Tiempo Climate Newsletters #64 and #65

The latest two issues, #64 & 65, of Tiempo: I like to pick these up at they are released so sorry about that delay. The Tiempo newsletter focuses on adaptation and development in the global south. The publication is a joint project of IIED and SEI.




Issue 65 Contents:

• National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA). (Mohazurul Alam)
• The Sudanese NAPA. (Sumaya Ahmed ZakiEldeen and Nagmeldin Goutbi Elhassan)
• NAPA priorities to policies. (Bubu Pateh Jallow and Thomas Downing)
• Leassons learned in Africa. (Balgis Osman-Elasha and Thomas Downing)

Issue 64 Contents:

• Flooding and the urban poor. (Ian Douglas et. al.,)
• Climate risk integration. (Bert Koenders)
• Adaptation targets. (Ian Tellam)
• Community Adaptation. (Roger Jones and Atiq Rahman)
• Roadmap for Adaptation (Gary Yohe)
  

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Report of the Week: Climate change--Impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in developing countries

Good judgement is something that we would all wish to have. However, the best decisions don't always come from your own judgement: in the case of climate change it is absurd for the global 'North' to presume to know how to help the south. As Almuth pointed out recently it is only by cooperation and working together with those effected by climate change that we can come to a reasonable idea of the challenges that they face. This week's report of the week comes via the UNFCCC so it is a top down look at issues. It does however give a better idea of what the least developed nations are worried about, and what there key climate agenda is.

The report was formulated as a result of UNFCCC negotiations which required a series of regional workshops to asses the nature and severity of regional climatic impacts and to proffer some solutions.

Climate change: Impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in developing countries.

The book draws heavily on information provided by Parties to the UNFCCC, particularly that provided at three regional workshops held in Africa, Asia and Latin America and one expert meeting held in small island developing States during 2006 – 20071, as mandated by the Buenos Aires programme of work on adaptation and response measures (decision 1/CP.10 of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC)2, as well as information in national communications3 and national adaptation programmes of action4 submitted to the UNFCCC, reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007)and other sources, as referenced.

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Alter-Eco: news from the UN Climate Conference

Almuth Ernsting of Biofuelwatch sent me this email whith links to the Transnational Institute which gives a climate justice or global south perspective on the issues up for debate at Bali. I wasn't aware of this group but they are working on vital issues so i was glad to share there views.

Hi,

I thought people might like to see some alternative views from the Bali Climate Conference. I am here with a colleague from Biofuelwatch and we joined in with others who formed a Climate Justice Group - people who are horrified to see that the climate negotiations are little else than a carbon trade fair,
with critical NGOs being virtually excluded and completely marginalise, all NGOs moved to a venue 2minutes from the main conference centre, and with
indigenous peoples organisations not given a proper voice.

Here is the first [and second] edition of a short newsletter which our colleagues have written.

Good luck on 8th December!

Best wishes,

Almuth

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Climate Change and Rice

Rice is the staple diet for 40% of the worlds population. Effects of climate change on rice are therefore of great significance.

As with all outcomes from climate models when we are looking at precipitation, temperature, and other factors, along with non-climatic factors the conclusions are not definitive or precise. However, the heterogeneity of the situation is significant of itself, and indeed is perhaps the most important aspect of the models. With more than 2-3 degrees warming all the trends are negative and the yields of many crops in many areas are declining, before that point there are a lot of areas making gains, and a lot loosing out. This is not a situation that farmers are going to easily adapt to and large scale migrations from one area to another will be significant without the yield necessarily decreasing.

Unfortuntely areas of Africa are amongst the hardest hit in Tyndall Centre projections:

• Between 0.9 and 1.4°C above 1990, poor farmers income declines globally (Hare 2003). This information may not show in model results for countries whose farmers have a range of incomes.
  
• 
  
• Even if there are no overall impacts on the yield of a crop within a country as a whole, this picture can mask a large amount of local variation. For example, in Venezuela where a global temperature rise of 1.4-1.7°C has been predicted to decrease maize yields by 10-15%, 15% decrease maize yield (Gitay . 2001); adaptation could offset 10% of this but it hides huge local variation (Jones &Thornton 2003.
  

The results are more mixed in China.


