“Kick the CO₂ habit” – was the message on this year’s World Environment Day (5 June) with calls for the global community to move towards low carbon economies in order to meet the challenge of this generation – climate change.

The message emphasises the urgency for the world to make the transition from inefficient use of carbon emitting fossil fuels to increased use of cleaner, renewable energy.

Already southern Africa has begun to make huge strides in this direction with the adoption of biofuels, wind energy and the expansion of solar power initiatives in many countries across the region.

In addition to concerns about climate change, the transition to renewable energy has also been necessitated by a crippling regional electricity shortage that began in 2007 and rising global oil prices.

In September 2007, Zimbabwe commissioned the first, and largest, commercial biodiesel processing plant in Sub Saharan Africa.

The biodiesel processing plant, which can produce biodiesel from any vegetable oil-bearing seed, has a capacity to produce between 90 – 100 million litres of diesel annually.

State initiatives in Mozambique and South Africa are at advanced stages for full-scale biodiesel production.

Mozambique’s state-owned petroleum company, Petromoc, intends to implement a US$550 million biofuels project expected to produce up to 226 million litres of fuel from sugar cane and jatropha.

Smaller-scale biofuel initiatives are underway in Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and the United Republic of Tanzania.

The use of biofuels results in reduced carbon emissions because the plant material from which they are derived capture carbon from the air.

When they are burned to generate energy this carbon is returned to the atmosphere meaning there is no net increase in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

On the contrary, consumption of fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas releases carbon which is trapped underground into the atmosphere adding to the existing amounts.

The accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere has been identified as the leading cause of climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which released its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007.

Meanwhile, the first wind farm in South Africa, which produces electricity from wind power, began operation in mid May, in Darling in the Western Cape province.

The wind farm, which has four wind turbines and can supply 5.2 MW of electricity, is the first “green energy” initiative in South Africa to produce electricity from wind power on a commercial basis.

All the electricity produced will be sold to the City of Cape Town as part of a long-term power purchase agreement.

In a related development, South Africa’s electricity provider Eskom is building a multi-million dollar solar plant near Upington in the Northern Cape province.

The Upington project is the first major solar energy initiative on the African continent. Expansion of solar energy schemes is also underway in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The potential of solar as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels is enormous, with scientists estimating that every year a square kilometre of desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil.

Technological innovation at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa has resulted in high energy yielding solar panels believed to be the most advanced in the world.

The highly advanced thin film technology solar panels, developed by Professor Vivian Alberts over the last 13 years, are already being constructed by a German company for sale in Europe.

Development of clean energy technology is a priority for the region, whose biggest economy South Africa has the highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions in Africa at 7.4 metric tonnes per annum against a global average of 4 metric tonnes.

Despite the advances in renewable energy generation, southern African countries still plan to generate a sizeable amount of their energy from coal-fired thermal power stations as the region battles with its power shortage.

Among the short to medium term plans to address the energy crunch is investment in thermal power, with South Africa alone hoping to generate an additional 8,000 MW out of coal.

South Africa generates about 74 percent of its electricity supply comes from coal-fired power stations.

To avert its energy shortfall Namibia has been receiving 40MW of power from Zimbabwe’s Hwange thermal power station after the two countries signed a power sharing deal in 2007.

The deal involves Namibian investment of US$40 million into the refurbishment of four coal-firing units at Hwange.

The burning of coal to produce electricity in thermal power stations is a major cause for concern due to the resultant emissions, and continued thermal generation will add to the region’s carbon footprint.

The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report predicts that with current climate change mitigation policies and related sustainable development practices fossil fuels will remain the dominant global source of energy until the year 2030.

In a message released ahead of World Environment Day, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on countries to halt all activities that contribute to increased build up of carbon in the atmosphere.

“We don’t just burn carbon in the form of fossil fuels. Throughout the tropics, valuable forests are being felled for timber and making paper, for pasture and arable land and, increasingly, for plantations to supply a growing demand for biofuels”.

“This further manifestation of our carbon habit not only releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide gas; it also destroys a valuable resource for absorbing atmospheric carbon, further contributing to climate change,” said the UN Secretary General…End

 Singer-songwriter Feliciano dos Santos from Mozambique has won the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s largest prize for grassroots environmentalists.

 The Goldman is essentially an “environmental Nobel Prize”, named after the US philanthropist Richard Goldman, who in 1990 came up with the idea to honour “grassroots environmental heroes” from six regions around the world.

 Dos Santos won the trophy and US$150,000 prize money – presented to him on 14 April, in San Francisco, United States of America – for Africa.

 Winners are selected for putting themselves at great personal risk in an effort to protect the natural environment.

 Dos Santos won for his efforts in campaigning for better sanitation in his native Mozambique and the rest of the developing world through music.

