BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) – As the 23rd round of climate change negotiations kick off in Bonn Germany, the chair of the Least Developed Countries has called on the negotiators to prioritise funding and support towards implementation of the deal agreed upon in Paris in December 2015.
"COP 23 is an important opportunity to bridge the widening finance gap, (which is) a serious barrier to ambitious climate action worldwide,” said Gebru Jember Endalew, Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group.
The Paris Agreement set a vision for an ambitious global response to climate change that will keep warming below 1.5°C, in a fair and equitable manner that promotes sustainable development.
“This COP is a vital step on our journey to setting out a clear rulebook that will fully implement the vision laid out at Paris,” he said observing that COP 23 is the final round of negotiations before the work programme of the Paris Agreement is to be finalised. “We must (therefore) hope to leave Bonn with a draft negotiating text that can be fleshed out over the coming year."
The United Nations climate change negotiations kicked off in Bonn on November 6 and will end in two weeks time. Hosted by Fiji, the negotiations are a key milestone towards finalisation of the rules that will govern implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The impacts of rising global temperatures continue to worsen. In the lead up to COP23, there was historic monsoon flooding, resulting in over a thousand lives lost and the displacement of over two million people in South Asia; the impact of consecutive seasons of drought in Africa; historic rainfall (with Hurricane Harvey setting a single-storm rainfall record in the United States, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage); and historic windspeeds laying waste to many Caribbean island territories (with Hurricane Irma recording the highest windspeed on record for the open Atlantic Ocean).
The catastrophic impacts of these extreme weather events, according to Endalew, underlie the urgency of substantive progress and action in Bonn.
“LDCs will be pushing to deliver a Paris rulebook that catalyses greater ambition to correct our current trajectory and put the world on track to keep warming below 1.5°C. This means robust frameworks for reporting, implementation and compliance, and gauging progress across all facets of the Paris Agreement and climate Convention," said the LDC chair.
"As the 47 poorest countries in the world, the LDCs face the unique and unprecedented challenge of lifting our people out of poverty and achieving sustainable development without relying on fossil fuels,” he said.
Endalew observed that global solidarity and the support of the international community is essential for LDCs to achieve our ambitious climate plans, and protect the people from devastating impacts of climate change that are already taking their toll.
At COP23 the LDC Group is calling on developed countries to rapidly accelerate the delivery of climate finance, with a particular focus on public finance. Both the Least Developed Countries Fund and the Adaptation Fund need to be replenished continuously and as soon as possible.
Clear guidelines and adequate technological and capacity building support is also vital to enable the LDCs carry out actions to adapt to climate change and cope with losses and damages that threaten the survival of poor and vulnerable LDC communities.
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - Cameroon is witnessing significant progress in its electricity and transport infrastructure development in the last few years, but for lack of financial and technical knowhow, the impetus is coming from China, government authorities say.
According to Cameroon’s minister of the economy, planning and regional development, Louis Paul Motaze, many planned infrastructure projects geared at driving double digit economic growth by 2035, lay the building blocks for attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), that had been treading water in the last decade have since taken off thanks to financing opportunities from Chinese banks.
“We are grateful to our partners from China for regularly providing financial support to boost the much needed infrastructure projects in Cameroon,” says Louis Paul Motaze at the signing of two framework agreements worth 973 RMB in Yaounde September 22, 2017.
Government says China has become its prime investment partner in energy and road infrastructure since the launch of the country’s economic development programme dubbed Vision2035.
The project is geared at eradicating poverty and help the country become a middle income country with a double digit economic growth.
“It is about enabling our country to reach a level of development such that every Cameroonian can live decently on his work, raise his children properly, and have decent housing and protection from disease,” President Paul Biya said at his end of year address to the nation in 2014.
In the East and South region of the country, Chinese firms have undertaken several energy and transport infrastructure projects that are changing the lives of the population.
Renewable energy Infrastructure
In 2015 a solar power station project constructed in Nvogmeka,the village of the President of the Republic,Paul Biya, by Huawei Technologies Company Cameroon Ltd. in Cameroon's South Region today provides energy for the over 15,000 villagers. The project constructed in two phases provides energy capacity of 72 KW. The population say the project has since brought measured hope.
