DOHA: African states seek compensation by developed countries for the impacts and costs of climate change, which they added, have been grossly underestimated.
Mithika Mwenda, the coordinator of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), a coalition of African Civil Society Organisations taking part in COP18, warned that damages from disasters, droughts and other adverse effects in Africa are rising rapidly.
In a press conference held yesterday, he said “we meet in Doha at a time when evidence of climate change across our continent, in rural settlements and pastoral areas, in towns, on coastlines and deep in the heart of Africa, is no longer a matter of speculation but a reality people are battling”.
The representative from PACJA stated that more than 70 percent of carbon dioxide from industrial sources was emitted by the 20 percent of people living in developed countries. “While Africa, home to around a billion people, contributed less than 4 percent,” he added.
For this association, developed countries are consuming an unfair share of the Earth’s atmospheric space. On this basis, he invited COP18 attendees to focus on the causes of climate change and not on its symptoms.
The coordinator of PACJA added that current proposals would enable the 20 percent of people living in developed countries to consume over 60 percent of the Earth’s carbon budget (historically to 2050) while the 80 percent who are poor would be consigned to live within the remaining 40 percent.
In this context, African countries call on developed countries to address their historical responsibilities and honour their climate debts to developing nations and they hope the climate negotiations in Doha result in measures to keep Africa safe, share the atmosphere fairly, for rich countries to cut excessive consumption and pollution and protect and compensate affected communities, among other goals.
Around 300 non-governmental organisations, foundations, trusts, community-based organisations, faith-based networks, national coalitions and regional networks from 45 countries in Africa are part of PACJA.
The Peninsula
