President Paul Kagame has called for concerted efforts to fight climate change and urged UN member states to honour their commitments.

The President made the remarks yesterday during the Africa Action Summit attended by 40 Heads of State and Government on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco.

"As we have been seeing from the innovations on display here in Marrakech and beyond, adaptation is not a zerosome game. Let us work together to honour our commitments and even go beyond them with new joint investments and encourage others to do the same,” the President told the world leaders.

At the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal aimed at reducing global warming to below 2°C. 110, countries including Rwanda have ratified the protocol.

The COP22 meeting was preceded by the Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol held in Kigali during which nations from across the world agreed to phase down Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) to lead to a reduction of 0.5C by the end of the century.

The Kigali Amendment is now widely recognised as the most significant climate mitigation step the world has ever taken, and it brings countries closer to keeping global warming below 1.5°C.

In a declaration adopted at the summit, the Heads of State called on strategic partners to strengthen cooperation so as to respond to the African ambition for the achievement of inclusive sustainable development.

"We commit to speeding up the implementation of initiatives that have already been identified or launched, not only by building on our own resources, but also by mobilising multilateral and bilateral donors as well as non-state actors. These include; initiatives aimed at enhancing our continent’s resilience to the threats of climate change, in particular the "Africa Adaptation Initiative”, the statement reads in part.

 In his remarks, the Morocco King Mohammed VI observed that Africa is paying a heavy price in the climate equation, adding that it is, undoubtedly, the continent that is suffering the most.

He cited rising temperatures, shifting seasons and successive droughts as depleting the biodiversity of Africa, which he said ultimately hamper the continent’s progress, and security.

"Four million hectares of forest – that is to say, twice the global average – are lost each year.

African agriculture – which consists predominantly of subsistence farming – employs 60 percent of the African workforce; yet our crops suffer from severe disruptions, and our food security is seriously jeopardised. Agricultural output in Africa could therefore drop by 20 percent by the year 2050, at a time when our population will have doubled,” he said.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called on countries to increase their mitigation ambition of their national climate plans by 2018, and called on the private sector to also do much more.

"Today, more than 150 million people live on land that could be submerged or suffer chronic flooding – within this century, possibly causing massive waves of migration and instability. The choices we make today and in the coming decades could lock in catastrophic climate impacts for thousands of years to come. This is an enormous responsibility – and an enormous opportunity to do what is right for our future,” he said.

Peter Thomson, the President of the UN General Assembly warned that the last few years have been the hottest in recorded history, with current trends in greenhouse gas emissions pointing to further warming. 

"The scientific community tells us that it is possible to bend the curve on current trajectories by curbing the growth of global greenhouse gas emissions. To do so we have to transform the global economy in a manner that drives inclusive economic growth while decoupling it from global emissions. Countries and corporations have already proven this can be done,” he said.

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