Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week

Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW) 2022 was held from 18-22 July in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Africa Climate Week (ACW) was next up, spanning August 29th to September 2nd in Libreville, Gabon.

Both Climate Weeks engaged and empowered national delegates and stakeholders to drive climate action across countries, communities, and economies. Through fostering dialog, they built momentum ahead of the pre-COP27 gathering to be held in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and ultimately, November’s COP27 gathering, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

At LACCW, Pável Isa Contreras, Minister of Economy, Planning, and Development for the Dominican Republic delivered a speech re-affirming the Dominican Republic’s commitment to REDD+. Contreras announced that the country will work on updating its national decarbonization study, a project initiated by CfRN with McKinsey’s support.

CfRN held a well-attended event with over 100 participants interested in REDD+. The Dominican Republic’s Vice Minister for Biodiversity, Federico Franco, spoke about his country’s efforts in biodiversity conservation, including the role of forest ecosystems in climate change, and the country’s intended participation in the REDD.plus platform to monetize REDD+ results that will be achieved. Eduardo Reyes, a Senior Advisor to CfRN, and Emilio Sempris, CfRN’s LAC Regional Director spoke on the progress of Article 6 negotiations under the Paris Agreement and gave an update on REDD+ under the leadership of CfRN, respectively.

Africa Climate Week

During ACW, over 2,300 stakeholders and high-ranking officials from 42 countries exchanged views and shared experiences on how to effectively respond to climate change. Gabon’s President Ali Bongo inaugurated the event with a speech on August 29th that gave some indication of how the global south sees the upcoming COP summit in Egypt. He said that ‘COP27 is described as Africa’s COP and will significantly shape our future. As one of the last major climate events before COP27, Africa Climate Week can bring us together to walk down the road to COP27 with unity of purpose and resolve for a better future. I urge you to take this opportunity to work on innovative, concrete, and sustainable solutions and give African nations the means to fight climate change successfully.”

Lee White, Gabon’s Minister of Water, Forests, the Sea, and Environment, charged with Climate Change, Sustainable Development Goals, and Land-use Planning, convened a well-attended event on REDD+. There he discussed the transformational conservation framework behind Gabon’s pending issuance of 90 millions tons of credits, recently featured in Bloomberg News and Forbes. Senior Advisor Reyes and Regional Director Sempris presented on CfRN’s progress in delivering technical assistance to African nations seeking to engage with the REDD+ mechanism.

(Above) Lee White, Gabon’s Minister for the Environment Hosted a Well-Attended Event on REDD+

(Top) CfRN Senior Advisor Eduardo Reyes Addresses LACCW. Photos courtesy of Emilio Sempris