The African Carbon Forum 2015, which ran from April 13-15 in Marrakech, focused on programmes to unleash private sector finance, such as through the Clean Development Mechanism, and scale up other forms of climate finance to strengthen the sustainable development of African countries.
According the International Energy Agency over 620 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa, about two-thirds of the population, are without secure access to electricity. Some 730 million people in the region, about four-fifths still rely on cooking mostly with wood, harming health and destroying vital forest cover.
“The coming months provide African countries with a significant opportunity to align their contributions to the Paris climate agreement with their own long-term sustainable development priorities,” said Kinley
Countries are busy detailing their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which they will submit as their input to the Paris agreement. INDCs for 35 countries have been submitted to date. On April 1, Gabon became the first African country to submit an INDC.
During the closing session of the forum on Wednesday, April 15, Kurt Lonsway, AfDB Manager of Environment and Climate Change, said “The 7th Africa Carbon Forum reiterated the need to have adequate, predictable, sustainable climate finance resources to address Africa’s challenges in transitioning to low carbon development, promoting smart agriculture, and sustainable urban development – sectors which are at the core of Africa’s development.
How these sectors are integrated into the countries’ Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) will help determine the successful implementation of INDCs. We all know current climate financial flows are currently insufficient to meet all of Africa’s climate change challenges, but it is also critical for African countries to demonstrate the ability to effectively deploy those resources that are available to help contribute to the global climate change goals.”