The overall objective of the conference is to establish a forum for dialogue, enhance awareness raising, mobilize effective commitment and actions through bringing together policy makers, academicians and practicing stakeholder with the aim of effectively mainstreaming climate change concerns into development policies, strategies, programmes and practices in Africa.

CCDA also aims to strengthen Africa’s position and participation in international climate change negotiations with a view to ensuring adequate reflection of the continent’s concerns and priorities in a post‐2012 international climate change regime.

The CCDA conference builds directly on the African Development Forum VII; AfricaAdapt symposium, and many African and other forums, initiatives, and activities and outcomes of initiatives including for example the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN); the Conference of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC); the UNFCCC and related instruments; The United Nations Secretary General’s Highlevel Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF); the Global Climate Observation System (GCOS) and its sub‐regional climate programme; and the Africa‐EU Climate Change Partnership. The conference will help position the ClimDev Africa programme within this evolving knowledge and institutional terrain and how best it can facilitate the interaction between the policy, research and practice communities.

The CCDA Conference will bring together three categories of participants to share lessons, identify current gaps and future needs, and discuss a range of potential solutions that make meaningful impacts. These will include: i) high‐level decision makers from African member states and their RECs, regional and sub‐regional climate centers, multilateral organizations, and bilateral organizations representatives; ii) an international field of researchers, scientists, and science and technology specialists from research institutions who are actively engaged in advancing knowledge in climate change with a particular focus on Africa, and iii) practitioner community, including private sector, community based organizations and civil society organizations, including NGOs, media and independent writers on climate change and development issues.