The Post Cop 27 Event: An Assessment of Outcomes & Implications for Africa

The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Nigeria, in collaboration with the Coalition for Socio-Ecological Transformation (CoSET), organised a one-day Post COP27 event to evaluate and analyse the outcomes of COP 27 and its implications for Africa through the lens of Nigeria.

In furtherance of the global climate agenda under the banner "Together for Implementation", the Heads of State and Governments at COP27 accepted the scientific reports on climate change's present-day and long-term effects. They understood the seriousness of the climate emergency currently experienced around the world. Experts also stressed that the world had recently experienced unprecedented and costly catastrophic weather disasters that profoundly impacted the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable communities.

Generally, participants at the post-COP27 event opined that the seriousness of the climate crisis and its catastrophic effects on lives and livelihoods worldwide, especially in the global south, was evident during deliberations at COP27. They also stated that there was a collective call for cooperation and collaboration between state and non-state parties. For participants, another critical outcome of COP 27 was the conversation around creating a global financial system that acknowledges the risk of social and economic instability due to climate change.

However, participants felt that COP27 was an anti-climax and seemingly could not have delivered the promises and opportunities Africa had hoped for. Activists said they expected the conversations to be more ground-beaking than the somewhat routine experience, as the only ray of hope revolved around the pronouncement on loss and damage. Ken Henshaw, a resource person during the event, said, "Civil Society Organizations did not gain control of the alternative space to push the people's agenda, and hence in the lights and beauty of Sharm El-Sheikh, the people lost their voice".