BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - Africa continues to suffer enormous social and economic losses in billions of dollars as a result of climate change impacts.

A vulnerable continent that is burning and flooding at the same time needs finance to be able to achieve mitigation, adaptation and technology goals.

But without a clear roadmap for delivering $100 billion per year by 2020, as pledged by developed countries since 2009, developing countries are hindered in their ability to carry out their own climate actions.

Negotiators from the world's governments are gathering in Bonn, Germany from April 30 to May 10 for three simultaneous meetings under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Ironically, the United States, which has signaled it will not want to be a party to the Paris Agreement when implementation starts in 2020, is sitting and negotiating as a party.

“Our worry is that the world will once again be pressured to accommodate the United States and this is really very unfair because the concessions are already made in the Paris Agreement,” said Meena Raman of the Third World Network. “The solutions for addressing the climate challenge have to be fair and have to ensure that once again the poor and the planet are not sacrificed”.

Climate finance has become a sticking point in the climate talks since the withdrawal of $2 billion by the U.S. under Trump's administration.

And it is increasingly becoming a taboo to discuss climate finance with other developed countries, observed Augustine Njamnshi of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).

“When finance becomes a taboo in this discussion, then there is no good faith in the discussions”, he said. “You want to sit here and tell nice stories when whole families are being swept by floods in West Africa?”

The conditional Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) from developing countries in implementing the Paris Agreement will cost more than 4.3trillion dollars to be achieved.

African civil society therefore wants finance for climate action prioritized if the Paris Agreement should come to life.

“Africa strongly supports the Adaptation Fund to serve the Paris Agreement. However, we are dismayed with the shifting of goal posts by our partners who intend to delay the realization of actual financing of full costs of adaptation in Africa,” said Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of PACJA at a press conference. “We urge our partners not to further delay the decision which is key in providing adaptation support to Africa”.

UN climate chief, Patricia Espinosa, has outlined three important goals to accomplish by the end of 2018 – building on the pre-2020 agenda, which charts the efforts of nations up to the official beginning of the Paris deal; unleashing the potential of the Paris deal by completing the operating manual; and building more ambition into countries national pledges.

But African civil society is demanding the rich world offers more detail on its commitments to climate finance without any delay in the Paris rulebook beyond COP24.

“The effective ambition of developing countries depends on the provision of means of implementation by developed countries,” said PACJA in a statement. “We strongly urge our African governments to rethink critically on the progress of climate talks as any position that contradicts that real climate change implications to Africa then will shift the burden of climate change to African countries”.

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) - From 30 April - 10 May 2018, the UN climate change negotiations will be held in Bonn, Germany. The negotiations come at a critical time as countries work to finalise the rules and processes to operationalise the Paris Agreement, while the impacts of climate change continue to intensify. We need to leave Bonn with a strong basis to begin textual negotiations and greater clarity around the Talanoa Dialogue process and outcome.
 
Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, Gebru Jember Endalew, said: "Climate change is a critical issue and an urgent, global response is required. Lives and livelihoods across the world are on the line, particularly in the LDCs. We have a very small window of time left to develop a set of clear, comprehensive, and robust rules to enable full and ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement before the December 2018 deadline. At this Bonn negotiation, and as a matter of urgency, countries need to build on the foundations laid in Paris and agree on a strong architecture to implement the Paris Agreement that catalyses fair and ambitious action to steer the world away from dangerous climate change."
 
"Keeping global temperature increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius is a matter of survival. The LDCs look forward to the Talanoa Dialogue resulting in more ambitious action and support, as science tells us that even full implementation of current commitments under the Paris Agreement will not be enough to reach the 1.5 degree temperature goal. Countries must take immediate action to rapidly reduce emissions in line with their respective capacities and responsibilities for causing climate change and prepare for a sustainable future."
 
"As LDCs, we are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and we also face the new challenge of developing to lift our people out of poverty sustainably by leapfrogging to renewables rather than relying on fossil fuels. LDCs and other developing countries cannot adequately protect our communities from the impacts of climate change or reduce our emissions without the appropriate tools and resources. There remains a vast gap between the support needed and support received. The LDCs call on developed countries to finally deliver on their longstanding promise to mobilise at least USD 100bn a year and bridge the ever-widening finance gap before the distance becomes too great."
 
"The international community must act now to ensure our Paris goals do not slip out of reach. The world cannot afford to sit idle until the Paris Agreement's 2020 implementation period kicks off. Action needs to be taken, support provided, and ambition increased without delay. The more countries do now, the less severe the impacts of climate change will be."
 
"The international community needs to face up to the increasing loss and damage caused by climate change. Climate impacts are already all around us. The severity and frequency of floods, storms, droughts, sea level rise and other impacts is only increasing and hundreds of millions of people are at risk of being displaced. The LDCs look forward to sharing their experiences in the upcoming Suva Expert Dialogue, continuing to work towards a concrete finance plan for loss and damage, and establishing a permanent place for discussions around this important issue."
 
