Kenya renews call for compensating African states amid climate emergencies

Nairobi, Oct 14 (IANS) The industrialised nations have a moral obligation to hasten compensation for African states bearing the brunt of climate emergencies like recurrent droughts, floods and cyclones, a Kenyan official said.

Chris Kiptoo, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, on Thursday stressed that African countries deserved financial and technical support from major emitters as the climate crisis unfolds in the continent, destabilising livelihoods and ecosystems, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The global north has a duty to aid our quest for climate resilience through adaptation financing and that is the core message African negotiators will be delivering at the upcoming global climate summit in Egypt,” said Kiptoo.

He spoke during a meeting with a group of African climate justice campaigners in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, where a resolution calling for a common position to advance the continent’s green agenda was adopted.

Kenya this week played host to Pan African green campaigners who received the Climate Justice Torch that has been traversing several countries in the continent to raise the visibility of the devastating impact of a warming planet.

The Torch will later be presented at the 27th UN Climate Summit slated for Egypt from November 6 to 18 where compensation for victims of climate emergencies in Africa will be a major theme.

Kenya has rallied behind a common position adopted by African states to push for increased financing, technology transfer and training to help communities adapt to climatic stresses, Kiptoo added. He decried lackluster commitment by wealthy nations to help the continent improve its ability to cope with the soaring food crisis, water stress, disease outbreaks and habitat loss linked to climate change.

According to Kiptoo, an African group of negotiators is fine-tuning a joint proposal to be presented at the climate summit which calls for compensation of demographics like nomads, women, youth and subsistence farmers that have suffered disproportionately from the climate crisis.

Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director of Nairobi-based Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), said the continent’s special needs and circumstances including loss and damage, financing for mitigation and adaptation, should be accorded enough attention at the upcoming climate summit.

–IANS
int/khz/