Carbon trade is a false solution to quest for climate justice

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghana is one of several African countries taking a keen interest in the carbon trading scheme, which offers payment for planting and protecting forest areas.

Adoption and promotion these schemes – including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the REDD plus, which stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation – present financial opportunities.

What climate change and slave trade in Africa have in common

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

DAKAR, Senegal - The Island of Gorée, according to UNESCO, is an exceptional testimony to one of the greatest tragedies in the history of human societies – the slave trade. 

The Island, which lies off the coast of Senegal, opposite Dakar, was the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast, from the 15th to the 19th century. Today it continues to serve as a reminder of human exploitation and as a sanctuary for reconciliation.

African civil society encouraged to continue climate justice struggle

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

DAKAR, Senegal - The Senegalese government has hailed the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) for its excellent tool of environmental protection and urged them to continue the struggle for climate justice.

Ms. Penda Kante Thiam who represented the Senegalese Minister for Environment urged the African Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) under the auspices of PACJA to keep the faith and to be positive in the struggle for climate justice.

2014 Climate Change and Environmental Reporting Awards launched

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

DAKAR, Senegal - The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, PACJA, has launched the second edition of the African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting (ACCER) Awards in Dakar, Senegal.

The launch was held on the Island of Goree, off the Senegalese coast, on the sidelines of a five-day African Civil Society Post-Warsaw and Post-2015 strategic meeting.

Kenya: Preparing for REDD in the Embobut Forest and forcing Sengwer People “into extinction”

January 31, 2014

(Forest guards arrive in Kenya's Embobut Forest in preparation for the evictions. © FPP)

(NO REDD In Africa) Last year the Government of Kenya was getting “ready” for REDD in the Embobut Forest, now it is violently evicting the Sengwer People and forcing them “into extinction.” According to Survival International, “as many as a thousand homes have already been torched.”[i] 

Sengwer spokesman Yator Kiptum denounced the “disaster” caused by combined force of the Kenya Forest Service and Administration Police, a paramilitary unit of the police, which is now evicting the Sengwer not just from the Embobut Forest but from the entirety of the Cherangany Hills, destroying property and burning homes. “The government of Kenya is forcing us into extinction," he said.[ii]

Opportunity for young Journalists

Young Journalists Scholarship

Energy is a critical ingredient for development. In many countries, in particular in rural areas, the provision of energy services remains poor. The delivery of services is often linked to poor governance or accountability issues. To contribute to improving the reporting on such issues and to raising the awareness about the provision of energy services in a country, continuous reporting by journalists can help.

In its capacity as organizer of the 2nd High-Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP), the AEEP Secretariat therefore invites Young Journalists to be part of, and contribute to, the conference, to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 12-13 February 2014.

Good Tidings from Warsaw

By Godwin Haruna

The United Nations Climate Change Conference that ended in Warsaw penultimate Saturdayhas kept governments on track towards a universal climate agreement in 2015 that includes significant new decisions that will cut emissions from deforestation, Godwin Haruna writes

For slightly over two weeks, the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland was filled with negotiators from governments, corporations, civil society groups and other interested stakeholders for a world devoid of pollution. After walkouts and trade-offs, Warsaw set a pathway for governments to work on a draft text of a new universal climate agreement for other conferences to build upon in future.