Zambia, three others discuss climate fund

By VIOLET MENGO
FOUR countries, including Zambia, are meeting in Lusaka to prepare for the handling of climate financial resources from developed countries through the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

GCF is a new finance mechanism established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The meeting, which is an inaugural African climate finance readiness leadership and shared programme, is aimed at preparing African countries bid and access new funds at international level.
Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town Richard Calland said in an interview that the purpose of the meeting is to bring together senior public service officials and give them an opportunity to share knowledge and learn from one another.
“This is a strategic leadership meeting with the support of a faculty of experts based at Cape Town University which runs an organisation called the African Climate Finance Hub,” Prof Calland said.
He said a small group of experts has been convened to work with public service leaders in the four countries and to help them think through the best ways of preparing themselves to access the funds.
Professor Calland said when countries invest in roads and other new infrastructure, they should be climate smart to prevent that investment from going to waste.
Prof Calland said it is hoped that GCF will become a major financer for adaption projects that will allow countries to adapt their economies to be more climate resilient and to ensure that their economic development pathways are not disturbed by the threat that is posed by climate change.
And the Zambia Interim Inter-Ministerial Climate Change Secretariat Co-ordinator David Kaluba said Zambia has already provided leadership to the climate finance readiness programme being implemented by Germany.
Mr Kaluba said in the initial development, the country played a very active role in shaping the development of the programmme.

By VIOLET MENGO
ESTHER Muwamba of Lusaka’s Misisi Township has just lost her housing structure due to floods caused by heavy rains. The house collapsed after a heavy downpour destroying all her household goods.
Ms Muwamba, whose husband died in 2009, has been living with her three children in Misisi Township since 2000.
Little did she know that she would one day be left in the cold as this was the only property left by her late husband.
“I had gone to the market when the rains started and I did not have the chance to rush home because the rains were quite heavy. I lost all my property in the process, including the house due to heavy rains,” Ms Muwamba said.
Ms Muwamba and her three children now live with a relative in Chawama and her children have unfortunately dropped out of school.
Ms Muwamba’s situation is one among many in Zambia which receive minimal or no publicity because the media often prefer reporting on political issues than such human interest stories.
It is against this backdrop that the need for a cadre of journalists to highlight humanitarian and disaster issues has prompted United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to train journalists on reporting disasters.
The workshop was an interaction between journalists and the United Nations family as a joint capacity building measure within the framework of communication for development.
It helped build capacity of local radio stations in particular and other media houses in the field of communication for development and in providing humanitarian assistance, information relating to disasters and emergency situations.
Speaking during a media training workshop in Lusaka recently, UNESCO Resident Coordinator Simon Cammelbeeck noted that the media can play an important role in informing the public on humanitarian, disaster situations and disseminating warnings.
Mr Cammelbeeck said people need information as much as they need water, food, medicine or shelter as it can help save lives and resources.
“At times information is the only form of disaster preparedness the most vulnerable can afford. Sensible information in the face of natural hazards has demonstrated, cost effective means of saving lives, reducing property damage and increasing public understanding,” Mr Cammelbeeck said.
He said the role of the media can and should be an integral part of each of the phases related to humanitarian and natural disaster situations.
Mr Cammelbeeck urged the media to take up an equally responsible role during the humanitarian response phase by providing accurate information on disaster situations and aid relief.
“Timely, accurate and sensitive communications can educate, warn, inform and empower people to take practical steps to protect themselves from natural calamities,” Mr Cammelbeeck pointed out.
The UN is working with government to promote community based disaster risk reduction solutions, aimed at increasing community resilience to natural disasters.
And Zambia National Commission for UNESCO chief programme officer Brenda Muntemba said using various information communication technology (ICT) tools in journalism can ensure facilitation of knowledge and information management in newsrooms.
Ms Mutemba said Zambia has benefited from capacity building programmes as evidenced by the training of journalists from five local community radio stations.
She said the programme will later be extended to more journalists from other radio stations.
“I wish to echo the advice that journalists ought to be careful and always verify their sources of information. We should always remember the main aim for communication is to complement developmental efforts in many areas,” Ms Mutemba said.
The objectives of the training workshop included strengthening the capacity of local radio stations and other media to enable them effectively report on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and emergency interventions.
The training also aimed at enhancing understanding of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) as a blue print of the role and contribution of the UN towards Zambia’s National Sixth Development Programme.
It also helped increase media access to UN news sources and advocacy on humanitarian and development issues
Every year, humanitarian disasters take a devastating toll on people affecting their well-being and future.
The 2013 World Disasters Report, belabours that there is urgent need to improve and innovate ways to make disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery more effective and accountable.
The report examines the potential of technology to improve humanitarian operations and increase resilience to disasters.
It also focuses on risks and unintended consequences of ‘technology influx’ and provides recommendations on how to maximise opportunities, while minimising risks.
Published annually since 1993, the World Disaster’s Report brings together the latest trends, facts and analysis of contemporary catastrophes and their effect on vulnerable populations worldwide including people in Ms Muwamba’s predicament.

