On November 13, at the margin of COP31 taking place in Antalya, Turkey, Nana Dr Anwto Boasiako Amoah chairing Africa group of negotiators held the sideline meeting with African CSOs at COP31.
The briefing meeting is a routine for the African Group of Negotiators that aims to update the African delegation on the progress of the negotiations, where they provide a platform for the delegation to ask and exchange views that touch the interests of the African continent at COP.
The meeting provides a platform for dialogue between African climate negotiators and the civil society organisations, recognising the critical role that non-state actors play in shaping the continent’s climate agenda.
In this meeting, he updated the African delegation on the current status of the negotiations and what they have successfully done as African Negotiators. He informed he informed that the African group of negotiators successfully secured important consensus on the climate finance work programme, which was adopted on the agenda.
Nana Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah shared with the African delegation his experience and the outcomes of the Climate meeting, highlighting the key priorities the group took to negotiations. He informed that the group approached the meeting with 5 key priorities for Africa, namely Climate Finance, Adaptation Financing, GCF and Loss and Damage Fund ambition, climate and trade clarity, and Just Transition.
In the meeting, the AGN Chair informed that African negotiators submitted three supplementary agenda items but were very concerned by the fact that the Climate Finance agenda, which was already provisionally published, was still being discussed by developed countries, which risked not being adopted on the agenda.
As the COP31 negotiations continue, the AGN -CSO meeting provided an opportunity to enhance trust, accountability and coordination and strategic cooperation between negotiators and CSOs representatives. It was also an opportunity to underscore the importance of an inclusive African Climate diplomacy that goes beyond government-led negotiations to incorporate the perspectives of communities, indigenous people, women, youth and other frontline constituencies.
On November 8, the AGN Chair had requested Africa CSOs to actively engage with AGN join hands with African negotiators in documenting the unmet needs, track finance reaching local communities, and demonstrate approaches that deliver results.
The call was shared through the statement delivered by the Chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), Nana Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, represented by Dr George Manful, the Senior Advisor to AGN, at the one-day pre-COP31 convened by African non-state actors under the leadership of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).
Held in Antalya, Turkey, the convening brought together African CSOs, partners and Pan African Institution to provide a platform through which African non-state actors and other actors from Pan-African institutions will reflect on our common Africa position for COP31.
In that meeting, the African civil society organisations and other pan-African institutions stressed the critical need to translate the outcomes of COP30 held in Belém last year into tangible action, emphasising that Africa cannot continue to bear the disproportionate cost of a climate crisis it did not create.