Africa needs multilateral climate funds but domestic resource mobilization is critical – stakeholders

 By Kofi Adu Domfeh

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe (PAMACC News) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called for a more climate resilient investments in Africa because the current global climate financing architecture is not providing the finance needed by the continent.

“Africa is shortchanged by climate change,” said Bank representative, Mary Manneko Monyau. “Africa is shortchanged by the lack of sufficient climate financing. Much more needs to be done to increase Africa’s access to climate finance”.

Africa to brace for worst climatic conditions in the near future

By Violet Mengo

Panelists at the CCDA-V in Zimbabwe

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe  (PAMACC News) - Inter panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working group one lead author Joseph Kanyanga has told delegates attending the fifth Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-V) conference that the phenomenon is already affecting Africa and is going to worsen in the coming decades.

Dr Kanyanga who is also assistant director at the Zambia Meteorological Department said temperature increase both over land and ocean surfaces in the last three decades last three decades has been successively warmer than any preceding decade since 1850.

Looking at the ‘New World Order’ in 2015

By Dr Fatima Denton

Dr Fatima Denton of UNECA

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe (PAMACC News) - 2015 has been a year of cascading transitions. Whilst these transitions can be branded as the  end of the Millennium Goals,  the ushering in of the Sustainable Development Goals or a  successor treaty to Kyoto in Paris this December, the reality is that we are making space for yet another  new world order.

It is a new order that signals that it is no longer right nor ethical for one sixth of humanity to go to bed hungry every night; whilst the rest of us celebrate our increasingly huge appetite for consumable goods.

Africa demands the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’ to be central at the Paris negotiations.

By Friday Phiri

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe - (PAMACC News) “It is not ethical for one sixth of humanity to go to bed hungry every night, whilst the rest celebrate huge appetite for consumable goods”, says Fatima Denton, Director for Special Initiatives Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

According to Dr. Denton who is also Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) told delegates during the official opening of the fifth conference on climate change and Development in Africa (CCDA) in Victoria falls Wednesday that time had come for Africa to stand and take up its place on the new world order.

Keep your eyes on climate mitigation ambition – Africa charged

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Dr. Fatima Denton

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe (PAMACC News) – Inadequate climate mitigation ambition will have untold consequences, especially to Africa’s peoples, as the world heads to Paris in December for a climate deal agreement.

According to Dr. Fatima Denton, Special Initiatives Division, UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), increasing global warming will raise the costs of both adaptation and mitigation due to Africa’s constrained adaptive capacity.

COP21 Paris – Africa at the crossroads in safeguarding development progress

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe (PAMACC News) - Africa is at the crossroads of safeguarding development progress under an expanded Millennium Develop Goals (MDGs) whilst remaining faithful to the global call for action against climate change, says Mithika Mwenda, Secretary-General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).

According to him, the continent is the battle ground for competing global interest and as climate change acquires political-economic dimensions, African countries are squarely at the crossroads to decide which global grouping to side with.

Ministers Should Prioritize sustainable land management to achieve 2030 Development Agenda- UN Boss

Ban Ki Moon - UN Secretary General

By Elias Ntungwe Ngalame

ANKARA, Turkey (PAMACC News) – The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has called on foreign ministers to prioritize the environment and especially forest management and sustainable land management practices in domestic politics and contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders last month as a way of ensuring an integrated and transformative vision for a better world.

He said the 2030 agenda, geared at ending poverty and making essential connections between building peace, advancing development and securing a healthy planet should leave no one indifferent.

Paris deal must not be punitive like Kyoto Protocol

 By Sellina Nkowani         

            

INDCs great but not yet enough to stay below 2C

RABAT, Morocco (PAMACC News) - After 20 years of on-going climate change negotiations, there is need for a climate change framework that is not punitive and does not prescribe solutions to countries rather, the new framework should let countries prescribe what they can do, European Commissioner of Climate and Energy Miguel Arias Canete has said.

The Kyoto Protocol which Canete described as punitive, has been scolded by many especially in the developing world who claim it placed a burden on developing countries by making them pay for the sins committed by the developed world who are the major emitters and contributors to the global warming.

Mainstreaming Climate Change in Ghana’s politics

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

KUMASI, Ghana (PAMACC News) - Climate justice activists going to Paris in December will be seeking political commitments from polluter nations to cut carbon emissions whilst funding adaptation programmes for the climate vulnerable.