Katete parents forcing children into cattle herding?

Some parts of Zambia have a relatively high prevalence rate of boys herding cattle at the expense of their education as evidenced in Katete in Eastern Province.  In collaboration with its partners, PANOS Institute Southern Africa is working towards enhancing child protection by strengthening existing child protection systems. Our staffer, VIOLET MENGO, reports.

TINENENJI Tembo of Malata village in Katete has a secret. It is that she has lent out her 12-year-old son, Gift, to her area councillor to herd cattle for three years.

Ms Tembo has found herself in this poignant scenario due to the high levels of poverty in her home. She has taken this path in a quest to live a better life after acquiring cattle from the councillor at the end of her son’s three-year contract.

She revealed her secret at a recent PANOS Institute Southern Africa stakeholders’ meeting in Katete. The forum was on strengthening child protection systems.

“My husband and I agreed that our son Gift works for three years to earn the family cattle that we have been longing for. I have now realised that it was wrong for us to have done that,” Ms Tembo said.

She said the lack of alternative survival means made the family sacrifice Gift’s education in the hope that once they acquire cattle, they would be able to send him and his siblings back to school.

“Iam willing to withdraw him [Gift] from his labour but what happens to the two years he has served so far?” she wonders. Ms Tembo said her son started herding cattle in 2011 but withdrew after a year. He was later persuaded to go back and renew the contract, which will now expire in 2015.

He is supposed to be in Grade Four but as things stand, Gift is not in school and may never have an opportunity to be in class again.

He is fourth in a family of eight. Gift’s case is one of the many in Katete, where parents have resorted to sacrificing their own children as labourers to wealthy families in bid to own cattle, which is believed to be a symbol of wealth.

Katete district commissioner Peter Kaisa is aware of this development and the infringement on children’s rights to education by the parents in their bid to lift themselves from the shackles of poverty.

Mr Kaisa said there is need for urgent action in addressing traditions, norms and cultures that adversely affect the development of children.

“Some traditions are very difficult to change but with concerted efforts from chiefs and the community, the injurious traditions can be removed. Sending children to herd cattle is considered a normal practice, but this becomes injurious to a child when it affects his or her education,” Mr Kaisa said.

He called on schools, the Church and parents to work with traditional leaders to curb child exploitation and ensure that children are protected and attain the highest level of education.

Mr Kaisa said child protection should not be the responsibility of Government alone, but all leaders and community members should feel duty-bound.

According to the Police Victim Support Unit (VSU) in Katete, a number of parents have suffered the consequences of sending their children to herd cattle with the hope of earning a living but never get the desired benefits.

Sergeant Stella Muleya said child abuse and early marriages are some of the common cases which the unit has been dealing with for some time now.

Ms Muleya said although VSU also receives a number of cases of defilement, there has been a sharp increase in the number of children herding cattle but never getting the benefit of their service.

“Some of the causes of child suffering include lack of food and the need to live a better life, so parents encourage their children to work and be able to support the family in some way,” Ms Muleya said.

She said because of the families’ insatiable desire for improved living conditions, they do not care about the kind of endeavours their children engage in as long as they are able to bring food on the table.

“There is need for collaboration in addressing these challenges from all stakeholders,” Ms Muleya said.

Area member of Parliament Peter Phiri says he is aware of the challenges facing the people in Mkaika constituency and has been engaging various stakeholders in an attempt to address the bottlenecks.

“We are planning a dialogue meeting with relevant stakeholders in the district to find solutions to the problem of child exploitation.

