Africa Partnership Forum: Special Session On Climate Change

Addis Ababa, 03 September 2009 (ECA) - The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Meles Zenawi, who is  leading the African team to the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December, said in Addis Ababa that African countries would not blindly support any position that did not factor in the continent’s specific interests. Mr. Meles Zenawi was recently appointed the coordinator of the Committee of African Heads of States and Governments on Climate Change.

"Africa Will Not Just Rubberstamp, A New Climate Change Agreement - Prime Minister Meles Zenawi"

In a keynote address to the special session of the African Partnership Forum (APF), hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Prime Minister said while African negotiators would reason with everyone to achieve the continent’s objective, they would not rubberstamp any agreement by the powers that be as the best Africa could get for the moment.

“We will use our numbers to delegitimize any agreement that is not consistent with our minimal position,” said Mr. Zenawi, adding: “If need be, we are prepared to walk out of any negotiation that threatens to be another rape of our continent.”

The Prime Minister said Africa’s main interest was not to claim compensation for climate change and its damages, but to prevent damages in the first place because Africa’s eco-systems are amongst the most fragile in the world and highly vulnerable to small changes in temperature.

He said while Africa had no choice but to live with the unavoidable levels of current global warming, it will seek compensation and assistance to limit the damage.

“What we are not prepared to live with is global warming above the minimum unavoidable level,” he said. Mr Zenawi said Africa would never accept any global deal that does not limit global warming to the minimum unavoidable level, no matter what levels of compensation and assistance are promised to the continent.

Earlier in a welcoming remark, ECA’s Executive Secretary and chief host of the special session, Abdoulie Janneh, said the scale of devastation caused to Africa by climate change, compels Africa to seek partners in order to respond vigorously to the challenge.

He said the objective of the meeting, therefore, was to build a coalition around Africa’s key concerns and expectations ahead of the negotiations in Copenhagen, stressing that the special session was an integral part of Africa’s preparatory processes, guided by the decisions of African heads of state and resolutions of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).

Stating that Africa’s major concerns were related to adaptation, mitigation, technology development and transfer, capacity building and financing, Mr. Janneh said a Copenhagen outcome must be premised on a shared vision that unites the countries of the world in forging a just, equitable and inclusive climate change regime that recognizes the need for effective partnership in addressing the threat of climate change.

APF was established in November 2003 to broaden existing high-level G8/NEPAD dialogue to include Africa's major bilateral and multilateral development partners. Its mission is to strengthen partnership efforts for Africa's development.

Ministers in charge of the environment from Sierra Leone, Republic of Congo, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Cameroon, Sudan, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Algeria as well as high level representives from Africa's development partners from Portugal, UK, France, Canada, Italy, USA, Denmark, Germany, Russian Federation and Norway, are among over 100 stakeholders and experts attending the one-day meeting.

Click here to get the Joint Statement made by the Africa Partnership Forum after the Special Session

Source: ECA Information and Communication Service

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