A committee of eight former presidents across the world have called on the organisers of the African Climate Summit, held at KICC, to prioritise delivery of Ksh3 trillion ($20 billion per annum) to developing countries over the worsening climate crisis.
In an open letter, the former Heads of State, including former Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, argued that the money promised to be delivered by 2025 is critical to delivering on the historic target to protect 30% of the world's land and oceans.
The leaders highlighted that the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis are deeply interrelated and stressed that no efforts to combat climate change will succeed without sufficient attention on nature conservation.
“At this summit, we have heard a lot of talk and announcements on private finance and credits for climate action. While innovative finance mechanisms with integrity are welcome, they cannot be used as a proxy or substitute for developed countries to meet their promise of $20billion in nature finance to developing countries by the fast-approaching deadline of 2025,” stated former President of Colombia, Iván Duque.
Desalegn argued that world governments were spending significant amounts of money on defence systems yet the ecosystems around them were deteriorating rapidly.
“$20 billion of international finance for biodiversity is less than 1% of the $2.24 trillion (Ksh327 trillion) in global defense spending, yet investment in the natural world is our best defense to prevent the collapse of our ecosystems which is key to our global economic stability and security," he observed.
"The Global North must begin to value and support the Global South’s stewardship of the biological resources and ecosystem services that we all, as a global community, depend on. The Global North must move fast to devise a strategy so that this $20 billion promise is delivered by 2025."
The letter, dated August 16, was therefore addressed to all sitting heads of state to prioritise care for the environment in helping keep the global warming below 2°C.
"Ambitious targets to halt and reverse nature loss will only work when complemented by sufficient financing. Given the size of the biodiversity finance gap and the concentration of biodiversity in the developing world, $20 billion per year in international finance is a notable increase, roughly double the status quo," read the statement in part.
Other leaders who signed the open letter were Ernest Bai Koroma (former President of Sierra Leone), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (former President of Liberia), Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (former President of Iceland), Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland) and Ruhakana Rugunda (former Prime Minister of Uganda).
President William Ruto convened the inaugural African Climate Summit in Nairobi aimed at compelling highest emitters of carbon to be held accountable and pay for their emissions.
One major talking point from the event is that climate change is eating away from Africa's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Ruto accused those emitting the most carbon of refusing to pay their bills, setting back the African Continent between 5 per cent and 15 per cent of their GDP.
"To unlock the resources that we need to drive this new investment and financial opportunities, especially for green energy, we believe it is time to have a conversation about carbon tax," he stated.
Over 10 Heads of State flew to Kenya for the event.
