Nairobi, 7th September 2023 - The curtain has come down on the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, with leaders adopting a joint "Nairobi declaration" that will serve as a basis for Africa's common position in the global climate change process. However, the Summit has left vulnerable populations - especially women and girls who are the most impacted by the effects of climate change - on the margins of climate action, according to CARE International.
CARE expected African leaders to raise the urgency in addressing the climate emergency and protecting the rights and livelihoods of its citizens by putting vulnerable people at the centre of the discussions, and wanted a strong people-centered declaration that called on developed countries to fulfil their historical and current responsibilities towards climate change.
Chikondi Chabvuta, Regional Advocacy Advisor, Southern Africa, CARE International, said:
“CARE expected African leaders to put the African people above all personal and collective political and economic interests. We called on them to listen to the voices of their people, especially the youth, women, and other vulnerable groups, who have been hit the most by the consequences of climate change. However, it was disappointing to witness most of the discussions throughout the summit, including the final declaration, focusing heavily on business and investments in carbon trading, while negating the interests of the most vulnerable populations.”
Obed Koringo, Climate Policy Advisor, CARE Denmark/Kenya, said:
“On climate finance, CARE welcomes the African leaders call for acceleration of the ongoing initiatives to reform the multilateral financial system and global financial architecture and the emphasis on innovative climate finance options. The final declaration also calls upon developed countries to honor the $100 billion per year commitments and operationalization of the loss and damage fund at COP28. However, the summit missed a golden opportunity to call for enhanced, flexible, new and additional finance for adaptation, and lacked the commitment to put in place what is needed to channel adaptation finance to the local level, where it is required the most.”
Media enquiries
Please contact David Moore, CARE International UK Media Officer: moore@careinternational.org
