CAHOSCC MEETING IN DOHA: COOPERATION, COORDINATION AND COHESION AROUND THE AFRICAN COMMON POSITION
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, December 4, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – “We need to join forces to encourage Annex II Parties to specify the amount of finance they intend to mobilize from the public sector to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) during each year from 2013 to 2019″, said Mr Haile-Mariam Dessalegn, Prime minister of the Republic Federal Democratic of Ethiopia in his address to the meeting of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), gathered on Monday 03 December 2012, at Qatar Convention Center, Doha, Qatar.
The Prime Minister, who was speaking as the new coordinator of CAHOSC, a role that he has assumed after the untimely passing away of Mr. Meles Zenawi, explained that during COP-15 in Copenhagen and COP-16 in Cancun, the African Group succeeded in starting the process to establish the GCF, which governing instrument was approved during COP-17 in Durban. He added that industrialized countries have agreed, within the context of the GCF, to raise 100 billion USD per year by 2020 in order to help developing countries adapt meaningfully to climate change and mitigate its effects and have also pledged, as part of their collective commitment to provide new and additional resources, to provide Fast-Start Finance, to the tune of 30 billion USD for the period 2010 – 2012.
The prime minster noted with satisfaction that the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board has started its work, but requested however the African side to push so that it operationalizes the Fund as speedily as possible. “We also need to join forces to encourage Annex II Parties to specify the amount of finance they intend to mobilize from the public sector to the GCF during each year from 2013 to 2019″, underlined Ato Haile-Mariam Dessalegn.
“I would like to once again stress that African countries need adequate and predictable finance; capacity building and technology transfer to enable them to develop the agricultural sector and achieve sustainable food security” urged the prime minister, while giving an overview of the salient points of African common position that the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) has agreed to pursue in the negotiations in Doha. This includes the strategy for a climate resilient green economy, the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, the reduction of the global greenhouse gas emissions to a level that ensures that the average temperature stays below a dangerous upper limit that should still be 1.50C. (The full presentation of Ato Haile-Mariam Dessalegn, Prime minister of the Republic Federal Democratic of Ethiopia is available on African Union web site: http://www.au.int)
In her address on behalf of Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Mrs. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture stressed that the AUC looks forward to the AGN collectively continuing the spirit of cooperation, coordination and cohesion around the African common position to promote and protect African interests. Commissioner Tumusiime reaffirmed as well the commitment of the African Union Commission to continue working with other Pan African Institutions and development partners in implementing the decisions taken by the African negotiators (see the full speech of Commissioner Tumusiime Rhoda Peace on African Union web Site: http://www.au.int)
As mandated by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, the CAHOSCC meeting, organised by the African Union Commission, considered the key messages reviewed and refined by the Special Session of the African Ministerial Council on Environment (AMCEN), in line with the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP18) and the Eighth session of the Conference of the Parties (CMP8) currently holding from 26 November to 7 December 2012, in Doha.
The representatives of Dr. Boni Yayi, President of the Republic of Benin and Chairperson of the African Union, co-chaired the CAHOSC meeting, in the presence especially of President Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo.
CAHOSCC was set up in 2009 by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government and assigned the responsibility to provide political guidance and champion Africa’s common interests during global climate change negotiations. The purpose is to ensure that Africa uses the unified negotiation structure to speak with one voice around the common position. It began its work with CoP15 in Copenhagen, carried on in Cancun, Mexico (CoP16) and Cop17 in Durban, South Africa, then in Doha Qatar at CoP18.
CAHOSCC comprises Algeria, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, The current Chairperson of the African Union (Benin), the Chairperson of the AU Commission, and the current Chairperson of AMCEN (Tanzania), the current Chair of the African Group of Negotiators (Swaziland); as well as the Negotiators/Experts on Climate Change (NECC) from all AU Member States. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia is the Coordinator of CAHOSCC.
African Union Commission (AUC)