2014 will likely be the hottest on record, WMO warns

World Meteorology Organisation

World Meteorological Organization says the year 2014 is on track for being one of the hottest, if not the hottest, on record, according to preliminary results issued at the side lines of the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru.

The changes according to the estimates are largely due to record WMO high global sea surface temperatures, which are predicted to likely remain above normal until the end of the year. 

The report says High sea temperatures, together with other factors, contributed to exceptionally heavy rainfall and floods in many countries and extreme drought in others.

The high January to October temperatures according to WMO, Secretary General Michel Jerraud occurred in the absence of a full El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

ENSO occurs when warmer than average sea-surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific combine, in a self-reinforcing loop, with atmospheric pressure systems, thus affecting weather patterns globally. 

Civil Society demands shift in private sector investment at Lima talks

Rev Tholbert Jallah Jnr

By Kofi A Domfeh, PAMACC Team, Lima

Solving the problem of global climate change is impossible without huge shift in private sector investments, since this sector represents trillions of dollars with vast majority of economic activities around the world.

 

This is the view of Civil Society in contributing to a discussion at the ongoing climate change talks in Lima, Peru.

 

According to Dr. Tholbert Jallah of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), what is needed most is policy changes and regulations particularly in developed countries "to shift private investments from brown to green".

 

"National governments could do far more to shift incentives so that trillions of dollars of private investments will flow to sustainable climate-friendly activities," he said.

 

Africa to "name and shame" at Lima climate change talks

In South American country, Peru where delegates around the globe are meeting to negotiate a new blueprint for the world to follow in order to combat climate change, African civil society is categorical on its prime goal.

"We are here to name and shame and also to remind the world that the needs of the African people must be met. Lima should deliver a text that most be agreed on in Paris" declared Samson Ogalla of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), a continental coalition of Civil Society Organizations defending the position of Africa in climate change talks.

"Here in Lima, the call to action on world leaders, delegates, governments, negotiators across the divide have to be louder by Civil Society Organisations. To this course, PACJA remains committed" added Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of PACJA

"For us, it`s a matter of life. If we miss this one we are finished. Climate is much more serious than has been predicted" said Robert Chimambo of Zambia Climate Change. All of them made their declaration in Lima on the eve of the UN climate change conference to run from 1-12 Dec. 2014. 

African Civil Society Groups Race To Make The Most From COP20

African Civil Society groups at the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are racing to make the most of this year's conference of parties (COP20).

The groups attending the annual conference now underway in Peru's capital Lima want to see additional commitment from the developed countries in providing US$ 100 Billion by the year 2020 among other crucial objectives.

"With fresh momentum and better organization, the conference should provide us better opportunity to push the developed countries to honour and deliver on its commitment. The industrialized countries must scale up their Commitments to fulfilling their obligation to providing adequate, new and additional funds as this amount is far from all estimates of climate finance needed by developing countries", Samuel Samson Ogallah of the African Civil Society Umbrella group, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) told a pre-COP consultative meeting in Peru November 30th. 

African fish industry in peril as global warming intensifies

By Arison TAMFU

 

Peru, Lima, and Dec. 2: Ana Faustor, a middle-aged Peruvian lady takes a passionate bite

at a grilled fish as she follows proceedings at the UN Climate change talks in Lima just outside the hall where deliberations are taking place. Inside the hall, officials reflect on how dangerous climate change has become to mankind and insist that the time to act is now but Ana`s thoughts are buried in nostalgia of the days of abundant fish and how she used to go fishing with her father in Chimbote, in the north of South American country, Peru.

 

“Things have changed now. Fishing is becoming difficult and fishes are disappearing” she says regretting how good fish is becoming rare in Peru, a country that holds second place in the worldwide production of aquatic species. As the UN Climate change conference opens this Dec. 1 in Peru, Ana hopes for an outcome that will mitigate the impacts of climate change across the globe.

 

“That is why I am attending the conference. Things are getting out of hand. We do know what to do” she laments. Millions of miles across the Ocean in Limbe, a town in West African country, Cameroon, Enoh Joseph shares her sentiments.

 

COP 20: We must prepare to count the cost Of delay - IPCC

Rajendra Pachauri, IPCC Chair

“The window of opportunity to act on climate change is soon closing. Science offers clear rationale for climate action now” says Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri the chairperson of the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) during the opening ceremony of the twentieth Conference of Parties, also known as COP20 in Lima, the capital of Peru this morning.

 

According to Rajendra, any further delay will make response to Climate Change too late and too expensive for humanity. He stressed that nearly a quadrupling of low-carbon energy is required by 2050, to address the impact of Climate Change. So, what do we really need to reverse the rising warming of the globe observed in 2014, the hottest year according to IPCC?

 

Act now. Act with urgency. Failure will condemn developing countries and the extremely poor African peasant farmers to another unchecked generation of suffering extreme weather, frequent floods, droughts and crop failures. Already, little actions taken after COP19 has been greeted with widespread deaths brought about by typhoons and increasing floods on the African continent. According to Oxfam International, 6,000 people were killed and another 4.1 million displaced.

 

COP 20: Opening Ceremony in Pictures

Nagmeldin G Elhassan, Chair of the African Group of Negotiators 

COP 20 President & Peruvian Environment Minister: Manuel Pulgar-Vidal

Rajendra K Pachauri, IPCC Chair