Climate Smart Africa: GGCA+ Regional Conference kicks off in Kigali

As challenges related to climate change continue to become more urgent, the European Union’s flagship initiative Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+) is hosting together with the Rwandan Ministry of Environment and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the 2019 GCCA+ Regional Conference in Kigali, from 15- 18 October 2019, to discuss smart solutions and good practices to support African countries mitigate and adapt to the negatives effects of climate change.

The conference themed: “Climate Smart Africa: Harnessing growth and protecting the gains”, officially opened by Dr Vincent Biruta,the Rwanda’s Minister for Environment, on October 15, 2019. It’s designed to foster exchange of ideas and solutions that impact the ability of African countries to achieve economic growth that is environmentally and socially inclusive.

It brings together over 100 participants from across the region including policy makers, regional leaders from public and private sectors, senior representatives of the international development cooperation community, EU senior officials, leading climate change experts, youth and community representatives.

The meeting, which aims to showcase amazing climate action from the region, is building on the momentum of the 2019 Climate Action Summit hold in New York on 23 September and takes place in the lead up to the annual UNFCCC COP 25, in Chile, in December 2019.

“Climate change poses a threat to continued economic growth and to livelihoods of vulnerable populations in Africa.  EU’s commitment to its long standing partnership with Rwanda and the rest of Africa to achieve the Agenda 2030 is outstanding. In Rwanda for example, the GCCA+ initiative has supported a land titling system and so far 11 million parcels of land have been registered. This is certainly strengthening climate smart investments by farmers across the country,” said Dr Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s Minister for Environment.

“From its establishment in 2007, the GCCA prioritised building resilience in least developed and small island state countries. GCCA+ continues to focus on the most vulnerable countries, and has added mitigation to its scope of support, to encourage even the poorest to pursue development pathways that are clean, resource efficient, socially inclusive, and long-lasting,” said the EU Ambassador to Rwanda, Nicola Bellomo.

“This meeting is vital in promoting learnings from the various stakeholders and deriving lessons that will support actions towards building climate resilience, “said Luther ANUKUR, Regional Director IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office.

The conference will include high level panel discussions and plenary sessions focusing on integration of practices that can help mitigate climate change, build resilience and encourage socially inclusive environmentally sustainable economic growth.

The Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+) is a European Union flagship initiative, helping the world’s most vulnerable countries to address climate change. GCCA was established in 2007 and expanded in 2015 to include middle-income countries.