Fisherman in Kribi, Cameroon, say this is the last stretch of beach with enough space for them to anchor their canoes. Credit- Monde Kingsley Nfor/IPS.jpg

By Monde Kingsley Nfor
KRIBI, Cameroon, Jul 24 2014 (IPS)

Pierre Zambo is a hotel manager in Kribi, a sea resort town in Cameroon’s South Region. In the past his hotel would have “more than 100 tourists each week. But today if I manage to have 50 people registered into my hotel weekly, then it’s good business.”

Located in the gulf of Guinea, Kribi is a town with an estimated population of about 50,000 whose livelihoods depend on farming, fishing and tourism.

However, rising sea levels and increased tides have eroded most of the once-sandy beach along Kribi. Now beaches are reduced to narrow muddy paths. And local hotels, bars and restaurants are feeling the impact of this erosion directly in their pockets as tourists reduce in numbers.

“Tourists come and are less interested in our beaches and prefer spending time in the forest attractions,” Zambo tells IPS.

Emmanuel Founga, a botanist, owns a hotel on Kribi’s coast."I have to make sand bags every August to October when the sea is very high to avoid further erosion of land and the danger of my walls collapsing." -- Pierre Zambo, Kribi hotel manager

“The Kribi coastline has eroded from about 50 to 100 metres since 1990. It is evident from the trees that are uprooted by waves today but were found inland some years ago,” Founga tells IPS.

He says the local population is losing an important source of livelihood as the number of tourists reduce, local restaurants and bars are beginning to close down.

“High degradation of the coast has a big implication on tourism in this region; sea level rise has caused not only erosion but has polluted the coast. Much waste from the Atlantic Ocean is swept by the sea to these beaches. The waves in return cause erosion of the banks, leaving the beaches muddy and filthy,” Founga explains.

“Climate change is having a devastating impact in Cameroon and the coast of Kribi is a perfect example of the problem of rising sea levels and the enormous impact on safety and livelihood of the population,” Tomothé Kagombet, the focal point person for the Kyoto Protocol at the Ministry of Environment Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, tells IPS.

Climate change is not only a coastal problem but has had widespread impact on this Central African nation. Across the country there are reports of limited and erratic rainfall, pests and plant diseases, erosion, high temperatures, droughts and floods.

Cameroon’s economy relies heavily on climate-sensitive sectors, mainly agriculture, energy and forestry — with 70 percent of the population depending directly on agriculture.

While Cameroon’s Ministry of Tourism is currently channeling funds from a United Nations World Tourism Organisation project called ST-EP or Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty to climate change projects along the coast, it is not enough.

Through ST-EP, various projects are being implemented in Kribi beach and its forests and along other coastal areas such as Douala and Limbe to help people adapt to the changing climate and develop their sites for tourism.

“Due the problem of a degrading coast, we are encouraging locals to also develop other touristic sites such as the forest with Baka pigmies and their rich culture, which recently has been a huge attraction. We have given funding for them to restore and  manage beaches from Kribi to Limbe and other sites,” Muhamadu Kombi, director of tourist sites in the Ministry of Tourism, tells IPS.

However, this is but one project. The concrete implementation of nationwide climate change adaptation strategies are lagging due to the absence of funding.

The National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (PENACC) provides strategies and actions to mitigate the effect of climate change, but Kagombet points out that Cameroon does not benefit from any funding from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) negotiations.

“But one of the main problems facing Cameroon and other developing nations is the problems of implementation. We depend on funding from developed nations to better implement this elaborated adaptation plan of action.

“In this document [PENACC], Cameroon’s vulnerability is considered by sector and adaptation actions are formulated following these specificities. With the coastal ecosystem, for example, there is a need for both mechanical [building of dikes] and biological [planting of mangrove trees] means of adaptation,” Kagombet says.

An aspect of Cameroon’s planned action is the introduction of climate change as a subject in schools, with proposed syllabuses already available. The plan of action also prioritises actions in the industrial sector, waste management and transport sectors.

“It is a package with every requirement; capacity, technology and other resources needed to adapt and mitigate climate change effects,” Kagombet says.

While Cameroon plans to implement and carry out Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) projects, operational dawdling could hinge on the country’s commitments to mitigate climate change.

Meanwhile, those who have not benefited from adaptation projects in Kribi find that not only their livelihoods are threatened, but that they are constantly paying out of their own pockets to adapt to a changing climate.

“These high tides has brought many problems. I have to make sand bags every August to October when the sea is very high to avoid further erosion of land and the danger of my walls collapsing,” Zambo says.

By Miriam Gathigah
MEXICO CITY, Jun 9 2014 (IPS)

Africa’s climate change legislative frameworks, though a step in the right direction, have come under fire for not being ambitious enough to meet the challenge of a changing climate.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an emerging global actor in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), has been criticised because its REDD+ projects are not supported by a legally binding framework, leaving forest communities in a legal void and vulnerable to economic exploitation.

