By MediaGlobal News Service
31 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: At the United Nations climate change talks in Accra, Ghana August 21-27, Head of the Special Climate Change Unit for the Nigerian Delegation Dr. Victor Fodeke reiterated his group’s position to not accept any loans to help combat climate change. The African group first articulated their rejection of such loans at the Bonn United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in June in response to the World Bank’s proposal to contribute funds to climate change at a meeting in Potsdam, Germany in May. Fodeke told MediaGlobal, “African countries have been under debt burden which has hindered sustainable development and millennium development goals.” Given this debt, Fodeke is urging other African countries to adopt the same position. “In this age of consequences of climate change, it has been reported that Africa will suffer most,” Fodeke said. He hopes to mobilize African countries to create a set of programs and policies of adaptation rather than mitigation. Since they are all in the same position, African countries will benefit the most if they work together toward a common goal with regards to climate change, but that does not mean they will not take outside help in the form of information and policy support. Fodeke explained, “What we need are being articulated by the African group and G77 plus China, at the Accra Conference, such issues as best available technology for adaptation, mitigation, financial mechanisms, capacity building, etc.” In attending meetings with other countries and groups working to reduce the effects of climate change, Nigerian officials hope to learn the best policies for them to reach their millennium goals.
A United Nations General Assembly meeting on the issue of climate change and the most vulnerable countries. (UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras)
For more This Week in Development stories, go to: http://mediaglobal.org/this-week-in-development