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Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
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| Week ending 6 November 2009 |
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Mandela leads Global Elders coalition to halt climate change ThisDay, 2 November 2009 Lagos: As the world prepares for the historic climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, The Elders, a group of eminent global leaders brought together by former South African president, Nelson Mandela, have told world leaders that nothing short of a decisive, ambitious, binding and effective deal would be expected from the meeting... Deal or no deal, Africa must march on with home-grown strategies Public Agenda, 2 November 2009 Accra: If views expressed at a recent high-level dialogue on climate change in Accra were anything to go by, then Africa, and for that matter Ghana, should not place its fate in the crucial UN Summit on Climate Change. One thing that came out clearly was that Africa should not see the summit as a one-stop shop for solutions to what has become the biggest headache of the world today - climate change... Investment in ecosystems key to adaptation Inter Press Service, 2 November 2009 Buenos Aires: Investing in the sustainable management of ecosystems and curbing environmental degradation greatly improves the capacity of nations to adapt to climate change, according to a study carried out in 16 countries by two environmental organisations... UN project seeks to protect West African coastline from erosion UN News Centre, 2 November 2009 New York: In West Africa, the coast is more than just a simple marker between land and sea. It's also the home of millions - as much as 80 per cent of the populations of many countries live nearby - and a vital source of livelihoods and income thanks to the critical industries of fishing and tourism... South Africa: Previous research under-estimated effects of sea level rise West Cape News, 3 November 2009 Cape Town: Research conducted by the cities of Cape Town and Durban indicates that the consequences of rising sea levels are far greater and far-reaching than was previously believed, and predicts huge knock-on effects and cost... More carbon capture needed ScienceAlert, 3 November 2009 The Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute has released a report which shows that there is growing action being taken to achieve the G8 objective of deploying at least 20 commercial scale CCS projects globally by 2020... Scientists seek ‘Plan B’ for fighting climate change New York Times, 3 November 2009 Cambridge, Mass.: Some geo-engineering schemes to fight climate change would probably succeed in cooling the planet, scientists said here Friday -- but whether we should ever deploy them is still an open question. Researchers who gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology outlined a stark list of potential side effects of different climate engineering approaches, including further depleting the ozone layer, inducing drought and turning the blue sky white... Kenya Economic Report 2009: Environment, natural resources and climate change KIPPRA, 3 November 2009 The recently published Kenya Economic Report 2009 includes a chapter dealing with environmental, natural resources and climate change issues: Kenya is currently facing a myriad of environmental challenges. These challenges mainly include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity and degraded water quality, poaching, and domestic and industrial pollution... Prosperity without growth?: the transition to a sustainable economy Sustainable Development Commission (UK), 3 November 2009 The Sustainable Development Commission in the UK has just published an analysis of the imperatives and challenges of sustainable development. Foreward: Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth. For the last five decades the pursuit of growth has been the single most important policy goal across the world... Rethinking jobs for a sustainable economy Inter Press Service, 3 November 2009 Atlanta: The possibility of environmental catastrophe has led many leaders, scholars and average citizens to reconsider an economy based on constant growth. It is becoming clear that people, especially in the United States, will need to consume less in the way of natural resources to avoid planetary peril... Coping with climate change: which societies will do best? Yale Environment 360, 3 November 2009 As the world warms, how different societies fare in dealing with rising seas and changing weather patterns will have as much to do with political, social, and economic factors as with a changing climate... Pascal Lamy: Simon Reisman lecture Daily Exchange, 4 November 2009 Ottawa: In 2007, I attended the Trade Ministers' meeting in Bali on the relationship between trade and climate change. In Bali, I sent a simple message: climate first, and trade second. And that message still stands today. It was, and continues to be, a message that is designed to uphold the Copenhagen Climate Summit at the end of this year... China pushes CO2 capture, storage questions loom Reuters, 4 November 2009 Beijing: China is pushing to complete its first commercial-scale power plant that can capture and store emissions, but must do more research on how and where to lock away carbon dioxide if the technology is to get wide roll-out... Reducing emissions growth in emerging economies could be cheap Green Inc/New York Times, 4 November 2009 New York: How much would it cost to stop increasing greenhouse gas emissions in Mexico? According to a new study from the World Bank, not very much. The bank estimates that Mexico could flatline its emissions growth, using a variety of measures, for about $64 billion over the next 20 years - or $3 billion annually... Nigeria: Greenhouse gas reduction a must in oil industry Daily Trust, 4 November 2009 Abuja: Environment is now a focal point when ever experts gather in the oil producing region like Nigeria. This is as a result of the green house gases that emanate from the gas flare and burning of hydrocarbons fuels that constitute great hazard to the whole world and increase the global warming... New Zealand: Climate change, trade and agriculture Voxy, 4 November 2009 I [Tim Groser, Minister of Trade and responsible for international climate change negotiations] want to talk