By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Addis Ababa, Sept. 8, GNA – Africa must secure stronger climate finance, adaptation measures and food systems outcomes at COP31 in Türkiye to address worsening climate impacts.
Climate change is already undermining food security, livelihoods and economic development across the continent, with farmers, fishers and pastoralists facing failed rains, floods, droughts and rising food prices.
Nana Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN), made the call in a keynote address at the Continental Convening on Strengthening African Civil Society Climate Action on Food Systems and Agriculture Towards COP31 and COP32 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He said adaptation remained Africa’s “central and non-negotiable priority” as the continent prepared for COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, in November and COP32 in Addis Ababa in 2027.
D Amoah cautioned that hosting a climate summit in Africa would not automatically deliver benefits for the continent unless African countries shaped the agenda around their priorities and development needs.
”A COP held in Africa does not automatically deliver for Africa. It must be shaped by African priorities, evidence and solutions, and it must improve lives beyond the conference halls,” he said.
Dr. Amoah said the global climate policy landscape remained characterised by gaps between ambition and implementation, adaptation needs and available finance, as well as announced funding and actual access to resources.
He said although the Paris Agreement and the first Global Stocktake had provided direction for climate action, developing countries continued to face inadequate support to respond to climate impacts.
Dr Amoah described food systems as a critical link between climate policy and everyday life, saying they covered farming, fisheries, livestock, water resources, transport, markets, nutrition and health.
He said droughts, floods and extreme heat were increasingly disrupting food production and supply chains, resulting in rising prices, declining incomes and worsening inequality.
”Food systems must not sit at the margins of climate negotiations. They are where climate change enters the household,” he said.
Dr. Amoah said Africa must reject any perceived trade-off between food security and climate action and pursue food systems that were productive, resilient and inclusive while supporting development.
Using Ghana as an example, he said many farmers were increasingly uncertain about rainfall patterns and often lost seeds, investments and borrowed funds when rains failed after planting.
”For that farmer, adaptation is not an abstract policy category. It is reliable climate information, the right seed, access to water, extension support and finance at the right time,” he said.
Dr. Amoah expressed concern about the widening adaptation finance gap, saying developing countries were projected to require between 310 billion and 365 billion dollars annually for adaptation by 2035, while international public adaptation finance reached only 26 billion dollars in 2023.
He called for simpler and more accessible climate finance mechanisms, particularly for smallholder farmers, local governments, women-led groups and youth enterprises.
Dr Amoah said climate finance could not be considered accessible when communities most affected by climate change struggled to navigate complex application procedures.
He also stressed the need to link climate adaptation with nutrition, public health and social protection to strengthen community resilience.
Dr Amoah said women traders in Accra, Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Lagos often experienced the effects of climate change indirectly through reduced food supplies, damaged transport infrastructure and increased spoilage of produce.
”A climate shock on a farm can therefore become a nutrition and cost-of-living problem in a city,” he said.
Ahead of COP31, Dr. Amoah proposed seven priorities for African negotiators, including maintaining balance between adaptation and mitigation under the Paris Agreement, securing meaningful outcomes on agriculture and food security, increasing climate finance, strengthening action on loss and damage, and ensuring fair participation of women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and civil society.
He urged developed countries to translate commitments towards providing 300 billion dollars annually in international public climate finance for developing countries by 2035 into concrete action.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey