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Africa toughen stance at climate change negotiations
One key message which participants at the Ministerial Dialogue on Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in Africa may have taken with them is the fact that Africa was not at the climate change negotiations in Paris to beg but instead ensure that agreements reached are fair, within historical considerations and was binding.
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"We need a binding agreement or we will be back to square one", the President of the African Development Group, Dr Anthony Akinwumi Adesina remarked.
Dr Adesina was addressing ministers from Niger, Gabon, Uganda, Egypt, Namibia and also heads of delegation from other African countries including Ghana during the Ministerial Dialogue on Africa Day on Tuesday.
"We must leave Paris with an effective agreement. Africa has not come begging but with solutions. Africa's INDCs are the most ambitious, and demonstrates its preparedness to reducing carbon emissions", he stated.
The continent, he said would need support in line with the 'Common but Differentiated Responsibilities' to ensure that the continent did not suffer unduly from the ravages of climate change effects caused by the industrialisation of the developed countries.
Similarly, the President of the Pan-African Parliament, Mr Roger Nkodo Dang, also remarked " Africa is not here to beg but to be a part of the solution to the fight against climate change".
He observed that climate change was the single most threatening environmental challenge now and that there was no time to waste.
"INDCs can blur what's really required and Africa maybe shortchanged. However, it serves as a useful and an important landmark", he stated.
Africa's request
Africa is among others asking developed countries to support its countries with adequate funding and technology transfer for adaptation and mitigation of climate change effects.
But, more importantly, it is asking developed countries to set binding targets for carbon emissions to halt green house gas leading to global warming.
Current global temperature is about one degree celsius, and it is projected that the world could experience a temperature rise of about 3°C in the next decade if drastic measures were not taken to address the factors leading to this development.
Current situation
Statistics from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that from 1880 to 2012, average global temperature increased by 0.85°C.
"To put this into perspective, for each 1 degree of temperature increase, grain yields decline by about 5 per cent. Maize, wheat and other major crops have experienced significant yield reductions at the global level of 40 mega tonnes per year between 1981 and 2002 due to a warmer climate", it said.
Already, many countries on the continent are facing the impacts of climate change recording in recent times, severe droughts, floods, and food insecurity precipitated by land degradation and deforestation.
From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded due to warming and ice melted.
It observed that greenhouse gases occurred naturally and was essential to the survival of humans and millions of other living things, through keeping some of the sun’s warmth from reflecting back into space and making Earth livable.
"But it’s a matter of scale. A century and a half of industrialization, including clear-felling forests and certain farming methods, has driven up quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere".
The panel concluded after its fifth assessment report that "climate change is real and man is the main cause".
INDCs
So far, 53 out of the 54 countries in Africa have submitted their INDCs to the UNFCCC Secretariat. Only Libya is yet to submit its INDCs.
Parties to the Kyoto Protocol were required to submit their INDCs stating how much contribution they can make towards cutting carbon emissions to reduce global warming now threatening the survival of generations yet unborn.