This summit is an excellent opportunity for the African continent to unite on all issues related to climate change. Africa will speak, for the first time, with one voice on issues related to climate change and the financing of programs aimed at mitigating its effects.
The first African Climate Summit opened yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya, an event that will serve as a platform for African countries to address the critical issues of climate change, chart a common path towards environmental sustainability, and launch calls for funding for this continent, which is increasingly vulnerable to the serious consequences of global warming.
In his opening speech, Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto, Chairman of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government Committee on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), called for making Africa – a continent that represents only 4% of global emissions – “an emerging power in terms of green growth”.
He also said he hoped that this meeting would achieve a common voice on development and climate in order to “propose African solutions” to the next Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP28) which will be held in Dubai, United States. United Arab Emirates, from November 30 to December 12.
“The major subject (…) is the unparalleled opportunity that climate action represents for Africa,” he added, recalling Africa’s potential to be entirely self-sufficient in energy thanks to natural resources. renewable. Mr. Ruto has previously said that “climate action is not a Northern problem nor a Southern problem. This is our collective challenge, and it concerns us all”, calling for us to “come together to find common and global solutions”.
According to the Kenyan news agency, KNA, at least twenty heads of state and government are participating in this Summit which will set the agenda for Africa’s engagement with the global community on issues of conservation and climate change. For Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Alfred Mutua, quoted by KNA, the Summit “is an excellent opportunity for the African continent to unite on all issues related to climate change”.
Africa, he added, “will speak, for the first time, with one voice on issues related to climate change and the financing of programs aimed at mitigating its effects”, stressing that Kenya “is a leader in the adoption of cleaner, greener energy, with almost 95% of our electricity needs coming from green sources.
Organized alongside African Climate Week, from September 4 to 8, under the leadership of the Kenyan government and the AU, this three-day Summit aims to respond to the growing exposure to climate change and its associated costs, both on a global scale and in Africa where 1.2 billion inhabitants live with more than 60% of the world’s best potential in solar energy.
Attended by African leaders and officials from elsewhere, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Summit will serve as a platform to inform, frame, and influence commitments, pledges, and outcomes, ultimately leading to the development of the Nairobi Declaration. It will focus on providing innovative solutions in green growth and climate finance for Africa and the world.
Placing Africa “at the heart of the climate financing problem”
According to the official AU website, the Summit “provides an opportunity for a Nairobi Declaration by African leaders on green growth and climate finance solutions, as well as a call for action to the Member States of the African Union and supporting partners to champion its implementation.
It seeks to launch a new ambition for Africa and invite partnerships with the rest of the world. Additionally, the Summit will provide a platform to address the intersection of climate change, African development, and the need for increased global investment in climate action, particularly in Africa.
In her intervention by videoconference at the work of the high-level preparatory meeting, held last July, in anticipation of the African Climate Summit, the Minister of the Environment and Renewable Energy, Fazia Dahlab, charged by the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, affirmed Algeria’s support for the success of this meeting and insisted on ” the importance of placing the African continent at the heart of the problem of climate financing, Africa being the most affected by the negative effects of climate change”.
Ms. Dahlab also called for “ the adoption of an inclusive approach to achieve the African strategy for climate financing”, stressing the importance of “ taking into account the concerns of African States and the various continental initiatives ».
She cited, in this context, the initiative of the President of the Republic concerning the creation of an African mechanism for responding to natural disasters which is, she considered, “the best way to protect our continent ”.
This continental initiative “is in line with our national strategy,” said the minister, recalling that Algeria had developed a new law relating to the prevention of major risks and disaster management within the framework of sustainable development.