The African Group of Negotiators (AGN), for instance, will be clamouring for the aspiration of vulnerable people on the continent to be upheld in the agreement.

Turkey Pledges 5 Million dollars aid to fight desertification in AFRICA

By Elias Ntungwe Ngalame

Veysel Eroğlu

ANKARA, Turkey (PAMACC NEWS) – The minister Forestry and Water Affairs, Veysel Eroğlu has announced his country’s pledge of $5 million in aid to African countries to combat desertification, increase food production and fight malnutrition. 

He also announced Turkey’s plans to make a foundation for an international fund for anti-desertification works to other affected countries.

This announcement was made at the opening of the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification COP 12, opened on Monday 12 Ankara- Turkey.

Turkey Shows Africa its commitment to combat desertification

By Elias NtungweNgalame

ANKARA, Turkey (PAMACC News) – Turkey is brandish its environmental credentials in the fight against desertification as a perfect example to be replicated by countries in Africa especially those in the Sahel region suffering from prolonged droughts and malnutrition.

Vast tracts of Turkey impacted by desertification, affecting millions people in the past decades have today been covered by forestland through dedicated efforts by the government and other stakeholders to combat the climate monster, the government announced at the opening of the UNCCD COP12 October 12, 2015 in Ankara-Turkey.

Africa can achieve sustainable growth

By Sellina Nkowani  

RABAT, Morocco (PAMACC News) - The former United Nations General Secretary, Kofi Annan, on the day of the launch of Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) last month, said that Sustainable development goals can only be successful if they are successful in Africa.

The SDGs which build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) whose mandate ends this year, represent a collective global push to tackle the root causes of poverty, by focusing on issues of justice, inequality and equity.

Korean Economist named new IPCC Chair

Hoesung Lee, new IPCC Chair

By Atâyi Babs 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) elected Hoesung Lee of the Republic of Korea as its new Chair on Tuesday.

Hoesung Lee was elected by 78 votes to 56 in a run-off with Jean-Pascal van Ypersele. 

A total of six candidates including Ogunlade Davidson (Sierra Leone), Hoesung Lee (Republic of Korea), Nebojsa Nakicenovic (Austria and Montenegro), Thomas Stocker (Switzerland), Jean-Pascal van Ypersele (Belgium) were nominated for the position. 

The election took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where the IPCC is holding its 42nd Session. Elections for other positions on the IPCC Bureau, including the Co-Chairs of the IPCC Working Groups, will take place over 6-8 October. 

The election of the new Bureau, which will have 34 members including the Chair, opens the way for work to start on the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, expected to be completed in 5-7 years. 

PRESS STATEMENT

Action Aid Reacts to New OECD Report on Climate Finance

A new OECD report released today, Climate Finance in 2013-14 and the USD 100 billion goal, claims that rich countries provided over $60 billion in climate finance to poor countries in 20141 and that "significant progress" is being made towards the goal of $100 billion by 2020.

The primary objective of climate finance is to benefit developing countries and support their climate action. Yet the large majority of the OECD's $60 billion estimate are in the form of export credits, the full value of both concessional and market-rate loans, and private investment. The ultimate beneficiaries of these forms of finance are actors in rich countries - not developing countries, much less poor and vulnerable communities.

Changements climatiques: Le Cameroun prépare la Cop 21

Par Rosine Nkonla Azanmene

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - En prélude au rendez-vous de Paris en fin d’année 2015, le ministre camerounais de l’environnement, de la Protection de la nature et du développement durable, Hélé Pierre, a présidé à Yaoundé en partenariat avec l’AFD, un atelier national de validation technique des travaux relatifs à la contribution  du Cameroun dans le cadre de la Convention cadre des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques. 

Le Cameroun doit pouvoir diminuer de 32% ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre, d’ici fin 2015. 

Reboisement dans la region de l’Extrême Nord du Cameroun - La solution qui vient de la jeunesse

Par Rosine Nkonla Azanmene

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - Près de 300 jeunes recrutés dans le cadre du « Programme Spécial pour l’Emploi Urbain » (USEP), s’emploient au reboisement de l’extrême nord. La région du pays la plus exposée aux menaces de sécheresse et de désertification, du fait de sa position géographique en zone sahélienne 

Tous les matins, plusieurs jeunes dont l’âge varie entre 18 et 35 ans, sont à pied d’œuvre pour conduire les activités de la phase pilote du Programme Spécial pour l’Emploi Urbain. 

