendations are then detailed by researchers, based on an analysis of current drivers and constraints to adoption the identified practices.

“Large-scale investments in climate-smart agriculture need to be based on solid evidence that they will provide productivity and climate benefits,” commented Ademola Braimoh, Coordinator for Climate Smart Agriculture at the World Bank, who spoke at the session. “Until this work by CIAT, that detailed data did not exist. We are now far better equipped to make financing decisions to climate-proof African agriculture in these countries.”

“There is an insatiable appetite from African governments for up-to-date information on how to implement climate-smart agriculture,” commented Dr. Robert Zougmoré, Africa Lead for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). “In Senegal, the CSA profile is being used to inform national climate change plans and programs. Also, the creation of profiles for three states in Nigeria has been requested by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, demonstrating the high demand for this data West Africa-wide.”

These new African CSA profiles build on a set available for countries in Latin America, South Asia and Europe, which have been shaping policy and investment decisions since 2013.

From Paris to Katowice: a slow progressive Talanoa Dialogue for Climate Ambition

If Paris was historic in carving a global climate deal, Katowice will define the political urgency for climate action.

Negotiations at the just ended United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, focused on the Paris Agreement Work Programme, under which countries are designing the guidelines that will move the climate pact from concepts to actions.

The Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, at the concluding session, expressed concern at the lack of urgency in moving the negotiations forward.

“It is time to look at the bigger picture, see the severe impacts that climate change is having across the world, and rise to the challenge,” said Group Chair, Gebru Jember Endalew.

He expects steady progress be made throughout 2018 on all issues so that poor and vulnerable countries can engage effectively.

“A last-minute rush at COP24 risks leaving developing countries behind,” he said.

The Paris Rulebook

The Rulebook spells guidelines on how to put the Paris Agreement into practice.

There is a call for a fair, robust and transparent Rulebook that inspires confidence among countries to step up and commit to enhanced national climate targets by 2020.

They are essential for determining whether total world emissions are declining fast enough to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. These include boosting adaptation and limiting the global temperature increase to well below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

“I am satisfied that some progress was made here in Bonn. But many voices are underlining the urgency of advancing more rapidly on finalizing the operational guidelines. The package being negotiated is highly technical and complex. We need to put it in place so that the world can monitor progress on climate action,” said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change.

Progress on Agriculture

Recognizing the urgency of addressing interests in the agriculture sector, the Bonn conference made a significant advance on the “Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture” by adopting a roadmap for the next two-and-a-half years.

Farmers are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts such as prolonged droughts and shifting rainfall patterns, and agriculture is an important source of emissions.  

This roadmap responds to the world’s farming community of more than 1 billion people and to the 800 million people who live in food-insecure circumstances, mainly in developing countries. It addresses a range of issues including the socio-economic and food-security dimensions of climate change, assessments of adaptation in agriculture, co-benefits and resilience, and livestock management.

But not with Finance…

Without advances in the talks over the commitment of future financial support from rich countries to developing nations, who are already facing devastating climate impacts, it became difficult for other areas of the negotiations to progress.

LDC Group Chair, Gebru Jember Endalew, stated “Finance is key to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. In the face of climate change, poor and vulnerable countries are forced to address loss and damage and adapt to a changing climate, all while striving to lift their people out of poverty without repeating the mistakes of an economy built on fossil fuels. This is not possible without predictable and sustainable support."

Civil society also expressed some dissatisfaction with the finance dialogue.

“The radio silence on money has sown fears among poor countries that their wealthier counterparts are not serious about honouring their promises. This funding is not just a bargaining chip, it is essential for delivering the national plans that make up the Paris Agreement,” said Mohamed Adow, International Climate Lead, Christian Aid. “For the Paris Agreement to be a success we need the Katowice COP to be a success. And for the Katowice COP to be a success we need assurances that sources of funding will be coming.”

The Talanoa Dialogue

The Fijian Presidency of COP23 launched the Talanoa Dialogue to spur an outcome for enhanced ambition at the end of this year at COP24.

