African ministers reinforce position on climate change

By Ugonma Cokey, Durban

Climate conference taking place in Durban, South Africa

Ministers from over 50 African countries have reinforced their position for an ambitious second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, effective action under the Bali Action Plan and scaled–up finance, as the UN Climate Change talks enters second week.

The Ministers discussed the latest science showing severe threats to African food security, developments in the negotiations and a strategy to ensure that the outcome of the Durban climate conference were comprehensive enough to protect Africans from the worst effects of Climate Change.

The Ministers say they will be advancing the African position including the second commitment period, the Bali Mandate, and securing necessary Climate Finance.

According to the head of the African Group, Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, the African Group feels like “this is a unique opportunity for us to ensure that we can keep the one billion Africans safe, so it is important that when leaving Durban, we have an outcome which is as ambitious as possible”.

‘Two objective tools’

Observing that Africa is the continent that contributes the least Climate Change phenomenon, he called on everyone to “go above and beyond what National positions are and keep the one billion Africa safe” by using two objective tools which he identified as Science and the rule of law.

He said the Kyoto Protocol was ripe and had worked well, a reason he gave for the need to have a second commitment period. The Chair said that African Ministers were concerned about insufficient transparency and slow disbursements of the financial resources pledged by developed countries as fast start finance for the period 2010-2012 and indications that a small proportion of these resources are “new and “additionally.

Commending EU’s decision to reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, Mr Mpanu Mpanu, said that “for the Group it is already a second commitment, and that the EU should call it so”.

He urged the EU to raise their level of their ambition to 40 per cent instead of limiting to 20 per cent. “The EU seems to want a political second commitment period, for us we don’t know what that means, we understand what the second commitment of legally binding second commitment period means. The political one is a little bit of a blurry concept” he said.

He said that while the African Group wants a second commitment after the end of the first, the EU wants a single legally binding treaty.

”For us, the KP needs to continue and capture whatever number of emitters there and then on the other track continue so that we can capture hundred percent of emissions and that will show the highest level of emissions. Going into a new treaty which is undefined, going into an uncharted course, for us we are afraid we will lose what constitutes the highest level of ambition and go into something which is going into a low level of ambition,” Mpanu said.

The African Group

The African Group is the group of 54 African countries represented in the UN Climate Change negotiations.

The African Climate Policy Centre is a joint initiative by the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).The centre is based in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa.

More climate change effect for Africa

Meanwhile, a new study has warned that Africa will face significantly lower crop yields in the next 10 years as a result of increasing temperatures, which will threaten food security of millions.

The new report on Climate Change and African agriculture, examined the extent of climate Change impacts in Africa and their effects on food security, and found that even small temperature increases were likely to affect yields.

It is published against the backdrop of the UN Climate Change talks in Durban, South Africa; discussing future actions to limit temperature increases, by the Climate Change Policy Centre, ACPC, the technical arm of the Climate for Development Africa (ClimDev Africa) programme based at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

Williams