Saturday, July 16, 2022
The outcome of COP26, to say the least, was a monumental failure for Africa. As a threatened dog runs home with its tail in between the legs, Africa left Glasgow disappointed. The climate finance commitments to enable Africa and other developing countries in their struggles for climate mitigations and adaptations were far from being realized. [
AEFJN]

But, shortly after,  huge funds are available to prosecute the Russia-Ukraine war. The economic consequences of the war already weigh heavily on Africa; while its climate impact is unfolding. But no doubt, the war has launched the world on an accelerated trajectory to climate doom, and Africa, as usual, will bear the final brunt of the war.

A glimpse of what the situation will look like for Africa in the face of further climate deterioration was seen at the border of Morocco and the Spanish Protectorate of Melilla a few weeks ago. About 23 migrants met their waterloo when they clashed with security agents in their bid to find life in Europe driven by poverty and climate crisis. And now that COP27 is in Africa, the big question is what will Africa make out of the opportunity of having the climate negotiation on her soil. Indeed, the climate stakes for Africa are very high, so AEFJN underlines that COP27 must not come and go without bold climate ambitions.

But in order for this to happen, the Church in Africa needs to provide moral leadership for climate dialogue on her soil, linking her communities’ stories, climate struggles and experiences to the bigger pictures of global climate change, making her voice louder and more robust in the climate negotiations. The world leaders chose to divert attention to symptoms rather than clear commitments to climate ambition. These resulted in disappointing attitudes that pervaded the COP26 meeting.  AEFJN joins a group of Faith and non-faith based Civil Society for the African Climate Dialogue(ACD) initiative to make a difference. AEFJN co-organizes the first Climate dialogue session on July 19. The details and the registration link for the session are in this folder. The flyer is in this link Follow this link for all you need to know about the ACD. Prior to the dialogues, there will be a Capacity Building session on July 18 to enhace the quality of their participation in the dialogus. You will find the link for your participation here. AEFJN International Secretariat invites her members to join and contribute more meaningfully to this climate dialogue.

[Chika Onyejiuwa – AEFJN]