to you about the future of New Zealand agriculture in ways that I suspect may at times be politically reassuring but may also challenge you in other ways... Many SA firms still unwilling to integrate environment into performance indicators Engineering News, 5 November 2009 ‘The 2009 Supply Chain Intelligence’ report has revealed that more than 40% of the companies surveyed in South Africa, were not implementing environmentally sustainable business strategies - thereby jeopardising their own long-term sustainability. These companies did not have, or had no plans to incorporate, metrics to measure their impact on the environment... Morocco develops solar energy on a national scale AFRIK.com, 5 November 2009 Ouarzazate: An ambitious solar power project, estimated at 9 billion dollars, was announced Monday by Benkhadra Amina, Moroccan Minister of Energy. President of the Moroccan-French energy and environment Association, Mohammed Garoum believes it “is a very welcome initiative”... Forests in the desert: the answer to climate change? The Guardian, 5 November 2009 London: Some talk of hoisting mirrors into space to reflect sunlight, while others want to cloud the high atmosphere with millions of tonnes of shiny sulphur dust. Now, scientists could have dreamed up the most ambitious geoengineering plan to deal with climate change yet: converting the parched Sahara desert to a lush forest... British Council launches Africa Talks Climate, Ghana research report Modern Ghana, 5 November 2009 Accra: “I will run away to the south to look for food”, “It looks as if God has changed his calendar” and “God is punishing us for our deeds”. These were some of the interesting opinions found in the Africa Talks Climate, Ghana research report... UN: Five “mega-trends” - including climate change - make contemporary displacement increasingly complex ReliefWeb, 5 November 2009 New York: Five “mega-trends” -- population growth, urbanization, climate change, migration and food, water and energy insecurity -- made contemporary forms of displacement increasingly complex, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said... Copenhagen is an opportunity for ethics to trump economics The Guardian, 5 November 2009 London: How should humanity share the cost of action on climate change? Without an answer to this question, the world will not secure a strong and binding deal on the climate at Copenhagen next month, and we will continue on a path towards an increasingly inhospitable world. As many key players have warned, there is a real chance of failure... A Special Envoy for US-China sustainable growth? UN Dispatch, 6 November 2009 Washington: At yesterday's House Committee on Foreign Affairs, UN Foundation head Sen. Tim Wirth proposed creating a new high-level position in the State Department “to manage US-China bilateral cooperation on a new model of sustainable growth based on increasing the use of clean energy”... Botswana: Climate change central to innovation hub strategy BOPA, 6 November 2009 Gaborone: Climate change and climate technologies are central to the Botswana Innovation Hub development strategy. An official at the hub, Dr Budzanani Tacheba, said resources need to be invested in developing initiatives focused on mitigating against climate change by greenhouse gas emissions at national level... African countries receive $1.1bln climate finance AFP, 6 November 2009 Barcelona: Six African countries will receive 1.1 billion dollars in grants or low-interest loans to help a switch to cleaner energy and cope with the impacts of climate change, the World Bank announced here on Thursday... Sonjica: Emissions to start dropping from 2035 Business Report, 6 November 2009 Johannesburg: South Africa's greenhouse gas emissions will continue rising over the next 16 years, and only start dropping from about 2035, Environment Minister Buyelwa Sonjica told MPs on Thursday. Opening a debate on climate change in the National Assembly, she said the country insisted on its “carbon space” so as not to jeopardise growth and development... The road to Copenhagen: climate change, energy and South Africa's foreign policy South African Institute of International Affairs, 6 November 2009 Johannesburg: In urging South Africa's active participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ian Rowlands noted that climate change negotiations not only offered post-apartheid South Africa a means to demonstrate the ‘shape and direction' of its foreign policy, but also provided an opportunity for the country to assume a leadership role in influencing the ‘shape and form’ of these international agreements... IASC report on climate change, food insecurity and hunger ZENIT, 6 November 2009 Vatican City: Caritas is sending a message to the United Nations, along with several humanitarian organizations, that “urgent action” is needed in order to prevent global hunger due to climate change. A statement titled “Climate Change, Food Insecurity and Hunger” was directed toward participants in an upcoming U.N. meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark... Climate insurance is in the cross hairs as negotiators prep for Copenhagen New York Times, 6 November 2009 New York: Advocates for nations vulnerable to climate change are accusing the United States of trying to “kill” a prominent global warming provision that would create a massive insurance program for countries that face rising destruction from natural disasters... Sergey Paltsev on the costs of climate-change legislation MIT News, 6 November 2009 Sergey Paltsev, a principal research scientist in MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, was the lead author of a recent report that analyzed the costs of climate legislation currently being debated in Congress. The analysis looked at the costs associated with the Waxman-Markey bill that was passed in June, and found the bill's cap-and-trade provisions would have an average annual cost per U.S. household of $400. The study did not provide a comparison of what costs would be for a “no policy” case - in other words, the costs that would result from unmitigated climate change, or from other sources such as air or water pollution that might be associated with unregulated burning of fossil fuels... |
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Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
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