Climate Change

Africa’s Processing Industry Holds Promise for Broader Economic Growth

By Chakib Jenane
As a central pillar of African diets for thousands of years, millet has a prized position as one of the continent’s most important crops. And with the onset of climate change, millet offers valuable security to the continent’s smallholder farmers due to the crop’s tolerance for dry soils.

Putting Nature on a Quantifiable, Ambitious Path to Recovery

By Joyce Chimbi
Up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction – many within decades – this includes nearly one-third of reef-forming corals, shark relatives, and marine mammals. Half of agricultural expansion occurs at the expense of forests, and 85% of wetlands that were present at the beginning of the 18th century had been lost by the year 2000, with the loss of wetlands considered to be happening three times faster, in percentage terms, than forest loss.

Can Asia and the Pacific Get on Track to Net Zero?

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
The recent climate talks in Egypt have left us with a sobering reality: The window for maintaining global warming to 1.5 degrees is closing fast and what is on the table currently is insufficient to avert some of the worst potential effects of climate change. The Nationally Determined Contribution targets of Asian and Pacific countries will result in a 16 per cent increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from the 2010 levels.

Was COP27 a Success or a Failure?

By Felix Dodds and Chris Spence
It’s finally over. After the anticipation and build-up to COP27, the biggest climate meeting of the year is now in our rear-view mirror. The crowds of delegates that thronged the Sharm el-Sheikh international convention center for two long weeks have all headed home to recover. Many will be fatigued from long hours and sleepless nights as negotiators tried to seal a deal that would move the world forwards. Did all this hard work pay off? In our opinion, COP 27 was both better and worse than we’d hoped.

Pan-African Approach Needed to Tackle Food Insecurity Arising from Conflict and Climate Shocks

By Joyce Chimbi
Upheaval on the global stage, the war in Ukraine, conflict in the Horn of Africa, severe climatic shocks, high international inflation, increasing global commodity prices, high prices of agricultural inputs and low intra-continental trade are fuelling food insecurity across Africa.

Open Veins of Africa Bleeding Heavily

By Ndongo Samba Sylla and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The ongoing plunder of Africa’s natural resources drained by capital flight is holding it back yet again. More African nations face protracted recessions amid mounting debt distress, rubbing salt into deep wounds from the past. With much less foreign exchange, tax revenue, and policy space to face external shocks, many African governments believe they have little choice but to spend less, or borrow more in foreign currencies.

Loss and Damage Fund Saves COP27 from the Abyss

By Daniel Gutman
They were on the brink of shipwreck and did not leave happy, but did feel satisfied that they got the best they could. The countries of the global South achieved something decisive at COP27: the creation of a special fund to address the damage and loss caused by climate change in the most vulnerable nations.

COP27: Historic Loss and Damage Fund Takes COP27 to the Edge

By Aimable Twahirwa
After a tense impasse and many hours of negotiations, almost 200 countries struck a deal to set up a loss and damage fund to assist nations worst hit by climate change – a demand considered not-negotiable by the developing countries.

COP27: The Pacific Region is Under Threat: We Must Act Now to Mobilise Climate Finance

By Labanya Prakash Jena
The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) – 14 small island developing nations in the Pacific Ocean - comprise one of the most exposed and vulnerable regions to climate change and natural calamities. The region did not cause this climate crisis; the crisis stemmed from heavy carbon emissions by developed countries. Yet paradoxically, the countries in the region are also the least resourced to adapt to climate change.

Food Systems Crucial for Pacific Islands at COP27

By Busani Bafana
Food is everything to the culture and identity of the Pacific island countries. Climate change impacts of rising sea levels and higher temperatures threaten islanders’ food security, which is largely dependent on fisheries and subsistence agriculture. Almost 70 percent of islanders rely on agriculture for their livelihood.

Act on Loss and Damage Finance Now, UN Sec Gen Tells COP27 Negotiators

By IPS Correspondent
UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the negotiators at COP27 that time for talking about loss, and damage finance is over.

COP27: Africa’s Agri-food Systems Losses Ignored in Global Climate Negotiations

By Aimable Twahirwa
At a time when sustainable farming approaches such as agroecology have been removed from the text at ongoing global climate negotiation (COP27) taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, activists are urging African governments to explore new steps to integrate agriculture into the UN climate agreement.

Don’t Be Fooled: Climate Disasters Are Highly Lucrative

By Baher Kamal
As much as wars --or even more--, climate disaster represents a great business opportunity, so don't bother those who pour their fortunes into fueling them with talks about stopping it.

COP27: Climate Change’s Dire Consequences in the World’s Most Water-Scarce Region

By Hisham Allam
The Middle East and North Africa are the world’s most water-scarce regions – with 11 of the 17 water-stressed countries on the globe. According to UNICEF, nine out of 10 children live in areas with high or very high-water stress, resulting in significant consequences for their health, cognitive development, and future livelihoods.

Will the Global Energy Crisis Accelerate the Energy Transition? The Big Question at COP27

By Daniel Gutman
COP27 is unlikely to produce new commitments to reduce emissions of climate-changing gases, but the global energy crisis will eventually prompt more action by countries to move away from fossil fuels. That is the positive feeling that many observers are taking away from the annual climate summit being held in Egypt.

Rising sea levels force Tuvalu to move to the Metaverse: COP27 speech

What happens to a country without land? As rising sea levels threaten to submerge our home, we have made a radical plan for the survival of our nation. Watch Tuvaluan Minister Simon Kofe’s address at COP27 and visit https://www.tuvalu.tv to find out how you can help.

COP27: Show Me the Money–Supported by Policy

By Peter Schlosser and Michael Dorsey
Climate change is an existential threat to humans and our ability to thrive on a healthy planet. But when it comes to rising temperatures, the inability of humankind to slow emissions and limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius isn’t because we lack knowledge or need new technologies.

COP27: Climate Change Exacerbates Vicious Loop of Human Rights Inequity

By Busani Bafana
Climate change is worsening injustice globally, and the poor and vulnerable communities are the most affected. It is time the world acted on fulfilling human rights and building a liveable planet, says Yamide Dagnet, director for Climate Justice at Open Society Foundations.

Launch of EBRD Climate Adaptation Action Plan at COP27

By Vanora Bennett
As it moves to increase its climate adaptation finance, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has launched the EBRD Climate Adaptation Action Plan (CAAP) at COP27, the global climate summit taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Leaders Told To Put ‘Kids First’ at COP27

By Paul Virgo
Lea is a three-year-old from Mexico who loves ladybirds. Siddhiksha, a six-year-old from India, has a passion for trees and wild animals. Rachelle is a 12-year-old Tanzanian who is wise beyond her years. They are smart and adorable and they are among the stars of a short film that is aiming to remind the leaders taking part in the COP27 UN Climate Conference that they have a duty of care towards young and future generations.

Climate Change is No ‘Future Scenario’ for Pacific Island Nations; Climate Change is ‘Real’

By Busani Bafana
Pacific island countries are highly vulnerable to climate change, and several have disappeared – and more could sink under the sea owing to a rise in water levels.
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