BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Civil society organisations across the globe working to fight climate change in different countries have called on governments to use the climate talks in Bonn to pick up from the ashes in Marrakech and push for progress in the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Like the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, PACJA, the Climate Action Network (CAN) and other prominent civil society groups have added their voice to that of other development actors, to see the Paris Agreement make significant progress that brings measured hope and pointed actions.
At a side event focused on ensuring robust transparency mechanism in the implementation of the Paris Agreement Framework, PACJA programme officer, Sam Ogallah emphasised on the need to leverage the expertise of Non-Party stakeholders to better ensure transparency.
Information to the press released by CAN-France at the ongoing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,UNFCCC, Climate conference in Bonn-Germany highlights the expectations of civil society groups with emphasis on the need to move forward from the ashes of COP 22 in Marrakech.
Sven Harmeling, Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator at CARE International, emphasised that ''the urgency to get the Paris Agreement off the ground is crucial given that impacts from climate change are becoming more glaring with more droughts in Africa and heat waves in India.''
He said the scale of ambition has to be commensurate with the urgency that are seen from impacts.
Speaking on the specifics of advancing work on implementation, he added, "We also need to see Parties at Bonn bring more clarity and progress on accounting modalities for climate finance which was a left-over issue from Marrakech."
Brandon Wu, policy director from ActionAid US, highlighted that as uncertainty on the US' position on the Paris Agreement continues, civil society groups urge the Trump administration to stay in the Agreement but it must also respect the spirit of the Agreement to meet the goals of Paris.
"Even at the current scenario we don't meet the goals of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees C and any move to scale down ambition will definitely not meet this goal- which is what Paris is all about," he added. There has been a remarkable push from Governors and Mayors to keep the US in the Agreement, he added.
Lucile Dufour of CAN-France spoke about the victory of Emmanuel Macron and it's implications to climate action.
"Although Macron did not make energy transition a priority during his campaign, he is unlikely to stop environment progress. Without a push from other leaders and civil society he will not increase ambition so we still have work ahead of us. He said France will keep the lead in global climate progress.
"If he is to do this he needs to adopt climate policies to increase international solidarity and domestic policies to raise ambition."
BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Civil society organisations across the globe working to fight climate change in different countries have called on governments to use the climate talks in Bonn to pick up from the ashes in Marrakech and push for progress in the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Like the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, PACJA, the Climate Action Network (CAN) and other prominent civil society groups have added their voice to that of other development actors, to see the Paris Agreement make significant progress that brings measured hope and pointed actions.
At a side event focused on ensuring robust transparency mechanism in the implementation of the Paris Agreement Framework, PACJA programme officer, Sam Ogallah emphasised on the need to leverage the expertise of Non-Party stakeholders to better ensure transparency.
Information to the press released by CAN-France at the ongoing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,UNFCCC, Climate conference in Bonn-Germany highlights the expectations of civil society groups with emphasis on the need to move forward from the ashes of COP 22 in Marrakech.
Sven Harmeling, Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator at CARE International, emphasised that ''the urgency to get the Paris Agreement off the ground is crucial given that impacts from climate change are becoming more glaring with more droughts in Africa and heat waves in India.''
He said the scale of ambition has to be commensurate with the urgency that are seen from impacts.
Speaking on the specifics of advancing work on implementation, he added, "We also need to see Parties at Bonn bring more clarity and progress on accounting modalities for climate finance which was a left-over issue from Marrakech."
Brandon Wu, policy director from ActionAid US, highlighted that as uncertainty on the US' position on the Paris Agreement continues, civil society groups urge the Trump administration to stay in the Agreement but it must also respect the spirit of the Agreement to meet the goals of Paris.
"Even at the current scenario we don't meet the goals of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees C and any move to scale down ambition will definitely not meet this goal- which is what Paris is all about," he added. There has been a remarkable push from Governors and Mayors to keep the US in the Agreement, he added.