But Jean-Claude Atningamu, a legislator in the DRC, admitted that while his country may have strategies and policies in place, a law on REDD+ is yet to be developed.

“We have just begun these processes and we are grappling with many challenges,” he told IPS.

He said that although indigenous communities were not benefiting from climate change financing, it was not because of a lack of political goodwill to do so.

“We do not have the full support from the international community who are not providing the funding necessary to help the people of the DRC meet the economic challenges that they are facing,” he said at the conclusion of the Global Legislators Organisation (GLOBE International) summit that was held in Mexico from Jun. 6 to 8.

He said that while the DRC has the second-largest forest cover in the world “we are yet to receive REDD+ financing.”

“We are expecting to receive the first 60 million dollars from REDD+. With our expansive forest cover we should be receiving at least one billion dollars in a year.

“We need to have mechanisms set up by parliament to help African countries to access REDD+ financing. Without access to this fund, we cannot implement the policies that we are discussing at this GLOBE Summit,” Atningamu added.

He pointed out that in Africa the forest was the wealth of the people, “we need it to feed our people, to get heat, to cook. You cannot tell your wife to stop using firewood and not provide an alternative source of energy.”

But a lack of access to climate financing is not the only issue of concern for the African block of legislators.

The resolutions agreed upon at the summit also raised concerns. These include an agreement to deliver robust legislation in support of sustainable development, particularly climate change, natural capital and forest/REDD as well as strengthening legislators´ capacity to effectively exercise their oversight responsibilities, especially over the executive.

Simon Asimah, chair of the African block at the summit and also GLOBE International vice-president for Africa, said that the resolutions were not comprehensive enough to meet the legislative gaps that Africa is facing.

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The Ghanaian legislator said that “a few clauses will be added to the final resolution to ensure that the African region the position of Africa in climate security is fully represented.”

These recommendations were accepted and clauses include the suggestion that all countries in Africa should have GLOBE chapters in their respective national legislatures and establish an African regional secretariat at GLOBE International to be founded in one of the countries of Africa. There are currently only  four globe international chapters in Africa – in Ghana, Nigeria, the DRC and South Africa,

This is key for coordination purposes, as well as to enhance the sharing of best practices on climate change mitigation and adaptation across Africa, according to the legislators.

Although the summit resolutions encouraged the development of legislation on natural capital, Asimah said that the African block had pushed to have “all countries, particularly those in Africa, to legislate on effective climate change laws, and in these laws, recognise and incorporate natural capital accounting concepts in accounting for their natural resources as part of their total national capital.”

Joyce Laboso, Kenya’s deputy speaker in the national assembly, also raised concerns over changing global perspectives and the impact they were having on Africa.

Laboso told IPS that fossil fuel is increasingly being discouraged at a time when many African countries such as Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Angola are discovering oil “and now we are being told that we are now moving into renewable energy that is going to be subsidised. How are we then going to achieve sustainable development if Africa cannot rely on its natural wealth?”

The Ghanaian delegation emphasised that developed nations such as the United States and emerging economies like China and Mexico were emitting the most carbon yet Africa was not expected to exploit its forests and become industrialised in the same way Brazil had.

Asimah said that Africa was also not being compensated enough or in some cases not at all for its efforts to keep people from exploiting the forests. “Africa must find a way to develop. But this is not a blame game, climate change is a global problem and it requires global solutions,” he said.

But Jacob F. Mudenda, speaker of Zimbabwe’s national assembly said: “Industrialised countries must submit themselves to climate change conventions, without which there will not be any global synergies.”

The African legislators from countries including, Nigeria, Cape Verde Islands, Sudan and Uganda, said that they were considering making significant financial demands on multinationals that were exploiting Africa’s natural wealth without impacting significantly on their GDP.

In Zimbabwe, Mudenda said that environment laws have now been anchored in the constitution as human rights “anyone who feels that they are being exploited can file a case at the constitutional courts.”

Mudenda further said that besides Zimbabwe, other countries like Botswana are learning from Norway and imposing revenue clauses on multinationals investing in their countries that they must improve the wealth of these African countries through a 51 to 49 percent benefit sharing ratio where the host takes the majority.

In spite of the concerns raised, African legislators have said that the summit was a step in the right direction, particularly as they continued to forge global partnerships on natural resources now that various global processes and goals were coming to an end, especially the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and new ones were beginning to take shape.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has the world’s second-largest tropical forest landscape. Here, slash and burn agriculture and charcoal are the main causes of greenhouse gases emissions. Credit: Taylor Toeka Kakala/IPS

By Miriam Gathigah
MEXICO CITY, Jun 8 2014 (IPS)

Developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are increasingly leading the way in providing a legal framework for climate security and are being hailed for their continued advancement in formulating climate change laws and policies.

