Climate Action

Ghana Still Target of Lethal e-Waste Dumping

LONDON (IDN | GIN) – Digital dumping ground, world’s largest e-waste dump – whatever you call it, Agbogbloshie, a former wetland and suburb of Ghanaian capital Accra, is one the top ten “worst polluted” places on earth where tonnes of discarded electronics, refrigerators, microwaves and televisions, also known as e-waste, end up decomposing in a massive scrap heap.

"Mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic – these are the four most toxic substances [in the world], and they are found in e-waste residues in very large quantities," Atiemo Sampson, an environmental researcher at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, who has conducted several studies of the Agbogbloshie site, said in an interview with the BBC.

Exposure to these toxins is known to cause a whole range of illnesses from cancers to heart disease and respiratory illnesses.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 31 May 2016

Photo: "You captured the winds of change in Paris," outgoing UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres told the delegates. Courtesy: UNFCCC.

Bonn Session Takes Forward Landmark UN Climate Agreement

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) - The first UN climate change meeting since governments adopted the landmark Paris Agreement in December 2015 concluded on May 26 with “a set of positive outcomes that will support the treaty’s widely anticipated early entry into force and stronger, sustained action world-wide into the future”.

Affirming this optimistic claim by the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), David Waskow, International Climate Director of the World Resources Institute (WRI) said: “This is the only formal round of international negotiations between the Paris climate summit last December and the forthcoming climate summit in Marrakech, Morocco (COP22) in November.”

The nearly two-week long gathering saw countries push ahead with implementing stronger climate action and constructing what the UNFCCC called the global climate regime “rule book” in order to guarantee the treaty’s fairness, transparency and balance between nations.

: Rita Joshi; UN INSIDER; 29 May 2016

Image: The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, launched on the 11 January, 2010 by Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. Source:seci.gov.in

India Challenges WTO Ruling Against Climate Action

Analysis by Ravi Kanth Devarakonda *

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHNEWS) - India along with other developing countries appears now to be facing an acid test in global climate change negotiations and at the WTO on how to ensure that their efforts to build robust domestic industries for manufacturing solar cells, solar modules and other products for renewable energy takes precedence over profits-driven trade rules framed by the United States and other developed countries, according to several negotiators.

On April 20, India took the first step by challenging a WTO panel ruling in favour of the United States that overly dismissed the domestic content requirements adopted by India for promoting solar cells and solar modules industries for producing renewable energy.

: Ravi Kanth Devarakonda; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 25 May 2016

Photo: Aktar Hossain, a local farmer who adapted the new technique in Aminabad in Char Fasson, shows good harvest of vegetable from his crop field. Credit: Naimul Haq

Bangladesh Taking Action to Mitigate Potentially ‘Catastrophic’ Climate Change

Analysis by Naimul Haq

BHOLA (IDN) - Bangladesh is one of the world's countries worst affected by the global warming impact of climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – extreme weather events such tropical cyclones, severe floods, rainstorms and river erosion, extreme heat waves and unexpected droughts on vast stretches of land are on the rise.

The country's coastal regions face a rising sea level, higher tides and saline water intrusion which is already encroaching further inland and destroying agricultural opportunities.

The effect of greenhouse gas emissions along Bangladesh’s coast is already evident and experts predict it could be “catastrophic” if appropriate action is not taken now.

Despite efforts to increase resilience, climate challenges continue to result in large economic losses, reducing economic growth and slowing progress in reducing poverty.

: Naimul Haq; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 22 May 2016

Photo: Negotiating chamber, Bonn. Credit: UNFCCC/Flickr

Bonn Meet to Take Forward Historic UN Climate Agreement

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) - Just weeks after 176 countries and the 28-nation European Union signed the landmark Paris Climate Change Agreement at the United Nations headquarters in New York, governments are gathering at the Bonn UN Climate Change Conference from May 16 to 26, 2016 in Germany.

Bonn is the seat of the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) secretariat. The former West German capital also hosts the secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the UN Volunteers (UNV) together with 15 other United Nations organizations, programmes and offices.

While signing the Paris Climate Change Agreement – which sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius – on April 22 in New York, several key economies indicated that they are ready to join the treaty this year (2016), and 16 States already depositing their instruments of ratification.

The latest round of UN climate change negotiations gets underway on May 16 “with governments looking to the next steps needed to accelerate” the implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and “continue the unprecedented momentum forged in 2015”, says a UNFCCC press release.

