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Ethiopia: HIV/Aids, Climate Change Africa's New Challenges - ECA
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The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
30 March 2008
Posted to the web 2 April 2008
Biruk Girma
Addis Ababa
HIV/AIDS will continue to be the main challenges that the continent will have to grapple with in the second half of the century, the United Nations Economic Commission (UNECA) said ahead as it prepares to mark its 50th year of establishment.
UN agency is to start hosting events and celebrations to run through out the year shortly.
n his opening adders at the joint AU/ECA conference here at the UNCC, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ECA, Abdulie Janneh said continued efforts should be exerted in scanning the landscape both for ideas and challenges pertinent to meeting the goals, among which are HIV/AIDS and climate change.
"As we look on fifty years of development policy in Africa, we must inevitably address new and emerging challenges," he said referring HIV/AIDS and climate change.
"Africa has to assess whether recent growth is creating much needed employment while also confronting challenges of global nature like HV/AIDS and climate change." He said HIV/AIDS was depleting Africa's skills base and climate change the livelihoods including food supplies of communities.
The joint conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of the AU and ECA, being held in Addis Ababa is considering these challenges under the theme: Meeting Africa's New Challenges in the 21st century.
The Assessment of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change (AIACC) study recently showed that climate was changing throughout the continent with notable alternation of the micro-climates of the highland areas of East Africa.
Although Africa contributes only about 3.8 percent of total green house gas emissions, countries of the continent are among the most vulnerable to climate change in the world.
Janneh said ECA was mounting a major climate change initiative called Clim-Dev Africa in collaboration with the AU and African Development Bank.
He said the commission would be establishing the policy arm of the initiative, the Africa Climate Policy Centre here in Addis Ababa in collaboration with Indian Energy Resources Institute (TERI).
Janneh noted that a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed between the ECA and the institute which is headed by a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. Rajendra Pachauri.
The centre will create a capacity hub to generate-assemble and administer an adequate base of knowledge to strengthen efforts and capacities of African countries to address the challenge.
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Accordingly, it will focus on climate change related to policy research and analysis, consensus building, capacity strengthening, technical assistance and knowledge management and peer learning.
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