Negotiators from the African continent and V20 ­­– a group of the most vulnerable countries to climate change effects – want to keep global temperatures around 1.5 degree Celsius.

El-Hassan Nagmeldin Gouthi, the chairperson of African Group of Negotiators on climate change (AGN), said keeping global warming below 1.5 degree Celsius is another strong point for African countries as it is most vulnerable to climate change effects.

"Even 2 degree Celsius could affect it contrary to other countries,” Gouthi said.

Amy Dhan Dalmedico, a senior researcher in climate sciences and policies, admits that vulnerable countries’ legitimate are right but argued that it would demand huge energy in implementation 

"It is too late to limit global warming at 1.5 as we are already about one degree Celsius. It is even hard to succeed in 2 degree Celsius limit goal,’’ she said.

While the COP enters its crucial second week with a draft agreement negotiators are deeply discussing strengthening the temperature goal has become one of the key debates.

How realistic the 1.5°C target is, what it would mean in terms of emission cuts, as some negotiators argue that it should be a long term ambition.

Rwanda supports request

A delegation representing Rwanda at the conference supports that request.

In the last month, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia joined the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change effects to form V20 to mobilise finances from public, private and international sources.

At COP21, they made the declaration on what should come out in the Paris agreement.

It states: "The goal of holding global warming below 2°Celsius is inadequate, it should be strengthened towards a below 1.5°C goal.”

 It also declares the need for fair and equitable financing strongly encouraging developed countries to assist the most climate vulnerable developing countries, technically and financially, in utilising full renewable energy at 100 per cent and full decarbonisation by 2050.

The declaration also calls for enabling conditions to unlock the full potential of the private sector to contribute to adaptation and mitigation.

The group has committed to strengthen its own national climate action plans but additional enabling support on means of implementation would be indispensable to any mitigation action, capacity building,   technology development and transfer.

It also pledged to promote the mobilisation of public and private climate finance from wide ranging sources including international, regional and domestic mobilisation as well as sharing and exchanging best practices on innovative approaches.

The group also committed to develop and disseminate effective use of new climate information and knowledge for effective responses to climate change.

Alex Mulisa, the coordinator of Rwanda Environment and Climate Change Fund (FONERWA) – who is also at the conference – told The New Times that a  study; "Economic Impacts of Climate change in Rwanda,” revealed that climate change costs national economy  at least one per cent of GDP every year.

"There is need of between $350 million every year to mitigate and adapt to climate effects in Rwanda,” Mulisa said.

Filipino finance minister Cesar Purisima said, if nothing is done about impact of global warming, annual economic losses due to climate change would exceed $400 billion by 2030 for the V20 countries.

The V20 group brings together Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya.

Others are Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

This article was made in the framework of the Media21 Africa Project by CFI, the French operator in media cooperation