COP27: African negotiators are concerned about the lack of progress in negotiations on loss and damage

The African Group of Negotiators and the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment They have expressed concern about the slow progress on issues affecting the continent at the current United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Egypt.

This position is contained in a joint statement delivered on Tuesday by Alioune Ndoye, Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition of Senegal, who is also President of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN), and Collins Nzovu, Minister of Environment. Green Economy and Environment of Zambia, Chairman of the African Group of Negotiators.

The statement reads in part: “As you know, COP-27 has been called the Implementation COP, and for us as the African Group we came here focused and determined to ensure that we deliver on implementation.

“We also see COP-27 as an African COP taking place on African soil, a continent that is the most affected by the climate crisis and yet the least contributing to the pollution that causes climate change; as such, we hope that COP-27 will have tangible results that reflect the aspirations of the people, including the special needs and special circumstances of Africa.”

About the evaluation report

The group referred to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has published discouraging findings, particularly on the African continent.

The report found that Africa will be affected more than any other continent, while the continent only contributes less than 4 percent of the world’s total emissions.

“Africa has the lowest historical and current emissions. AR6 also estimates that adaptation costs in developing countries will reach $127 billion, with Africa needing up to $86.5 billion annually by 2030,” the statement cites.

The group said the position of Africans is not a contest for vulnerability, but the COP decisions have recognized Africa, and the science alludes to the fact that Africa is a continent plagued with complex, overlapping challenges, and many generations of Africans have been left behind and suffer. consequences of actions that are not of their own making.

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The statement added: “The systemic problems facing Africa require dedicated and targeted interventions. This will also unlock the potential of our continent to contribute to achieving the 1.5c world; In a continent that is already food insecure, Africa has suffered a 34 percent decline in food production and loss and damage to agricultural productivity (IPCC AR6).

“We are concerned about the lack of progress on several issues of importance to our group, particularly finance, adaptation, and loss and damage. However, with a few days remaining, we believe we can still meet all workflows, including adaptation, loss and damage, mitigation, and means of implementation.”

The group said that adaptation is a matter of survival for Africa and that COP27 should deliver on scaling up action and support for adaptation, including the Global Adaptation Goal (GGA).

The negotiators said that intensive technical work took place throughout the year and therefore called on all Parties to “work constructively to agree on a framework to enable progress towards GGA to be achieved and assessed.”

“COP27 is our chance to fight to ensure that the multilateral process delivers on its promise of an adequate adaptation response in the context of the 1.5 temperature target,” the statement said.

About loss and damage

Negotiators said they hoped the COP would agree on an effective and well-resourced Santiago Network for Loss and Damage to catalyze technical assistance to developing countries and establish a mechanism for financing loss and damage with a clear roadmap for its implementation. full operability.

The statement read: “The African continent is exposed to various types of loss and damage, manifested most significantly in various sectors and associated with extreme and slow-moving events on different time scales.

“Finances are critical to implementation; We call on developed countries to constructively engage in a meaningful financial package. This should include the delivery of the much-promised $100 billion.”

Impacts of climate change in Africa

Africa has suffered and continues to suffer the brunt of the adverse effects of climate change and has not received the necessary multilateral support to meet the climate challenge.

African countries require access to expanded levels of new, additional and predictable grant and concessional financing, which could certainly be effectively implemented to create enabling environments as they begin to reduce risks and create new asset classes for clean investments.

This would allow for more significant mobilization and leverage of public and private finance and improve access to the elusive and invisible trillions of dollars.

The Africa group expresses its continued disappointment that the target of USD 100 billion per year by 2020 from developed to developing countries remains unmet, and stresses the importance of meeting that target as soon as possible to generate confidence and faith in the multilateral process of addressing climate change.

“We urge developed countries to honor their commitment to meet the target and ensure the progression of efforts in the continued mobilization of climate finance,” the statement said.

About mitigation

On mitigation, the group said they will continue to engage constructively in the technical work to design an effective and dynamic mitigation work program that results in concrete decisions on scaling up both mitigation ambition and support for just transitions.

Negotiators want the mitigation work program to speed up implementation of the NDCs, urging developed countries to take the lead in implementing targets while providing greater support to developing countries.

“COP27 should design an effective and dynamic work program and result in concrete decisions on scaling up both mitigation ambition and support for just transitions,” the statement said.