ACCRA, Ghana (PAMACC News) - Ghana is poised to be a leader in the global movement to halt land degradation and deforestation which contribute to climate change and affects livelihoods.The Ghana Dedicated Grant Mechanism (Ghana-DGM) project targets 52 communities within forest and transitional zones in the Brong Ahafo and Western regions. These local constituents will be empowered and supported with knowledge and financing to take steps to reorient their way of living to be sustainable, resilient and climate smart.The project launch in the Brong Ahafo regional capital, Sunyani, received wide reception from interest groups, especially women, who are confident the initiative will help replenish the lost natural resources for the future generation.Madam Akua Yeboah, a representative of queenmothers in the target areas, expressed gratitude for the intervention and appreciated the engagement of women in the project planning and implementation.According to her, the local people are excited at the exposure to knowledge on the causes and impacts of extreme weather conditions.“We the women are ready to throw in the needed support to make the Ghana DGM work to help improve our farms, livelihoods and marriages,” she said, adding that an enhanced livelihood leads to good marriages which help build good families.The DGM InterventionUnsustainable use of fuel wood, illegal logging and mining, uncontrolled wildfires, expansion of cocoa farms and other infrastructure development are factors militating against sustainable lands, forests and water bodies.For a tropical country like Ghana, the reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere involves reducing deforestation, reforestation, and exploring affordable and sustainable alternatives to fuel wood.Through the World Bank, the Climate Investment Fund is providing $5.5million to implement Ghana’s DGM over a five year period. Similar projects are being implemented in other countries including Mexico, Indonesia, Burkina Faso, Peru, Brazil and the Congo.The core goal of the Ghana-DGM is to challenge the target communities to learn more about climate change and how it impacts their daily livelihoods.“We believe that these very local communities are uniquely placed to help solve the degradation of lands and forests and improve it for their own benefit as well as for the benefit of Ghana,” said project team leader, Dr. Nyaneba Nkrumah.She observed the daily decisions of these communities impact the forests, soils and water bodies, whilst the local people are also the first to feel the effects of unsustainable practices and climate change.The project therefore seeks to help the communities to solve the problem by giving them the knowledge and the financing to be able to do so.“We can make all the policies we want but unless local communities help; they have a part to understand how climate change affects their livelihoods and they can put it to practice what is needed to ensure sustainability in the forest zone, sustainability of the soils and water bodies in a long time to come,” said Dr. Nkrumah.National Policy and Environmental ProtectionForesters have noted that the shade provided by one healthy matured tree is equivalent to ten room-size airconditioners running 20hours a day.Local actors under the Ghana-DGM…

PEMBA, Zambia (PAMACC News) - Grace Moonga harvested 115 by 50 Kg bags of maize last season. And it was enough for family food consumption and sale for income generation to support her second year University student son. But she is afraid that this year’s farming season is turning out negative—a prolonged dry spell affecting her 3 hectare maize field. “Just look at this crop,” lamentsMoonga, pointing at her severely wilted crop. “It has been 22 days since it last rained here. This is a serious disaster for a widow like me whose only source of income is farming, I don’t even know what will become of my son at the University.” Since 2007 when her husband died, Moonga has been supporting her six children through smallholder farming. So far, her first born son has completed his teaching course, while the university student was only in primary five when his father died. However, dependency on rainfall is increasingly becoming a risky business for smallholder farmers as erratic rainfall punctuated with prolonged dry spells has become the norm rather than an exception. For instance, the 2015/16 farming season was characterized by the El Nino induced drought. While 2016/17 season restored some hope with normal to above normal rainfall, the 2017/18 season is turning out negative—a prolonged dry spell which according to the Zambia Meteorological Department, has caused substantial moisture deficits and an increased likelihood for adverse crop production. According to Zambia Meteorological department, the prolonged dry spell being experienced over Lusaka, Southern, Western and Southern parts of Central and Eastern Provinces have been largely due to atmospheric systems – the consecutive occurrence of deep low-pressure systems and tropical cyclones over the Mozambique channel and the Indian ocean. Unfortunately, the forecast up to March 2018 remains negative as abnormal dryness has strengthened and expanded, placing additional moisture stress on crops, especially at critical stages of growth. Nevertheless, good as this forecast maybe, it largely remains generic and scientific for smallholder farmers to easily interpret. It is for this reason that climate change development actors have been advocating for improved climate information and other climate resilient services such as insurance for smallholder farmers. In Zambia, one such institution working in this area is the World Food Programme (WFP). Under its R4—Rural Resilience Initiative, WFP has installed automated and manual weather stations in selected project areas to facilitate improved meteorological information for smallholder farmers. Mosco Hamalambo is a trained rain gauge attendant at Sibajene village, one of the 20 manual rain gauge stations dotted around Pemba district. He believes the weather stations have improved farmers’ knowledge especially on the time to plant. “With this facility, we now have readily available information when we should plant our crops,” Hamalambo told PAMACC News. “Even as we are experiencing this dry spell, we have the information on how much rainfall we have received and how poorly distributed it has been.” Hamalambosays such information is helpful for comparison with satellite data on which weather index insurance is based—another…

