Namibia’s offer to host Green Climate Fund Sectretariat

At a recently held African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Arusha, Tanzania, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism used the platform to present their offer to host the Green Climate Fund Sectretariat. The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, comprising of 53 member states, provides a permanent forum for African Environment Ministers to discuss matters relevant to the environment of the African continent.
The objectives of the session were to provide a platform for African Environment Ministers to discuss the key outcomes and issues of importance to Africa in the Rio+20 outcome ‘The Future We Want’, and to provide African countries with an opportunity to strategise on a common approach for the eighteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that will take place from 26 November to 7 December 2012 in Doha, Qatar.
Regarding the legal requirements that every host country is required to have, according to the Ministry, Namibia met and exceeded all the criteria requirements as a host country of the Green Climate Fund Secretariat. The Ministry emphasised the country’s well functional institutions, infrastructure and legal fundaments in place to ensure the effective functioning of the Fund.
Namibia has already concluded other processes necessary to confer the juridical personality and legal capacity to the Fund such as ratification and promulgation of the law, except for the conclusion of the Headquarters Agreement as required by the Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act, which can be done in less than a month, the Ministry stated.
It stated that Government provided the minimum investment of US$50.5 million into the Green Climate Fund Secretariat should it be hosted in Windhoek. This amount includes the provision of interim office space, construction and furnishing of the new office premises of the Green Climate Fund Secretariat.
The Ministry further stated that locating the Fund’s Secretariat in Namibia will create great developmental opportunities for Africa as a Region and will bring hope to the developing countries. The Ministry further indicated that the result of hosting the Secretariat will have a profound and phenomenal transformational impact to the Region as Namibia will represent the whole of Africa.
According to the Ministry, these benefits are not merely the revenue that will be generated through staff and delegates coming to Namibia, but the potential of transforming the social, economic and developmental environment within the region. The location of the Fund’s Secretariat in Africa will create opportunities for skill development and capacity building. In particular the Green Climate Fund Secretariat will be a catalyst for attracting skills from all over the world that would not necessarily come to the Region.
Namibia as a host country will pursue and facilitate appropriate resources mobilisation for the Fund within the framework of the Convention, and in particular, in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capability.
Also, Namibia’s infrastructure is internationally competitive, and will enable the Green Climate Fund Secretariat to operate in a conducive environment. The Host City, Windhoek, is one of the least expensive cities in the world, offering good returns on investment and value for money. It is stated that Namibia’s offer to host the GCF Secretariat constitutes 0.6% of its national economy.