PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
East African experts examine outcome of Durban climate talks
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Climate change and agriculture experts from nine Eastern Africa countries on Tuesday began a three-day Post-Durban Dialogue to examine the outcome of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP 17) that was held in November-December 2011 in Durban, South Africa.
Being held at the seat of the East African Community (EAC) in Arusha, Tanzania, the Dialogue focuses on decisions on agriculture with a view to proposing activities that would be considered under the agricultural work programme of parties of UNFCCC.
Tanzania’s Minister for Agriculture, Prof. Jumanne Abdallah Maghembe, told the opening session that governments in the region and other regional economic communities were fully committed to responding to the impacts of climate change collectively through policy and practical measures since the impacts had no boundaries.
The minister said he recognized the technical support that the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and its partners were providing to ensure that developing countries fully benefited from the negotiations through providing necessary skills and information to the technical experts and negotiators to effectively negotiate and argue the case for Africa.
He said that the experts' dialogue was an important opportunity for member states to reflect on the outcome of the Conference with the aim of preparing how to implement specific decisions that are of priority to the region and, specifically. to identify key issues relating to agriculture with a view to preparing a common position for consideration by the subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) during its 36th Session scheduled for May 2012.
Meanwhile, EAC’s Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sector, Jean Claude Nsengiyumva, disclosed that the EAC had already considered the outcome of the COP 17 during the extraordinary meeting of the Sectoral Council on Environment and Natural Resources that was held 1-3 February, 2012, in Arusha.
Nsengiyumva said the Community was in the process of implementing three critical policy documents approved by the EAC Heads of State Summit in April 2011 namely; the EAC Climate Policy (2011); the EAC Food Security Action Plan (2011-2015) and the Heads of States Summit Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change.
According to the official, the EAC, COMESA and other strategic partners were committed to working with stakeholders in Eastern Africa with a view to developing a common position on issues related to agriculture for consideration by SBSTA and other bodies of the COP.
The Dialogue has been jointly organised by COMESA and EAC in collaboration with Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS-EA), a global programme of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
It brought together climate change and agriculture experts from Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as researchers abd representatives of civil societies.
-0- PANA AR/VAO 14Feb2012
Being held at the seat of the East African Community (EAC) in Arusha, Tanzania, the Dialogue focuses on decisions on agriculture with a view to proposing activities that would be considered under the agricultural work programme of parties of UNFCCC.
Tanzania’s Minister for Agriculture, Prof. Jumanne Abdallah Maghembe, told the opening session that governments in the region and other regional economic communities were fully committed to responding to the impacts of climate change collectively through policy and practical measures since the impacts had no boundaries.
The minister said he recognized the technical support that the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and its partners were providing to ensure that developing countries fully benefited from the negotiations through providing necessary skills and information to the technical experts and negotiators to effectively negotiate and argue the case for Africa.
He said that the experts' dialogue was an important opportunity for member states to reflect on the outcome of the Conference with the aim of preparing how to implement specific decisions that are of priority to the region and, specifically. to identify key issues relating to agriculture with a view to preparing a common position for consideration by the subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) during its 36th Session scheduled for May 2012.
Meanwhile, EAC’s Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sector, Jean Claude Nsengiyumva, disclosed that the EAC had already considered the outcome of the COP 17 during the extraordinary meeting of the Sectoral Council on Environment and Natural Resources that was held 1-3 February, 2012, in Arusha.
Nsengiyumva said the Community was in the process of implementing three critical policy documents approved by the EAC Heads of State Summit in April 2011 namely; the EAC Climate Policy (2011); the EAC Food Security Action Plan (2011-2015) and the Heads of States Summit Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change.
According to the official, the EAC, COMESA and other strategic partners were committed to working with stakeholders in Eastern Africa with a view to developing a common position on issues related to agriculture for consideration by SBSTA and other bodies of the COP.
The Dialogue has been jointly organised by COMESA and EAC in collaboration with Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS-EA), a global programme of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
It brought together climate change and agriculture experts from Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as researchers abd representatives of civil societies.
-0- PANA AR/VAO 14Feb2012
