November 1, 2021
By: Aruna Kamara (BO)
Youths at Aberdeen in Freetown have called on African leaders including President Bio to go into serious negations at the Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 26) that will benefit Africa which is largely affected by climate change.
They made this statement at a Public Lecture for youth groups on Climate Justice and the Upcoming CoP 26 Climate Change Conference.
The Public Lecture took place at the Aberdeen Community Centre in Freetown Last week Thursday, as part of activities of the 15 days of actions ahead of COP 26.
One of the youth leaders at Aberdeen in Freetown, Brima Cole said that they want tougher actions to reduce climate change and there must be adaption, mitigation, technology transfer, climate financing and capacity building.
Agness Prat another youths said that the environment needs to be protected and a public lecturer organized by PACJA and its partners has broaden our knowledge base on environment management and protection.
The Focal person of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), Henry Bayoh has said , the countdown to COP 25 15 days of action is an African Wide initiative aimed at mobilizing and stimulating actions and reinforcing efforts to exercise the power of collective action and community struggles ahead of COP 26 which will be held in November, this year.
“After uncertainties occasioned by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNFCCC-26, which was supposed to take place in 2020, is scheduled to be held between October 31 and November 12, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. Characterized by months of disagreements, accusations and counter-accusations, leaders involved in the planning of the crucial meeting eventually converged at the consensus on the modalities of conducting the successful COP in the prevailing global health regulations to contain the ravaging pandemic.’’ He said.
“Despite the lockdown and punitive requirements (that have been condemned by various stakeholders) for participants to attend the conference, 196 countries, the European Union and many other stakeholders will converge in Glasgow to conclude on the sticking issues which were unresolved during the COP25 in Spain. Specifically, Glasgow aims to achieve tougher, more concrete and realistic plans to enhance NDCs (which was supposed to be done by 2020), in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050”, Mr. Bayoh noted.
African countries and communities are heading to COP26 with renewed vigour to push for, among other demands, the recognition of the continent as a “special circumstance and needs region” and increased, predictable climate finance to support the transition to fair, equitable, ecologically-just, gender-responsive, low-carbon, climate-resilience post-pandemic economic reconstruction.
The “15 days action” seeks to inspire individuals, partners and organizations to become part of the movement towards 1.5°C target, regarded by scientists as the temperature threshold that will keep Africa and the world safe from climate catastrophe.
“According to the 2019 GAP Report, the targeted emission reductions need to be three times more ambitious than all the current NDCs submitted to the Paris Agreement. The findings of the UNEP report reinforced the conclusions reached by the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) which recommended that to stay within the 2 degrees guardrail and to have any chances of achieving the 1.5-degree target, emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030.’’ he said.
According to him, each of the ten days represents 1.5°C, around which activities in respective localities and groups will mobilize action.
This will build into the momentum created by the “Road to COP” conference held in Abuja in July 2021, the nexus between climate change and Covid-19 conference, the African roundtable on Cop 25 reflections, the Nairobi Summer School on Climate Justice, the ninth Climate Change and Development in Africa Conference (CCDA-IX), the World Forum on Climate Justice, the Global People’s Assembly and the Mexico and Paris Forums of the Generation Equality, alongside other collaborative convening where both the governments and non-state actors have fostered partnerships to address the diverse but relevant climate discourse processes aimed at unifying African voices for enhanced visibility at international interactions, notably UNFCCC.
‘’As an Africa-wide initiative, the “15 Days of Action” will be conducted in selected countries, hotspot communities and capitals and aimed at mobilizing and stimulating actions and reinforcing efforts to exercise the power of collective action and community struggles ahead of COP26. It will also contribute to the “World Climate March”, an equally authentic global initiative driven by a coalition of organizations led by Oxfam to drum up support for 1.5°C target as a way of delivering climate justice to communities at the frontline of climate change impacts. ‘’PACJA focal person said
He added that this is part of the Road to COP activities conducted by PACJA every year that links actions from local to national and international levels, progressively increasing the number of people mobilized, expanding the numbers of countries and communities partnering, raising the scale, intensity and boldness of our actions, and enhancing our strength and power to contribute in the best way possible the prevention of planetary catastrophe.
Mr. Bayoh maintained that the general objective of this “15 Days of action” is to bring together diverse stakeholders, individuals in public and private sectors to catalyze consciousness around climate justice,
He pointed out that the “15 Days of action was to provide a platform for the various stakeholders within the climate justice and broader climate discourse processes to learn from one another and put efforts together for ultimate achievement of the global 1.5 degrees temperature threshold, an imperative of climate justice; to ignite Africa-level action and discussion in readiness for the 26th Conference of parties to be held in Glasgow, Scotland and to prioritize; out of the discussion and actions; concrete issues that would form part of the African CSOs COP26 position, whose draft already exists out of various processes conducted earlier.
Mr. Bayoh said that organizations and individuals from grassroots to the national level in various countries across Africa will take part in the activity based on their contexts and priorities. In the spirit of voluntarism and self-help, as well as partnerships witnessed throughout the year, we encourage organizers of activities to be as innovative as possible in mobilizing resources for these actions. Activities can include but not limited to rallies, marches or other forms of actions – in schools, communities, workplaces, public spaces, Letters/petitions to policy-makers and negotiators, electronic messages through new media – Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram etc, Press conferences, forums, National stakeholder dialogues/meetings/workshops, Public Lectures in colleges, universities/schools, Petitions to political leaders, roundtable national discussions/dialogues, People-people conversations through virtual meetings between African civil society and their northern allies, clean up campaigns with themed messaged on climate justice, Tree Planting activities with themed messaged on climate justice, Children’s games, skits, songs and drama with themed messages on climate justice, writing newspaper articles in the local dailies on climate change and the upcoming COP, and Radio , T.V talk shows on climate change and the upcoming COP.
Presenting on the role of Media and Change advocacy, the Director of Peoples Effort Advocating for Community Empowerment (PEACE) Sierra Leone, formally called Media Foundation for Development (MFD) Sierra Leone , A.S Kamara said that to minimize the risk of Climate Change and its associated vulnerability, media can be one of the most important tools to help cope with climate change impacts.
“The role of the media in setting the achievement of SDGs as well as climate change negotiations cannot be over-emphasized as Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 26) is coming up” he said.