Climate change is one of the obstacles to Africa’s development, with increasing episodes of drought and their consequences for drinking water supplies and food security. These and other issues will be at the heart of discussions in Nairobi during African Climate Week (ACW 2023), which starts on Monday 4 September. The event, which will bring together a number of African decision-makers, is supported by UN Climate, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the African Union (AU) and a number of development finance institutions, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
“ACW 2023 and all the Regional Climate Weeks provide a platform for policy-makers, practitioners, businesses and civil society to exchange views on climate solutions, the obstacles to be overcome and the opportunities realised in the different regions”, says UN Climate. The activities of this special week will focus on four themes:
-Energy systems and industry,
– Cities, urban and rural settlements, infrastructure and transport,
-Land, ocean, food and water,
– Societies, health, livelihoods and economies.
Several parallel events
As part of the ACW, organised under the theme “African Solidarity for Global Climate Action” from 4 to 9 September, a number of events will be held across Africa, including in the Kenyan capital. In Nairobi, the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the AfDB will be co-organising the 11th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-XI) on 1 and 2 September.
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This is a pre-event to the African Climate Summit, which will bring together “high-level African decision-makers, senior government officials, climate change experts, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to deliberate on the sub-themes of the summit”, says the ECA. CCDA-XI is expected to make detailed analytical recommendations, “based on data and evidence, on the various sub-themes of the summit”, adds the organisation based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The African Climate Action Summit 2023
Kenyan President William Ruto will open the African Climate Action Summit on 4 September at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) in Nairobi. The summit will be attended by a number of African leaders, including Azali Assoumani of Comoros and Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the AUC. The aim is to discuss the impact of climate change, and above all the means of resilience and adaptation to climate change.
According to the 2022 Climate Vulnerability Index, nine of the ten most vulnerable countries are in sub-Saharan Africa, and the 2022 Climate Change Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that West Africa, East Africa and Central Africa are among the hotspots of human vulnerability to climate change.
In addition, Africa needs around $500 billion in climate finance by 2030, according to the AfDB’s African Economic Outlook 2022, which also estimated that the continent will need to invest more than $3 trillion in mitigation and adaptation over the same period to implement its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. The events organised in Nairobi are also intended to prepare for the 2023 Dubai Climate Change Conference (COP28), which takes place from 30 November to 12 December 2023.
Jean Marie Takouleu