Transcript Africa Regional Climate Change Coordinator

Climate Change Negotiations:
Implications for Africa
Richard Munang, (Ph.D)
Africa Regional Climate Change
Coordinator
UNEP Regional Office for Africa (ROA)
The Key Decisions of Doha
• The UN climate change conference in Doha, Qatar (COP18) concluded with a
new agreement called the “Doha Climate Gateway.”
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The key achievements include :
– The extension of Kyoto until 2020 as well as a work plan for negotiating a new global
climate pact by 2015.
– Completion of New Infrastructure to channel technology and finance to developing
nations and move toward the full implementation of this infrastructure and support by
endorsing the selection of the Republic of Korea as the location of the Green Climate Fund.
– Long-term climate finance to increase efforts to provide finance between 2013-15 at least
to the average annual level with which they provided funds during the 2010-2012 fast-start
finance period.
– Adaptation to Climate Change to help Parties develop National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
– Loss & Damage to address rising losses for developing countries from the impacts of
climate change, ranging from droughts to a gradual rise in sea levels.
Positive steps for Africa
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Despite the limited advances on financing, African countries registered five positive
developments from the Doha conference:
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The formal extension of the Kyoto Protocol, with continued access to carbon-trading market
mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism.
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Financing for the formulation and implementation of national adaptation plans for all
particularly vulnerable countries, not just the small-island developing states and least
developed countries, as previously.
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Agreement to develop an international mechanism to address loss and damage, which would
support countries affected by slow-onset events such as droughts, glacial melting and rising
sea levels.
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A programme for climate change education and training and the creation of public awareness
to enable the public to participate better in climate change decision-making.
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Agreement to assess developing countries’ needs for green technology, as well as a pledge
that no unilateral measures will be taken on the development and transfer of technologies.
Adaptation as African Priority
• Greater adaptation efforts in Africa are essential, and they should be
supported financially and politically by many different stakeholders in
Africa and around the globe.
• There is need for a better balance. Currently, “fast start” finance, is
slow in arriving, is largely directed toward “mitigation” projects,
which tackle the causes of climate change, such as reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
• Against the 62 per cent allocated for mitigation projects, only 25 per
cent is destined to “adaptation” actions, which seek to minimize the
consequences of actual and expected changes in the climate.
• The remaining 13 per cent is destined for countering deforestation,
which should also be counted as mitigation, since forests help absorb
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• In as much as Adaptation, Finance, Technology Transfer &
REDD are important, Capacity Development is key for Africa.
• Developing the capacity of the continent is imperative to
response to the changing climate.
• There are already initiatives put in place to response to this
but need Africa to coalesce in a position behind this.
• A new work programme to build capacity through climate
change education and training, create public awareness and
enable the public to participate in climate change decisionmaking has been agreed in Doha.
• This is important to create a groundswell of support for
embarking on a new climate change regime after 2020
Preparing for Warsaw-COP19
• The nineteenth and twentieth Sessions of the Conference
of the Parties will be important stages in the process of
finalizing the current round of negotiations scheduled for
completion at the twenty-first meeting, in 2015, in
accordance with the goal of establishing a new legally
binding instrument
• Mitigation ( by Developed, Developing, REDD+)
• Adaptation (NAPs, NWP, Loss & Damage), Agriculture,)
• Finance
• Technology Transfer
• Capacity building
UNEP’s Follow-up Actions
•
Building on the 14th AMCEN session to develop regional flagship programs for the
implementation of the RIO+20 outcome including regional program on ecosystem
based adaptation to addressing climate change and Sustainable Development in
Africa;
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UNEP/ROA, convened an Africa Adaptation Knowledge Network (AAKNet)
workshop under the theme “Convening Adaptation Knowledge Networks and
Platforms in Africa,” from 5-6 February 2013, in Nairobi, Kenya.
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The participating representatives from regional adaptation knowledge platforms
agreed to adopt AAKNet as the continental network responsible for coordinating
adaptation knowledge.
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Delegates explored potential synergies among initiatives and agreed that AAKNet
will be responsible for: coordinating, facilitating, harnessing and strengthening the
exchange of information and knowledge and aggregating knowledge in usable
packages
•
The meeting also called on the African Ministerial Conference on Environment
(AMCEN), an organ of the African Union (AU), to recognize AAKNet thereby
providing it a legal and political operation modality. The AAKNet is part of the
UNEP-facilitated Global Adaptation Network (GAN)
What is AAKNet
Aggregating knowledge in
addressing pertinent
climatic risks,
Aggregating
knowledge
AAKNet
Harnessing
knowledge
Tailoring
support for
Knowledge
Harnessing knowledge for
strategic planning processes
including knowledge
generated as pilots
Tailoring support for knowledge
needs
Building
alliances
Building
alliances of knowledge
platforms in the
continent
Coordinating
Knowledge
platforms
Coordinating knowledge
platforms in powering policy
planning and processes
1st Africa Food Security & Adaptation
Conference
African Ministerial Conference on the Environment
(AMCEN)
• The upcoming session of the African Ministerial Conference on the
Environment (AMCEN) will take place in Botswana from 15-18,
October 2013.
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The 3rd Environmental Cement Africa Conference had the
opportunity to influence the AMCEN session, which is expected to
discuss Africa’s common position to the UN climate change
conference to be held in Poland in November 2013.
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AMCEN flagship programmes include:
African Green Economy Partnership;
Ecosystem Based Adaptation Programme for Africa;
African Programme on Sustainable Energy Development;
Partnership for Sustainable Consumption and Production in Africa;
Integrated Waste Management Programme for Africa;
Africa Integrated Environmental Assessment for Sustainable
Development Planning;
Conclusions
• Effectively meeting the challenge of climate change will require a
compromise of monumental proportions by all countries.
•
But climate change will not wait for the adoption of binding
international climate change agreements.
•
Nor should individual governments, businesses and others
hesitate to take bottom-up action and support local grassroots
initiatives.
• Climate change creates business risks at multiple points along
corporate value chains.
• Preparation is everything – different levels of readiness can lead
to very different outcomes.
• Climate change creates business opportunities as well as risks. Much of
tomorrow’s growth for companies is in developing country markets. These
markets will likely be hit hard by climate change.
• Companies that proactively develop products and services that reduce their
customers’ vulnerability to climate change will be well positioned to grow
their markets.
• Cement companies can explore new markets for low cost, climate-resilient
housing for underserved populations in Africa.
• Climate adaptation is a mainstream challenge. Climate change affects all
aspects of a business, just as it affects all aspects of society.
• Yet for many leading corporations, climate change actions are still the
domain of the environment department and focus on mitigation (e.g.
measuring and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions).
• Expanding focus to adapting products, supply chains and operations in
response to the consequences of a warming world is imperative
In summary, climate change is already upon us.
Its impacts create risks that ripple through corporate value chains.
Being proactive in response to these changes is a business necessity,
not a luxury.
And in proactively adapting, companies can not only reduce their
risks, but also discover new business opportunities building climate
resilient products, markets and societies.
Thank you!