Declaration on Climate Change Adopted by African Ministers

NAIROBI, Kenya- In a special session yesterday, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment has adopted the Nairobi Declaration which provides African countries with a platform to make a strong case for international support at the upcoming Copenhagen Convention for combating climate change.

“Africa’s environmental ministers have signaled their resolve to be part of the solution to the climate change challenge by forging a unified position, with diversity of economics, in advance of the crucial United Nations climate convention meeting in Copenhagen (Denmark) in just 192 days time,” said Achim Steiner, United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme, which hosts the AMCEN secretariat.

Mr. Steiner added in his statement that, “the development prize for Africa is an acceleration of clean and renewable energy projects and payments for carbon-storing ecosystems from forests up to eventually perhaps dryland soils, grasslands, and sustainable agriculture.”

Africa’s common negotiating position on a comprehensive international climate regime beyond 2012 will be submitted for consideration and adoption by the heads of state at their summit in July 2009.

The African position stems from the fact that Africa has the lowest per capita emissions, and yet bears the highest impact of climate change with projections showing by 2020, in some African countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent, according to UN data. During this same timeframe, between 75 million and 250 million people in Africa are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change.