Lucile Dufour of CAN-France spoke about the victory of Emmanuel Macron and it's implications to climate action.
"Although Macron did not make energy transition a priority during his campaign, he is unlikely to stop environment progress. Without a push from other leaders and civil society he will not increase ambition so we still have work ahead of us. He said France will keep the lead in global climate progress.
"If he is to do this he needs to adopt climate policies to increase international solidarity and domestic policies to raise ambition."
Bonn, German (PAMACC News) - In a next round of UN climate change negotiations, nations are meeting from 8 – 18 May 2017 to further develop the guidelines needed to fully implement the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement now and over the decades to come.
Issues under discussion range from ensuring transparency on the reporting of climate action by nations to the provision of climate finance.
Next to the negotiations on the operational rules of the Agreement, which are scheduled to be completed in 2018, governments will also prepare the budget of the Bonn-based UNFCCC secretariat.
The budget is designed to support governments implement the Paris Agreement and provide a range of assistance to developing countries to help them meet their climate action plans or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
“The May meeting provides governments with the opportunity to clearly advance on the implementation guidelines for making the Paris Agreement fully operational while advancing preparations for the assessment, to take place next year, on progress since Paris,” said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.
“The May meeting will also prepare the next budget for the secretariat that governments will need to take forward the implementation of their Paris Agreement, “she added.
The May meeting is a staging-post for the annual climate change conference – COP23 – which will be held in November 2017 and the preparation of its key outcomes. The final budget is also set to be agreed at COP23.
Given that immediate and accelerated climate action is required for governments to reach their climate goals, another key focus in Bonn will be on activities which have a high potential to curb and reduce emissions.
At a “Climate Action Fair” http://newsroom.unfccc.int/climate-action/climate-action-fair-at-sb46-in-bonn/, governments will discuss cross-cutting issues in the urban environment and on land use.
Specifically, they will focus on efforts to mobilize diverse groups of stakeholders, including the private sector, for urban services and agriculture, forestry and other land use activities with high emission reduction potential and sustainable development benefits.
The Climate Action Fair is taking place against the backdrop of continuing global momentum including a growing wealth of policy-making that promises to embed the transition to a low carbon, resilient and sustainable world.
At the May meeting, the Grantham Institute which is part of the London School of Economics, will unveil findings spotlighting the world-wide growth in climate or climate-related laws pre-and post-Paris 2015.
“I look forward to these findings,” said Ms. Espinosa. “In many ways, they are the proverbial ‘proof in the pudding’ as the implementation of both the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals hinges on solid national policies that set a clear direction for action,” she added.
Ms. Espinosa said the secretariat was also looking forward to welcoming members of the Fijian Government including the Prime Minister at the May sessions. Fiji will be the COP23 president at the November conference.
The May meeting will also see the first meeting of the newly established Paris Committee on Capacity Building (PCCB). Established by the Paris Agreement, this new and critically important institution will boost capacity building for climate action in developing countries.
ESPUNGABERA, Mozambique (PAMACC News) - Samere Mashava could not hide his anger and frustration as he narrates how his wife fled from their village in Mozambique’s Espungabera area near the border with Zimbabwe.
Mashava’s wife is one of the many women in this part of Mozambique who were forced to flee their homes as a result of the bloody civil conflict in the country.
In small remote villages in Espungabera area, homes were burned down; livestock were taken by armed men believed to be from Mozambican National Resistance Army (Renamo), a militant organisation and political movement founded in 1975.
It is led by Afonso Dhlakama.
The civil war in Mozambique has been on and off since 2013 after the collapse of the 1992 peace agreement. The agreement brought peace to the country after nearly two decades of civil war.
“My wife and many other people disappeared when our village was attacked in October last year. I was not in the village when armed men ravaged the village. I don’t know where my wife was,” Mashava said.
“I have tried to look for her to not avail. I have gone to a radio station Espungabera so that they can broadcast that I am looking for her. I am calling for those fighting in the war to stop and discuss whatever problems they have. This war has affected many people and we are suffering,” he said.
