African States Should Demand Climate Justice at COP21 in Paris

The evidence of climate change is overwhelming around the continent. African states are requested to go with one voice and one position to the UN’s Conference on Climate Change in Paris, which is to demand climate justice for the African people.

The impacts of extreme weather conditions have already made a negative impact on people’s livelihoods.  Africa therefore needs to emphasize climate adaptation and finance to effectively deal with the effects of climate change.

Adaptation should be the priority; climate change is already affecting our people, so if we have any emphasis, then it has to be on adaptation.

African governments need to mainstream adaptation and mitigation issues into all national agendas. They need to define and support national policy frameworks, implement capacity building programmes and funding for appropriate projects.

African Governments need to be transparent and accountable in the management of climate funds. They need to strengthen national institutions, improve access to data and the accessing of funds on climate change adaptation in Africa.  African Governments need to raise their own funds and be self-reliant.

African Governments need to make good use of the Paris meeting, in order to seek support and find ideas in the promotion of sustainable development, mitigation and adaptation goals.

Governments need to involve all stakeholders, such as the youths, civil society, academia, private sector and other political actors among others. African solutions need to go beyond projects to resilient solutions.

African states need to avoid the same mistakes that were made in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations. The new agreement should address all the mistakes of the Kyoto Protocol, if not then the Paris negotiations will bring nothing new and the hopes to global sustainable development would be jeopardised.

COP21 is expected to deliver the new climate agreement which will define global climate governance in the post Kyoto period. As such, COP21 will be paramount in the evolution of the global climate governance landscape.

COP21 is therefore seen as a moment of opportunity for Africa to assert itself in global climate governance and ensure that the outcomes of Paris are beneficial to African People and the continent’s long term sustainable development agendas.

African Greens message to COP21 Paris.Compiled by: Dr Frank Habineza, President, African Greens Federation/Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, 9th November 2015