AFRICAN LEADERS URGED TO BUDGET FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

The Chairperson of the Southern Caucus of the Pan-African Parliament, Hon Penny Castelina Pamela Majodina, has urged African leaders to make budgetary allocations to mitigate climate change issues in their respective countries.

Making a contribution during a panel discussion on the first day of the third Pan-African Parliamentarians Summit on Climate Policy and Equity, Hon Majodina was of the view that the over-reliance on foreign support by African countries to address climate change issues does not show real commitments from Africa.

She emphasized that when reference is made to the need to use African solutions to address African problems, it also means using African funding support to address African problems, noting that “Africa should stop relying on foreign support to address our issues. African countries should learn from the Kenya experience and embrace it.”

The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that costs associated with climate change adaptation across Africa could hit $50 billion annually by 2050, even if the global temperature does not rise more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. 

 

Under the Paris Agreement, all countries committed to take collective action on climate change to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. African countries have outlined bold aspirations to build climate-resilient and low-carbon economies in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement.

 

Data from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) website, indicates that “Africa will need to invest more than $3 trillion in mitigation and adaptation by 2030 in order to implement its NDCs.”

 

“However, many of these commitments are conditional upon access to adequate financial, technical, and capacity-building support. At the same time, climate change provides opportunities for African countries to harness their huge resource potential to achieve Sustainable Development Goal targets. Addressing climate change in Africa will create significant market opportunities, especially for the private sector and institutional investors.”

 

BUT WHY SHOULD AFRICA CARE?

 

According to CPD, Africa accounts for the smallest share of global greenhouse gas emissions, at just 3.8%, in contrast to 23% in China, 19% in the US, and 13% in the European Union. Yet, particularly vulnerable to climate change, the continent is working to tackle climate hazards head-on.

 

Given Africa’s low emissions, the debate on the nature of the transition the continent should take, whether to abandon fossil fuel or revert to renewables, has remained contentious.

 

While some stakeholders argue that the region has the right to exploit its natural resources to reach the same level of development as countries in the North, others think that ignoring the ensuing energy transition or transformation will not augur well for the continent. They argue that the transition is inevitable whether Africa wants it or not, and Africa risks losing investments as their export-based resources may not find markets soon enough.

 

However, for Rt Hon. Amason Jeffah Kingi, Speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Kenya, “The reality we have to countenance in this scheme of things, is that we either commit to stand up and direct our energy and synergy in changing the situation or lose hope and wait for our doom.

For all good reasons, we cannot opt for the latter. It would amount to abdicating our duty and obligation to our children, grandchildren, and generations to come. We owe them the inheritance of a habitable continent and planet”.

 

He indicated that this is the point at which as a continent, we have to increasingly look inwards to come up with the best solutions that not only benefit our continent but also ensure we uphold past agreements, pacts, and treaties to which we are signatories as individual states and nations.

 

“As we are all aware, the carbon trade framework initiated under the Paris Agreement commits countries that emit excess carbon to engage and work with counterparts that have green initiatives which reduce emissions whether in transport, manufacturing, or power generation to meet the required thresholds. As a continent, where we still have relatively lower carbon emissions as compared to the industrialized West, we must seize the window of opportunity currently available to aggressively pursue commensurate carbon credit compensation.

 

The carbon credit framework will shield Africa’s developing economies from shouldering the burden of mitigating Climate Change impacts”.

 

ABOUT THE SUMMIT 

 

The 3rd African Parliamentarians Summit on Climate Policy and Equity, hosted by the Pan-African Parliament in collaboration with the Pan-African Alliance for Climate Justice (PACJA) runs from 16 to 17 May 2023 at the Pan-African Parliament precincts in Midrand, South Africa, under the theme, “The Continent at the crossroads: graceful just transition and NDCs implementation responsive to African development aspirations and economic realities”.

 

The Summit brought together stakeholders from across the continent to catalyze broad support for pro-poor, just, equitable, locally-led, and science-based decisions in climate action.

 

The event provided a platform for parliamentarians, government officials, experts, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to share ideas, exchange best practices, and explore ways to address the pressing challenges of climate change. The Pan-African Parliament seeks to create a critical mass of stakeholders capable of driving sustainable development and climate action on the African continent. The high-level climate engagement also identified a common African agenda in the Global Stock Take (GST) process and in the countdown to COP28, and the role parliamentarians can play.