The first global conversation about efforts to combat climate change was witnessed on Sunday, May 6, at the 2018 Bonn Climate Talks.

The dialogue wrote history when countries and non-Party stakeholders including cities, businesses, investors and regions engaged in interactive story-telling for the first time.

The dialogue witnessed some 250 participants sharing more than 700 stories of climate struggle and inspiration, providing fresh ideas and renewed determination to raise ambition.

Seven groups, known as “Talanoas”, took part in the informal Talanoa tradition of sharing stories to find solutions for the common good. Participants discussed three central questions: Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there?

The Dialogue has the goal of taking stock of collective efforts towards progress on the Paris Agreement’s long-term mitigation goal. It will also inform the preparation of parties’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the second round of which are expected in 2020.

“Now is the time for action. Now is the time to commit to making the decisions the world must make. We must complete the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement on time. And we must ensure that the Talanoa Dialogue leads to more ambition in our climate action plans,” said Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji and President of COP23.

Talanoa inspires discussion between countries not as negotiating blocs but as one of people to people. But it is important that this is translated into a clear political process.

The Polish Presidency must take up the baton from the Fiji Presidency and work with all countries towards a political outcome for stronger national targets by 2020.

Political Action in Katowice

All input received to date and up to 29 October 2018 will feed into the Talanoa Dialogue’s second but more political phase at COP24.

To be meaningful, the Talanoa Dialogue “must deliver concrete outcomes that drive an increase in ambition and support to put us on track to achieving the 1.5 degree temperature goal set in Paris, guided by equity and science," said Mr. Endalew.

Talks resume in Bangkok from September 3-8 where negotiators will pick up “informal notes” forwarded by this session. They will attempt to turn these notes and various inputs from countries into the basis for a negotiating text ahead of COP24 in Katowice, Poland.

“The science is clear: we need to get into higher gear to reach Paris goals and we need to have the courage to go beyond traditional politics. Meeting in the middle is no option this time,” said Marcel Beukeboom, Climate Envoy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

A stronger political leadership remains critical to achieve the major milestones envisaged for COP24 in Katowice, Poland.

The UN Climate Change talks are an integral part of a broader, worldwide debate on climate change.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The main aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep a global average temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The UNFCCC is also the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The ultimate objective of all agreements under the UNFCCC is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system, in a time frame which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally and enables sustainable development.

“The time for stories has long since passed,” said Meena Raman of Third World Network. “We live in a world with over 1℃ warming and the devastation is already severe. We cannot allow for that warming to go beyond 1.5℃ and we need a political process to prevent that.”

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

The bigger issue of reducing carbon emissions in climate negotiations

A popular slogan with climate activists in global climate negotiations is “kick polluters out”. But fossil fuel companies are still welcome at the UN climate talks.

The influence of the fossil fuel industry and other polluting industries has become a central topic of concern for governments.

The issue of conflicts of interest and how to best ensure the integrity of the UNFCCC process once again dominated the climate talks in Bonn, Germany as governments launched what is meant to be a formative year for climate policy.

Talks on developing a conflict of interest policy ended with a mandate to talk more next time.

The African Group, Ecuador and Cuba and the Africa group had advocated such a policy which is opposed by the US, EU, Canada, Norway and Australia.

Both sides have agreed to identify opportunities “to further enhance the openness, transparency, inclusiveness of the effective engagement of non-party stakeholders”.

“Once again, the United States and its pro-fossil fuel allies are on the wrong side of history, putting Big Polluters before people and the planet. But today’s results prove that no amount of obstruction from the U.S. and its Big Polluter allies will ultimately prevent this movement from advancing.

And while Global North obstructionism mired these talks in delays, obstruction and censorship, Global South leaders prevailed in securing a clear path forward for the conflict of interest movement, ensuring the issue will be front and center next year,” said Jesse Bragg of Corporate Accountability.

