ADAPT OR DIE Experts Advice from Copenhagen Climate Change Talks

The Cost of Adaptation for Africa estimated at $100 Billion A Year – Who will Pay?

Nairobi, Kenya, December 8th, 2009: The Climate Change Negotiations CoP15, have begun in Copenhagen with experts warning that humans need to follow nature’s example and adapt or die. ATPS has been creating a platform for African policy makers to make sense of such warnings, anticipate the costs of climate change and prepare strategies to build resilience for vulnerable communities across the continent.

At the ATPS Annual Conference 24-28th November, Abuja, Nigeria, The Climate Sense Programme (http://www.atpsnet.org/prog/csp.html) was launched in partnership with the United Nations Environment programme (UNEP). The programme intends to make sense of climate science, climate economics, climate innovation, climate change politics and policy making. 

The programme will translate agreements made in Copenhagen to build response capacities with networks across Africa. ATPS is represented at the talks by The Executive Director, Dr Kevin Urama, Co-Chair, Steering Committee: UNEP Global Climate Change Adaptation Network in Africa And Member: UNEP International Panel for Sustainable Resources Management.

Key to the deliberations is the understanding that African countries contribute less than 4% of global emissions and yet suffer disproportionate challenges from the effects of climate change. The issue of compensation for damage caused by global warning to African countries is a major negotiating block to agreements on adaptation. The cost for Africa to adapt has been indicated to be as high as $100 billion a year by some experts.

For the climate talks to succeed, binding political agreements will have to be reached to create opportunities for Africans to adapt, mitigate and build resilience to climate change.

ATPS continues to sentisitize African policy-makers to these prevalent issues by creating platforms for dialogue and progress. At the recent Parliamentary Committees Sensitization Workshop on Climate Change in Mombasa – 8-9th Oct, hosted by ATPS, the Kenyan Environment Minister – Hon. Dr. John Michuki, M.P. Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources (MEMR) said “Overall our National Response would be more effective if we had a coordinated action plan to mainstreaming climate change throughout economic and social sectors. I have therefore instructed my Permanent Secretary to take necessary steps towards ensuring that a Climate Change Policy, legislation and related regulations and guidelines are in place to support an effective action by all. “