Tiempo Climate Newswatch

1.5 million people have been affected by floods that have swept across Africa since the summer months. In what has been described as the worst flooding for decades, there have been 250 fatalities and 600,000 people have been displaced. The affected area extends from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia and Kenya in the east, with Uganda, Ghana and Togo particularly badly affected. In northern Ghana, the White Volta River burst its banks.

Aid agencies have launched funding appeals. "It is evident from the scope of the disaster that a massive aid effort will be needed to help hundreds of thousands of flood victims survive the crisis and rebuild their lives," according to Niels Scott of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The British Red Cross says that support is needed to "provide urgently needed relief, including shelter and water purification tablets, to those affected by the crisis." The Uganda Red Cross Society plans to give construction tools to those affected. "If we give them ladders, saws and hammers, they will be able to build more permanent shelters for themselves," said Catherine Ntabadde.

The European Commission intends to establish a €50 million fund to help developing nations cope with the impact of global warming. According to Louis Michel, European Union (EU) development and humanitarian aid commissioner, "climate change is a threat to all of us, but the poorest and least-developed countries are in the worst situation." He stressed that these nations, and particularly small island states, would be the "top priority" of the new funding.

Michel described the allocation as "only a startup" and called on other EU member states to add their own contributions as "other resources are necessary to respond to the scale of the needs." Oxfam has proposed that as much as US$50 billion might be needed annually to help poor countries face the "unavoidable consequences" of climate change. The EU will create a new Global Climate Change Alliance in partnership with developing nations.

Production and use of ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) will be phased out ahead of schedule, following agreement at the latest Conference of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, held in Montréal, Canada. The new phase-out deadline is 2020 for developed countries and from 2030 and to 2030 from 2040 for developing nations.

Phasing out HCFCs will also reduce global warming as these chemicals are greenhouse gases. "This is, perhaps, my most satisfying day so far in my tenure," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. "Governments had a golden opportunity to deal with the twin challenges of climate change and protecting the ozone layer and governments took it," he continued. "The precise and final savings in terms of greenhouse gas emissions could amount to several billions of tonnes." The Montréal conference marked the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol.