Africa plans to take common stand on climate change, peace and security

African Union Commission Director for Conflict Management Sarjoh Bah, Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and UNEP Ambassador Gertrude Angote during the official opening of a three-day African Union member states consultation meeting at Windsor Hotel, Kiambu county. [James Wanzala, Standard]

President William Ruto has welcomed plans by Africa to take a common position on climate change, peace and security.

This comes ahead of the Conference of Parties 29 (COP29) that will held in Baku, Azerbaijan between November 11 to October 22, 2024.

In a speech read on his behalf by Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, during the official opening of the three-day African Union member states consultation meeting at Windsor Hotel, Kiambu county, Ruto said Kenya views the development of a common position as a necessary step in enhancing awareness and collaboration.

“The Government of Kenya supports the objectives of this meeting as outlined in the concept note. We support the interrogation and validation of the Draft Common African Position on Climate Change, Peace and Security and encourage participants to share their various experiences from the various Regional Economic Communities (RECs) represented here,” he said.

“The common position will help to bridge policy gaps, attract much needed climate finance, and enhance our collective decision making processes in matters climate and security," he added.

Ruto is also the Chairperson of the Committee of the African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC).

The Head of State said as a “threat multiplier,” climate-related security risks and threats have intensified health, food and nutrition, water, and energy insecurities across Africa.

“The nexus between climate change, peace, and security is self-evident. Prolonged drought, devastating floods, and storms have wreaked havoc, inflicted massive displacement, induced migration, caused deaths and lost livelihoods, triggered pandemics and other diseases, and created untold economic shocks,” he said.

Kenya in 2021 to 2022 experienced the worst drought in 40 years. Ruto said the two consecutive years without rain visited caused misery on millions of people.

“Kenya lost 2.5 million livestock and economic losses resulting from the drought reached more than USD 1.5 billion (Sh193 billion)," he said.

“Our home region of the Horn of Africa is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Climatic projections show that over the next 15 years, the Igad region is set to heat up twice as fast as the global average," Ruto added.

The President said extreme weather, erratic rainfall patterns, prolonged drought and severe flooding are no longer distant threats but ever present realities ravaging livelihoods.

“The broader socio-economic fabric of the Horn of Africa is intricately interwoven with climate change. The region's agricultural sector, a vital component of our economies faces increased unpredictability due to shifting weather patterns,” said Ruto.  

“This ultimately undermines food and nutrition security, the key facets of human security. Crop failures and reduced agricultural productivity result in economic instability, loss of income, and rising poverty rates,” he added.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Ambassador Gertrude Angote, said during the upcoming COP 29, Africa will present five priorities among them climate finance with calls for adoption of new financing model, adaptation and full operationalisation of the  Loss And Damage Fund.

Others will be Article 6 that focuses on the development of carbon markets, places where countries, companies and individuals can trade greenhouse gas emissions credits and enhanced mitigation.

Africa is the worst affected by climate change yet it’s the least contributor to greenhouse emissions at less than 4 per cent.

African Union Commission's Director for Conflict Management Sarjoh Bah said in May 2018, African Union Peace and Security Council(AU PSC) requested AUC to conduct a study titled "The Link Between Climate Change and Conflicts in Africa and Addressing the Security Implications."

"It also sought, through AU’ Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security (DRAPS) to conduct another Common African Position on Climate Change, Peace and Security Nexus that is to serve a guiding document for AU member states in their engagement on the nexus between climate change, peace and security," said Dr Bah.

The efforts resulted in a comprehensive study titled "Africa Climate Security Risk Assessment (ACRA)"  that will be released during the three-day meeting and report of the AUC Chairperson on Climate, Peace and Security Nexus, which both will inform the development of the common African position on climate change, peace and security.

The meeting will also seek the validation of the common African position on climate change, peace and security draft and identify challenges and bridge gaps in policy, technical capacity, funding and decision making that have hindered the development and implementation of effective climate, peace and security responses.

Special Representative of the Secretary General and Head of the United Nations office to the African Union Parfait Ongang-Anyanga said there is something fundamentally wrong with the prevailing economic model where most African countries are trapped.

“Extractive economics irremediably lead to extractive institutions that perpetuate dependency, governance deficits and exclusion. Exacerbated by the existential climate emergency we are facing, together these challenges play out as powerful ingredients for cyclical conflict and insecurity,” he said.

“With diminishing natural diversity, growing global power and resource competition, mounting impacts on basic livelihoods, negative outcomes for health and morbidity, inflationary pressures on the prices of goods and services, extreme and mounting weather events, rising sea-levels, rising global temperatures, crippling levels of state fragility, and forced displacements on an unprecedented scale, who can question the impact of global climate change on security in Africa,” he added.

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