BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) An important programme on how Agroforestry can be part of the solution to climate change has been published in a policy brief by the World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF. The programme, launched at a side event at COP23 in Bonn, November 15, 2017 highlights how Agroforestry projects can propel achievement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs )of different countries. Organised by the government of Peru and the World Agroforestry Centre, the event focused on the Peru’s experience in multi-sectoral process to the NDC implementation. The Peru government is leading a multi-stakeholder process through a Multi-sectorial working group, comprising 13 ministries and the Centre of Strategic Planning to meet NDC and sustainable development objectives. Agroforestry is a potential action being explored, says Elsa Galarza, Peru’s Minister of Environment. “Agroforestry has the potential to help governments better achieve their NDCs like the case of Peru,” Galarza said. Officials of the World Agroforestry Centre, says the new policy brief draws from Peru's experience, seeking to explore the degree to which agroforestry is represented in current NDCs ambitions, how its application is envisaged and contribution enhanced in other countries. “The programme is geared at better promoting coordinated climate action and helping governments to promote institutional arrangements for implementation of NDCs via Agroforestry projects,” notes Dr Peter Minang, Leader, Landscapes Governance Theme, World Agroforestry Centre. According to the policy brief, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) have emerged as the main tool for defining, communicating and potentially reporting party contributions to the Paris Agreement on climate change. “Agroforestry has been identified as a key part of most developing country NDCs, hence it is a potentially important contributor to global climate objectives,” the brief stated. The NDCs align accordingly with relevant national policies as equal priority is given to balancing environmental integrity and development goals in order to ensure implementation of commitments, while transitioning to low emissions and to building climate resilience. Parity is then sought between adaptation and mitigation objectives. It also represents a process of prioritization in which countries consider options and possible scope for contributing to global climate mitigation objectives and increasingly, adaptation objectives beyond 2020. NDCs cover most of the possible emission reduction pathways and sectors from energy, transport, industry, through land use and land use changes including agriculture and forestry among others. Depending on the circumstances, mainly the sources of emissions and opportunities for emission reduction and resources, countries choose and prioritize different sectors Dr Minang says. The policy brief by ICRAF highlights that, “agroforestry is one of the land uses with most potential to fulfill commitments set out in NDCs and reduce emissions from agriculture”. Estimates of its potential to sequester vary widely, between 1.1–34.2 Pg C1globally. Over 85% of the 22 NDCs assessed mentioned agroforestry as a strategy for achieving unconditional NDCs commitments. Data from the brief shows that by converting 25% of deforested areas to agroforestry, about 80% of the non-annex I countries could achieve their unconditional commitments. The widespread use of agroforestry (about one billion hectares) and…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) In an innovative push to better drive its development projects in the continent, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is looking forward to launching the Africa Environment Partnership Platform in May 2018. The Platform NEPAD officials say will serve as a coordinating organ to help galvanize resource mobilization efforts and for pursuing resource mobilization strategies, approaches to support the implementation of environmental initiatives, particularly those identified in the Environment Action Plan. “We have great initiatives on land degradation, like the great green wall, Grow Africa Programme, Africa Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), so we hope this platform will be able to help us better coordinate these different activities,” Estherine Fotabong NEPAD Director of Programmes implementation and coordination said in an interview with PAMACC at COP23 in Bonn,Germany. The Environment Partnership Platform according to a concept note from NEPAD is in responds to a request from the African Union Summit which mandated African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) to conduct a substantive analysis of the outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) Summit and develop a roadmap for the effective implementation of the outcomes in Africa. “The platform will coordinate, mobilize resources, foster knowledge and align support for the implementation of the Environment Action Plan,” the concept note stated. Additionally, the 14th Session of AMCEN of September 2012, decided to develop and implement Regional Flagship Programmes (RFPs) as a means to ensure the effective implementation of the outcomes of the Rio +20 Summit. The platform will seek to deliver a paradigm shift in addressing environmental degradation in Africa, in both public and private sectors and to develop innovative models. It will also engender the prerequisite political support, needed institutional structures and adequate human capacity at national and regional levels to ensure integrated environmental management. The environment, though a cross cutting, will remain distinct and adequately harmonized with other sectors and priorities like agriculture, infrastructure and energy. Climate related risks will increasingly be mainstreamed into development and adaptation actions that will be carried out in priority regions and sectors to meet the need of especially vulnerable rural populations in Africa, according to NEPAD. The rural populations of Africa are heavily dependent on natural resources for livelihoods with the ecosystem providing food, medicine, energy and construction materials, thus the need to better coordinate project activities geared at guaranteeing food security. “Food security for Africa is not only derived from agriculture but also from natural resources and the ecosystems,” Fotabong points out. The platform is in response to a strong imperative to adopt a multi-sectoral approach to programme designing and implementation and strengthen the necessary synergies and improve coordination at various levels. To achieve this, a country-driven and regionally-integrated Initiative that will provide the tools for action