The African Development Bank (AfDB) will host a two-day roundtable consultation on African Perspectives on Climate Change Financing, from 21-22 September 2010 in Tunis.
The Bank's Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Nkosana Moyo, will open the roundtable on behalf of President Kaberuka who is attending the United Nations High-level Plenary Meeting on Millennium Development Goals.
It will be recalled that the fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP 15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which took place in Copenhagen Denmark from 7-18, December 2009, agreed on a political settlement called the Copenhagen Accord. The Copenhagen Accord calls for a collective commitment by developed countries to provide new and additional resources, including investments through international institutions, about US.$. 30 billion (fast-track financing) for the period 2010 - 2012 with balanced allocation for mitigation and adaptation. The accord further commits developed countries to jointly mobilise US.$. 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries. So far, 138 countries have agreed to the Accord.
However, as the Copenhagen Accord is a non-binding political agreement, there were concerns that these political pledges would follow the same path as earlier promises - and would remain unmet.
This concern prompted the UN Secretary-General to establish the High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF) on 12 February 2010. The group is currently co-chaired by Prime Ministers Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Jens Stoltenberg of Norway and has three African members - Mr. Trevor Manuel, Mr. Cisse Soumaila and Dr. Donald Kaberuka. The AGF is tasked with studying potential sources of generating new and additional resources from developed countries for financing actions in developing countries, in the spirit of political commitments contained in the Copenhagen Accord. It is anticipated that the output of the study will contribute to an appropriate decision of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties at its 16th session in Mexico.
The main objective of this consultation meeting is to bring together key African Stakeholders to discuss progress made to date by the AGF with a view to having their perspectives reflected in the final report of the AGF that is due to be approved on the 12 October 2010. Incorporating African perspectives would enhance the report's acceptability by African states.
The Bank will take the opportunity offered by the Roundtable and the convergence of key stakeholders to seek further support towards creating the Africa Green Fund, enhance discussions as an opportunity for enhanced dialogue on the common African position in the run-up to COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico from 29 November 11 December 2010, and to showcase the Bank's climate change program for the continent and the opportunities available to the Bank's regional member countries.
Some 30 participants representing Africa's climate change negotiators leadership, African parliamentarians, private sector operators, policy-makers, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Designated National Authorities, finance and carbon market institutions and regional banking institutions, will participate in the roundtable.
The roundtable will consist of key presentations and moderated discussions around key sources of financing climate change and their implications for Africa. The outcome of the roundtable will be a report and a communiqué that will present views from the continent that President Kaberuka will table at the next meeting of the AGF Principals in October 2010.
Contacts
Ernest Achonu
