PACJA high- level CSOs meeting to solicit Commonwealth support on COP27

Kigali, Rwanda 20 June 2022: African civil society groups plan to solicit the support of the Commonwealth to have their positions brought at the centre of discussions at the 27^th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate change.

Coalescing under the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, the CSOs representatives will be in Kigali, Rwanda when the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) takes place from June 20 to June 25, 2022.

“Rwanda holding CHGOM this year is of particular interest to Africa given that the meeting comes when Africa is preparing to host the 27^th Conference of parties to the UN Framework convention on climate change (COP27) in Egypt later in the year,” said Mr Faustine Vuningoma, the executive director of the Rwanda Network on Climate Change and coordinator of the designated national platform of PACJA in Rwanda.

According to Charles Mwangi, the acting executive director of the PACJA, the Commonwealth is a big player at the global stage and has a vibrant Climate Change Programme, which facilitates the human and institutional capacity development of member countries to access public and private climate funding to meet their Paris Agreement commitments, including the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions.

Crucial however, Mwangi said is the fact that the Commonwealth Climate Change Programme advocates for international policies, mechanisms and rules to be more responsive to the development needs of vulnerable countries, to which all Africa belongs.

“We are here to engage and find some common ground upon which we may seek support of not just the Commonwealth but all other people and institutions of goodwill which may help us have COP27 be a COP for the African people,” he said.

As Africa, we are demanding that the upcoming COP27 must as a basic minimum, ensure that there is predictable financing of Loss and damage in quality and quality separate from Official development assistance (ODA), Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The IPCCC evidence shows that of warming over land regions across Africa, consistent with anthropogenic climate change, has increased. The IPCCC reports notes that a reduction in precipitation is likely over Northern Africa and the southwestern parts of South Africa by the end of the 21^st century.

Already, African ecosystems suffer badly from climate change, and future impacts are expected to be substantial in addition to the amplification of the existing stress on water availability in Africa.

The 6th IPCC assessment report which was presented in the first Glasgow dialogue meeting during COP 26 in Glasgow Scotland indicated that the excessive death rate from non-optimal temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be nearly double the global average.

Contrary to the outcomes at the recently concluded 56th Session of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) and Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI), CHOGM must support Africa to have negotiations on Loss and Damage as an agenda at COP27.

Mwangi said Commonwealth members should showcase the example of Scottish government which provided financial support for loss and damage, sending a clear message to other developed countries that this is not only possible, but it is the only sensible thing to do in the light of the increasing number of communities impacted by floods and other climate-related calamities.   

Not least, the CSOs representatives said the demand by Africans to be considered as  a region with special needs and circumstance stands, and vowed to reach out to all parties to ensure that this holds at COP27.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) brings together delegations from 54 nations from Africa, the Caribbean and Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific and aims to reinforce multilateral cooperation, explore new opportunities, and tackle common challenges for the well-being of future generations.

The Commonwealth is an array of voluntary association of 54 independent and equal sovereign states with a combined population of 2.5 billion people some of who live in 32 small states, many of which are island nations.