Bonn, Germany (PAMACC News) - A new report has confirmed that fifty-five vulnerable countries most of them from Africa have been made poorer by the debilitating effects of climate change. In aggregate dollar terms, the report estimates that these vulnerable economies have lost approximately US$ 525 billion over the two decades due to climate change's temperature and precipitation patterns. Commissioned by the Vulnerable Twenty (V20), a group of Finance Ministers from the Climate Vulnerable Forum, the report establishes that Climate change has eliminated one-fifth of the wealth of the V20 countries with primary evidence. It indicates that the V20 would have been 20% wealthier today if not for climate change and the losses it incurred for poor and vulnerable economies. "The Economic losses cut GDP growth in the V20 by one per cent each year on average, which averaged 3.67% in 2019 across the vulnerable economies," the report said. A setback for two decades From 2000 to 2019, the report estimated economic losses due to hydro-meteorological extreme events are higher than in the previous two decades, and the world's most vulnerable economies are also not adapting fast enough to cope with the changing climate as it currently stands. The report was presented on June 8th at an event that saw Ghana assume the leadership of the V20 at the ongoing Bonn climate talks holding in Germany. This report, according to Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta, Ghana's Finance Minister, "should sound alarm bells for the world economy, since V20 are fast-growing engines of global economic growth, whereas the climate crisis has the potential to bring that phase to an end if the world fails to act." "The failure on the $100 billion of international climate finance delivery, particularly the failure to ensure a 50:50 balance for adaptation, has left us highly exposed," Ofoi-Atta said. Represented by Prof Seth Ofaso, Ofori-Atta called for "an international financing mechanism for climate change loss and damage as a matter of pragmatism and justice." The V20 and Climate Vulnerable Forum, he said, are calling on COP27 to establish this financing facility in solidarity with victims least responsible for, and least equipped to withstand, the increasingly extreme physical shocks driven by climate change." Prof Osafo told PAMACC News that it is untenable that the world's rich and responsible nations continue to refuse the poor, vulnerable and least responsible nations, support for the crushing costs that they bear because of inaction on the climate crisis. "It should fall on COP27 to decisively act on the void of finance for loss and damage in a clear litmus test for whether those fueling the climate crisis can truly begin to take responsibility for the breath of damage that has been unleashed by it," Osafo added. The litmus test The midyear technical Bonn climate talks began on a feverish note on Monday with widespread calls to consider a dedicated financing facility for loss and damage as an agenda item for the Sharm el-Sheik climate talks scheduled for November 2022 in Egypt. The…

C’est comme toutes les autres COP pratiquement. C’est à Bonn où se trouve le siège de la Convention-Cadre des Nations-Unies sur les Changements Climatiques (CCNUCC), que se dessinent chaque fois, les premiers schémas de la COP de l’année en cours. Experts, Scientifiques, points focaux, qui constituent les organes de mise en œuvre, sont à Bonn depuis lundi dans le cadre de la 56ème Session de l’Organe Subsidiaire du Conseil Scientifique et Technologique, et réfléchissent, à tout ce qu’il faut, pour faire avancer les négociations relatives à l’aggravation de la crise climatique. Après la COP22 en 2016 au Maroc, la prochaine COP, la COP27 se tient sur la terre africaine. C’est Charm El-Cheikh en Égypte qui accueille cette rencontre aux enjeux multiples. Didier Hubert MADAFIME, Envoyé Spécial, l’ Alliance Pan-Africaine de Média pour les Changement Climatiques (PAMACC) En-tête de ces enjeux, il y a les problèmes qui ont voyagé de COP en COP, soit, avec une demi-solution, soit, pas du tout de solution. Figure dans la première catégorie, les pertes et dommages. Si la COP 19 en 2013 à Varsovie a approuvé la mise en place d’un mécanisme international de Varsovie sur les pertes et dommages, les pays, dont les Etats-Unis en tête, bloquent toujours la mise en place d’une facilité financière. Elle a été sollicitée par le G77, un regroupement des pays les plus pauvres, victimes du réchauffement climatique, en guise de compensation aux effets des changements climatiques. Refus catégorique aussi à Glasgow à la COP26. Les pays qui font front à cette proposition préfèrent laisser les assurances s’occuper, cette question. Mais qui dit assurance, sait, qu’il faut, au préalable, payer une prime. Enfin, tel qu’il est imaginé, on a l’impression d’être en face d’une fuite de responsabilité de la part des pays riches, qui, selon ce qu’ils avancent, ne sont pas prêts à porter au dos toute la misère du monde. Il appartient donc, aux pays pauvres de mettre, eux aussi, la main à la poche pour assurer les dommages causés par le mauvais choix de développement des pays riches. Mais, tout le monde en convient, les grandes sociétés d’assurances, souvent des appendices des pays riches ne regarderait pas ça d’un mauvais œil. De la part des pays pauvres, c’est un niet catégorique qu’il y oppose. Il n’est pas pour autant ranger à cause de ces divergences. Il sera le principal dossier à la COP 27, c’est pourquoi, ils figurent bel et bien sur l’agenda des négociations à Bonn. Les pertes et dommages, en quoi, soient-ils si importants pour les pays pauvres ? A l’origine, les changements climatiques, qui ont rendu vulnérables tous les secteurs d’activités des pays pauvres et leurs populations. Ceux qui sont responsables de cette fragilité du système se connaissent aussi bien. Et pourtant, ils sont toujours dans le déni et estiment qu’on veut leur mettre sur le dos toute la misère du monde. A ceux qui sont à Bonn, la Secrétaire Exécutive sortante de l’ONU sur les changements climatiques, Patricia Espinosa, a envoyé ce message,…

