Why a Nigerian coastal town is on the brink of extinction
15/1/2024: The US Agency for International Development estimates that 27 million to 53 million Nigerians may need to be relocated if sea levels rise by 0.5 meters, which the country is expected to see by the end of this century. In the coastal town of Ayetoro, the population has already fallen from 30,000 in 2006 to 5,000 today.
Source: Devex
Five maddening facts about climate finance
11/1/2024: High-income countries make it incredibly difficult to track their contributions to climate finance for poorer countries. Analysis by the ONE Campaign reveals awkward truths about inconsistent and inadequate reporting standards.
Source: African Arguments
Key COP28 takeaways for Africa
20/12/2023: The UN’s annual climate summit concluded with a mixed bag of results for Africa. This summary of progress includes the Loss and Damage Fund, adaptation, climate finance and a just energy transition. — issues that directly relate to African countries’ ability to meet their climate change and development goals.
Source: World Resources Institute
New loss and damage fund means many things to many people
12/12/2023: The next year or two will decide what exactly the new climate Loss and Damage fund responds to, how it will raise money, and how it will give it out. Answers to these difficult policy questions will be a crucial expression of climate justice.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Should Africa celebrate or mourn COP28?
14/12/2023: A panel of African experts and activists give their verdict on the outcomes of the Dubai climate talks. There is a recurring sense of injustice in the overwhelming presence of 2,400 lobbyists representing fossil fuel interests.
Source: African Arguments
Tropical deforestation increased in 2022
11/12/2023: Emissions from deforestation in the world's tropical forests rose by 5% in 2022, although Indonesia and the Congo Basin bucked this trend. A new carbon mapping tool developed by California-based nonprofit CTrees aims to help countries around the world input to the global stocktake of emissions.
Source: Mongabay
No ‘phase-out’, but COP28 puts oil and gas sector on notice
13/12/2023: Countries have agreed on the need to shift away from burning fossil fuels for the first time in the UN climate process, at Cop28 talks in Dubai. The “UAE consensus” did not go so far as to call for a “phase-out”, as more than a hundred countries wanted. It settled on “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems”.
Source: Climate Home News
Negligible US contribution to loss and damage fund
12/12/2023: Contributions by various countries at COP28 towards the new World Bank-hosted Climate Loss and Damage Fund have reached $700 million, of which the US accounts for just $17.5 million. This equals nine minutes of Pentagon spending, says Jeffrey D. Sachs, a world-renowned economist.
Source: Inter Press Service
Finance for adaptation is Africa’s call to action at COP28
4/12/2023: The chair of the African Group at COP28 highlights the shocking gap between the adaptation needs of vulnerable countries and the funding that has been made available so far. The UN’s Adaptation Gap report has estimated that adaptation needs are now 10-18 times as great as the flows of international public finance.
Source: African Arguments
Phase out of fossil fuels critical to right to water in MENA
8/12/2023: The climate crisis is severely exacerbating water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa region. Governments at COP28 should act to urgently phase out fossil fuels and deliver climate finance, two measures that are critical to ensure people’s right to water.
Source: Amnesty International