During the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Rwanda and the United Kingdom are expected to host a side event dubbed "Keeping 1.5 Alive - The Glasgow Climate Pact and Building Momentum towards COP27”.

The meeting will take stock of COP26 outcomes, especially progress on the Glasgow Climate Pact and discuss innovative ways to access climate finance, including an introduction to the Kigali Principles on Carbon Finance.

The discussions aim to generate momentum for COP27 which will take place in Egypt in November 2022.

Rwanda National Police’s Rescue Unit rescues residents from a flooded road in Kigali on February 3, 2020. Photo: File.

The event will bring together a range of leaders from across the Commonwealth, United Nations organisations, civil society, private sector, young people and women to discuss progress on the Glasgow Climate Pact, accessing climate finance, the desired outcomes of COP27 in Egypt and how Commonwealth Member States can work together to achieve them.

Faustin Vuningoma, the Coordinator of Rwanda Climate Change and Development Organizations Network told Doing Business that the meeting is to take place in the context of the challenges brought about by Covid-19 from which the country is just recovering and climate change.

"Whereas Covid-19 has already led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, climate change impacts could account up to 250,000 additional deaths between 2030 and 2050 from factors such as malnutrition, heat stress and malaria, if figures from the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCCC) is anything to go by,” he said.

The theme of the CHOGM is Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming.

The theme, Vuningoma said, is particularly important for Rwanda and Africa as it highlights how countries in the Commonwealth family could innovate, connect and transform to help achieve some of its biggest challenges, like protecting natural resources and boosting trade.

"The theme is relevant to the current climate conversations that require greater solidarity in addressing the climate crisis and too relevant for Rwanda’s aspirations for a common and unified voice. Innovations at all levels continue to underpin actions in addressing the climate crisis.

Severe weather events, particularly droughts, have historically imposed heavy costs in Rwanda. The projected impacts of climate change may increase the frequency and compound the ramifications of these events, potentially undermining food security, health, and economic growth.,” he said.

Increasing disasters

According to the activist, communities have experienced increasing runoff and landslides, heightening vulnerability to climate change impacts.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCCC), an intergovernmental body of the United Nations responsible for advancing knowledge on human-induced climate change indicates that warming over land regions across Africa, consistent with anthropogenic climate change, has increased.

The IPCCC reports notes that a reduction in precipitation is likely over Northern Africa and the southwestern parts of South Africa by the end of the 21st century.

"African ecosystems are already being affected by climate change, and future impacts are expected to be substantial in addition to the amplification of the existing stress on water availability in Africa,” he said.

The 6th IPCC assessment report which was presented in the first Glasgow dialogue meeting during the climate summit- COP 26 in Glasgow Scotland indicated that the excessive death rate from non-optimal temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be nearly double the global average.

"The question we have to ask today during CHOGM is whether the high-profile meeting will offer respite and support to the African position ahead of the 27th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27)?”

Rwanda holding CHGOM this year is of particular interest to Africa since the meeting coincides with the hosting of the 27th Conference of parties to the UN Framework convention on climate change (COP27) in Egypt later in the year,” noted Vuningoma.

The Climate Change Programme of the Commonwealth Secretariat focuses on strengthening the resilience of Commonwealth countries to the negative impacts of climate change and provides member countries with measures and support for mitigating and adapting to a changing climate.

The Programme facilitates the human and institutional capacity development of member countries to access public and private climate funding to meet their Paris Agreement commitments, including the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions.

It advocates for international policies, mechanisms and rules to be more responsive to the development needs of Small Islands Developing States and other vulnerable countries.

"Thus, it is important that among the chief of the agenda that Africa should pursue at the CHOGM in my opinion is the need to harness this opportunity to galvanise the entire Commonwealth fraternity to support Africa’s position in COP27. As Africans, we aspire that CO27 be African COP centering issues pertinent to Africa at the centre of discussions,” he said.

 Developed countries that are big emitters of greenhouse emissions causing climate change should set up clear mechanisms to compensate developing and least-developed countries that are vulnerable to effects despite little contribution to global warming under proposed "Loss and Damage scheme”, activists and experts have reiterated.

However, there are concerns over the fact that a fund that was proposed by developing countries to support their efforts to tackle climate change under the "Loss and Damage scheme” was rejected at the concluded UN climate conference.

"As Africa, we are demanding that the oncoming COP27 must as a basic minimum, ensure that there is predictable financing of Loss and damage in quality and quality separate from Official development assistance (ODA), Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). CHOGM must support Africa to have negotiations on Loss and Damage as an agenda at COP27,” he noted

Vuningoma said that CHOGM members should follow the example of the Scottish Government which provided financial support for loss and damage.

"It is the only sensible thing to do in the light of the increasing number of communities impacted by floods and other climate-related calamities,” he said.

Delivering a common future through connecting, innovation and transforming makes me believe that the CHOGM will offer a solution to galvanise the entire Commonwealth of states towards a common position on the climate change problem, added.

Tasneem Essop, Executive Director of Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of more than 1,800 civil society organisations in over 130 countries driving collective and sustainable action to fight the climate crisis and to achieve social and racial justice said, last week, that Rich countries continue to block loss and damage finance from being on the agenda.

"We cannot close our eyes to the loss and damage already being experienced by peoples who are least responsible for the Climate Crisis. For example, in the Horn of Africa, the most severe drought in living memory is unfolding,” Tasneem said.

The $100 billion goal of climate finance is still unmet by developed countries and does not reflect the true needs of the developing world, stated Zaheer Fakir, finance coordinator for the Group of 77 and China negotiating bloc.

He was recently speaking at the side event Developing Country Views on Road to CoP 27  in Bonn, Germany during The 56th session of the UNFCCC subsidiary bodies (SB 56 UN Climate Change Conference).

The Group of 77 is the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries in the United Nations, which provides the means for the countries of the South to articulate and promote their collective economic interests and enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues.

Lobby group denounces plot to slice loss,

damage from Egypt COP27 climate change agenda

"As CSOs from Africa, we demand that as a basic minimum, loss and damage financing must be the priority agenda in COP 27 with clear and urgent timelines on addressing the issue, which is already ravaging African livelihoods,” Charles Mwangi, the Acting Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance said in a statement issued to the Press in Bonn in Germany.

The Alliance called for a commitment from the Parties in following the direction already set by the Scottish government at COP27 in financing loss and damage.

"Every decimal degree in temperature rise is important to this process, ” said Reinhardt Meckler- a researcher with the Inter-governmental panel on climate change.

 Reinhardt indicated that at 1.1 degree of temperature rise, climate change has already caused serious damages to ecosystems and livelihoods.

‘African Continent is a region which suffers most from climate change impacts despite its meagre contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions of four percent,” he said.

During Stockholm+50 , an international meeting convened by the United Nations General Assembly to be held in Stockholm, Sweden from 2-3 June 2022, Jeanne D’arc Mujawamariya, The Rwanda’s Minister for Environment led Rwanda’s delegation to the summit.

She said that there is a need for  scaling up and disbursing funds for climate-resilient projects, investing in restoring degraded ecosystems to reduce the impact of the climate crisis and slow biodiversity loss as well as engaging private sector players and vulnerable groups in developing and implementing policies and initiatives to protect the environment.

"Finance for climate change adaptation must increase. A global commitment to the principles of loss and damage must be prioritised. New financing partnerships must be accompanied by accountability measures that ensure the promises made in Paris are honoured,” said Minister Mujawamariya.