|
Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
- News Digest - |
| Week ending 14 August 2009 |
| Share | Subscribe | Unsubscribe |
|
|
|
Editor's choice: Imminent AU climate change summit
African Press Organisation Addis Ababa: The AU Assembly has in the recent past adopted major decisions on Africa's negotiation structure on climate change. The rationale of these decisions is premised on the fact that there had been major limitations on the African negotiating structure thus hindering its ability to achieve optimal results for the continent... South Africa: Long road to Copenhagen Business Day, 10 August 2009 Johannesburg: South Africa contributes 1,4% of world emissions while the UK, six times more industrialised, contributes 1,5%. An adviser on climate change to the cabinet told a conference yesterday SA was three years away from being able to put a detailed plan on the table for reducing carbon emissions, despite the closeness of the Copenhagen climate change talks... Climate change presents opportunity to move into new growth areas – CSIR Engineering News, 10 August 2009 Johannesburg: Achieving economic growth and tackling climate change were not divergent issues, and a number of countries were seeing them as an opportunity to re-orientate some of their industries, by getting “out of the old failing industries and into new growth areas of green technology”, said CSIR systems ecologist Dr Bob Scholes... Camco studies indirect impact of climate change on SA economy Engineering News, 10 August 2009 Johannesburg: International climate change consultancy Camco was conducting research into the indirect effects that climate change could have on South Africa’s economy, ranging from impacts on the tourism sector, aviation and food exports, through to commercial opportunities in low carbon technologies and the promotion of alternative carbon markets... Brazilians take on global warming and steal the show Brazzil, 10 August 2009 Brazilians take global warming seriously, much more than the rest of the world. The recently published 2009 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey of twenty five prominent nation-states confirms that Brazil is now the world leader in concern over global warming... Bold soil-mapping venture seen as crucial to efforts on climate, agriculture New York Times, 10 August 2009 New York: Long left in the dust by their peers in climate research, a small group of soil scientists is spearheading an effort to apply rigorous computer analysis to the ground beneath our feet. Their goal: to produce a digital soil map of the entire world... Tongaat Hulett to turn sugar cane into renewable energy Business Report, 10 August 2009 Johannesburg: A blend of ethanol with petrol could cut carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles by 90 percent, and sugar producer Tongaat Hulett intends to move vigorously into this market over the next few years... Climate change seen as threat to US security New York Times, 10 August 2009 Washington: The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say... Climate change as security threat is nothing new Reuters, 11 August 2009 A front-page story in Sunday's New York Times proclaimed “Climate Change Seen as a Threat to US Security”, describing how climate change could lead to “profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades”... Green cities prepare for Copenhagen at ICLEI World Congress Kelowna, 11 August 2009 Kelowna: Big change starts small. That's the idea, at least, behind the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), an organization made up of representatives from over 1,000 municipalities around the world. Six hundred of them arrived in Edmonton recently for a multi-day conference on topics ranging from wastewater treatment to public engagement... Surinder Sud: Changing with the climate Business Standard, 11 August 2009 New Delhi: That climate change and agriculture are inter-related is well known. Agriculture contributes, albeit only partly, to global warming - by spewing greenhouse gases (GHGs) - and, in turn, gets affected by its consequences. However, GHG emissions from different farm sectors and the effect of global warming on these sectors have not been quantified, except in a few cases, such as wheat... A watershed moment in resource management Business Report, 11 August 2009 Johannesburg: More than 20 years ago the world-renowned economist Kenneth Boulding said: “The only people who believe in infinite growth in a finite world are madmen and economists.” Water is perhaps the most limiting finite resource on this planet... Supermarket offers and food waste targeted in UK government's food strategy The Guardian, 11 August 2009 London: Fewer cut-price supermarket gimmicks and other measures to help target food waste are central to a new government food security strategy to maintain UK food supplies for the next 40 years... EAC plans joint climate change assessment Business Daily, 11 August 2009 Nairobi: The East African Community (EAC) is in the process of hiring consultants to assess the impact of climate change in the region. The contract will be awarded next month and the study is expected to inform a mitigation master plan... World's poorest women will bear brunt of climate change Daily Dispatch, 11 August 2009 East London: President Jacob Zuma has identified climate change and its impact on women as a critical area of concern. “Natural disasters affect women directly and severely because of their social roles and the impacts of poverty. When there are floods, cyclones, or drought, women bear the brunt,” he said recently... Oxfam report on climate change and poverty in Uganda Oxfam, 11 August 2009 Kampala: People in developing countries like Uganda, whose contribution to global warming has been miniscule, are feeling the impacts of climate change first and worst. Climate shocks undermine health and well-being, the economy and the overall development of the country. Food insecurity in Uganda is a major challenge and climate shocks are making the problem worse... Climate change and the threat to African food security id21, 12 August 2009 Nairobi: Joto Afrika, Swahili for ‘Africa is feeling the heat’, is a new series of briefings and online resources about adapting to climate change in Africa. The first issue, edited by Victor Orindi from the International Development Research Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, focuses on climate change and African food security... India says developing world not split in climate talks Reuters, 12 August 2009 New Delhi: Bilateral climate agreements are no solution to fighting global warming and could trigger unwelcome competitive pressures, India's top climate change negotiator said on Tuesday... UK: A farming revolution is needed The Telegraph, 12 August 2009 London: The key issues of food production divide the present Labour government just as they divided the last Tory one, and - who knows - they may well divide the next. Do we feed ourselves or do we allow others to do so? Do we need farmers or do we assume that we are rich enough to buy on open markets? Is the priority to keep food cheap or to lower its carbon footprint and the cost of diet-related health care? ... Oxfam: Legacy of food insecurity will be hard to stomach The Herald, 13 August 2009 Glasgow: Last year hunger took on a new face. No longer was it confined to images of emaciated children and dead cattle on dusty African plains. Instead, food riots were taking place in the cities of some 30 countries as prices rose dramatically and millions of the poor took to the streets demanding affordable food... Peter Hazell: Invest in Africa, invest in the whole world The Guardian, 13 August 2009 London: For more than three decades, a technology driven, agricultural revolution has enabled global food production to outstrip growth in demand. Modern plant breeding, together with greater use of irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides created a situation in which the world price of grains trended downwards to reach historically low levels by the end of the millennium... Historical deforestation in Madagascar may not be as bad as commonly believed Mongabay, 13 August 2009 The long-held assumption that Madagascar has lost 90 percent of its forest cover due to fire and slash-and-burn agriculture may be overstated, argues new research published in Conservation Letters... Spain backs Ethiopia's climate change mitigation measures Nazret.com, 13 August 2009 Addis Ababa: Ethiopia has signed a grant agreement amounting to $4m with the United Nations and the government of Spain. The money would be spent on various programs aimed at enhancing capacity of pastoralists to plan and execute climate change adaptation and mitigation measures... A tough year for farmers in India, says Agri Sec MyNews.in, 13 August 2009 New Delhi : What got buried under the dreaded swine flu outbreak was the alarming agrarian scenario in the country. “This is a difficult year for agriculture in India. It is a worrying situation.” says Nandkumar. In an exclusive interview, Nandkumar talked about the rain deficit, its impact on paddy crop and the disturbing economic situation for farmers... Satellites predict severe water shortages in India VOA News, 13 August 2009 New satellite data reveal that groundwater in Northwest India is being depleted faster than it is being replenished by rainwater. Experts say the problem is being caused by farmers' excessive use of groundwater to irrigate their crops, and they warn that the situation could lead to severe water shortages and reduced agricultural yields... The coming global energy revolution Business Daily, 13 August 2009 Paris: Humanity's future, to say nothing of its prosperity, will depend on how the world tackles two central energy challenges: securing reliable supplies of affordable energy, and switching to efficient low-carbon energy... How do we prevent more land from turning into desert? Public Service, 13 August 2009 London: In case you missed it, the World Day to Combat Desertification happened in June this year and presented the perfect opportunity to stress that the scale of the issue is far greater than authorities have realised. It not only directly affects the lives of about 250 million and through broader land degradation threatens at least another billion people, including those in refugee situations, but the consequences of land becoming desert has wide social, ecological and health issues... That finance ministers summit and African economy Daily Triumph, 14 August 2009 Abuja: Standing from a vantage point on the global economy, it becomes obvious that Nigeria as well as other African countries are standing on the brink of harsh economic realities, grappling with developmental challenges of reformatting their economies to meet the 2015 MDG target and the Vision 2020... India plans focus on environment Wall Street Journal, 14 August 2009 New Delhi: Even as it resists firm caps on carbon emissions, India has established one of the world's largest forest-protection funds and plans to set up a regulatory body modeled on the US Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to improve its dismal environmental track record... Hillary Clinton's remarks on climate change during DRC visit Scoop, 14 August 2009 Kinshasa: Let me say a word about climate change. There is no doubt that the United States is the historically biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. We did not take responsibility for that until President Obama became president. Our prior administration would not accept that responsibility; now we are... Is it time to start worrying about Copenhagen? BusinessGreen/Reuters, 14 August 2009 I am starting to get very worried. This week, another round of the UN's climate change talks gets underway in Bonn, Germany and once again all the key factions look as far from reaching a meaningful agreement on carbon emissions targets as they ever were. It is far too early to give up hope on a deal being reached, particularly given that any exercise in international diplomacy is always characterized by the kind of posturing and brinkmanship we can expect to see again over the next five days... |
|
Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)
Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
We appreciate any comments you might have on this digest: feedback@africaclimatesolution.org To subscribe, email: subscribe@africaclimatesolution.org |
|
ACCID website: www.africaclimatesolution.org |