"The LDC group was pleased to see the Gender Action Plan adopted at COP23 last year. We now need to see gender considerations incorporated into all elements of the Paris Agreement rulebook. Women and children are often the worst impacted by climate change, but despite this continue to be key agents of change, leading their communities and nations to a prosperous and sustainable future.

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Research scientists, government and nongovernmental organisations’ representatives, entrepreneurs and pastoralists from Kenya, Senegal and Burkina Faso met in Nairobi on 12, November 2018 to share knowledge and experiences so as to strengthen the resilience of livestock systems in the future.

“The livestock sector in Africa, especially the extensive livestock, has for a long time been mystified on its contribution to crucial sectors such as the economy,” said Kamau Kuria, the Chief Executive Officer for Kenya Markets Trust (KMT).

The Regional Dialogue for Livestock Value Chain Transformation was organised by KMT in collaboration with International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) to support the resilience of extensive livestock production systems in semi-arid areas south of the Sahara, particularly in the Sahelian regions and in the Horn of Africa.

The dialogue was based on latest research findings from different studies in Kenya and Senegal under the Pathways to Resilience In Semi-Arid Economies (PRISE) project, which indicated that private sector actors along livestock value chains are diverse, ranging from private individuals to entrepreneurs to small-medium enterprises and larger actors.

“Studies have been done and evidences have been gathered from several arenas on the livestock value chain. It is now time to focus and relate that to actions that can show transformative results,” said Kuria.

Abdikarim Daud of KMT observed that in the meat value chain, there is disconnect between pastoralists who are the producers, with the meat industry. “There is need for the meat industry to drive the production,” he said, observing that the industry so far depends on brokers.

“Brokers can only choose the best animal, without telling the producers what the market demand is. But if the industry was to deal with the producers, then it will be possible for the producers to know what to do so as to satisfy the market demand,” said Daud.

Dr Stephen Moiko, one of the PRISE researchers concurred with Daud, saying that pastoralists usually produce for the market, but they do not understand the market. “Pastoralists do not sell the best. Instead they sell weaker animals to get money to solve immediate social needs,” he told the delegates.

Dr James Gakuo, an entrepreneur who buys severely emaciated animals to fatten them through an intensive feeding programme said that most pastoralists keep to their animals to a point of death especially during severe droughts. “We have now created a market for emaciated animals, and therefore pastoralists should not wait until their animals die,” he said.

He urged governments, NGOs and the private sector to invest in the fattening programmes for value addition as a way of helping pastoralists adapt to climate change.

“It is a pity when governments and NGOs decide to slaughter emaciated animals so as to give the meat to the poor as food aid,” said Gakuo. “Here is a scenario where drought is already killing animals, and the government and NGOs are also killing more animals. Are we not going to decimate all the animals, which are the lifeline for the pastoralists?” he paused.

If the same animals that are killed by governments and NGOs were to be fattened through an intensive feeding programme, they would fetch more income for the pastoralists and provide high quality meat for the market according to Gakuo.

The entrepreneur uses oil cakes from sunflower, cotton and barley to make the animal feed rations. “If the government invested in fattening programmes, then people from non-arid regions can take the advantage and start growing raw material crops such as sunflowers and cotton as an alternative source of income,” he said.

Livestock insurance was also found to be another relevant tool that can help pastoralists adapt to climate change.

According to a 2012 policy brief by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a livestock revolution is taking place around the Horn of Africa - with US$1 billion trade in livestock and livestock products, plus associated economic activities – transport, marketing, financing and processing.

In Kenya, the livestock sub-sector contributes 14 percent to the Gross Domestic Product.

“Pastoralists need affordable insurance cover to cushion them from the effects of climate change,” said Hassan Bashir, the Group Chief Executive for Takaful Insurance of Africa (TIA).

In collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), TIA formed an innovative policy to cushion pastoralists and is now operational in eight counties in Kenya.

ILRI’s Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) project has been in partnership with TIA since 2013, when they introduced, for the first time in Africa, an Index-Based Livestock Takaful (IBLT) policy, which combines an Islamic-compliant financial instrument with innovative use of satellite imagery to determine forage availability.

“It is a perfect product whose payments are done through M-pesa, and the product is available in designated retail shops in the villages,” said Bashir.

Dr. Assane Beye, a research scientist from Senegal said that such a policy is a good innovation that should be introduced in West Africa.

Dr Mary Mbole-Kariuki from the African Union - Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) pointed out that Africa’s future is in the indigenous breeds.

“AU is in the process of setting up five gene banks for indigenous breed, from where governments and scientists can collect semen to ensure that our indigenous breeds remain afloat,” she said.

