AFRICA CLIMATE SUMMIT: NON-STATE ACTORS DEMANDS AND RED-LINES
This Statement outlines
the perspectives of the Non-State Actors
on what the African Climate Summit must accomplish, contentious issues African
leaders should not compromise and the essential elements for the ideal Summit
outcomes that reflects the desires and aspirations of the African people. It is
informed by collective and profound reflections from diverse groups across the
African continent, traversing language, cultures and regions.

Sign the petition here: https://forms.gle/LBA9AtXw1revbNda8

The Statement
acknowledges the remarkable efforts of different Actors and groups both in
government and civic spaces to advance a truly and legitimate Africa-driven,
Africa-owned process at the Africa Climate Summit, and supports any initiative,
whether inside or outside the process, which advocates for people-centered, inclusive
and transparent outcomes of the Summit.

A couple of days ago, a petition
signed by hundreds of groups across Africa was sent to the Chair of CAHOSCC and
the Host of the Africa Climate Summit, raising various concerns, some of them
outlined in this statement. We join such groups and others to urge the
Government of Kenya and the African Union to seriously reflect on the issues
raised and accord them the attention they deserve!

As Non-State Actors, we are deeply concerned about the impacts of
the climate crisis on our continent and its people. We are witnessing the
devastating effects of climate-fueled droughts, floods, cyclones,
desertification, food insecurity, displacement, and conflicts. We are also
aware of the historical and current responsibilities of the developed countries
in causing and exacerbating this crisis and, in defiance to science and climate
justice, their failure to provide adequate support to the most vulnerable
countries and communities. The Africa Climate Summit (ACS), scheduled for
September 4 – 6, 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya, is a unique opportunity for the
continent, through its leaders, to raise the urgency of addressing the climate
emergency and protecting the rights and livelihoods of its citizens. It is also
an opportunity to build momentum and solidarity for the African agenda at COP28
and beyond by highlighting African countries’ common interests and aspirations
in achieving a low-carbon, climate-resilient, and inclusive development. We have been steadfast in advocating for a fair,
ecologically-just and equitable transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient
future that respects the rights and dignity of all people. In the past
several weeks, we held direct and indirect engagements with the Kenyan
Government, the African Union Commission and the larger ClimDev-Africa
Initiative under the auspices of an independent and voluntary Non-State Actors’
Committee, which was established to ensure that the Summit reflects the voices
and aspirations of African people. Despite these engagements and the
evidence provided by the latest science, we are worried that the Summit may
fall short of what Africans truly aspire as the outcomes to safeguard current
and future generations. We however believe that it is still not late,
and President Ruto, the African Union and all leaders across Africa will put
their hears down and keenly listen to their loud voices expressing concerns
about some aspects of the Summit. To this end, we have outlined a set of
demands or red-lines that we expect the African leaders to uphold and champion
at the summit:

Stand by the principles of climate justice, human rights, gender
equality, and inter-generational equity in all climate policies and
actions.
We reiterate that climate policies and actions measures should not
only aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of
climate change but also to ensure that they are consistent with the
principles of climate justice, human rights, gender equality, and inter-generational equity. Therefore, we demand that all conversations and ultimate
decisions of the Summit must:

Respect,
protect, and fulfil the human rights of all people, especially those left
vulnerable and marginalized by the effects of climate change, such as
indigenous peoples, women, children, persons with disabilities, and poor
communities.
Promote
fair, just and equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of climate
action, both within and between countries, taking into account historical
responsibility, capacity, and different levels of development.
Empower
women and girls as agents of change and leaders in climate action,
ensuring their full, equal, and meaningful participation in
decision-making processes at all levels and addressing the gender-specific
impacts of climate change on their lives and livelihoods.
Secure
the rights and interests of present and future generations, ensuring they
have access to a healthy and sustainable environment, adequate resources,
and opportunities to thrive in a low-carbon, ecologically-just and
climate-resilient world.
Reject false solutions and narratives that undermine African
communities’ rights, interests and sovereignty, such as carbon markets,
geoengineering, nuclear energy, and the deceiptful principle of shared
responsibilities. We caution African leaders that some proposals or actions claim to
address the climate crisis. In reality, they either have no significant
impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions or, worse, have negative
social and environmental consequences. These proposals are promoted by
powerful interests that benefit from maintaining the status quo of fossil
fuel dependence, and they divert attention and resources from the real
solutions that are urgently needed. In this regard, we demand that African
leaders and stakeholders must:

Critically
examine the claims and evidence behind any proposed solution. They must
make it a duty to the African people to ask questions such as: Who is
promoting it and why? What are the assumptions and uncertainties involved?
How does it affect the root causes and drivers of greenhouse gas
emissions? What are the potential trade-offs and co-benefits for other
environmental and social issues? Are they science-based or do they align
with the principles of climate justice and human rights?
Press
for and uphold transparent and participatory decision-making processes
involving diverse stakeholders and perspectives; ensuring that the voices
of those most affected by climate change and its solutions are heard and
respected; and supporting the development and implementation of solutions
that are based on sound science, local knowledge, and community
empowerment.
Show
courage in confronting the systemic changes needed to address climate
change effectively, recognising that false climate solutions often serve
to maintain the status quo and protect the interests of powerful actors
who benefit from the current system.
Challenge
the dominant narratives and paradigms that enable and justify false
solutions, such as those denying historical responsibilities for the
climate crisis, turning regional and global dialogues into investment
forums, claiming equal or shared responsibility for climate action and
dismissing African demands for justice as
victim-playing.

Reject the promotion of carbon markets that are
not responsive and do not serve the climate justice imperatives for
Africa.

