SIRTE, Libya – Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Friday raised the possibility of a referendum across Africa on his dream of a “United States of Africa”, at the end of a regional summit.
“If we organise a referendum on African unity in a single state… we would win 100 percent,” Kadhafi said in a closing speech after the African Union summit, which he hosted in his hometown of Sirte.
“It’s an option that we could turn to if necessary,” he added.
Kadhafi praised the “success” of the summit that laid out a plan for transforming the existing AU Commission into an AU Authority that, if ratified by the 53 member states, would coordinate regional defence, trade and foreign policy.
“We have decided to create an Authority that will speak with a single voice in the name of Africa,” he said.
The Times – Kadhafi pushes ‘United States of Africa’.
A new report by World Watch supports the idea of soil organic carbon being viable tool for fighting Global Warming. Read on!
Farming and Land Use to Cool the Planet
Sara J. Scherr and Sajal Sthapit
For more than a decade, thousands of low-income farmers in northern Mindanao, the Philippines, who grow crops on steep, deforested slopes, have joined landcare groups to boost food production and incomes while reducing soil erosion, improving soil fertility, and protecting local watersheds. They left strips of natural vegetation to terrace their slopes, enriched their soils, and planted fruit and timber trees for income. And their communities began conserving the remaining forests in the area, home to a rich but threatened biodiversity. Yet these farmers achieved even more—their actions not only enriched their landscapes and enhanced food security, they also helped to “cool” the planet by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and storing carbon in soils and vegetation. If their actions could be repeated by millions of rural communities around the world, climate change would slow down.
via » Global Warming, Soil, Agriculture and Food Security | Africa Climate Debate.
Agricultural practices that improve land use and management, through increasing and maintaining soil carbon stocks can, if properly implemented, generate multiple benefits: climate change mitigation, increased agricultural and food production, pro-poor income generation, environmental services and improved resilience/adaptive capacity of farming systems. Alexander Mueller Assistant Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Using modeling global warming has been shown to contribute 37 percent drop in rainfall and set to increase.
According to Prof. Peter George Baines, his analysis revealed four regions where rainfall has been declining linked to climate change. The affected areas were the continental United States, southeastern Australia, a large region of equatorial Africa and the Altiplano in South America. This work was based on the examination of reanalysis and satellite-based rainfall data, coupled with dynamical interpretations.
Mexico is currently experiencing one of the worst water crisis ever. This great city was once a lake before being drained to make way for the metropolis. It is now on the verge of disaster.
Meanwhile, according to a report featured by the National Geographic, 22 African countries are experiencing their worst wet seasons in decades, and climate experts say that global warming is to blame.
Devastating rains and flash floods have affected 1.5 million people across the continent, killing at least 300 since early summer.
West Africa has seen its most severe floods in years, as torrents swamped the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital of Kinshasa last week, killing 30 people in less than 24 hours.
In northern Ghana, more than 300,000 people have been uprooted by devastating downpours.
In East Africa, meanwhile, hundreds of thousands have been displaced and scores killed in Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia (see map).
This map below from ClimateHotMap.org shows some areas which are impacted differently by the variability in local, regional and continental climate.
Pictures of World Water Crisis from Time.com
Dried Up Seabed
The Aral Sea has lost two-thirds of its volume because its source rivers were diverted for cotton irrigation during the Soviet era. Once the fourth-largest lake in the world, it is now a dusty graveyard of rusting shipwrecks.
Bonn, Germany
30 March 2009
IPACC delegates from Mali and Chad have come to Bonn to follow up on the UN’s climate negotations. Indigenous peoples from Africa are trying to make their voices heard in the difficult and cumbersome forum. IPACC’s main point is that adaptation is a major issue for Africa. Most of the discussions at the UNFCCC have been about mitigation, emissions and the role of carbon markets. While these talks drag on, Africans are experiencing increasingly extreme weather conditions, not only droughts, but heavy rainfalls, flooding and related problems of diseases, food insecurity, loss of livestock and homes.
The UN reached a serious deadlock in the Poznan Conference of Parties in December 2009. The Bonn meeting in March / April is an important chance to undo the deadlock and move forward to an agreement for the Copenhagen COP at the end of the year. At the heart of the deadlock is the resistance by countries of the South and China to the slow commitments by Western states to fund adaptation and mitigation, and help protect the most vulnerable countries from the effects of climate change.
IPACC is a partner organisation to SHALIN Finland.
The global economic, food and climate change crises have hit African women the hardest, according to a report from a delegation of African and United Nations female officials attending a conference on gender equality.
“When we look at the GDPs of all African countries, they are between five and seven per cent [in the recent past… but this present crisis is going to erode all those gains that have been made,” Isatou Njie Saidy, Vice-President of Gambia, told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York.
Africa is said to be one of the regions most vulnerable to the effects of climate change although it contributes minimally to the problem. The difficult social and economic situation of most Africans, especially women and children, worsens the situation, in Ghana for instance, women constitute about 51% of the population and about 30% of them are heads of households. . “They constitute 52% of the agricultural labour force, contribute 46% to the total GDP and produce 70% of subsistent crops. They play major roles in production and distribution” according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture.