 Dos Santos formed his band, Massukos, whose songs seek to draw the world’s attention to the sanitation challenge in the developing world, in 1992.

 Disabled by polio at a young age, Dos Santos, 43, learned to strum a banjo in a slum, playing the rhythms of Niassa, his home province in northern Mozambique.

 With his prize money, he intends to create “a better life for his family” and to translate a body of research on environmental health into Portuguese.

 Hailing from Mozambique his success and message could not have come at a better time, as the southern African country strives to meet its sanitation targets.

 Through formulating new strategies, institutional reforms and municipal capacity building the Mozambican government intends to extend sanitation coverage to 55 percent of the urban population and 40 percent of its rural population by 2010.

 In 2005, sanitation coverage stood at 35 percent of the population in the urban and peri-urban areas, and 33 percent in the rural areas according to the Mozambique Human Development Report 2005.

 Southern African countries, like the rest of the world, have pledged to reduce by half, from 1990 levels, the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015.

 Despite significant efforts by governments to ensure increased provision of basic sanitation in the region, progress on targets has been slow and uneven, while in some cases access is worsening.

 Challenges remain mainly due to asymmetries in sanitation coverage from district to district, inadequate investment in rural areas and poor maintenance of existing water supply infrastructure in urban areas.

 In Zimbabwe, the National Coordination Unit for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation reports that 91 percent of the urban population has access to improved sanitation, whereas in the rural areas access to improved sanitation is only 25 percent.

 To meet its 2015 rural sanitation coverage target of 63 percent the Zimbabwean government needs to build 65,000 latrine units a year.

 The national average of households with access to sanitation facilities in South Africa was 85 percent in 2000 according to Statistics South Africa (SSA).

 However, a survey carried out by SSA in 2007 shows that in the Eastern Cape, 23 percent of the population has no toilet facilities.

 The percentage of the population in the Eastern Cape that use pit latrines increased from 27 percent in 2001 to 29 percent last year while in the Limpopo province there was an increase from 58 percent in 2001 to 64 percent last year.

 Repeated flooding in the region since 2000 has also led to the significant destruction of sanitation facilities further rolling back progress.

 For instance, sanitation coverage in the rural areas in Zimbabwe “has gone down to 25 percent (from over 40 percent in 1990) due to low rate of construction of facilities, inability to replace old latrines and destruction of existing structures by natural disasters such as flooding,” according to the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development.

 Rapid urbanisation marked by a regional projected annual urban population growth of 1.1 percent between 2000 and 2010 is expected to further retard progress towards urban sanitation targets.

 For instance, “of the 30 percent (of Swaziland’s population) who live in urban areas, over 60 percent live in unplanned townships, without safe water and sewerage,” according to Swaziland’s latest MDG Country Report.

 In Mozambique, “about two million people live on the degraded urban peripheries, without access to adequate water supply and excreta disposal services,” according to the Mozambique Human Development Report of 2005.

 According to the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) only 60 percent of the African population has access to improved sanitation services, and the continent needs to increase coverage to more than 221 million unserved people to meet the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target date.

 At the Second AfricaSan Conference held in Durban South Africa, in February, Ministers and Heads of Delegation responsible for sanitation from 32 African countries agreed on an Action Plan meant to put Africa  “back on track” to meet the sanitation MDGs.

 The Durban conference was the climax of a continent-wide process to assess progress, challenges, and lessons towards achieving the sanitation MDG.

 The AfricaSan Action Plan identifies critical areas and actions to be further developed, funded and monitored until 2010 when AMCOW is due to report on progress.

 Among the priority areas is the need for increased capacity building, financing, and decentralisation in national sanitation planning and service delivery.

 At the end of the conference, the Ministers signed the eThekwini Declaration in which, among other undertakings, they pledged to create separate public sector budget lines for sanitation in their countries and to commit at least 0.5 percent of their national GDP towards sanitation.

 The eThekwini Declaration will be presented to the African Union at its 2008 Heads of State and Government Summit to be held in Egypt in July 2008.

 The AU Heads of State and Government are expected to declare their support for the implementation of the AfricaSan Action Plan.

 The increased focus on sanitation this year is in accordance with the resolution by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2006 to declare 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.

 Among the objectives set for the year is to secure real commitments to review, develop and implement strategies and national plans to scale up sanitation programmes and strengthen sanitation policies. …End

Heavy rainfall since late 2007 in southern Africa has led to serious flooding affecting mainly Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

This season’s La Niña induced downpour has brought some of the “heaviest rains in living memory” in most countries in the region with Zimbabwe recording its highest ever rainfall for the months of October, November and December (OND).

Records at the Department of Meteorological Services in Zimbabwe show that OND rainfall in 2007 averaged 453.4 mm. The wettest season to date was 1924/1925 with an average of 413.8 mm for the same period.

“The La Niña phenomenon is the opposite of the more common El Niño effect associated with recent droughts in the region” says Amos Makarau, climate expert and Director of Zimbabwe’s Meteorological Services Department.

The La Niña phenomenon is characterised by a cooling of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial pacific and has significant impacts on rainfall patterns in the whole world, causing very heavy rains in southern Africa.

Flooding is expected to remain a major concern in the region after the SADC Drought Monitoring Centre issued a rainfall forecast predicting above average rainfall performance in the remainder of the rainfall season.

The rainfall season in most of southern Africa stretches from October to March with a peak in late February.

Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organisation has announced in its latest forecast, that the La Niña – which began in the third quarter of 2007 – has picked up strength in the past three months, and is likely to continue through the middle of the year.

Below are country highlights as issued by the SADC Regional Flood Watch…

Mozambique
Heavy rains received in December and January in the country and in neighbouring countries have led to serious flooding in the country.

The flooding has mainly occurred in the Zambezi, Save, Buzi and Pungue, prompting the government to evacuate a large number of affected people.

Districts along the Zambezi have been the most affected and it is estimated that close to 95,000 people have been displaced, while about 83,000 hectares of crops have been lost, affecting 89,000 households.

Affected districts include Caia, Chemba, Chide, Marromeu, Mopeia, Mutarara, and Tambara.. Districts along Pungue, Save and Buzi basins have also been affected by flooding. Affected families have been moved to approximately 90 resettlement centres.

The opening of flood gates at Kariba Dam upstream, due to begin 11 February, could result in further flooding in the country.

Zimbabwe
Heavy rains have led to flooding mainly in areas falling within the Zambezi, Save and Buzi river basins.

Over 10,000 people have been displaced by flooding so far, according to a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report. Areas affected by flooding so far include Muzarabani, Chiredzi, Chipinge and Tsholotsho.

There are serious concerns that have been raised that the extent of waterlogging and leaching may cause significant reductions in yield. A full assessment on agricultural impacts has not yet been carried out.

Zambia
A task force from the Zambia Vulnerability Assessment Committee has completed a rapid assessment in six districts affected by the current floods and revealed that the total number of affected households is 3,337.

Victims range from those needing shelter and relief food to those needing health and sanitary facilities such as mosquito nets and chlorine. Government reports indicate that about 10% of the victims had been moved to temporary shelter.

Districts affected include Sinazongwe, Siavonga, Monze, Mazabuka, Kafue, Lusaka and Namwala, which are all located in the Zambezi basin.

Malawi
The widespread heavy rains that were received over the country prompted the issuance of flood alerts and assessments of flood prone areas by the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA).

As of 28 January 2008, the DoDMA estimated that about 17,600 households have been affected by floods. Assessments also show that 86 villages have been affected and cropped areas amounting to about 1,600 hectares under maize, rice and cotton have been damaged. Several hundreds of people are living in tents while others have sheltered in schools.

Assessments are still going on as the government tries to reach areas that have become difficult to access. The affected districts include Balaka, Chikwawa, Karonga, Machinga, Nsanje and Ntcheu.

Reports indicate that people from affected households in Mozambique have crossed the border to seek refuge in Malawi as flood waters rise along the Shire Valley.

Madagascar
Reports of loss of lives and damage to crops and infrastructure have been received from Madagascar, where heavy rains were received when Cyclone Fame passed through the island country. It is estimated that about 600 people lost their homes.

Namibia
Sustained heavy rains received in south-eastern Angola and the Caprivi region of Namibia have put communities in these areas at risk of flooding. Flood alerts have reportedly been issued in Namibia, where farmers in affected areas have been advised to move their cattle…. 12.02.08

Southern African countries have chosen a firm route towards attaining safe water and sanitation targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals following the move to accelerate the development of water supply infrastructure across the region.

SADC member states, like the rest of the world, have pledged to reduce by half, from 1990 levels, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015.

Meeting at the 27th SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government in Lusaka in August, SADC leaders took time to reflect on the pace of infrastructure development in the region and strategise on priority areas in need of accelerated action.

The meeting during which development of physical water infrastructure featured highly on the agenda also recognised the centrality of “soft” infrastructure to the development and management of water resources.

Emphasis was given on the promotion of integrated water resources management (IWRM) as a vehicle for cost-efficient and reliable water supply and sanitation.

IWRM which promotes economic efficiency, social equity and environmental sustainability in water resources management has progressively been adopted by countries in the region who are at various stages of their water sector reforms.

Meanwhile, SADC Member States have identified several physical infrastructure development projects meant to ensure safe water supply to communities in the region.

