Assembly/AU/Decl.4 (VIII) Page 1 DECLARATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA We, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, meeting at the 8th Ordinary Session of our Assembly in Addis Ababa, from 29 – 30 January 2007: Recalling our commitment to the principles and objectives, stipulated in the Constitutive Act of the African Union and its NEPAD programme; Further Recalling the objective and principles of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its commitments; Welcoming the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February 2005 and its full operationalization by the Marrakech Accords adopted in Montreal in December 2005; Further welcoming the Gleneagles G8 communiqué on Africa, Climate Change, Energy and Sustainable Development and its commitments on: • • • Developing fully operational regional climate centers in Africa; Improving climate risk management in multilateral and bilateral development organizations; Helping developing countries build their resilience to climate change to the Millennium Review Summit in New York; Recognizing that climate change could endanger future well being of the population, ecosystems and socio-economic progress of Africa; Cognizant of the vulnerability of African economic and production systems to climate change and climate variability and the continent’s low mitigation and response capacities; Welcoming the outcome of the Ministerial meetings on disaster risk reduction, which approved a programme of action to implement the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction. Noting that actions for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change should be reinforced on the principle of differentiation basis and that urgent action is required to advance adaptation measures. We commit ourselves to: 1. CONTINUE TO URGE countries that have yet to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to do so.