As the African Climate Summit draws to a close in a few hours' time in Nairobi, Kenya, many questions remain unanswered. Among them is the question of the content of the final declaration of the summit, which has brought together some twenty heads of state and government in Nairobi, Kenya, since 4 September 2023, as well as a number of other personalities. A first draft of the text, which should define the common position of the 54 African countries in the climate negotiations, was presented last Monday by Kenyan President William Ruto and the secretariat of the African Union (AU). The text was roundly criticised by the environment ministers.
At the end of the African Climate Summit on 6 September 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya, the African heads of state and government will adopt the final declaration of the meeting. The Kenyan President, William Ruto, is hoping for an outline of “African solutions” to be put forward at the 28th UN Conference of the Parties on climate change (COP 28), to be held from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In collaboration with the secretariat of the African Union (AU), the East African country prepared the text that should define the common position of the 54 African countries in the climate negotiations in Dubai. But contrary to all expectations, its presentation on 4 September 2023 to the African environment ministers in Nairobi gave rise to disagreements.
Around ten country representatives took the floor, starting with the Comoros, which holds the rotating presidency of the AU. “We had asked for the role of the oceans and the blue economy to be included in the text”, lamented Houmed Msadié, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment (who is also spokesman for the Comorian government), according to an article published in the French newspaper Le Monde. Another dissatisfied party is Botswana, which wants the issue of adaptation to climate change to be clearly set out in the future declaration of the first African Climate Summit.
This view is shared by Egypt, which has specifically requested that the objective of doubling international funding for adaptation be included in the final text of the Nairobi Summit. South Africa’s Minister for the Environment, Barbara Creecy, meanwhile, stated that her country would not support “the call for a new global tax regime to finance large-scale climate action”. Nigeria has also expressed reservations on this point, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.
A single African position would be the start of a solution to the climate crisis
Arlette Soudan-Nonault, the Congolese Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin, was one of the most high-profile speakers, for whom it is also important to emphasise Africa’s contribution and expectations of the biggest polluters. The latter are not necessarily “African”, she insisted. “This is a text that commits the continent to COP28 and beyond. We cannot accept a declaration in which certain passages present the situation in such a shocking way for Africans”, regretted the Congolese authority who is preparing the Three Basins Summit scheduled to take place in Brazzaville from 26 to 28 October 2023. Some environment ministers were all the more shocked that their proposals had already been forwarded to the AU Secretariat, as well as to international organisations. “There cannot be two African positions, the one written in Nairobi and that of our negotiating group”, says the Ethiopian Environment Ministry. And the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (Pacja) told Le Monde’s special correspondent: “Africa must not engage in false solutions. The continent is ravaged by climate change and the carbon markets that the summit wants to promote will not serve climate justice”.
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Indeed, while William Ruto is committed to the energy transition, stimulated by the gradual replacement of carbon-based fuels by renewable energies, this is far from being the case for all African countries, which are still trying to solve the equation of access to electricity. In fact, 600 million people in Africa are still deprived of this basic service. In addition to the need for access to electricity, there are the problems of access to water in the face of drought and food security.
So all eyes remain on Nairobi, where everything is likely to be decided.
Inès Magoum
