One man’s endeavour is changing lives of many in rural Cameroon and fighting climate change. He is tapping energy from the sun and supplying to hospitals in “forgotten” places.Ngo Bas was just 14 when she became pregnant. And now, she is 15 and is due at any moment - literally.“I’m past nine months pregnant,” she says with a grin.She lives with her grandmother in Ngambe, a remote, forested community in Cameroon’s Littoral Region. Things are hard, her granny says, disturbed that the life of the unborn child is in danger because Bas does not feed well. But that is the least of her worries. Bas is supposed to give birth at Ngambe District Hospital where there is no electricity.“We have been without electricityfor like… I can’t even remember. The hospital and by extension patients are the most affected” says Dr. Daniel Telep Yede, director of Ngambe District Hospital.“We use traditional African bush lamps and torches during delivery at night. This is a very very risky venture. Anything can happen to the child and the mother because we don’t usually see what we are doing. We refer worst cases to other hospitals but they are very far away” he adds.That is what worries Bas and her granny most.But, Bas’ worries might soon be over. There is good news. Gaston Claude Songo, is about providing the hospital with solar energy.Songo, 40, is soft-spoken, but he is sure of what he's doing, and has proved a rare skill for seeing the obvious. The idea of supplying renewable energy to remote communities in Cameroon has become a passion for him.One afternoon inearly 2018 while driving in the hot sun in Douala traffic, Songo, was struck by the obvious. “Broadly available technology, plummeting cost of solar panels, and free, unlimited sunshine. I realized that this was a gift from Mother Nature. Why should my people suffer when energy is almost free and clean” Songo says with a sense of pride and fulfillment.Eleven months later, Songo is fully-engaged in a project to supply solar power to hospitals in rural Cameroon.“It is purely a personal initiative. I provide the energy free of charge. I have been raising some funds for the project through social media campaigns especially on Facebook. People of good of will who believe in helping others and making the world a better place have been of great assistance” he says.Today, Songo has come to install solar panels in the Ngambe District Hospital.He is a native of Ngambe and understands better that anyone else what his people are going through.“As a child I witnessed the suffering my people were experiencing because there was no electricity. It was horrible especially in the hospitals in rural areas or forgotten places. Hospitals are very sensitive and patients need hope. Darkness in hospitals kills that hope” he says while placing two solar panels on the rooftop of the hospital building.“I want to show to the world that without being rich, we can still help others through our skills and…

OPINION For the past 24 global leaders have met to discuss climate change only to come up with policies and resolutions with different acronyms. Right now, the excitement is about the Paris Rule book, which we hope will be a guideline for Paris Agreement implementation. But should we as young people have the same kind of excitement? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 1.5 special report warns that we have only 12 years before we het to a point of climatic changes that will be irreversible, meaning they become permanent. As a young person in my 20s I would be worried because the number 12 is very key for out livelihood. 12 years from now if you are in your 20s you will be around 30 to mean some will have started families or probably settled down in jobs in various sectors like the government, the private sectors and the CSO sectors. But I cannot help to wonder how "Climate Resilient" our young people are. Do they know that the fact that the world has admitted that it may not meet the 100 billion dollar target will affect them far much beyond than they can imagine. The confession by the Standing committee on finance to only meet the 60% of the funds translated that there will be more hardships for your people up ahead. It is evident that the climatic conditions will get worse but it is also evident that the kind of decisions the young people will have to make as the next decision makers in the next 12 years will be even harder. Mr. Antonio Guterres the Secretary General to the UNFCCC said as I quote, "The older generation are behaving badly" while this should not deter the efforts being made but it is clear that the pattern we have been using over the past 24 years are clearly not working. As a young person I fell it is time for not just action but double climate actions. The older generation has had the luxury of banking on the principle of "Common but differentiated Responsibilities" where our developing world claims not to be at par with the developed world thus more responsibility falls on the developed world. I feel we need to look at this principle from a youth perspective where the older generation irregardless of whether or not are developed or not need to own up to the fact that they have more responsibility to sefaguard a future for we the younger generation. More responsibility because they have longer experience and they were present when things were abit better therefore they ought to have safeguarded the environment. As a young people "Double Climate Action" need to not only protect the environment but buffer us from the foreseen tough decisions that wait us ahead.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (PAMACC News) - The green energy sector, water, climate smart food systems and low carbon constructions for human settlements are some of key priority areas for private sector investments that will support South Africa’s climate change outcomes, according to new study released on 10th January 2019 on the sidelines of the Partnership for Action on the Green Economy (PAGE) Ministerial Conference.The study released by the Southern Africa Climate Finance Partnership (SACFP), with support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) further points out that investment in waste recycling and management, where the waste materials are converted into energy such as biogas is also another priority area for investment for positive climate outcomes.“[This] study is important because it seeks to build on the existing body of knowledge pertaining to the mobilisation of private sector finance for climate change action,” said Mohamed Allie Ebrahim, the lead author of the study on’ the potential private sector investment priorities that support South Africa’s climate change outcomes.’ “Moreover, [the study] provides broad recommendations on how to enhance efforts to mobilise private sector finance at scale through leveraging the concessionality of the Green Climate Fund’s financial instruments within South Africa,” said Ebrahim in a statement.The importance of private sector funding in achieving national climate change response actions is further recognised in South Africa’s National Climate Change Response Policy (NCCRP). However, appropriate and innovative climate finance mechanisms are required to catalyse and scale private sector finance for low-carbon climate-resilient development.The 123 page document points at the use of market aggregator mechanism to create scale, pool risk, reduce costs and improve project viability as one of the selected innovative climate finance mechanisms and/or concepts that can be used.Another innovative mechanism identified is the use of funding solutions that address the upfront infrastructure finance gap, by introducing credit-worthy third-party owners and or operators of infrastructure who, in turn, enter into long-term contracts with end-users - among many other mechanisms.It further explored the possibility of establishing a South African Climate Finance Lab, similar to the Brazil Lab or India Lab, which serves as a mechanism for identifying and incubating standalone high-impact, transformative projects. It called for a sustained capacity building with respect to project development, project finance and project implementation, especially at the sub-national level (municipalities, local project developers and financial institutions), including enabling environment support, policy advocacy and technical assistance including understanding the role of Executing Entities under the Green Climate Fund (GCF).In South Africa, the energy sector is the single largest contributor to the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions (81.7% in 2012). Despite the significant increase in renewable energy to the national energy mix from 2000 to 2012, the overall carbon intensity of the national energy system remained fairly constant.However, the government has committed to its shared responsibility for responding to climate change, through the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. In terms…

ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire (PAMACC News) - Solar projects stretching across the Sahel region are expected to connect 250m people with electricity by tapping into the region’s abundant solar resource.The details of the “Desert to Power Initiative” have been outlined as part of the Paris Agreement climate change talks at COP24 in Katowice, Poland this week.Energy poverty in Africa is estimated to cost the continent 2-4 % GDP annually, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is leading the project.The Initiative aims to develop and provide 10 GW of solar energy by 2025 and supply 250 million people with green electricity including in some of the world’s poorest countries. At least 90 million people will be connected to electricity for the first time, lifting them out of energy poverty.Currently, 64% of the Sahel’s population - covering Senegal, Nigeria, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea - lives without electricity, a major barrier to development, with consequences for education, health and business.By harnessing the exceptional solar resource in the region, AfDB and its partners hope to transform the region.Magdalena J. Seol in the AfDB’s Desert to Power Initiative said,“Energy is the foundation of human living - our entire system depends on it. For Africa right now, providing and securing sustainable energy is in the backbone of its economic growth.” adding that lack of energy remains as a significant impediment to Africa’s economic and social development,”The project will provide many benefits to local people, said Ms Seol: It will improve the affordability of electricity for low income households and enable people to transition away from unsafe and hazardous energy sources, such as kerosene, which carry health risks.Construction of the project will also create jobs and help attract private sector involvement in renewable energy in the region.Many women-led businesses currently face bigger barriers than men-led enterprises to accessing grid electricity - so the project has the potential to increase female participation in economic activities and decision-making processes.The project has been launched in collaboration with the Green Climate Fund, a global pot of money created by the 194 countries who are party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to support developing countries adapt to and mitigate climate change. The program is designed to combine private sector capital with blended finance.“If you look at the countries that this initiative supports, they’re the ones who are very much affected by the climate change and carbon emissions from other parts of the world,” said Ms Seol.“Given this, the investments will have a greater effect in these regions, which have a greater demand and market opportunity in the energy sector.”“Women are usually disproportionately negatively affected by energy access issues. Providing a secure and sustainable electricity creates positive impact on gender issue as well.”The African continent holds 15% of the world’s population, yet is poised to shoulder nearly 50% of the estimated global climate change adaptation costs, according to the Bank.These costs are expected to cut across health, water supply, agriculture, and forestry, despite…