PRESS RELEASE: Cop28 Negotiations are Off-Track

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Dubai, December 6, 2023: The African civil society, under PACJA and the Non-State Actors Committee (NSA) together with partners underscore our unwavering commitment to address the urgent climate challenges faced by Africa and the global community. We are here to remind Parties in COP28 of their commitment during their opening statements to deliver an outcome that is credible and impactful, and that is responsive to the aspirations of all of us, and particularly people at the frontline of climate crisis.

We however remain cautiously optimistic on the possibilities of such an outcome, alive to the fact that this outcome may be a mirage unless leaders from developed countries remain faithful to the spirit and letter of the Paris Agreement.

The negotiations so far have been frustrating to say the least, particularly in securing progressive decisions on the Global Goal on Adaptation and its means of implementation.

As COP28 progresses, we are disappointed by slow progress in the adoption of decisions that are progressive and of more relevant significance to Africa. We reiterate that negotiations on adaptation remain pivotal in building Africa’s and indeed world’s resilience to climate change are not on track!

Implementing strong adaptation measures remains at the heart of addressing historical and current climate injustice and this must be complemented with sufficient means of implementation, to be precise climate finance. Africa demands immediate and substantial action to address the lack of sufficient adaptation measures for the continent, recognizing historical injustices.

We remain unrelenting in our call to governments to agree on a robust, ambitious, and solutions-oriented outcome on the operationalization of the Global Goal on Adaptation to help accelerate adaptation action globally. The GGA framework should be complete with metrics and indicators on measuring progress towards implementation of this goal

We further call for a COP28 decision that looks at adaptation finance beyond the narrative of “doubling” and agree that there is no baseline of that “doubling”. In this regard, we need to see the discussions moving towards more than doubling adaptation finance,  with time-bound road-map consistent with the needs and urgency of the adaptation response measures as highlighted in the Adaptation Gap Report.

More importantly, we underscore the central role of agriculture in advancing adaptation imperative for climate-vulnerable people of Africa. Dishearteningly, the perpetual workshop mode in discussions on agriculture do not give hope to climate-stricken farmers in Africa, and this should not be the message we should relay back home!

Whereas everyone wants to celebrate the adoption of the Loss and Damage Transition Committee and announcement by Parties of their pledges, we once again wish to state that our celebrations will only be possible when this money reaches the communities we represent here. We have seen such excitement before, and they have ended in tears – just pledges! We also want to see more pledges, as the amount being thrown into the basket cannot not even address the needs of an African country.

We call on the Parties to UNFCCC to put tighter measures that secure sustained commitment to funding Loss and damage, beyond the charitable actions seen at the opening of COP28.The process of putting in place Protocols and procedures needed to make the loss and damage fund functional must also be fast tracked;  4 years is such a long waiting time for frontline communities battling with challenges emanating from catastrophic disasters emanating from climate change.

We insist that funding for loss and damage should be additional and incremental to existing streams of climate funding, and also ODA. Intelligence obtained by PACJA, so far indicate rich and developed countries are merely repackaging existing climate and/or ODA funding commitment to demonstrate their philanthropy.

The deceit that characterizes these commitments must be addressed, once for all and we are further keen to see new and additional measures secured in this COP to secure transparency at global level in securing pledges

The Global Stock Take cannot be a mere ritual. It has its import which has to bear in COP28 through a demonstrated recommitment to deeply cut emissions by developed countries, a strive to meet climate financing gap – now in trillions, and prioritization of the adaptation agenda. This remains our central commitment that African civil society is keen to see from COP28.

The special needs and circumstances that underpin the context of Africa as a continent and secured in Paris agreement must remain a guiding principle across all the negotiations streams.

As COP28 enters its homestretch, we remain steadfast in advocating for a just and equitable global response to the climate crisis. We urge all Parties to prioritize vulnerable populations, demonstrate genuine commitment to climate justice, just transition, and collaborate for a sustainable future.

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