UN Secretary General António Guterres inspects a guard of honour shortly before the opening of the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. PHOTO/UN
By PATRICK MAYOYO
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) has asked the international community to allocate more money to climate change adaptation programmes in Africa as opposed to mitigation.
The call was made by, Mr Charles Mwangi, Head of Programs and Research at Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) who said a lot of climate financing was being allocated to mitigation as opposed to adaptation.
“Seventy-five percent of climate finance is going into climate change mitigation and only 25 percent is being allocated to adaptation yet Africa requires more adaptation initiatives,” Mr Mwangi said.
Currently, just a quarter of climate finance funds go towards adaptation, around $20.1 billion. It is estimated that the adaptation costs to developing countries could rise to as much as $300 billion dollars a year by 2030.
Adaptation refers to adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects or impacts. Adaptation can also refer to changes in processes, practices, and structures to moderate potential damages or to benefit from opportunities associated with climate change.
Climate change mitigation refers to efforts to reduce or prevent emission of greenhouse gases . Mitigation can also mean using new technologies and renewable energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management practices or consumer behavior.
The PACJA official was speaking during the launch of the “FOLLOW THE MONEY CAMPAIGN” an initiative to promote transparency and accountability in climate finance and specifically the World Bank driven Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) programme.
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) through the Kenya Platform for Climate Governance (KPCG) and the Wangari Maathai Foundation (WMF) has launched the “Follow-the-Money” campaign to raise public awareness on climate funding. PHOTO/PACJA
Mr Mwangi said there was also need for a global goal on adaptation to provide for new and additional climate finance informed by science adding that the US$ 100 billion a year in climate finance support target for developing countries was not based on proper research and has never been met.
“Recent studies show that Africa alone requires more US$ 3 trillion to addresses problems related to climate change impacts and the current pledge of US$ 100 billion a year in climate finance support for developing countries is not enough,” he said.
The UN Secretary General António Guterres while speaking during UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland last year, urged developed countries to deliver on US$ 100 billion climate pledge to poor nations.
Mr Guterres warned that the current pledge of US$ 100 billion a year target would likely not be met until 2023 three years after the deadline established by the Paris Agreement and would require additional funding after that.
Mr Guterres said that vulnerable countries must have faster and easier access to finance adding he believes that could be achieved by reducing red tape, increasing eligibility thresholds and offering debt relief.
“I urge the developed world to accelerate delivery on the $100 billion dollars to rebuild trust,” Mr Guterres said.
The UN Secretary-General stressed the importance of investments in climate adaptation saying that adaptation works, early warning systems spare lives, and climate-smart agriculture and infrastructure save jobs.
