Africa Climate Summit, Nairobi, Kenya, September 4-6, 2023
People's Climate Assembly Demands Climate and Development Justice
The first Africa
Climate Summit was held in Nairobi, Kenya September 4-6, 2023
under the
theme "Driving Green Growth and Climate Finance Solutions for
Africa
and the World." It brought together leaders of the African
countries
who called for urgent action by developed countries to reduce
carbon
emissions and concrete reforms to the global financial system.
They
also proposed a new financing mechanism to restructure their
debt that
is impeding their development, and that will increase access to
funding
to address climate change and the serious impact it is having
on the African continent.
The Africa People's
Climate Assembly also took place in Nairobi from September 3-6,
2023,
and put forward demands of the people to take control of their
future
and for decolonization and control of their social and
environmental
affairs. The Assembly had both in-person and virtual events to
enable
wider engagement and participation from across Africa and beyond
"to
share experiences of climate change and proffer people-centred
solutions." The Assembly was a dynamic and inclusive space for
people
to raise their voices.
The Assembly stated its position from the outset: "With the climate and development crises being supercharged by the very institutions and structures that created it, private sector centred, government bureaucrats-led, and international financial institutions' responses and policy recommendations as they stand today will not change the course for millions of Africans living in poverty.
"The same policies being proposed today and advanced in the Africa Climate Summit will continue to pillage African resources while concentrating power and wealth in the hands of the rich few. In this context, people powered organizing and people-centred policy response is more urgent than ever to advance alternatives to the current climate and development trajectory."
The key themes of the Assembly were:
- To give voice to the demand for Climate Finance, Climate Reparations, debt relief and reform of the global financial architecture, including actualization of loss and damage compensation in line with the COP 27 outcomes.
- Sustainable agriculture and land use as the path to food sovereignty, not export-oriented industrial agriculture.
- Developing a Pan-African industrial policy to leverage Africa's natural resources and human capabilities for high value-added industrial development that serves the needs of African economies.
- Discussing the risks of stranded assets/fossil-fuel infrastructure and the potential of sustainable alternatives in Africa.
- Biodiversity protection and ecosystem restoration.
- Human rights and women's rights, including compensation for victims of climate-induced disasters, with women in particular carrying the higher care burden to sustain families as a result of the climate crisis, and protection from prosecution of climate justice defenders.
The People's court of the Assembly held public hearings where individuals from climate vulnerable communities and those impacted by the extraction of critical minerals shared testimonials on the impacts climate-induced disasters and extraction of critical minerals have had on their lives and their communities.
An evening vigil was held to commemorate the lives lost through climate-induced disasters, and climate activists who have lost their lives as a result of their commitment to fighting for climate justice.
Hundreds joined in a People's March in the streets of Nairobi to proclaim the people's demands and the urgent need to address Africa's climate, energy and development challenge under the principles that should underpin the climate discourse.
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 27 - April 20 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS542712.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca