Climate Finance is flowing, but it isn't enough - Figueres

by Wambi Michael, PAMACC Team, Lima

Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary

Climate financing across the globe has hit record high to about $650 billion dollars in the last two years but the UN Climate chief, Christiana Figureres says it is not enough to meet the growing financial needs to tackle global warming.  

A new financial assessment report presented to at the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru puts  the lower range of global total climate flows at $340 billion a year for the period between 2011-2012.

The assessment compiled the UNFCCC standing committee on finance is the first to put together information and data on financial flows supporting emission reductions and adaptation within the countries and through international support.

Support from developed countries according the assessment amounted to about $35 billion dollars and $50 billion annually, within the multilateral development banks

Africa Chases US$600 Billion to Address Climate Disasters Annually

Peter Labeja, PAMACC Team, Lima

Seyni Nafo

Seyni Nafo, the African Group spokesperson says recent pledges to the Green Climate Fund are a small step. Funding around US$ 2.4 billion per year is not close to the actual need, and is a far cry from the $100 billion pledged for each year to 2020.              

Africa requires up to US$ 600 billion annually to be able to cope with climate change disasters over the next five years, negotiators at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Summit in Lima, Peru have announced.

Seyni Nafo, the African Group spokesperson says recent pledges to the Green Climate Fund are a small step. Funding around US$ 2.4 billion per year is not close to the actual need, and is a far cry from the $100 billion pledged for each year to 2020.

The group wants the Lima conference to provide a clear road-map of how adequate finance contributions will increase step-by-step to 2020. On a global level, US$1 trillion is required to support developing nations to prevent temperature rise from the current 0.8 Degrees Celsius to 1.5 Celsius degrees.

Africa expresses concerns over $100billion climate fund

Nagmeldin El Hassan, Chair of the African Group

By Arison TAMFU

Peru, Lima Dec. 3: Developed countries have committed to mobilising $100 billion in climate finance. "Recent pledges to the Green Climate Fund are a small first step, but funding around $2.4 billion per year is not close to the actual need, and is a far cry from the $100 billion pledged for 2020. Lima should provide a clear roadmap for how finance contributions will increase step-by-step to 2020" said Seyni Nafo, African Group spokesperson.

The money is expected to come from a wide variety of sources and depends on meaningful mitigation action and transparency on implementation by developing countries. It is intended to bridge differences between richer and poorer states that hobbled prior talks. African Group at the Lima conference has made it clear though the money is important, Africa is more interested in limiting the impacts of climate change

Extreme heat signals possible failure of Lima climate talks

by Atayi Babs, PAMACC Team, Lima

Delegates from over 190 countries at the ongoing Lima climate talks have come under

serious pressure from the climate with extreme heat trailing the negotiations. As negotiations opened on Monday morning, delegates immediately found themselves on the hot seat as IPCC Rajendra Pachauri challenged delegates to "come to terms" with the fact that staying below the 2°C target requires zero or negative emissions, relative to 2010 levels, by 2100. 

The literal heat of the venue prompted one delegate to exclaim "this is just like a greenhouse and this is exactly what's happening to our planet." "Last October, those of us who were at the Convention for Biological Diversity COP in Pyeongchang, South Korea, were subjected to cold temperature extremes; now we're being tried by fire," complained another.

2014 will likely be the hottest on record, WMO warns

By Wambi Michael, PAMACC Team, Lima

IPCC Chair, Rajendra Pachauri

World Meteorological Organization says the year 2014 is on track for being one of the hottest, if not the hottest, on record, according to preliminary results issued at the side lines of the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru.

The changes according to the estimates are largely due to record WMO high global sea surface temperatures, which are predicted to likely remain above normal until the end of the year.

The report says High sea temperatures, together with other factors, contributed to exceptionally heavy rainfall and floods in many countries and extreme drought in others.

Civil Society demands shift in private sector investment at Lima talks

By Kofi Domfeh, PAMACC Team, Lima

Solving the problem of global climate change is impossible without huge shift in private

sector investments, since this sector represents trillions of dollars with vast majority of economic activities around the world.

This is the view of Civil Society in contributing to a discussion at the ongoing climate change talks in Lima, Peru.

According to Dr. Thomas Jallah of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), what is needed most is policy changes and regulations particularly in developed countries "to shift private investments from brown to green".

"National governments could do far more to shift incentives so that trillions of dollars of private investments will flow to sustainable climate-friendly activities," he said.
 

African Group solicits media cooperation at Lima talks

By PAMACC Team, Lima

 

The African Group of Negotiators at the ongoing Lima climate talks have expressed their willingness to work with the media torwards ensuring a better deal for Africa as 2015 beckons.

Highlighting the imperatives of a constructive engagement of the African media in the ongoing talks, Nagmeldin El Hassan, Chair of the African Group at a meeting with a delegation of the Pan-African Media Alliance for Climate (PAMACC) today called for far-reaching dissemination of the key issues and developments as they relate to Africa at the conference in order to facilitate shared understanding of the negotiations and its impact on the continent of Africa.

"We are happy with the representation of African media in this conference and we sollicit your cooperation in putting the issues in right perspective" Elhassan said. Atayi Babs, West African Regional Coordinator of PAMACC commended the AGN for the meeting and reiterated PAMACC's focal commitment to providing an effective vehicle for knowledge sharing and information dissemination on the African continent and beyond.