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Emily Massawa
Emily Massawa
Topic: The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)
Emily Massawa works for UNEP to develop and formulate policies related to climate change adaptation. She also advises and provides technical assistance to various stakeholders (governmental and interg...
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Number of questions: [3]
Posted on 29/05/2009 16:56:35
Ms Emily, i have a question... how do people from Africa are thinking about climate change? Are they doing something about this changes?
Larisa (from Mexico)
The people in Africa are not just thinking about climate change they are already experiencing the adverse effects and trying to do what they can so as to adapt.Climate extremes have become more frequent and these are eroding the continents development gains.The traditional coping practices that have been put into use require to be augmented by resources from the international community so that the people can meet their sustainable development objectives.

Posted on 29/05/2009 15:18:14
What is the impact of Climate Change in Africa? Is there anything the ordinary african can do to save the situation? Do you think the AMCEN negotiations will be fruitful ?
Wangui (from Kenya)
Africa is extremely vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The sort of extreme climate events that are associated with climate change are occurring with increased frequency on the continent. These include floods, droughts and landslides. Most of the African countries have rainfed agriculture as the backbone of their economies.Agricultural production, including access to food, is projected to be severely compromised by climate variability and change. According to the Intergovernmental anel on Climate Change’s fourth assessment report released in 2007, new studies confirm that Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity. The report further states that by 2020, between 75 million and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change. If coupled with increased demand, this will adversely affect livelihoods and exacerbate water-related problems.
There are indeed activities that the ordinary person, you and I can carry out, these include tree planting, if you are carrying out some farming activities, remember those practices such as mulching? These are excellent for storing carbon in the soil and you have the extra spin-off of improving the productivity of your land. Activities such as waste management, composting....all these could be your contribution in saving the situation.
I think the AMCEN negotiations were very successful. The continent agreed to speak with one voice on issues affecting it under climate change.

Posted on 29/05/2009 04:53:14
Dear Ms Emily,
Currently, there are few Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in Africa.
How could AMCEN encourage multinational corporations to undertake more CDM projects in Africa? What is the position of AMCEN on the proposal that a scheme for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) should be integrated in a reformed CDM under a post-Kyoto Protocol?
Francis Bagambilana (from Tanzania (United Republic of))
There are several barriers to the development of CDM projects in Africa. One of the ways to dealing with them would be for AMCEN to have decision that would work towards the barrier removal. The decision could call for
1) An awareness programme for industry and other project proponents, financial institutions on CDM, climate friendly technologies and support facilities which are
Required in the country and outside to facilitate implementation of CDM
Project.
2) Capacity Building in all CDMeable sectors on areas such as identification of projects,
Support services, monitoring and certification of CDM projects. The strategy
here calls for developing the requisite skills and knowledge through training
and other interventions.
3) need for building capacity in other appropriate institutions that support the Designated National Authority for the CDM. This is necessary for the implementation of CDM projects .Support is also needed for Services providers to facilitate project identification, financing, implementation of CDM projects. Other institutions to assist in monitoring of the implementation as well as an appropriate national body to facilitate screening and certification the CDM projects.
Policies that enable CDM Project development need to be in place too.CDM can only succeed if there are appropriate policies geared to facilitating
implementation of CDM programme. Policies that just provide wide
ranging incentives to investors in all sectors may not assist in encouraging
investments into environmentally friendly technologies.

AMCEN can request the African Development Bank, other regional banks and International Finance Institutions and donors to step up capacity building efforts, including learning by doing approaches that bring Sub-Saharan CDM projects to the market as they build necessary capacities in DNA and relevant public and private sectors.

AMCEN working with ministers of finance can call on International Finance Institutions to adopt initiatives that are to promote accessible finance to CDM project activities in Sub-Sahara African countries.
In AMCEN's Indicative conceptual outline of a comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes, under mitigation REDD is one of the key areas identified under the market-based mechanisms.

    
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