NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Climate change is causing significant changes to phytoplankton in the world's oceans, and a new study Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) finds that over the coming decades these changes will affect the ocean's color, intensifying its blue regions and its green ones. Satellites should detect these changes in hue, providing early warning of wide-scale changes to marine ecosystems.Writing in Nature Communications, researchers report that they have developed a global model that simulates the growth and interaction of different species of phytoplankton, or algae, and how the mix of species in various locations will change as temperatures rise around the world. The researchers also simulated the way phytoplankton absorb and reflect light, and how the ocean's color changes as global warming affects the makeup of phytoplankton communities.The researchers ran the model through the end of the 21st century and found that, by the year 2100, more than 50 percent of the world's oceans will shift in color, due to climate change.The study suggests that blue regions, such as the subtropics, will become even more blue, reflecting even less phytoplankton -- and life in general -- in those waters, compared with today. Some regions that are greener today, such as near the poles, may turn even deeper green, as warmer temperatures brew up larger blooms of more diverse phytoplankton."The model suggests the changes won't appear huge to the naked eye, and the ocean will still look like it has blue regions in the subtropics and greener regions near the equator and poles," says lead author Stephanie Dutkiewicz, a principal research scientist at MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. "That basic pattern will still be there. But it'll be enough different that it will affect the rest of the food web that phytoplankton supports."Dutkiewicz's co-authors include Oliver Jahn of MIT, Anna Hickman of the University of Southhampton, Stephanie Henson of the National Oceanography Centre Southampton, Claudie Beaulieu of the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Erwan Monier of the University of California at Davis.Chlorophyll countThe ocean's color depends on how sunlight interacts with whatever is in the water. Water molecules alone absorb almost all sunlight except for the blue part of the spectrum, which is reflected back out. Hence, relatively barren open-ocean regions appear as deep blue from space. If there are any organisms in the ocean, they can absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light, depending on their individual properties.Phytoplankton, for instance, contain chlorophyll, a pigment which absorbs mostly in the blue portions of sunlight to produce carbon for photosynthesis, and less in the green portions. As a result, more green light is reflected back out of the ocean, giving algae-rich regions a greenish hue.Since the late 1990s, satellites have taken continuous measurements of the ocean's color. Scientists have used these measurements to derive the amount of chlorophyll, and by extension, phytoplankton, in a given ocean region. But Dutkiewicz says chlorophyll doesn't…

Reporting Fellowships The Pan African Media Alliance for Climate Change (PAMACC) has partnered with SouthSouthNorth Projects Africa (SSNA) which is acting on behalf of Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) to have its member journalists report deeply on the social and political implications of delivering weather and climate services in East Africa. We are particularly interested in journalists who are looking to expand their knowledge of weather and climate services reporting. We encourage staff writers for East African publications to apply. Stories should broadly focus on the topic of delivering weather and climate services in East Africa, fulfilling one of the following topics: A weather or climate service which has contributed positively to lives and livelihoods by helping communities or decision makers deal with extreme weather events (such as storms, flood and droughts). A national meteorological agency (potentially in partnership with civil society or the private sector) is delivering a new or novel weather or climate service that is improving (or may improve) the lives of recipients. Better information on climate change that can support better policy or planning decisions or poverty alleviation efforts. A new technology that has been tested or commercialised to provide a weather or climate service. There is a strong preference for deep reporting on WISER projects, but it is expected that journalists use their discretion in deciding what the most important weather and climate service-related stories in their country (or region) that fit the above briefs. Based on the above information, PAMACC is running a closed competition for its active members to produce six major stories across at least three countries in East Africa. The stories will be produced between January and November 2019. Timelines This call runs from today (February 4, 2019) to March 8, 2019. Review and shortlisting will be done from March 11, 2019 to March 17, 2019. Production of the first three stories is expected to begin on March 18, 2019 to June 30, 2019. Production of the last three stories runs from July 1, 2019 to November 15, 2019. Winning journalists will be paid fees for covering the stories, travel and production expenses. We encourage coverage across different media, including print, radio, television and online publications. Journalists should only be paid once stories are published. Eligible candidates will be based in, and hold passports for, one of the following countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Somalia Tanzania and Uganda. Successful candidates will have at least five years reporting experience. A background in climate change reporting is not a prerequisite; we encourage journalist with a background in environmental, political, business, or science and technology reporting to apply. A strong track record in original coverage of development stories in East Africa will be seen as a positive. Strong spoken and written English is necessary. In your applications, kindly include the following: A covering letter describing the applicant’s work history - 300 word maximum Four published stories A pitch for a story that fulfils the given criteria. The stories will first…

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.