Relevant Documents:
Introduction to Rice and Climate Change (effects on rice and contribution by rice farming)
Climate Change and Impacts on Grain in China
Feeding Billions, A Grain at a Time (WSJ, Article)
Least Developed Countries and Climate Change.(IIED)
*Understanding the Regional Effects of Climate Change (Tyndall Centre)

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Step it Up 2007: National Day of Climate Action April 14th

Step it up 2007 looks set to be a great event, 1333 actions across the US when I last checked!

I post this video as it references the global climate campaign as part of the inspiration for them getting going as a national umbrella organisation, dispersed actions on one day.

I find this amazing, and I hope that everyone reading this from around the world will take part in this years global day of action and benefit from that solidarity an inspiration again! On the sidebar I have created some images that can be used to promote the global climate campaign website, there is also a promotional pdf. More photos and information is available on the Global Climate Campaign website.

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Website of the Week: BBC guide to climate change regional impacts.

The BBC has produced a very nice guide to the impacts of climate change around the globe.

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Local voices, global choices: Encouraging debate about climate change in the South

Panos London promotes media coverage of development issues in the global south. Of particular interest to this website is there work reporting issues relating to COP 12 in Nairobi. Melting Point is the name of this project. The website is here.

A webcast presenting the work they do can be found here, report here.

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African Youth Initiaitve on Climate Change: AYICC

The Nairobi Climate Conference video archives are full of fascinating testimonies on the reality of climate change and the various projects, organisation and coalitions working to address climate change. One very interesting, and positive organisation is an African youth movement working to heighten awareness of climate change both within the African continent and internationally; after all Africa stands to be hard hit by climate change so these are voices that desperately need to be heard.

"We are asking everyone, especially world leaders to note that climate change is happening, and we are feeling it already" Sena Alouka (Togo)

African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC) represents a start of the climate action movement on the African continent.

This coalition will connect African youth organizations and youth oriented organizations working on climate change issues. The coalition will seek to optimise climate change action by African youth and will be spearheaded by youth leaders from across Africa.

"Africa is shedding tears due to climate change" Issa Hussein (Kenya)

Webcast from Montreal here.
Presentation here.

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Oil in Nigeria

Nigeria has huge reserves of oil: these reserves are strategically important for the US they are also a curse upon the Nigerian people.

A recent radio show on Nigerian oil can be found on the WBUR website.

"Nigeria is rich with oil, producing more than Iraq and Kuwait combined. The country is the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the United States. And it's "light sweet crude," ...a dreamy kind of oil that needs little refinement. But, the communities closest to the drills and platforms -- the people of the Niger Delta -- live in poverty. Without clean drinking water. Without schools. Without jobs. Frustrated by their situation, local men are taking matters into their own hands. They're forming militias, taking hostages, and disrupting oil flow. Journalist Sebastian Junger went deep into the mangroves and creeks of the Niger Delta. He emerged with a chilling story of violence and despair..."

You might think that this situation is awful but beyond your control. This is untrue, apart from contributing to campaigns that aim to pressure oil companies to abide by Nigerian law and act in line with there CSR policies there are important consumer choices to be made.

Do you have a Royal Bank of Scotland bank account? A recent Report from London Platform exposes the activites of the self described oil and gas bank. Many of these investment are found made within the Niger delta region of Nigeria. Perhaps you should change your bank account to a company with an ethical investment policy such as the cooperative bank.

Do you buy oil from Shell? Can you avoid it, perhaps you should.

Previous articles on nigeria and it's oil can be found here.

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Climate Justice

A look at the southern perspective on the issue of climate change. While the industrialised north fights about weather the science is real, and now, weather we should commit to small or large reductions, the south continues to suffer from the historic emissions. The latest in a long line of barbaric effects imposed by the rich on the poor.

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Tiempo:Climate and Development Bulletin

Tiempo Climate and Development Bulletin

Tiempo 62

Latin America up in smoke

Hannah Reid and Andrew Simms describe climate change impacts in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Climate and disaster reduction

Sarah Granich reports on the need for appropriate disaster
reduction strategies.

Vulnerability in Sudan

Sumaya Ahmed Zaki-Eldeen calls for improved policy process integration to support adaptation.

Operating the adaptation fund

Amjad Abdullah, Bubu Pateh Jallow and Mohammad Reazuddin describe a new proposal for operating the Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund.

Tiempo 61

Desertification and climate

Desertification Secretariat staff argue for a joint approach to climate change and desertification.

