Addis Ababa, 21 November 2015 (ECA) - The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has said that unless climate negotiators and governments begin to put faces and people behind the statistics on impacts of climate change in Africa, "the sense of urgency with which the upcoming negotiation must be approached from a humanistic perspective would be lost."
Climate change has significant and unequivocal implications for Africa’s development, and poses complex and changing challenges for Africa’s peoples and policy makers. Addressing climate change has become central to the continent’s development agenda. It is proven that poorer countries and communities will suffer earliest and hardest from global warming because of weaker resilience and greater reliance on climate‐sensitive sectors like agriculture.
Climate information services – the packaging and dissemination of climate information to specific users – are vital in supporting Africa’s response to climate change. With robust climate information, Africa can safeguard the economic gains and advances in social development seen across the continent over the last decade.
Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) set out national intentions of actions of how individual countries will tackle climate change. These indicative pledges, to be submitted ahead of the climate negotiations in Paris in December 2015, will contribute to a new international climate agreement aimed at keeping temperatures at levels safe enough to prevent dangerous global warming.
COP21 in Paris will gather nations to negotiate a new global agreement aimed at reducing carbon emissions to hold global temperatures at levels safe enough to prevent dangerous and irreversible climate change.
Africa has contributed only a tiny fraction to overall greenhouse gasses but with fewer resources to adapt to rising temperatures, stands to lose the most. Climate change threatens Africa’s food and water security, limits energy access and hinders the continent’s social development and economic growth.
The report of the COP 17 African Pavilion Secretariat concludes that as an umbrella of different kinds of events and services, the Africa Pavilion was well attended. The round tables, side events and Africa Day provided opportunities to discuss climate change in relation to Africa’s development. The different countries and organizations had a chance to showcase their activities in the area of climate change and development and it certainly provided them with a forum for consultation for future activities.
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe 30 October 2015 (ClimDev-Africa) – The Director of the Special Initiatives Division at the UN Economic Commission for Africa and Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) Ms. Fatima Denton has called on African negotiators to sharpen its tools and refine their strategies before they get to Paris for the next round of climate negotiations which open in Paris, France in November.
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe 30 October 2015 (ClimDev-Africa) – Some 400 delegates who have been meeting in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for the 5th annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA) since Tuesday all have their eyes and attention now turned towards the Paris Climate talks which open in the French capital at the end of next month.
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, 30 October 2015 (ClimDev-Africa) – The 5th Annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA 5) which ended in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe at the weekend has emboldened Africa for a more positive participation at the forthcoming climate talks in Paris, according to Dr. Fatima Denton, Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), and Director of the Special Initiatives Division at the UN Economic Commission for Africa.