The African Development Forum’s 7th session in Addis Ababa this week
This week the African Development Forum has been holding a week-long session in Addis Ababa on the theme of “Acting on Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa.” The Forum was created in 1999 by the African Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission to address development challenges in Africa and to establish a consensual Africa-driven development agenda for the continent. The meeting, the Forum’s seventh session, ended today [15th Oct], adopting a consensus statement covering key challenges and opportunities, and harnessing the means of response to climate change. This covered, inter alia, governance and leadership, awareness raising, the financing of adaptation and mitigation activities, science, technology and innovation, climate data and information, capacity building, and climate risk management, and Africa and international climate change negotiations, as well as various necessary sectoral actions dealing with climate change and infrastructural, social, and human development and governance, peace and security, and ecosystem sustainability. A final section detailed the way forward.
At the opening of the Forum, welcoming statements were made by UN Under-Secretary-General, Abdullahi Janneh, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Jean Ping, and the Forum was officially opened by President Girma Wolde Giorghis. The President noted that global warming might be a global phenomenon but “Africa was feeling the heat more than other parts of the world”. He appealed to the world to recognize this and take urgent action. Failure to do so would be a major injustice to millions of people in Africa who, through no fault of their own, are paying a heavy price for climate change. African leaders are fully aware of the magnitude of the threat posed by climate change and of the urgent and decisive response needed, of the need for collective, meaningful and durable action. The Conference of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSOC) had provided the united political voice necessary for climate change negotiations. The President said it was important for industrialized countries to subscribe to ambitious cuts in green house gas emissions. President Girma noted that Africa had already made heavy sacrifices to adapt to climate change. Millions had succumbed to famine and malnutrition caused by severe droughts induced by climate change. All across Africa, pastoralists were losing their livestock-based livelihoods; the private sector was in desperate need of sustainable energy sources. This was the reality against which the Forum was holding its discussions.
Prime Minister Meles also took part as a panelist on the Forum’s High-Level Leadership Dialogue, under the theme: Governance and Leadership Response to Climate Change. The panel was chaired by Dr. Jean Ping and other panelists were Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana; Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway; and Mr. Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank. In his remarks, Prime Minister Meles suggested that the forthcoming conference at Cancun and the next one in South Africa would be “a total flop”. He said that at the international level there was a leadership crisis on environmental issues, though he was optimistic that the US$100 billion that developed countries had pledged in climate adaptation assistance for developing nations would be forthcoming. However he also emphasized that this figure is only feasible if leaders from the developed countries responsible for most of the climate change were willing to face up to their responsibilities. This funding was not to be given as aid – it was a “down payment on reparations” to a continent suffering from problems it did not cause. Africa did not cause climate change and was paying for crimes it did not commit.
The Prime Minister noted that proper carbon pricing would be enough to raise these funds; and this is where the challenge of leadership lies. The developed world had yet to educate its citizens adequately about climate change, though he appreciated the attitude of the United Kingdom and Norway. Not all NGOs, for example, seemed to realize the seriousness of the problems and some were even opposed to major developments on alleged environmental grounds, apparently wanting certain areas to stay pristine and undeveloped. The Prime Minister said the impact of climate change was raising the cost of development in Africa; and it was important to enlighten people in developed countries about its impact – there could be no separation in Africa between climate change and development.