What is your assessment of the existing global climate governance framework and measures to curb climate change?
The pledges that countries, particularly from the developed world, have made to cut emissions are too inadequate whereas the current rate and predicted path of warming are dangerous for the African continent. Rich countries have hijacked the global carbon space, the trade agreements they have imposed on Africa have weakened the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, destroying resilience, and now they are refusing to pay for the damage they have caused and will continue to cause.
In the meantime, countries like Japan are undermining the long-standing Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is significant because it imposes obligations to cut emissions. Not all countries have met their obligations, but the obligations are, at least in theory, binding. So even as science makes the dangers of climate change increasingly clearer, Annex I countries are trying more and more to wriggle out of their already inadequate obligations. Africans are cognisant of the fact that while the developed world is the biggest historical and current polluter the effects are being felt most in the developing world. The matter cannot therefore be taken as casually as is currently the case.
In your view, what is the greatest challenge for African governments when it comes to ensuring that their demands are heard and heeded at climate negotiations?
One of the great injustices of climate talks is that the negotiations are divided into parallel tracks – and so negotiating teams need to have representatives in five or six different meetings happening simultaneously. This is impossible when you are an African country with just two or three delegates at the negotiations, never mind the problem of sheer fatigue setting in over two weeks of extremely intense work.
The negotiations are incredibly complex and African countries simply do not have the resources, both human and in terms of knowledge, to follow the different meetings and processes through. The under-resourcing of developing countries is a great injustice at the heart of the climate negotiations process.
Do you see a role for civil society organisations in supporting African governments at negotiations? If so, in what ways?
While developed countries have large legal teams, CSOs from these countries complement their negotiating delegations through coordinating observers in all the meetings, constantly reporting back and providing updates which benefit the actual Party delegation. This is not so for small country delegations as those coming from Africa. There are very few civil society organisations from African countries that work round the clock to analyse outcomes of the various parallel meetings and provide this analysis and feed back to their Party delegations. This is therefore a void that needs to be filled by Southern CSOs to complement their country delegations’ efforts during negotiations.
It is important to note, however, that although CSOs need to play this invaluable role in supporting the delegations of less developed nations, they have traditionally operated under very restricted conditions and without enough access to the various sessional meetings. Ahead of Durban we are lobbying heavily to ensure that African Parties and civil society observers work side-by-side and that CSOs are not shoved out to the margins where Party delegates cannot access them.
In the Ugandan experience, what has been the nature of engagement between government and CSOs on climate change issues?
Uganda is probably one of the few countries where relations, particularly on climate change issues, are still cordial between government and civil society. Government, through the Climate Change Unit (CCU) has created four thematic working groups under the international themes of adaptation, mitigation, means of delivery - comprising capacity building and technology transfer, and financing. All groups are headed by a government representative but there is space on each reserved for civil society representation. Government did this through the recognition that civil society organisations do a lot of work within Ugandan communities and have a large repository of knowledge on climate change and its effects among rural folks, where government has traditionally not been able to deliver. This representation puts civil society in a better position to advise the government as a Party to the Conference of Parties (COP). Also, through coordination by Climate Action Network - Uganda (CAN-U), meetings are organised between government and civil society to hammer out Uganda’s official position prior to the COPs.
We in civil society, together with our government counterparts, are duly aware of the constraints each side faces. Civil society is aware of the constrained resource base of government in implementing climate change activities. We therefore play a complementary role in implementing many activities that would otherwise have been done by government including taking part in extension services, training workshops and related activities.
The synergistic partnership is not without its problems though as sometimes friction has arisen. Due to the action oriented nature of civil society, government sometimes views us as running faster than the ball whereas CSOs, on the other hand, disapprove of the rather sedentary nature of government, particularly on actual implementation of climate response programmes in the affected communities.
Beyond your national borders, how would you characterise existing networking and collaboration between civil society on the continent in terms of preparations for COP 17; what kind of leadership in this regard does civil society in East Africa expect from their counter-parts in South Africa?
There is currently very little networking between civil society on the continent in terms of preparation for COP 17. Only the South African NGOs have made effort to contact other CSOs on the continent. The issue may not be inertia to act on part of the other African CSOs, but the inability, especially financially, to establish and maintain contacts with partner organisations. Many organisations on the continent are aware, however, that South African CSOs have put in place a strategy that includes joint actions around the a Global Day of Action on the 3rd of December and the establishment of an open and inclusive space that will accommodate the full spectrum of civil society voices, among other activities. It is therefore incumbent on CSOs from different parts of Africa to join up with the South African NGOs and create impact. The feeling is that South African NGOs have already played their part by setting the ball rolling.
This interview was conducted by Tigere Chagutah, Sustainable Development Programme Manager.