Statement by his Excellency Hon. William Samoei Ruto, PhD., C.G.H., President of the Republic of Kenya and commander-in-chief of the defence forces on the inauguration summit of the international high level panel on water investment for Africa:…
Summit remarks · 8 November 2022
Hosted by H.E. Macky Sall, President of Senegal and Chair of the African Union
Distinguished Excellencies, ladies and Gentlemen,
Climate change has emerged as one of the greatest threats to life on earth. It is also a very serious challenge to human well-being globally, with particular intensity on the African continent. The 6th Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in August 2021, has singled out Africa as singularly vulnerable to climate and weather extremes.
Such vulnerability poses serious adverse repercussions for Africa’s precarious socio-economic systems, even though the continent’s countries cumulatively contribute only 4% of average global emissions. It is imperative that urgent measures be taken to effectively cushion Africa’s peoples, their livelihoods, economies and communities and rapidly eradicate vulnerability. It is for this reason that accelerating adaptation is a matter of high priority throughout Africa.
The escalation of global warming is worsening climate impacts, putting our countries at serious risk of adaptation limits being quickly overwhelmed, leading to unbearable loss and damage. Every slight increase in warming has far reaching and often irreversible negative effects. Warming at rates in excess of 1.5°C could trigger multiple tipping points that would fundamentally alter the Earth’s climate systems.
The NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) analysis report released by the UNFCC secretariat in October 2022, indicates that the world has fallen far behind in implementing agreed targets to minimise warming. As a result of this failure, the declared aspiration to keep temperature rise below 20C has not been realised. Instead the rate of warming has overshot the target, rising to 2.70C.
The UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report, 2022 corroborates this, and confirms that given the insufficiency of current efforts, warming will further rise to 2.80C. We are s t ar ing at a r unaway war ming e ffe c t w hos e consequences will certainly be unforgiving. The gravity of the matter cannot be overstated. Our global situation is dire. We must mobilise to do the right thing as a matter of urgency.
There is no more room to ignore, evade or delay calls for substantial cuts in emissions, especially by the big emitters. Unless significant emission reduction is achieved rapidly, the adaptation gap continues to widen.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the last 12 months since COP 26 in Glasgow, extreme weather records have been broken on every continent. From the worst drought in 40 years currently ravaging the Horn of Africa region, including Kenya, to the devastating floods that hit Pakistan and more recently, Nigeria, and the worst European drought in 500 years, heat waves and wild fires in many parts of the globe, the litany of disastrous climate impacts continue. These calamities have been more pronounced and destructive in vulnerable countries, especially in Africa.
The IPCC’s 6th assessment report paints a grim picture going forward if urgent climate measures are not undertaken now. The window for action is fast closing and the onus squarely falls upon the current world leadership to stand up as the generation that can be counted on to take hard decisions but do the right thing. We cannot afford to continue ignoring the urgent warnings of science with impunity.
Distinguished Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Effective response to climate change requires adequate and predictable financing, capacity building, technology development and transfer. Climate finance remains the single most critical enabler in unlocking climate action, and especially addressing adaptation in vulnerable communities of the Global South.
Between 2019 to 2020 a total of USD 11.4 billion has been made available to Africa for adaptation, against an estimated need of USD 579 billion in adaptation investment by 2030. Clearly, this level of financing falls far below what is required to build resilience in Africa. I call upon the developed Parties to meet all their pledges. This includes doubling of adaptation finance agreed upon in Glasgow, and the urgent implementation of the USD 100 billion commitment.
Quite clearly these funds are inadequate for the purposes of adaptation in Africa as well as covering loss and damage as confirmed by the IPCC 6th assessment report. The report emphatically affirmed that loss and damage is happening now, and I add that all the phenomena that characterise or inflict loss and damage have sadly become the lived experience of many African communities.
Failure to redeem these pledges, therefore, implicates the leadership of the developed countries of negligence with dire humanitarian consequences. This is an action moment, a financial moment and a moral moment for global leadership. We must rise to meet it without flinching.
It is in this spirit that I therefore call for the speedy capitalisation of existing climate finance mechanism, that is: both under the convention and Paris Agreement. I also call for the development of innovative modalities to mobilise additional climate financing. The operationalisation of carbon markets under article 6 of the Paris Agreement would go a long way in this respect. Finally, I emphasise the need for funding under these frameworks to be adequate, timely and accessible in order to be effective. Distinguished Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Successful adaptation is not about making incremental or piecemeal investments. Rather, it is about understanding, intending and doing development differently. It is about systematically taking account of both present day and future climate risks. Adaptation and development are inextricably linked and reciprocal, and credible adaptation action delivers considerable development outcomes.
Accordingly, the achievement of Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 will require African countries to rapidly accelerate the implementation of adaptation plans in line with their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
I urge all of us to make this COP, the implementation COP. Let us all be mindful that we are in a potentially existential moment, if not for all humanity, then, most certainly for many communities, especially vulnerable people in developing countries, including Africa. Our negotiations are not all about hard nosed bargaining of financial commitments.
Due recognition of the distinct moral component underlying our proceedings should convince us to tone down hard, zero-sum positions, direct our focus to collective problem-solving and enable us develop resolutions that will lead to a successful COP 27. As an African COP, let us make Sharm El Sheikh the COP of effective decisions, resolute implementation and ambitious action.
I thank you all