Climate change: Agriculture experts advocates 'smart farming' - ITREALMS

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Agriculture experts have advocated “smart farming practices” to combat climate change, improve productivity and enhance food security in the country.

They noted that if climate change challenges were not nipped in the bud, more than 52 per cent of the country’s agricultural production would be threatened by 2050.

Ruto visits GCA headquarters for sake of Africa Climate Action Summit - NaijaAgroNet

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The President of the Republic of Kenya, Mr. William S. Ruto has visited the headquarters of the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) in Rotterdam to participate in a Strategic Dialogue on the Africa Climate Action Summit.

The Africa Climate Action Summit is being co-hosted by the Government of Kenya and the African Union Commission on 4th to 6th September 2023, and is co-convened by the African Development Bank and GCA. The visit follows a meeting between Professor Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of GCA and President Ruto in Nairobi in February 2023 where they discussed driving the implementation and financing of climate adaptation through the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP).

Pope Francis receives indigenous leaders who call for climate justice - NaijaAgtoNet

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The head of the Catholic Church, the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State, Pope Francis, has met some 40 indigenous leaders in a private audience, report NaijaAgroNet.

The leaders also used the opportunity to raise their concerns about the toll that extractive and exploitive industries fueling the global economy were having on growing inequality, preventing access to basic human rights and hindering environmental sustainability.

Climate crisis fuels drought, severe hunger across Horn of Africa - NaijaAgroNet

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The climate crisis is fueling one of the worst droughts on record across the Horn of Africa, with up to 13 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing severe hunger, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to ActionAid’s emergency teams, with millions of people still recovering from the devastating drought that hit the region in 2017, a large-scale response is urgently needed to avert a catastrophic food and malnutrition crisis.

Senegal frontlines global climate challenge - NaijaAgroNet

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Senegal is on the front lines of the global climate challenge and will play a critical role in leading Africa’s response, Patrick Verkooijen – CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation said in closing remarks in Dakar, after meeting President Macky Sall on Friday.

Cutting climate finance risks stoking even bigger conflicts down the line. World Bank data indicates that internal climate migration could reach up to 1 million people in Senegal by 2050.

Experts say ‘Climate change may increase threat of malaria in CAR region’ - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Experts have said that climate change among other dangers, are capable of increasing threats of malaria in the Central African regions, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to a new report issued at an RBM Partnership to End Malaria conference in Abuja Tuesday, participating experts hanged their position on the recent survey, saying “surveillance and programme delivery need to improve to drive progress.”

Unlike countries previously surveyed in West, East and Southern Africa in early 2018, Central African respondents saw climate change as more of a threat. One respondent in Rwanda worried that malaria was creeping up into highland regions which had previously been free of the disease, and others discussed how changing rainfall patterns could have an impact on mosquito breeding seasons.

More domestic and international funding was also cited as critical, with respondents from Cameroon, DRC, and Republic of Congo saying more support is needed. Earlier this month, at the recent Replenishment conference for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, world leaders increased funding for programmes addressing these diseases with pledges totaling $14 billion for the period 2020-2023, meeting the Global Fund’s funding target. Rwanda pledged $2.5 million, DRC, Congo and Cameroon also made domestic resource pledges of $6 million, $5.5 million and $5 million, respectively.

Dr Richard Nchabi Kamwi, Ambassador for the Elimination 8 countries and a co-chair of the study, said: “Maintaining momentum against malaria requires strong political leadership, resilient health systems and securing additional resources. The pledges made at the recent Global Fund replenishment are heartening signs that critical resources are forthcoming.” Dr Kamwi continued:

“It’s also important that Cameroon and DRC have been identified by the World Health Organization and RBM Partnership as “high burden to high impact” (HBHI) countries, ensuring these countries will benefit from increased attention and investment from the international community.” The other study co-chair is Professor Bob Snow, KEMRI-Wellcome-University of Oxford Collaborative Programme in Kenya.

HBHI is an initiative supported by the RBM Partnership to End Malaria and the World Health Organization to build international support and country-led responses to reignite the pace of progress in the global malaria fight. Respondents associated with malaria control programmes in the two HBHI countries in the study were aware of the strategy and believed that with sufficient resources it would be highly beneficial.

