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Key commitments
Africa: To address the threat posed by climate change, Africa’s leaders have taken several decisions and resolutions through the African Union and the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) including urging states and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to integrate climate change adaptation at national and regional levels. AMCEN recently called upon African governments and the RECs to expedite the implementation of existing programmes and initiatives on climate change.
Development partners: Under the Kyoto Protocol, a number of developed and transition economies committed to collectively reduce GHG emissions by at least 5% below 1990 levels in the first commitment period (2008 to 2012) and agreed that the Conference of the Parties (COP) shall initiate the consideration for commitments for subsequent periods. Although COP 16 in December 2010 did not reach agreement on a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, the Cancun Agreements recognised the goal to limit average global temperature rise to below 2˚C and all industrialised countries and many emerging and developing economies have put forward national targets for emission reductions. However, details of the future international climate policy framework for emission reductions, including the future status of the Kyoto Protocol, remain to be worked out.
What has been done to deliver on these commitments?
Africa: African governments and the RECs have taken action to develop regional frameworks of climate change and to develop a common negotiating position on climate change. Regional frameworks of climate change programmes have been completed for all five sub-regions. Thirty one African least-developed countries have developed National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPAs) focused on urgent and immediate adaptation needs; 15 have received approval for funding. 18 African countries have submitted Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). At the regional level, the AfDB, the AUC, and UNECA have launched the Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) programme to improve climate-related information and its use in developing processes in Africa. The African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) was established to support knowledge development, advocacy, and capacity building for climate change. To enhance Africa’s role in climate negotiations, the AU established the Conference of African Heads of State and Governments on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) to ensure effective coordination.
Development partners: In aggregate, Annex I Parties to the UNFCCC reduced emissions by 10.6% excluding emissions from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) between 1990 and 2009.
Cuts have been driven primarily by significant reductions in transition economies and to a lesser extent among the original 15 members of the European Union while emissions from other industrialized countries have risen in aggregate. Recent trends appear lacklustre. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), after a dip in 2009 caused by the global financial crisis, energy-related emissions are estimated to have been the highest in history in 2010. According to UNEP estimates, pledges to reduce emissions by industrialised countries and (voluntary) plans of action by developing and emerging countries made so far show that under the ‘best’ scenario, total emissions will only be cut by 16% compared to reductions by at least 25-40% by developed countries below 1990 levels in 2020 as recommended by scientific evidence to put us on an emission pathway consistent with the 2ºC goal.
Jointly: Parties to the UNFCCC have established, among others: i) the Cancun Adaptation Framework to help developing countries protect themselves from climate change impacts; ii) a Green Climate Fund to help deploy and manage long-term climate funds in support of developing countries; and iii) a new Technology Mechanism to facilitate technology development in and transfer to developing countries. In Cancun, the Parties agreed on approaches and incentives relating to the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and addressed the goals to slow, halt and reverse loss of forest cover.
What results have been achieved?
Projections confirm that Africa will be disproportionately affected by climate change because of overreliance on rain-fed agriculture and weak capacity. The short-term impact has been severe. According to the World Meteorological Organization, temperatures for the 2001–2010 decade in Africa averaged 0.85°C above normal. While it is not clear how far the current conditions can be attributed to climate change, very sparse rains over two seasons combined with a strong La Niña event, have caused a severe food crisis which is affecting around 10 million people in the Horn of Africa. While impacts are increasing in severity, mainstreaming climate adaptation efforts in Africa have begun but face challenges. At the country level,16 countries, assisted by development partners, are building capacity to integrate climate change into development planning. 30 countries have prepared Technology Needs Assessments (TNAs). Learning forums to share knowledge and good practices, such as the African Adaptation Programme and AfricaAdapt, have been established. But lack of resources and weak capacity continue to impede implementation. Less than 10% of projects covered under NAPAs have received funding.
At the regional level, ClimDev-Africa has yet to become operational although the recent decision by the AfDB to budget US$145 million for the ClimDev Special Fund is expected to help. ACPC has only been operational since November 2010. Regional frameworks of climate change programmes will need more work before they can effectively be implemented.
At the global level, while the Cancun Agreements have helped to move the climate negotiations forward, key political decisions will still be needed at COP 17 in Durban to operationalise agreed mechanisms on adaptation (in particular, the modalities, composition and governance of the Adaptation Committee), funding (see detail in Climate finance), MRV of climate actions and finance and the modalities of international appraisal of country progress, and technology transfer (access to climate-friendly technologies, intellectual property rights, more support for adaptation technologies, and linkages between technology and finance). On mitigation, wide differences remain in the positions of developing and industrialised countries including on the legal status of commitments, the potential for new market-based instruments, and the future of the Kyoto Protocol.
What are the future priority actions?
Africa:
• Build appropriate institutional frameworks at regional, national and sectoral levels to help integration of climate change into national development programmes;
• Coordinate activities between climate resiliency and low carbon development more systematically.
Development partners:
•Sustain momentum on making institutions for climate funding, technology cooperation and adaptation fully functional;
•Substantially increase the ambitions of emission reductions and agree on an institutional framework required for the world to stay below the maximum 2˚C temperature rise;
•Ensure that adaptation no longer remains the poor sister of mitigation in allocation of effort and funds.
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