By Andrew Green

SSESE ISLANDS, Uganda, Dec 7 (IPS) – From a distance, Bugala Island in Lake Victoria is a patchwork of green and brown. The pattern is a result of dense forest retreating in the wake of recently planted palm tree plantations.

Workers on Bugala Island work to clear the rainforest to make way for an expanding palm tree plantation. Palm oil production is one of Uganda's rising industries. Credit: Will Boase/IPS

Continue Reading

Kristin Palitza

DURBAN, Afrique du Sud, 6 déc (IPS) – A quelques jours des négociations des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques, de profondes divergences sur les questions clé de la conférence ont surgi. De sérieux doutes sur l’adoption du Fonds vert pour le climat sont apparus, tandis qu’une deuxième période du Protocole de Kyoto semble être de plus en plus improbable.

Continue Reading

Access to water is an urgent issue here in the Southern Africa region. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS

By Joshua Kyalimpa

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 5 (IPS) – Efforts to establish water as an agenda item in its own right in climate change negotiations are gaining momentum in Durban, South Africa. Water experts say doing this will lead to a greater focus on developing policy, and attract more resources into the water sector through adaptation programmes.

Continue Reading

Nalifu Yussif holds a few Bolga baskets at the ongoing COP 17 in Durban, South Africa. Materials for making these hand woven baskets are becoming more difficult to source due to climate change. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By Isaiah Esipisu

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 5 (IPS) – Talata Nsor, a 54-year-old woman from Bolgatanga community in Northern Ghana, has been weaving the cultural Bolga baskets, which are named after her community, her entire life.

Continue Reading

Only owners of large tracts of land can be expected to benefit from soil carbon credits. Credit: Zukiswa Zimela/IPS

By Stephen Leahy

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 2 (IPS) – Civil society has warned of the danger of turning Africa’s food-producing lands into “carbon farms” so that rich countries can avoid making cuts in their carbon emissions. Continue Reading

Busani Bafana

DURBAN, Afrique du Sud, 2 déc (IPS) – La Communauté de développement d’Afrique australe (SADC) veut que l’eau soit présentée comme un point distinct dans les négociations sur les changements climatiques – la décrivant comme étant trop importante pour être laissée à la périphérie. Continue Reading

Zambian dairy farmer, Effatah Jele, does not believe in farming luck. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 1 (IPS) – Zambian dairy farmer, Effatah Jele, does not believe in farming luck but in pragmatism because of climate change.

Continue Reading

Climate change wreaks damage on infrastructure, ecosystems, livelihoods and lives in developing countries. Credit: Zukiswa Zimela/IPS

By Tim Ash Vie *

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 1 (IPS) – As climate talks get underway in Durban, South Africa this week, progress on a Green Climate Fund is one of the hottest, most contentious tickets in town. It is also one of the great prizes to be won.

Continue Reading

Kristin Palitza

DURBAN, Afrique du Sud, 1 déc (IPS) – Les changements climatiques à travers le monde peuvent être désormais observés depuis l’espace grâce aux satellites de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO). Continue Reading

By Isaiah Esipisu

Geoffrey Ndung’u earns a living growing watermelons on his dry land. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 1 (IPS) – On a Sunday evening, a track loaded with 10 tonnes of watermelons leaves Geoffrey Ndung’u’s homestead in Kanyonga village in semi-arid Eastern Kenya. It travels past a village shopping centre were people have formed a queue to receive food aid because of a prolonged drought in the area. Continue Reading