Delivering the Goals of the Paris Agreement

This year 2018 can make it or break it for climate change as the Paris Agreement passes through its first test.

Front-runner countries and civil society representatives have presented a concrete road-map of how they are enhancing climate plans by 2020 in an attempt to push other states to commit to doing the same at the upcoming UN Climate negotiations (COP24) that will be held in Katowice, Poland.

Countries need to send a clear signal in COP24 that they will enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2020 if the goal to keep warming below 1.5C is to be reached.

“I would say that COP24 in Katowice is probably the most critical meeting since Paris,” said Alden Meyer, Director, Strategy and Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists. “The world will be watching to see if countries are serious about implementing and strengthening the Paris Agreement. We have a mandate to adopt a package of rules to implement the Paris agreement across a range of issues”.

Civil Society Action

A day to end the Bonn talks, major civil society and non-party stakeholder groups demanded that government’s follow-up the Paris Agreement with increased urgent action to prevent average global warming from rising 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Groups highlighted that Parties must reinforce this Paris Agreement goal and commit to enhanced action as a matter of survival for vulnerable countries.

“For the world’s most vulnerable people keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees is not just a ‘nice to have’, it is essential to ensure they can maintain and improve their way of life,” said Mohamed Adow, International Climate Lead at Christian Aid.

The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) also noted that climate change should no longer be isolated to environmental and scientific issue.

It stated that the issues of poverty, justice, equity, economic, humanitarian, food security and political dimensions of climate change must not be overlooked.

“It has stunted the growth of some economies while big economies fear cutting emissions will affect them,” said Olivia Adhiambo, Policy and Advocacy Manager at PACJA.

As the 2020 implementation date of the Paris Agreement draws close, it is expected that big oil and coal interest groups and climate deniers do not succeed in their struggle to undo the progress made in the fight against the climate crisis.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Developed countries will deliver on climate finance commitments, UN climate chief asserts

Negotiators and other interest groups at the ongoing UN climate change talks in Bonn, Germany, have been attempting to answer three questions – Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there?

The process of answering these questions has been termed the “Talanoa Dialogue”, a Fijian concept of non-confrontational approach to finding solutions to deliver on the Paris Agreement on climate change.

UN climate chief, Patricia Espinosa, at a media roundtable, described progress at the talks is mixed though “the general atmosphere is very positive”.

She observed “people have come to the negotiations with the willingness to engage in the substantive issues that are before them”.

Climate finance is emerging as one the biggest issues in the negotiation process, in the quest to answer the question of “how do we get there?”

In addition to national emissions reduction targets, developed countries have made a collective promise of $100 billion a year of climate finance by 2020.

But poor and developing countries have their skepticism in the commitment to deliver on the promises to enable their vulnerable economies adapt to the impacts of climate change and redress the damages.

“Countries who have done the most to cause the climate problem must step up to deliver action and finance. They mustn't delude themselves that distant technologies will solve the climate problem in the future, letting them off the hook for climate action now”, said Teresa Anderson, ActionAid International.

The Africa Group of Negotiators has submitted that “we need to go to a world where developed countries stop making promises but live up to their promises”.

According to the group, financial support should include access to clean technology and expertise, and a significant increase in money from public sources and not simply offload finance to the private sector.

“We call on governments to lay the ground for stronger ambition to honour the Paris climate pact,” said Kimbowa Richard of Uganda’s Coalition for Sustainable Development.

Three years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, there are expectations among many countries for clear indications how the $100billion climate finance will be delivered.

Patricia Espinosa acknowledged there are technical issues in negotiating climate finance but “I don’t see any denial of the commitments that have been made”.

She noted “the principle that developing countries need to be supported in order to deliver on their commitments under the Paris Agreement is absolutely unquestioned”.

Investors are using the climate risk assessment as guideline for the decisions they will be taking, says the UNFCCC.

“Now the truth is that even those 100billion will not be enough to financing the big transformation that is required in this agenda,” said the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.

