Assembly/AU/Dec.448(XIX) Page 1 DECISION ON AFRICA’S PREPARATION FOR THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE (COP18/CMP8) The Assembly, 1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Coordinator of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), H.E. Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, on the Progress on Implementation of Assembly Decision on United Nations Conference on Climate Change; and ENDORSES the recommendations contained therein; 2. DECIDES to extend the role of H.E. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as Coordinator of CAHOSCC till end of the Eighteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Eighth Meeting of the Parties to its Kyoto Protocol (COP18 / CMP8) scheduled from 26 November to 7 December 2012 in Doha, Qatar; 3. URGES all Member States to support the bid by the Republic of Namibia on behalf of Africa, to host the Secretariat of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in the continent where the impact of climate change has been and is likely to be felt most acutely in future; 4. REQUESTS Africa’s negotiators to play an enhanced role at the Doha conference and through other appropriate platforms to aid quick consensus building on sources of finance; and CALLS ON the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to expedite action on the operationalization of the GCF to start delivering on its principal functions, namely, mobilizing and allocating financial resources; 5. URGES CAHOSCC to convene a meeting to consider and take forward the updated African common position on climate change to COP 18/CMP 8, which the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) will have th considered and endorsed at its 14 Ordinary Session to be held in September 2012 in Arusha, Tanzania; 6. REQUESTS the Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other partners to step up their efforts in terms of providing the necessary facilitation and coordination support towards an effective Africa’s preparation for the COP18/CMP8.