Climate Change forum opens with calls for African leaders to move from rhetoric to action | Africa EU

Climate Change forum opens with calls for African leaders to move from rhetoric to action | Africa EU

Ethiopia’s President, Girma Wolde-Giorgis has called on African leaders to “close the gap between rhetoric and adaptation actions” in order to effectively address the impact of climate change across the continent. President Ato Girma made the call in his opening address at the ongoing seventh African Development Forum –ADF VII- whose theme is “Acting Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa."

He outlined some of Africa's devastating impacts of climate change, including severe drought, loss of livelihoods by pastoralists, farmers and the threat of the private sector from lack of sustainable energy. He also pointed out that the hard won gains in achieving poverty eradication, sustained growth stability, peace and security and ecosystem integrity constitute "the bedrock for sustainable development", and should therefore be protected by African leaders. These gains, he said, are being severely undermined by the threat of climate change.

President Ato Giorgis also urged leaders attending the Forum to support the Conference of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), which is chaired by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Meles Zenewi. The Conference “provides a united political voice, needed to achieve optimal results at the global level,” he said.

Mr. Jean Ping, Chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC) called for "influential environmental diplomacy", as the means through which African countries could advance their decision-making and mitigate against the negative impact of climate change.