General objective
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.
Specific objectives
More specifically, the CCDA-I will:
- Deliberate on existing policies, science, knowledge and research concerning development and climate change issues across the continent;
- Demonstrate the compelling evidence and impacts of climate change and the need for adequate climate data, information and services to better inform adaptation and mitigation policies and practices;
- Identify policy and institutional innovations and best practices required to advance climate resilient and low carbon development in Africa;
- Promote sharing of experiences, best practices and lessons learned in mainstreaming climate change concerns into development policies and practices;
- Inform the African negotiation position in the run up to the COP‐17 in Durban through the analysis and debate of climate change issues relevant for the continent;
- Identify mechanisms for sustained sharing of knowledge on climate change and development in Africa among policy, research and practitioner communities;
- Build and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships to further Africa’s climate change agenda;
- Identify gaps and needs to build coherence between the ClimDev Africa Programme with other initiatives across the continent.
- Feed into the ClimDev Africa work plan for 2012