This is being worsened by the increase in the number of early marriages and children being forced to work as labourers at tender ages,” Mr Phiri said.

It is against this backdrop that PANOS Institute Southern Africa has embarked on a project called ‘Strengthening Child Protection Systems’ in Katete.

Regional programme manager for media development and ICTs Elias Banda says the institute will collaborate with different stakeholders to enhance child protection through the necessary protection systems.

Child protection, according to PANOS, is a set of usually Government-run services designed to protect children and young people.

PANOS is partnering with the Zambia Police Service through the VSU and the department of social welfare in the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health.

“Communities will identify problems affecting the development of children. They will also come up with their own ways of addressing the identified challenges and we will provide the needed support,” Mr Banda said.

PANOS has already supported the efforts of the local leadership in the district through the listening clubs.

On behalf of Save the Children International in Zambia (PSAf), PANOS has partnered with Mpangwe Radio to use radio as a platform where child protection issues can be discussed.

“We want to use radio to influence change and policy formulation. These interventions are expected to promote community action in reducing child abuse and advancing community-owned protection interventions,” Mr Banda said.

There are five listening clubs in Katete; they are Malata, Keni, Kagord, Kalimeta and Chibolya. These listening clubs give the residents a voice so that they can drive their own development agenda.

“The clubs produce programmes that can help others change in a positive way and share ideas aimed at fostering development,” Mr Banda said.

 

Damages from extreme weather mount as climate warms new report calls for greater investment in managing climate and damage

 

By VIOLET MENGO

As the global climate continues to change, the costs and damages from more extreme weather related to a warming planet are growing. 

While all countries are impacted, developing nations bear the brunt of mounting losses in lives and livelihoods from increasingly severe floods, droughts, and storms.

“Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful typhoon ever to hit the Philippines, has brought into sharp focus how climate change is intensifying the severity of extreme weather events, which hurts the poor the most,” said Jim Yong Kim,

 World Bank Group President. “While the immediate relief effort must be front and center of our attention today, such tragic events show that the world can no longer afford to put off action to slow greenhouse emissions, and help countries prepare for a world of greater climate and disaster risks.”

More can be done to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change, as well as prepare for and respond to weather-related disasters, according to a new World Bank report released today on the sidelines of the UN climate talks in Warsaw. Building Resilience: Integrating Climate and Disaster Risk  into Development looks at the gradual or slow-onset effects of climate change like sea-level rise, salinization of freshwater sources and droughts, as well as extreme weather events like floods, heat-waves or cyclones.

Produced before Typhoon Haiyan left its deadly trail of destruction across the Philippines, the report describes the costs of weather disasters the lives and jobs lost as well as in losses and damages to private property and infrastructure, and their particular impact on the poor.

“Over the last 30 years, the world has lost more than 2.5 million people and almost $4 trillion to natural disasters. Economic losses are rising – from $50 billion each year in the 1980s, to just under $200 billion each year in the last decade. .

And about three quarters of those losses are a result of extreme weather”, said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice-President for Sustainable Development.

“While you cannot connect any single weather event to climate change, scientists have warned that extreme weather events will increase in intensity if climate change is left unchecked.”

With a focus on lessons from World Bank Group experience, the new Bank report calls for national governments and the international development community to work across disciplines and sectors to build long-term resilience, reduce disaster risk and avoid unmanageable future costs.

The main findings include: Loss and damages from disasters have been rising over the last three decades, from an annual average of around $50bn in the 1980s to just under $200bn each year in the last decade.

According to the reinsurance company, Munich Re, data, total reported losses from disasters are estimated at $3.8 trillion in the period from 1980 to 2012 with 74% due to extreme-weather.

Weather-related economic impacts are especially high in fast-growing, middle-income countries due to increasingly exposed, valuable assets.

The average impact of disasters equaled 1% of GDP over the six years from 2001 to 2006, ten times higher than the average for high-income countries.

The impacts are particularly crippling in smaller and lower-income countries that are least able to cope. Hurricane Tomas, for example, devastated St Lucia in 2010 and wiped out the equivalent of 43% of GDP. In the Horn of Africa, the extended 2008-11 drought, which at its peak left 13.3 million people facing food shortages, caused estimated total losses of US$12.1 billion in Kenya alone

Climate and disaster-resilient development can save lives and livelihoods and protect the poor from climate shocks. Early warning systems have been proven to save countless lives worldwide, and typically yield benefits that are 4-36 times higher than initial cost outlay.

