EU and ACP countries seek “adaptation strategies”
Destructed forest.
© IStockphoto.com/Geralda
The ACP’s Pacific Island nations will not be alone in bearing the brunt of climate change. Island states in Africa and the Caribbean are also included in the countries set to be at high risk and are already suffering some of the consequences. Recognising this, the European Commission's acknowledgment of the responsibilities of the industrialised countries, led to a decision back in 2003 to assist developing countries in successfully meeting the climate change challenge. Since 2004, the EU Council of Ministers has adopted a climate change strategy (with an action plan for 2004/2008) that has increased the pace of progress.
As part of that process, climate change was chosen to be the theme for the 2nd European Development Days (EDD) celebrated last November in Lisbon, barely one month before the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali. There a “roadmap” was adopted to reflect the commitment of both industrialised and developing countries to press on with their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after 2012 - the date the first period of the Kyoto Protocol is due to draw to a close.
Last November in Lisbon, European Commissioner for Development, Louis Michel, called for a “global” loan to enable developing countries to address climate change issues.
“Let's come up with a creative way to design this global loan which would allow us the resources to deal with these climate issues,” suggested Michel. Adding that, “if we don't drive this forward through strong political decisions to get immediate results, we will find ourselves in the same place 15 years from now.” The Commissioner explained that the loan, which could be managed by international institutions, would be wholly financed and supported by the developed countries.
Need for a global alliance
The global loan would underpin initiatives featured in the strategy already adopted by the EU Council in 2004, as well as, the ACP-EU Joint Council in June 2006 in Port-Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Even more recently, the ACP-EU Joint Assembly on 19-22 November in Kigali, called for the launch of a “time-bound comprehensive strategy to mainstream disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and climate change strategies” into national development plans, EU development policy and humanitarian aid. The ACP and EU countries are also being urged to set specific targets for renewable energies, with these at the centre of cooperation programmes.
During the EDD celebration in Lisbon, Bernard Petit, Deputy Director General at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Development, acknowledged that the current flow of financial aid for adaptation strategies is “nothing” and indicated two main directions for an EU response. First, adaptation strategies need to be addressed and included in the EU-Africa partnership. Second, a more political approach, including all countries, is required. On that basis, the EU is working towards establishing a global alliance on climate change. A move that would involve the developing countries (particularly the Island States), while granting priority in development strategies to the climate change issue.
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EU and ACP countries seek “adaptation strategies”
