The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, says Africa’s green growth recovery is an opportunity to build greater resilience and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.
Mohammed spoke virtually at a Knowledge Event on “Climate Change and Green Growth” as parts of the 2021 Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Thursday.
The UN deputy secretary-general said COVID-19 pandemic had affected the socioeconomic development globally, adding that recovery from it must be all-inclusive.
She said: “We need an inclusive recovery. It must create new and decent jobs and real opportunities for all, leaving no-one behind.
“The recovery is an opportunity to build greater resilience and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.
“A green resilience and inclusive recovery will entail a deep transformation of African economies and significant investment in key sectors such as energy, food security and nature-based solutions.”
Mohammed also said that African countries could leverage the recovery to invest in climate infrastructure and cities, nature-based solutions, land restoration, and in sustainable agriculture.
She said that leveraging the recovery would secure significant additional financial flows from the international system.
“These investments will yield economic dividends several times over, but will first and foremost protect people and livelihoods.
“By investing in Africa, we are priming the whole world for more inclusive recovery.
“True resilience cannot be built in silos, and Africa’s Green growth opportunity is the world’s opportunity to build forward better,” she added.
Also, Mr Ban Ki-moon, President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), said participants at the annual meetings needed to make sure that green growth was a core element of recovery.
Ki-moon stressed the importance of the role of multilateral development banks in building forward better.
“There is no vaccine for the climate crisis.
“We must take advantage of the current opportunity to build back better and come back boldly from the pandemic and the climate crisis.
“A recent study by the UN Environment Programme found that less than 20 per cent of COVID-19 recovery spending can be considered to be green.
“We can do better; we must do better.
“I hope Africa will soon be on its way to building back better and accelerating the transformation to the environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive green growth model of development.”
The eighth UN Secretary-General further highlighted the green economic packages that Africa could leverage.
They include: resilient infrastructure, enhancing the development of green businesses to facilitate green investments and transfer clean technologies, and creating green jobs.
Others, according to him, are investing in nature-based technologies to enhance sustainability and productivity, promoting climate-smart agriculture that supports smallholder farmers, among others.
“We must seize this opportunity now, and make sure we do not go back to business as usual,” he advised.
Also, President of the AfDB, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said there was need for climate financing to be made available to Africa.
Adesina recalled the commitment, in 2009, by developed countries to scale up their climate finance under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to at least 100 billion dollars per year by 2020.
He emphasised the need for concrete financing to be delivered at the forthcoming 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November.
“For COP26 to be a complete success, it must deliver concrete financing.
“The promised 100 billion dollars a year by developed countries to developing countries almost 10 years ago must be met.
“Without it, developing countries cannot meet climate actions in their nationally determined contributions.
“The climate may change, but promises must never change. So, let’s turn promises into actions. Africa must not be shortchanged by global climate financing,” he said.
Contributing, Mr Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director, Green Climate Fund (GCF), said the fund recognised the importance of Africa combating climate change and climate adaptation.
Glemarec said that collective efforts were needed to reach global climate ambitions.
“Financing in rapid transition to a net-zero emission, climate resilient economy will require significantly more investment in a different set of assets that addresses the humanitarian imperatives of social inclusion and poverty alleviation,” he said.