“It is a miracle that we are getting energy for our businesses from the sun. Now we too can fight unemployment with business activities like those in the city,” admits Jules Atangana who now operates a beer palour in Nvogmeka.
Cameroonian’s Water Resources and Energy Minister Atangana Kouna Basile and Huawei Technologies Company Cameroon Ltd. General Manager Ni Zheng both acknowledged the importance of the project especially in a typical village setting.
“In the absence of hydro-electricity, renewable energy provide solution pathways to energy shortage in rural areas,” says Atangana Kouna.
Statistics from the government show that over 60% of villages in Cameroon have no electricity, due to the cost of connecting with national grid. But with the coming of renewable energy, the trend is changing, the minister says.
Like Mvogmeka, Huawei has provided new solar power station projects for 166 villages in Cameroon, bringing benefit to more villagers in the country.
Other Chinese-sponsored renewable energy projects include the 409 solar panels constructed in 2013 and today lighting Ngousso and Soa in the Centre region in Yaounde costing over 1.5billion FCFA. The Kribi Gas Fired Plant that is already producing 216 MW of energy in the country.
Hydro-electricity
In the hydro-electricity sector, the first phase 6 billion cubic-metre capacity reservoir dam of Lom Pangar in Cameroon’s East Region constructed by a Chinese firm, China Water and Electric Group has been completed. The project government says cost some 494 million USD.
Lom Pangar Hydropower Project is expected to increase hydropower generation capacity, reduce seasonal variability of water flow in the Sanaga River and increase access to electricity. The dam is 46 meters high and 7 meters wide at the crest. The Lom Pangar Power Plant and Transmission Line 30 MW hydropower plant consists of four Francis turbines constructed at the foot of the dam.
The construction of the Memve’ele hydro-electricity dam in the South region has also brought significant progress in the region.
Constructed by Chinese company Sinohydro Corporation Limited, Waffo Narcisse head of environment pole and on-site manager of the dam project said the construction works on the energy infrastructure “have been completed.”
Jointly financed by China Eximbank and the government through a FCFA 243 billion loan solely for the construction of the dam, the energy infrastructure is expected to inject an additional 201 MW of electricity into the national energy supply network and contribute to narrow the country’s electricity capacity deficit.
The coming of the multibillion-Franc Memve'ele Hydroelectric Dam with socio-economic development projects has brought pointed hope and measured blessings not only to the indigenous community of the project village Nyabizan but the entire Ma’an subdivision in the Ntem Valley Division of the South region.
The population says the energy infrastructure is manna from heaven.
“The coming of the Memve’ele dam is a special gift from God. It is like turning darkness into daylight,” says Obam Ghislain an indigene of Nyabizan village.
A striking development brought by the dam is the rapid population surge in Nyabizan village from about 200 in June 2012 during the launch of construction works, to more than 2,500
Road Infrastructure
In addition to hydro-electricity, Chinese support is also driving road infrastructure development in the country. Cameroon has a pivotal place within Central Africa’s economic grouping, providing important access routes to sea ports on the Gulf of Guinea for its landlocked neighbours. Recent developments in road and rail networks are set to drive the region’s economic growth experts say.
“The government has been implementing a massive public investment programme including roads, deep-sea ports to meet the country’s plan for double digit growth,” says Paul Tasong, Commissioner in Charge of Economic, Financial & Monetary Policy for the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).
The road currently servicing the deep-water port of Kribi, the largest port structure in Cameroon for example, will be served by a motorway from 2018. The completion rate of this 38.5-km long motorway built by the Chinese company CHEC is over 66%, according to the management of the operational unit of the Kribi port complex.
Based on projections made by the government, the Kribi-Lolabe motorway will later join the Edea-Kribi motorway, thus enabling vehicles to easily reach the deep-water port of Kribi from Douala, the economic capital of the country.
Another road infrastructure construction works going on by the Chinese company is the Yaounde-Douala (first stretch of 80 km) and Yaounde-Nsimalen (20 km to service the Nsimalen airport in Yaounde) motorways, the Kribi-Lolabe highway all expected to be completed by 2018.
