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Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
- News Digest - |
| Week ending 28 August 2009 |
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Sustainable farming is the way forward for Africa Se7en Magazine, 24 August 2009 Forday Komara is a farmer from Sierra Leone who understands the benefits of local markets for his community. In his area, near the country's capital of Freetown, rice is the dominant crop but farmers rarely grow enough to feed themselves. When they run out from July to September they are forced to borrow money to buy food when prices are at their highest - leading many families into a cycle of endless debt... In Brazil, paying farmers to let the trees stand New York Times, 24 August 2009 Querencia: José Marcolini, a farmer here, has a permit from the Brazilian government to raze 12,500 acres of rain forest this year to create highly profitable new soy fields. But he says he is struggling with his conscience. A Brazilian environmental group is offering him a yearly cash payment to leave his forest standing to help combat climate change... Differences ‘narrowing’ over Nile waters Inter Press Service, 24 August 2009 Cairo: Signs are emerging of some narrowing of differences over the sharing of Nile waters. “When it comes to Nile-sharing, Egypt appears to be choosing the path of diplomacy and economic co-operation rather than conflict,” Hani Raslan, head of the department for Sudan and Nile Basin countries at the semi-official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS... China powers ahead as it seizes the green energy crown from Europe The Telegraph, 24 August 2009 London: China is running away with the green technology prize. It has conquered a third of the world market for solar cells and is on a breakneck course to build 100 gigawatts of wind turbines by 2020, doubling again the global capacity for wind power across vast stretches of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang... Jean Ping's opening speech at AU climate change summit Africa Union, 25 August 2009 Addis Ababa: The issue of climate change that we have come to discuss here today is of significant importance to the African continent... Africa to seek billions in compensation at climate meet AFP, 25 August 2009 Addis Ababa: Africa will seek billions in compensation from industrialised nations during key climate change talks in Copenhagen later this year, an official said Monday... Chissano: Africa should increase agricultural productivity New Vision Online, 25 August 2009 Kampala: More than any continent, Africa is blessed with abundant natural water resources. Our continent is home to the world's longest river, large fresh-water lakes and countless rivers, tributaries and streams. However, our unique natural inheritance is under threat. Across Africa, one can see threats to water supplies and cases of severe environmental degradation... China expert urges Africa to embrace agroforestry to sustain livelihoods Xinhua, 25 August 2009 Nairobi: A Chinese expert has called on African countries to encourage small-scale farmers to embrace agroforestry policies to sustain environments and livelihoods... Kenya to pay heavily for failure to tackle climate change Business Daily, 25 August 2009 Nairobi: Kenya's failure to take action on climate change will result in losses running to trillions of shillings ranging from reduced arable land to deaths from hunger, a top climate scholar has warned. But this can be reversed if economic plans are revised to include climate change scenarios and how to lessen its effects... Wangari Maathai: The challenge for Copenhagen COP15, 26 August 2009 Nairobi: The short rains failed, and drought has hit Kenya again. Without water, farmers are watching their crops whither. Ten million people, almost a third of the population, are facing hunger or worse. The government has declared a national disaster. The World Food Programme is more than doubling, to 3.5 million, the number of Kenyans receiving food aid... Tom Vilsack: Climate change efforts spell opportunity for American agriculture Washington Examiner, 26 August 2009 Washington: Throughout history, America's farmers and ranchers have embraced the opportunities presented by science to improve productivity and make our country the breadbasket of the world. Today, rural America has the opportunity to once again embrace science and lead efforts to create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, mitigate climate change, and transition to a clean energy economy... Ozone treaty may hold key to halting climate change Inter Press Service, 26 August 2009 Uxbridge: Will the world take the easy step to phase out “super” greenhouse gases – hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - using the existing Montreal Protocol ozone treaty? Doing so would be equivalent to preventing the release of 118 to 224 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency... Top UN climate scientist backs ambitious CO2 cuts AFP, 26 August 2009 Paris: Barely 100 days before the world hopes to seal a global climate treaty, the UN's top climate scientist has given his personal endorsement to hugely ambitious goals for slashing emissions... Companies' CO2 cuts fall short of scientific needs: study AFP, 26 August 2009 Paris: The world's 100 largest companies are failing to meet scientific recommendations on how to contain global warming, a study published Tuesday warned. “We are facing a Carbon Chasm,” the study by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) said... ‘History can no longer guide farmers’ IOL, 27 August 2009 Geneva: Climate change has made history an inaccurate guide for farmers as well as energy investors who must rely on probabilities and scenarios to make decisions, the head of a United Nations agency said on Wednesday... Malawi: Climate change hurts agriculture profitability