Patricia therefore believes the willingness for compliance will need to move beyond the UNFCCC process, by exploring the bigger picture in the implementation of the roadmap.

Climate change impacts are already visible in communities and exacerbating poverty in developing countries.

Outcomes of the Bonn Climate Talks would define progress to be made at the COP24 climate summit in Katowice, Poland later this year.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

VideoReport: Climate finance for development

Farmers and other vulnerable communities in Africa are among the first victims of climate change.

They rely on the weather and the environment in its entirety for their production and livelihoods.

Taking climate action will therefore help meet the goal of feeding people sustainably in a warming world.

However, climate finance has remained a challenge in the climate negotiations.

Kofi Adu Domfeh reports on the process so far in the 2018 Bonn Climate Talks and concerns being raised, especially by Africa.

Watch Video:

Video: Climate Health

Extreme heat leads to heart failure. 

At the 2018 #BonnClimateTalks, the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA) staged a campaign on #ClimateHealth. 

Sehee speaks on the climate impacts on health.




Watch Interview:

Agriculture gets fresh breath in climate talks

Farmers are among the first victims of climate change as they rely on the weather and the environment in its entirety for their production and livelihoods.

But until the last climate meeting in Bonn in November 2017, agriculture had been missing from the decisions of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The COP23 decision on agriculture, also known as the Koronivia Decision on Agriculture, which took five years of discussions to reach, is a turning point for small-holder farmers.

It indeed provides hope for farmers and processors in developing economies as it will deliver meaningful action on adaptation to adverse effects of climate change on agriculture.

“Agriculture is now being looked at as a sustainable development issue,” said Mithika Mwenda of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). “We look at climate change not just as a scientific issue but it is an agricultural issue; it affects livelihoods of the people, it’s a human rights issue”.

Climate vulnerabilities across value-chain commodities affect farmers. Taking climate action will help meet the goal of feeding people sustainably in a warming word.

The financial and technological needs of farmers to adapt are therefore as critical as the mitigation technics to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the agricultural sector.

However, Parties and observers to the climate talks have two years to work on bold actions needed in agriculture before more specific ones are agreed upon in 2020.

African civil society and partners believe it is now time to evaluate how the UNFCCC can provide ways for farmers and agro-processors to adapt to climate change, increase their resilience with technology transfer, information dissemination, leverage finance and capacity building.

At the ongoing Bonn Climate Talks, CUTS International and PACJA jointly convened a group of agriculture and climate experts, working across Africa, to reflect on the challenging road towards advancing decisions on the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA).

During the event, the panelists brought greater focus on integrating African agriculture sector challenges into the joint work. The panel included Mithika Mwenda, Martial Bernoux of the Food & Agriculture Organization, Catherine Mungai from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security as well as George Wamukoya, Expert & Consultant on Climate Change and Agriculture.

They explored how developing countries can take the process forward to effectively deal with the impacts of climate change on their agriculture.

Mithika observed the need to inspire a bottom-up approach in the discus to get local communities and farmer groups engaged in the process.

“In the next couple of months, we’ll like to mobilize communities at the local level because we want to make this very practical,” he said.

As an observer, CUTS International has submitted proposals to the Koronivia KJWA, which explore the socio-economic and food security dimensions of climate change in developing countries’ agricultural sector.

According to the non-profit NGO, the concerns and needed related to agriculture and food security “must be heeded by all Partners by agreeing to bold actions that support developing countries and LDCs in order to enhance their agriculture resilience in facing climate adverse effects and ensuring an agricultural development that is conscious of not only its environmental, but also social and economic impacts”.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Global businesses make strategic climate commitments

Organizers of the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) taking place this September in San Francisco have provided new evidence of how cities, states, regions, businesses and investors are taking climate ambition to the next level.

In this way, they are helping to build momentum for a successful outcome for the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland (COP24) at the end of the year.