According to government, the global cost of this highway project is officially estimated at FCfa 250 billion, with 86% of the funding provided by Exim Bank of China, and 15% from the State of Cameroon.
Chinese company China Road & Bridge Corporation, also got the contract worth FCfa 8.6 billion in total in 2016 to build the Logpom-Logbesou-PK 14 road in the city of Douala, the economic capital of the country.
The construction works to be undertaken in 24-months period according to the minister of public works Emmanual Nganou Njoumessi will also be completed by June 2018.
Challenges
Many development partners have joined the Cameroon government to hail China’s support to the multiple development drive. However some civil society and economic experts say Cameroon’s over dependence on China for funding has led to increase oversights on Chinese-linked activities especially in natural resource exploitation. Others have criticized the surge in Cameroon’s debt in recent years as a result of the open door policy of Chinese supported funding.
“The over dependence by Cameroon on China for funding has not only increased the country’s debt burden but has also increased the presence of Chinese business operators in virtually all sectors in the economy,said Bernard Njonga, coordinator of Cameroon-based NGO Support Service for Local Development Initiatives (SAILD).
In a June 2016 report, the World Bank noted that Cameroon’s debt levels had increased markedly and another 2015 analysis prepared with the International Monetary Fund put the country at high risk of debt distress.
Statistics from the government shows that Chinese supported investment in Cameroon is worth two and half times more than all other sources of foreign support. About 80% of these investments are in infrastructure such as roads, water, electricity, seaports with funding coming from Chinese private as well as public banks like the China Exim Bank and China Development Bank.
Between 2008 and 2015, China granted loans to Cameroon worth 3 billion US dollars (1,648 billion FCFA), mainly forinfrastructure, road construction and telecommunications development.
Future Perspectives
Cameroon's minister of energy, water and electricity, says the demand for electricity is expected to increase by between 7 percent and 8 percent yearly, necessitation the need for technology transfer to better empower local engineers address these growing needs in the future. He thus lauded the technical expertise in the electricity engineering and road construction sector brought by the different Chinese firms.
“The transfer of Chinese technical knowhow to locals will ensure sustainability to better address infrastructure needs in the future,” Atangana Kouna noted.
About 600 million Africans still live without electric power. But that can be cut to zero with newly acquired skills in the extension of national grids, building local micro-grids and installing solar home systems by home based engineers, the minister said.
Win-win Partnership
Chinese officials say the open financial support for infrastructure development in Cameroon in particular and Africa in general is embedded in its win-win economic development policy.
The Chinese Ambassador to Cameroon, His Excellency Wei Wenhua says his country has opted to stand by Cameroon in a win-win development policy.
“Both Cameroon and China have decided to support each other and are confident they will reap the benefits of their cooperation ties,” says Wei Wenhua in a meeting with Cameroon’s Sports and Physical Education Minister ,Bidoung Mpkwatt on September 9th 2017 in Yaounde.
Zhang Shuo of the Concessionary Loan Department told the press in Yaounde recently that both Cameroon and China derives benefit in all financial transactions they engaged in.
“The win-win aspects is very important in all financial agreement we carry out,” Zhang said. She said it was to reinforce the win- policy that Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China has announced a change in financing policy in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC projects in Cameroon.
"It was recommended that Chinese companies not only execute Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC projects financed by Exim Bank of China, but should henceforth participate in investing and running them," she explained.
According to Zhang Shuo, the measure is meant to help raise the sense of responsibility of Chinese companies vis a vis the beneficiary African countries.
Embodying the principle of mutual benefit, China has consistently combined the extension of financial assistance for infrastructure construction in Africa with the expansion of Chinese business interests and the pursuit of resource security goals she says.
Finance from Chinese Bank according to other reports has also contributed to the internationalization of the renminbi. Though the currency is not convertible on international markets, for the most part, the Chinese Communist Party leadership is keen to give it a role beside the euro and the US dollar.
This report was produced as a result of a grant provided by the Africa-China Reporting Project managed by the Journalism Department of the University of the Witwatersrand.
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (PAMACC News) - As the global community turns attention and focus towards a green growth pathway, the African Forest Forum (AFF) is exploring avenues to improve forest management in a manner that better addresses poverty eradication and environmental protection in Africa.
