South Africa’s Minister of Forestry and Fisheries and Environmental Affairs Barbara Creecy will attend the first African Climate Summit, which will take place from 4 to 6 September in Nairobi, Kenya.

“The summit is expected to amplify Africa’s voice on climate change at the global level and provide a platform for the continent’s key climate change priorities to be reflected in existing international fora such as the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the G7/G20 processes and in particular the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 28),” said Barbara Creecy.

The summit, under the theme “Green Growth and Climate Finance for Africa and the World”, will bring together leaders from the continent and beyond, including development partners, intergovernmental organisations, the private sector, academia, civil society organisations, women and youth. The aim is to develop and catalyse action and solutions on climate change in Africa, providing a platform to discuss the relationship between climate change, the continent’s development realities and the need for increased investment in climate action globally and in Africa in particular.

The summit will be held in conjunction with Africa Climate Week (4-8 September 2023), organised in partnership with the UNFCCC Secretariat, an annual event led by the UNFCCC that provides an opportunity to assess the continent’s journey towards achieving the goals and targets of the convention and its Paris Agreement.

The summit will feature a series of plenary and parallel ministerial and head of state-level sessions on a range of key issues for the continent, including a just energy transition; green minerals and production; sustainable agriculture, food systems and land use; climate-resilient water investments; ocean governance, and sustainable infrastructure and urbanisation. The Africa Climate Summit will also address cross-cutting issues of importance to the region, such as adaptation and resilience to climate risks, as well as climate finance and carbon credits.

Minister Creecy will participate in an expert panel on scaling up international climate finance for Africa, where ways to significantly increase the flow of financial resources to support the continent’s climate change commitments will be explored.

“The African continent needs access to new additional grants and high leverage finance that can be effectively used to create an enabling environment by mitigating risks and creating new asset classes for green investments that will increase public and private fundraising,” said the South African minister.

Creasy stressed that Africa’s approach to climate change should be based on the principle of equity and recognition of the continent’s right to development, as reported by the official website of the South African government.

Photo:  istockphoto.com