China is not only an important emerging economic actor, but a key actor in any climate change scenario. China’s five-year national plan on climate change is also one of the best in the world, according to climate change legislators at the ongoing  Global Legislators Organisation (GLOBE International) summit being held in Mexico from Jun. 6 to 8.

GLOBE International is an organisation comprising of national parliamentarians from over 80 countries worldwide. An estimated 290 legislators from about 70 countries are present at the summit, including speakers of parliament and presidents. They are expected to develop a new generation of international climate agreements and ensure that climate is placed at the heart of national laws.

The summit has castigated a number of developed countries, particularly Australia and Canada, for their refusal to engage in climate change talks as well as implementing international agreements that can enhance climate security, even as poorer nations such as Bangladesh continue to make significant investments in climate security.

GLOBE International’s director of policy and deputy secretary general Terry Townshend says that there have been a rapid advancement in climate change laws globally. Credit: Miriam Gathigah/IPS

In an interview with IPS, GLOBE International’s director of policy and deputy secretary general Terry Townshend says that there has been a rapid advancement in climate change laws globally. Excerpts follow:

Q: Has there been much progress with regards to climate change legislation?

A: GLOBE’s study that involved 66 developed and developing nations has revealed that in recent years, climate change legislations in these nations have risen from 47 laws to 487.

Most of this progress is in developing countries. By tackling climate change these countries are making their jobs easier in terms of addressing other challenges such as poverty.

Although emissions are not very high in African countries and they are not forcing the problem of climate change, they are feeling the impact. When we talk about climate change legislation, it is just as important to talk about adaptation and reducing disasters through mitigation. It is in every country’s best interest to understand what the impacts are likely to be and work towards reducing the risks.

Q: What gaps has GLOBE identified in these legislations particularly in Africa and Asia?

A: While there has been a huge increase in the number of laws on climate change, collectively all of these actions though impressive will not effectively address climate security. Emissions are still rising.

Most of the laws are not ambitious enough. A country can have a law that gives the framework, but just as important if not more important, is the ambition of that law. For instance, if a law says that we need to reduce emissions by five percent while we need to reduce by say 50 percent, then we say that the law is not ambitious enough.

Q: How can GLOBE influence this ambition because to some extent it is a reflection of an understanding that the country has on climate change?

A: GLOBE provides best practices from other countries with similar economic structure. The GLOBE groups that we have in Africa particularly in South Africa, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo are very keen to learn from what other countries have done. Other countries such as Ghana are making tremendous headway in climate-related laws.

Q: What is the scope and grasp of GLOBE in different regions and what is the attraction?

A: GLOBE has expanded rapidly and its geographic representation is broad and well spread. It has many members in Latin America in particular, good representation in Africa, Asia and Europe. We now have more representation in developing than developed countries. This is important because it is not GLOBE selecting people to work with, but working with people elected or chosen by their own people to represent their interests in parliament.

GLOBE offers support to legislators in the form that they need it. Many of them in developing countries do not necessarily have the capacity whether it is in research or support from their parliaments to do the necessary national analysis they need to inform development of legislation.

Q: How does GLOBE ensure that political changes do not interfere with ongoing processes? What happens when a member of GLOBE is not re-elected to parliament?

A: We are very strict about membership at the GLOBE chapters in individual countries. They should represent the political make up of that parliament. It should include government members and not just opposition members. This is crucial, if the government changes and if there was support from the party that was in opposition that is now in government then policies and laws that were made when they were in opposition are more likely to be supported.

Q:  How does this legislative organisation interact with organised Civil Society Organisations and local governments?

A: It is up to the national chapters to decide how they interact with the local groups. If they are developing a law, for example, it is up to them to decide who they would like to involve, or invite into discussions.

It is very much nationally led, GLOBE does not say to country chapters that you must do it this way or that way.

When we respond to legislators demand in a specific country for assistance we provide the assistance however we can. Sometimes it might be that we need to work with this non-governmental organisation or this think tank to develop our law, this is one way we can step in.

For example, in Mexico the GLOBE group wanted to work with Mexican civil society organisations and think tanks to help shape the law. So they held consultation workshops to make sure they use their expertise that is within the civil society community to inform the development of the law. While this is a very good way to do it, we can only share best practices but each country must decide how they want to move forward.

Q: Do GLOBE members have a good grasp of their respective parliaments? How is GLOBE able to determine that the legislators are influencing their respective parliaments?

A: We are always very keen to hear from GLOBE members on what they do with the information that they receive. The agreement that we will establish here will have some commitments for the legislators and we will be keen to hear what they have done with it once they get back to their parliaments.

We invite legislators to tell us what they are doing with that agreement, so we do not just convene and sign papers, we actively encourage them to deliver on the commitments.

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