ROTTERDAM-The Africa Adaptation Summit, held in Rotterdam this week, was expected to be the latest step on Africa’s road towards the crucially important Cop27 climate conference in Egypt in November.
But the summit, a flagship event of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme, which aims to raise US $25 billion in climate finance by 2025, did not get off to a great start, according to news agencies.
Despite being held in the Netherlands, the presidents of Senegal, Ghana and Democratic Republic of Congo claimed that heads of state from industrialised nations were notable by their absence. European heads of state from France, Denmark, Finland and Norway failed to attend. “If we made the effort to come to Rotterdam from Africa, you would have thought it would be much easier for developed leaders to come here. If they are absent – it leaves a bitter taste in our mouths,” said Senegal President Macky Sall.
As is well known, Africa contributes less than 3 percent to carbon emissions but it is the most exposed to the devastating effects of climate change. Developed nations promised in 2009 to commit US $100bln annually to lower income countries to help them fight climate change, but by the time of Cop26 in Glasgow last year the target had still not been reached.
The pessimism is understandable, yet all is not lost. New commitments by the UK [US$ 23mln], Norway [US$ 15mln], France [US$ 10mln] and Denmark [US$ 7mln], as well as significant donor money delivered via the African Development Bank, are an acknowledgement, even in tough economic times, that the wealthy world has an obligation to do more. There is still time to make a success of Cop27, and African leaders and their counterparts in wealthy nations must use this conference as a springboard for further ambition.
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