By Hauwa Ali
The Fourth edition of the Africa Climate Talks (ACTs!), begins today, July 27 in Maputo, Mozambique.
Themed “Ensuring a just and equitable transition and human security in Africa: building resilience,” the program comprises hybrid in-person and virtual participation.
ACTs 2022 is co-hosted by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Eduardo Mondlane University, with the participation of other UN Agencies, the Africa Union Commission, African Development Bank, and the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).
2022 ACTS comes against the backdrop of more frequent and severe weather events, including unprecedented droughts, cyclones and tropical storms in East and Southern Africa.
The first session covers the Eastern and Southern African regions of the continent with discussions which cover disaster preparedness, early warning systems, and insights of the sixth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), just transition, resilience building and the global stock take on adaptation.
The all-inclusive forum will also benefit from engagement with the different policy and practical responses to climate impacts, and seek to contribute to the realization of the aspirations of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by identifying pathways to climate resilient development.
A second edition will be convened in Niger, casing the experiences and perspectives of the central, western and northern African regions.
The African Climate Talks has established itself as an important dialogue space that gathers regional climate perspectives from the grassroots organizations, civil societies, youth, women groups, the private sector alongside the academia and governments.
Since inception in the lead up to the Paris Agreement in 2015, ACTs! has served as the ground zero, which sets in motion the consolidation of an African common position at the annual United Nations Conference of Parties meeting on climate change.
ACTs! serves as a forum for the continent to deliberate current concerns and catalyze African narratives and perspectives on climate change and economic development.
James Murombedzi who heads the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) says that the fourth ACTs! brings together Africa’s academia, civil society, private sector, regional institutions and development partners to contribute to continental discourses aimed at amplifying African narratives and solutions to the climate emergency.
According to Murombedzi, the revitalized fourth ACTs! deliberations will also spotlight just transitions, science-informed climate action and resilience building.
The solutions-oriented ACTs! will dwell on effective early-warning, early action systems and a just-transition that supports sustainable economic development pathways for Africa.
The issue of regional cooperation, continental synergies and global solidarity, aided by a strong multilateral framework in line with the aspiration of the Paris Agreement framework will also feature in the intensive ACTs! deliberations.
The 2022 edition of the ACTs! forum will help formulate the agenda and tone setting for the much-awaited CCDA-X conference that crystallizes the African message for COP27 slated for Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt later in November.
According to Murombedzi, the fourth ACTs! is cognizant of the climate related hazards facing the region and prioritizes science-based, informed decision making to empower policy and decision makers to act appropriately in a timely manner to safeguard development gains as well as ensure ocio-economic progress.
