The must-visit Africa Pavilion venue @COP26 in Glasgow
This year’s “Africa Pavilion” at the COP26 in Glasgow, is the go-to venue in the annual UN climate negotiations summit. Tastefully designed and projecting an ambience of an emboldened continent proactively tackling the climate crisis, the African Pavilion at COP26 is serving as a platform advancing the interests of the continent.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the “Africa Pavilion” and the Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) has joined in sprucing up the settings including attractiveness of the pavilion, displaying Africa’s green and blue mega-biodiversity straddling from the alpine montane peaks to the rich corals oceans. This year, the theme of Africa’s participation at COP26 through AUC, ECA, AfDB and AUDA-NEPAD is “Revitalizing the spirit of the Paris Agreement and the Convention at COP26: Enabling a just transition, climate justice and a green recovery towards a resilient Africa”.
“The design of this year’s Africa Pavilion aims to demonstrate to the world that the continent has ambitious plans around how to leverage finance to address the continent’s adaptation, green recovery, resilience mitigation measures.” Ms. Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) says.
Alongside the 10th anniversary, the year 2021 is also significant as it serves as the initial year for the UN “Decade of Action” headlining intensive interventions on adaptation, mitigation and uptake of climate smart pathways for sustainable development. These are among the objectives that the Africa Pavilion will be advancing at the COP26 in Glasgow.
Scaling up international partnerships for Africa’s transition on the clean development drive, combating climate change by investing in Africa’s natural carbon sinks, augmenting the benefits of green and blue economy through supplementing resilience and promotion of nature-based solutions are among the key highlights that will feature at the elaborate programme for the Africa Pavilion. Other topical issues include opportunities and challenges for the emerging carbon markets, alongside investments, launch of the baseline study for the African Financial Alliance on Climate Change, financing African nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and the continent’s energy transitions.
Complete with conference rooms, mini-theatres, caucusing spaces, lobbying quarters, high-level summitry suites and pictorial galleries, the Africa Pavilion is envisioned as a strategic venue to advance, bolster and defend Africa’s interests at COP26 magnifying the continent’s short and long term climate action priorities.
In February 2011, during the 16th Ordinary Session of the African Union’s Heads of State and Government’s Assembly, the idea of the Africa Pavilion during the UN climate summit was mooted, discussed and concept approved. African regional organisations notably the African Union Commission (AUC), African Development Bank (AfDB), UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) and partners were tasked to implement the concept.
Exactly nine months after the highest decision making organ of the AU had endorsed the idea, the first Africa Pavilion was erected at the COP17 in Durban, South Africa.
The Africa pavilion programme is available here, while side-events can be streamed using this link.
