Bonn, 13 June, 2024
The Bonn Climate Change Conference concluded today after two weeks of intensive negotiations across a range of issues where progress was needed on the path to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. However, developed and developing countries were locked in a struggle over climate finance, over who should provide the trillions of dollars required to cope with the impacts of climate change across the Global South.
Proscovier Vikman is the partnership advisor for the Buganda Kingdom – Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Environment and Cooperatives. She was also appointed to the post of Secretary General of Transparency International Uganda in May 2024.
Sandra/AfricaNewsAnalysis: Sitting here at the UN climate conference, the pre-COP SB meetings in Bonn, I heard during a press conference that there were some concerns raised about the challenges of delegates and activists from the Global South, mainly from Africa, to get visa appointments or to actually go into the process to attend this conference. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Proscovier Vikman: I’m glad you asked the question. I am one of the delegates from Uganda, but also a grassroots mobiliser. One reason why I would want to have Global South delegates participate, to have our voices heard here in Bonn, home of the UN Climate Secretariat (UNFCCC), is that we think these pre-COP meetings offer an open window where African people can at least voice their concerns and then be heard, especially the country negotiators. But I and others had difficulties obtaining visas. This has been happening every year, but this year has been worse, as a result of which a number of African delegates couldn’t make it on time. In a case from Uganda, for example, the lead negotiator only came in on Tuesday this week, yet he was supposed to have been here even a week before in preparation. What can he accomplish in the last two or three days of the climate talks that are now ending tomorrow? This is injustice. We, African country delegates, have been asking ourselves what’s the reason behind it. Is it a system design? Is it a way of pushing the Global South from the discussion? What else should we think it is?
Sandra/AfricaNewsAnalysis: Some climate activists accused the German government of discrimination, after African delegates and NGO observers were denied visas. Which are the other countries?
Proscovier Vikman: Initially, we thought this was just an Uganda problem, until we heard of dozens similar cases from Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon, Rwanda, and Burundi. Others were having issues as well, such as the small island states, as an Antiguan lady told me. They also faced challenges, even with people having an (official) accreditation. So is the system rigged? How and when can it be fixed? This is what we’re asking ourselves. When I arrived (in Bonn), you could see visibly that there were empty chairs. There are some countries that didn’t even get one delegate in. In the first week, the Russians decided to delay the talks due to visa issues, blocking the adoption of the agenda, until the arrival of their delegation. So at the UN level, we need to avoid such scenarios in the future.
Sandra/AfricaNewsAnalysis: These visa issues have been coming up for years now, but this is an annual mid-year pre-COP climate conference in Bonn, not like the bigger COPs later in the fall, that are happening every year under changing presidencies in a different country. Shouldn’t there be a routine in place at German embassies across the globe that they are going to expect visa applications ahead of the annual UN conference in Bonn? Maybe they’re understaffed or otherwise not prepared. I also heard that the visa processing service has been outsourced. How does it work?
Proscovier Vikman: There’s an outsourced online Germany visa processing system that they’re using, managed by the service provider TSL Contact. But that system is working. I’m saying it is working because other embassies, including countries within the European Union, are using the same system and it is seamlessly working. These problems occur only when it comes to the German embassy. And that’s why we’re asking these questions. Is it by design that people shouldn’t be in Bonn for this particular reason? Bonn is a permanent space for UN climate negociations. So we’re expecting that a system is in place by the German government to screen all accredited delegates and to ensure that people receive their visas on time. I am staying in the same hotel with a Kenyan delegate. He got his visa on the same day of his flight. He had to call somebody, a friend at the (foreign ministry) office in Germany, to confirm that he could be on his flight. This is a party delegate, a country delegate, who has been travelling internationally many times and a track record. So what else is going on there, we’re asking ourselves. This only happened to the Global South delegates. We want to know what criteria for a timely visa processing are needed.
Sandra/AfricaNewsAnalysis: What would you suggest as an alternative?
Proscovier Vikman: We know that Germany is a sovereign country. If they don’t want people like us here, it’s easier for us to have our conference in Addis Ababa, for example, because that is where the AU (African Union) is headquartered. We don’t need to travel all the way to Bonn to discuss a new global climate finance goal (coming into play after 2025) or technical issues concerning Article 6 of the Paris Agreement for carbon markets and other forms of international cooperation. The UN system could easily say, “Okay, African delegates and the Global South, you have your Addis Ababa climate talks. Arrange your meetings there and report afterwards to the UN climate secretariat in Bonn.” But you cannot say we’re equal parties (198 nations of different sizes, economies, political systems, resources and needs) in the same UN system while utilising different measures on how delegates (from the Global South and the Global North) can access their visa to attend the annual Bonn Climate Change Conference.
Sandra/AfricaNewsAnalysis: The slow pace of the consensus based decision-making of the COP negotiations under the framework of UN Framework Convention Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement has been decried by some parties and the climate justice movement for years, but this is the sole international system that we have to tackle the climate crisis. You and others suggest conducting regional and smaller meetings, also complaining that the annual COPs have become more and more an Expo and climate circus. Why are these annual UN climate change conferences still important for you, to come physically together in order to find common ground to save our common ground – planet Earth?