Climate change and the Sahara

Guy Jacques and Hervé Le Treut describe the role of climate in shaping the Sahara.

Food security in the Solomons

Louise Hunt reports on the efforts of a community group to teach capacity strengthening.

Institutions for adaptation

Evans Kituyi describes how scientific institutions in Africa could better influence national policies.

The story of the Yellow River

Li Moxuan describes the impacts of climate change.

Tiempo 60

Climate impacts on Nepal

Anil Raut discusses the impact of climate change on Nepal and options for adaptation.

Electric vehicles in Nepal
Megesh Tiwari describes the use of electric vehicles in Nepal.

Clean development in Nepal

Noora Singh considers the future of the Clean Development Mechanism.

Designing adaptation projects

Mozaharul Alam and Lwandle Mqadi describe a novel way of identifying, designing, implementing and monitoring community- based adaptation projects.

Tiempo 59

Gender and climate change.

Ulrike Röhr discusses the assimilation of gender issues in the climate change debate.

Deserts and desertification

Sarah Granich reports on the International Year of Deserts and Desertification

African fisheries

Friday Njaya and Charlotte Howard describe climate change impacts on fisheries in Malawi

Rural livelihoods

Jennifer Pouliotte, Nazrul Islam, Barry Smit and Shafiqul Islam assess adaptive capacity in Bangladesh

Low coastal zone settlements
Gordon McGranahan, Deborah Balk and Bridget Anderson describe the global distribution of low coastal zone settlements.

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Join the global climate campaign! Dec 8th 2007.

Heads up, this year's day of global action on climate change!

From the global climate campaign website...

Visit website for more details, logo, flyers and photos form the last two years.

"This webpage has been set up to publicise and promote plans for demonstrations on climate change, to coincide with the United Nations Climate Talks(COP13/MOP3) in Bali, Indonesia, December 3rd to 14th 2007.

We intend synchronised demonstrations around the world on Saturday December 8th 2007 - in as many places as possible - to call on world leaders to take urgent action on climate change.

The demonstrations will demand that world leaders take the urgent and resolute action we need to prevent the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate, so that the entire world community can move as rapidly as possible to a stronger emissions reductions treaty that is equitable as well as
effective in preventing dangerous climate change.

We feel that there is an overwhelming need to create a groundswell of global opinion to push for the urgent and radical action on climate change, without which we risk a global catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.

To help build for these demonstrations please find the contact for your country, below, or if there is not yet one listed there contact us at info@globalclimatecampaign.org"

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When Shell Oil aren't sponsoring cultural events in London they are...

The ugly truth behind the huge proffits!

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Contraction and Convergence: A short video making the case.

The video bellow (By Tangent Films) is a straightforward explanation of 'contraction and convergence' (c&c) followed by some notable voices advocating it as the only equity based soloution to climate change in town. Please enjoy, and consider sharing on your own website. c&c is an equitable climate framework developed by Aubrey Meyer of the Global Commons Institute.


Contraction and Convergence Climate Change Action

To share this video on your website/blog/myspace etc., simply copy the text bellow and paste it into the appropriate page/post/template.


<b><span><embed src="http://www.livevideo.com/flvplayer/embed/DA826DE25EB24A0096700AE9F283E835" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" wmode="transparent" height="505" width="550"><br /><a href="http://www.livevideo.com/video/embedLink/DA826DE25EB24A0096700AE9F283E835/38405/contraction-and-convergence.aspx">Contraction and Convergence</a></span></b>

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Report(s) of the Week: 1. Feeling the Heat 2. Climate Change--The Costs of Inaction

Two related reports came out towards the end of 2006. Both reports focus on the impacts of climate change, one specifically the effects due o changes in the hydrological regieme and one more broadly due to the many patterns of climate alteration predicted.


"Feeling the Heat" is a report by Tearfund that focuses on access to water supplies.

Executive Summary

The world is now locked on course to become ever warmer. And one of the most devastating impacts of this human-induced climate change is on the world’s water supply.

Thankfully, lives are not at risk when water shortages hit the UK. But the predictions for our planet are bleak:

• By 2100, the earth could be between 1.4°C and 5.8°C warmer than in 1990.
• The Met Office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research says that
extreme drought, which currently affects about 2% of the planet, will affect over
10% within 50 years.

