Africa Climate Summit: Algeria’s climate, energy adaptation efforts highlighted

The Africa Climate Summit was jointly organized by the African Union (AU) and the Republic of Kenya. The decision to hold it was taken at the last AU summit in Addis Ababa on 18-19 February to provide the African continent with effective mechanisms so that it better defends its interests on climate issues, and to raise international awareness of the climate emergency in Africa.

During the ministerial panels at the summit, the head of the Algerian delegation presented Algeria’s efforts in the field of climate and energy adaptation, highlighting the various national programs aimed at reducing carbon emissions, promoting renewable energy and expanding the forestry sector.

He listed the various national plans for combating climate change and adapting to energy shortages, based on the development of clean energies, for which the public authorities have mobilized significant funds in order to provide the conditions for successful implementation.

A Sahrawi delegation, led by the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Brahim Ghali attended the event. The latter arrived in Nairobi on September 3, where he was welcomed by Kenya’s Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua, leading a delegation including Foreign Minister, Mohammed Sidati.

Together with his African counterparts, President Ghali took part in the presidential panel, during which he delivered a speech on the SADR’s efforts to tackle climate challenges.

He reiterated the Sahrawi people’s determination to wage their struggle until independence, criticizing the SADR’s exclusion from climate financing programs and the international community’s silence in the face of the Moroccan occupier’s illegal exploitation of Western Sahara’s natural resources.

Mohammed Sidati also took part in a thematic panel alongside other ministers on the effects of climate change.