: Rita Joshi; UN INSIDER; 13 May 2016

UN Launches Global Awareness Campaign on Climate Action

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN | UNFCCC) - In run-up to 2016 UN Climate Conference in Morocco, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is focusing on ‘Global South’, and has launched a global public awareness campaign to spotlight these game-changing commitments, including the many which are happening in the developing world.

According to the UNFCCC, based in former West German capital Bonn, climate action by cities and companies and by regions and investors is continuing strongly since the December 2015 Paris climate change conference with some 50 new actions posted on the UN portal which was set up to showcase private sector and local authority ambition.

Ranging from South African hospitals group Netcare Ltd to Dutch banking group ING, the new commitments join over 11,000 already registered on NAZCA -- the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action, established in 2014 at the request of the Government of Peru.

: Rita Joshi; UN INSIDER; 09 May 2016

Photo: A farmer takes a break in Swaziland. Credit: FAO/Rodger Bosch

G77 Wants More in South-South Cooperation in Climate Change

Analysis by J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - The Group of 77 (G77) and China, comprising 134 developing nations, has welcomed a new United Nations initiative that will build partnerships to help developing countries to assist other developing countries implement the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Development Agenda.

But the G77 and China chairperson Virachai Plasai, Thailand’s Permanent Representative to the UN, has stressed that “South-South and Triangular Cooperation are not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South Cooperation”.

He added: “As South-South and Triangular cooperation are dear to the heart of the Group, we wish to see the momentum created by this initiative to promote South-South and Triangular cooperation be carried forward in other important areas apart from climate change.”

Termed the Southern Climate Partnership Incubator (SCPI), the UN Secretary-General’s new initiative aims at fostering partnerships among the ‘Global South’ in the areas of renewable energy, climate resilience, smart cities and big data application.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 09 May 2016

Jobs and Climate Asian Development Bank’s Top Priorities as it Turns 50

Analysis by Jaya Ramachandran

FRANKFURT (IDN) - Creating quality jobs, developing the private sector, and combating climate change to ensure a vibrant and sustainable Asia top the agenda of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as it marks its fiftieth anniversary this year.

According to Bank President Takehiko Nakao, over the last decade, Asia has grown about 7% annually, even after the global financial crisis. This has supported global growth, he said in the opening address at the 49th Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors – for the first time held in Germany – from May 2 to 5.

China is expected to grow 6.5% this year, down from 6.9% last year, reflecting its transformation to a new growth model. The region as a whole is projected to grow by a robust 5.7% in 2016, said Nakao.

India, with projected growth of 7.4%, is now the fastest growing large economy. Indonesia is expected to grow 5.2% in 2016, higher than last year despite the negative impact from lower commodity prices. Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Viet Nam are gaining growth momentum backed by reform efforts.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 04 May 2016

Photo: 2016 Goldman Prize Winners (left to right) Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera, Puerto Rico: Destiny Watford, United States; Edward Loure, Tanzania; Leng Ouch, Cambodia; Máxima Acuña, Peru; and Zuzana Čaputová, Slovakia. Credit: Goldmanprize.org

Environmental Fund Taps Six for Major ‘Green Prize’

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Once the ancestral land of pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, the Tarangire national park in Tanzania found itself in the crosshairs of tourist developers carving up the wilderness for fancy lodges, luxury tents and other rich tourist amenities.

Lands once shared with the wildebeest, the zebra, and majestic old baobab trees were being “grabbed” by government or companies, without compensation to the Masaai and Hadzaba who resided there.

As countries around the world prepared to mark Earth Day on April 22, the Goldman Environmental Foundation honoured six grassroots leaders including Edward Loure of Tanzania for defending lands at risk from profit-seeking developers.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 19 April 2016

Photo: Newly planted wind breaks prevent wind erosion of dunes in Badoulerey, near Niamey, Niger. ©IFAD/David Rose

Fate of Climate Change Victims Does Not Make Headlines

Analysis by Ronald Joshua

ROME (IDN) - A new report funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has taken up cudgels on behalf of some 60 million people around the world, who are facing severe hunger because of El Niño and millions more because of climate change.

Just days before world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York to sign the concluding document of the twenty-first session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21), held in December 2015 in Paris, the report reveals that coverage on climate change has significantly fell off the radar of major media outlets across Europe and the United States.

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze finds it “incredible” that in a year when we have had record temperatures, 32 major droughts, and historic crop losses that media are not positioning climate change on their front pages. “Climate change is the biggest threat facing our world today and how the media shape the narrative remains vitally important in pre-empting future crises,” he adds.