In addition, the developments will boost capacity for power generation and irrigation, and enable communities to embark on livelihoods projects such as market gardening and fish farming.

Among the priority projects are the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme whose main objective is to secure long-term potable water supplies for the lowlands of Lesotho and adjacent towns in South Africa.

 Also envisaged is the Cunene/Kunene Transboundary Water Project, a joint venture between Angola and Namibia which will supply safe water to a population of 111,000 in the border villages and towns in the two countries.

These efforts resonate with calls from the global water polity for improvements in safe water and sanitation provision towards 2008, designated as the International Year of Sanitation (IYS) by the United Nations.

Among some of the objectives set for IYS is to secure real commitments to review, develop and implement roadmaps and national plans to scale up sanitation programmes and strengthen sanitation policies.

In addition, it is hoped IYS will increase awareness and commitment from actors at all levels, both inside and outside the water sector, on the importance of reaching the sanitation targets set in the Millennium Development Goals.

Data collected since 1990 shows that most SADC countries have achieved or are likely to reach their 2015 targets of sustainable access to safe drinking water in urban areas.

However, slower progress has been registered in the rural areas in which the majority of the region’s 235 million people live.

In Mozambique, like in most SADC countries who embarked on national water sector reforms in the 1990s, the approval of the National Water Policy in 1995 has begun to pay dividends.

Urban access to safe drinking water, which had stagnated at just over 30 percent between 1990 and 2000, stood at 40 percent in 2005 and continues to rise.

The rate of coverage of urban water supply in Mozambique is projected to reach 60 percent in 2009.

Urban safe water supply is almost universal in Mauritius, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Although the region generally has adequate safe drinking water coverage in the urban areas progress towards access to improved sanitation in these areas still lags behind set targets while in some cases access is worsening.

For instance, “of the 30 percent (of Swaziland’s population) who live in urban areas, over 60 percent live in unplanned townships, without safe water and sewerage,” according to Swaziland’s latest MDG Country Report.

The proportion of urban population with access to basic sanitation in Namibia fell from 89 percent in 1991 to 82 percent in 2001.

Rapid urbanisation marked by a regional projected annual urban population growth of 1.1 percent between 2000 and 2010 is expected to retard progress towards urban sanitation targets.

The mushrooming of unplanned urban and peri-urban settlements coupled with low investment in sanitation services have resulted in serious urban environmental management challenges for most SADC countries.

 In Zimbabwe, the urban population estimated at 4.5 million is projected to increase at a rate of up to six percent per annum, which is almost six times more than the current national population growth rate of 1.1 percent per year.

In Mozambique, about two million people live on the degraded urban peripheries, without access to adequate water supply and sewage services.

Access to safe water and improved sanitation in the rural areas has risen since 1990 in most SADC countries, although progress is slow and only Botswana and Mauritius appear on course to eclipse their 2015 targets.

In Namibia 45 percent of the rural population had access to clean and safe water in 1991.Since then, the figure has almost doubled.

However, progress in provision of basic sanitation has been slower. In 1991 just 15 percent of the rural population had access to basic sanitation such as flush toilet or a ventilated improved pit latrine.

By 2001 that share had increased to 21 per cent against a target of 65 percent in 2015.

Sanitation coverage in rural Lesotho, which currently stands at 50 percent, is projected to rise as over 70 percent of water points in the rural areas are now based on reticulated systems.

Despite the general improvement, sustainable access to improved water supply and sanitation remains a challenge in the SADC region mainly due to asymmetries in coverage from district to district, inadequate investment and poor maintenance of existing water supply infrastructure… 11.10.07

Heads of state and other top government officials from at least 150 countries around the world gathered for a high-level event on climate change on 24 September 2007.

The event, which preceded the 62^nd session of the UN General Assembly, was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The event was aimed at securing political commitment and building momentum for the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali (3 to 14 December) where negotiations about a new international climate agreement should start.

The common understanding mainly from countries in southern Africa at this high-level event in New York was that the time to act on climate change is here, and that climate change is a result of human activities, primarily greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries.

Southern Africa suffers for indiscretions of more developed nations, with persistent droughts, rising temperatures and decreases in seasonal rainfall as a result of global warming.

Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos pointed out that climate change caused by human actions presents an unprecedented challenge in the history of humanity.

The Angolan leader said that prolonged droughts, floods, storms, hurricanes and variations in seasonal cycles are phenomena that affect millions of people and from which no country is immune today.

Malawian minister, Davies Katsonga, and the Zambian President and current chairperson of SADC, Levy Mwanawasa, concurred saying if climate change is left unchecked, all the socio-economic gains realised in the past will be put to waste.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a regional bloc of 14 member states in southern Africa and some small Indian Ocean states.

