•Hundreds of activists have been holding peaceful demonstrations against the Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi.
•They said the declaration made at the end of the three-day event at the KICC was a letdown for Kenya and Africa as a whole.
Image: NANCY AGUTU
Women deserve a seat at the negotiation table, not as spectators, not as beggars or flower girls, but as equal participants, Hivos East Africa has said.
In a statement on Wednesday, regional director Kennedy Mugochi said most women and girls are affected by Climate change effects.
He was reacting to the declaration made by African States during the just concluded Africa Climate Summit.
The three-day summit ended on Wednesday with African Heads of State and Government agreeing to adopt 10 calls to action to tackle the global crisis of climate change.
“Hivos expected the summit would announce concrete plans for gender equality and women’s empowerment, not just make a cursory mention of women, youth and Indigenous communities,” Mugochi said.
He said women deserve a seat at the negotiation table not as "spectators, not as beggars or flower girls, but as equal participants”.
“This declaration will support industrialisation, but without any plan to ensure that rural women, youth and Indigenous communities, who are already being left behind, are better served.”
He supported African leaders’ calls for debt relief, fair global tax rules, and massively increased climate finance.
“Without more resources, Africa has little chance of surviving the climate emergency. But we need leaders to make transparent commitments to use these funds for inclusive, local, people-led development,” he said.
He said the declaration leaves too many loopholes that would let “green” investment perpetuate the failed models of the past that have impoverished so many African women and youth.
Mugochi also said – oil and gas – were also ignored during the declaration.
“This risks locking Africa into a fossil fuel-dependent trajectory that will only saddle African countries with stranded assets and huge debts and do little to tackle the climate crisis," he said.
During a breakfast meeting in Nairobi, Mugochi called for partnerships between organisations to ensure that climate effects are dealt with.
“Local communities understand their environment. Most people affected are not included in climate policy changes," he said.
"The voices of those affected should be heard, we listen we learn and incorporate everything that they say. It is important that we have local solutions."
Activists and communities that were holding a meeting parallel to the inaugural Africa Climate Summit have also termed disappointing the Nairobi Declaration.
"The declaration was underwhelming and inadequate for Africa," David Otieno from Kenya Peasants League and activist's spokesperson said.
He said the declaration described the African context but did not provide solutions to the climate crisis.
Among the issues agreed upon during the Nairobi summit include the establishment of the Africa Climate Summit as a biennial event convened by the African Union and hosted by AU Member States.
The African leaders also proposed the establishment of a global tax regime to finance climate action at scale by crowding in and de-risking private capital, including but not limited to financial transactions tax (FTT) and emission levies.