Madrid, Spain 8 December 2019 – The twenty-fifth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) which is currently holding from 2 – 13 December 2019 at the IFEMA Conference Center in Madrid, Spain, is a crowd puller . Different institutions dealing with climate related issues have all converged in Madrid to exchange views, develop strategies and showcase the wealth of climate action undertaken by non-Party Stakeholders so as to help galvanize the action of regions, cities, business, investors and civil society.

The African Union (AU) delegation to the COP25 in Madrid, Spain, has remarkably contributed to all the meetings and activities organised to discuss ways and strategies aimed at mitigating the devastating impact of climate change to humanity in general and the African people in particular. They have taken part in several high level meetings aimed at sharing views on ways to find a lasting solutions to the negative effect of climate change in the world.

One of such meetings is the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) which took place on 8 December 2019 at the Hotel ME Madrid Plaza de Santa Ana, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Environment, forestry and fisheries of South Africa. During the meeting, the Africa Group of Negotiators provided an overview of the negotiations and key issues for Africa’s attention for COP25, as well as Africa’s special circumstances. Other issues included Market Mechanisms under the Paris Agreement, (Article 6), Transparency under Paris Agreement as well as Finance and the Green Climate Fund.

In addition, updates on key African initiatives were presented including: the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI) ; Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) ; the report of the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region; Climate Commission for the Congo Basin; Climate Commission for Island states and Ocean economy. The meeting also discussed the financing mechanism for climate change projects and initiatives in Africa.

The COP25 is expected to take the next crucial steps in the UN climate change process with the view to complete several matters with respect to the full operationalization of the Paris Climate Change Agreement among others.The conference furthermore serves to build ambition ahead of 2020, the year in which countries have committed to submit new and updated national climate action plans.
the event will take stock of the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 15), and the second session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 2); the fifty-first sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 51) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 51).
Media contact:
Esther Azaa Tankou, Head of Information, Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission Tel: +251 911361185, E-mail: yamboue@africa-union.org / esthertankou@yahoo.com

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@africa-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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