ACCRA, Ghana (PAMACC News) - Long-term climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of extreme weather and climate events. In Ghana, some regions have unexpectedly experienced incessant downpour in the month of March. Yet heatwaves abound throughout the countrol. Heavy rains and heatwaves are among hazards faced by the ever-growing global population.With urbanization and the spread of megacities, communities are exposed and vulnerable.And people get worried.In a WhatsApp group discussion, a lady quizzed: “Why does it rain only at night these days?”Her question attracted a quick explanation in meteorology and climatology that “it rains mostly in the night because air is generally cooler at night, and cool air holds less moisture than warm air resulting in rainfall”.But a socio-emotional explanation of the weather trend was sought after than the scientific account – the questioner was much worried at the lonely cold nights she has had to bear as a spinster.And the sensually sexual reactions to the lady’s question were as intriguing as the unexpected changes in the weather condition.“For smooth facilitation of reproduction,” one retorted in response to the question.Another member on the platform also stated that “it is good for those of us who can’t afford air conditioning and its attendant electricity bills to enjoy cool weather”.The group chat exposed the comfort and discomfort of extreme increases in environmental temperature.Hot Discomforting BreezeBarely a fortnight before the rains set in, many a family suffered heat waves day and night.Social media had been agog with a circular cautioning an unbearable heat during daytime and at night.“This is as a result of heat waves stemming from the emission of greenhouse gases. Experts have warned us to prepare for more hot days and warm nights. This preparation will require smart adaptation strategies and engaging in climate resilient practices to cope with the damage that has been done,” said the unknown author of the circular.It was therefore welcoming when the rains arrived after a long dry spell of heatwaves that cut deep into the skin.Kojo and her partner enjoyed a soothing night sleep after an evening’s downpour.“Now I can put my legs on my wife,” he exclaimed.Apparently, intimacy between the couple had been strained by the heat waves. The two could hardly stay in bed at night; their romantic intimacy of cuddling suffered in the hands of discomforting night sweat under the hot breeze.“It gets irritating to go skin-to-skin when you and your partner are already drowning in sweat. Even late night cold showers don’t help matters,” said Kojo. “How can you be on heat when you’re already on fire?”Persistent extreme weather eventsAs soothing as it may have been, the first rains in the year 2018 left Ghana’s capital city flooded.Up north in Tamale, the heat waves remained unbearable even before Midday.New research by scientists at Stanford University predicts extreme weather events are set to occur more frequently, even if the central goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement to limit the global temperatures rise to well under 2°C is met.The researchers analyzed…

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, (PAMACC News) – Participants attending the African Climate Talks II (ACT!-II) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia want Africa to change how it does business to reap the benefits of the Paris Agreement.Attending the two-day talks dubbed “Market policy versus market mechanisms in the implementation of the Paris Agreement”, that begun on March 23, speakers called for an urgent shift in how the continent will forge ahead to escape the consequences of climate change.Ambassador Lumumba Di-Aping, from South Sudan and former chair of the G77 called for strengthening of the current regime, noting that the current Paris Agreement is fundamentally flawed and inadequate.“The agreement will be the main basis for multilateral cooperation during the first period of commitments (2020-2030). The African Continent in this new architecture is tragically weaker than even before,” Di-Aping said. He urged Africa to reinvent itself consistently through science.“We must think“out of the box” to build the framework for a more effective effort from 2025 onwards – one consistent with Africa’s survival and prosperity,” he said.Dr James Murombedzi, the Officer in Charge of the Africa Climate Centre Policy (ACPC) noted that the continent needs to invest in strong evidence based African narrative.“This narrative should have a science, research and policy interface. We also should invest in informed societies that participate in the shaping of policies and strengthen capacities of countries,” Murombedzi said.Prof Zehurin Woldu, Acting Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia urged participants to devise ways and means of tackling climate change disruptions.“The temperatures are rising and Africa is suffering. Let us unite to save our continent. Let us develop sustainable ways of dealing with climate change,” Woldu said.Di-Aping noted that Africa must move beyond the old dichotomy of “mitigation and adaptation.”“We must look at each sector – agriculture, industry etc – and focus on integrating climate considerations into wider industrial and development planning in an integrated way. The climate regime must focus not just on “emissions reductions” but on the real solutions needed to achieve them,” Di-Aping said.He urged for negotiations which provide a space where these with problems, with solutions and with money, can meet as part of a structured process. “We need to make the UNFCCC more relevant to the real world. The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative is to be commended as an important step in the energy sector - we need matching initiatives in each other sector,” he said.He called for technology and infrastructure marshal plan which can implement solutions in practice to meet Africa’s development goals.“Let us think about the financial sector and financial instruments and engineering. If we need a major plan to address 1.50C, the question arises how to fund it. Clearly the $10 billion in the GCF will not be enough; and developed countries have no intention of delivering $100 billion in practice,” Di-Aping said.He called for a permanent negotiating forum supported by government missions to enable more systematic discussion of solutions and how to implement them in practice. “Meeting for a…

