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. "Given that most of the farmers, both in high potential and agriculturally marginal ecosystems, lost most of what they invested in the short rains of 2008 and long rains of 2009, there is an urgent need to support them with inputs such as seed and fertilizer, to enable them to utilize the anticipated El Niño rains … [to enhance] their household food security and contribute towards bridging of the deficit in the national grain and other food budget," FAO said on 27 August... Read more...
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... Read more...
Assessing the costs of adaptation to climate change: a critique of the UNFCCC estimates
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. The real costs of adaptation are likely to be 2-3 times greater than estimates made by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), say Professor Martin Parry and colleagues in a new reviewed study published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London... Read more...
Japan, Brazil to transform Mozambique savannah into farmland
Tokyo: Japan has agreed on a landmark joint venture with Brazil -- home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. The project is purported to bring about 'change' in Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony in southeastern Africa by transforming the savannah into arable farmland and help Mozambique attain food security... Read more...
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... Read more...
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... Read more...
Index insurance and climate risk: prospects for development and disaster management
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... Read more...
Kenya PM tells Mau settlers to ignore quit notice
28 August 2009, source: Daily Nation URL: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/645610/-/view/printVersion/-/8dmwioz/-/index.html
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, coming only a day after his cabinet colleague Dr Noah Wekesa had given those living in the forest only nine days to relocate or face unspecified action... Read more...
Climate change threat to development, says minister
28 August 2009, source: Nation Online URL: http://www.nationmw.net/newsdetail.asp?article_id=3457
Blantyre: Malawi has experienced climatic hazards in the last few decades which have affected food and water security, water quality, energy and the sustainable livelihoods of rural communities, the government has said.
Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Environment Grain Malunga said government recognises that the loss of human, nature, financial, social and physical capital caused by climate change is a threat to achieving sustainable development... Read more...
Papers for the Pittsburgh Summit pose more questions than answers
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... Read more...
Tanzania sees climate change as hindrance to attainment of Mdgs
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, Tanzanian official has noted.
During the launch of the "Reduced Emissions for Deforestation and forest Degradation" held here, Batilda Buriani, minister of state in the Vice President's Office (Environment) noted that the Tanzanian economy is highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change and to extreme weather events which were already vivid... Read more...
Eskom's solar heater plan slowly gains momentum
27 August 2009, source: Business Report URL: http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5138732
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... Read more...
We are responsible for climate upheavals
27 August 2009, source: The New Vision URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200908260300.html
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... Read more...
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... Read more...
"Water recklessness worsening drought"
27 August 2009, source: Inter Press Service URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48217
New Delhi: India’s current dry spell, brought on by an errant annual monsoon, is rapidly turning into a full-fledged drought as a result of reckless exploitation of groundwater resources for farming, experts say. According to information available from the agriculture ministry, 246 of India’s 626 districts have now been officially declared as facing a "drought-like" situation... Read more...
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