| Description: |
The objective
of this project is to assess the potential adverse effects
of the international climate change agreement on countries
in the western francophone region of Sub-Saharan Africa. The
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)
and its associated Kyoto Protocol are part of an international
effort to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gasses
in the atmosphere through emissions reduction. Although there
has been much effort devoted to estimating the potential impacts
of climate warming, per se, little consideration has so far
been given to the possible negative impacts of the climate
change agreement on developing countries, and in turn, how
these countries should adapt to meet this new policy environment.
 In
partnership with Environnement et Developpement du Tiers
Monde (ENDA -TM), an international NGO based in Dakar, Senegal,
the CFGS is establishing a vital base of research and analysis
that will assist developing countries to formulate effective
responses to the UNFCCC. The study, funded by the CIDA Climate
Change Fund, focuses on three aspects of the Convention that
pose potential risks to populations in the western Sub-Saharan
Africa region. The first aspect involves the impact of emissions
reduction quotas on societies that depend on the hydrocarbon
economy for their income and survival, and that lack resources
to make necessary adaptations. The second aspect concerns the
redistribution of international financial flows that will occur
as a result of mechanisms used by high-emissions countries
in the North to meet their Kyoto commitments through clean
energy investments in the South. There is risk that this Kyoto-driven
redistribution of ODA and private investment flows may result
in further marginalization of the poorest countries. The third
aspect relates to the direct and indirect social and economic
impacts of the Convention on oil-producing countries in Africa.
In this context, the study will consider the effects resulting
from loss of employment and remittance flows, as well as reductions
in transnational investments from the oil industry to neighbouring
countries in the West Africa region.
Through a consultative process of dialogue and analysis with
government, energy and development stakeholders from each of
the eight francophone countries in the region, the project
will promote greater understanding of climate change and its
associated impacts. In addition, it will provide country negotiators
to the UNFCCC with better information, identify key sectors
for international private and public investment and promote
consistency between the climate change agreement and sustainable
development policies in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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