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - A new report released on June 9 by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and the 20+ member coalition Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) documents the extent and diverse nature of climate disinformation around last year’s international climate conference in Glasgow, COP26. The report, the most comprehensive of its type to date, offers seven key policy recommendations to stop disinformation from jeopardising future climate action and policy-making, such as the UN’s next climate summit set to take place in Egypt this November. The report is the result of an unprecedented effort to monitor and respond to climate disinformation at a COP event and beyond. Analysts from ISD and 8 partner organisations found that strategies enacted by Big Tech companies and media organisations were ineffective in combating viral disinformation and systems remain overwhelmed by green-washing advertising and other high-traction denial. Across social media, high-traction disinformation was found to originate primarily from a select number of pundits and political actors, who merge climate and "Culture Wars" narratives to violate multiple content moderation policies in tandem. Twitter carried the most false content by volume, while Facebook's algorithm drove greater exposure to climate disinformation than its own Climate Science Center, and its fact-checking policies remain woefully under-enforced. “Our analysis has shown that climate disinformation has become more complex, evolving from outright denial into identifiable ‘Discourses of Delay’ to exploit the gap between buy-in and action” said Jennie King, Head of Climate Disinformation at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. “Governments and social media platforms must learn the new strategies at play and understand that disinformation in the climate realm has increasing crossover with other harms, including electoral integrity, public health, hate speech and conspiracy theories. We’ve proposed seven concrete measures they can take to thwart the prominence and impact of this content, in order to build public mandates based on credible science and good-faith debate.” Based on the narratives and tactics identified by CAAD’s bespoke monitoring system, the coalition recommends that policymakers formally recognise the threat, adopt a universal definition of climate disinformation and limit loopholes for traditional media outlets in tech regulation such as the EU's Digital Services Act - all of which will help mitigate the risk that false or misleading content hinders climate negotiations and legislative agendas at this critical juncture. Member of the European Parliament Gwendoline Delbos - Corfield praised the report as "a timely and important exploration of the state of play on climate disinformation," stating that ISD and CASM Technology’s "ground-breaking dashboard gave us new, worrying insights about the extent to which malicious actors go to distort and discredit climate science". MEP Delbos-Cornfield, who also sits on the INGE2 Special Committee responsible for mitigating disinformation threats in the European Union, added: "this shows that far from addressing the problem, platforms are amplifying the voices of a small community of actors spreading climate disinformation....We must do more to address climate disinformation at the European level. If urgent steps are not taken to tackle…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Individuals, communities, civil society, businesses and governments around the world marked World Environment Day under the theme #OnlyOneEarth, with official celebrations held in Stockholm and host country Sweden announcing a ban on issuing new licenses for the extraction of coal, oil, and natural gas from 1 July this year to protect people and planet. Announcing the ban at the official Word Environment Day celebrations in Stockholm, Sweden’s Minister for Climate and the Environment, Annika Strandhäll, said, “Making the green jobs of the future by accelerating the climate transition is one of the top priorities for the Swedish government. As part of our efforts to implement our climate ambitions, we must take actions against activities that have a negative impact on our health and our environment.” “Our message to the global community is clear. The winners in the global race will be the ones that speed up the transition, not the ones that lag behind and cling to a dependency on fossil fuels,” she added. Tens of millions of people around the world joined global conversations on social media demanding urgent action to conserve and restore the environment. Tens of thousands organized their own activities, including the planting of millions of trees, cleaning trash and taking actions to highlight that there is #OnlyOneEarth. 2022 marks the 49th time World Environment Day has been celebrated. It was established following the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972, and is celebrated annually on 5 June, with a different country hosting it each year. This year’s theme – #OnlyOneEarth – mirrors the theme of the first World Environment Day in 1973. It calls for collective, transformative action on a global scale to celebrate, protect and restore our planet. “Fifty years ago, the world’s leaders came together at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and committed to protecting the planet. But we are far from succeeding. We can no longer ignore the alarm bells that ring louder every day,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his World Environment Day message. “The recent Stockholm+50 environment meeting reiterated that all 17 Sustainable Development Goals rely on a healthy planet,” he added. “We must all take responsibility to avert the catastrophe being wrought by the triple crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.” The official event, held at the Tekniska Museet in Stockholm, included a discussion between Ms. Strandhäll, Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, and young people. “The triple planetary crisis is accelerating, and why? Because we consume 1.7 planets a year. We have only one Earth. We have to accept that we're not doing enough to protect it,” Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said at the event. “I stand before you because we have to do better. We know what to do. The science has told us we have to end fossil fuels. We have to restore nature to its full glory. We have to transform our…