In The News

Bringing the Paris Agreement into Force: Next Steps and National Climate Plans

On 12 December 2015, countries under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Paris Agreement. The legal nature of this new, international agreement requires actions and steps to bring it into force. How the large number of national climate plans will be handled in relation to the agreement is also explained below.

In addition, the UNFCCC secretariat has prepared a legal version of these steps for readers who require the important, detailed formal wording and terminology that relates to this major international agreement.

The authentic English text of the Paris Agreement is found here on the UNFCCC website.   Read more

Could an African become the new U.N. climate chief?

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The next head of the U.N. process to tackle climate change should come from one of the world's poorest countries, which led an ambitious drive to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the new Paris deal, a leading expert has proposed.

With Christiana Figueres stepping down as executive secretary of the U.N. climate change convention in July, "it's time for the least developed countries to have a chance at that particular slot", said Saleemul Huq, director of the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development.

Climate modelling training in Tanzania

Thanks to Met Office training and technology, experts in Tanzania and Malawi are now able to conduct climate change projections to the year 2099.
 
The Met Office has had a long, strong relationship with the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA). The Met Office has been involved in various capacity building projects in Tanzania, including installing a TV weather studio with funding from the Voluntary Cooperation Programme (VCP) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

 

Climate finance: a moral and survival issue for Africa

Of all the continents, historically Africa has contributed the least to the emissions of greenhouse gases that have caused today’s climate change catastrophe. Yet, it will be most severely impacted. Climate finance is therefore a highly contentious issue for Africa and represents a moral and survival issue in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations. Read more ...

Africa grasps renewable energy and adaptation financing at the COP21

From the opening of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21), African leaders have made strong stands for their continent’s need for energy expansion, and the minimisation of the detrimental effects of climate change. Matching responses were received from the international community in the form of substantial commitments made to a renewable energy initiative and adaptation fund.

COP21 – Carlos Lopes : L’Afrique doit faire changer la nature des débats

© Autre presse par DR 
Carlos LOPES, Secrétaire Général adjoint de l`ONU et Secrétaire exécutif de la Commission Economique pour l`Afrique
Le Bissau-Guinéen analyse la position du continent sur l’échiquier environnemental mondial. Entre la nécessité de faire entendre sa voix et l’immensité du chantier à venir.

COP21 African Pavilion opens

On Friday, the African Pavilion at COP21 was officially opened aimed at union and solidarity in the face of climate change. The President of Benin, Yayi Boni, spoke at the opening; “Africa did not come here (COP21) to beg for money or assistance but to bring about commitment of all concerned to Africa’s adaptation needs.”

To build resilience to climate change, help African women farmers

Martha Mafa, a subsistence farmer, carries a bucket of maize on her head in Chivi, about 378km (235 miles) south-east of the capital Harare, April 1, 2012. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo
“It is amazing that many women in Africa continue to use hoes to till the soil in their small-scale farms in communities in Africa in this age of technological advancement,” wondered Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, chair of the African Union Commission, as she addressed officials at the launch of the African Renewable Energy Initiative at the U.N. climate negotiations in Paris. Read more...

5th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-V) Climate Change and Sustainable Development: What is at Stake at Paris and Beyond?

The 5th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-V) convened its final day on Friday, 30 October 2015, at the Elephant Hills Hotel, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

In the morning, two back-to-back parallel sessions were held on: Climate Data for Decision Making; Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction; Climate Change and Energy; Governance; Agriculture, Trade and Food Security; Gender; Climate Science; Climate Change and Youth; and Sustainable Development.

A plenary followed, chaired by Franklyn Lisk, University of Warwick, on evaluating the performance of Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for Africa. Chukwumeji Okereke, University of Reading, delivered a presentation with reactions from the panelists: David Lesolle, University of Botswana; Paul Desanker, UNFCCC Secretariat; Nkiruka Nnaemego, African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC); Washington Zhakata, Climate Change Management Department, Zimbabwe; and Seth Osafo, African Group of Negotiators (AGN).

Looking at the ‘New World Order’ in 2015

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.

Pages