COP17 ANOTHER LOST OPPORTUNITY TO DELIVER A DEAL RESPONSIVE TO AFRICAN REALITIES AND ASPIRATIONS

 By VIOLET MENGO

We have ultimately come to the end of the Durban climate change conference with no signals till now of the agreement that African peoples had aspired: second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol and fulfillment of the Bali Action plan.

We are worried that once more, the global community has lost an opportunity to deliver a deal that promises a better future for the poor and health of the planet.

It is however not lost. Anything can happen in the next few hours, and if there is genuine willingness, Durban can deliver a deal responsive to African realities and aspirations. In the last few hours of the climate negotiations we as African civil society want to send an equivocal message to our leaders to reaffirm the African common position that is based on science, justice and the rule of law. On the same note, we urge countries and regional blocs arm-twisting Africa to be “flexible” on their position and lower their ambitions that will ultimately threaten the livelihoods of Africans and our biodiversity to desist from such maneuvres.

The COP17 is the space to conclude talks on the Bali Action Plan with its two- track process in a legally binding form. This is the only credible process. It is essential that the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol with science-based targets of 40% emission reductions by 2017 and 95% by 2050 at 1990 levels by developed countries must be met without loopholes for inaction. We have noticed deliberate efforts to lower these ambitions and maintain the pledges based on the Cancun Agreements that will lead to a 6-degree temperature rise for Africa effectively a death sentence for the continent. The safe level is 1.5 degrees.

Africa also needs new, sustainable, predictable and reliable finance from public sources that is anchored in a democratic and effective architecture. In this regard we consider the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as the big hope to deliver on finance for Africa. The GCF must be able to stand the test of legitimacy as a legal persona and be accountable to the UNFCCC. This is the only way to ensure direct access to finance for the most vulnerable people on our continent. We denounce attempts to turn the GCF into a ‘Greedy Corporate Fund’ that will allow transnational corporations to bypass developing country preferences and community needs. The GCF must be driven by country needs and local level ownership. We reject any maneuvers for the Fund to be housed by any Multilateral Development Bank. We also call for immediate capitalization of the fund agreed at the COP17 and to be based on the scale of need.

We reiterate our support and commitment to the African Common Position and reject any attempts to develop a Durban Mandate which will be an escape from legally binding, ambitious commitments. We support the convergence of the work of the three levels of our African team including the technical negotiators, the ministers, and the heads of state. We call on them to be guided by our clarion call: one African Common Position reject any political compromise in Durban