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.
He said there has been increase in
frequency and severity of extreme weather events especially during the last 30
to 60 years necessitated by floods and droughts in many parts of Africa.
“At local level, this is manifested
through sustained changes in onset, cessation and intensities of rain. It is
extremely likely that human activities have been the dominant cause of the
observed changes in climate over the observed long period of time,” Dr Kanyanga
said.
He was speaking during his presentation on
climate change 2013: physical science basics of group one to the IPCC fifth
Assessment Report.
He said based on the observed trends and
future climate projections over Africa versus development climate change poses
a challenge for growth and development on the continent.
And African Group of Negotiators (AGN) and
former United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) legal
advisor Seth Osafo said in his presentation on: From Kyoto to Paris that a lot
of effort has been made by the continent in addressing climate change.
“Pledges were made by both developed and
developing countries prior to and during the COP that took the capitalisation
of the new Green Climate Fund (GCF) past an initial $10 billion target,” he
said.
Mr Osafo said levels of transparency and
confidence have been building and reached new heights as several industrialised
countries submitted themselves to questioning about their emissions targets
under a new process called a multilateral assessment.
He said the Lima ministerial declaration
on education and awareness has raised calls on governments to put climate
change into school curricula and climate awareness into national development
plans.
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