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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Representatives of African civil society organisations (CSOs) and networks, meeting under the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, have urged African governments not to enter into climate change deals that have disastrous consequences for the continent.
In a declaration issued Thursday at the end of the three-day meeting, held at Kajiado in Kenya's Rift Valley Province, the civil society groups cautioned that "such blind deals will condemn African peoples to incineration and conflicts."
The CSOs met to review and analyse outcomes of the 18th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Doha, Qatar, last December.
They urged developed countries to compensate Africa for the full costs of harm by climate change, which is largely fuelled by high greenhouse emissions from industries based in the West.
Ahead of COP 18 last year, the African civil society had mobilised African governments to demand that developed countries cut emission by at least 40 percent below the 1990 level by 2015 and 100 percent by 2050.
They called on industrial countries to accept their historical responsibilities, reconsider their position and recommit without further delay and conditions.
In the declaration, a copy of which was sent to PANA here, the representatives of the CSOs again called on the developed countries to honour and deliver on their pledge of providing US$ 100 billion every year until 2020.
Further, they asked them to scale up pledges to fulfill their obligation to provide adequate, new and additional funds as this amount is far from all estimates of climate finance needed by developing countries.
"We call for immediate establishment of an independent process to conduct transparent and consultative verification on developed countries' claim that they have successfully delivered all Fast Start Finance of over US$ 30 billion to developing countries during 2010-2012 in accordance with controversial Copenhagen Accord, which metamorphosed into Cancun Agreement," said the declaration.
In the view of African climate change activists, developed countries must remove restrictions of intellectual property rights and pay full incremental costs of technology transfer to protect developing countries.
They oppose efforts to sell rather than transfer appropriate technologies, or to strengthen rather than relax intellectual property rights.
Currently, the developed countries are offering technology transfer to developed countries at a cost.
But the CSO declaration said developed and developing countries should support the adoption and development of indigenous and locally innovated technology as well as ensuring efficiency in technology transfer and deployment.
On agriculture, they urged inclusion of gender equity and enhanced participation of women, youth, indigenous people and marginalised groups in UNFCCC negotiations balancing the differences found in the North and South respectively.
In addition, they condemned the withdrawal of Canada, New Zealand, Russia and Japan from the second commitment of the Kyoto protocol which began in January 2013 and the continued refusal of United States to ratify the protocol.
