African Climate activists to descend in Kigali to firm up the agenda for COP27 while building nexus with Commonwealth Heads of Governments on Africa People’s COP
PACJA Team at the 9th Africities Summit in Kisumu addressing a Press Conference
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, Africa’s leading coalition of CSOs that advocate for fair and just climate regimes for the African peoples will hold a number of side events (forums) on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Among these, include:
Count Down to Sharm El-Sheikh: Putting Africa at the heart of COP27 – the forum aims to be responsive to the clarion call at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which is Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming. The PACJA fraternity will interrogate its relevance to the current climate conversations, which ought to support African aspirations for a common and unified voice. Innovations at all levels continue to underpin actions in addressing climate crisis and require greater solidarity. The outcome of the Bonn Intersession is a clear indication that the world has not clearly mapped its priority actions in climate change, if we take into account the spirited efforts to block discussions on loss and damages. Probably the Commonwealth will be a platform for its southern membership to advance the loss and damage agenda, together as a unit.
Accelerating the achievement of the nexus between health and climate Change through greater political commitment: It is high time climate change is seen through the health prism to provoke both adaptive and mitigating actions that prevent adverse health impacts of climate change on humans and ecosystems. This forum aims at sensitizing climate change stakeholders on the nexus between Health and climate change with a view to foster dialogue on priorities of the African continent in this respect. It will further advocate for incorporation of population, climate change and health issues into the African position ahead of COP27.
Enhancing Women Economic Adaptive Capacity by Catalysing implementation of Lima Work Programme on Gender and its Gender Action Plan: The forum will help shape the African thinking on how best to mainstream planning and policy prioritization of issues affecting women, including women economic empowerment in all tracks of climate change conversations and decisions.
Africa Youth Conference on Climate Change: PACJA will also be having a youth event that will be looking into the role of the youth in the climate change discourses. This dialogue session will culminate into a position of youth on climate change for COP27 and targeted actions and strategies towards COP27.
Background
Previous Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) of 2014 – 2022 focused on strengthening teaming, 2016 on inclusivity, peace and coherence and that of 2017 on common future. Further, in 2018/20, the CHGOM looked into a connected Commonwealth. This year however, the theme for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming. This theme highlights how countries in the Commonwealth family are ‘innovating, connecting and transforming’ to help achieve some of its biggest goals, like protecting natural resources and boosting trade. It is this theme that the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance members intend to build common ground and as it seeks its relevance to the African aspirations for a common and unified voice in the current climate conversations on the continent and greater solidarity in addressing the climate crisis.