The Daily Times, 27 August 2009 Blantyre: Agriculture, whether as business or not, is dependent on climate. In this article, Elvis Sukali explores how climate change has affected farming families in Phalombe and what this means to their income earnings. He reports: It is mid morning on a Thursday when we arrive at Waruma village in Phalombe for the climate and poverty hearing... Whoever figures out how to safely trap carbon will make a fortune The Age, 27 August 2009 Sydney: It's easy to be sceptical - deeply - about efforts to clean up Australia's coal industry. "Clean coal" is an oxymoron and even advocates shy away from the term. Capturing and storing greenhouse gases is eminently worse than avoiding the emissions in the first place. Safely trapped carbon dioxide is still pollution - and there's plenty of doubt about the safety part... Measuring the damage of our ‘water footprint’ Spiegel Online, 27 August 2009 A Dutch hydro engineer has come up with a “water footprint.” At a conference in Sweden, he and other participants discussed water waste, supermarkets filled with fruits and vegetables produced in some of the world's most arid regions and ways we can stop wasting our most precious resource. Arjen Hoekstra didn't really stand out in the crowd of 2,000 scientists, activists, politicians and representatives of industry roaming the halls of the Stockholm trade fair... We are responsible for climate upheavals The New Vision, 27 August 2009 Kampala: Predictions indicate that Uganda is set to face another bout of heavy rains and flooding in many parts of the country. The floods come after a long period of drought that has left many starving to death. Uganda has faced several similar severe conditions in the past 10 years... Tanzania sees climate change as hindrance to attainment of MDGs Crienglish.com, 27 August 2009 Dar es Salaam: Climate change is poised to undermine national efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as putting poverty reduction efforts in jeopardy, a Tanzanian official has noted... Eskom's solar heater plan slowly gains momentum Business Report, 27 August 2009 Johannesburg: Eskom subsidised 1 520 solar water heaters in the first half of this year - nearly double last year's rate but still far too few to meet a target of installing 925 000 solar geysers by 2013. “Installations are definitely slower than we would want,” Andrew Etzinger, Eskom's general manager of customer network business, said this week... Papers for the Pittsburgh Summit pose more questions than answers New York Times, 28 August 2009 New York: Wealthy nations intend to rely heavily on the carbon markets to help raise the billions of dollars that developing countries will need to fight climate change, draft G20 documents obtained by ClimateWire show. The three papers, written in advance of a meeting next month of world finance ministers in Pittsburgh, do not pledge a specific dollar amount or even estimate how much poorer nations will need... Index insurance and climate risk: prospects for development, disaster management Eldis, 28 August 2009 New York: The climate has always presented a challenge to those whose livelihoods depend on it. For poor people, a variable climate presents a risk that can critically restrict options and so limit development. This document looks at the risk assessment tools such as index insurance that can be used to help vulnerable people deal with climate change... Assessing the costs of adaptation to climate change: a critique of the UNFCCC estimates Imperial College, 28 August 2009 London: Scientists led by a former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have warned that the UN negotiations aimed at tackling climate change are based on substantial underestimates of what it will cost to adapt to its impacts... Adapting to climate change BusinessDay, 28 August 2009 Lagos: Striking the right balance between preventing global warming and adapting to its effects is one of the most important - and most vexing - policy questions of our age. It is also often ignored. According to the conventional wisdom of many environmental campaigners, we should first do everything we can to mitigate global warming, and only then focus on adaptation strategies... India and climate change talks Economic Times, 28 August 2009 New Delhi: I have been surprised by the number of reasonable Indians who have come to accept the proposition, advanced by equally reasonable but perhaps nationalistically-motivated Americans, that the acceptance of internationally-mandated restrictions on carbon emissions by India is in its own national interest... Kenya PM tells Mau settlers to ignore quit notice Daily Nation, 28 August 2009 Nairobi: Families living in the Mau forest got a reprieve on Wednesday after Prime Minister Raila Odinga asked them to ignore a ministerial directive that they move out. Mr Odinga's statement signalled a split in government over the procedure to be used to move the families out of the forest... Kenya: Farmers “need help to reap rewards of El-Niño rains” Irin, 28 August 2009 Nairobi: Following below average harvests in 2007 and 2008, Kenya's grain farmers need seed and fertilizer support to enable them to make use of El Niño rains, expected between October and December 2009, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says... Africa Partnership Forum climate change meeting African Press Organisation, 28 August 2009 Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Meles Zenawi, will on September 3 chair a high-level session of the Africa Partnership Forum (APF) which will discuss the immediate concerns and expectations of Africa on climate change, especially as they relate to mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance... |
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Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
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