Live Up to Climate Promises, Harness Power of Natural Resources, Deputy Secretary-General Tells African Ministerial Conference
Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the high-level breakfast meeting on the occasion of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, in Dakar today:
Your Excellency President Macky Sall, Your Excellency John Kerry, dear Ministers, excellencies and ladies and gentlemen, we are in the midst of a climate emergency which is costing lives and livelihoods.
With just 52 days until COP27 [twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change], I thank President Macky Sall, as Chair of the African Union, for placing climate action front and centre at this African Ministerial Conference on the Environment. African environment ministers have set an agenda which underlines that the pursuit of prosperity is impossible without urgent climate action.
Climate action means CO2 emissions must fall by 45 per cent this decade to keep the limit of 1.5°C of global warming alive. It means building resilience to the impact of floods, hurricanes and droughts, in the context of sustainable, inclusive development. Our planet has already warmed up by some 1.2°C — with devastating consequences everywhere.
Africa stands on the front lines of the climate crisis. The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in more than 40 years, putting up to 20 million people at risk of acute food insecurity. At least 7 million livestock have perished, affecting the long-term livelihood and sustenance of millions. And the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that rising temperatures will reduce crop yields by up to one fifth, across the continent.
To support a rapid and just energy transition, the continent requires predictable forms of finance, aligned to the real needs of African countries. Developed countries must keep their promise to provide at least $100 billion a year and to double adaptation finance. This is a first step towards increasing adaptation finance to at least half of total climate finance.
We must simultaneously increase the scale and quality of public finance to help leverage and attract trillions of dollars in private finance that is currently either sitting on the side-lines, or invested in carbon pollution.
Multilateral development banks must become fit for purpose. They must take more risks and be more creative in delivering the support and investments needed.
Excellencies, at the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi earlier this year, countries agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to deliver a global, legally binding agreement on plastics.
This AMCEN [African Ministerial Conference on the Environment] meeting demonstrates the leadership of African countries in driving progress on this agreement. Your focus on developing a biodiversity economy is a critical step to connecting Africa’s growth pathway and enhancing its natural capital.
Nearly two thirds of African citizens depend directly on ecosystem services for food, water, energy, health and livelihoods. Developing a circular economy linked to implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area is a meaningful pathway to delivering a green recovery and ensuring that responsibility for plastic waste is distributed equitably.
Future growth and revenue strategies are also directly linked to sustainably harnessing natural resources. Access to high-integrity carbon markets could generate up to $15 billion per annum for African countries through nature-based sequestration.
Excellencies, I thank African leaders for setting an example, and for driving ambition at the global level as we head into COP27 on climate and COP15 on biodiversity later this year.
Let us live up to our climate promises, harness the power of our natural resources, and work together to transform the prosperity and well-being of Africa and its people. Thank you.