Durban, 18 November 2019 – African environment ministers have called upon their governments to create an enabling environment for investments in low emission development to ensure that nations’ climate actions become a tool not just for reducing emissions, but also for supporting accelerated socioeconomic progress.
Participants attending a high-level ministerial breakfast meeting on 15 November on the margins of the 17th ordinary session of the Africa Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) discussed the European Union (EU) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) EU-UNEP Africa Low Emissions Development (LEDS) project, sharing the results, successes and innovations of the project as well as lessons on how it can be scaled up to unlock continent-level investments in national climate action commitments, formally known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Africa is the region with the highest rates of ratification of climate action commitments under the Paris Agreement; the Africa LEDS project is a flagship that has demonstrated how countries can establish a structure where these commitments can provide benefits for both climate action and socioeconomic progress on the continent.
Key stakeholders participating in the high-level breakfast included representatives of countries that implemented the Africa LEDS project, all AMCEN Member States, a representative from the European Union – which financed the project – and representatives from the African Union and UNEP, the project’s lead implementer.
Speaking on behalf of Cameroon, the Secretary General of the country's Ministry of Environment, Ms. Prudence Galega, said: “Through the project, the country’s capacity for bridging science-policy implementation gaps in NDCs implementation was enhanced on multiple levels.”
“With the project demonstrating the enterprise opportunities of climate action and NDCs in sectors beyond the environment, such as ICT – which engages most youth – the project attracted the participation of this critical demographic,” she added. “The project was now informing development planning at both national and sub-national levels where the government is actively implementing reforms on decentralised development.”
Expressing appreciation to the European Commission (EC) for investing in low emissions development in Africa and to UNEP for its technical support, countries called for the replication of the successes of the Africa LEDS project continentally as part of the framework for NDCs implementation in Africa.
Representing the EC, Astrid Schomaker, Director for Global Sustainable Development, noted that NDCs implementation can become strategic for much needed enterprise development and industrialization in the African region and indeed the globe, adding that this can come with the critical added advantage of not following high carbon development pathways.
Thanking the countries involved for demonstrating this possibility, she pledged that such demonstration of tangible socioeconomic and enterprise benefits of NDCs was a major incentive for continued EC investment in low emissions development in the continent.
Speaking at the event, UNEP Deputy Executive Director Ms. Joyce Msuya thanked countries for implementing the project and the EC for its partnership.
“To support the transition of the successes of the Africa LEDS project from project level towards scaling up, where it becomes a framework for NDCs implementation, it was important to examine how to get there,” she said. “Such a transition requires clarity in establishing what worked and what did not work; appreciating the differing country contexts is critical to scaling up these successes across the continent.”
The ministerial breakfast also saw the affirmation of the “Accra Action Agenda on Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) For Africa” adopted by state and non-state actors from project and non-project countries during the project close-out meeting in June 2019.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About the Africa LEDS project
The Africa LEDS project is supporting Low Emissions Development (LEDS) in Africa in the context of respective socio-economic development priorities as stipulated in country development visions & strategies as spelled out in their respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The Africa LEDS project aims to replicate success and share lessons across the continent.
About the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)
The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) was established in December 1985, following a conference of African ministers of environment held in Cairo, Egypt. Its mandate is to provide advocacy for environmental protection in Africa; to ensure that basic human needs are met adequately and in a sustainable manner; to ensure that social and economic development is realized at all levels; and to ensure that agricultural activities and practices meet the food security needs of the region.
About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
For more information, please contact:
Mohamed Atani, Head of Communication and Outreach, UN Environment Africa Office, +254 727 531253
