9/14/2011 - Meeting
of experts to tackle issues left unresolved
in the Cancun Agreements
Bamako (Mali)/Nairobi
(Kenya), 13 September 2011- Lead African
Climate change negotiators and high level
experts from about 50 countries are meeting
in Bamako, Mali to pave the way for African
ministers to consolidate Africa's common
negotiating on a comprehensive international
Climate Change regime beyond 2012.
The experts' segment
of the Fourth special session of the African
Ministerial Conference on the Environment
(AMCEN) on climate change opened today at
the International Conference Center in Bamako.
The conference brings
together about 200 delegates representing
countries, international organizations,
research institutes and civil society organizations.
Speaking at the opening
ceremony, the Minister of Environment and
Sanitation of Mali and President of AMCEN
Prof. Tiémoko Sangaré said:
"It is critical for Africa to achieve
sustained economic growth and eradicate
poverty so as to be able to deal with the
adverse impacts of climate change and we
need to ensure that Africa's priorities
are taken into account during the Durban
negotiations".
He called on experts
to carefully review the issues left unresolved
issues in the "Cancun Agreements",
as these issues will shape the discussions
at the UN Seventeen conference on Climate
change from 28 November to 9 December 2011
in December in Durban.
The need to stabilize
global average temperatures at levels that
are safe for developing countries, particularly
in Africa is one of the pressing issues
that require urgent attention. The UNEP
Emission Gap Report confirms that current
mitigation pledges ? unless strengthened
? will set the world on course for global
warming of between 2.5 to 5°C.
Due to its geographic
and physical characteristics Africa will
warm around one-and-a-half times the global
level, according to the Inter governmental
Panel on Climate Change. More recent studies,
based on historical information, project
that warming of as little as 1°C could
reduce agricultural production by 20% in
certain crops and areas, in addition to
other potentially significant adverse impacts
for Africa and her development.
Other pending issues
include finding a way forward under the
Kyoto Protocol, how to raise and secure
funds needed for the long-term climate financing
and the legal form of a new climate agreement.
UNEP Regional Director
for Africa, Mounkaila Goumandakoye said:
"Africa is vulnerable to climate change
but does not have to be a victim of climate
change. We cannot defer the moment for action
and for influencing the future. We expect
this AMCEN meeting to develop a coherent
strategy and messages for Durban, with the
aim of securing balanced and ambitious outcomes
that serve Africa's needs and interests".
During their deliberations,
experts will also focus on the preparations
for the United Nations Conference on sustainable
development (Rio +20) to be held in June
2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with the
view to secure renewed international political
commitment to sustainable development.
Note to editors:
The experts' segment
of the 4th special session of AMCEN on climate
change will run from 13-14 September and
will prepare the stage for the Ministerial
Conference, which will be opened by the
Prime Minister of Mali, President of the
Republic of Mali, Mrs. CISSE Mariam Kaidama
Sidibe on Thursday 15 September.
The Experts segment
was preceded by a meeting of environment
experts and representatives of ministries
of foreign affairs on the international
environmental governance within the international
framework for sustainable development. The
meeting aimed to discuss Africa's needs
and priorities that will form the key elements
of a continent's common position for Rio+20.
The African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) was
established in 1985 as a forum to strengthen
co-operation on environmental issues between
African governments.