Prosvovier Vikmat: If you ask me, the main meeting this is it. The Bonn conference is key for the negotiators because it is a technical meeting. It’s a meeting where people are looking at what we say, solutions we bring to the table, and what governments are willing to commit. (By early 2025, countries are due to unveil their new climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, known as nationally determined contributions.) So the negotiators are coming here on behalf of their parties. But then we also come in and convene in regional blocks. You have the African group, the Asian-Pacific group, the EU, the smaller islands, and so forth. You also have the G77 (group of developing nations and China) with their team, which is currently under the chairmanship of Uganda.
It gives us the semblance of a United Nations. But also in the rooms, when you have your party in, you can negotiate and influence what goes into the main text which at COP29 the Heads of States will commit to. So Bonn is very important for a physical meeting and negotiating means. We need to talk to each other, we need to see each other face to face, it is easier that way. Then at the COP, we need the Heads of States to be there to commit, where everybody now can showcase their climate action efforts. That’s why we have country pavilions at the COP, those who can afford it, to showcase what they are doing at the country level, not just words on papers. People bring in what they’re actually implementing as an exhibition. However, the COP has also been overtaken in recent years by lobbyists and industry groups. That’s why we’re saying now, as global activists on the ground, we are on a watch out.
Sandra/AfricaNewsAnalysis: This issue has also been raised by civil society at the last COP in Dubai. According to a study conducted by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition, the number of lobbyists working on behalf of the fossil industry with access to COP28 has risen to a record of at least 2,456, from 636 at the 2022 UN climate summit in Egypt. Now back here to Bonn, what is the main discussion and what has been accomplished so far?
Proscovier Vikman: At least the mood in the rooms that I’ve managed to visit is cordial. It is not as hostile as in other places that we were in. People are now listening to each other. However, developed countries are still tip-toeing around the elephant in the room, climate finance, and the amount of money they’re actually committing for mitigation, climate adaptation and loss & damage. There’s money coming in, they promise. But you’re not seeing it. Where? How do we get it? If you are talking about a just transition, you cannot only be thinking of shutting coal mines. We need to talk about the people affected by the climate crisis and a fair transition to a fossil-free society. How are we relating labour laws with this human aspect, the livelihood of those who are going to lose their jobs? Our task is not only how to lower emissions and pollution, but also to address the human aspect of climate change. We need to unpack that, and that seems to be the gap. As the climate crisis unfolds and worsens, the need for adaptation is growing. Then we realised the enormous funding gap for adaptation. The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2023 revealed that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries are now 10-18 times as big as international public finance flows – over 50% higher than the previous range estimate. The modelled costs of adaptation in developing countries are estimated at $215 billion per year this decade, $46 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Who is going to fund that and where is the basket for it? Is it a grant or a loan? Those are the specifics the negotiators actually are pushing. Today we were informed at the G77 briefing that there will be a retreat in July for the finance negotiators. So we think that they can maybe make up some leeway within that retreat.
Sandra/AfricaNewsAnalysis: Well that sounds good. Is there anything else that needs to be put into focus, not only in the lead-up to the COP in Baku, but also looking ahead to the COP30 in Brazil? A just transformation is not only about redirecting financial flows to phase out of fossil fuels and invest into renewables, but also transforming the food production and agriculture system, which accounts for roughly 12% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. You are specifically looking into the agriculture sector, which is the source of livelihood for 70% of the African population.
Prosvovier Vikma: I’m not very optimistic for the COP29 because it’s too close for any major changes to be made. I think the one in Brazil is going to be more people-centred and more focused on the needs of what we, the eight billion people on Earth, are actually looking for. None of us can live on this planet without food. So we need to discuss this, look at the food systems, our common goals, shared humanity, values and everything else. When you talk of food systems, you also need to look at food sovereignty and the whole supply chain of it. The other thing that I’m looking forward to is an open discussion about a just transition. When we’re transitioning, where is the fairness in this and who will pay up for it? Then I want to see how and where women and the youth are embedded. Because of the wars that are currently happening in developed countries, in the Global North, huge money goes to the capital of weaponry, but the people who end up facing the brunt of these wars are women and children. How can we discuss that and bring in their voices? Is there a just way of dealing only with certain crises? Who is going to pay for the loss and human suffering of those who are the most affected and vulnerable? I think Brazil is a better option. I know that Azerbaijan is going to happen, but I’m also aware of the country’s poor human rights record. This is another issue for us. So we (civil society groups) may not specifically go there, because we might not be able to assemble and talk freely. Probably there will be more restrictions unless a miracle happens. I feel our voices will be more heard in Brazil than in Azerbaijan.
Sandra/AfricaNewsAnalysis: Thank you for the interview.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.