Nairobi, 13 October
2009 - Entitled 'Climate Change: One Africa,
One Voice, One Position', the African Parliamentarians
Summit on Climate Change was launched on
Tuesday by Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki
at the headquarters of the United Nations
Environment Programme
(UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya. Co-organized by
the Kenyan Parliament, the Pan African Parliamentarians
Network on Climate Change and the Pan African
Climate Justice Alliance, the two-day meeting
is aimed at consolidating past and ongoing
efforts and initiatives by Parliamentarians
in Africa in the run-up to the AU-AMCEN
special session in Addis Ababa, 19-23 October
2009, and the climate negotiations in Copenhagen
in December.
President Mwai Kibaki
reminded the parliamentarians that they
have legitimacy to enact policies and laws
to safeguard a safe, healthy and sustainable
natural environment that serves the need
of humanity as a whole.
"I am aware that
the path to greener world is not easy but
we must soldier on. We must take aggressive
initiatives to provide for the reduction
of greenhouse gases and domestication of
international and regional conventions and
protocol on climate change. In your capacity
as political leaders, accept the challenge
to combat climate change," he stressed.
"UNEP has been providing
assistance to Africa in this negotiation
process through AMCEN [African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment] and various
initiatives at national, sub-regional and
regional levels that have helped shape and
refine the position of the continent. We
will continue our support with steadfastness
and consistency with African needs and priorities.
We join our voice to yours to enable Africa's
voice to be heard," Angela Cropper,
UNEP's Deputy Executive Director, told delegates
at the opening of the summit.
She added that Africa
stands to suffer most the effects of climate
change and highlighted UNEP's commitment
to work closely with the African Governments
as is the case of AMCEN.
The summit, attended
by over 63 parliamentarians from across
the continent, follows a resolution made
in Yaoundé, Cameroon, during the
first Pan African Parliamentary Conference
on Climate Change, hosted by the Cameroonian
National Assembly from July 25 ? 27 2009,
and which brought together parliamentarians
from more than 30 countries from across
Africa.
The current meeting
will, hopefully, bring together high-level
political support to help build a sustainable
global climate change system at the talks
in Copenhagen.