Mashava was worried that since she disappeared at the height of the severe drought and food shortages which hit Mozambique and some parts of the Southern African, she could have died of hunger.
“She disappeared with nothing. And there was a serious drought in Zimbabwe where she could seek refuge. And still the serious floods which affected this area early this year could have affected heralot, assuming she survived the drought,” Mashava said, almost choking with tears.
The civil war in Mozambique coupled with severe droughts and floods have become the major drivers of the crisis facing women in the country; sparking food insecurity, destroying assets and leaving households without income or means to access food.
Mozambique is one the poorest countries in the world and is prone to flooding and storms. In 2000, floods killed more than 800 people and more than 100 were killed in 2015.
The country has also faced serious climate change induced droughts.
A tropical cyclone, Dineo, battered some parts of the country in February this year, making life even harder for people displaced by the civil war. Cyclone Dineo killed seven people, injured more than 50 and displaced over 100 000 people.
Women who are actively involved in subsistence farming in Mozambique, and sourcing food for the families have been greatly affected by the combination of war and climate change induced calamities.
Some people from Mozambique have fled into Zimbabwe where some have sought refuge at Tongogara Refugee Camp in Chipinge district, near the border with Mozambique.
And at Tongogara Refugee Camp, conditions are not any better. A young girl at the refugee camp, hardly, 10years with her young sister on her back could be seen staring blankly in the distance.
A group of other children were playing excitedlyon the nearby dirty road. Though expressionless, the young girl tried to mask the trauma of surviving a civil war in Mozambique, a war which has forced thousands of people, mostly women and children to flee their homes.
The civil war has brought untold suffering to thousands of women who are trying to scrounge for food in a difficult environment.
And when Anna Mugadhuya’s children got sick while fleeing from war in Mozambique she was helpless.
She had no medicine or food; neither did she have warm clothes to protect the children from the harsh weatherconditions.
Mugadhuya is one of the many women displaced from Mozambique as a result of the current civil conflict.
Mugadhuya and her four minor children fled from Chingowe Village, in Mozambique in October last year. After days of travel they arrived in Zimbabwe in November and resettled along the border area.
She, with other refugees did not have food and shelter and spent days in an open area, expose to the heavy rains which hit the Zimbabwe at the onset of the rain season. The refugees left Mozambique with nothing, following attacks on their villages.
More than 800 refugees were later taken to Tongogara Refugee Camp in December last year.
“My children good sick and we thank God that we did not lose them. The journey from Mozambique was really tough for us as we watch our children exposed to the harsh weather with no warm clothes or any shelter,” said Mugadhuya in an interview at Tongogara Refugee Camp.
“We had been affected by the drought and when our village was burned down we lost everything. The armed men took our livestock too. We did not have any chance to leave even with a few belongings we had”.
Mugadhuya was not sure whether she will be able to get her land back after the war.
“We fear that some people might take over our land in Mozambique while we are living as refugees in Zimbabwe. We are not sure whether we will get our land back”.
According to the Tongogara Refugee Camp Administrator, Meshack Zengeya, Cyclone Dineo induced floods which hit the country in February this year affected the camp, destroying more than 150 houses. Some of the houses at the refugee camp are poorly built and could not stand the floods.
“We had to shift all the refugees to a higher land, the houses are not strong at all, they are built using mud,” Zengeya said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has since donated 177 new tents for shelter.
However, more than 5 000 Mozambique refugees are reportedly living in Zimbabwe along the border area, and they are praying hard for a long term peace resolution in their country.
Prosper Mutseyami, who is the legislator for Musikavanhu, a constituency along the border in Zimbabwe said there were still refugees in the constituency.
“It (civil war) was a serious problem but nowadays it’s calm but we still have refugees in Wards 23 and 25,” Mutseyami said.
Andrew Mambondiyani reported on a fellowship from the International Reporting Project (IRP)