PAMACC, Abidjan, COTE D'IVOIRE The Africa regional director of United Nations Environment, Julliette Biao Koudenoukpo has called on African countries that have ratified the Bamako Convention to work in synergy with the private sector to better reinforce and drive actions against toxic waste dumping in the continent.She noted that waste dumping in Africa has become a major concern necessitating synergy of actions, innovations and strong political will for more positive results.« There is need to strengthen cooperation between the public and private sector, with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of the actions on ground, » she said in an interview on the sidelines of COP2 meeting to the Bamako convention in Abidjan-Ivory Coast January 31st, 2018.The director enjoined state actors to deepen cooperation with civil society organisations and business partners as part of a broader effort to raise the profile in the fight against toxic waste dumping, poverty and promoting green growth.She lauded some countries like Ivory Coast that are already heightening efforts to increase the political priority accorded to sound management of chemicals and other waste dumping.Other UN officials also shared the view of strong partnerships and cooperation to better push the Bamako convention and ensure its effective implementation on the ground by countries that have already ratified the treaty.“Strengthening synergies between all the different development stakeholders will certainly give a boost to the effective application of the Bamako convention,” says UN Environment Deputy Executive Director Ibrahim Thiaw said.He also highlighted the different challenges countries face protecting the planet's critical ecosystems from contamination by hazardous chemicals and waste and the need for joined support and innovative strategies to overcome them."At this critical stage it is important for development stakeholders to commit to providing financial support to help countries address these important challenges,” Ibrahim Thiaw said.Countries were also called to mainstream sound chemicals management in national agendas, create an integrated chemicals and wastes focal area, and expanding engagement with the private sector.The youths were challenged to lead efforts at preventing Africa from becoming a dumping ground for toxic waste because environmental issues are concern for the future and better livelihood.“The youths must make their voices heard and front actions on the ground. They are called to increasingly show commitment to get things change for the better because environmental issues are concerns for the future and for improved livelihood,” says Julliette Biao.She recalled that African nations have long been at the center of incidents involving hazardous waste dumping and that it was time to bring this unfortunate situation to an end.Important toxic waste dump incidents include the leaking barrels of toxic waste in Koko, Nigeria in 1988 and the Probo Koala scandal in Cote d’Ivoire in 2006, to the current piles of e-waste threatening the health of West African communities.In an effort to prevent incidents such as ‘Koko’ and ‘Probo Koala’ from happening again, and to reinforce existing international treaties surrounding the shipment and disposal of hazardous waste as established in the Basel Convention and Bamako Convention African states meeting…

PAMACC, Abidjan-COTE D'IVOIRE La consommation énergétique de l’Afrique est plus faible que celle de tous les autres continents et la consommation par habitant n'a pratiquement pas changé depuis l’an 2000 comme l’indique l’Atlas des Ressources en Energie de l’Afrique, un rapport publié conjointement par l'ONU Environnement et la Banque Africaine de Développement.La production énergétique actuelle en Afrique ne répond pas à la demande du marché. Environ un tiers de la population africaine n'a toujours pas accès à l'électricité et 53% de la population dépend de la biomasse pour la cuisine, le chauffage et le séchage. L’énergie nécessaire à deux utilisations d’une bouilloire électrique par une famille britannique correspond à plus de cinq fois l'électricité consommée par un Malien en une année.Préparé en collaboration avec l’Environment Pulse Institute, le United States Geological Survey et l'Université George Mason, l'Atlas consolide les informations disponibles sur le paysage énergétique en Afrique.Au cœur du développement d’infrastructures énergétiquesIl fournit ces informations sous forme d'images, de cartes, et d'autres données satellitaires sur les 54 pays africains à travers des visuels détaillant les défis et les opportunités de fournir à la population des services énergétiques fiables, abordables et modernes.« L'Atlas démontre que l’investissement dans des infrastructures d'énergie verte peut soutenir le développement économique de l'Afrique et favoriser la réalisation des Objectifs de Développement Durable. Il s'agit donc d'un guide important pour les gouvernements africains qui s’évertuent à catalyser leur développement national en utilisant leurs ressources énergétiques propres », a déclaré Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, Directrice Régionale etReprésentante pour l’Afrique de l'ONU Environnement.L'Atlas met en avant à la fois le potentiel et la fragilité des ressources énergétiques de l’Afrique qui sont au cœur du développement socio-économique du continent. Il met en lumière quelques exemples de réussite en matière de développement du secteur de l'énergie durable sur le continent, mais aussi les principaux défis environnementaux associés au développement d’infrastructures énergétiques.L'Atlas aborde les échecs ainsi que les bonnes pratiques de la gestion des déchets dangereux et de la pollution associée aux explorations pétrolières et gazières dans divers pays africains. Il propose également des recommandations sur les opportunités à saisir grâce à l'implication du secteur privé et à la mise en place de partenariats dans le domaine la gestion durable des déchets du secteur de l'énergie.Un aperçu complet des ressources énergétiques« L'Atlas fournit un aperçu complet des ressources énergétiques de l'Afrique. Un accent particulier est mis sur les défis liés aux changements climatiques et à la pollution, notamment la pollution atmosphérique, qui entravent la réalisation des ODD », selon Amadou Hott, Vice-Président chargé de l’électricité, de l'énergie, du climat et de la croissance verte à la Banque Africaine de Développement.Les réserves de charbon, de gaz naturel et de pétrole représentent respectivement 3,6%, 7,5% et 7,6% des réserves mondiales. Une population croissante, une industrialisation soutenue et une urbanisation grandissante signifient une augmentation de la demande en énergie en Afrique.Seule une fraction minime du potentiel énergétique existant est actuellement exploitée causant un énorme retard du continent dans le secteur de l’industrie en raison d'un accès…