Addis Ababa — 1. BACKGROUND

The AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government made key decisions on climate change on the continent in recent times. The 8th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly (January 2007) called upon Member States to integrate climate change into their respective development programmes. The 12th Session of the Assembly (February 2009), emphasized the need for international climate change negotiations to give Africa an opportunity to demand for compensation for damages caused by global warming. Further, the AU February 2009 Summit made a landmark decision for building a common Africa position in preparations of COP15 in Denmark, Copenhagen in December 2009, and for Africa to be represented by one delegation that is empowered to negotiate on behalf of Member States. The Assembly mandated the AU Commission to work out modalities of how such representation could be achieved.

Accordingly, the AU Commission carried out the necessary follow up and submitted its Report on implementation to the 13th AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, in Sirte, Libya (July 2009) where key decisions were made, including the following:

• The Summit approved the Conference of African Heads of State and Governments on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) comprising: Algeria; the Republic of Congo; Ethiopia; Kenya; Mauritius; Mozambique; Nigeria; Uganda; Chairperson of the AU; Chairperson of AUC; and Chairperson of AMCEN.

• The Summit approved the Algiers Declaration (May 2009) on “African Common Platform to Copenhagen” to serve as a platform for the Common African Position on Climate change.

• The Summit further urged the Conference of African Heads of State on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), all AU Ambassadors and the negotiators to make use of the approved African Common Position on Climate Change.

• The Summit authorized AU accession to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.

• The Summit asked the AUC to follow up the implementation of the Decision and report back to the AU Summit.

It is in the context of implementing the above Decisions that the AUC seeks to convene the First Meeting of the CAHOSCC.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE MEETING

The decision of the AU Summit regarding the climate change negotiation structure is premised on the fact that there had been major limitations on African negotiating structure; thus it has not been able to achieve optimal results for the continent. One key gap has been dismal coordination of the African negotiation process. More importantly, there has not been visible continent wide political leadership on climate change negotiations in the UNFCCC process. The technical competence of the negotiators needs to be backed with the political weight at the highest level in the continent to have the desired impacts at global level. Secondly, the positions taken by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government need to be interpreted technically by the negotiators and translated into negotiating positions and texts. This will be one way of ensuring that the African voice on climate change negotiations is taken with the seriousness it deserves.

The objectives of the meeting, therefore, shall be the following:

a) Briefing the Conference of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) on the African Climate Change processes as overseen by the AUC;

b) Updating the CAHOSCC on the key positions being taken by the continent, by African negotiators in the run up to UNFCCC negotiation including COP 15 in Copenhagen; and

c) Endorsing the key political messages to be carried forward by CAHOSCC and the Conference of AU Ambassadors on Climate Change to the UNFCCC negotiations towards Copenhagen.

d) Agreement on modalities of work by the CAHOSCC.

3. FORMAT OF MEETING

The meeting will be structured into three Sessions and a Press Conference, as follows:

Session 1: Briefing on the AUC’s engagement in Climate Change activities and updating CAHOSCC on the Climate Change negotiation process – AU Chairperson.

Session 2: Updating CAHOSCC on key positions being taken by the African group of negotiators; and presenting to CAHOSCC the key areas of support needed, at political level, to drive African positions optimally, through the UNFCCC process– by Lead Negotiator for the African Group;

Session 3: Adoption of the common key political messages and CAHOSCC organization issues including division of responsibilities on leadership in key thematic areas; and way forward – Facilitated by AUC Chairperson, Chaired by an agreed member of the CAHOSCC (closed session).

Press Conference

4. KEY OUTCOMES AND OUTPUT

This 1st session of the CAHOSCC will produce the first-ever AU-Summit sanctioned key political messages on climate change from Africa, which will be widely distributed on the continent and throughout the World. This output will be informed by various political processes on climate change taking place in the continent.

Secondly, there will be close alignment of technical positions being negotiated by the African Group to the political messages from the continent, especially from the CAHOSCC.

There will be two primary outputs. First, the AUC will have prepared draft “Common Key Political Messages on Climate Change from Africa” to be forwarded for approval by the CAHOSCC. Secondly, there will be a press release on African Common Positions on Climate Change negotiations in the run up to COP15.

5. KEY ELEMENTS OF THE AFRICAN COMMON POSITION

The African Common Position on climate change has three distinct elements:

First, the decisions of the AU Assembly on climate change. It is noteworthy that these decisions are based on many processes in the continent, e.g. Conference of African Ministers of Environment (AMCEN), Conference of African Ministers of Finance, the AU Executive Council, etc. Appendix 1 captures some key elements of the African political positions.

Second, the updated Algiers Declaration (May 2009) on the “African Common Platform to Copenhagen”. This platform has informed Algiers submissions to the UNFCCC negotiations on behalf of the African Group of negotiators, as approved by the AU Summit. Appendix 2 captures key elements of Africa’s common submissions to the UNFCCC.

Third, the final submissions from the African Group on negotiators to the UNFCCC negotiation. This reflects evolving positions in the continent and is a confidential document used by the African Group of Negotiators.

6. KEY REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

AU Assembly Decision on the African Common Position on climate change including the modalities of the representation of Africa to the world summit on climate change (Assembly/AU/Dec.257(XIII)

AU Assembly Decision on the African Common Position on Climate Change (Assembly/AU/Dec.236(XII)

Submission by Algeria on behalf the African Group:: Key Elements of LCA Negotiation Text Final Version - 8 April 2009

Submission by Algeria on behalf the African Group: Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP)