Raging waters, scorching heat:fund climate activities now!

Raging waters, scorching heat:fund climate activities now!

There is reason to celebrate for climate enthusiasts in the region, seeing that the East African Community Secretariat has developed plans to implement some of the key resolutions of the Paris Agreement.

The fact that all the EAC partner states have signed that climate pact and are all at different stages of ratification shows the seriousness with which the region is willing to tackle climate change.

It has now been confirmed that the world is warming at an alarming and unprecedented rate. The highest level of political commitment is urgently called for in order to combat impending disaster.

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the consequences of climate change.

The harsh effects of climate change in the world are worsening by the day. These effects are being severely felt by the most vulnerable groups in the society, including rural women and the very poor. Climate change impacts most severely on agriculture, which happens to be the major occupation and source of income for most women in the developing world.

More than two-thirds of farm workers are women, who are severely affected by increasingly erratic weather conditions. This has serious ramifications on food security, food availability, food accessibility and food systems stability. Dwindling incomes and harvests from their only source of food and income creates a ripple effect on whole economies.

Failure to combat climate change will adversely affect the war against poverty especially in poor nations. It will also compromise food security across the world.

The just-concluded two-week Climate Change Conference 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco, has amply demonstrated the world’s desire to implement the Paris Agreement. The conference brought together the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12), and the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1).

The constructive spirit of multilateral cooperation on climate change evident at the conference must now be enhanced, in recognition of the fact that no single region can fight climate change on its own.

In order for EAC partner states to achieve the ambitious Paris Agreement goals, appropriate funding will be necessary. Although developed countries have reaffirmed their $100 billion mobilization goal, this amount is hardly sufficient when one considers the adverse contribution of such countries to climate change. The high level industrialisation in these countries translates to a release of huge amounts of greenhouse gases to the environment.

 

The Paris Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency. This of course is important, since every nation must be open and sincere in meeting recommended emission levels.

 

It is commendable that the EAC Secretariat has developed a roadmap on how to implement the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), a key plank of the Paris Agreement. This requires countries to translate the Paris Agreement into concrete steps.

 

Such efforts in the years ahead should ideally include regular reports on emission levels and what is being done to reduce these.

 

It is now incumbent upon the partner states to support the capitalization of the EAC Climate Change Fund. Part of their efforts should involve the accreditation of a Regional Implementing Entity under the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund. Partner States will also need to develop capacities for accreditation of their national implementing entities and develop credible projects that may then be funded by the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund.

 

Sadly, the EAC Climate Fund kitty has remained empty since its inception in 2011. Individual EAC partner states should now make their seed contribution to the Climate Change Fund.

 

In this regard, the plan by the EAC Secretariat, in partnership with African Development Bank, to apply to be a Regional Implementing Entity to the Climate Change Adaptation Fund and Green Climate Fund should be sped up.

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