By Sharon Atieno
Though 53 African countries have developed their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) on climate change, only 17 have made action plans.
Dr. Samson Ogallah, Advisor, African Union Commission (AUC) said during an AU side event titled “Accelerating the implementation of NDC and NAPs in Africa” at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.
Ogallah noted that even those who have developed the National Action Plan (NAP) lack the resources and capacity to implement it fully.
“The policies and programmatic investments needed to meet these commitments and simultaneously to build the resilience of their populations to climate change remain a challenge,” he said, adding that even the remaining African countries will need support to develop their NAP and revise their NDCs.
“When effectively implemented, NDCs and NAPs will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vulnerability to climate change impacts by building adaptive capacity, resilience, and integration of climate change adaptation into relevant new and existing policies and the development planning process.”
Besides country goals to fast-track climate action, the African continent through the AU has developed climate change frameworks.
These include the Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2032) and the AU Green Recovery Action Plan (GRAP: 2021-2027).
The AUC has the mandate for the implementation, coordination, and oversight role of these climate change frameworks through and in partnership with other AU organs, UN agencies, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), AU Member States (AU-MS) and interested partners.
One of the tools the AUC is using to help strengthen climate action in the continent and implementation and incorporation of these frameworks at individual country levels is the Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI).
The initiative is supported by the United States Government through USAID and is being implemented by AKADEMIYA2063, Agricultural Policy and Research Institutes (ReNAPRI), and Michigan State University.
According to Dr. Anthony Chapoto, agricultural economist, Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute, CACCI works with individual countries to build their capacities for effective implementation, tracking and reporting.
It strengthens institutions for better coordination and mutual accountability while mobilizing tools for more robust data analytics for effective evidence-based policy-making and responses.
Dr. Chapoto said that the initiative works with individual countries based on their technical needs, providing data and analytics to guide actions and strengthen implementations of NDCs and NAPs.
Additionally, CACCI supports infrastructure for review, benchmarking and learning as well as the creation of an ecosystem and technical support to sustain the effort.
The initiative has been piloted in four countries including Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal and Zambia and is looking at expanding to reach 25 countries.
In Senegal, for instance, CACCI enabled tracking of climate risks in the country based on drought index overlayed with population density to predict which are the most effective areas for climate action.
In Rwanda, the initiative supported the country to track the dynamics of its natural forests between 2015 and 2022, the findings showed significant losses of forests.
