UN Emissions Gap report: World falling short on climate

Pollution

The world still isn't even close to preventing what scientists consider a dangerous level of man-made emissions, a new United Nations report says. Scientists predict that 2014 will rank among the warmest years on record.

Climate change action: Peru or Paris?

By Busani Bafana

Harjeet Singh

The influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC - this week published its Synthesis Report for the Fifth Assessment on the science of climate change, confirming the phenomenon is real and here to stay.

The 40-page synthesis report released in Copenhagen on Nov. 1 is a poser for the climate change negotiations towards a binding agreement expected to be ready in Peru for signing in Paris.

But are policy makers listening who what scientists are saying, one question and others that Busani Bafana put to Harjeet Singh, Actionaid's International Coordinator for Climate change and Disaster Reduction.

Negotiators could be Africa's financial leapfrog in Lima

By Busani Bafana

Yawu Osafu

A united African position and tack could be Africa's decisive cards in unlocking finance for climate change adaptation in Lima, researchers and negotiators say.

Africa is one of the most vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change which touch food security and economic development. According to the Fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), projections are that under medium scenarios many areas in Africa will exceed a 2 degree Celsius increase by the last two decades of this century which will have big ramifications for agriculture and farmer livelihoods.

Being prepared and forging strategic alliances could help Africa make some gains in Lima where a draft text of a global climate treaty is expected to be shaped in time for the signing, hopefully, of a binding agreement in Paris 2015.