Wednesday, December 14, 2011

COMESA-EAC and SADC Launch Climate Change Intitiative

The East African Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) have launched a joint five-year Programme on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. The focus of the Programme is increasing investments in climate resilient and carbon efficient agriculture (climate-smart agriculture) and its linkages to forestry, land use and energy practices by 2016. The programme has received $20 million funding from the Royal Government of Norway, the European Union Commission and UK’s Department of International Development (DfID), signifying an exemplary partnership between Africa and Europe on climate change.

The three RECs comprising the Tripartite will synergize on their respective comparative advantages that include: main-streaming climate change in national and regional policies and strategies; climate resilient and climate smart agriculture; vulnerability assessment and disaster risk reduction approaches; and climate change policy negotiations to provide African solutions to climate change.

EAC’s key achievements in the area of climate change over the last few years include: approval of the EAC Climate Change Policy and issuance a Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change by the EAC Summit; the establishment of the EAC Climate Change Fund and Climate Change Coordination Unit at the EAC Secretariat; as well as the development of a Regional Climate Change Position as input to the African Common Negotiating Position on Climate Change.

See full article here and previous articles on climate change here
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