A wide variety of literature is available on the importance of agriculture to economic development in Africa and on the critical role that rural women play within this sector. Increasing attention is also being given to the role of smallholder subsistence agriculture in ensuring the food security of the continent, as 73% of the rural population consists of smallholder farmers (IFAD, 1993:6). In Sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture accounts for approximately 21% of the continent’s GDP and women contribute 60-80% of the labour used to produce food both for household consumption and for sale (FAO).
Climate Change and its impact on women
At the household level, the ability to adapt to changes in the climate depends on control over land, money, credit and tools; low dependency ratios; good health and personal mobility; household entitlements and food security; secure housing in safe locations; and freedom from violence. As such, women are often less able to adapt to climate change than men since they represent the majority of low-income earners, they generally have less education than men and are thus less likely to be reached by extension agents and they are often denied rights to property and land, which makes it difficult for them to access credit and agricultural extension services. Click on this link to get the full report (IDS 2008).
Role of Women in Agriculture
Benin
70% of the female population live in rural areas, where they carry out 60-80% of the agricultural work and furnish up to 44% of the work necessary for household subsistence.
Burkina Faso
Women constitute 48% of the labourers in the agricultural sector.
Congo
Women account for 73% of those economically active in agriculture and produce more than 80% of the food crops.
Mauritania
Despite data gaps, it is estimated that women cover 45% of the needs in rural areas.
Morocco
Approximately 57% of the female population participates in agricultural activities, with greater involvement in animal (68%) as opposed to vegetable production (46%). Studies have indicated that the proportion of agricultural work carried out by men, women and children is 42%, 45% and 14% respectively.
Namibia
Data from the 1991 census reveals that women account for 59% of those engaged in skilled and subsistence agriculture work, a and that women continue to shoulder the primary responsibility for food production and preparation.
Sudan
In the traditional sector, women constitute 80% of the farmers. Women farmers represent approximately 49% of the farmers in the irrigated sector and 57% in the traditional sector. 30% of the food in the country is produced by women.
Tanzania
98% of the rural women defined as economically active are engaged in agriculture and produce a substantial share of the food crops for both household consumption and for export
Zimbabwe
Women constitute 61% of the farmers in the Communal areas and comprise at least 70% of the labour force in these areas.
African women bear brunt of global crises, warn delegates at UN conference.
Yaaku-Samburu activist Naini Meriwas addressed the final day of the IPACC conference on Climate Change in Marrakech.
Meriwas emphasised that indigenous women are at the front line of the impact of climate change in Africa, and yet have thus far been highly marginalised from policy making, consultations, and preparations for adaptation and mitigation.
Meriwas described the situation of indigenous peoples in the dry forests of Kenya and the arid northern pastoralist lands. As weather patterns become more extreme and temperatures climb, indigenous communities are hammered by new diseases, food insecurity, loss of biodiversity and essential natural resources, migration of men to the cities, and vulnerable children.
Indigenous peoples in Kenya have been greatly frustrated by high levels of corruption and the destruction of water sheds and forests by poor governance. to this day, forest based hunter-gatherer peoples are not recognised in the national census or governance. This includes the Yaaku of the Mukogodo, the Ogiek of the Mau Forest, the Sengwer of the Cheranganyi, the Chepkitale of the the Mt Elgon region, as well as the Aweer-Dahalo, northern Waata, southern Waata and Elmolo peoples.
IPACC delegates recognised that indigenous women need to be supported to be more directly involved in climate change negotiations. A starting point is that as land dries out, as livestock perish, and as people accelarate forest invasions, there will be more conflict, violence and human rights violations. Some of these human rights violation may happen inside families living under desperate conditions. Delegates agreed that the indigenous movement must emphasise the dignity of indigenous women and children, and promote dialogue in families and communities about reducing levels of conflict and harm in the communities.
=Khomani San activist Annetta Bok reported that her community struggled with domestic violence, alcohol abuse, rape and rising HIV levels. In traditional culture San women were highly valued, now they are the bottom rung of society, highly vulnerable to abuse by men and neighbouring communities.
Bororo activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim spoke about indigenous herding women who carry the weight of feeding the family, managing livestock, and dealing with uncertainty. Women are the main vehicles of reproduction of culture and knowledge, and yet during climate stress and crisis they sometimes become the objects of anger, frustration and violence by menfolk.
Ibrahim pointed out to the Moroccan hosts that they were the only delegation that was only made up of men. She reminded her Moroccan brothers that we are all responsible for equity and human rights. Algerian activist Kamira Nait-Sid supported this input. Algerian indigenous peoples are under constant human rights and environmental pressures, it is important for men and women to be in solidarity for their advocacy to be successful.
Mary Simat and Naini Meriwas emphasised that culture is a rich resource for indigenous peoples, but violence against women is not acceptable. Maasai, Samburu and other men need to be challenged about their behaviour to women.