The delegates further talked about the importance of controlling pests and diseases, the need for pastoralists to work in organised groups, the different ways of rangeland degeneration and the need for governments to put research findings into action through policy implementation among other issues.

The Nairobi Dialogue was building on the first Regional Dialogue meeting held at the PCGC conference that discussed ‘Pastoralism in current global changes: stakes challenges and prospects’ held between 20 and 24th November 2017 in Dakar, Senegal.

NAIROBI Kenya (PAMACC News) - A team of scientists from the Kenya Markets Trust (KMT) on April 11, 2018 shared all the key research findings of four different thematic studies conducted in Kenya under the Pathways to Resilience in Semi-Arid Economies (PRISE) project.

“The Kenya government is now focusing on the “Big Four” agenda aimed at improving livelihoods, creating jobs and growing the economy by focusing on critical areas of the economy in the next five years,” noted Kamau Kuria, the head of KMT.  

“It is noteworthy that part of the PRISE study, which aimed at strengthening the understanding and knowledge of decision makers on the threats and opportunities that semi-arid economies face in relation to climate change, will go a long way in helping unlock the potential of semi-arid lands in Kenya and thus enhance  their contribution to the national agenda,” he told delegates drown from Kenya , Senegal, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Overseas Development Institute (ODI) during the event to disseminate key research findings in a Nairobi Hotel.

The study, which was commissioned by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada and the UK based Department for International Development (DFID) aims atsupporting climate resilient economic development in partner countries by identifying opportunities for adaptation that are also opportunities for investment by the public and private sectors.

“These findings from Kenya will help change the narrative in semi-arid areas,” said Dr Eva Ludifrom the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) – which is coordinating the PRISE project at a global level.

According to Dr Evans Kitui of IDRC, direct involvement of government officials both at the county and the national level is a pointer towards implementation of policies that will emanate from the four studies. “In the past, research has not been well appreciated. But now, we can see a lot of government participation,” he said.

One of the studies found that in the past 50 years, temperatures have risen in all the 21 semi arid counties in Kenya, with five of them recording an increase of more than 1.5^oC increase. They include Turkana (1.8^oC), West Pokot, ElgeyoMarakwet (1.91^oC), Baringo (1.8^oC), Laikipia (1.59^oC) and Narok (1.75^oC).  

This, according to Dr Mohammed Said, one of the lead researchers, has impacted greatly on livestock survival, on one hand presenting a disaster, and on the other hand providing an opportunity that can be exploited

“There were winners and losers,” he told delegates at the forum. “Generally, cattle do  not survive the higher temperatures, while at the same time, sheep and goat population increased exponentially,” said Dr Said.

According to the study, whose theme was to harness opportunities for climate-resilient economic development in semi-arid lands and identifying the potential for economic transformation and diversification in semi-arid lands especially in the beef value chain, the overall population of cattle in all the semi arid counties reduced by more than 26% between the year 1977 and 2016.

However, the study also reveals that goats and sheep population increased tremendously by 76% in the same period, with camels’ population increased  by 14%. “This shows that goats, sheep and camels enjoyed the higher temperatures while cattle could not survive the stress,” said Dr Said.

“We’ve seen great potential for implementing some of the adaptation options and I call upon the stakeholders gathered here today, to pull together so we can build resilience and open up the ASALs for trade, investments and better livelihoods,” said Kuria of KMT.

In Nyeri County for example, Dr James Gakuo began with buying severely emaciated cattle for fattening at his farm in Kiganjo through intensive system of beef production that focuses on feeding cattle for 90 days on concentrate feeds till they reach the desired weight for the market, thereby creating a market for such animals that would otherwise have died.

In just two years, 14 other farmers have followed into his footsteps, and are in the business of fattening emaciated cattle thus providing more market to pastoralists who are hardly hit by tough climatic conditions.

Another study looked at the land tenure with special focus on Maasai pastoralist community in Kajiado County.

The study found out that 64 percent of the entire Kajiado County is now private land that is not open for grazing.“Though this has provided opportunity because privatisationcan always lead to greater investment opportunities for those who can secure land, it marginalizes the poor and particularly women in the process,” said Dr Stephen Moiko, one of the lead researchers.

According to Dr Eva Ludi of ODI, these findings will be presented at the Talanoa Dialogue in Bonn, Germany come May 2018.

The purpose of Talanoa Dialogue is for parties to share climate change related stories, build empathy and to make wise decisions for the collective good.

According to Dr Said, county governments should also take advantage of the research findings and scenario projections to develop their spatial plans.

“These findings will be important in formulation of new policies and strategies such as the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP 2018-2022), the National Wildlife Conservation and Management Strategy, and the County Development Integrated Plans (CIDPs),” said Joseph Muhwanga, the PRISE project National Coordinator in Kenya.