A climate for change in Africa

A climate for change in Africa
by Calestous Juma from Climate Change Blog

Sub-Saharan African countries are bracing for dramatic impacts of climate change. As Andrew Simms of the UK-based New Economics Foundation has aptly put it, they are “caught between the devil of drought and the deep blue sea of floods.”

Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions have been minimal because of its low levels of industrial output. Yet African countries are likely to suffer disproportionately from global warming. They are therefore right to demand that international climate negotiations be based on principles of historical justice.

But behind this seemingly dismal outlook lies a unique opportunity for Africa to lead the way in adopting low-carbon growth strategies. The region is not too heavily committed to the same damaging industries that its industrial counterparts are having difficulties abandoning. African countries therefore need to complete their demand for historical justice with the design of climate-smart policies.

They can build climate-smart economies that take advantage of the vast amounts scientific and technological knowledge that is currently available. It is estimated that growth in such knowledge is doubling every 14 months.

Building climate-smart economies will involve taking deliberate steps in at least four key areas: infrastructure; technical education; business development; and international diplomacy.
Climate-smart infrastructure is essential for adapting to climate change. Take energy, for example. Eastern Africa can generate over 2,500 MW of electricity from geothermal energy using existing technologies, compared to the current world output of 8,100 MW.
Similar adjustments will need to be made in agriculture. Conventional crops will need to be complemented by switching to more resilient food sources such as tree crops. Breadfruit (Artocarpus alitis) which has for centuries been a staple in isolated Pacific islands is a prime candidate for adoption in diverse African regions.

Creating climate-smart infrastructure will require greater investment in higher technical training. Countries can build on current efforts to create telecommunications universities under line ministries, as has been done in Egypt, Ghana and Kenya. Ministries dealing with issues such as agriculture, environment, water, energy and transportation could play key roles in training local experts in the design of climate-smart infrastructure.

http://beta.worldbank.org/climatechange/node/4807

A bad climate for development

Poor countries’ economic development will contribute to climate change. But they are already its greatest victims

IN LATE April Mostafa Rokonuzzaman, a farmer in south-western Bangladesh, gave an impassioned speech at a public meeting in his village, complaining that climate change, freakish hot spells and failed rains were ruining his vegetables. He didn’t know the half of it. A month later Mr Rokonuzzaman was chest-deep in a flood that had swept away his house, farm and even the village where the meeting took place. Cyclone Aila (its effects pictured above) which caused the storm surge that breached the village’s flood barriers, was itself a plausible example of how climate change is wreaking devastation in poor countries.

Most people in the West know that the poor world contributes to climate change, though the scale of its contribution still comes as a surprise. Poor and middle-income countries already account for just over half of total carbon emissions (see chart 1); Brazil produces more CO2 per head than Germany. The lifetime emissions from these countries’ planned power stations would match the world’s entire industrial pollution since 1850.

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14447171

Climate change spurs African concern over human rights
Global warming has reached a level that requires new legal instruments to protect refugees, according to the organization of West African States.
Morten Andersen 17/09/2009 20:40

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sees a need for ”drafting a new legal instrument aimed at protecting people displaced by the effects of climate change and who are now outside their country of origin,” according to a declaration from an ECOWAS conference held in the Togolese capital Lome.

The declaration further calls for the ”establishment of a special fund on the impact of climate change on the affected populations” and for the concern by the Western African states over human rights issues in relation to climate change to be included ”in the formulation of a common African position during the Copenhagen talks.”
A joint position of the West African nations on the overall issues for the UN conference in the Danish capital this December will be discussed during a conference of the African Union in Addis Ababa by late October.

http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2120