African islands meet to address climate change and disaster risk challenges

Storm brewing in Seychelles, Tracy Wade, freeimages.com

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia April 08, 2015 (ClimDev-Africa). Representatives of African Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have convened here for a two-day workshop to develop a collaborative framework for support to address the challenges of climate change and manage disaster risks.

The workshop is being held at the UNECA Headquarters under the auspices of the Climate for Development Africa (ClimDev-Africa) Programme, a joint initiative of the African Union Commission (AUC), the Africa Development Bank (AfDb) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)  ‘s  African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) a unit of the UNECA’s Special Initiatives Division (SID), which serves as the Secretariat for the ClimDev-Africa programme responsible for establishing the policy basis of the joint initiative.  

The workshop aims to provide African SIDS with support to address the urgent challenges posed by climate change and seize opportunities in emerging areas related to the transition towards blue and green economies that are aligned to development aspirations.  

The gathering is a follow up to a scoping mission to Cabo Verde, Union of the Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Mauritius, Seychelles and, São Tomé and Príncipe, undertaken by ACPC upon request from the African SIDS. The mission assessed their climate change adaptation and mitigation needs; identified priority interventions aimed at building country resilience to climate change and the means to address residual loss and damage.

Africa’s six SIDS are highly vulnerable to climate change and related extreme weather-induced disasters that make it difficult for them to attain their development goals. 

“The impact of climate-related extreme events is likely to increase as the effect of climate change intensifies, but there is also much that is and can be done to build resilience to climate change in these six countries,” says  Fatima Denton, Director of the Special Initiatives Division.  “There is a need to develop capacity to undertake effective long-term dynamic adaptation planning and implement decision-making mechanisms to manage multi-sectoral risks that they face and enable SIDS to make their transitions to blue and green economies,” she said.

It is anticipated that a joint work programme will be developed at the end of the workshop linking the priority SIDS needs to the ClimDev Africa programme of work as a precursor to the latter providing concrete support to African SIDS to effectively manage the risks of climate change and also in anticipation of the momentous COP 21 where a successor treaty to Kyoto will be decided.

The ClimDev-Africa programme was established to create a solid data, analysis, technical and capacity building support foundation to respond to Africa’s climate change challenges and opportunities.

For further information please contact:
Jacqueline Chenje
Communications Officer
African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), UNECA
Tel: +251-11-544-3489
Mob: +251-9-441-20698