Botswana indicated that it fully supports the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as it believes that the convention provides an appropriate global framework for addressing the challenges of climate change.

“What we need is the political will to mobilize resources to facilitate effective implementation of the Convention,” said Mopati Merafhe, Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

In Lesotho, the media has also been playing an important role of communicating climate change issues and raising awareness.

Deputy Prime Minister Archibald Lehohla said that climate-related incidents have become so frequent in the country that there is no news bulletin that is complete without mentioning the subject of climate change.

From the Namibian delegation, Foreign Affairs Minister Marco Hausiku turned on the heat on the industrialized countries accusing them of emitting more greenhouse gases and doing little to avert the pending catastrophe.

He encouraged the industrialized world to not only pledge to take action, but also to take the lead in mitigating climate change and supporting adaptation efforts in the heavily affected countries.

“Climate change is a fact,” said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, “and delaying climate action will hit poor countries and communities hardest.”

“The economic case for action is simple: the costs of inaction far outweigh the costs of action, and early action costs less,” continued the South African Minister of Environmental Affairs.

In Tanzania, climate change studies revealed that there has been a general increase in temperature over the last 40 years, and rainfall has been decreasing in most parts of this east African state during this same period.

In Zimbabwe, studies have shown that climate change is having a heavy impact on the nation’s food security levels.

Francis Nhema, the Minister of Environment and Tourism and current chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, illustrated this indicating that with predictions that agricultural productivity in the country could decrease by up to 30% this century, climate change poses one of the most serious food security challenges of the 21^st century in the country.

Countries in the region also pointed out that they had finished working on their National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPAs) on climate change.

Among these countries are Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia. Namibia is planning to develop a Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan through a national and consultative process in 2008.

However, it should be stressed that it is not an issue of just planning and writing strategy documents, but they have to be put into action.

African countries have to move away from donor-driven strategy document writing, and ensure that whatever strategy document they formulate, practising what it says is priority.

Countries also have to shun the tendency of lamenting and blaming the industrialized world without instituting active adaptation and mitigation initiatives.

And talking about adaptation also doesn’t mean that countries will be giving into the effects of climate change, advocacy for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions should proceed undeterred.

The message from the UN event was clear: Climate change is here to stay, the time to act is now, and everyone must be involved. It is everyone’s business; the media, academia, research organisations, civil society, public service…. EVERYONE!

Thousands of miles apart and barely within a day of each other, two leading figures at the United Nations have issued a rallying call for the global community to double its efforts and confront climate change “head on”.

Speaking Tuesday, in New York, at the first-ever UN plenary session devoted exclusively to climate change UN secretary General Ban Ki-moon said “The time has come for decisive action on a global scale.”

“I am convinced that this challenge, and what we do about it, will define us, our era and, ultimately our global legacy,” added Ban at the session seeking to translate the growing scientific consensus on the climate change problem into a broad political consensus for action.

Meanwhile, Wednesday, in Harare, current Chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development Francis Nhema said climate change has become an immediate cause for concern for all nations and what is now needed is to figure out how to cope with some of its inevitable negative impacts.

Nhema was speaking at a gathering of over 50 local scientists and academics meant to assess the threat climate change poses to the southern African region and strategise on how to cope with and adapt to the reality of global warming.

The urgent need for effective adaptation could not be over-emphasised for the region, which has been identified as a climate change hot spot.

Southern Africa has already begun to feel the brunt of climate change impacts and is projected to suffer heavier losses in the near future.

Climate data for Africa for the last 30-40 years shows global warming has taken a firm hold in southern Africa and if current trends continue, climate models predict that by 2020, between 75 and 250 million people will be facing water stress due to climate change on the continent.

Agricultural production, including access to food, is projected to be severely compromised by a shift of seasons, and a decrease in the area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential, particularly along the margins of semi-arid and arid areas.

Local food supplies are projected to be negatively affected by decreasing fisheries resources in large lakes due to rising water temperatures, which may be exacerbated by continued over-fishing, while mangroves and coral reefs are projected to be further degraded, with additional consequences for fisheries and tourism along coastal areas.

A study co-ordinated by a team of researchers from the Department of Geography at Sheffield University and involving researchers from the University of Cape Town and Potchefstroom University in South Africa reveals that unless people can take up successful adaptation strategies, food security will become increasingly difficult to achieve and humanitarian crises may be seriously exacerbated.

The project “Anticipating and Reacting to Climate Change in Southern Africa” aims to help local and regional governments, policy-makers, and non-governmental organisations to understand how communities adapt, and what kinds of assistance will be most effective in the face of current and predicted climate changes.

