World leaders meet at Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, in the first week of November for the 27th edition of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, popularly known as COP27.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the geopolitical disruption it has created across the globe have invariably overshadowed the momentum that could have been built in the countdown to the two-week conference, a defining moment for Africa, which faces monumental challenges occasioned by run-away global warming.
In addition, the global food crisis and deepening debt dilemma by countries, the rise of nationalism in Europe as well as energy disruption have relegated climate action to the periphery.
After years of progressive movement towards greener, low-carbon, climate-conscious pathways powered by renewables, some European countries are reconsidering planet-warming fossil fuels to power their homes and industries, exposing the underbelly of oil and coal reliance.
African leaders have gained a stronger spine in their quest to continue exploiting the region's rich oil and gas resources, claiming they need such resources to achieve their continental (AU's Agenda 2063) and individual countries' ambitious poverty reduction and sustainable development blueprints.
Yet, the energy crisis triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict did not make the headlines at the 10th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-X), which took place in the Namibian capital Windhoek from October 26 to 28 this year.
The CCDA is among the outstanding fora for charting African priorities and the last opportunity for position-building before the annual global climate change conference, such as COP27. One reason the Russia-Ukraine crisis barely shaped CCDA discussions is that Africa's focus lies elsewhere. And so, as the continent heads to COP27, a significant task will be to ensure the European crisis does not sway discussions away from the issues critical to Africa.
The CCDA-X theme reflected the general mood in Africa as the continent's negotiators and observers head to COP27. It focused on 'just transition', a subject central to Africa's engagement with the rest of the world in finding lasting solutions to the climate crisis.
Considering the lack of global ambition to reduce emissions, help millions of residents in communities at the frontlines of the climate crisis to adapt, and underwrite the losses and damage that have been incurred, the conference highlighted the need to shift gears from dialogue to action.
Moving from dialogue to action is critical because climate change has left hundreds of millions of Africans in misery. In the horn of Africa alone, prolonged droughts have wiped out crops, ravaged livestock and decimated livelihoods. More than 37 million people in the region face acute hunger.
This month, devastating floods have killed more than 600 and displaced 3.2 million people in Nigeria. The World Meteorological Organisation estimates that high water stress will affect about 250 million people on the continent and displace up to 700 million individuals by 2030. In its latest State of the Climate in Africa report, WMO warns that climate change could destabilise countries and entire regions.
For millions of Africans suffering the impacts of climate change, inaction is no longer an option. That is why as Africans, we are demanding significant progress on adaptation finance at COP27. Africa needs about $53 billion annually in adaptation finance by 2030. But, according to Global Centre on Adaptation, cumulative adaptation finance will hardly cover a quarter of this.
The cost of adaptation will increase as we waste time - and more so, in endless elite-dominated negotiations which never yield any tangible outcome capable of alleviating the suffering of people at the frontline of climate change. Doubling adaptation finance, as pledged in Glasgow, will not make much difference if it does not match the need in the NDCs of African countries, which translates into billions of dollars.
Someone, somewhere, and without pointing fingers, must pay for the losses and damage incurred by African communities afflicted by climate change. Rich industrialised countries that have produced the bulk of emissions and amassed enormous wealth must take up this burden before pointing fingers, and diverting attention elsewhere. Without clear, concrete targets on loss and damage finance, there can be no real progress in Sharm-El-Sheikh.
For Africans, 'just transition', means relieving undue burdens on poor communities, ensuring those most responsible for climate change pay for the damage they have caused, and ensuring the most vulnerable, the hunger-stricken, receive benefits of climate action.
That is why, in our considered view, COP27 should not only raise ambition and accelerate climate action in all areas but, more significantly, place the needs and aspirations of Africans at the centre of international, national and sub-national, long-and short-term intervention measures, as this is the imperative of climate justice.
