PAP II Report

PAP II REPORT

The Second African Parliamentarians Summit on Climate Policy, from 10 to 13November 2015 under the theme “Towards a common position on climate justice and equity in the New Universal Climate Change Agreement”, brought together Members of the Parliament of Kenya, the Pan African Parliament, East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), ECOWAS Parliament, Inter-Parliamentarians Committee of west African Monetary and Economic Union (IPC-WAMEU) and Pan-African Parliamentarians’ Network on Climate Change (PAPNCC) in Nairobi,Kenya.

The main objective of the summit was to identify and come up with a common African position on the new climate change agreement which will be negotiated in Paris, France during the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP21 in December 2015.

The Summit was convened on the strength of the objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC), and in particular Article 2 which provides that “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system…within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner”.

African parliamentarians noted the urgency of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the increase in average world temperature to less than 1.5°C relative to preindustrial levels and were concerned that Africa makes insignificant contribution to global warming; yet the continent bears the brunt of the negative impacts.

This summit of African parliamentarians was therefore purposed to boost the strong leadership provided by the Committee of African Heads of State and Governments on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), the African Ministerial Conference

on the Environment (AMCEN) and the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) in advocating for an international Agreement that is legally binding, equitable, fair, ecologically just and responsive to African realities and aspirations. The three-day long summit then resolved that, based on climate science and principles of justice and equity, the Paris Agreement should ensure countries make urgent, dramatic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and, for developed countries, provide the necessary finance and technology transfers for the same transformation in developing countries, as well as the resources needed for poor communities to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts. The Paris Agreement should provide parity between mitigation, adaptation and provisions for enhancing means of implementation, while ensuring a global average temperature increase by the end of the twenty-first century that is well below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Finally, the summit mandated the partners convening the Summit to facilitate the discussion that will result into the establishment of African Climate Legislation

Initiative (ACLI), which will enhance the partnership between Parliamentarians and Civil Society in climate/environmental policy making processes in Africa. A follow-up meeting to evaluate the Paris Agreement outcomes, progress achieved as well as obstacles and constraints remaining, was also recommended

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