The study reports that in Lehurutshe, in South Africa, people are seeing an increase in regular periodic droughts, while in Dzanani farmers are experiencing a more general, significant drying trend with more pervasive drought.

In Uthukela rural households have experienced increasing intensity and variability in rainfall and seasonality, and in Manjacaze, in Mozambique, extreme weather patterns with floods and droughts are having a severe impact on people’s lives.

However the project researchers say people’s responses to climate change impacts have been complex and dynamic – stressing that communities have proved not to be helpless in the face of these major changes.

According to the researchers the communities that are most able to cope are those which are most co-operative and with the strongest social institutions as they are able to innovate and experiment in the face of change, as well as drawing on traditional knowledge and networks.

Other communities in the region are however not doing as well, and even with those that are more successful, researchers express a fear that they don’t know whether they will continue to be able to cope with such serious stresses.

Other studies in the region have shown that perceptions of climate change help shape responses to the threats it poses and better flood and drought forecasting per se may not be enough to help people cope with climate uncertainty and change in the region. 

Addressing delegates at the workshop in Harare, Nhema said it might be necessary for governments and environmental protection agencies to turn to indigenous knowledge systems to ensure that the intended beneficiaries of climate information understand and adopt it for adaptation to the changing climate.

Stressing the need to relay research findings in languages communities will understand, Nhema told the gathered scientists that there was enormous potential for communities to utilise information from scientific research for better understanding of the enormity of the climate challenge, and use it to mitigate and adapt to environmental change in the region… 03/08/07

 Development partners in southern Africa will have to sensitise communities to the long-term threat that climate change poses to their livelihoods and broaden adaptation efforts if the destructive impacts of global warming in the region are to be minimised.

Adaptation to climate change is most important among the rural poor whose livelihoods are most at risk of predicted climate extremes.

Impacts have already been felt across the region with severe water shocks, especially drought and flooding, being experienced in successive seasons.

All seasons but two since the turn of the century – when between January and March 2000 severe flooding hit the south eastern parts of the region and caused massive infrastructural damage, huge economic losses and left 700 dead in Mozambique – have been drought years.

The high unpredictability of each passing season has left farmers unsure of when to plant their crop while long dry spells when the rains have started and farmers have committed their crop to the ground have resulted in stunted crop, and in some cases total crop failure.

For instance, the shift in the onset of the rain season and long dry spells that were experienced during the 2004-05 rain season resulted in a food deficit in Zambia as production fell from 1.2 million metric tonnes in 2004 to 866,000 tonnes in 2005.

In Malawi, rains failed during the critical period from late January to end of February when the maize crop was pollinating and forming cobs leading to a fall in maize production from 1.7 million tonnes in 2004 to 1.3 million tonnes in 2005.

This was only 38 percent of the 3.4 million tonnes of maize required to feed Malawi’s population of 11.9 million people.

This year dry conditions affected the southern part of the sub-region during the critical months of January and February, causing widespread crop failure across most parts of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, southern Mozambique, southern Zimbabwe, and the maize producing areas of South Africa.

The pattern is a reversal of rainfall trends recorded in recent years in which the northern parts of the region have been drier than the south.

Harvest prospects for cereal crops have been drastically reduced, and all countries in the southern part of the sub-region face much below average yields.

Ground reports indicate that the drought will result in one of the worst harvests in recent years.

Apart from South Africa, the affected areas are structurally grain deficit and rely on imports from South Africa to cover cereal consumption requirements.

South Africa’s maize triangle – a swath of farmland between Kimberly and Johannesburg in North eastern South Africa – produces 90 percent of the country’s maize and about 50 percent of the maize in southern Africa.

Severe reductions in the maize harvest in South Africa will therefore have a negative impact not only domestically but also on the neighboring states.

The current drought comes hot on the heels of a 2005-06 season which was characterised by widespread flooding across the region which caused considerable structural damage, destroying schools, crops, telecommunications and roads while in some places whole villages were flooded prompting the relocation of people and livestock to higher ground.

At least 22 people were killed in Mozambique while 1,500 families were left homeless and up to 9,000 people were affected.

However, in some areas the rains received guaranteed food security.

Despite the clear urgency of the situation very little has been achieved in the way of promoting and raising awareness in the use of climate forecast products and adaptation efforts among communities in the region.

Although development organisations and some governments have initiated numerous projects the different national media and other communication channels have not promoted adaptation, leaving communities at risk unsure of how to respond to the unpredictable climate patterns.

The lack of reliable communication channels and delays in forecast dissemination has also contributed to increased vulnerability of communities in remote areas to climate related disasters.

Although the regional forecasting network, the Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF), reported at its last meeting in 2006 that forecasting by the region’s climate scientists had improved tremendously farmers have had to depend on weather forecasts which rarely go beyond a ten day outlook.

