7 July 2014
Africa Carbon Forum Calls for Suitable Mechanisms
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The sixth Africa Carbon Forum concluded that investments to support sustainable development and resilience in Africa must be scaled up to avoid undoing decades of development efforts.

Forum presenters also called for regionally-suitable market and funding mechanisms, and reliable local environments for investment.

AfricaCarbonForum4 July 2014: The sixth Africa Carbon Forum concluded that investments to support sustainable development and resilience in Africa must be scaled up to avoid undoing decades of development efforts. Forum presenters also called for regionally-suitable market and funding mechanisms, and reliable local environments for investment.

The multi-stakeholder Forum was jointly organized by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UNEP Risoe Centre, the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).

The Africa Carbon Forum 2014, which took place in Windhoek, Namibia, from 2-4 July 2014, aimed to support Africa’s participation in global carbon markets and catalyze green investments in the region, including through the Programme of Action (PoA) of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which is suited to micro- and small-scale projects. The Forum attracted approximately 400 participants and included presentations from both private and public sector experts.

Discussions in plenary setting focused on: the state and trends of the “carbon world;” climate finance; landscape approaches to mitigation; business models for technologies targeting energy access; the future of the CDM; and the 2015 international climate agreement. Workshops were held on, inter alia: latest developments related to nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs), REDD+, New Market Mechanisms (NMM) and the Framework for Various Approaches (FVA).

Opening the event, Uahekua Herunga, Minister of Environment and Tourism of Namibia, stressed the potential of the carbon market, and called for preserving the CDM’s robust rules and constructing a multilateral emissions trading system open to all. Hugh Sealy, Chair of the CDM Executive Board, called on the private sector and African governments to ensure that market and funding instruments in development are suited to the region.

Prior to the event, a two-day Africa Regional Workshop of the CDM was held for African CDM designated national authorities (DNAs) at the same venue.

The Africa Carbon Forum is held under the Nairobi Framework, which was established in 2006 by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The framework aims to support improving developing countries’ participation in the CDM, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa, including through capacity building, promotion of investment opportunities for projects, information sharing and inter-agency coordination. [CDM Opening Press Release] [CDM Closing Press Release] [Africa Carbon Forum 2014 Website] [Nairobi Framework Website] [CDM Website] [UN Climate Change Carbon Mechanisms on Twitter] [AfDB Press Release]


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