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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.
LIVINGSTONE, Zambia (PAMACC) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged support to the Batoka Energy Project being spearheaded by Zambia and Zimbabwean governments. The 2,400-MW Batoka Gorge Hydro Electric Scheme (BGHES)is being constructed by the Zambezi River Authority, an organization equitably owned by the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe, to develop, operate, monitor and maintain hydropower projects along the Zambezi River shared by the two Southern African countries. The scheme will comprise the construction of 181m high arch gravity roller compacted concrete dam as well as, two surface power stations located on either banks with an installed capacity of 1,200 Mega Watts each. According to Zambia’s Minister of Energy, David Mabumba, the project will be one of the least cost generation projects in the region. “Preliminary indications suggest that the Batoka Gorge Hydro-Electric Scheme will havea unit generation cost of 3.6US Cents per kwh compared to the average regional tariffs of8.25US$c/Kwh,”Mabumba said in his remarks to delegates. The Bank’s Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth Sector Complex, Amadou Hott, reaffirmed AfDB’s support to BGHES and its role as the lead financier of the project. “The Bank has been working together with Zambia and Zimbabwe on major energy projects such as the transformative Itezhi Power Generation and Transmission Project, and rehabilitation of power infrastructure in Zimbabwe, among others. The Batoka Scheme is in line with the objectives of AfDB’s New Deal on Energy for Africa.” Hott explained that the target for the New Deal for universal access to energy by 2025 requires the implementation of transformative regional projects such as Batoka. The Investor conference which was held under the theme: Batoka Gorge Hydro-Electric Scheme–Harnessing SustainablePower Generation Potential of the mighty Zambezi river, on 30th and 31stMarch 2017 was also attended by Zambia’s Vice President, Inonge Wina and four ministers from Zambia and Zimbabwe. The conference was aimed at according stakeholders an opportunity discussed progress and financial support to the scheme, whose estimated cost is about US$3.63 billion. The governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe have appointed the Bank as Lead Coordinator for the project, to be implemented in partnership with other development partners. Hott also held separate meetings with Ministers of Finance, Energy, Water and Sanitation and Mines, to discuss the progress made on the proposed Energy Sector budget support to Zambia, the way forward on the Batoka project and to update the Government of Zambia on the implementation of the New Deal on Energy. He disclosed that the bank is set to approve, by July this year, up to $ 250 million requested by the Zambian government to address the country’s energy crisis. Hott further held meetings with representatives of the power utility company in Zambia, ZESCO, and the Industrial Development Corporation of Zambia, the Zambezi River Authority and Copperbelt Energy Corporation. Africa constitutes only about 16 percent of the global population, but 53 percent of the global population is without access to electricity. Per capita consumption of energy in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) is 180…
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