Daniel Kanu
The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) with other environmental-based groups have raised the alarm that although Africa carries the greatest burdens of climate change the continent contributes less than three percent of global emissions.
Also they lamented the devastating effect of the change, which caused massive floods in Nigeria, Chad, Republic of Benin, and Cameroon.
This is as CAPPA wants Nigerian government to stop further policy somersault on climate change issues and articulate the project properly with clarity.
CAPPA Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, raised the alarm, at the unveiling of the report – Assessing Climate Change, COP26 Commitments in Africa: Case Studies of Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda – held at it’s Lagos office on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.
Oluwafemi Said that the project was informed by the need to review the climate commitments of African countries ahead of the 27th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP27) billed for Sharm El-Sheikhin Egypt.
The activist pointed out that South Africa also had its unfair share with floods that led to mudslides that claimed citizens lives, whily lamenting that the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report predicted that the crises would continue and likely displace not less than half of Africa’s 1.4 billion population by the year 2030 unless something was done urgently.
To arrest the impending danger, Oluwafemi appealed to both developed and developing nations to cut down on emissions that cause climate change.
The report carried out in the three African nations want global north and big polluters pay for damages already done.
Among the demand is :
. To pay reparations for historical losses suffered by individuals and communities on the frontline of the climate crisis in Africa.
. To cancel Africa’s debts, insistiy that the continent’s economies need a breather through debt cancellation to better focus and redirect scarce resources to their climate change actions and aspirations.
. It called on European governments, Asian and North American financial institutions to stop pumping monies into projects that risk locking Africa into fossil-fuel dependency.
The report also called for the stoppage of fossil fuel burning. “The most contribution to global warming comes from the industrialized world.
“False solutions like carbon trading will continue to create a false sense of progress while global temperature continues to rise. We need a concerted effort to stop fossil fuel burning and move towards the use of renewables to accelerate the reduction of GHG emissions and by extension global warming,” it stated.
To African countries, the report appealed to the governments to : Leverage Green Economic Opportunities including increased demands for electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries, etc. which are produced with critical minerals some of which are sourced from Africa places.
This it argued puts Africa at a vantage point to renegotiate its position on the global stage while stimulating inclusive economic growth.
Other demands include
. Removing Barriers to Renewable Energy Technologies in Africa Such as Import Tariffs to make renewable energy accessible and affordable to most of the energy-poor African population.
. Withdraw Support for Heavy-Carbon Project such projects like Dangote refineries and petrochemicals and Uganda’s EACOP which will lock Africa into Fossil fuel.
. Frame Just transition in an African Context: Framing the understanding of just and equitable transition from an African context to take care of the “one-size fits all”. A just transition in an African context must be equitable, inclusive, gender sensitive, and respect the human language – cultural and religious rights of peoples.
. Protect Workers and Communities since transition comes with a price, sometimes painful.
. Harness Capacity to Secure Funding Support to Finance Africa’s Climate Ambition: The Africa Group of Negotiators has called for $1.3 trillion a year in climate finance to be made available from 2025. There is a need to utilize the global stage afforded by COP 27 to campaign and secure commitment to this as well as a strategy to follow up and net in the commitments after the conference.
. Drop False Solution Schemes eg carbon trading schemes, and gas as a transition fuel as a pathway towards carbon emission reduction.
. Increase Climate Change Education and Awareness.
. Ensure Human Rights protection: Mainstream human rights protection into climate change mitigation and adaptation actions while encouraging social dialogue with communities, media, and civil society to negotiate Africa’s energy transition imperatives.
. Scale Up Adaptive Capacities: The recent flooding episodes in Uganda and Nigeria show that a lot is still lacking in the terms of building resilience and providing adaptation support for victims of climate change in Africa.
The report was put together by Nigeria-based CAPPA, Uganda-based African Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and South African Climate Action Network (SACAN).