The ACP Group, Climate Change, and the Environment

9th CTA Regional Policy Briefing, Vanuatu, 31 Oct – 02 Nov 2012

Mamour A. JAGNE, Ambassador and Permanent Representative

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Presentation Outline

• Preamble• ACP Activities in the areas of Climate Change

and the Environment• The Ad hoc Working Group on Rio+20• Rio+20• Next Steps (Immediate)• Longer Term• Strategy for Way Forward

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Preamble

• The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975.

• Composed of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states, with 48 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific.

• Heads of State, Council of Ministers, Committee of Ambassadors, ACP Secretariat

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• Committee of Ambassadors organised into technical subcommittees– Political, social, humanitarian and cultural affairs– Trade and Commodity Protocols– Investment and the Private Sector– Financing and Development– Establishment and Finance– Sustainable Development

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• S/C on SD oversees environmental, social and economic development issues relating to the ACP Group, in an integrated manner.

“requires strategies that respond to the environmental challenges and to counteract unsustainable socio-economic development. Such strategies must include managing demographic pressures, implementing sustainable methods of agricultural production, restoring degraded lands, developing alternatives to fuelwood, managing water resources efficiently, combatting debt, preservation of biodiversity, poverty and malnutrition.” 2001 Mandate

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Some ACP / EU Activities in CC and Envt

• Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA)– Launched in 2007 to strengthen dialogue and

cooperation on CC between the EU and developing countries most vulnerable to CC, esp. LDCs and SIDS

– Total budget of €40 million, divided over 5 geographical components including the ClimDev Africa programme, and 4 regional components in E. & S. Africa, W. Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific

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• ACP-EU Energy Facility– Created to contribute to the achievement of the

MDGs as well as the WSSD objectives on energy, while at the same time helping to combat CC

– Firs Call for Proposals 2009: 74 projects, of which 22 granting access to modern energy services, more than two million beneficiaries reached out of a target of 2.5 million

– Micronesia benefitted from € 2.5m energy project– 2nd CfP Oct 2012; budget of €50 million

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• EU-ACP Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) Programme –Obj = enhance capacity of ACP countries to

implement MEAs and related commitments, resulting in sound management of envt and natural resources – 3 Regional Hubs established to support

implementation of MEAs at regional and national levels– 4 year project, commenced 2009. Budget of

€ 21m

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Ad hoc Working Group on Rio +20

• Formed in Jan 2012 with a mandate to– Formulate an ACP Position Paper to ensure the

concerns of the Group are taken into account in Rio

– Develop an ACP-EU Joint Declaration

• Docs adopted at 95th ACP Council and 37th ACP-EU Joint Council in June

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ACP Participation in Rio + 20

• Delegation led by SG• Side event hosted with OIF on South-South

and Triangular Cooperation• High-level speakers included President of

Haiti, Ghana Minister of Envt, Prince Laurent of Belgium, ACP SG, OIF Administrator, UNDP Assistant Administrator, etc

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Rio + 20 (ctd)• Final Outcome Document contains many of the

concerns highlighted in the ACP Position Paper, e.g.– Continued relevance of the Barbados Programme of

Action for SIDS (para 15,16)– Significant gaps in implementation of MEAs (para 22)– Green economy and the importance of technology

transfer (para 50)– Institutional framework for SD (para 88)– Importance of the blue economy –oceans and marine

resources - to SIDS (para 158-177)

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Next Steps (2012)

• 3rd annual Open Day on Sustainable Economic Development (Oct 11)

• 1st ACP Ministerial on CC (Nov 7-9)• ACP Council (Dec 10-12)• ACP Heads of State Summit (Dec 13-14)• ACP will also participate in– Global South-South Development Expo (Vienna,

Nov 19-23)– Doha CC Conference (COP 18, Nov 26 – Dec 7)

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Longer Term

• Following Rio + 20, ACP will remain engaged with– Devt of the Sustainable Development Goals – Strengthening and upgrading of UNEP– Devt of a facilitation mechanism for

environmentally sound technology transfer– The UN’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative– Resource mobilisation to achieve SD objectives

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Strategies for Achievement

• Reinforcing collaboration with relevant partners – UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO, the EU, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), Pacific Regional Environment Programme (PREP), etc

• South-South and Triangular Cooperation – the BRICS

• Continue to develop and implement ACP initiatives on CC, envt, (renewable) energy, and disaster risk reduction – intra-ACP envelop

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Thank you for your kind attention!

Questions?

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