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UCLG Africa climate task force makes a debut

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The 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Bonn, Germany from November 6 -17 2017, ended with the debut of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), reports NaijaAgroNet.

This, NaijaAgroNet reports provided the framework for the launch of the UCLG Africa (www.AfriqueLocale.org/en) Climate Task Force and the presentation of its members to the political authorities and the general public.

The official launch of the UCLG Africa Climate Task Force was held in Bonn on Tuesday November 14, 2017 under the chairmanship of His Excellency Mr. Barnabé Dassigli, Minister of Decentralization and Local Governance of Benin, Chairman of the Specialized Technical Committee N° 8 of the African Union, in the presence of representatives of the first institutions that volunteered to join the Task Force. 

These were notably:

•             The African Development Bank (AfDB), represented for this purpose by Ms. Louise Helen BROWN, Climate Change Task Manager, Coordinator of the AfDB Fund for Climate Change in Africa;

•             The West African Development Bank (BOAD), represented by Mr. Bio Sawe, Director of the  Environment and Climate Finance;

•             The Local Government Capital Investment Fund of Morocco (FEC);

•             The Special Fund for Equipment and Inter-Municipal Intervention of Cameroon (FEICOM), represented by Mr. Côme Awoumou, Deputy Director of Cooperation and Partnership;

•             OECD, represented by Ms Marie Trémolières, Senior Policy Analyst at the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) of OECD;

•             The Environment Agency for Territorial Development of the Presidency of the Republic of Benin, represented by Mr. Jean Claude Grisoni Niaki, expert in resource mobilization and structuring of projects for Climate Finance;

•             The 4C Agency of the Ministry of the Environment of Morocco, represented by its Director, Mr. Mohamed Nbou;

•             Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech, represented by Professor Fatima Arib, Sustainable Development and Major Projects Task Manager at the Presidency of the University;

•             The National Associations of Local Governments in Africa, represented by Ms. Florence Radzilani, Mayor of the Municipality of the District of Vhembe (South Africa), Climate and Environmental Planning Officer at the South African Local Government Association (SALGA);

•             NGO ENERGIES 2050, represented by its CEO, Stéphane Pouffary.

Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of UCLG Africa, stated the intention of the Task Force to bring together, within the same ecosystem, the various stakeholders working with climate issues. This is to enable them to support local governments in Africa in the implementation of NDCs and in the access to climate finance and most notably the Green Climate Fund. This is open to all those who wish to join it who can do so by applying to the General Secretariat of UCLG Africa.

On behalf of the African Ministers of Public Service, Urban Development, Local Governments and Decentralization, the Hon. Minister Barnabé Dassigli of Benin, Chairman of the Specialized Technical Committee N° 8 of the African Union, commended UCLG Africa for its wonderful initiative, supported by STC N° 8. He expressed confidence that the UCLG Africa's Climate Task Force would have a significant impact on the engagement of African local governments in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and pointed out that within the same support platform for local governments, development banks, institutions specializing in the financing of local governments, technical support agencies for local governments, academic and research institutions, associations of local governments and NGOs active in the field of climate, was a commitment to the synergy of the different stakeholders around the Climate Agenda. Hon. Minister Dassigli confirmed that the African Union's STC N° 8 also supports requests made by local and regional elected officials during the preparatory Forum for COP 22 held in Cotonou in September 2016, especially with regard to the urgency of establishing a capacity building and technical assistance program for local governments to enable them to develop climate plans and prepare eligible funding applications for the Green Climate Fund; as well as for the recognition of UCLG Africa as an "Implementing Partner" of the Green Climate Fund.

The role of territories was recognized as essential for the realization of NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions). Local policy choices in terms of infrastructure, equipment and basic service delivery methods have made an impact on energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. Priorities for elected officials include giving a climate perspective to the everyday actions they carry out. There is also a need to build their capacities to measure, report and verify the contribution of their actions and policies in the reduction of emissions and adaptation to the effects of climate change. This requirement for the Measurement, Reporting and Verification of climate actions (MRV) is one of the requirements of the Paris Agreement and one of the conditions to be met in order to access the Green Climate Fund. The National Associations of Local Governments will be required to advocate with the representatives of the NDC Partnership and the focal points of Green Climate Fund in their respective countries.

