Tiempo Climate Newswatch

World Development Report 2010 calls on governments, researchers and individuals to overcome the worldwide "inertia" that has kept nations dependent on fossil fuel and too slow to solve the climate problem. The World Bank report concludes that the world can fight poverty and address climate change at the same time, but that US$500 billion a year will be needed by 2030 to develop clean energy and cope with natural disasters. Poor nations will bear between 75 and 80 per cent of the cost of floods, increased desertification and other disasters caused by global warming. Nations in Africa and South Asia may lose as much as five per cent of their gross domestic product if temperatures rise two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. "We are particularly good at acting on threats that can be linked to a human face, that present themselves as unexpected, dramatic or and immediate," the report's authors warn. "The slow pace of climate change as well as the delayed, intangible and statistical natures of its risks simply do not move us."

According to British newspaper the Guardian, a rift has developed between Europe and the United States regarding whether or not the Kyoto Protocol architecture regarding national carbon reduction targets should be retained in a post-2012 climate regime. The United States would like a new system of its own devising that would meet with domestic approval, whereas European negotiators wish to retain much of the existing structure. "In Europe we want to build on Kyoto, but the United States proposal would in effect kill it off. If we have to start from scratch then it all takes time. It could be 2015 or 2016 before something is in place, who knows," warned the Guardian's source close to the European negotiating team. United States Kyoto negotiator Stuart Eizenstat commented that "there has been a sea change in United States attitudes and the new president is deeply committed on this issue. But the European Union needs to understand the limitations in the United States. The reality is that is it impossible for my successor to negotiate something in Copenhagen beyond that which Congress will give the administration in domestic cap-and-trade legislation." The latest meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, an initiative launched by the United States, took place in Washington DC September 18-19th in the run-up to the forthcoming G-20 Summit.

Using Africa's agricultural resources to address the climate problem could generate additional income amounting to US$1.5 billion a year, according to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of the World Bank. "It is essential that climate change be viewed as a major development opportunity for Africa given the anticipated increase in the energy requirements as growth accelerates," she said, speaking at the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom. A United Nations study has concluded that, by the year 2030, an estimated 5.5 to 6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year could be mitigated by agriculture, with about 89 per cent achieved by soil carbon sequestration. Okonjo-Iweala noted that, at present, only eight per cent of the continent's hydropower is being exploited and that greater use of the continent's renewable resources would assist in meeting the growth in energy demand.

South Africa industry must make use of its co-generation potential to avoid another power crisis, warns energy consultant Dave Long, formerly a regional manager with paper maker Sappi. Sappi has invested over US$13 million in power generation in South Africa but has yet to sell any power to national utility Eskom despite power shortages. "We have idle plants, we are losing money because we have invested in an opportunity that does not exist," he said. In East Africa, burning waste from sugar and tea processing could replace hydropower production lost as a result of drought. Stephen Karekezi of the African Energy Policy Research Network calculates that it would be possible to meet up to five per cent of current total power from the sugar industry alone. "If you could develop cogen alone, without looking at other renewables... you could deal with much of the power crises in the east African and Horn of Africa countries," he said.

Participants at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Broadcast Media and Climate Change conference, representing one thousand broadcasters, have agreed to strengthen regional and international collaboration and encourage the production and dissemination of audiovisual content to give a voice to marginalized populations affected by climate change. "This is a watershed moment for the broadcasting industry," said Satinder Bindra, director of communications for the United Nations Environment Programme. "The more allies, talent and creativity that we can garner in the fight against climate change and its dire consequences, the greater the chance of succeeding in tackling the greatest challenge of our generation."

The Paris Declaration on Broadcast Media and Climate Change concludes that increased public understanding of the urgency of climate change is essential to limit negative impacts and avert human suffering. It also underlines that access to relevant information on climate change is vital for human survival and that taking action to combat the effects of climate change would result in significant social, economic and environmental benefits. It urges members of the broadcasting industry to develop and promote standards in environmental management and to set quantifiable targets for a reduction in their own carbon footprint. "Climate change will affect not only us," said Koïchiro Matsuura, UNESCO director, "but future generations to come. It is, therefore, essential that we lay the groundwork for future generations to understand and effectively confront this challenge."