The aim of the conference is to build the delivery capacity of African governments, to serve as a platform for leaders to connect, learn and exchange experiences to enhance government effectiveness in service delivery, seize climate change opportunities and mitigate climate risks.  

The conference intends to help African experts and leaders prepare for COP27, scheduled to take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6-18 November 2022.  

The thematic areas for the conference are climate adaptation, climate finance and renewable energies, which emulate the priorities of COP27 and relates to the Nelson Mandela School’s climate change research. The school’s climate change research programme will develop the ability of African countries to access new green climate finance from donor countries in the North and South, as well as the role of African countries in advancing Africa’s development interests in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Conference of the Parties negotiations.

While the need to reduce emissions and slow global warming is an absolute necessity, climate change adaptation is critical to protect many African economic sectors and communities. Agriculture and food security are among the leading economic sectors negatively affected by climate change.

For the sustainability of agriculture and food security in Africa, there is a need to align developmental imperatives and climate action. This alignment should include the Sustainable Development Goals, national growth, food security goals, and climate adaptation and mitigation. 

Although the case for adaptation is clear, the financial implications for adaptation can impede such initiatives, since the most vulnerable communities to climate change cannot afford to pay for adaptation. This reality is compounded by climate change initiatives in many African countries competing with national priorities such as healthcare and education.

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When looking into financial implications for adaptation, the United Nations Environmental Programme has estimated that adaptation costs in developing countries could reach $300-billion annually by 2030. In 2021, only 21% of climate finance provided by developed countries to assist developing nations was channelled towards adaptation and resilience.

Under the Paris Agreement, all parties agreed to strengthen the global response to climate change by increasing the ability of countries to adapt, build resilience and reduce vulnerability. Furthermore, developed countries have committed, under the Paris Agreement, to provide $100-billion annually in international climate finance. 

The Paris Agreement also mandated that at least half of the climate finance envelope goes to climate change adaptation. The commitments to provide finance for climate change adaptation is symbolic of global solidarity to curb the impact of climate change.

Although Africa is one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, key development sectors have already experienced widespread losses and damages attributable to human-induced climate change. These sectors include biodiversity loss, water shortages, reduced food production, loss of lives and reduced economic growth.

Since Africa has enormous diversity in socioeconomic, cultural and climatic conditions across the continent, the precise impacts of climate change on vital economic sectors such as agriculture are regionalised. 

Glasgow Climate Pact

One of the essential milestones reached at COP26 was the adoption of the Glasgow Climate Pact. This calls for the doubling of finance to support developing countries in adapting to the impacts of climate change and building resilience.

The Glasgow Climate Pact established a work programme to outline a global goal for adaptation. This work programme will identify collective needs and solutions to the worldwide climate crisis. 

The African continent has responded positively to the multilateral commitments intended to curb the global impact of change. The African Group on Negotiators has put forward a detailed two-year work programme with principles to guide the plan, culminating in the Glasgow-Sharm El Sheikh work programme on the global goal of adaptation.  

However, the African continent is cognisant of its inherent diversity socioeconomically and culturally, as well as differences in climatic conditions. Due to diversity, different approaches (regionally and nationally) are necessary to deal with the impact of climate change. 

In North Africa, the main climate-related vulnerability is water scarcity, caused by the hot and dry climate, which is expected to become more extreme over the coming century. Some of the simple but effective adaptation measures currently implemented in North Africa include planting cactus on land used for rain-fed cereal production. 

In the Sahel region, climate vulnerability is caused by drought and desertification in the northern part, while the southern part experiences extreme rainfall. In this region, planting species to stabilise dunes is one of the adaptation measures beneficial to the communities. 

The East African region is affected by droughts and lower average rainfall. In this region, adaptation measures include the integration of dairy livestock to crop production as a solution to food insecurity, while access to climate financing is one of the crucial adaptation gaps. 

The West African region is facing increased variability in precipitation patterns, extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods and storms, and an overall increase in annual precipitation (except for the parts of West Africa that are close to the Sahel). 

Adaptation strategies used in West Africa include the use of climate-resilient crop varieties to mitigate the effects of climate change on crop yields, as well as optimising the planting dates. 

On the other hand, the central African region has experienced rainfall variability and more frequent flooding, seasonal droughts and soil erosion. This region is also experiencing a surge of pests and diseases due to climate change. 

Central Africa uses conservation agriculture and agroforestry as effective adaptation strategies. This region has identified access to credit, land tenure rights and infrastructure as impediments to climate change adaptation.

In southern Africa, climate variability and climate change harm the region’s rain-fed agriculture sector. Adaptation measures are intended to increase agriculture productivity and drought resilience. In this region, gaps in technology, finance, data access and actionable knowledge impede adaptation activities. The differences in climate change and climate vulnerability across the continent emphasise the need for region-specific responses that are aligned with the existing continental strategies.

Climate finance

Climate finance is one of the cross-cutting issues that has emerged in the existing regional adaptation strategies. The importance of climate finance requires the active involvement of African development banks to support Africa’s climate change initiatives. 

The role of African development banks is crucial, given the sixth International Panel on Climate Change report revealing that international funding to support adaptation in African countries is less than the estimated adaptation costs. The bulk of climate finance made available thus far has tended to target mitigation rather than adaptation. 

One of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions is the energy sector, leading to climate change and energy issues becoming a priority for governments and international organisations worldwide. 

For Africa, its vast renewable energy (RE) resources, coupled with dynamic population growth and declining technology costs, provide significant opportunities for using RE to improve energy access and security, consolidate resilient growth and trigger socioeconomic benefits. 

However, over the past decade, the investment and development of RE and manifestation of green energy industrialisation in Africa have been relatively poor and uneven, with challenges of energy access, energy security and climate change vulnerability apparent.

It is against this background that the School’s joint Climate Change Conference with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change elaborates on these critical issues and develops common positions for the African continent to take to COP27. 

One of the vital areas under discussion is to map out a common African approach to climate change to improve Africa’s adaptive capacity. Discussions will also include developmental strategies to unlock a long-term, transformative, low-emission, climate-resilient continent. 

Furthermore, the conference aims to align regional adaptation initiatives with the African Union framework on climate change response. Finally, the sessions will include technology initiatives as enablers for climate change adaptation as well as climate finance. DM/MC

Dr Noncedo Vutula is Senior Research Fellow at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town.  She has held various senior positions in the government of the Republic of South Africa. She has worked as a Chief Director for Economic Development Trade and Marketing at the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. In this capacity, she provides technical advice on a broad range of agricultural trade issues, trade negotiations as well as rural economic transformation for growth of the smallholder farming sector including markets, skills and infrastructure.