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Experts say climate change may cause decline in nutrients

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Experts have raised alarming over the global effects of climate change to food which may lead to loss of nutritional content of some foods, such as declining zinc, iron and protein counts in staple cereals, and trigger new health issues, including diarrhoea for humans and an array of transboundary animal diseases, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Experts at the Food and Agriculture Organisation, beyond 2030, scientific evidence has shown negative pressures on food production will be increasingly felt everywhere. Until then, adverse impacts of higher temperatures are sharply skewed towards developing countries, pointing to dimmer prospects for their food self-sufficiency.

They said that helping smallholders adapt to climate change risks is critical for global poverty reduction and food security.

Close attention, FAO experts said, should be paid to removing obstacles they may face and fostering an enabling environment for individual, joint and collective action.

Further, FAO urged policy makers to identify and remove such barriers, stressing that these obstacles can include input subsidies that promote unsustainable farming practices, poorly aligned incentives and inadequate access to markets, credit, extension services and social protection programmes, and often disadvantage women, who make up to 43 percent of the agricultural labour force.

The report stresses that more climate finance is needed to fund developing countries' actions on climate change.  International public finance for climate change adaptation and mitigation is growing and, while still relatively small, can act as a catalyst to leverage larger flows of public and private investments. More climate finance needs to flow to sustainable agriculture, fisheries and forestry to fund the large-scale transformation and the development of climate-smart food production systems. Adaptation and mitigation of climate change must  occur in tandem. 

Without action, agriculture will continue to be a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. But by adopting climate-smart practices and increasing the capacity of soils and forests to sequester carbon, emissions can be reduced while stepping up food production to feed the world's growing population, the report said. Food systems can further contribute by minimizing food losses and waste, as well as by promoting healthier diets that also leave a lighter environmental footprint.

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NEPAD says Africa needs transformative adaptation to climate change

NaijaAgroNet:

For the efforts of most countries in Africa are making to highlight the impacts of climate on agriculture to effectively touch the growth of agriculture on the continent, there should be transformative adaptation to climate change, reports NaijaAgroNet.

NEPAD Agency’s Director of Programme, Mrs Estherine Fotabong, made this call at the 2nd Africa Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance Forum ongoing in Nairobi, Kenya.

She noted that despite these efforts, gaps and disconnects still exist between climate change impacts and adaptation efforts.

These gaps, she told NaijaAgroNet include absence of plans and policies that incorporate climate change issues, education on climate change among communities, and information on outreach programmes.

She highlighted that institutional frameworks for action, drought resistant crop varieties, small holder water harvesting and supply strategies, as well as strategies for alleviating poverty that makes people less resilient to climate variability are also lacking.

“In order to catalyse better adaptation and cope with the impacts of climate change, the various stakeholders such as governments, NGOs and civil society, and private sector should work together with communities proactively. Communities should be fully capacitated in the various areas of crop management, community mobilisation and empowerment, disaster preparedness and have access to robust technologies and information such as new crop varieties that are drought and disease tolerant,” Mrs Fotabong said.

In a related development, a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, the Governor of Nairobi City Council, Dr Evans Kidero, it was revealed that Nairobi makes a profound contribution to urban food consumption in Kenya, if not in the whole of east Africa.

“Therefore, urban farming is highly promoted for sustainably increasing agricultural productivity,” he said.

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Climate adaptation, resilience vital for achieving Sustainable Development Goals

NaijaAgroNet:

Evidence is increasing that climate change is taking the largest toll on poor and vulnerable people, and these impacts are largely caused by inequalities that increase the risks from climate hazards, according to a new report launched by the United Nations.

The World Economic and Social Survey 2016: Climate Change Resilience—an Opportunity for Reducing Inequalities (#WESS2016), found that governments can play a significant role in reducing the risks of climate change to vulnerable populations. Through transformative policies,  the report shows that governments could address the root causes of inequalities and build climate change resilience.

While there is considerable anecdotal evidence that the poor and the vulnerable suffer greater harm from climate-related disasters, the report determined that much of the harm is not by accident, but that it is due to the failure of governments to close the development gaps that leave large population groups at risk.

