COP23: Africa at the heart of Morocco’s climate action (State Secretary)

Bonn 07/11/2017 (MAP) – Africa remains at the heart of Morocco’s climate action, said state secretary for sustainable development, Nezha El Ouafi, who is taking part in the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23), which kicked off on Monday in Bonn.

Morocco’s participation in the annual UN climate conference back up the tangible results achieved during Morocco’s presidency of the COP22, she told MAP, adding that Morocco acted as the mouthpiece of Africa in climate negotiations at this conference.

This participation is part of the guideline set out by the COP22, which is centred on “the African role and the African identity”, El Ouafi pointed out, noting that at the initiative of HM King Mohammed VI, three important committees were set up: one for the Sahel region, a second for the island states and a third one for the region of the Congo Basin.

“Morocco has an offer, a project and advocacy skills that will strengthen this dynamic,” she added.

“Today there is no time to lose. We must prepare for the post-2020 period and have plans based on nationally determined contributions for African countries,” she noted.

At the Bonn Conference, El Ouafi said that countries will seek to advance efforts to operationalize the Paris Agreement in terms of fund-raising, capacity-building and support, particularly for vulnerable and developing countries.

The Paris Agreement, which was adopted by the 196 Parties to the UNFCCC in December 2015 in the French capital after which it is named, calls on countries to combat climate change by limiting the rise of global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius and strive not to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.

A year ago, the Marrakech Climate Conference concluded with the Marrakech Action Proclamation, for our climate and sustainable development, in which the UNFCCC States Parties affirmed their “commitment” to the “full implementation” of the Paris Agreement. Today, 169 Parties have ratified the Agreement.

At the Bonn Conference, countries will seek to move forward in completing the rule book for operationalizing the Paris Agreement.