Cyclone Phailin which hit Odisha and Andrah Pradesh in 2013 resulted in 40 deaths after years of disaster risk prevention and preparedness, compared to the 10,000 who perished during a similar event in 1999.

There are big pay-offs despite upfront investment costs. Disaster assessment experience suggests it costs 10-50% more to build safer infrastructure than to replace original structures.  

For large-scale infrastructure it can be substantially higher. For example, following the 2008 floods in Namibia investments were needed to elevate roads and improve drainage in flood prone areas.

This carried a cost 5.5 times the replacement value of damaged structures. Much is known already on how to build resilience, but better cooperation is needed among relevant agencies and disciplines.

The World Bank and other partners have accumulated a wealth of global expertise in resilient development – but it requires better harmonisation of climate and disaster management agendas to prevent fragmentation of local capacity and global  resources.

The World Bank is providing, combining, and leveraging different types of finance to help nations address climate and disaster risks.

Through the Global Facility for Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience, the World Bank has helped at least 70 countries include climate and disaster risk into their development planning and investments.

In addition, it offers advisory services, tools, online platforms, and country-specific risk assessments to support nations and populations at risk.

“At the World Bank Group, we are putting disaster risk management at the forefront of our agenda,” said Kyte. “Unfortunately we must ramp up and integrate disaster risk and development. We can help governments improve their planning processes, build to disaster resilient standards and establish early warning systems.

The Bank portfolio in this area is rapidly growing with 2 out of every 3 dollars we invest in this area focused on prevention and preparedness rather than just response.”

In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, the World Bank is working closely with the Government of the Philippines and we stand ready to support the recovery and reconstruction effort in any way we can.

Building Resilience: integrating climate and disaster risk into development was produced by the World Bank and the GFDRR.

Caring for Climate Hosts Inaugural Business Forum to Co-Create Climate Change Solutions

By VIOLET MENGO

The United Nations Global Compact, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat and UN Environment Programme yesterday launched the inaugural Caring for Climate Business Forum where, for the first time, the private sector will join with the public sector in the co-creation of climate change solutions as an official part of the Conference of Parties.

CEOs will showcase to diplomats, policymakers and world leaders the contributions that business and investors are making towards climate action. Held concurrently with COP19/CMP9, the Business Forum will help to bring greater scale to business innovation on climate change, encourage Governments to raise ambition on climate policies and foster collaboration among business, investors, Government, civil society and the UN.

Through direct engagement with COP19 talks, companies will share solutions and commitments and set concrete action plans and partnerships in pursuit of effective and scalable solutions on climate change.

“COP 19 is a pivotal moment to both step up and showcase climate action,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC. “Businesses must be heard, leveraged and invited to develop scalable climate change solutions to drive climate action. This can create the political space for more ambition in the UN climate process, which as part of a virtuous cycle can in turn catalyze more business action."

The Business Forum will showcase some of the most innovative commitments  and solutions for climate change from businesses, including plans by Ikea to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2020, and a new global framework by Dow to mitigate the footprint of large-scale events and help to produce the  first carbon neutral Olympic Games.

World leaders will learn about actions taken in markets across the globe – such as China, where Caring for Climate has facilitated commitments by companies across seven action areas for combatting climate change and reducing pollution and emissions.

“Environmental change is accelerating and generating new and emerging challenges but also opportunities for business,” said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP and UN Under-Secretary-General.

“Companies that face up to these realities are likely to be the ones that survive and indeed thrive in a rapidly evolving world where factors such as climate change and dwindling availability of natural resources will shape future patterns of profit and loss while driving new and smarter markets,” he said.

Demonstrations of real-life climate-change solutions can help to build precedents and public support that are needed to move policymakers to action.

The Caring for Climate Business Forum gives companies the critical opportunity do so.” said Georg Kell, UN Global Compact Executive Director.

“By facilitating private-sector investment, setting a price on carbon and bringing to scale climate change solutions that work, the private sector can prove that it plays a lead role in influencing the global climate change agenda.”

Leveraging the themes of innovation, ambition and collaboration, the  Business Forum will be opened by high-level speakers including Christiana  Figueres, COP 19 President and Poland’s Minister of Environment Marcin  Korolec, and President and CEO of World Resources Institute Andrew Steer.