Specifically, 11 new commitments from Mahindra, among India’s largest business houses, push the number of major global companies with science-based targets to over 400.

The summit in San Francisco will be hosted by the Governor of California, Jerry Brown; the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action, Michael Bloomberg; the Chairman of the Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra; and the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa.

Speaking to delegates and journalists on the margins of the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer of the Mahindra Group announced that business had taken an important step forwards today. 

In total, 13 of its companies have now committed to cut their emissions in line with the Paris Agreement goals by signing-up to a science-based target.

Welcoming this development, Summit Co-Chair and top UN Climate Change official Patricia Espinosa said, “At COP24 in Katowice, the world has much to accomplish to ensure that the Paris Agreement delivers the desired result, which is to keep climate change within manageable limits. Thankfully, the revolutionary progress underway in the ‘real world’ economy, which will descend on California in September, will be instrumental to helping make Poland a success.”

To date, over 700 leading businesses around the world have made strategic climate commitments through the We Mean Business coalition’s Take Action campaign. Collectively, these companies represent 2.62 gigatons of emissions, which is equivalent to the total annual emissions of India.

The announcement by the Mahindra Group responds to one of the five “Summit Challenges” being presented to sub-national governments, business and civil society worldwide in advance of the Global Climate Action Summit.

Its commitment falls under the second of the five challenges – Inclusive Economic Growth – and means that so far 400 companies have positively reacted to this particular “call to action,” which aims to sign on 500 companies by the conclusion of GCAS in September.

 

Anand Mahindra, Mahindra Group Chairman said, “There is remarkable congruity between the goals of the Paris Agreement, the Indian Government, and businesses like the Mahindra Group. India, like the Agreement, is driven by a strong belief at the highest political level that pursuing environmental stability is the only way forward. As a result, India has set extremely ambitious targets in the area of renewable resources and is actually ahead of schedule in meeting some of these. In my business, we are driven by the belief that sustainability is a business opportunity as well as a way to make work meaningful for our young millennials. So, from all angles, I am delighted to accelerate the momentum created by the Paris Agreement.”

In addition to adding critical momentum to the COP24 negotiations in Poland this December – when governments of the world will meet to signal their readiness to enhance ambition – the GCAS will build momentum for a strong outcome at the Climate Summit convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2019 and to elevate climate action plans – Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs – by 2020.

Nick Nuttall, Global Climate Action Summit Communications Director said, “2018 is the year when the world must step up climate action to bend down emissions by 2020 -- and set the stage for the fast and full implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and its crucial temperature goal. The Summit will bring businesses, states, cities, regions, territories and people from around the world together and in common cause to take climate ambition to the next level".

To keep warming well below 2 degrees C, and ideally 1.5 degrees C—temperatures that could lead to catastrophic consequences—worldwide emissions must start trending down by 2020.

The 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, hosted in San Francisco September 12 to 14, will bring together state and local governments, business, and citizens from around the world to showcase climate action taking place, thereby demonstrating how the tide has turned in the race against climate change and inspiring deeper national commitments in support of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh  

Fossil fuel industry fingered for delayed climate action

The fossil fuel industry has been active in lobbying for delays in global climate action as they stand to make enormous amounts of money when the process is stalled.

If the targets of the Paris Agreement on climate change to reduce emissions are to be met, the fossil fuel industry will be losing money.

A study on “Revolving doors and the fossil fuels industry”, presented by the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament at the Bonn Climate Talks in Bonn this week, is calling for the adoption of a strong conflict of interest policy that would avoid the disproportionate influence of the fossil fuel actors on the international climate change negotiations.

The report gathers studies of revolving doors between the fossil fuel industry and high level politicians, Ministers, regulators and advisors, and questions whether the EU and European governments’ lack appetite to deal with this issue is a result of the cozy relationships built up with the fossil fuel sector over the years.

According to Max Andersson, Swedish Greens Member of the European Parliament, the revolving door between politics and the fossil lobby is a serious cause for alarm.

