Drafted at a meeting of civil society in Johannesburg on the 31 October 2016. Presented at the DEA stakeholder meeting on the 1 November 2016.
As the Paris Agreement enters into force on 4 November, South African civil society notes and commends the leadership role the South African government has played in the process leading up to COP22.
South African civil society welcomes the recent outcomes of the World Humanitarian Summit, COP17 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and Habitat III;
Civil society further notes South Africa’s ambitious aim to ratify the agreement before it enters into force.
We urge South Africa to contemplate the following considerations for its position to COP22:
- APA-CMA impasse
- Civil society encourages South Africa to seek a resolution concerning decision-making and participation in First session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA-1). Civil society recommends inclusive and participatory rules making process. Civil society would, therefore, regard the suspension of CMA-1 and the reconvening of Ad hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA) as an appropriate response to early entry into force of the Paris Agreement, whilst adhering to the Paris Agreement core spirit of inclusive participation and universal application.
- Conditionality
- South Africa should continue to show leadership by specifying conditional and unconditional features of its contribution under the Paris Agreement, and not preventing Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) rules from encouraging other countries to provide this clarity.
- Pre-2020 agenda
- Civil society encourages South Africa to ensure progress on the technical examination process on mitigation. The view of civil society is that successful scaled up pre-2020 action is necessary for post-2020 success and closing the emissions gap. We encourage South Africa to continue to champion pre-2020 adaptation action.
- Mitigation
- On synchronization of timeframes and on the establishment of common timeframes, civil society is supportive of the 5-year timeframes for the National Determined Contributions;
- Civil society believes that long-term ambition can be increased through the development of mid-century low greenhouse gas emission development strategies, and would like to urge South Africa to start preparation for the establishment of mid-century low greenhouse gas emission development strategies.
- Adaptation
- South Africa is duty-bound to continue championing adaptation as a priority, and seek further elaboration of adaptation and mitigation parity funding;
- Being inspired by the African Group’s leadership in addressing adaptation. How is South Africa contributing/participating in the African Adaptation Initiative?
- Means of Implementation: Finance
- Civil society unreservedly supports the South African position on climate finance and would like further state the importance of climate finance to come from public finances.
- South Africa should ensure that progressive and administrative sensitive decisions are made in developing a robust transparency framework. As there is a greater need for the lessening of reporting obligations for developing countries should reporting obligations remain unsynchronized.
- Capacity Building
- Civil society urges South Africa to emphasize the need to finalize the mandate of the Paris Committee on Capacity Building and its 2016-2020 work plan, especially as the workplan relates to the role of local governments and non-state actors.
The talking points were drafted with the help of different civil society actors.
A special thank you to: SACAN, SAIIA, WWF, SAFCEI, ACRP and Earthlife Africa.