A dozed focused sessions on themes related to the UNFCCC agenda and co-organised with The Climate Group, CDP, UNEP’s Finance Initiative and WRI will cover mitigation (i.e., bridging the emissions gap by 2020); adaptation; capacity-building and technology-transfer; and innovative financing – and cross-cutting issues such as transparency and responsible policy engagement.

New tools and resources for companies launched at the Business Forum include the Caring for Climate (C4C) Progress Report 2013 which examines trends in participation in C4C, emissions performance of companies and progress made against the five commitments, and a guide to help businesses engage responsibly in climate policy.

The Climate and Energy Action Hub, an  interactive platform for companies to collectively provide technologies, resources, services and business models to scale up climate and energy efforts, will present nearly 20 projects seeking partners from the private  and public spheres.

Today, chief executives and senior representatives of Caring for  Climate signatories will engage in a high-level meeting with Government representatives to distil the outcomes from the first day, with participation by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania; Achim Steiner; and Christiana Figueres.

Companies will put forward key recommendations for Government actions to help scale up and deepen the quality of corporate climate leadership globally. The Business Forum will conclude with a report-back segment and a formal announcement of new commitments to action.

 

 

legislators key in addressing climate change

November 18^th 2013

By VIOLET MENGO

KABWE Member of Parliament James Kapyanga says there is a correlation between strong domestic climate change legislation and high international ambition at the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change.

Mr Kapyanga said although the factors that determine a country’s negotiating positions are many and complex, advancing domestic climate change legislation has a positive influence on such ambition.

Speaking shortly after his attendance at the Global Legislators’ Organisation COP19 side events briefing  for  legislators here, he said national climate change legislation is not just something that should underpin an international agreement after it has reached; rather it is an enabler that creates the political space for a deal.

“National legislation could form the basis of an outcome with legal force in 2015 under the Durban Platform, we are doing well in trying to put legislation related to climate change as a country,” Mr Kapyanga said.

He said therefore that the advance of national legislation in key countries, combined with strengthened engagement of legislators should be actively supported between now and 2015.

The Parliamentarian said there is need for political will in climate change issues.

Ends….

Coal is Killing the Climate and the Warsaw Talks

By VIOLET MENGO

Pan- African Climate Justice (PACJA) Zambian Chapter Robert Chimambo says Africans are now choosing a better, cleaner, safer and more democratic future by rejecting coal.

Mr Chimambo said the ministers must do the same here at the Warsaw climate summit to refuse lobbyist get in the way of urgent, immediate, emission controls by developed countries and a ban on fossil fuels.

“Our call is for a just transition to renewable energy controlled by people, which is why we have come up with a declaration on coal, we refuse the use of coal because coal hurts our health, destroys our rivers and mountains that contribute to the climate change driving extreme weather ,” Mr Chimambo said.

Mr Chimambo who is coordinator for Climate Change Network in Zambia was part of other civil society groups from across the world who introduced a “People’s Communique on Coal” into the UN climate summit that concludes this Friday.

The declaration comes out of Reclaim Power - a global month of action on energy, which occurred throughout October and highlighted resistance against dirty energy that is driving climate change and proposed clean, people-controlled solutions.

The groups, from local community organisations, to regional networks and large international NGOs, released the statement today (Monday) to highlight the need for an immediate and absolute just transition from coal, in order to confront the climate crisis.

The civil society alleged that the climate talks have been overshadowed by the controversy of the Polish Government supporting a "coal and climate" conference on the sidelines.

And Jubilee South, Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development from the Philippiines Lidy Nacpil said Australia has sent its coal corporation's representatives to Warsaw, instead of the humanity and compassion of its citizens.

“Given that emissions from burning coal are the single biggest human source of climate changing greenhouse gases, the communique says that, the push for Coal is a betrayal of the commitment and obligation of governments under the United Nations to address climate change and shift to sustainable pathways,”Ms Nacpil said.

Friends of Earth International chairperson Jagoda Munic said the Polish government should act in the interests of Polish people, not corporations.

“We are calling on them to act as a leader in Central and Eastern Europe and transition to a just, clean renewable energy future, not one dominated by dirty coal." He said.

Ends……