In the past 20 years, 4.2 billion people have been affected by weather-related disasters, including a significant loss of lives. Developing countries are the most affected by climate change impacts. Low-income countries suffered the greatest losses, including economic costs estimated at 5 per cent of GDP.

“Sadly, the people at greater risk from climate hazards are the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized who, in many cases, have been excluded from socioeconomic progress,” noted United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the report. “We have no time to waste—and a great deal to gain—when it comes to addressing the socioeconomic inequalities that deepen poverty and leave people behind.”

The report argues that while climate adaptation and resilience are overshadowed by mitigation in climate discussions, they are vital for addressing climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

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Experts urge Africa to embrace climate-smart agriculture

NaijaAgroNet

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Deputy Country Representative, Mr. Massimo Castiello said the climate-smart agriculture concept which tackles climate change in an integrated manner should be embraced by Africa.

NaijaAgroNet reports that climate smart agriculture is an approach to developing the technical policy and investment conditions to achieve sustainable agricultural development for food security under climate change.

The CSA platform was launched in Kampala at a two-day workshop hosted by FAO Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa and the Uganda Climate-Smart Agriculture Task Force with support from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in Kampala.

The Ugandan Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Hon. Tress Bucyanayandi while addressing climate change expert at the occasion, stated that there is need for far-reaching and inventive measures to help the East African countries and Uganda at large to adapt climate change smart Agriculture, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

"Climate change is already affecting food production systems and therefore the livelihoods and food security of millions of people, especially women who depend on agriculture for a living are to suffer the consequences associated with climate change if no Innovation has been developed," he said.

NaijaAgroNet learnt also that the platform will support East African countries to address sub-regional issues related to Climate-smart agriculture scale up and will contribute to continental initiatives such as the Africa Climate-Smart Agriculture Alliance and the AU/NEPAD goal of having 25 million farming households in Africa practicing climate-smart agriculture by 2025.

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Climate change mars coffee production in Tanzania

 NaijaAgroNet

Farmers in Tanzania have abandoned the production of coffee and cotton due  mainly to changes in local climate and resorted to the planting of more lucrative vegetables and flowers as temperatures rise and rainfall becomes less predictable, reports NaijaAgroNet

Ludovick Meela, a farmer from Tanzania’s northern Kilimanjaro region told reporters that “Coffee beans are no longer as profitable, as my harvests keep on falling, I need fast-growing crops I can sell for a quick income,” he stated.

"When my children were growing up, coffee was everything to me," he told journalists "I got a lot of income from it, which enabled me to gain economically, but all that is history." 

Information reaching NaijaAgroNet showed that in Tanzania, scientists have attributed the drop in arabica coffee yields to a rise in nighttime temperatures in recent decades.

The strain to Tanzania’s cash crops is the latest sign that climate change is altering how and where food is produced around the world.

In Honduras, banana farmers are seeing yields decline amid fierce cold snaps and erratic rain patterns. India’s wheat and rice crops are suffering from hotter weather, and in the U.S. West, enduring drought has caused the beef-cattle herd to shrink to its lowest level in more than 60 years, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

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Africa launches Climate Smart-Agriculture Alliance Forum

 NajiaAgroNet

The Africa’s first Climate Smart-Agriculture Alliance Forum, an Africa’s strategic approach for food security and nutrition in the face of climate change has been slated to hold in Addis  Ababa, Ethiopia,  NajiaAgroNet reports.

The launch of the Africa CSA Alliance Forum which will hold at Capital Hotel and Spa, NajiaAgroNet gathered, was formulated to foster harmonisation across various programmes being undertaken by African countries in climate change and agriculture. It is also a critical milestone in facilitating the sharing and learning on the various Climate Smart-Agriculture initiatives.

According to the information made available to  NajiaAgroNet, the Africa CSA Alliance Forum will specifically  agree on the general Africa-specific guiding principles and standards in domesticating the CSA definition into local/country and farming systems specific circumstances; validate the Africa CSA Vision 25x25 toolbox, an important tool for continental benchmarking and measuring CSA adoption for the “25 million targeted farming households by 2025”;  facilitate sharing across the various CSA initiatives at various levels.

It will also foster alignment in regional efforts in supporting and contributing to delivering on the “Africa CSA Vision 25x25” (based on ecosystems potential and related political economy issues).

