KAMPALA, Uganda (PAMACC News) - African Parliamentarians challenged to push for a climate change legislative agenda African parliament through the Pan African Parliamentarian Network has been urged to initiate and influence a continental legislative agenda that will push climate change policies in their different countries.African civil society organizations, Ugandan government representatives and other development stakeholders meeting at a regional consultative forum on Post Marrakech and the implementation of the Paris. Agreement April 19-21 in Kampala, Uganda were unanimous that the role of African parliamentarians in driving an African agenda for climate change was capital.Hon Chebet Malkut, UNFCCC focal point and head of climate change department in the ministry of Environment and water in Uganda pointed out that putting in place the appropriate policies and institutional framework to drive Africa’s climate change agenda was cardinal. This challenge he said falls squarely on the shoulders of African legislators who need to partner with civil society organizations led by PACJA for assured results.“I believe a cross fertilization of ideas between African parliamentarians and civil society organizations will ease this task and this forum set the stage for such a project,” Chebet said.The coordinator of PACJA-Uganda, Florence Kasule for her part lauded the interest and participation of a significant number of parliamentarians from Uganda in the forum, an indication of their interest in the climate fight.“This a clear indication of the increasing engagement of legislators to drive through policies that will improve the fight against climate change,” she said.Civil society experts hammered on the need to build alliances that will improve the momentum behind the climate change drive in Africa.“Building a strong and united front in the fight against climate change is the way forward,” says PACJA secretary general Mithika Mwenda at the official opening of the regional COP22 consultative workshop.He highlighted the growing threats to the climate change Paris Paris agreement with continuous shifting global politics and political ecological economy.“ The implementation of the Paris Agreement faces the biggest threat from the United States after the stunning election of Danald Trump whose campaign platform hinges on the repeal of the Clean Air Act,” Mithika said.He also criticized his appointment of an anti-climate administrator to the Environment Protection Agency, an indication of future roadblocks to climate change drive, he said.Other speakers at the forum call on the need for a strong African voice that will influence climate actions on the ground, moving policies to realizable development projects especially in the areas of climate smart agriculture, renewable energy and other adaptable infrastructure.“ Besides other priorities, climate change infrastructure projects should be at the top and this is the role of our legislators and civil society organizations to drive this agenda,” says Dr Mauwa Shadad.The participants underscored the remarkable effort of PACJA in the coordination of CSO climate change policy processes and interventions across Africa With focused reflection and coordinated review of the COP 22 Marrakech outcome and Paris Agreement regime. In some of the recommendations reached at the Kampala forum, the participants noted the continent’s…

By Elias Ntungwe Ngalame One of the key outcomes of the COP22 in Marrakech was the establishment of a new transparency fund with the injection of some USD50 million by some developed countries, to encourage transparency efforts in the fight against climate change. African civil society organizations under the aegis of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) to that effect organized an African regional Post COPP22 sensitization workshop in Kampala, Uganda, 19-21 April, 2017 to examine the readiness of African countries and improve on the momentum towards the fund project. It is also geared at seeking to expand participation, broadening efforts to build partnership with government and other stakeholders, breaking from the past to build stronger and global resilience. According to Sam Ogallah of PACJA, the sensitization on the cardinality of the GCF was imperative to measure the readiness and highlight the role of civil society organizations in the funding project. “Civil society organizations have to be accorded the opportunity to be abreast with the operational modalities of the Green Climate Fund to permit them fully participate in the entire project process and also push their governments to make proposals adapted to the realities of their different countries,” Ogallah said. Participants during one of the sessions examined the goal, objectives, activities and implementation strategies of the Green Climate Fund, the climate finance process at national and international level within the UNFCCC. Also examined was the outcome and decisions of the just ended 16th Board Meeting of the GCF and the way forward especially for civil society organizations. According to participants, the GCF was in line with the Paris agreement in COP21. The Paris Agreement implementation they said