The AFF, a pan-African non-governmental organization, is implementing a project titled: “Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management in Africa” to generate and share knowledge and information through partnerships in ways that will provide inputs into policy options and capacity building efforts.
One of the key project objectives is to enhance capacity of institutions and individuals – including farmers and farmer organizations, and other private sector actors, professional organizations, and public sector organizations – to achieve forest compatible development.
“The increased global interest in forestry management and green economy offers opportunities for resource mobilization from both public and private sources to support forest management in Africa,” said Professor Godwin Kowero, Executive Secretary of AFF. “The sustainable utilization and conservation of forests to maintain and/or enhance forest ecosystem services is a major part of the green growth pathway, because it also generates co-benefits such as the conservation of biodiversity while securing forest based livelihoods of local communities”.
Prof. Kowero recently addressed a regional workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which provided a platform for stakeholders in forestry education to deliberate on training programmes that will produce appropriate forestry graduates to manage forests in a changing world.
“The advocacy for effective forest management policies is now driven mainly by a strong and vibrant civil society and an increasingly informed population. It is therefore important to understand how forestry education on the continent is preparing the future generation in putting the forestry sector on a green economy pathway,” he stated.
He also touched on another key area – climate change – stating that over and above its contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation, the role of forests in enhancing the climate resilience of communities to environmental changes in general is being recognized as an important opportunity.
“Due to the need to contain global warming, we have a new commercial product in the forestry sector, forest carbon. It is important to understand how our training institutions are handling these and related issues,” Prof. Kowero noted.
He further stated that it is very important to understand how our education in forestry is shaping a generation that can meaningfully use forest and tree resources to address issues of food and nutrition security on the continent.
The Africa Forest Forum has commissioned two studies in Anglophone, Lusophone and Francophone Sub-Sahara African countries that look into the needs of employers of forestry graduates from the universities and technical colleges.
The employer needs or expectations are matched with what these institutions offer in their curricula.
The AFF will receive and discuss the findings and decide how the continent can contain the identified gaps in training that have become apparent.
GENEVA, Switzerland (PAMACC News) – Governments and non-state actors need to deliver an urgent increase in ambition to ensure the Paris Agreement goals can still be met, according to a new UN assessment.
The eighth edition of UN Environment’s Emissions Gap report, released ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, finds that national pledges only bring a third of the reduction in emissions required by 2030 to meet climate targets, with private sector and sub-national action not increasing at a rate that would help close this worrying gap.
The Paris Agreement looks to limit global warming to under 2°C, with a more ambitious goal of 1.5°C also on the table. Meeting these targets would reduce the likelihood of severe climate impacts that could damage human health, livelihoods and economies across the globe.
As things stand, even full implementation of current unconditional and conditional Nationally Determined Contributions makes a temperature increase of at least 3°C by 2100 very likely – meaning that governments need to deliver much stronger pledges when they are revised in 2020.
Should the United States follow through with its stated intention to leave the Paris Agreement in 2020, the picture could become even bleaker.
The report does, however, lay out practical ways to slash emissions through rapidly expanding mitigation action based on existing options in the agriculture, buildings, energy, forestry, industry and transport sectors.
Strong action on other climate forcers – such as hydrofluorocarbons, through the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and other short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon– could also make a real contribution.
“One year after the Paris Agreement entered into force, we still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.
“This is unacceptable. If we invest in the right technologies, ensuring that the private sector is involved, we can still meet the promise we made to our children to protect their future.But we have to get on the case now.”
CO2 emissions have remained stable since 2014, driven in part by renewable energy, notably in China and India. This has raised hopes that emissions have peaked, as they must by 2020 to remain on a successful climate trajectory. However, the report warns that other greenhouse gases, such as methane, are still rising, and a global economic growth spurt could easily put CO2emissions back on an upward trajectory.
The report finds that current Paris pledges make 2030 emissions likely to reach11 to 13.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) above the level needed to stay on the least-cost path to meeting the 2oCtarget. One gigatonne is roughly equivalent to one year of transport emissions in the European Union (including aviation).
The emissions gap in the case of the 1.5oC target is 16 to 19 GtCO2e, higher than previous estimates as new studies have become available.
“The Paris Agreement boosted climate action, but momentum is clearly faltering,” said Dr. Edgar E. Gutiérrez-Espeleta, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, and President of the 2017 UN Environment Assembly. “We face a stark choice: up our ambition, or suffer the consequences.”
Investing in technology key to success
To avoid overshooting the Paris goals, governments (including by updating their Paris pledges), the private sector, cities and others need to urgently pursue actions that will bring deeper and more-rapid cuts.
The report lays out ways to do so, particularly in agriculture, buildings, energy, forestry, industry and transport. Technology investments in these sectors – at an investment cost of under $100 per tonne of CO2 avoided, often much lower – could save up to 36 GtCO2e per year by 2030.
Much of the potential across the sectors comes from investment solar and wind energy, efficient appliances, efficient passenger cars, afforestation and stopping deforestation. Focusing only on recommended actions in these areas – which have modest or net-negative costs – could cut up to 22 GtCO2e in 2030.
These savings alone would put the world well on track to hitting the 2°C target, and unlock the possibility of reaching the aspirational 1.5°C target.
Non-state action and other initiatives
Actions pledged by non-state and sub-national bodies (such as cities and the private sector) could reduce the 2030 emissions gap by a few GtCO2e, even accounting for overlap with Nationally Determined Contributions. The world’s 100 largest emitting publicly traded companies, for example, account for around a quarter of global greenhouse emissions, demonstrating huge room for increased ambition.
The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol aims to phase out the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons – chemicals primarily used in air conditioning, refrigeration and foam insulation. If successfully implemented, it kicks-in too late to impact the 2030 gap, but can make a real contribution to reaching the longer-term temperature goals.
By mid-century,reductions in short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon and methane, could help reduce impacts that are based on cumulative heat uptake and help to ensure a steady and lower temperature trajectory towards the long-term Paris goals.
Also, while the G20 is collectively on track to meet its Cancun climate pledges for 2020, these pledges do not create a sufficiently ambitious starting point to meet the Paris goals(see attached analysis of Cancun pledges). Although 2020 is just around the corner, G20 nations can still carry out actions that lead to short-term reductions and open the way for more changes over the following decade.
Avoiding new coal-fired power plants and accelerated phasing out of existing plants – ensuring careful handling of issues such as employment, investor interests and grid stability – would help.There are an estimated 6,683 operating coal-fired power plants in the world, with a combined capacity of 1,964 GW. If these plants are operated until the end of their lifetime and not retrofitted with Carbon Capture and Storage, they would emit an accumulated 190 Gt of CO2.
In early 2017, an additional 273 GW of coal-fired capacity was under construction and 570 GW in pre-construction. These new plants could lead to additional accumulated emissions of approximately 150 Gt CO2. Ten countries make up approximately 85% of the entire coal pipeline: China, India, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea.
The report also looks at CO2 removal from the atmosphere – through afforestation, reforestation, forest management, restoration of degraded lands and soil carbon enhancement – as an option for action.
Additionally, a new report released by the 1 Gigaton Coalition on the same day shows that partner-supported renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in developing countries can cut1.4 GtCO2e by 2020 – provided the international community meets its promise to mobilize US$100 billion per year to help developing countries adapt to climate change and reduce their emissions.
“As renewable energy and energy efficiency bring other benefits – including better human health and jobs – I urge the international community to deliver on the funding they promised to support developing nations in their climate action,” said Ms Ine Eriksen Søreide, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. “Partner-supported renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and policies are vital for global decarbonization, as they provide key resources and create enabling environments in critical regions.”
The 1 Gigaton Coalition is supported by UN Environment and the Norwegian Government.
The benefits of a low-carbon society on global pollution – by, for example, cutting the millions of air pollution-related deaths each year – are also clearly illustrated in Towards a pollution-free planet, a report by the UN Environment Executive Director that will be presented at the upcoming United Nations Environment Assembly. The report lays out an ambitious framework to tackle pollution, including through political leadership, moving to sustainable consumption and production and investing big in sustainable development.