and platform for partnerships that will deliver results has become imperative. Coordinated by NEPAD, the initiative will be fully aligned with and be an integral part of the CAADP framework, as well as cultivating the necessary multi-sectoral engagements, including…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News): Rural and vulnerable populations in developing countries could miss out on multiple wide-ranging benefits if they are forced to wait years, or even decades, to get access to electricity through first-ever power from the grid instead of through quicker to deploy decentralized renewable energy solutions, according to a report announced by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and Power for All today. The “Why Wait? Seizing the Energy Access Dividend” report presents a first-of-its-kind approach to developing a framework for understanding and quantifying the financial, educational and environmental dividends for households through accelerated access to decentralized electricity, such as solar home systems and clean energy mini-grids. The report indicates that households in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya – which were used as report case studies – can save hundreds of dollars, equivalent to the average annual income of between 61,800 and 406,000 people depending on the country and timeframe to deliver universal access, by bringing electricity access forward through use of solar to power household services like lighting and mobile-phone charging instead of kerosene or costly external phone-charging services. Another benefit from decentralized services is more time for studying—equivalent to the time spent in school each year of between 142,000 and 2 million students depending on the country and timeframe to deliver universal access. Announced at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, the data also shows significant black carbon emission reductions across the three countries – as much as 330 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, or roughly the emissions from 60 million passenger vehicles driven for one year– due to reduced kerosene use. Why Wait? uses a framework for estimating the dividends of electricity access that is designed to help government leaders and other decision-makers assess the comparative advantages of different electrification options and services – ranging from more limited Tier 1 electricity service (a few hours of power a day) to more robust and costly Tiers 4 and 5 - to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 of universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. In an apparent response to the report, the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) in collaboration with the Big Shift Campaign organised a protest against the financing of fossil fuels on the sidelines of the COP 23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany. Campaigners at the event offered delegates the chance to put chocolate coins into either a green piggy bank representing green energy, or a brown piggy bank representing fossil fuels. PACJA's Augustine Njamshi decried the state of energy poverty in Africa but vowed that civil society groups will frustrate attempts at pushing dirty energy solutions in Africa. "For us in Africa, there are only two solutions to energy deficit, reneweable energy and renewable energy, nothing more," Njamshi added. Speaking on the report, Rachel Kyte, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General and CEO, Sustainable Energy for All, said: “Decision makers are faced with competing priorities against finite resources. “Why Wait” provides powerful evidence…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) African groups participating in the 23rd conference of parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have expressed their frustrations over the seemingly endless trail of negotiations. Speaking at a press conference on the side-lines of the ongoing climate talks, leaders of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) expressed dismay over the slow progress of negotiations and inertia on the part of developed country parties. “Time is up for negotiations,” Roger Nkodo Dang (MP), President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) said. “For 21 years we have negotiated, and now we have the Paris Agreement. There is nothing more to negotiate, its time to implement the Paris Agreement,” Nkodo Dang added. According to the Chair of the Pan African Parliament committee on Rural Economy and Agriculture, Hon. Jacqueline Amogine, “climate change in Africa has a gender imperative as women are the most affected when there is no food on the table and no water to drink.” “If the COP must remain relevant, it has to move from talk to action especially on the implementation of the key aspects of the Paris Agreement,” Hon Amogine says. Evaluating the progress after one week of negotiations, the coalition of African civil society groups under the aegis of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) expressed their concern over the little progress which brackets many issues regarding the means of implementation of the Paris Agreement. “We are worried that the aspect of differentiation relating to climate finance is vanishing in the negotiations so far, PACJA’s Mithika Mwenda said. “We are concerned about the fulfilment of the pre-2020 finance commitment on the provision of $100 billion per year up to 2020 and we urge the COP Presidency to initiate talks of the new finance goal here in Bonn to show urgency of the matter,” the PACJA Secretary General added. African groups also expressed their strong support for adaptation to serve the Paris Agreement and they warned that the current discussions on the agenda should not be dragged to next year. “The agreement should be concluded here at the COP23 and parties should maintain the current governance structure as well as ensure sustainability of funding sources,” the groups added. Meanwhile, frustrated NGOs are again thinking of suing the governments of rich nations over their inaction in combatting climate change-induced loss and damage. An abiding nightmare of many developed country governments, the thirdpole.net says, is a slew of lawsuits seeking compensation in the International Court of Justice, as these countries have been responsible for most of the build up of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere. This is why developed country delegations pushed for legal liability to be removed from the Paris Agreement at the UN climate talks two years ago. The trade-off was that rich nations would “enable action and provide support to developing countries” to deal with the loss and damage. Harjeet Singh, the global lead on climate change at ActionAid, says…