Lorsqu’on lui demande ou, en sont les négociations, Seyni Nafo, lâche sans détour. « C’étaient déjà complexe, le niveau de complexité ne fait que se renforcer ». A demi-mot, ça à l’air de ne pas bien se tourner à l’intérieur des salles de réunions. Il y a deux choses, le reconnait-il, qui rendent compliquées les discussions, l’adaptation et les pertes et dommages. Pays pauvres et pays riches, chaque groupe, de son côté continue de tirer sur la ficelle. Mais ce n’est pas des discussions qu’il s’agit ce jour, PAMACC a sollicité le Coordinateur pour mieux comprendre l’initiative dont il porte la responsabilité. Comme certains le connaissent, il n’est pas avare en mot. Seyni Nafo, se rappelle bien, comme si c’était hier. C’était en 2015, en pleine COP21 à Paris que fut prise la décision par les Chefs d’Etats africains de mettre en place une « Initiative africaine pour l’adaptation. L’intéressé en convient, chacun d’eux, savaient ce que coutaient les changements climatiques pour son économie et son territoire. Il fallait trouver une stratégie pour rendre moins violent ses impacts. Et comme impacts, Mr Nafo, évoque, principalement des secteurs comme l’agriculture, la pêche et l’élevage. Il faut donc, pour les chefs d’Etats un plan d’urgence a trois volets pour le continent. En-tête, les institutions et les politiques. Le Coordinateur explique qu’il faut au prime abord, identifier toutes les institutions et politiques ayant en charge la gestion de l’adaptation en vue de créer une synergie autour de la thématique. Après, il faut mettre en place un programme d’assistance technique qui a comme base la finance. Il s’agit désormais d’apprendre à pécher. Cela a besoin de développer des compétences nationales et régionales, de mettre en place des outils pour aider surtout les femmes dont la situation devient de plus en plus critique dans un contexte de changement climatique. Il faut aussi aller vers les bailleurs en vue de mobiliser les ressources. Ce programme, insiste Mr Nafo, vise à éradiquer la pauvreté et la faim. Les populations des campagnes, les grandes victimes Pour ce faire, indique le Coordinateur de l’initiative africaine pour l’adaptation, il faut trouver une solution pour l’agriculture, trouver une solution pour l’eau, enfin, mettre en place des solutions robustes, durables et résilientes. Il avertit en plus, « ne faut pas croire que le changement climatique est une simple question de développement. Il est aussi une question de politique et de survie ». Ce n’est pas une affaire d’un ministre de l’environnement, assure l’ancien négociateur. C’est pour ça que le plan d’action de l’initiative africaine pour l’adaptation est un plan décennal avec une mobilisation de 100 millions de dollars. Le succès de ce plan passe par la définition de certaines politiques, soutient l’intéressé. L’accent sera mis au début sur le service d’information climatique. Il sera fait ensuite appel aux institutions qui ont un rôle dans la formulation de la science et puis l’action. L’Afrique compte 56 pays, chacun avec ses impacts climatiques. De même, le phénomène est vécu différemment à l’intérieur d’un même…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - The Presidency of the 27th round of climate negotiations to be held in Egypt has promised to create enabling environment to facilitate as many African representatives as possible. “We are really keen to support full participation of African nongovernmental organisations, Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and African communities at the forthcoming Conference of Parties on climate change (COP27),” said Amb Mohamed Ibrahim Nasr, of the COP Presidency, and the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nasr said this during a brief meeting with members of the civil society under the umbrella of the Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) at the ongoing climate conference in Bonn, Germany. “This is an implementation COP. We already have had enough rounds of planning, yet, as the developing countries in Africa; we are not getting our fair share. Whatever was promised by the developed countries is not being fulfilled, yet we are being asked to pay the price of adaptation and of loss and damage, do mitigation, and write off our natural resources,” said Nasr. He pointed out that there is need to bring out success stories that can be replicated and scaled up to showcase that communities and local governments are doing the best but are limited by financial resources – “These are the main messages,” he said. “We are looking at PACJA as the main organisation to help in pushing of these ideas. We need to calibrate our message as the presidency. We need strong voices and messages coming from PACJA and communities. In that regard, we will do our best to ensure full participation of the civil society,” he told the PACJA delegation in Bonn. According to Robert Muthami, a climate policy analyst and a Programme Coordinator at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Kenya Office, this will be a key moment for the recognition of the Africa Special Needs and Circumstances with clear provision for new, additional and predicatable support for enhancing climate action. "Despite Africa being on the face of the climate crisis, efforts to have the Continents Special needs and circumstances have not been successful. It will be important for countries to stop shifting goal posts and agree on progressive decisions in fast tracking climate action," he said. Nasr noted that since Africa is the hardest hit by climate change after the Mediterranean and the North Pole, the civil society constituency should be pushing, not just the same message, but the right message. “Each thematic day, there will be one session that is Africa specific.” “As IPCC has put it, we, and the international community need to do more and we are lagging behind when it comes to adaptation. We have all the ingredients to put forth a strong case.” He said that the civil society should try and bring out all the important messaging without provoking those opposed, who can block them. That they should build on the outcomes that are already available. “We have a strategy, and we will be working with the AGN to ensure that…

 OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (PAMACC News) - Forest experts in Africa have reiterated the need to reinforce efforts in sustainable land use and forest management in the continent to secure a better future. The experts were speaking at a workshop organised by African Forest Forum (AFF) from June 6 to 10, 2022 at Pacific Hotel, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The regional workshop according to AFF was to share the conclusions and recommendations of studies conducted over the past three years as part of two funded projects, one by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the other by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).Held under the theme “state of the African forest,” experts exchanged and shared information on the state of the African forest, the challenges and potential solutions.According to Maries Louis Avana-Tientcheu of AFF, “the lives of many Africans depend on forest resources and therefore ensuring its sustainable management is guaranteeing the future of the population and especially those who directly survive from it.” According to the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), over two-thirds of Africa's 600 million people rely directly and indirectly on forests for their livelihoods, including food security, thus the need to protect and preserve the continent's rich forest resources.Coming on the heels of the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) known as COP27 in Egypt, the experts agreed it was time for forest stakeholders in Africa to be abreast with the intricacies of land use and forest management in order to find lasting solutions that will improve the livelihood of the population and especially those who depend on the forest for survival.African Forest Forum is sensitizing its members and other forest stakeholders on the stakes of the upcoming COP27 in Egypt.“This is very important for us because it is taking place in Africa and it is an opportunity for forest stakeholders in the continent to make maximum benefits of the COP27,” says Maries Louis Avana-TientcheuAccording to statistics from CIFOR, Africa has an estimated 624 million ha of forest, 98 .8 per cent of which are natural forests. Forests types and cover include rainforests and other humid forests; dryland forests; savannahs and woodlands; mountain forests; mangrove forests; and plantations.Unfortunately, Africa’s forest sector is, however, faced with many challenges that constrain its capacity to provide meaningful and sustainable ecosystem services including contributing to socio-economic development. The continent’s forest area declined by 2 .8 million ha per year between 2010 and 2019, a much higher rate than anywhere else in the world, the CIFOR report says.Environment experts have therefore not ceased reiterating the need for restraint in land and forest use by governments and other stakeholders. Cameroon for example counts about 22.5 million hectares of humid forests with deforestation of over 0.8% per year between 2000 and 20016, according to statistics from the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife.Forest experts say in a fragmented context where forestry policies compete with other development sectors' policies whose implementation involves deforestation or…

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (PAMACC News) - African Forest stakeholders have been urged to buckle down to work in readiness for the upcoming 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Egypt. As part of its policy to empower forest stakeholders and vulnerable communities in Africa to better confront the challenges of climate change, the African Forest Forum, AFF used the opportunity of the regional workshop organised from June 6 to 10, 2022 at Pacific Hotel, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to inform more participants from various government representatives, civil society organizations, private sector and development partners institutions on the key outcomes of the climate negotiations held in Glasgow last November and the high expectations of the COP 27 this year at their doorstep in Egypt.Dr Marie-Louis Avana of AFF affirmed the determination of the African Forest Forum to work fully for the success of the different negotiations and the intentions of the different forest stakeholders that will be taking part.According to Dr Avana, non-state actors including investors and businesses and civil society should have the ability to take far-reaching and ambitious climate action, supplementing and reinforcing the crucial climate plans of governments.Experts say these actors should get set with action plans including identifying how to address existing and future climate challenges, shifting the narrative on climate losses, and mainstreaming climate resilience through deepening engagement with bankable projects.“We are orienting stakeholders and delegates from Africa on how to better engage their negotiations during COP27. AFF is playing this role working with all forest stakeholders,” Marie Louis Afana said.Talking about expectations at COP27, African Forest Forum officials said they expect to see the different countries mobilize efforts to meet up and respect their commitments and pledges especially those related to financing forest conservation in Africa.“ We expect to see countries respect their financial commitments to boost forest conservation. Many pledges were made during COP 26 in Glasgow, we expect to see them realized,” Marie-Louis said.As one of the regions most adversely affected by the impacts of climate change, Africa has been advocating for urgent and practical global, regional and national actions and enhanced ambition to combat climate change. African countries have stepped up to the challenge of contributing to addressing the global climate challenge that respects no borders, despite contributing the least to causing this existential crisis.For Professor Martin Tchamba, “it is but fair justice that Africa that contributes least to the existing climate crisis gets compensated”.He recalled that the Glasgow Climate Conference agreed to keep 1.5C in reach, including by a global transition to Clean Energy, provision of resources, declaration for the accelerating to low emitting transport systems, and the declaration on the use of forests and reversing deforestation by 2030.“ We need to see this momentum maintained or even have more ambitious undertakings by the polluting countries in the upcoming COP27” Dr Martin Tchamba said.Cecile Njdebet for her part called for a people-centred climate change solution. She saluted the gradual shift from a centralized…