 NajiaAgroNet also learnt that the Africa Climate-Smart Alliance Forum will be attended by: H.E Ato Sileshi Gutahun, Ethiopian State Minister for Agriculture; H.E Rhoda Peace Tumusiime – African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E Yasmine Foaud – Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development and External Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Arab Republic of Egypt. H.E Andreas Gaarder - Norwegian Ambassador to Ethiopia 

Also in attendance will be representatives and participants from Governments, Regional Economic Communities, Farmers’ Organisations, Private Sector, Civil Society, specialised agencies and development partners.

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UN - 34 African nation’s soil endangered

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The United Nations (UN) climate changes conference in Germany tagged “International Year of Soils” has come to an end with scientist and environmental advocates estimating that nearly a third of the world’s soil is degraded, with the figure closer to two-thirds in sub-Saharan Africa, NaijaAgroNet reports.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the one week-long conference reports that 34 of Africa’s 54 countries have over 20 percent in either the amount of land degraded or the amount of population affected by land degradation.

Emphasizing the importance of soil, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the experts view the soil as one of the most important resources obtainable, if not the most important. They further substantiate that it sustains all our agricultural and livestock food production, wood for fuel production, filters water so that we can drink it and fish can live in it, as well as useful for construction – therefore sustaining our homes and infrastructure. 

It further maintained as NaijaAgroNet learnt, that in Africa, the issue of land degradation (a decline in land quality caused by human activities) and soil fertility decline is deeply complex with intertwining and cyclical causes. These range from poverty, inadequate farming techniques, and poor inherent soil qualities to population pressure, to insecure land tenure and climate change, amongst other factors.

Stating also that if these are issues are not addressed, the cycle of poor land management will result in higher barriers to food security, agricultural development for smallholder farmers and wider economic growth for Africa.

According to Agriculture for Impact (A4I), an independent advocacy initiative, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the economic loss as a result of land degradation is estimated at approximately N13.5 trillion ($68 billion) per annum.

It further advocates that better land management practices could deliver approximately N279 trillion ($1.4 trillion) globally in increased crop production which is 35 times the losses.  

NaijaAgroNet also learnt that a 2008 report on the “Global Assessment of Land Degradation” by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and partners offered some shocking insights and surprises into the degree of soil degradation in some African countries. 

The African countries on the UN watch list as NaijaAgroNet gathered would be the dry land African countries around the Mediterranean and Middle East and relatively small areas in the Maghreb and the Nile delta. 

The conference NaijaAgroNet gathered, advocates that the rate of soil nutrient depletion is a factor that must be considered when ranking which countries should be on the soil watch list, as an important concern directly linked to food insecurity in developing countries due to the intensification of land use for agricultural production. 

NaijaAgroNet gathered that 650 people from 80 countries gathered in Germany for the conference that brought together scientists and environmental advocates to discuss climate change’s increasingly hottest topic - soil. 

Daniel Nsolibe /Ed,Ops.

  
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Cousin wants increase support for smallholder farmers

NaijaAgroNet

 

 The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme,Mrs Ertharin Cousin, has decried the impact of climate change and called for increased incentive for smallholder farmers to scale up yields, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Cousin, a former supermarket executive and diplomat, in an interview monitored by NaijaAgroNet,said the damage caused by climate change, coupled with a lack of development both in agricultural and economics perpetually keep small-scale farmers on the edge.

She noted for instance that in woefully underdeveloped nations like four-year-old South Sudan, conflict feeds into that downward spiral.

"The global community is well aware that climate change is impacting sub-Saharan Africa. Erratic rains have become more of a reality for across the entire continent... The vulnerable people around the world need a strong global response to address the issues of climate change to ensure that we can minimize the impacts in the future. But today, what we must do is implement disaster risk mitigation strategies that will support vulnerable populations…” she said.

70 per cent of the people who are food insecure in the world today, she said, live in rural areas, noting that if this is not addressed the challenges of unproductive agriculture, then, the issue of food security or the issue of hunger cannot be overcome.

“So we must increase the ability of smallholder farmers to scale up their agricultural yields and provide markets for them to sell those yields to ensure that we can create sustainable and durable agricultural value chains that support the food security of families, as well as the economic viability of those families. That is the only way that we are going to make progress," Cousin said.

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