Africa must be priority for COP26 – President Tshisekedi

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

In preparation for COP26 at Glasgow, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo and chair of the African Union, President Félix Tshisekedi has urged that priority on most discussions should be on Africa.

“Africa is tired of waiting. For vaccines to protect our people against Covid-19; for investment to ease the worst recession in 25 years; and for help to deal with the increasingly devastating impacts of climate change,” Tshisekedi said in a recent opinion article.

He said climate change could wipe out 15 per cent of Africa’s gross domestic product by 2030, adding that an additional 100m people in extreme poverty by the end of the decade may also be wiped out.

Proffering measures to reduce climate change, he said, “Our way out is to strengthen our ability to respond and adapt to climate change. That’s why the African Union, working with the Global Center on Adaptation, the African Development Bank and other partners, is endorsing the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program.

“ The programme aims to spend $12.5bn over five years, in addition to the $12.5bn already pledged by the African Development Bank, on climate-proofing, creating new jobs and modernising key economic sectors to support upstream efforts to integrate climate adaptation investments at the national level. We know that $25bn over five years is not enough to fully adapt. But it is a start.”

In the run-up to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, some of the world’s wealthiest nations are promising to make good their 2009 pledge to spend $100bn a year mitigating climate change in the developing world.

According to him, “we know they have many options, but the African Union urges them to consider funding our adaptation programme first.

“Because it is Africa’s plan, and because its aims are realistic, necessary and achievable. Five billion dollars a year is a small change — the world spent $20tn to fight Covid-19 — but the key is that this initial capital will help Africa to create much more, through new financial instruments and by de-risking resilience projects to attract private investors.

“ For example, Africa is still playing catch-up in relation to green-bond financing, raising less than $8bn out of a global total of $539bn in 2020.”