Africa Needs to Position Itself in Global Just Climate Finance

The Executive Director of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, Dr. Mithika Mwenda urges Africa to seek a niche in Global Just Finance. He said this on the sidelines of the 9^th Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-9) taking place in Niamey, Niger from February 25 to March 2023.

In a session that discussed “Consolidating Africa’s Voice and Action for Just Climate Financing in Africa”, Dr. Mithika said that Climate finance has become a contentious issue and the global north countries are using it as a geopolitical issue which doesn’t benefit countries in the global south.

“There are a lot of politics in the way Global Climate finance is designed and in fact it doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground. Countries in the global south and particularly Africa, need to work together to ensure they have a strong voice to push for the just climate finance,” said Dr. Mithika.

The session gave participants the opportunity to reassess milestones secured in COP27 and the role climate finance plays in the negotiation process. In almost all post-COPs, CSOs actors analyze the outcome of the question of Climate financing and the latter has been seen as the ignored issue by the rich countries at the negotiation table.

Bertha Argueta, the Senior advisor- Climate Finance and Development for German Watch said the consistent voice of African civil society organizations and of African countries has been contributing a lot and due to that, key achievements were attained including recognition of adaptation finance, creation of GCF and other funding mechanisms, recognition of loss and damage which is one of the resolutions of the last COP27  in Sharm – El -Sheikh, Egypt in 2022.

However, she says global finance has not addressed the real purpose as funds are not reaching where they are intended to be.  “Access to finance is still a challenge and we need to see funds channeled at the local level to address the adaptation finance” suggested Bertha.

To Jean Paul Adams, Director for Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Africa needs to come up with creative and innovative climate finance approaches since the global finance mechanisms seem to be slowing the process.

“We need to look for other innovative approaches such as incentivization of carbon market because Africa is playing a big role in sequestrating high amounts of the quantity of Carbon dioxide” suggested Jean-Paul.

The UNFCCC defines Climate Finance as local, national, or transnational financing—drawn from public, private, and alternative sources of financing—that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change. The Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement calls for financial assistance from Parties with more financial resources to those that are less endowed and more vulnerable.

Participants explored Africa’s misses of a common understanding of issues of climate finance and that fragmentation has always made countries rely on external support to address shocks caused by climate change. They urge that innovative solutions should be put in place for countries to be self-reliant.