25 May 2010: Africa Progress Panel members Kofi Annan, Peter Eigen, Linah Mohohlo and Olusegun Obasanjo launched the Africa Progress Report 2010 on 25 May 2010, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The publication analyzes the continent’s progress and issues recommendations regarding climate change, among other issues, to African leaders and the continent’s international partners.
According to the Report’s key messages, African countries need to climate-proof their development strategies because climate change will increase the cost of attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and cannot be treated as a stand-alone issue. The Report underscores that women need to be at the center of climate-proofed development strategies as climate change impacts are not gender neutral, and governments and other stakeholders need to ensure that climate change initiatives build on women’s experiences, knowledge and coping capacity.
The Report also notes that Africa needs to amplify its voice in the international architecture through adequate representation, negotiation capacity and a coordinated position, notably relating to climate change, trade and the MDG process. It highlights that the momentum generated around the development of a common African position at Copenhagen must be maintained, particularly with regard to the management and disbursement of funds, insisting upon their additionality and predictability, and the importance of avoiding artificial distinctions between adaptation and development.
The Report thus notes that finance and implementation plans for climate-resilient development need to be fast-tracked. African countries and regions, with support from the UN and international finance institutions, need to ensure that plans and capacities are in place to use additional resources effectively around proven interventions and bankable projects. The Report stresses that gender intelligence is central to climate-resilient development, and that governments and partners must earmark funding for the collection, research and analysis of gender-disaggregated data, and ensure gender intelligence is used in formulating climate change strategies and funding decisions.
The Africa Progress Panel was formed to maintain a focus on the commitments to Africa made by the international community in the wake of the Gleneagles G8 Summit. It monitors and promotes mutual accountability and shared responsibility for progress in Africa, focusing on: economic and political governance; finance for sustainable development, including ODA; and MDG achievement notably in light of climate change. [The Panel website] [The Report]