Delegates at the meeting heard that the forecast for October to December 2005 had a Hit Rate of 48 percent and a Heidke Hit Skill score of 22 percent while that for the January to March 2006 period recorded a Hit Rate of 69 percent and a Heidke Hit Skill score of 54 percent.

The Hit Rate is a statistical measure of the accuracy of a forecast while the Heidke Hit Skill score is a measure of the reliability of the modelling technique used to derive the predictions.

Experts say a good model evaluated over a period of more than ten years has a Heidke Hit Skill Score of 20.0 percent.

Concern was however raised by scientists that their seasonal forecast does not account for month-to-month variations in individual countries and when longer-range forecasts have been issued they have not been well disseminated to vulnerable communities.

Forecast dissemination has traditionally been in technical language, which communities do not understand and although several countries in the region have continued to improve dissemination – including through short messaging on cellular phones in South Africa – the language barrier has rendered forecasts ineffective, thereby also impacting negatively on adaptation efforts.

Adapting to the changing climate among the poor rural households who are most at risk has also been hampered by several other factors, chief among which is a lack of information and knowledge of best practice in adaptive responses.

Adaptation initiatives in the region have remained largely experimental and site specific with very little effort in replicating successes in other areas while very little has been done to sensitise communities to the long-term threat climate change poses to their livelihoods.

Where successes have been achieved and documented unreliable communication channels have resulted in delayed and incomplete responses, while in some cases successes have remained unknown in other parts of the region.

Participatory approaches, which involve those most at risk of climate change in raising awareness and implementing adaptation initiatives, need to be adopted across the region.

Participatory communication channels such as community radio and video, and workshops provide an enabling space for grassroots interaction and the exchange of climate change messages which will fit into communities’ worldview.

This would ensure that grassroots communities do not view climate change as a phenomenon outside the scope of their coping mechanisms but as a reality which they can live with.

Community gatherings and community media still play a massive role in community mobilisation in the region and harnessing the strength of traditional media such as drama, dance and song can provide a cost effective vehicle for sharing information on projections of future climate change and potential impacts, estimates of climate risks, causes of vulnerability, measures for managing climate risks and know how for implementing new technologies, in a language communities understand.

The use of participatory media is crucial for achieving consensus on perceptions of risks associated with climate change and acceptance of adaptation initiatives among those most at risk.

In a case study of a resettlement programme in Mozambique by researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis it was shown that a lack of participatory approaches led to disagreements between farmers and policy-makers about the seriousness of climate risks, and the potential negative consequences of proposed adaptive measures in the aftermath of the January to March 2000 floods.

Further, a project to provide more information about climate change to farmers did not alter their beliefs highlighting the need for active dialogue across stakeholder groups, as a necessary condition for formulating adaptation policies that can then be successfully implemented.

It has been demonstrated in other development initiatives in the region that social and cultural values play a part in risk perception.

Harnessing community media will enable climate change risk and adaptation messages to be communicated through culturally mediated channels thereby enhancing acceptance among communities at risk.

Urgent use of community media in raising awareness and disseminating knowledge about adaptive innovations provides a window of opportunity to amplify perceptions of, and responses to climate change among communities in southern Africa before livelihoods are eroded any further…. 04/07/07

 Southern Africa will in the coming year attempt to steer global action on sustainable development onto a more progressive path following the election of Zimbabwe to chair the 16th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD).

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Environment and Tourism, Francis Nhema, was elected as CSD-16 Chair at the 15th session of the Commission which ran from 30 April – 11 May 2007, at the UN headquarters in New York.

The 15th session, which ended in a stalemate and with no agreed outcome document, exposed fundamental differences between states on the nature, scope and ambition of the sustainable development agenda – particularly on issues of energy and climate change.

In ending in a stalemate, the session which focused on policies and options to accelerate the implementation of multilateral commitments in the areas of energy for sustainable development; industrial development; air pollution and atmosphere; and climate change fell short of expectations after a huge show of support for dialogue by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

“I would like to take this opportunity, in my first engagement with the Commission, to assure you of my support for your work to advance progress across the sustainable development agenda,” said Ban.

Addressing the High Level segment of the Commission Ban urged delegates to find solutions for provision of energy to the “many people around the world (who) lack access to modern energy services”.

About 1.6 billion people in the developing world lack access to electricity, and 2.4 billion still use traditional fuels such as firewood or dung for cooking and heating.

“This type of energy has a massive impact on human health (and) on the environment. There is therefore need to promote improved access to modern, affordable, more efficient and cleaner energy technologies, particularly for rural communities,” said Nhema contributing to the debate.

Delegates noted that while countries should strive for cleaner technologies and renewable energy sources, such as hydro-power, geothermal, wind, solar and bio-energy, fossil fuels “will continue to play an important role” in the future.

