As part of the Moroccan presidency of the Peace and Safety Council (PSC) for October, a ministerial meeting was scheduled this afternoon, Tuesday, October 18th, at the Ministery of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Expatriateson, under the theme: “Climate Change, Peace and Security Nexus: Building Resilience and Adaptation for Food Security in the African Islands” – Towards COP27.
In light of the tight timing given for each intervention, the meeting took roles between AU representatives of different countries such as Tunisia, Cameron, Egypt, and Morocco, mainly about Africa’s priorities in the lead-up to COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.
According to them, COP27 should be about advancing the implementation of the National Determined Contributions (NDCs), including adaptation and mitigation efforts and delivery of finance to enhance implementation.
COP26 concluded the remaining guidance on implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change, therefore, there is an urgent need to advance the implementation of the climate actions taken into consideration.
Among the interventions that highlighted the meeting regarding the matter, Alok Sharma, president of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), described this current situation for the meeting as a « vital important moment », « we’re now just weeks away from COP27, the inextricable link between climate, peace, security, and development around the world, but particularly in Africa, is abundantly clear, climate change exacerbates existing vulnerabilities, it is a threat multiplied as a direct challenge to the hard-won development gains of the last decades, » added the president of COP26 Alok Sharma.
In a manner of appreciation, Mr. Alok Sharma on behalf of the UK expressed that the kingdom strongly supports those efforts and the work toward a mainstream climate in all of the African Union Commission’s activities, adding that he is pleased that members « have put small island developing states at the center of their discussion, rightly recognizing the devastating climate impacts across the global blue economy »
Other interventions were mainly about the importance and urge of climate change finance, recalling that many promises were made back in COP26, yet developed countries did not meet the 100 billion dollars goal annually.
Meanwhile, the African Group shall continue calling on developed country parties to meet their obligation and work with other parties to ensure the swift implementation of the climate finance delivery plan in this tight period of fewer than 3 weeks.
On the other side, Egypt has emphasized the importance that must be given to this matter, as climate change is impacting Africa’s economy as well as the development trajectory, and its adverse impacts are costing lives, in addition to that, Egypt highlighted that this COP27 edition should base on 4 pillars, strengthening planet adaptation, sustaining peace, advancing solutions to climate change, and accelerating climate change finance.
In the end, all interventions were taken into consideration, Mr. Bourita concluded the meeting by thanking all African Union members who joined this meeting, as they all addressed this reality, managing climate impacts alongside its broader work to tackle the existing insecurities.