Africa has highest compliance rate with Paris Climate Agreement: UNEP

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Monday that Africa has the highest compliance rate with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Elizabeth Mrema, deputy executive director of the UNEP, told a continental forum in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi that African countries have demonstrated leadership as up to 98 percent of them have submitted their nationally determined contributions which outline their country’s targets to reduce greenhouse emissions.

“Over 80 percent have also submitted updated nationally determined contributions,” Mrema said during the third regional symposium on greening the judiciaries in Africa.

She revealed that African countries have together a plethora of laws and policies on environment and climate change, which are also complementing their nationally climate-determined contributions.

The UNEP official observed that at the regional level, the African Union has a climate change strategy for countries to strengthen local laws and policies.

“At the sub-regional levels, regional economic commissions likewise have climate change policy frameworks, like the East African Community Climate Change Policy Framework,” she added.