African CSOs Stage  "No to Fossil Fuels Action"  Reject Net-Zero at the ongoing Climate Talks

Civil society and grassroots groups across Africa have staged a sit-in and protest action at the exhibition centre of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 26 in Glasgow.

This is to demand that African delegates attending the negotiations reject hand-outs, rather advance real solutions to the climate crisis.

The gathering which had civil society from West, East, Central and Southern Africa, also drew the attention of media representatives from the Global North and South.

The action included a display of key messages on placards, solidarity songs and speeches delivered by civil society leaders from the continent.

Labram Musah, Executive Director of Programs at the Vision for Alternative Development (VALD) said, "we cannot afford to fall for the same old tricks and deceptive promises especially when the evidence is clear and the impact of climate change is being felt by communities across Africa.

African governments and leaders must prioritize citizens' call and public health over the parochial interest of the polluting industries and countries of the Global North. We are not relenting on our commitments to providing real climate solutions and dispelling false solutions.

Aderonke Ige, Associate Director at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) mentioned that Africa is on the frontline of the climate impacts though it is the continent that contributes the least to the climate crisis.

Unfortunately, at the COP, the real solutions that Africans want have been pushed to the background and replaced with false solutions such as net-zero and carbon markets. African delegates must listen to the voice of the people back home facing the real impacts of this needless delay in advancing real solutions” 

Emem Okon, Kebet Kache Women Development Center also said “I come from Port Harcourt in Nigeria where oil impacts have only created environmental hazards including soot that is everywhere in our communities. Soot is now in our air, our waters, and our houses. People are falling ill and the cancer rate among natives is growing. That is why we are insisting that fossil fuels must end”.

Geoffrey Kamese of Uganda National Association of Coalitions for Health added that “in East Africa, we are now facing drought, invasion of locusts and other climate-induced conditions that affect agriculture which is the main livelihood of our women. This crisis that our people are not responsible for is causing a food crisis for them”.

Ndivile Mokoena, GenderCC SA - Women for Climate Justice, asserted that "the most common climate change impacts in South Africa are floods and droughts that affect mostly the agricultural sector which is the cornerstone of many poor communities who are daily losing their livelihoods, the sense of dignity and right to life due to the ravages of climate change to the sector.

"We call upon world leaders and governments to desist from misleading the world by using the nature-based solution terminology, which is a pure brainwashing and profit-making ploy as it does not reduce emissions at all. We demand agroecological transition that promotes fair and sustainable systems that respect people's food sovereignty through eco-system based approaches."

Earlier, Philip Jakpor, Director of Programmes, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa explained that the gathering was to amplify the unified position of Africans on the climate crisis ravaging Africa, to nudge delegates attending the COP to advance real solutions.

Reading out the African Civil Society Position Paper, Aderonke Ige of CAPPA said the recommendations from civil society were clear and achievable if the right political will is there. The position of the paper urges African delegates attending the COP to challenge and reject pledges made by polluting corporations and governments to achieve “net-zero” emissions, which are being used to shift additional burdens onto the African region and avoid responsibility for their role in the global share of emissions to-date.

Additionally, the paper hopes to challenge African delegates to commit to achieving Real Zero emissions reductions, embracing the concept of equity (each country does their fair share).

Moreover, seeks to cause African leaders and delegates to reject industry-driven attempts to ram through rules enshrining market mechanisms into the centre of Paris Agreement implementation, via the guidelines for Article 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement.

Again, the paper wants governments across the region to come up with real climate change plans (adaptation and mitigation) and reflect the same in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The paper's position is to cause African leadership to secure concrete outcomes advancing policies to implement real solutions via Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement.

Also to advance a strong argument to commit industrialized and wealthy countries to provide adequate climate financing for the implementation of its adaptation and mitigation plans.

Finally, the paper seeks to ensure that the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of African countries are independent of false solutions and corporations’ influences, rather accommodate workable and home-grown climate solutions on mitigation and adaptations.

Freeman Kroyekpor