Africa pushes for adaptation measures at COP17

African countries at the COP17 meeting in Durban are pushing the case for a focus on adaptation measures on the continent. Just over a month ago in mid-September African energy ministers met in Johannesburg and adaptation measures were made a high priority for Durban.

A representative from the Democratic Republic of Congo said "Adaptation remains the highest priority for the continent," as he spoke on behalf of an African bloc at the plenary of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice. The body has a broad mandate including monitoring of climate change, assessing vulnerability, ability to adapt and promoting technology transfer.

There are greater impacts of climate change in developing countries, especially from extreme weather events; to lessen the impact of these problems, the African bloc proposes: a focus on energy needs across the continent, country specific adaptation measures and improved early warning and modelling systems. It also requested the founding of climate research centres and networks including international support for training, research and systematic observation.

During the discussion of the body, several other groups supported the stance taken by the African bloc, with agreement from the G-77 and the bloc of 49 least developed countries. The representative from the DRC was particularly outspoken on technology transfer stating, "Africa calls for technical work on intellectual property rights, making it a positive tool to facilitate technology transfer". Given the low levels of carbon emissions from many LEDCs he said it was important that future growth could come about with environmentally friendly technology.

The body will continue discussions until this weekend when a final subsidiary plenary takes place.