Climate Action

Africa: China Ramps Up Funding for Renewable Energy

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — China is one of the main funders of renewable-energy projects in Africa. At last year’s China-Africa Cooperation forum, Beijing committed to ramping up investments in solar, wind, and other renewables across the continent and has made no overseas coal power investments since 2021.

It is also one of several nations funding the International Monetary Fund’s $20 billion IMF Resilience and Sustainability Trust on pandemics and climate change resilience.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 15 November 2022

Image: Massive protest at COP27 demanding leaders to address vital issues realted to agriculture, adaptation and climate resilience. Credit: Laura Quinones

A New Initiative Seeks to Transform Agriculture & Food Systems

By Bernhard Schell

SHARM EL-SHEIKH (IDN) — The Egyptian Presidency of the UN Climate Conference COP27 has launched a new initiative Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation or FAST, to improve the quantity and quality of climate finance contributions to transform agriculture and food systems by 2030.

The cooperation programme will have concrete deliverables for helping countries access climate finance and investment, increase knowledge, and provide policy support and dialogue.

: Bernhard Schell; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 12 November 2022

Photo: A view of the 2022 Arctic Assembly. Credit: Arctic Circle

Indigenous Societies Draw Focus of the Arctic Circle Assembly

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) — The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth's ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies.

Reykjavik—capital of the Nordic Island nation Iceland—hosted the Arctic Circle Assembly (ACA)—nearly four weeks ahead of the UN Climate conference COP27. The Arctic region is not on the agenda of the 2022 annual gathering in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt).

: Lowana Veal; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 09 November 2022

COP27: Leaders Launch Global Alliance Against Future Drought Impacts

By Rita Joshi

BONN | SHARM EL-SHEIKH (IDN) — Leaders from over 25 countries and 20 organizations have launched the International Drought Resilience Alliance to accelerate action and help countries to be better prepared for future droughts.

Drought represents the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world, and ranks among the greatest threats to sustainable development, especially in developing countries, but increasingly so in developed nations too.

: Rita Joshi; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 08 November 2022

Photo: Idyllic Pacific Islands threatened by rising sea levels. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne

COP 27: The World's Rich Urged to Pay Reparations for Climate Damage

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) — At COP 27 in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, the Global South led by Asia and the South Pacific (as well as Africa) are demanding that nature rights and climatic justice be recognized as a human right and COP (Conference of Parties) process go beyond pledges for climatic change mitigation.

And this by agreeing to look into a binding agreement for financial reparations from the rich for the damage done by climatic change, as evidenced in 2021 by floods, cyclones and heat waves hitting the most economically vulnerable countries.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 07 November 2022

Photo: Droughts affect the availability of water in communities. Credit: Busani Bafani.

COP27: A Win for Loss and Damage

By Busani Bafana

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — After much horse-trading, loss and damage is on the agenda at the COP27 raising expectations of an agreement for funding to promote resilience and address longer-term impacts of climate change.

For the first time since the adoption of the UN climate convention, the contentious issue of loss and damage made it onto the agenda after tumultuous 48 hours of informal consultations led by the Egyptian COP Presidency.

: Africa & ME Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 07 November 2022

Photo: Reteti Rescue Team rescuing an orphaned elephant from a mountain, so remote and unreachable by road or air. Source: Retiti.org

As Die-Off of Kenyan Wildlife Spikes, No End Seen to Punishing Drought

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) — A new report titled "Impacts of the current drought on wildlife in Kenya" by Wildlife Research and Training Institute gives a devastating picture of the high mortality of wildlife across the East African nation whose animal kingdom has been the backbone of tourism for years.

Images from the region show feeble cows with ribcages protruding from their sides. According to the Kenya News Agency, herders are calling on the county and national government to buy meat from them as they lose their livestock to an unprecedented drought.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 07 November 2022

Photo: Alexandria’s flooded Corniche on 25 October 2015. Credit: Asmaa Abdelatif/Youm7.

UN Climate Panel Warns of Sea ‘Swallowing’ Alexandria and Other Historic Cities

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is brimming with delegates, organizers and observers - here to take part in the UN Climate Conference, better known by its acronym “COP27” (Conference of the Parties).

This year’s conference will be an "African COP" where the positions of African countries on issues like finance for adapting to climate change or adopting renewable energy sources will be central to the talks.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 07 November 2022

Photo: Climate Strike by Students. Source: Global Information Network

Egyptian Civil Rights Activists View COP27 as a Carefully Managed Theatre

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | SHARM EL-SHEIKH (IDN) — Some civil rights activists suspect this year’s UN climate conference, held in a country reputed for holding thousands of political prisoners, will give the host country a great opportunity to remake its image and position itself as the voice for the Global South.

In fact, Egypt is facing a barrage of criticism over what rights groups say is a crackdown on protests and activists.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 07 November 2022

UN’s Development Goals are Not Far Behind COP27

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — When the two-weeklong COP27 climate summit began negotiations November 6, the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were not far behind.

At the conference centre in the Egyptian coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh, the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) is hosting an SDG Pavilion for interactive dialogues and discussions on key SDG thematic areas, particularly clean energy, water, forests, the ocean, and climate synergies—all of which will be on the forefront of the climate summit.