Statement delivered by H.E. Alioune Ndoye, Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition of Senegal and President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and Hon. Eng. Collins Nzovu, Minister of Green Economy and Environment of Zambia, Chair of the African Group of Negotiators.
Fellow Hon. Ministers;
Distinguished Delegates;
Members of the Press.
We would like to thank the Egyptian Government in general and the COP President in particular for the excellent arrangements for the Conference and the leadership they have demonstrated at this Conference. We reaffirm our support to the process, so that we arrive at a meaningful and ambitious outcome here at COP 27. We wish to share with you our reflections on the status of negotiations and also indicate our expectations on the outcome of this Conference.
As you know, COP-27 has been dubbed as an implementation COP, and for us, as the African Group we came here focused and determined to ensure we deliver on implementation. We also view COP-27 as an African COP being held on African soil, a continent that is worst affected by the climate crisis and yet contributes least to the pollution that causes climate change. As such, we expect COP-27 to result in tangible outcomes which reflect people’s aspirations, including Africa’s special needs and special circumstances.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) has daunting findings, in particular on the African continent. It found that Africa will be impacted more than any other continent while the continent only contributes less than 4% 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, and Africa needs up to $86.5 billion annually by 2030. This is not a contest for vulnerability – the COP decisions have recognised Africa, and science alludes to that.
Africa is a continent plagued by complex overlapping challenges, and many generations of Africans have been left behind and suffer consequences of actions not of their own making. The systemic problems facing Africa require dedicated and targeted interventions. This will also unleash our continent’s potential to contribute to achieving the 1.5c world. In a continent that is already food insecure, Africa has suffered a 34% decline in food production and loss & damage to agricultural productivity. (IPCC AR6). Decisions we must reach at COP27.
We are concerned about lack of progress on various issues of importance to our group particularly on finance, adaptation and loss and damage. However, with few days remaining, we believe we can still deliver on all work streams, including on adaptation, loss and damage, mitigation and means of implementation. On Adaptation, we note that intensive technical work was undertaken throughout the year and last week on the Global Goal on Adaptation. We call on all Parties to work constructively for reaching an agreement on a framework to enable achieving and assessing progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation.
Adaptation is a matter of survival for Africa and COP27 should deliver on scaling up adaptation action and support including GGA. COP27 is our fighting chance to ensure that the multilateral process delivers on its promise of an adequate adaptation response in the context of the 1.5 temperature goal. IPCC raised the alarm on the narrowing window for action on adaptation with widening adaptation implementation and finance gaps, and the slightest delay in adaptation action at scale means another set-back to our hard-won development gains and another stumbling block in Africa’s path to eradicate poverty, achieve food security and sustainable development.
On Loss and Damage; the African continent is exposed to diverse types of loss and damage, which manifest most significantly in various sectors and are associated with extreme and slow events over different time scales. We hope that we can agree on an effective and well-resourced Santiago Network for Loss and damage to catalyze technical assistance to developing countries and establish a loss and damage finance facility with a clear roadmap for its full operationalization.
Finance is critical for the implementation; we call upon on developed country Parties to engage constructively for a meaningful finance package. This should include delivery on the much promised USD 100 billion. Africa has and continues to suffer brunt of the adverse effects of climate change and have not received the required multilateral support to face the climate challenge. African countries require access to scaled-up levels of new and additional and predictable grant and concessional finance, which undoubtedly could be deployed effectively to create enabling environments by beginning to buy down risks and create new asset classes for clean investments. This would allow for more significant mobilisation and leveraging of public and private finance and enhance access to the elusive and unseen trillions of dollars.
The African Group expresses continued disappointment that the USD100 billion per year goal by 2020 from developed to developing countries remains unfilled; we underscore the importance of delivering the USD 100 billion as soon as possible for building trust and faith in the multilateral process of addressing climate change. We urge developed countries to deliver on their commitment to meet the goal and ensure the progression of efforts in the on-going mobilization of climate finance.
On Mitigation, we hope to continue to engage constructively in the technical work to design an effective and dynamic mitigation work programme that will result in concrete decisions on scaling up both mitigation ambition and support for just transitions. The Africa Group excepts the mitigation work programme will accelerate the implementation of NDCs. We urge developed countries to take the lead in implementing their targets while providing enhanced support to developing countries.
COP27 should design an effective and dynamic work programme and result in concrete decisions on scaling up both mitigation ambition and support for just transitions. We look forward to engaging constructively with all parties under your able leadership for a successful outcome in line with vision of the implementation COP.
I thank you!
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