Already floods, drought and extreme weather events are becoming all too familiar in our warmer world, even in wealthy countries:

• July this year was the hottest UK month since records began in 1960, with one
day hitting an all-time July high of 36.5°C.
• In 2003, a heatwave spanning 20 days in France caused more than 14,000
deaths.
• Much of central USA has been experiencing exceptionally dry conditions for
over a year.

But nowhere is this changing climate having a greater impact than in the world’s
poorest countries. As floods, drought and storms increase, climate change will have a potentially catastrophic impact on water supply, threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Poor people – like 80% of Malawi’s population who farm small plots– are reliant on rain for their harvests, and are least able to adapt to climate change.

By exacerbating existing water stresses, climate change impacts many other areas of human development such as health and even industry.

Already, there are an estimated 25 million ‘environmental refugees’ – more than half the number of political refugees. Experts such as ecologist Norman Myers suggest this figure could soar to 200 million in less than 50 years. Unseen and uncounted, millions are already on the move in search of greater water security. In some countries, the exodus began years ago:

• Unpredictable seasons and unreliable crop yields are boosting the number of
Mexicans risking their lives each year to try to reach the US. Many die trying to
cross the Arizona desert.
• One in five Brazilians born in the arid north-east of the country move to another
region within Brazil. Up to 75% of land in the north-east, which is plagued by
periodic drought, is at risk of becoming desert.
• In three provinces in China, people have been forced to leave home due to the
spread of the Gobi desert. The desert is growing at a rate of 4,000 square miles
a year.

In Nigeria, 1,350 square miles are converted to desert each year. Farmers and

herdsmen are forced to move to the cities. World governments must therefore take urgent action next month at the UN climate change conference COP12 in Nairobi (6-17 November).

They must:

• produce a timetable for agreeing the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol, and
focus on setting tougher, binding targets to cut their carbon emissions
• provide urgent funding to help poor countries adapt to climate change
• make water resources an urgent priority for adaptation efforts and
prevent likely rises in the number of climate change refugees
• address the dramatic effects of increasing water scarcity on other key
development sectors such as health

The world’s poorest people have been coping with unreliable water supplies for
decades. And many have devised techniques to fend off the worst effects of an unpredictable climate. These include:

• Rainwater harvesting: a cost-effective means of providing water for poor people
without piped supplies.
• Contour bunding: low mounds of earth along field contours to stop rainwater
run-off.
• Check dams: small dams across watercourses to slow rainwater flow.
• Planting drought-resistant crops, such as sorghum and millet.

Although very effective, such measures are not enough. Poor countries also need
national strategies for managing water resources, which meet human needs and
protect vital ecosystems.

Access to fresh clean water is critical if poor communities are to survive climate
change and lift themselves out of poverty – but two in five people in sub-Saharan
Africa still do not have this access. In regions such as Africa, water scarcity is already jeopardising efforts to reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goals for child mortality and for water and sanitation. Poor governance and climate change
exacerbate an already critical situation.

It costs money to adapt to climate change and its impact on water supply and
ecosystems. It is wealthy nations such as the UK which should be doing more to foot the bill. Developed nations have contributed most to global warming and yet it is poor countries which are bearing the brunt. To date, wealthy countries have been painfully slow in committing funds to help developing countries adapt:

• World Bank estimates suggest it would cost between $10 and $40 billion every
year to ‘climate-proof’ development work in poor countries.
• The UK government has committed just £10 million over three years.
• Rich nations have promised $450 million a year so far – but delivered far less.

Agreed UN funds to help poor countries adapt are not yet fully operational. There will be millions more thirsty, hungry and ill people living in high-risk areas of the world by the end of the century. It makes sense –politically, economically and morally – for governments to act with urgency now.

"Climate Change--Costs of Inaction" is a report by Tuffts University for Greenpeace groups within the United Kingdom.

This report demonstrates that the cost of allowing global temperatures to increase by two degrees or more above pre-industrial levels will run into trillions of dollars, while the environmental and social costs will be incalculable. It was produced by GDAE researchers Frank Ackerman and Liz Stanton for The Big Ask, Friends of the Earth’s climate campaign in the UK. The report, which brings together the latest scientific and economic thinking on climate change, highlights the enormous costs that would result if governments fail to act to keep temperature increases below two degrees.

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