• Environment CS Soipan Tuya said the two Summits will be held between September 4 and 8 at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) are complete.
• The theme for the Summit is "Africa Together for Bold, innovative and Resourced Climate Action: Unlocking Climate Finance and Green Investments.”
Image: HANDOUT
The Ministry of Environment has announced that Kenya is ready to host over 10,000 delegates in Nairobi for Africa Climate Summit and the Africa Climate Week in September.
Environment CS Soipan Tuya made the announcement on Friday saying preparations for the two conferences which will be held between September 4 and 8 at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) are complete.
"The participants will include government delegations, representatives from UN agencies, multilateral development institutions, financial institutions, private sector and business leaders, philanthropies, international and national non-state actors, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, youth representatives as well as delegates conducting research and the academia,” Tuya said.
Tuya announced this when she presided over the unveiling of the Africa Climate Summit and the Africa Climate Week Secretary and Steering Committee.
The government of Denmark through the Danish Embassy provided finances for securing the magnificent Secretariat Office that is based at 316 Upper Hill Chambers, 2nd Ngong Avenue, Ngong Road.
The Embassy provided $1 million (Sh137 million).
The theme for the Summit is "Africa Together for Bold, innovative and Resourced Climate Action: Unlocking Climate Finance and Green Investments.”
It is anchored on six pillars; Climate Finance; Mitigation and Green Growth; Climate Adaptation and Resilience; Loss and Damage; Climate Vulnerable groups; and Research Innovation and Technology.
Tuya said the Summit will provide a platform for consolidating Africa's voice ahead of this year's UN General Assembly and the UN Secretary General's Climate Summit in September and COP28 in the United Arab Emirates later in the year.
The Executive Committee for the Summit will be led by President William Ruto, Azali Assoumani, the President of the Union of Comoros, and Moussa Faki, the African Union Commission chairperson.
CS Tuya will co-chair the Executive Oversight Committee with Foreign Affairs CS Alfred Mutua and Ambassador Jossefa Sacko of the AU Commission.
The Planning and Steering Committee is co-chaired by PS Festus Ngeno, Korir Singoei, PS Foreign Affairs, and Harsen Nyambe Nyambe, AU Commission Director for Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy.
Tuya said the secretariat is co-chaired by Pacifica Ogolla, Director Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Environment and Leah Wanambwa of the AU Commission.
She said climate change is considered one of the three crises of our time – alongside the loss of biodiversity and pollution – all of which affect Africa more severely than other regions in the world.
"We can no longer argue about the evidence. Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including the latest 6th Assessment Report show that despite Africa being the least emitter of greenhouse gases, the continent suffers the worst effects of climate change, affecting livelihoods and curtailing our development aspirations,” she said.
Tuya said any delayed action will continue to cost the continent dearly in terms of lost economic productivity given Africa's underlying vulnerabilities and socioeconomic and political challenges.
She warned that attaining the development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN Agenda 2030 and the Africa Union's Agenda 2063 will remain a pipe dream if climate change is not mainstreamed in development planning at national and regional development priorities.
Tuya said the urgency to address the impacts brought about by climate change is urgent.
"It is for this reason that our President, His Excellency Dr William Ruto has made it clear that the time for changing Africa’s narrative on climate change is now," she said.
Tuya said Africa can and will no longer be a “victim” but must be a “solutions provider” to the climate crisis as the future of Africa's progress is highly dependent on the continent's collective Climate Change Action.
Ruto, as the chair of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), offered for Kenya to host the Africa Climate Summit.
The offer was unanimously approved on February 19, 2023 by the heads of state during the 36th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Tuya said the move reflects confidence in Kenya’s leadership.
The CS said climate change is a global problem and solutions are canvassed within the processes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
UNFCCC also holds Regional Climate Weeks to bring together diverse stakeholders in the public and private sectors around a common goal of addressing climate change and to provide space for a grassroots exchange of knowledge and best practices on the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and SDGs.
The UNFCCC Secretariat has also granted Kenya's request to host the Africa Climate Week (ACW) 2023.
This means that both the Africa Climate Summit and the Climate Week will be held concurrently.
The Summit will be an in-person event and include side events and other parallel sessions that can be held in a hybrid format.
Pre-events are planned by various stakeholders including the youth, civil society, business groups and academia among others.