In The News

In Africa, countries that have experienced such severe landslides in recent years include Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, DRC, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. Over 4,000 people have died in the past 10 years and millions of dollars of resources lost because of landslides each year in Africa.

Africa is home to one in six of the world’s people and rising. From its sensitive ecosystems to booming cities, the continent is vulnerable to climate change and increasingly important to tackling it.

Yet fewer than one in ten contributors to a landmark UN report on the science of 1.5C global warming launched this month were African, of whom many were based at universities outside the region.

10-12 October 2018. Seventh Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-VII), Translating nationally determined contributions into concrete actions, requires, among other things, implementation plans that prioritize specific sectoral climate actions and predictable finance flows, sustained capacity-building and the transfer of relevant technologies from developed countries. This, in turn, calls for serious dialogue and interaction between policymakers, scientists and researchers, as well as other stakeholders, to support the translation of the nationally determined contributions into action plans and programmes. 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that if the world doesn't change course by 2020, we run the risk of runaway climate change.

Mr Guterres said he was alarmed by the paralysis of world leaders on what he called the "defining issue" of our time.

He wants heads of government to come to New York for a special climate conference next September. More...

Monrovia – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through the National Adaptation Plans (NAP) project will on Wednesday, August 15, launch the National Policy & Response Strategy on Climate Change.

The NAP project is funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

According to the EPA Communication Specialist, Danise Love Dennis, the event takes place by 11: 00 AM at the Bella Casa Hotel in Sinkor, Monrovia.

The policy was developed with the support from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa beginning September 2016. It was subsequently validated on January 27, 2017 at a national stakeholders’ meeting. More....

The decision by President Donald Trump to ditch the Paris Climate Agreement to which United States is a signatory might have been a courageous effort to deliver on an election promise but, on a close examination, current estimates on disasters linked to climate vagaries show that his advisers got both the science and the math wrong when they touted economic gains as the main reason for the withdrawal.

Though predictable to the last minute, the announcement to withdraw nevertheless triggered a fiery of reactions with chilling waves of concern across the world; generating different interpretations and contextualization based on its implications and consequences both within and outside the US. More ...

Addis Ababa, 01 September 2017 - The Grand Renaissance Dam in which Ethiopia is building along the Nile could be a motivation for African countries in terms of mobilizing domestic resources, an expert from African Climate Policy Center (ACPC) said.
 
 Senior Expert on Energy and Climate Change at ACPC, Linus Mofor said the GERD is a manifestation of well-planned domestic resources mobilization efforts in financing a country’s resources.

The African Small Island Developing States (SIDS) attracted special attention during the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakech, Morocco. Several side events were organized in parallel to the main negotiations, including one on Innovative Solutions to Climate Change Challenges for the SIDS. It was promoted by SYAH Cabo Verde, the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It counted with the participation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Deputy Director-General and Coordinator for Natural Resources, Ms. Maria Helena Semedo, as a keynote speaker, and the African Union Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture (AUC-REA), Ms. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, the WMO Secretary General, Prof. Petteri Taalas, and the AMCOMET Chair, Mr. Gilberto Silva, for the welcoming remarks.

Kenya’s single largest private investment in history is the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP)—the largest wind farm on the continent. Quantifying the direct and indirect benefits of this project is challenging, but also critical to understanding how low emission development strategies (LEDS) can help countries achieve national development objectives beyond greenhouse gas mitigation—such as energy security, job creation, and improved human health.   

  

USAID’s Global Climate Change Office and its Resources to Advance LEDS Implementation (RALI) Project, implemented by ICF, in partnership with the LEDS Global Partnership (GP), has released a case study analyzing the benefits of LTWP, which provides important lessons for maximizing social, environmental and economic returns for other large wind projects in the region and beyond. 

  

The LTWP, expected to be complete in July 2017, will add 310 MW of wind power capacity to Kenya’s national grid through the installation of 365 turbines, construction of 436 kilometers (km) of transmission lines, and rehabilitation of more than 200 km of existing roads. The project covers a remote area of 162 km2, which is home to a population of roughly 1,000 nomadic pastoralists. 

Partners of the Climate Information for Development in Africa initiative (ClimDev-Africa), outlined an ambitious second phase business plan to foster and support climate-sensitive development in Africa.

 

This was disclosed by the Directorate of Information and Communication of the African Union on Friday in a press release. ClimDev-Africa made the statement at the COP 22 2016 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

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