Windhoek hosts world climate-change talks

Carbon footprint activists from across the continent and as far as Europe are expected to descend on Windhoek this week for the sixth Africa Carbon Forum. Aimed at finding ways to market and capitalise on the financial opportunities offered by climate change, the forum takes place between tomorrow and Thursday. It is a joint initiative by various world bodies, including the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change, the World Bank, the African Development Bank Group and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). “Events like the Africa Carbon Forum have an important role to play in addressing climate change, not least by showcasing opportunities associated with the international response to climate change and enhancing people’s chances of capitalising on those opportunities,” said Dr John Kilani, director of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat’s Sustainable Development Mechanism programme. “Africa deserves to go down a clean, low-emitting path to development, one that delivers a good and healthy quality of life for the continent’s people,” he said. Of particular interest to participants this year will be the special focus given to exploring sources of financing within the sector, various policy options to consider and examples of existing low-carbon development strategies. Participants will also look at ways to optimally exploit the use of ‘carbon credits’ as defined in terms of the UNFCC’s international treaty on reducing greenhouse gas emissions (Kyoto Protocol). “I think the carbon market and market-based tools… have begun to show the great potential that market approaches and the evolving financial instruments can unleash,” Kilani said. Last year’s forum was held in Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire and was attended by more than 700 policy-makers, project developers and investors from five continents. The Windhoek forum is to be held at the Safari Court Hotel. WINDHOEK STAFF REPORTER