Ahead of UN Climate Change Conference, Experts Call for Collaboration on Climate Adaptation Across Africa

Emma Okonji

Ahead of the 2022 United Nations’ Climate Change Conference (COP27), with the theme: ‘Adaptation Dialogue: Implementing the Vision’, which is scheduled to hold in Egypt next month, the African Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation, held series of events during the Africa Climate Week to build consensus among African countries and stakeholders on climate adoption and implementation policies. 

During the meetings, experts on climate change stressed the need for Africa to further strengthen collaboration on climate adaptation, and to come up with a position paper at the United Nation’s Climate Change conference.   

COP27 is described as Africa’s COP that would significantly shape the future of Africa on climate change, hence the need to deliver on transformative adaptation agenda, ahead of the United Nation’s conference. 

The experts highlighted the progress made by the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) so far, notably its contribution to narrowing the adaptation gap and accelerating the implementation of the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI). The AAI represents Africa’s bold and innovative step to galvanize the support needed to significantly scale up adaptation across the continent.

Speaking on behalf of the Vice President, Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth, Dr. Kevin Kariuki, the Acting Director of Climate Change and Green Growth Department at the African Development Bank, Al-Hamndou Dorsouma, underscored the urgent need for accelerated adaptation action.

Dorsouma called for accelerated action against climate change while making rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid a mounting loss of life, biodiversity, and infrastructure. He noted that progress on adaptation has been uneven so far, with increasing gaps between action taken and what is needed to deal with the increasing risks.

Senior Director and Africa Regional Director at the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), Prof. Anthony Nyong, highlighted the need to improve climate resilience and adaptation in Africa. He estimated the cost of climate change at $579 billion by 2030, with global finance skewed towards mitigation, but only 7.2 per cent of global finance goes to climate adaptation.

Special Advisor to the President of the Gabonese Republic and the Permanent Secretary of the National Climate Council, Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale, endorsed the AAAP as a primary vehicle for implementing the Africa Adaptation Initiative’s mandate.  The program seeks to mobilize $25 billion to accelerate climate change adaptation actions across Africa.

The AAAP is an Africa-owned and Africa-led response to the continent’s expressed needs and priorities to reduce its vulnerabilities to climate change and harness the opportunities that result from climate change. Since its launch in April 2021, the AAAP upstream financing facility, managed by GCA, has enabled mainstreaming adaptation into investments worth over $3 billion.