Over the last few years, Africa’s negotiating position on climate change has been guided and coordinated by the African Union Assembly, the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and the African Group of Negotiators (AGN). The AGN consists of technical negotiators of every African country. One country is selected to chair the group for a period of two years; the AGN is currently chaired by Mr. Emmanuel Dlamini from the Kingdom of Swaziland.
At its Bamako meeting in September 2011, AMCEN agreed that the African common position will be continuously backed by new findings, including the best available scientific, economic and technical information, and in this regard, invited institutions, African centers of excellence, the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), and other development partners including the World Bank to support the elaboration of the research agenda in support of the African common position. AMCEN reiterated this call in its last meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania, in September 2012.
ACPC is one of the organizations which responded to AMCEN’s call. In the run up to the Durban climate conference, it developed technical papers on four areas which were identified by the AGN. The four areas were: the provision of short-term finance by developed countries under the UNFCCC; recent scientific information regarding impacts of climate change on agriculture in Ethiopia; stocktaking of experience under the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, including Africa’s experience with the Clean Development Mechanism; and equitable access to sustainable development and efforts in the context of shared vision and global goal under the UNFCCC.
Following the Durban climate conference, the AGN had its first preparatory meeting, in April 2012 in Windhoek, Namibia, which was organized to reflect on the outcomes of the Durban conference and prepare the AGN to the Bonn sessions. ACPC’s team which attended this meeting acquired an updated view of the African position on key issues and held several meetings with lead-coordinators and the chair of the AGN with a view to identifying areas where the centre could provide further support. One of the areas which the AGN requested help is on review of the various studies on the costs of adaptation. The first draft of this paper was presented during the AGN preparatory meeting at Bonn in 2012. The Durban conference launched the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action with a view to developing ‘a protocol, another legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force under the convention applicable to all parties’. This aspect of the Durban Platform raises at least two principal issues. The first relates to the fate of the principle of common but differentiates responsibilities, following the claim by some commentators that the Durban conference marked the end of the principle. The second one relates to the meaning of the various alternative legal forms under which the future regime will be packaged. ACPC made a presentation on the two issues at Bonn in 2012.
In consulting with the chair and the lead coordinators of the AGN, it became clear that a workshop could be organized by ACPC where the lead coordinators could have an opportunity to discuss among themselves as well as experts on key issues in the negotiation. This workshop was held in August 2012. During the workshop, ACPC contributed to the discussion of issues including the New Market Mechanism and global governance framework for various approaches and adaptation costs and finance.
ACPC also accompanied the AGN in the Doha negotiations and provided technical support to the chair and the lead coordinators. Currently, the centre is working on the concept note for a workshop to enhance its relationship with the AGN and identify areas of future support.