MARRAKECH, Morocco (PAMACC News) - The African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has congratulated COP 21 President, Ségolène Royal for the success of last year’s climate conference which has culminated into momentum for action as Africa hosts COP 22.

Speaking during a round table meeting when the French Minister visited and met Ambassadors and other senior delegates at the Africa Pavilion at COP 22, ACPC Officer in Charge, James Murombedzi said UNECA was hopeful that the implementation of the Paris Agreement would be inclusive.

“As ACPC-UNECA, we are hopeful that the implementation of the Paris Agreement will be inclusive,” said Murombedzi, adding that Africa would like to see the issue of means of implementation resolved at COP 22.

On its part, “ACPC is ready to support African countries in the revision of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) most of which have been found to be defective,” he added.

Murombedzi further highlighted the need for Africa to integrate climate in its mainstream development planning for a holistic approach.

“We believe there is no room for isolated planning and it is for this reason that at ACPC, we have prioritised climate research to support African countries in integrated planning,” Murombedzi disclosed.

With the eyes of the world on Marrakech, the African Group is hopeful that the unprecedented mobilisation of the international community and political will, which has culminated into the rapid entry into force of the Paris Agreement, would likewise be extended to implementation.

The Agreement entered into force in time for COP 22, where the first Meeting ofthe Parties to the Agreement will open on 15 November, and parties are expected to agree on the rules of implementation of the Paris Agreement and establish a viable plan to provide financial support to developing countries to support climate action.

On her part, Ms. Royal stressed the importance of climate justice, particularly for Africa. “Africa is the great challenge of this Conference,” she said. “COP 22 is an African COP, and that is where the priority and hopeare,” adding that in Africa, climate change is cruel and unfair as the continent suffers the most through no fault of its own.

It is for this reason that an African development pathway that could propel climate-resilient economic growth is possible if an enabling environment that promotes innovation and collaborative actions for climate change solutions is put into place.
 
And a number of African initiatives on collaborative research and capacity development were highlighted at a side event at the Africa Pavilion on Innovations and African collaborative approaches for transformative climate policy and solutions.

Organized by the UNECA’s Africa Climate Policy Center (ACPC), the events included the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) Programme for Climate Change Capacity Development (PCCCD) and WASCAL (the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use) 
 
The  SARUA Programme for Climate Change Capacity Development (PCCCD), has led to a consortium of seven universities from five SADC countries developing a regional Master’s curriculum in Climate Change and Sustainable Development, based on the principles of trans-disciplinarity and innovation; while WASCAL pools the expertise of ten West African countries and Germany to strengthen climate change research infrastructure and capacity
 
Ms Penny Urquhart, Independent analyst and member of the SARUA Curriculum Review Team said there is a need  for funding in order to scale up these initiatives to a continental scale to support Africa's development aspirations, reduce vulnerability, increase resilience and optimise low-carbon options for growth. 
 
Other speakers included Prof. Daouda Kone, Director of the WASCAL doctoral programme in Climate Change and Biodiversity, Université Felix Houphouet Boigny, Côte d'Ivoire; Dr Wilfran Moufouma Okia, Head of Science, Technical Support Unit, IPCC and; Professor Roland Roesch, Senior Programme Office, International Renewable Energy Agency (IREN? The event was moderated by Mr Linus Mofor, ACPC Senior Natural Resources Officer (Energy, Infrastructure and Climate Change). 
 
In summing up the event, Msn Simbisai Zhanje, Project Manager, south-south-north / The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) said that while capacity is important, capability is equally significant as the context in which implementation takes place can be an enabler or barrier. Political will is an important capability factor in different contexts. 
 

MARRRAKECH, Morocco (PAMACC News) - The period between 2011-2015 has been recorded as the hottest in history with increasingly visible human footprint on extreme weather and climate events with dangerous and costly impacts.

The World Meteorological Organisation  (WMO) report released at the world climate change summit in Marrakech, Morocco, gives a detailed analysis of the global climate that has record temperatures which were accompanied by rising sea levels and declines in Arctic sea-ice extent, continental glaciers and northern hemisphere snow cover.

All these climate change indicators confirmed the long-term warming trend caused by greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide reached the significant milestone of 400 parts per million in the atmosphere for the first time in 2015, according to the WMO report which was submitted to the U.N. climate change conference.

The Global Climate in 2011-2015 also examines whether human-induced climate change was directly linked to individual extreme events.
Of 79 studies published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society between 2011 and 2014, more than half found that human-induced climate change contributed to the extreme event in question. Some studies found that the probability of extreme heat increased by 10 times or more.

"The Paris Agreement aims at limiting the global temperature increase to well below 2 ° Celsius and pursuing efforts towards 1.5 ° Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The report confirms that the average temperature in 2015 had already reached the 1°C mark. We just had the hottest five-year period on record, with 2015 claiming the title of hottest individual year. Even that record is likely to be beaten in 2016," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

He added, "The effects of climate change have been consistently visible on the global scale since the 1980s: rising global temperature, both over land and in the ocean; sea-level rise; and the widespread melting of ice. It has increased the risks of extreme events such as heatwaves, drought, record rainfall and damaging floods."

The report highlights some of the high-impact events, citing statistics on losses and damage provided by other United Nations organisations and partners. These included the East African drought in 2010-2012, which led to an estimated 258,000 excess deaths, and the 2013-2015 southern African drought.

Approximately 800 deaths and more than US$40 billion in economic losses were associated with flooding in South-East Asia in 2011. Heatwaves in India and Pakistan in 2015 claimed more than 4,100 lives. Hurricane Sandy, in 2012, led to US$67 billion in economic losses in the United States of America. The deaths of 7,800 people were associated with Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013.

The report was submitted to the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The five-year timescale allows a better understanding of multi-year warming trends and extreme events such as prolonged droughts and recurrent heatwaves than an annual report.

2011-2015 was the warmest five-year period on record globally and for all continents apart from Africa (second warmest).
Temperatures for the period were 0.57 °C (1.03 °F) above the average for the standard 1961–1990 reference period.

The warmest year on record to date was 2015, during which temperatures were 0.76 °C (1.37 °F) above the 1961–1990 average, followed by 2014. The year 2015 was also the first year in which global temperatures were more than 1 °C above the pre-industrial era.

Global ocean temperatures were also at unprecedented levels. Globally averaged sea-surface temperatures for 2015 were the highest on record, with 2014 in second place. Sea-surface temperatures for the period were above average in most of the world, although they were below average in parts of the Southern Ocean and the eastern South Pacific.
A strong La Niña event (2011) and powerful El Niño (2015/2016) influenced the temperatures of individual years without changing the underlying warming trend

MARRAKECH, Morocco (PAMACC News) - African Civil society at the ongoing climate change negotiation warned that if Parties did not urgently raise their Pre-2020 Ambitions in Marrakech, the impact of low ambition and business as usual scenario could trigger even greater climate crisis in Africa.

“The outcome from Marrakech should be ambitious enough to protect the rights of poor and vulnerable in the continent most impacted by climate change and provide adequate climate finance to address the impacts,” said Mithika Mwenda, the Secretary General of the Civil Society Platform, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance .

Finance is key to Implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Convention and must be on the table for discussion in Marrakech as one of the important agenda item if Marrakech must be taken serious.

“Paris Agreement has a goal 1.50C but no prescription for how to achieve it – the pledges would still take the planet to an unthinkable 3.5 degreesi of warming. Therefore the need to improve Paris pledges and ensure prior Kyoto obligations are at least met because Low pre-2020 ambition will deepen the post-2020 challenge to the detriment of the poor and vulnerable especially in Africa”, said John Bideri from Action for Environment and Sustainable Development, Rwanda and Co- Chair of PACJA’s Continental Executive Committee said.

Now that the Paris Agreement has come into effect, stakes are certainly high on its implementation and Marrakech provides an incredible opportunity to clearly define the path towards achieving the 1.50C target, Bideri added during the Press Conference organized by the Alliance.

“In Paris, we demanded equity, fair deal and legally binding agreement. And here In Marrakech, developed country Parties must be include and provide clarity on their contributions on all the elements including provision of money for adaptation for developing countries, and particularly Africa,” Robert Chimambo, of Zambia Climate change Network and PACJA member, said.

“The role of capacity building and technology in the realization of the global target through mitigation and adaptation actions can never be over-emphasized. Support to developing countries by developed countries in the spirit of justice and equity in terms of capacity building and technology development and transfer is key to achieving African countries’ commitments in their NDCs even as developed countries embark upon drastic domestic economic-wide emission reduction efforts,” Tracy Sonny, National Coordinator, Botswana Climate Change Network and a member of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, added.

En marge de la 22ème conférence des Nations les acteurs du secteur des énergies renouvelables se sont réunis le lundi 7 novembre 2016 au Pavillon Afrique de la COP22 et ont échangé sur les avancées en la matière
 
La conférence qui a eu lieu ce lundi 7 novembre 2016 dans le Pavillon Afrique en marge de la COP 22, a réuni plusieurs acteurs locaux et internationaux du secteur des énergies renouvelables afin d’échanger sur leur problématique commune. « Nous avons noté une avancée considérable ces dernières années dans le domaine, mais celles-ci sont disparates selon les régions. Aujourd’hui, 21 % de l’électricité sur le continent est produite par les énergies renouvelables et cela progresse », a lancé d’emblée Amine Homman Ludiye, directeur pour la région Afrique du Nord de l’entreprise Engie,
 
Pour étayer ses propos il a rajouté que le Maroc avait connu une croissance fulgurante ces dernières années, dû à une expertise accumulée. Et de rajouter que le pays avait débuté sa mutation énergétique depuis plusieurs années, lui conférant le statut de modèle en la matière. Un modèle à dupliquer pour partager son savoir faire aux autres pays africains.
 
Début octobre 2016, la Banque africaine de développement (BAD) recommandait au Maroc de mettre le cap sur les microcentrales, selon un communiqué de l’organisation panafricaine. « Au-delà des grands complexes industriels solaires, éoliens et hydrauliques destinés aux besoins en électricité du pays, la construction des microcentrales +constitue une option intéressante+, essentiellement pour l'approvisionnement des zones rurales éloignées », note la BAD dans un récent rapport dédié au secteur en Afrique du Nord, intitulé Le secteur des énergies renouvelables et l’emploi des jeunes au Maghreb.
 
Le Maroc produit environ 6135 MW d'énergie par an, une production qui se répartit comme suit : 4 166 MW par des centrales électriques classiques (68,4%) ; 1 748 MW d'énergie hydraulique (28 %) et 222 MW d'énergie éolienne (3,6 %).
Réponse : 68,4%
 
« Nous sommes sur le bon chemin. Il est important maintenant de réunir nos connaissances communes, et se concentrer davantage sur les petits projets et changer notre point de vue sur l’efficience de projets moindres mais qui nous permettre d’apprendre davantage sur des process à élargir pour les appliquer sur des projets plus importants », a constaté Andreas Gunst, spécialiste en Energie et projet d’électricité à DLA Piper Global Law Firm.
 
Mais tout le monde n’est pas toujours d’accord sur cette approche, puisque la volonté politique manque très souvent et que l’argent n’est pas toujours la solution à la résolution des problèmes climatiques que rencontre la planète.
 
« Nous savons que cela sera très difficile que tous les pays soient spontanément au même niveau de progression au niveau des énergies renouvelables et aujourd’hui au lieu de parler pourcentage, il faudrait parler des chantiers majeurs à traiter. L’énergie est fondamentale dans notre quotidien, et nous devons convaincre les politiciens d’obtenir les financements dont nous avons besoin », a suggéré Gareth Phillips, spécialiste en chef du changement climatique et de la croissance verte à la Banque africaine de développement (BAD).  
 
« Tout n’est pas qu’une question d’argent. Il faut identifier les sources, les ressources, et l’environnement, s’il est stable ou changeant, a réagi Rachel Child, directrice pour la Qualification à Camco Clean Energy. Les moyens techniques sont immenses, les finances sont à trouver et il y a des moyens pour y accéder. Nous n’avons pas une ligne directrice et nous nous tournons vers les agences de développement. Or, la question fondamentale à se poser c’est : pour quel projet nous souhaitons investir et quelles sont les conséquences à court et moyen terme ? ».