“If we are to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and keep global warming down to as close to 1.5 degrees as possible, we need to clamp down on conflicts of interest to stop coal, gas and oil from leaving their dirty fingerprints over our climate policy,” he said.

The demand to tackle conflicts of interest within the UNFCCC has been raised by governments representing over 70% of the world’s population and civil society organizations from across the globe and is supported by the European Parliament.

However, progress has been slow, notably, because the European Commission had been siding with Canada and the USA to block discussions on conflict of interest from appearing on the UNFCCC agenda.

The Africa Group of negotiators has stated that there needs to be restrictions on business participations in the negotiations because engagement by vested interest “threatens the integrity and legitimacy of the UNFCCC process” and the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Augustine Njamnshi, Chair of Political and Technical Affairs at the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), says there is no basis to delay climate action.

“It is in our interest to ensure that those who come here; those who come to the discussion table are there for real business to solve this climate crisis because the more we delay, the more endangering the continent of Africa and other developing countries,” he said.

The report by the Greens/FFA Group concludes that there is a need to adopt conflicts of interest policies at the UN, EU and national levels to safeguard public interest policy-making from the disproportionate influence of vested interest, which is particularly urgent when it comes to climate negotiations.

“European governments need to support the call for a common sense conflict of interest policy so that the next COP can deliver outcome that will put the world on the road towards a climate in balance,” said Max.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Finance for climate action turning a taboo subject for rich countries

Africa continues to suffer enormous social and economic losses in billions of dollars as a result of climate change impacts.

A vulnerable continent that is burning and flooding at the same time needs finance to be able to achieve mitigation, adaptation and technology goals.

But without a clear roadmap for delivering $100 billion per year by 2020, as pledged by developed countries since 2009, developing countries are hindered in their ability to carry out their own climate actions.

Negotiators from the world's governments are gathering in Bonn, Germany from April 30 to May 10 for three simultaneous meetings under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Ironically, the United States, which has signaled it will not want to be a party to the Paris Agreement when implementation starts in 2020, is sitting and negotiating as a party.

“Our worry is that the world will once again be pressured to accommodate the United States and this is really very unfair because the concessions are already made in the Paris Agreement,” said Meena Raman of the Third World Network. “The solutions for addressing the climate challenge have to be fair and have to ensure that once again the poor and the planet are not sacrificed”.

Climate finance has become a sticking point in the climate talks since the withdrawal of $2 billion by the U.S. under Trump's administration.

And it is increasingly becoming a taboo to discuss climate finance with other developed countries, observed Augustine Njamnshi of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).

“When finance becomes a taboo in this discussion, then there is no good faith in the discussions”, he said. “You want to sit here and tell nice stories when whole families are being swept by floods in West Africa?”

The conditional Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) from developing countries in implementing the Paris Agreement will cost more than 4.3trillion dollars to be achieved.

African civil society therefore wants finance for climate action prioritized if the Paris Agreement should come to life.

“Africa strongly supports the Adaptation Fund to serve the Paris Agreement. However, we are dismayed with the shifting of goal posts by our partners who intend to delay the realization of actual financing of full costs of adaptation in Africa,” said Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of PACJA at a press conference. “We urge our partners not to further delay the decision which is key in providing adaptation support to Africa”.

UN climate chief, Patricia Espinosa, has outlined three important goals to accomplish by the end of 2018 – building on the pre-2020 agenda, which charts the efforts of nations up to the official beginning of the Paris deal; unleashing the potential of the Paris deal by completing the operating manual; and building more ambition into countries national pledges.

But African civil society is demanding the rich world offers more detail on its commitments to climate finance without any delay in the Paris rulebook beyond COP24.

“The effective ambition of developing countries depends on the provision of means of implementation by developed countries,” said PACJA in a statement. “We strongly urge our African governments to rethink critically on the progress of climate talks as any position that contradicts that real climate change implications to Africa then will shift the burden of climate change to African countries”.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh, in Bonn-Germany