Copenhagen and Africa

Climate Change and Conflict in Africa:
An Experts Group Meeting/EGM/ on climate change, resource and conflicts was held at the UN premises in New York between December 17-18 2009. Medhane Tadesse attended the meeting which was organized by the United Nations Office of Special Advisor for Africa. This came at a time when world leaders were attending the Copenhagen Conference. Though the impact of climate change on natural resources is less disputed, its direct linkages with conflict have never been well established.It is against this background that the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) organised an Expert Group Meeting on “Natural Resources, Climate Change and Conflict: Protecting Africa’s Natural Resource Base in Support of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development”.

The meeting highlighted the link between climate changes, natural resource and conflicts in Africa. Specifically, the meeting focused on natural resources such as land, water and marine resources, considered as being particularly vulnerable to climate change. The meeting also contextualised resource-driven “conflict” as being both violent interactions between groups (i.e., violent conflict) and tensions that can ultimately lead to violent conflict. The meeting mapped out detailed policy directions for Africa that needs to be incorporated to the forthcoming UN position paper on Climate Change and Conflicts in Africa.

More to come