Adaptation a key priority for the continent, say AGN representatives; they expect COP28 to result in tangible outcomes which reflect Africa’s aspirations
Collins Nzovu, chair of the African Group of Negotiators, addresses a press conference on December 9 at COP28. Photo: Josh Gabbatiss
@Josh_Gabbatiss / X An outcome on the framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) is crucial for the success of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, according to the African Group of Negotiators (AGN).
The AGN represents the views of all 54 countries on the African continent. But negotiations on the GGA are still slow after the ministers took over on December 8, 2023.
“The outcome of the GGA is the most important outcome for Africa at COP28, without which we would consider COP28 a failure,” declared Collins Nzovu, Zambian MP & Minister of Green Economy and Environment as well as AGN chair, at a press conference on the morning of December 9.
“We expect a robust Framework on the GGA outcome as the work programme comes to a close at this session and we are disappointed by the lack of progress on this important issue in the first week,” Nzovu added.
He said adaptation was a key priority for the African continent and that they “expect COP28 to result in tangible outcomes which reflect Africa’s aspirations, especially on the need for enhanced climate adaptation”.
Nzovu also highlighted the ‘scale of the problem’ revealed by the Adaptation Gap Report released by the United Nations Environment Programme in November 2023.
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The report had revealed that the gap in finance for adaptation between the needs of developing countries and what they were getting from developed countries was 50 per cent higher than previously thought.
It had also highlighted that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries were 10-18 times higher than the financial flows from the developed to the developing countries. Nzovu reiterated both these figures from the report.
He also reiterated what Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, had said after the Adaptation Gap Report was published: “Lives and livelihoods are being lost and destroyed, with the vulnerable suffering the most. We are in an adaptation emergency. We must act like it. And take steps to close the adaptation gap, now.”
Nzovu also said the development of qualitative and quantitative dimensional and thematic science-based targets, that are measurable and time-bound, was at the heart of the framework. He also stated: “The means of implementation, including finance, capacity building, and technology transfer, will be a critical component of the GGA framework.”
There is an option in the finance/means of implementation section of the draft text of the GGA that puts a target of $400 billion per year till 2030 to be provided for the adaptation needs of developing countries.
The text also identifies the fact that even if developed countries doubled their financial contributions for adaptation, the adaptation finance gap in developing countries would be filled by only 5-10 per cent.
Nzovu also strongly highlighted in his speech that the developed countries have still not met their $100 billion goal per year by 2020 under the Paris Agreement and their goal to double adaptation finance from 2029 to 2025 levels remains an “undertaking on paper”.
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