Climate change / Africa seeks reparations
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 28, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The meeting of representatives of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU on climate change (CAHOSCC) and Lead Experts took place at the Headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa Ethiopia on 24 August 2009. Discussions were held in the presence of the Chairperson of the AU Commission Mr. Jean Ping.
The meeting enabled an African common position to be reached ahead of the Summit on climate change (COP 15), in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. During this international meeting, Africa will make her common position on climate change heard through the African common position which is being presented as a political tool., Africa will claim among others, reparations for the effects caused by climate change on its environment and particularly on the key sectors of its economy.
While retaining the five mainstays of the Bali Plan of Action (adaptation, attenuation, financing, transfers of technology and capacity building) the experts on climate change discussed major constitutive elements of the African common position during the meeting in Addis Ababa.
In fact, aware of the impact and effects of global warming, Africa through her common position on climate change, is preparing her future and envisaging answers to confront the vicissitudes of the climate which will be increasingly frequent in future. This is moreover the context in which Africa is seeking reparations from developed countries because it produces less than 4% green house gases while their effect on the climate could mortgage the future of the continent. The closed door meeting did not however communicate the amount requested.
From this meeting and in view of COP 15, Africa should establish alliances and partnerships which will enable her to better promote and defend her common position. A position which will not be fixed because it will adapt to the trends of climate change and positions adopted by the other parts of the world. On the sidelines of the Special Session on Consideration and Conflict Resolution in Africa which will be held in Tripoli, Libya from 30-31 August 2009, a meeting of CAHOSCC is planned. This meeting of the Committee of Ten (Algeria, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, the AU Chairperson, Chairperson of the AU Commission and Chairperson of the Conference of African Ministers on the environment) will establish an African common position on climate change. The new agreement on climate after 2012 should be signed during COP 15.
SOURCE
African Union Commission (AUC)
