Through civil society organizations, Africa intends to make its voice heard at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), scheduled for November 30 to December 12, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
With this in mind, the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) initiated a training workshop in Abidjan on November 14 to equip its member organizations on the various issues that will be addressed at COP 28.
The meeting was chaired by Gustave Aboua, Director General of Sustainable Development, representing the Ministry of the Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition. He expressed his satisfaction with this workshop, which fills the skills gap for NGOs participating in COP 28.
“I would like to congratulate PACJA for this initiative to build the capacity of these NGOs that will go to Dubai for Cop 28. This will enable them to be more familiar with the issues that will be discussed, namely climate finance, carbon credits and loss and damage finance,” he said.
“The training, which brought together some forty participants, will enable these civil society actors to make their own contributions to the debates,” he added. On the stakes of this COP, he added that for the Ivorian side and even for Africa, it is the keeping of promises that is expected from the countries of the North.
He pointed out that since the Copenhagen Conference, the Western countries, as the main polluters, have promised the countries of the South 100 billion dollars per year, but the latter are still waiting.
PACJA national coordinator Anicet Oboué noted that one of the issues at stake at COP 28 is the fulfillment of the promises made by the industrialized countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions are exacerbating the phenomenon of climate disruption.
“It is a tradition for us to participate in the COP, but before we do, we prepare civil society organizations so that they are better equipped to participate in this event. This year, we took the opportunity to launch the ‘Keep your promise’ campaign,” Oboué said.
Under the slogan ‘Keep your promise,’ developed countries are urged to honor their commitments to developing countries to help African countries adapt and build resilience, especially communities already affected by the impacts of climate change,” he continued.
“African countries are severely affected by climate change, so we expect the issue of loss and damage to receive funding that is accessible to all,” said Oboué.
He shared that the priority sectors that will receive the expected funds from Western countries are agriculture, water and coastal issues.
“Today, we can see that our coastline is very vulnerable, with rising sea levels and coastal erosion, which is increasingly advanced in Cote d’Ivoire and causes enormous damage,” Oboué explained.
AP/lb/abj/APA