One Planet Summit: President Paul Biya to attend
Cameroon Chief Executive President Paul Biya accompanied by the First Lady Chantal Biya is in the French Capital, Paris ahead of the summit on climate change dubbed One Planet Summit.
Cameroon’s Head of State is among the scores of world leaders invited by French President, Emmanuel Macron, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres and the President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yang Kim.
The discussions the on ways of further reducing green house gas emissions and financing climate actions will take place in the absence of the United States of America (one of the largest polluters on the planet) that has withdrawn from the COP21 agreement since 1st June 2017.
The One Planet Summit that opens on Tuesday, 12th December 2017 comes two years after the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21), which culminated in the signing, on 12th December 2015, of the historic Paris Climate Agreement.
It will serve as an opportunity to evaluate the Paris Climate Agreement, and mobilise the necessary funding for its implementation. One Planet Summit is also a follow-up to the COP23 in Bonn – Germany, last November, and the COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco in November 2016.
Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015 went into effect on 4th November 2016, some 30 days after it was ratified by at least 55 states, representing at least an estimated 55% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
So far, about 168 countries out of 195 have ratified the Paris agreement representing 83.54% of greenhouse gas emissions. Cameroon was among the first twenty countries to have ratified it on 12th July 2016.
The One Planet Summit hold in Paris will be an avenue for world leaders to seek to meet specific objectives;
– Take tangible and collective action
There are solutions, let’s roll them out globally and locally as swiftly as possible.
– Innovate
Let’s be creative and resourceful in adapting our systems to the inevitable changes and step up our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
– Support one another
We are all affected by climate change, but some of us are more vulnerable than others. Let’s work together for the good of all and increase our support even more to the countries and peoples who need it most.
The summit is jointly organised by the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank Group in partnership with other international organisations, NGOs and associations.
Their main goal is to propel the international community to unite and face a challenge that knows no boundaries which development partners provide sustainable solutions that can reduce poverty and create shared prosperity in developing countries.
Cameroon constant and resolute commitment to protect the environment and the fight against climate change, which threatens “the survival of the human race”, prompted President Paul Biya in to describe the fight against climate disruption as “an emergency”, because the damage caused is irreversible.
He made statement during the COP21 summit in 2015 where he invited the international community to “action”; to go beyond the debate on responsibility between industrialised and developing countries.
He pointed out that the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for developing countries or on the road to emergence among which is Cameroon, remains conditional on the support of the international community, especially the industrialised countries in the form of financing, capacity building and technological transfer.
Cameroon, a weak emitter of greenhouse gases, seeks to use the “One Planet Summit” in Paris for advocacy to save the Congo Basin forests through financial compensation of riparian countries and to reverse the drying up of Lake Chad.
President Paul Biya had reminded the world that the Congo forest deserves significant attention and the protection. “We Must Save The Congo Basin Forests. We Must Save The Second Lung Of The Planet.” President Paul Biya appealed.
He also challenged his peers to “Save Lake Chad” which is shrinking dramatic and endangering the lives of millions in the five countries that share this body of water.
This requires strong support from the international community for the €900 million Development and Adaptation to Climate Change Plan, the Five- Year Investment Plan and an Emergency Programme for Youth and Development.
The Head of State’s official delegation to the One Planet Summit comprises:
– Mr Lejeune Mbella Mbella, Minister of External Relations;
– Mr Martin Belinga Eboutou, Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic;
– Mr Pierre Hele, Minister of the Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development;
– Mr Ngole Philip Ngwese, Minister of Forestry and Wildlife;
– Rear-Admiral Joseph Fouda, Special Adviser at the Presidency of the Republic;
– Mr Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, Cameroon’s Ambassador to France; and
– Mr Simon Pierre Bikele, Chief of State Protocol.
Elvis Teke
