climate change - The African Mirror

Nov

18

2020

About 150 nations due to deliver stronger climate plans in 2020, tracker shows

MEGAN ROWLING MORE than three-quarters of countries have indicated they will make stronger commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change by the end of 2020, despite the economic strain of the coronavirus pandemic, a new tracker has shown. According to the tool, launched by the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) of developing countries, 151 governments have confirmed their intention to meet a U.N. deadline to raise their targets to cut planet-warming emissions over the next decade. Of those, 120 nations affirmed they would submit updated climate action plans since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, suggesting they are aiming for…

Nov

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Cape Town’s climate strategy isn’t perfect, but every African city should have one

AFRICITIES

IT may take an extreme heatwave, a mega wildfire or a severe coastal storm to begin to appreciate the dangers of climate change. ALANNA REBELO, Postdoctoral researcher, Stellenbosch University KAREN JOAN ESLER, Professor of Conservation Ecology and Head of the Department of Conservation Ecology & Entomology at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch University MICHAEL SAMWAYS, Professor, Conservation Ecology & Entomology, Stellenbosch University PATRICIA HOLMES, plant ecologist, Stellenbosch University TONY REBELO, Scientist, South African National Biodiversity Institute Africa is likely to be the continent hit hardest by climate change. The region is vulnerable to droughts, heat and floods and many countries have a…

Nov

05

2020

By The African Mirror

EXPERT VIEWS: US exit from Paris deal a blow – but drive for climate action rolls on

WORLD

AFTER the United States officially withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement, officials, analysts and campaigners said the departure dealt a blow to global climate diplomacy and the battle to curb rising planet-heating emissions. But, they noted, many American cities, states and companies continue to lead a push to meet U.S. commitments under the Paris accord, aimed at heading off the worst impacts of wild weather and rising seas by reining in temperature rise. And they said it would be relatively simple for Washington to rejoin the pact should Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden win the race for the White House,…

Nov

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Climate change, migration and urbanisation: patterns in sub-Saharan Africa

ENVIRONMENT

ROMAN HOFFMAN, Postdoctoral researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research THE link between climate change and migration has gained both academic and public interest in recent years. Many studies have found that environmental hazards affect migration. But the links are nuanced and depend on the economic and sociopolitical conditions in the respective regions of origin. So what causes people to move and where do they go? And what is the relationship between these decisions and changes in climatic conditions? To answer these questions we conducted a meta-analysis to systematically analyse previous findings in the literature on environmental migration. We combined…

Oct

16

2020

By The African Mirror

Standard Bank lending to fossil fuel industries stands at $4 bln

BUSINESS

STANDARD Bank, Africa's largest lender by assets, has 67.4 billion rand ($4 billion) in loans and commitments to the coal, oil and gas sectors on its books, according to a climate exposure report it has published. Climate campaigners have criticised the bank for both its lending policies and involvement in particular projects such as a blockbuster natural gas development in Mozambique, and its potential financing of a Ugandan oil pipeline. The bank's climate-related financial exposures report gives the fullest picture yet of its lending to fossil fuel industries. It showed those sectors accounted for about 4% of all its lending…

Oct

14

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Uninhabitable hell’: Climate change and disease threaten millions, UN warns

ENVIRONMENT

MEGAN ROWLING A jump in climate-related disasters this century, along with the global coronavirus pandemic, show political and business leaders are failing to stop the planet turning into "an uninhabitable hell" for millions, the United Nations said on Monday. The last two decades saw the number of disasters caused by extreme weather nearly double to 6,681, up from 3,656 between 1980 and 1999, according to a report issued ahead of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13. Worsening floods and storms accounted for about four-fifths of the total from 2000-2019 but major increases were also recorded for droughts, wildfires…

Oct

13

2020

By The African Mirror

Surge in natural disasters takes heavy human and economic toll – U.N.

WORLD

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY EXTREME weather events have increased dramatically in the past 20 years, taking a heavy human and economic toll worldwide, and are likely to wreak further havoc, the United Nations said on Monday. Heatwaves and droughts will pose the greatest threat in the next decade, as temperatures continue to rise due to heat-trapping gases, experts said. China (577) and the United States (467) recorded the highest number of disaster events from 2000 to 2019, followed by India (321), the Philippines (304) and Indonesia (278), the U.N. said in a report issued the day before the International Day for Disaster…

Oct

09

2020

By The African Mirror

Climate-menaced nations say survival depends on stronger 2020 action

ENVIRONMENT

DEVELOPING countries at risk from wilder weather and rising seas urged all governments to meet a deadline to deliver stronger national climate action plans to the United Nations by the end of 2020, stressing that their survival depended on it. About 195 nations committed under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change to submit updated plans this year, with a view to boosting so-far inadequate pledges to curb planet-heating emissions and adapt to the impacts of warming. But the health and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have thrown climate diplomacy off track and forced a delay of this…

Sep

26

2020

By The African Mirror

For Ugandan activist, COVID curbs set new hurdle in climate fight

ENVIRONMENT

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA IN a run-down residential compound in Kampala, Vanessa Nakate thrusts her fist in the air as she rallies 30 young demonstrators to defend their planet against climate change. "What do we want?" she shouts, to a ragged chorus of "climate justice". The youngest protester, two-year-old Manvir Ssozi, sucks his thumb as he flaps a placard that reads: "Money will be ... useless on a dead planet." Nakate's demonstration in the Ugandan capital is part of a global day of youth action against climate change inspired by Sweden's Greta Thunberg. A wiry and vivacious 23-year-old, Nakate founded a climate…

Sep

23

2020

By The African Mirror

Cities promise to divest from fossil fuels to boost green recovery

AFRICITIES

MEGAN ROWLING THE mayors of 12 big cities in North America, Europe and Africa pledged on Tuesday to shift their money out of fossil fuels and into green energy, buildings, transport and other investments to help them recover from the pandemic and tackle climate change. The group of cities, which signed up to a declaration committing them to divest from coal, oil and gas, are home to more than 36 million residents and hold over $295 billion in assets. Led by London and New York City, they agreed to take all possible steps to divest from fossil fuel companies the…