The place of agriculture in Ghana’s climate adaptation actions

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

KUMASI, Ghana (PAMACC Newas) - Ghana’s agricultural sector, the largest employer of the economy, has been the hardest hit this year by unfavorable weather.

Farmers across the country have recorded poor crop production because the rains failed them.

Without access to irrigation facilities, the local farmers are at the mercy of the weather to till and manage their farm lands for food production.

A mobile soil testing facility now available in Kenya

By Isaiah Esipisu

KUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) - Farmers anywhere in Kenya can now collect at least 50 soil samples from different farms, and order a mobile soil testing laboratory to come to their site, thanks to a Dutch company that now provides such services in the country.

“We need to stop treading soil like dirt,” Dr Bashir Jama, the director for Soil Health Program at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) writes in his blog. Soil, according to Dr Jama, is a living thing and it needs to be respected and cared for. “Otherwise it will die,” he says.

Zambia’s INDC targets an estimated 38,000Gg carbon emission reduction

 By Friday Phiri

 LUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) The successful implementation of Zambia’s INDC will result in an estimated total emission reduction of 38,000GgCO2eq which translates to 47% (internationally supported efforts) against 2010 as a base year, according to the country’s submitted plan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change-(UNFCCC).

 

According to the document however, the targeted reduction is conditional and subject to the availability of international support in form of finance, technology and capacity building.

“This emission reduction is conditional and subject to the availability of international support in form of finance, technology and capacity building”, reads the INDC document which has an estimated implementation budget of US$ 50 billion by the year 2030.

AGCO announces new joint venture company to manage its brands in Zambia

By Friday Phiri

LUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) - AGCO, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment has appointed a new Joint Venture company between South Africa’s Barloworld and Germany’s BayWa as its national distributor for Zambia.

The Joint Venture between Barloworld and BayWa will be responsible for sales and support for AGCO’s Challenger and Massey Ferguson brands of farm machinery.

Fighting fake seeds to save food security

Busani Bafana

LUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) - Food security begins with good seed, which has become the farmers' Holy Grail. African smallholder farmers prioritise how they select, save and use seed because it determine the quality and quantity of their harvest, especially now with a changing farming environment.

But farmers' good judgement is never foolproof against fake seed, a growing nightmare for farmers and a threat to the seed industry which each year loses millions of dollars in potential sales.

Press Statement

Africa’s climate action pledges show commitment to a fair and binding deal in Paris

NAIROBI, Kenya,(02/10/2015) Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance says:

“As of October 1, 47 out of 54 African countries have submitted their national plans for the UN climate deal (INDCs.) Africa’s vast and environmentally diverse landscape and coastal areas mean that each of its country’s climate action plans vary widely and can include comprehensive emission reduction plans, sectoral targets, policy frameworks, regulations and other tools such as carbon markets, subsidies and incentives.

COP 21 Paris: Ghana will need $22.6 billion to implement its climate actions

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

 

Ghana needs $22.6 billion in investments from domestic and international public and private sources to finance its climate mitigation and adaptation actions.

The country’s 31 programme of actions will drive the strategic focus of a “10-year post-2020 enhanced climate action plan” that would be developed after the 21^st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris.

NEWS RELEASE: Fertiliser companies dominate talks on climate change and agriculture, says new report

"Exxons of agriculture" should be kept out of Paris COP21


Fertiliser companies are among the world's top climate villains, a new report from GRAIN asserts. Their products could be responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, not to mention the damage wreaked on waterways, soils and the ozone layer. But policies to transition agriculture out of its current dependence on chemical fertilisers are being undermined by the fertiliser industry's lobby efforts.

Zambia targets one million hectares of farm block irrigation for youth-led agriculture development

By Friday Phiri

AGRF Opening ceremony in Lusaka, Zambia

LUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) - “Growth in the agriculture sector is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors”, declared Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya, during the official opening of the Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Lusaka.

And it seems the host country; Zambia is already in the process of ‘walking the talk on youth and women’ by embarking on a massive youth led agriculture development programme.

Changements climatiques Le Cameroun prépare la Cop 21

Par Rosine NkonlaAzanmene

En prélude au rendez-vous de Paris en fin d’année 2015, le ministre camerounais de l’environnement, de la Protection de la nature et du développement durable, Hélé Pierre, a présidé à Yaoundé en partenariat avec l’AFD,un atelier national de validation technique des travaux relatifs à la contribution  du Cameroun dans le cadre de la Convention cadre des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques.