Temwa Mhone
NAIROBI-(MaraviPost)-Kenya The African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN) says there is need for scientific-based evidence from an African perspective in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
AGN chairperson, Ephraim Shitima, said this on Friday in Nairobi, Kenya during a meeting in collaboration with the Kenya Meteorological Department, Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MEF), African group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and other scientists in Africa to discuss important climate science knowledge gaps.
Shitima said the development will be key to address Africa’s climate science knowledge gaps in relation to the continent’s contribution to the IPCC.
“The IPCC is the designated scientific voice on climate science; it is therefore critical for our continent, which contributes very little and yet suffers the most, to be well represented in this body of science,” he says. “As AGN, we support every effort that African institutions such as AGNES, are making to improve the continent’s participation in the climate science discourse. This is particularly important for technical negotiators who have been yearning for scientific-based evidence to be informed from an African perspective.”
Kenyan State Department of Environment and Climate Change principal secretary, Festus Ng’eno, emphasised the importance of ensuring that Africa’s voices are loud enough in the climate science discourse considering the continent’s vulnerability to effects of climate change.
“The products in the 6th assessment cycle show an improvement in the representation of African issues, however there is still a major room for improvement. It is alarming that only 11 percent of authors of the assessment report are from Africa despite Africa being one of the world’s most vulnerable continents to the climate crisis. It is crucial to ensure that African voices are well-represented when finding solutions, crucial too is the inclusion of the role of indigenous and local knowledge systems as well as adequate gender representation,” he said.
African Climate Research Fellow, Chukwuemeka Diji, said the meeting is timely as the IPCC sixth assessment report clearly indicates how Africa’s ability to adapt was being pushed to its limits.
“This week’s convening will set the groundwork to highlight the exposure and vulnerability of Africa to climate change and its multi–dimensional, socio–economic and political dimensions,” he said.
Some of the solutions that the meeting aims to bring on board include having a common African position on the gaps identified, creation of an awareness and outreach programme to enhance National Focal Points’ link with policymakers, universities or research institutions and putting in place a support system for African scientists to publish in peer-reviewed journals.