Commit to a just and equitable transition to renewable energy,
ensuring that energy access is prioritized for the poor and marginalized
and that community ownership and participation are guaranteed. We reiterate that Africa’s just
energy transition (JET) must be Africanised. We recognize that different
countries and groups of people have different needs, capacities and
aspirations in energy and that these must be considered in the design and
implementation of energy policies and projects. We, therefore, demand that
the summit upholds the following JET principles:

Recognizing
the diversity and heterogeneity of African countries and regions and
respecting their sovereignty and self-determination in defining their
energy pathways.
Ensuring
that the energy transition is aligned with the African Union Agenda 2063,
the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement and contributes
to poverty eradication, social justice, human development and sustainable industrialization.
Promoting
a participatory and inclusive approach that engages all relevant actors,
especially women, youth, indigenous peoples and marginalized groups, in
designing, implementing and monitoring the energy transition policies and
projects.
Supporting
the development of local capacities, skills and innovations and fostering
regional cooperation and integration to enhance the competitiveness and
resilience of African economies in the global energy market.
Balancing
the trade-offs and synergies between environmental, social and economic
objectives and ensuring that the costs and benefits of the energy
transition are equitably distributed among and within countries.
Addressing
the historical injustices and inequalities that have resulted from
exploiting fossil fuels in Africa and drumming adequate compensation,
rehabilitation and restitution for the affected communities and
ecosystems.
Enhancing
the access, affordability, and reliability of modern energy services for
all Africans, especially those living in rural and Peri-urban areas, and prioritizing decentralized, community-owned and managed renewable energy
solutions.
Strengthening
the governance, transparency and accountability mechanisms at all levels and
ensuring that evidence-based decision-making, human rights standards and
the rule of law guide the energy transition.

Demand that developed countries fulfil their historical
responsibility and provide adequate and predictable finance, technology
transfer, and capacity building to support adaptation, mitigation, and
loss and damage in Africa. We demand that the principle of Common But
Differentiated Responsibilities must continue to guide global climate
action and underpin the common African position. For this reason, we call
on the summit to uphold the following priorities for Africa in its
decisions and engagement with global and regional stakeholders.

Securing
adequate, flexible, and predictable needs-based finance for adaptation,
loss and damage and mitigation actions, especially from developed
countries with historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions.
Such finance must be primarily public-sourced, new and additionally to
official development assistance and in the form of grants and other
non-loan instruments. The Summit must aim to lay a foundation that will
rally for the conclusion of the discussions on the New Collective and Quantified
Goal on climate finance during the COP28 in Dubai.
Working
to complete and adopt the framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation at
COP 28. The summit must press for increasing adaptation finance to Africa
by more than double and ensuring it is needs-based and reaches communities
at the forefront of the climate crisis.
Enhancing
access to transferred and homegrown technology and capacity building to
enable African countries to implement low-carbon development strategies
and cope with climate risks.
Promoting
equity and justice in the allocation of emission reduction targets and the
distribution of climate benefits, considering the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.
Supporting
regional cooperation and integration to foster collective action and
leverage synergies among African countries on climate issues. Continue to advance for shared and collective
accountability in country’s leadership in the implementation of AU Mandate. We
call on African countries implementing AU mandate to pursue this in an
inclusive and consultative manner and on AU to ensure the process of
country (and sub-national and locally-led) leadership has sufficient
inbuilt mechanisms of states and citizens participation. For avoidance of
doubt, we emphasis that vision/s to guide such processes must be
collective rather than individual. In this regard:

a. Expedite open consultations on proposed outcome
document with all government entities for review, input and their contribution.

b.Promote to the greatest extent possible
participation and sharing of all critical documents, including its draft
resolutions.

Put the African people above all personal and collective political
and economic interests. We call on our leaders to listen to the voices of their people,
especially the youth, women, indigenous peoples, smallholder producers,
workers, and other vulnerable groups, who are bearing the brunt of the
climate impacts. We remind them they have a moral and legal obligation to
protect our shared future and home. They must muster the courage to:

Reject
anti-African proposals that increase climate risks for people and transfer
undue burdens of addressing the climate crisis to African countries and
people already suffering the adverse impacts of the debts, global
inequality in the distribution of wealth and other challenges.
Resist
attempts by the developing nations, through their corporate and non-profit
agents, to hijack the African narrative and continue to define priorities
and courses of action for the continent.
Promote
a collective African vision, informed by all stakeholders’ aspirations,
and resist any attempts by individuals to impose their narrow stance on
Africa’s place in the global climate dialogue on the rest of the
continent.
Advance for a Nairobi declaration, whose spirit and
content will not compromise Africa’s interests and position in global negotiations
at any given time.

We remain committed to advancing the common
good of Africa. We are eager to collaborate with the Kenyan government, the
African Union Commission and other stakeholders to ensure that the Africa
Climate Summit prioritises Africa’s needs and promotes African leadership in
tackling the international dialogues and global conversations on climate
emergency.

Nairobi Kenya, 17
August 2023.

The
Africa Climate Summit – Non State Actors Steering Committee (ACS-NSA) is a
Platform that strives for advancement for a pro-African agenda in all key
climate spaces. With its Secretariat supported by PACJA, and organized into
clusters, the ACS-NSA draws its members drawn from regional CSOs, Indigenous People, Faith Actors, Trade Unions, African Private Sector, Farmer
Organizations, Women and Gender Constituency, Academia and Research
Institutions, Foundations and Finance Institutions, organizations working on
Conservation and Nature Based Solutions or Youth organization.