| A service (1-18 December 2009) alerting readers to key policy documents and perspectives, with a special emphasis on agriculture and climate change, brought to you by Mr Sindiso Ngwenya, Secretary General, COMESA and Chairman of FANRPAN Board of Governors |
| Alert: COP15 - 8 December 2009 |
| Share | Subscribe | Unsubscribe |
|
|
Africa seeking $40 bln/yr in climate aid Forexyard Tunis: Rich nations at the Copenhagen climate summit should commit $40 billion a year in new money to help Africa tackle the consequences of global warming, the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) said on Monday. Donald Kaberuka said he wanted to see a “willingess by rich countries to dig into their pockets to enable low-income countries to adapt to climate change... Ensuring southern Africa is not roasted in Copenhagen Business Day Johannesburg: This week's Copenhagen summit on climate change is unlikely to deliver much beyond a broad framework agreement, leaving many details to be worked out in the build-up to the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. One reason for this is that trade and competitiveness concerns are now moving to centre stage, raising troubling issues that cannot be fudged... SA's bold climate pledge rules out third new coal-fired plant Business Report Johannesburg: South Africa's bold opening move at global climate change talks in Copenhagen, which kicked off yesterday, effectively rules out building a third coal-fired electricity plant. President Jacob Zuma's office, announcing he would travel to the Danish capital for the final days of negotiations next week, said at the weekend South Africa would cut greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 by 34 percent compared with a business-as-usual scenario, and in 2025 by 42 percent... SA's hidden carbon headache The Times Johannesburg: South Africa this week joins a chorus in Copenhagen demanding that industrialised nations act to curb climate change, but back home it is dragging its feet on cutting carbon emissions. President Jacob Zuma is heading the South African delegation to the UN climate talks, firmly in the camp of developing nations that want the developed world - particularly the US - to commit to binding greenhouse gas cuts... Kenya sets up climate response strategy Capital News Nairobi: Prime Minister Raila Odinga has launched the National Climate Change Response Strategy which outlines the evidence and impact of climate change in Kenya particularly on key socio-economic sectors and physical infrastructure. The PM said that the government was seriously addressing the issue of climate change especially after a new report revealed that the country can expect to loose up to 3 percent GDP per year by 2030 if remedial measures are not urgently taken... Tanzania: No need for climate justice diplomacy Tanzania Daily News Dar Es Salaam: The United Nations' Climate Change Conference began in Copenhagen Denmark yesterday, and Africa has promised to speak as one voice during the meeting. Locally there are some enforcements going on, to enable a country like Tanzania to get equal treatment in all issues related to climate change... Pachauri attacks the ‘climategate’ affair Rediff Copenhagen: The largest ever UN climate summit opened in Copenhagen on Monday with the head of the UN's Nobel winning panel of environmental scientists accusing vested quarters of not being ready to face the reality of threats of wide-ranging nature of changes in climate. Attacking the so-called ‘climategate’ affair as a bid to undermine the capability of his organisation, Rajendra Pachauri said at the opening ceremony that those who had hacked into the e-mails of top climate scientists were out to discredit the scientific assessment made of threats to the climate... Mike Hulme: The science and politics of climate change The Wall Street Journal I am a climate scientist who worked in the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in the 1990s. I have been reflecting on the bigger lessons to be learned from the stolen emails, some of which were mine. One thing the episode has made clear is that it has become difficult to disentangle political arguments about climate policies from scientific arguments about the evidence for man-made climate change and the confidence placed in predictions of future change... Copenhagen: The science is settled; the policy and politics aren't The Atlantic The timing isn't coincidental: as the Copenhagen climate talks begin, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to issue a formal “endangerment” finding for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In doing so, the agency is giving the administration what amounts to a cattle prod. Having “found” that CO2 is a “public danger,” and having taken the requisite administrative steps, the executive branch now believes it has the power to unilaterally impose carbon and greenhouse gas emissions caps on industry in the United States... Stern: Business must champion low-carbon growth Financial Times London: Today [Monday] brings the beginning of the most important international gathering since the second world war. Recent progress now means that if we are wise and collaborate at the 15th session of the conference of the parties to the United Nations framework convention on climate change, an effective and equitable agreement is within reach... Is business “getting it”?, asks ACCA and GRI PRLog The business response to climate change is described as “timid” and “sleepy” by two of six expert commentators interviewed for a new report from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative). The report, called “Getting It: Expert Perspectives on the Corporate Response to Climate Change”, interviewed six business and sustainability experts about the climate change and business debate... The link between undernutrition and climate change Irin Copenhagen: Seven children die of hunger every minute because they do not have access to treatment, but the impact of climate change on the drivers of undernutrition - food insecurity, health threats and water stress - could push up this number, the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) said at the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen (COP15)... GAIN: Food for thought at Copenhagen The Hindu Madras: As world leaders in Copenhagen struggle for an ambitious deal, let us not forget that it is the future of our children that is at stake. Hurricanes, floods, heat-waves and droughts wreak havoc when they strike, but in the desolation they leave behind it's relatively easy to reconstruct a road or a house... Not much money to help many poor adapt Irin Johannesburg: Money to help the world's 49 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) - the poorest and most vulnerable - cope with the impact of climate change will be in the spotlight when the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen (COP15) kicks off Monday. The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) was set up in 2001 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to help them address their “urgent and immediate” adaptation needs... John Reid on climate change and global security Reuters London: Barack Obama's announcement that there will be no all-encompassing protocol agreed at Copenhagen underlines that climate change is perhaps the most complex issue facing the world today. In part, this is because it involves long-term thinking and modeling which our existing political, financial and economic institutions and governance frameworks are ill-designed and configured to grapple with and resolve... |
|
Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)
Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
PDF version, click here.  FANRPAN appreciates any comments you might have on this digest: feedback@africaclimatesolution.org To subscribe: subscribe@africaclimatesolution.org |
|
|
|
ACCID website: www.africaclimatesolution.org |