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PAMACC News) - There is a significant disconnect between global policy optimism on the benefits of REDD+ and local realities, experts said Thursday at the start of a two-day talkson “Market policy versus market mechanisms in the implementation of the Paris Agreement”.“REDD+ is alive but not well” Dr. Adeniyi Kashwan of the University of Connecticut told a cross-section of climate change experts in Addis Ababa.As climate change continues to threaten mankind, the world depends in part on forests to diminish its devastating effects.“Forests cover 30% of the world’s land surface and are also one of the world’s best methods of storing carbon, absorbing 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and storing billions more” said Dr. Wallace Anacho, an environmentalist.According to scientists, deforestation rates have increased significantly in Africa in the last decades jeopardizing the efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change. One initiative to stop deforestation is Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and (forest) Degradation commonly referred to as REDD+. About 29 African countries are involved in the REDD+ project.“The basic idea of REDD+ is that, you pay countries and indigenous populations to plant and protect forests” said Dr. Yetibitu Moges of the Ethiopian Ministry of environment, forest and climate change.The payment usually comes in form of credits referred to as carbon credits and it is expected to provide an alternative way of life to indigenous populations that hitherto relied on forest products to survive.That is what is supposed to happen but experts are now worried that since the initiation of REDD+ by the United Nations, rights of some local communities have been abused.“The future is not as bright as expected. In many countries we are seeing rights abuses. Here, we are talking about right to land, right to forests, right to take things out of the forest not just timber but vegetable food, non-timber forest products that people rely on for survival” said Dr. Adeniyi adding that bans on forest exploitation have in many cases proved detrimental to local communities.“In enforcing these bans we see the use of military force, police and rangers often going into the forest with sophisticated ammunition to harass and terrorize communities. We have seen these in many African countries sometimes resulting in the loss of lives”.The theory that you exclude indigenous communities from using the forest and then give them alternative means to survive has in many cases not materialized on the field, Dr. Adeniyi said. “The carbon credit is often shared between consultants, sometimes foreign consultants and governments and a little bit offered to communities. So what is given to communities, if at all anything is given to them from REDD+ benefits is nothing compared to what they are losing. These benefits cannot sustain livelihoods that indigenous people have developed over time”In spite of the shortcomings, there is a common agreement that REDD+ remains one of the most effective ways of protecting forests. At the Addis Ababa talks, experts were unanimous that there needs to be checks and…

PAMACC, Abuja - NIGERIA Between February and March 2017, three students of Queens College Lagos; Vivian Osuinyi, Bithia Itula and Praise Sodipo, died from consuming water from a contaminated water tank in the school.The story made headlines as a result of the magnitude of the issue and the effect of negligence on water pollution.These issues were further compounded with reports of persons dying and getting illnesses from consuming water from unsafe sources.There have been reports of deaths from cholera cases and from other water-borne diseases in parts of the country.Although Nigeria has made considerable progress in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, access to high-quality, reliable, and sustainable services remains low.According to the 2017 WASH Poverty Diagnostic by the World Bank, Nigeria needs to invest three times its current investment to improve the decaying WASH sector and also to meet the Sustainable Development Goal six on water and sanitation by 2030.The report offers an overview of poverty in Nigeria, considers the relationship between poverty and WASH, explores demographic patterns influencing access to WASH, and analyzes the relationship between WASH and child health outcomes.Experts say the 2018 World Water Day with the theme, 'Nature for Water' is an opportunity to explore nature-based solutions to the water challenges in the 21st century.According to the UN Water Website, damaged ecosystems affect the quantity and quality of water available for human consumption, with 2.1 billion people globally living without safe drinking water at home; affecting their health, education and livelihoods.The SDG six commits the world to ensuring that everyone has access to safe water by 2030, and includes targets on protecting the natural environment and reducing pollution.In Nigeria for instance, stakeholders have, on many occasions, called for adequate funding of policies on water resources to achieve greater socio-economic developments.Mr Hassan Bdliya, Chairman, Global Water Partnership in Nigeria, said apart from funding, Nigeria needed to understand that water was a resource that could finish if not properly used in line with the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).He said the IWRM emphasised the need to use water, putting in consideration sustainability, equity and reduce conflict that might come from poor use of water resources..Bdliya said stakeholders were fond of developing water resources without following guidelines or principles and they somewhat ended up creating problems.Corroborating this view, Mr Michael Ale, President, Association of Waterwell Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP), said 85 per cent of Nigerians depend on underground sources which are overburdened and usually contaminated.Ale stressed the need for the Federal and state governments to address pollution of water sources by illegal drilling activities in the country, saying failure to do so could lead to more outbreaks of water-borne diseases in the country.He said the water situation in the country was a time bomb, which needed to be addressed, adding that so long as drilling was done indiscriminately, its benefit may be lost.At a two-day retreat on Revitalisation of Nigeria's Water and Sanitation (WASH) Sector, recently, participants recommended that the President, Muhammadu Buhari…