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y grazing animals. In Turkana, northern Kenya, the lack of water hasled to tensions between disparate groups of herders searching forfood and water and a substantial number of people have been killedin related clashes.Africa’s on-going efforts to improve governance exemplified by theAfrican Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) under the New Partnershipfor Africa’s Development (NEPAD) programme may be underminedby climate change. Where production and economic growth areslowed down as a result of climate change, governments may find itvery difficult to provide equitable access to social and security servicesor to maintain on-going efforts to tackle poverty in a crediblemanner. Such circumstances may trigger societal tensions becausethere is abundant evidence of a strong link between poverty andconflict. Accordingly, climate change may end up worsening governanceconditions in Africa.It is evident that climate change poses a major threat to Africa’s alreadyfragile economic, social and security fabric. African States aretherefore keen to have positive international action to mitigate thepace of climate change and to adapt to changes that have already occurred.For Africa, therefore, failure in Copenhagen is not an optionwhich is why they have taken significant steps, at the highest politicallevel towards the collective endeavour of achieving a just and equitableclimate change deal in Copenhagen.Africa’s key interests in Copenhagen relate to action in mitigation,adaptation, technology, and finance.• Africa wants ambitious global emissions targets to be agreedupon in Copenhagen. Action is needed on mitigation to avoidgoing over the tipping point by restricting global warming to aminimum unavoidable level of no more than 2o Celsius and takingaccount of common but differentiated responsibilities andrespective capabilities.• Adaptation is inevitable since a certain amount of climatechange has already taken place. However, adapting to climatechange will impose massive additional costs on African countriesfor which they will need support in addition to integratingadaptation strategies into national development plans.Integrating Africa235