Third Parliamentarians’ Summit on Climate Policy and Equity in Midrand, South Africa

We won’t stop reminding the World that Africa is the most vulnerable region to climate change – Dr. Mithika Mwenda

 Today May 16, 2023, Parliamentarians from across all African states, civil society organizations, academia, youth representatives, and other stakeholders kicked off the third parliamentarians’ summit on climate policy and equity in Midrand, South Africa.

The  summit was organized by Pan African Parliament and Pan African Climate Justice Alliance and attracted over 200 Members representing 54 African countries in PAP, including the Bureau, all standing Committees, members of the Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources; Representative Parliamentarians from National and Regional Parliaments, African Union (AU) Institutions, critical stakeholders, resource persons from relevant institutions, including PACJA and other relevant stakeholders.

 Addressing participants Dr. Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director of Pan African Climate Justice told delegates that it has become routine for African countries to demand justice over adverse impacts of climate change the continent is facing.

“We won’t stop reminding the World that Africa is the most vulnerable region to climate change, despite contributing the least to its causes. Indeed, the impacts of climate change as so vivid that we no longer need a scientist to warn us how things have changed – more frequent and intense droughts, floods, heatwaves, storms, and other extreme weather events that threaten our food security, water availability, health, infrastructure, biodiversity, and peace” said Dr. Mithika Mwenda.

The Pan African Parliament President, Ho. Chief Fortune Chirumbira, highlighted that Africa has been having speeches and conferences revolving around climate change but the time has come to change the narrative and walk the talk as a continent.

“We need a strong institutional arrangement out of this summit and leadership must play a big role in this. Without leadership, nothing will be achieved. Let’s avoid repeating what we have said in the past. We need to interrogate why Development countries are not respecting what they have committed for” said Hon. Chief Fortune Charumbira, President of PAP.

The summit takes place a few months before the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, and the 28^th Conference of Parties (COP28) which will take place in the Arab Emirates in December 2023.

Pan-African Parliament and Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance have been working together to promote an understanding of the role of fighting against the impact of climate change in Africa.

Among many other objectives, the summit intends to reflect, enhance interaction, and promote partnership in policy and legislative work, and define an action agenda (a communique) with other stakeholders in the GST process and COP28.

It will explore possible long-term inter-governmental and cross-border cooperation on the ongoing conversations around the transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient development, particularly in the energy transition debate.

 Furthermore, the summit is expected to increase the profile of adaptation and locally-led climate action through exploring funding/climate action finance options, capacity building, awareness raising, sharing of perspectives and best practices, networking, and coordination of parliamentarians in NDCs implementation, both in Africa and globally.