More than 20 African countries, including Ghana, appear to have betrayed the interest of the Continent by associating with the Copenhagen Accord, which was reached compromisingly at last December's Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

According to African civil society groups, the Copenhagen Accord was a product of a non-transparent and undemocratic process which will not serve the interest of African countries due to its unrealistic commitments. Besides, attempts to entrench and run the Accord as a parallel mechanism for Climate Change through endorsement by individual nations is subversive of the United Nations system.

At a Pan African Conference on Climate Justice and Post-Copenhagen Dialogue held in Accra from March 15 to 17, the civil society activists from 33 countries urged African nations yet to assess the Accord to disregard it. They gave the same counsel to the 23 countries which have already expressly written to associate themselves with the Accord.

The dialogue was organized by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) in collaboration with other partners with the ultimate aim of providing a platform for stakeholders to discuss and come up with collective action plans in view of preparations for the next round of climate change negotiations.

Ghana, which has a 0.05% share of the world's total green house gases (GHGs) and a 1.0 per capita carbon dioxide emissions (CO2), formally submitted letters to the United Nations indicating association with the Accord on January 13. In an additional letter dated February 15, 2010 and signed by Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ghana submitted an initial list of what "it considers as nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs)" to the Secretariat of the UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany.

Announcing Ghana's readiness to "sign up" to the Accord in January, Ms Ayitey said, "The accord embodies useful elements that set the stage for future international negotiations and provide a solid foundation and a sound political direction over the coming months because it was able to address some major difficult issues that bedeviled the technical negotiations committee."

Algeria, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, DR Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda and Senegal are among the 23 African countries that have indicated association. January 31, 2010 was marked as deadline for parties to the Copenhagen Accord to submit their respective plans for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The African group, led by Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, went to Copenhagen to negotiate, among other things, emissions reduction by industrialized nations of a least 45% by 2020 and 95% by 2050 from 1990 levels. The Continent's leaders also negotiated a global temperature rise of 1.5 Degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels which will mean a 2.5 Degrees Celsius temperature rise in Africa.

Most popularly, the G77 and China group and pro-developing country civil society groups wanted a two-track conclusion to the negotiations. First, they wanted the adoption of a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol (KP) for Annex 1 Parties (developed countries) to make emissions reductions under the Protocol. Secondly, they sought a legally binding agreement as the outcome of the negotiations.

In the last few hours of the negotiations, however, a document agreed upon by a small group of countries emerged as a compromise agreement and was finally "noted" without adoption as the Copenhagen Accord by the delegates because their expectations and demands were not comprehensively addressed. Essentially, commitments in the Copenhagen Accord include financing approaching $30 billion for the period 2010-2012 and up to $100 billion annually by 2020 for adaptation and mitigation. It is also agreed that a Copenhagen green climate fund will be established as the financial mechanism of the Accord. It is understood that access to the funds is tied to signing the accord.

Civil society argues that pledges made under the Accord will only reduce emissions by Annex I countries by only 13-19 percent by 2020 compared to the over 40% required. Further, the Accord would contradict many of the principles (including equity and common but differentiated responsibilities) and provisions of the UNFCCC.

According to Mithika Mwenda, PACJA Coordinator, "Our last hope, Copenhagen, came and concluded with utter disappointment." He explained that the outcome of the COP15 would not return hope to "poor communities in Africa whose livelihoods have been turned down by climate change."

Sena Alouka, Executive Director, Jeures Volontaires pour l'Environnement, Togo, told Public Agenda that "Personally, I think is a big mistake for them to sign" the Copenhagen Accord, stressing that, "Our main concern is that this two-and-a-half page document emerged from an undemocratic and illegal process."

He said he viewed the decision to sign as a political decision more than "a technical or real climate issue or real community development issue."

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim of the Indigenous People's of Africa Coordinating Committee said "The Accord did not take into account all the engagements on adaptation fund and mitigation." She said she recognized the independence and sovereignty of the individual nations to make whatever decisions they wanted but wondered whether "their decisions are in the interest of their people who are suffering from climate change."

George Awudi, Chair, Local Organising Committee of the Pan African Dialogue, noted that the Accord has actually watered down the momentum that the international community had generated before the conference. "The fact that it was not adopted by the 110 presidents sitting shows that it was a bad deal," he emphasized.