Climate Change Negotiations: Implications for Africa

Richard Munang, (Ph.D)Africa Regional Climate Change

CoordinatorUNEP 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.”

• 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

• Despite the limited advances on financing, African countries registered five positive developments from the Doha conference:

• The formal extension of the Kyoto Protocol, with continued access to carbon-trading market mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 decision-making 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;

• 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.

• The participating representatives from regional adaptation knowledge platforms agreed to adopt AAKNet as the continental network responsible for coordinating adaptation knowledge.

• 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

Harnessing knowledge

Tailoring support for Knowledge

Coordinating Knowledge platforms

Aggregating knowledge in addressing pertinent climatic risks,

Harnessing knowledge for strategic planning processes including knowledge generated as pilots

Tailoring support for knowledge needs

Building alliances

Coordinating knowledge platforms in powering policy planning and processes

Building alliances of knowledge platforms in the continent

AAKNet

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.

• 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.

• 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!