As we enter the homestretch of the Paris climate summit, coalitions have emerged between sections of developed countries, small islands states and the least developed countries (LDCs) blocs. This ambitious coalition made up of over 90 countries lead by the Marshal Island, coalesced to fight for an ambitious mechanism of 1.5 temperature goal.
A cleaner 29 paged draft christened “Paris Outcomes” agreement released late Wednesday has stimulated mixed reactions among the 194 countries currently negotiating a global climate change deal. Pertinent issues for Africa such as differentiation, demand for climate finance, adaptation and temperature limit of 1.5 degrees are some of the contentious issues still under deliberations from the trimmed document containing many brackets where wording is still antagonistic. All these matters remain unresolved in the current text. Africa and other developing countries considered as vulnerable have been pushing for a 1.5degrees reduction of emissions out of the soon to be agreed Paris Outcomes that is expected to be signed late this week.
On the 23rd of November 2015 the East African Community (EAC), Konrad-AdenauerStiftung (KAS) and ForumCC jointly convened representatives from the East African Community’s Member States to a one-day conference at the Mount Hotel in Arusha. Speaking to shout-africa.com was Ms. Stefanie Brinkel coordinator for Climate Change at the KAS; she said the main theme of discussion was on “Climate Change, Renewable Energies and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in East Africa – The Role of Climate Finance”. The discussions of more than 20 experts were in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
After the new Tanzanian President Dr John Magufuli has been sworn in, the main question now remains what next? This is concerning his style of leadership, the modus operand in general. Although he has a wide experience after having served as legislator and cabinet minister, Dr Magufuli has quite different leadership tenets in comparison to his four predecessors. The Founding Father Julius Nyerere was a social scientist having learned a combination of subjects like economics, philosophy and biology. He was a good orator and persuasive before injecting his agenda, although he never gave up easily in whatever he believed in.
The British charity, WaterAid has been commanded for championing the issue of sustainable sanitation as part of efforts to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalized people in society. WaterAid Liberia and Sierra Leone continues to prioritize access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene especially in hard-to-reach areas and for marginalized groups. People living with disabilities or visually impaired are among marginalized groups benefiting from improved WASH access as championed by WaterAid and partners.