Cities and territory members of UCLG Africa are committed to the fight against climate change

Cities and territories of Africa represent a significant share of the continent’s GHG emissions (about 70 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa) and they host millions of people in areas that are sometimes very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. They also represent the bulk of economic activity in Africa and investment, (infrastructure, business buildings, equipment, etc.). These realities reinforce the importance of the cities and territories of Africa in the implementation of policies in the fight against climate change.

UCLG Africa intends to make the 8th edition of the Africities Summit a strong political moment with the aim of achieving a common goal for the cities and local governments in response to the major challenges of climate change and the transition towards sustainable development.

The objective is to strengthen the actions of the cities and territories in support of African states for the implementation of their Nationally Determined Planned Contributions (NDPCs) or their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

This should lead to the adoption of a joint Declaration commitment for a broader partnership between national governments and local and regional governments in Africa for the implementation of the NDCs.

Goals and objectives of the Africities Climate Day

The Africities Climate Day is held five years earlier than the deadline of 2023 for elevating the ambitions of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This Climate Day aims to bring together all the stakeholders mobilized in the fight against global warming and the effects of climate change. For its first edition, the Africities Climate Day will focus on the creation of the NDCs of African countries, concerning the seven key components of the Paris Agreement, namely:

  1. Adaptation
  2. Mitigation
  3. South-South cooperation
  4. Territorialization of the NDCs
  5. Financing
  6. Capacity building
  7. The transparency framework

The Africities Climate Day has five strategic and operational goals:

  1. Identifying best practices.
  2. Setting the priorities and goals to be achieved by 2023 with the starting date being the binding period of the Paris Agreement;
  3. Developing the 2030 Agenda of the cities and territories of Africa for Climate;
  4. Evaluating the Declaration of the Africities Climate Day, to be presented at COP 24 in Poland in December.

This Declaration aims to have UNFC recognize the centrality of cities and territories of Africa in their resilience to climate change and the need for these cities and territories to receive more attention and involvement in the implementation of the NDCs on the one hand, and to be represented in the international climate proceedings on the other.

The program is available here: https://www.uclga.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PROGRAMME-CLIMAT-DAY133a113a2018EN.pdf