Ban emphasised that global warming is largely due to human activities, especially the use of greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels and called for an integrated and balanced response to climate change.

“Energy use provides people with everyday necessities and comforts, and is fuel for prosperity.  But we often overlook the impact on air pollution and climate change.”

“We must do more to use and develop renewable energy sources.  Greater energy efficiency is also vital.  So are cleaner energy technologies – including advanced fossil fuel and renewable energy technologies – which can create jobs, boost industrial development, reduce air pollution and help to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ban.

The Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) earlier this year warns of catastrophic consequences if the world does not step up efforts to reduce and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

The report states that the earth is already warming at an alarming rate and predicts that global temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and four degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century.

This will bring serious economic and social impacts on coastal regions, agricultural patterns, food security, the availability of fresh water and the spread of disease particularly in the Sahel, southern Africa, the coastal systems of east Africa and parts of Asia.

While the interior of southern Africa is expected to experience more intense droughts and unpredictable rainfall, some of the region’s largest cities including Cape Town, Maputo and Dar es Salaam, are coastal and would be particularly susceptible to sea level rise.

The Fourth Assessment Report projects a sea level rise of 18 – 58 centimetres by 2100, but notes that accelerated glacial melt could contribute another 21 centimetres, raising the upper end to 79 centimetres.

“This is a matter of urgency that requires sustained, concerted and high-level attention.  It has a broad impact not just on the environment but also on economic and social development, and needs to be considered in the context of sustainable development.  It should be a concern to all countries, rich or poor,” concluded Ban.

Limited investment in alternative sources of energy mean that developing countries will until 2030 rely heavily on fossil fuels for increased industrial development and economic growth.

During that time emissions of carbon dioxide, the dominant greenhouse gas, are expected to double.

“We will never achieve sustainable development goals as long as a third of all people do not have modern energy services”.

“As long as women and children have to forage for firewood, as long as students cannot read after sunset, and as long as new businesses and industries cannot get the power they need to operate, we cannot expect to achieve development that is economically, socially and environmentally balanced,” said the outgoing CSD-15 Chair, Abdullah Hamad Al-Attiyah, Minister of Energy for Qatar.

Thematic issues which the Commission will focus on during Nhema’s tenure include agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification, and Africa.

The Commission on Sustainable Development was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of commitments contained in Agenda 21, the programme of action for sustainable development adopted in June of that year at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro…07/06/07

Today, 17 April 2007, the U.N. Security Council breaks new ground by discussing climate change for the very first time.

This follows the recent release of the report by the Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that highlighted the severe impacts climate change will have during this century on human security, especially among the poor.

The report – Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability – is the second of a series of volumes which make up the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report to be released in full later this year.

The IPCC was set up by United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organisation to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information important for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.

The report stresses that climate change undermines livelihoods and well-being of communities already marginalised by national policies and economic globalisation.

As a result, experts say, social discontent and alienation may rise leading to conflicts that may destabilise whole regions.

While some of the ways in which climate change will affect security are already evident more effects will become clearer in the near future.

According to researchers the protracted conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan can be traced to decreased rainfall in the face of increasing population growth in the 1980s that sparked a struggle for land between settled farmers and pastoralists.

Several linkages between climate change and national and human security have been identified and they are predicetd to result in erosion of security over the coming century if not properly managed.

Local conflict over water and the failure to meet food and health related Millenium Developemnt Goals are some of the predicted consequences of climate change between now and the year 2020.

During the same period the mega-projects conceived by governemnts as solutions to climate change such as the planting of large-scale forestry under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Debvelopemnt Mechanism (CDM) and the building of more large dams and reserviors will displace poor and marginalised communities, having effects on politics and stability, while negatively affecting biodiversity.

In the longer term (2021 – 2050) large-scale investments in bio-fuel as a substitute for greenhouse gas emitting petro-fuels may have the effect of taking considerable land and other inputs out of food production and diverting food grains, thus raising food prices and eroding biodiversity.

The diversion of maize to ethanol production, for instance, would have serious impacts on African households and national food security in a continent where the cereal is the main staple diet.

Meanwhile, displacenment due to famine would become more pronounced leading to an upsurge in internally displaced populations while increased international refugee numbers would create national and international tensions.

Among the poor, climate change will have differential impacts, affecting women, the aged and children more than other vulnerable groups.

Worldwide, seventy percent of those living below the poverty line are women for whom climate change represents very specific threats to security.

When the impacts of climate change are brought home, women, in their roles as the primary managers of family, food, water and health, must deal very directly with impacts.

Sadly however, discussion on specific interventions for women have remained somewhat circumspect and invisible, including within the IPCC document…. 17/04/07