get latest news from West Africa

Nana Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah – AGN Chair.
The African Group of Negotiators (AGN) on Climate Change has called for stronger focus on adaptation, climate finance and equitable international cooperation as negotiations opened at Bonn, Germany.
The group says the climate process must respond more directly to the realities facing Africa and other vulnerable developing countries.
Nana Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, the AGN Chair, made the call at the opening of the Sixty-Fourth Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn on Monday.
He said the climate process must respond more directly to the realities facing Africa and other vulnerable developing countries.
On the mandated Climate and Trade Dialogue, Nana Dr Amoah called for clarity on how outcomes of discussions would be captured and reported ahead of the high-level event scheduled for 2028.
He said Paragraph 57 of the relevant mandate required the Subsidiary Bodies to report on outcomes of the dialogue and proposed that consultations during the Bonn session established procedures for documenting outcomes across the three dialogues and preparing the final report.
The Chair expressed concern over increasing climate risks facing Africa following recent warnings by the World Meteorological Organisation indicating an 80 per cent likelihood of El Niño conditions between June and August 2026, with continuation into later months highly probable.
For Africa, already experiencing severe climate impacts, the Group warned that worsening conditions could have significant consequences for livelihoods and development.
Dr Amoah raised question about absence of agenda items on Loss and Damage and National Adaptation Plans, describing the situation as inconsistent with the urgency often expressed in climate negotiations.
On adaptation, the Group welcomed discussions under the Baku Adaptation Roadmap and the Belem–Addis Vision and stressed that agreed indicators should generate practical information to support implementation and feed into future Global Stocktake processes.
The Group further called for progress on the composition and modalities of the Technical Task Force and emphasised that implementation discussions should remain grounded in obligations under the Paris Agreement.
On Just Transition, it urged balanced allocation of negotiation time to support operationalisation of the mechanism and advancement of related work programmes.
Mr Simon Stiell, the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, called on governments to accelerate implementation of climate commitments, warning that the world cannot afford delays, renewed negotiations or weakened ambition in responding to the climate crisis.
“We are not where we need to be. But we are somewhere we have never been before,” he said.
Mr Stiell described tackling climate change as one of humanity’s most difficult collective efforts but said continued action remained essential because every economy and population depended on its success.
He noted that years of negotiations had produced progress despite political differences and urged Parties to build on that momentum.
The Bonn meetings, he said, marked an important stage towards future climate milestones, including discussions leading to COP33 and the next global stocktake process.
He stressed that stronger commitments and faster implementation would be required to match the scale of climate risks and opportunities.
The Executive Secretary cautioned against reopening past decisions or renegotiating existing commitments, arguing that the focus must shift toward delivery.
Support: GNA