adminAfrican negotiators fear that developed Western nations — responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that have caused heat, droughts and destruction to the ozone layer because of increased industrialisation— will refuse to agree to a deal proposing that they should release adequate resources for adaptation to defuse a further collapse to the economies.
The 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will continue negotiations towards a global consensus on a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
The conference takes place at a time when countries such as Zambia have already experienced unpredictable weather patterns that have interchanged between droughts and floods and conversely, extreme heat and extreme cold.
This is why Minister of Local Government, Housing, Early Childhood and Environmental Protection Professor Nkandu Luo was emphatic on the need for all Africans to speak as one because such challenges are shared by all poor nations.
Professor Luo is part of thousands of African citizens who have signed a petition that will be presented to the conference in Durban. The petition is a parallel activity set aside by the African civil society organisations to encourage ordinary citizens to be participants at the conference in absentia.
Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) travelled by road from Kigali and passed through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and eventually South Africa asking people to sign the petition demanding fair play from nations that had polluted the air to cause harm on African nations.
Prof Luo said Africa is not begging the developed nations but they should do what was humanly expected.
She said history already knows Western nations as very unfair countries with the people of Africa because they removed slaves and used them as tools to develop their industries after which they colonised them.
“After doing all this, these same countries are now destroying the environment and they are refusing to pay for adaptation. Why should Africans pay for crimes they have not committed? So I urge you civil society organisations to mobilise more people and speak with one voice,” professor Luo said.
She said this when she received representatives of the civil society organisations that operated the caravan of hope.
Zambia Climate Change Network (ZCCN) chairman Noah Zimba said the civil society stands ready to work with African governments to have a consensus on the subject.
The trans-African Caravan of Hope entered Zambia through the Mchinji border in Chipata and made brief stop-overs in Petauke, Chongwe and Lusaka.
Mr Zimba said the African economy was losing out on economic development and was unable to stand on its own and that the vulnerable persons such as women were the most affected.
Africa’s chief negotiator and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his objective will be to salvage at least the essence of the landmark Kyoto Protocol. Disagreements between rich and poor countries make it increasingly unlikely that the treaty will survive intact.
Mr Zenawi said Africa’s official position at the climate summit in Durban will be to insist on continuation of the Kyoto Protocol. The treaty, which was designed to fight global warming through the limiting of so-called greenhouse gases, is due to expire next year and African leaders want it refined to compel the developed nations to release more funding.
At a meeting of Africa’s 10-member delegation to the summit, Mr Zenawi acknowledged that the principle of saving Kyoto may be out of reach. As head of the delegation for Africa, the Ethiopian leader said Africa will have to adopt a flexible negotiating position to ensure that at least the spirit of the protocol survives in the face of powerful opposition.
Comparable emission reductions for industrialised non-Kyoto Parties will be central to the outcome of the Durban conference.
“Climate change is threatening to our future and that of our planet, and we must act now if we are to save tomorrow,” the incoming COP17 ministerial chairperson, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane of South Africa said, adding that “no single country, no matter its size or power, can take on this challenge on its own.”
“We can only succeed when we work together as the international community, reading from the same page, and acting in concert for a common goal. It is therefore, our wish that this conference will become a platform for the world to take a significant step towards a future climate change regime,” Nkoana-Mashabane, who is South African Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, said.
Ms Nkaona-Mashabane said preceding talks ahead of COP17 were encouraging and the global community should build on this to make the conference a success.
At the last summit, a draft agreement was reached, representing a small step towards a global deal. However, the progress was far from satisfactory, particularly for developing countries as it did not address their position on a number of issues including carbon emission levels, as well as increased finance, technology and capacity for adaptation and risk management.
As a result of this, there is scepticism about the magnitude of the figures and the conditions to access funds under the proposed Green Climate Fund, which expects to raise and disburse about
US$100 billion a year by 2020, starting with US$30 billion in 2012 to support mitigation and adaptation actions in developing countries.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol is widely considered out of date as both science and the political environment have evolved over the past decade and a half with the fear that the amount is now insufficient to mitigate the levels of destruction.
The United States did not ratify the original treaty and several other powerful nations, including Canada, Japan and Russia have said they would not agree to a second period which makes the Durban conference a tight race for Africa.
Africa hopes the previous deal on establishing a fund to help poorer countries adapt to climate change would be kept intact.
The fund should have provided up to $100 billion to African countries a year by 2020, but in the current economic environment, it has received no contributions and there have been suggestions it should be renegotiated because its value has waned.
Africa also argues that global temperature rises should be kept below 1.5 degrees instead of the proposed target of below 2 degrees.
At their annual meeting held in Namibia, Sadc ministers responsible for environment and natural resources management re-affirmed their desire to use the forthcoming climate change conference to press for an outcome that reflects the African priorities, which centre on adaptation, increased finance, technology transfer and capacity building.
The ministers urged all Member States to work together and speak with one voice in order to influence the outcome of the conference, adding that adaptation remains a top priority for the region.
The Africa Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN), which met in Durban in August, re-affirmed the need to prioritise climate adaptation to benefit the continent.
“Durban is expected to finalise an ambitious Adaptation Framework, develop guidelines and support for our National Adaptation Plans and build momentum towards a mechanism to compensate for climate-related losses and damage,” said the AGN.
Sadc ministers responsible for gender have also emphasised the importance of integrating a gender perspective into climate change policies and adaptation strategies, as women are the worst affected by climate change.
In line with the Sadc ministers view, the AGN agreed to press for a second legally binding commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol to ensure that there is no gap between the first and second commitment periods.
The Kyoto Protocol, the only global agreement on climate change to date, sets the targets for industrialised countries to reduce their emissions to an average of five percent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.
COP17 ends on 9 December in Durban. This is the third time that an African country is hosting the climate change conference after Morocco in 2001 (COP7) and Kenya in 2006 (COP13).
ZCCN board member Robert Chimambo feared that it would be too late to accommodate failure at the COP17 and that Africa does not have any choice but to receive a meaningful deal from the talks that are for the first time taking place in a Sadc member country. — Online.
Online Reporter