should go hand in glove with the 2030 Agenda as well as the AU Agenda 2063, “a process which should take the bottom-up approach, be inclusive and transparent.” It was also noted that the involvement of all stakeholders including government, civil society, development partners, the private sector, youths and women was not only necessary but imperative to drive the agenda to a success. “It is a partnership of many facets in development in every country,” says Rebecca Muna civil society representative. The participation of the different stakeholders, she says signals the willingness of countries to understand and undertake climate actions that go beyond adaptation and victory for African countries. Meanwhile the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 launched a new web-based guide that provides Partners with detailed information on how to access its resources.Tagged “GCF 101”, the guide aims to help GCF stakeholders better navigate the many elements of engaging with the Fund. It provides four distinct chapters addressing the different opportunities the Fund provides to help developing countries respond to climate change: These include, Empowering countries; Getting Accredited; Funding projects; and Implementing projects,” the organization stated in its press release. According to the GCF, each chapter provides a short overview, a simple step-by-step guide explaining how to apply or access the Fund; and a series of frequently asked…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - More than 2,000 farmers in Kenya have doubled their yields and reduced the amount of money they used to spend on food during drought after adopting an environmentally friendly farming technology. Ecological farming, a technology that discourages the use of chemicals and genetic engineering in the farm, enriches the soil by ensuring nutrients and water remains in the soil, according to the Institute of Culture and Ecology (ICE).Josephine Ndambu, an agronomist working in Eastern Kenya says ecological farming encourages farmers to adopt natural approaches that increase their yields such as agroforestry, soil and water conservation, and planting in enriched pits known as Zai pits. For instance, she says, when it rains, Zai pits can tap the surface runoff and store it for a long time, enabling the plants to survive prolonged stretches when there is no rainfall. They can also tap top soil being washed away.“The objective of Zai pits is to break the earth pan, conserve water and enable utilization of manure,” explains Ndambu. “They have high and assured yields and can be used for over three years.”Peter Mutiso has reason to smile after the technology came to his village. When drought struck, he would spend at least $2 (Ksh. 200) every day to buy food for his family.After adopting the Zai Pit technology at his one and half acre farm in 2014, he can now harvest more than four 90 kilogramme bags of maize where he could get none.“This is enough to feed my family up to the next harvest,” says the farmer from Eastern Kenya. “Sometimes I can even sell a bag of the harvest to supplement the family income.”A report by Greenpeace Africa indicates that the ability of farmers in East Africa to produce food is on the decline due to climate change.In rural households struggling to feed themselves, even small changes in climate patterns could destroy smallholder farmers’ soil and water security, argues the Building Resilience in East African Agriculture report.“It is important for rural farmers to learn from each other about ecological farming that uses successful strategies that meets local and domestic needs of different communities,” says Iris Maertens, the interim communication officer at Greenpeace Africa, Food for Life campaign.

YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - The United Nations secretary general António Guterres, on Thursday April 13 appointed Cameroon born Vera Songwe as the new executive secretary of the Economic Commission on Africa, ECA.Vera Songwe has been the regional director for Africa covering West and Central Africa for the International Finance Corporation since 2015. Ms. Songwe joined the World Bank Group in 1998 as a young professional. She worked in the Middle East and North Africa region covering Morocco and Tunisia in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) unit. She later joined the East Asia and Pacific region, PREM unit where she played several roles including Regional PRSP Coordinator, and Country Sector Coordinator and Senior Economist for the Philippines. She has also worked Cambodia and on Mongolia as Country Economist managing different World Bank programs and the economic and growth policy dialogue.Prior to joining the Bank, Ms. Songwe was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, USA. She has published several articles on governance, fiscal policy, agriculture and commodity price volatility and trade and new financial infrastructure.Ms. Songwe holds a PhD. in Mathematical Economics from the Center for Operations Research & Econometrics from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. She holds a BA in Economics and a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan.