NEWS

         

The Climate Chance Summit, held from September 11 to 13 in Agadir (Souss-Massa region), brought together representatives from different sectors of society to evaluate the progress of the action of non-state actors before the upcoming COP 23. Rahmatouca Sow, Metropolis Regional Secretary for Africa and assistant director of the Dakar mayor’s office, represented our association during the event.

The summit brought together nearly 5000 non-state actors, including about ten members of Metropolis, committed to the fight against climate change, in order to expose the state of advancement of the climate negotiations with the major actors of the Paris Agreement and the COP 22, particularly following the announcement of the withdrawal of the United States of the Paris Agreement.

This summit was the opportunity for African locally elected representatives to exchange the actions and experiments conducted in their cities to curb the effects of  climate change, especially around the main plenary, which had the title of "African cities face the climate challenge". About 30 African cities have thus developed initiatives for the climate in the framework of the Global Covenant of Mayors.

Mpho Parks Tau, President of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) marked his presence at this session, during which cities exposed the strategies put in place in order to increase their capacity of adaptation and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the establishment of multi-level and multi-actors synergies. "We need a direct access to the world’s funding mechanisms to create resilient territories in Africa and to ensure  growth with low emissions", said Parks Tau.

The plenary was closed by the ceremony of signature of the Agadir Declaration of non-State actors in the presence of local and regional elected representatives of the African continent, as well as of their peers from around the world, mostly from Europe. "This declaration poses the milestones of a collaboration between Africa and the international community in order to increase the capacity of adaptation of the cities and the mitigation of their emissions of greenhouse gases", said Awatif Berdai, who presided the organization commission of the Climate Summit for Local and Regional Leaders during COP 22.