African Parliamentarians Press for Fair and Just Deal
No commentsA prominent African lawmaker has urged world leaders gathering at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen to conclude a powerful treaty that will tackle the problem effectively.
Joining the variety of voices from developing countries pressing for an ambitious and comprehensive agreement, the executive chair of the Pan African Parliamentarians’ Network on Climate Change (PAPNCC), the Hon. Cyprian Awudu Baya of the National Assembly of Cameroon, called for nothing short of a legally-binding agreement.
“The Copenhagen agreement must have strong compliance mechanisms that penalize those countries that do not meet their commitments on emissions reductions or on finance”, he said. And despite the stalling of negotiations, Mr Awudu thinks there is still time for a legally-binding agreement.
Industrialized countries, he said, must be warned that Copenhagen was the last chance to act on climate change in order to safeguard future generations, many of whom would live in Africa. Highlighting the continent’s vulnerability, he said Africa expected a deal that was just, equitable and which met its demands. And that meant industrialized countries must halve their emissions of greenhouse gases by 2017, go “beyond a carbon-free world” well before 2050, and commit at least 1.5% of their GDP towards climate finance.
In a sign of their determination, the African parliamentarians present at the talks threatened not to ratify any agreement that does not meet the aspirations of the people they represent. That is why the PAPNCC coordinator in East Africa, the Hon Kamar Margaret of Kenya, said they do not want a merely political agreement, but a legally-binding one.
Recently rumours have been circulating that there are deep divisions within the Africa group. But Mr Awudu warned against what he said were manipulations designed to destabilize the continent’s negotiatiors. “Africa’s slogan is one Africa, one voice, one position”, he said. He denied the existence of any rift within the group, saying there were always bound to be some differences within it given the variety of its membership.
Clearly absent from the press conference were any North African parliamentarians, though Mr Awudu did not attribute this to any rift within the delegation. On the contrary, he said, the African bloc at the negotiations was chaired by an Algerian, and “we are happy with the work he is doing”.
The Hon Ubani Uzechu, a Nigerian parliamentarian, said there were no divisions within the African delegation: “We are here to support our various governments in the negotiations, and that is just what we are doing.” Several other Members of Parliament were also at the press conference, including MPs from Kenya, South African and Congo-Brazzaville.