Simat reported that the issue of climate change and gender issues need to be raised at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). She follows the CSW process at the UN, but there are very few women involve, almost no funding for indigenous women, and climate change has not been mentioned on the agenda over the past two years.
Tuareg activist Mohamed Ewangaye of Niger stated that indigenous culture rests on a peaceful balance between men and women. All indigenous men are responsible and dependent on their mothers, wives and daughters to sustain the family and their culture.
Delegates agreed that indigenous peoples need to consider the impact of climate change on women, promote dialogue in indigenous communities, and priorities training for indigenous women to be involved in policy processes as the UN and at national levels.
December 6, 2007 - Representatives from 190 nations are meeting in Bali, Indonesia from December 3 – 14 to address challenges linked to global climate change. The meeting marks the start of negotiations leading to what the United Nations hopes will be a renewal and extension of the Kyoto Protocol. A delegation from the World Bank, led by President Robert B. Zoellick, will join the conference.
|
On the eve of the global gathering, the World Bank’s lead climate change specialist for Africa and a member of the Bali delegation Aziz Bouzaher discussed the impact of climate change on Africa, and Bank actions to help client countries adapt to and mitigate it. How is the World Bank’s Africa Region responding to climate change? AB: The Africa region is responding swiftly, as is the entire institution, to the emerging needs linked to climate change. Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of a number of things: the high dependence on natural resources, the low availability of infrastructure, the extent of poverty and the low level of institutional capacity to respond. The region is also predicted to be hardest hit in terms of catastrophic natural disasters. So we are developing a robust strategy and will be consulting with our clients and partners along the way. That strategy is to mainstream climate change into our operations and develop capacity to respond quickly – and effectively – to client needs.We have a framework with four pillars: The core pillar is adaptation. If the climate changes, you have to adapt. This pillar covers agriculture, energy, health, land management, forestry, biodiversity and fisheries, disaster preparedness, and coastal areas. The second pillar is building institutional knowledge and strengthening country capacity so that institutions are better able to deal with climate change. Third is to take advantage of mitigation opportunities, in other words to reduce emissions. The fourth and final pillar is to mobilize financing (including from the International Development Association, the World Bank Group’s concessional lending arm) and piloting new, innovative market-based carbon instruments to help our countries gain access to new funding sources. Is this strategy part of the Region’s larger ongoing work?
AB: A lot of the response to climate change is already built into current Bank policies and programs. For example, in Madagascar which is prone to cyclones, we are working on developing disaster preparedness. We are building the capacity and the tools and policies for the country to be better prepared. In some of our work on agriculture and water management, we are dealing with issues of drought and of the predicted high variability in water resources due to climate variability. In the energy sector, we have decidedly moved toward more clean energy. Our work on biofuels is contributing to the reduction of emissions. We also have analytical work going on at the regional level. For instance, we are incorporating climate change into water resources management at the river-basin level. The Niger, Zambezi, Nile, and Congo basins provide water for drinking, irrigation, hydropower, and environmental services. We are collecting information on the impact of climate change in these basins, and are building on this work to give us a view in other key areas of Africa. Basically, we are intensifying the work already being done to deal with variability and long-term change in the climate. We are also looking anew at our pipeline of projects systematically to ensure that we start a more robust incorporation of climate change issues. Why should Africa be concerned about climate change? AB: Climate change is a core development issue for Africa. There are millions of poor people who will be impacted. The potential cost of inaction could be significant and could undermine much of the progress that has been achieved, pushing even more people below the poverty line. What are the implications of climate change for African economies? AB: Africa has recorded solid economic growth. According to the Bank’s 2007 African Development Indicators, o ver the past decade, Africa has recorded an average growth rate of 5.4 percent. It’s important that this growth and its positive impact on livelihoods is sustained and made resilient to climate risk. How are governments making policy changes to combat climate change? AB: A lot of countries are developing their own adaptation strategies. They are developing National Adaptation Action Plans (NAPAs). The recommendations in these NAPAs will begin to find their way into Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and national development plans. This also will be reflected into the Bank’s new generation of Country Assistance Strategies. Is the region receiving the resources it needs to help cut emissions? The plan is to help the region get access to innovative forms of carbon financing, including payment for environmental services and new areas such as avoiding deforestation and reducing land degradation. By reducing deforestation and land degradation you actually cut emissions, but at the same time you provide funding for adaptation and livelihoods. This is a better, and more sustainable, model for development as a whole. What is the importance of the Bank’s participation in the Bali conference? The Bank hopes the Bali meeting will chart the way forward on the issue of climate change. The predictions are that Africa will bear the brunt of climate change. We are committed to using all available instruments – financial, technical, and policy-oriented – to help client countries adapt to climate change and achieve low-carbon pathways to sustainable development Is climate change solely an environmental problem? Climate change is a core development issue. It’s not another environmental or an add-on issue. A lot of good development is good for dealing with climate change. Providing access to water and sanitation, supporting livelihoods, sustainable management of resources, all of this is good development. At the same time we recognize that Africa is one of the most vulnerable areas of the world — and is the least emitter — so adaptation becomes the core of the region’s climate change strategy. |
||||
