By Kristin Palitza

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 5 (IPS) – Emerging economies China, South Africa and Brazil have indicated their openness to legally-binding carbon emission reduction targets from 2020 during the United Nations climate change summit in Durban, South Africa.

Continue Reading

Busani Bafana interviews to KANAYO F. NWANZE, President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 4 (IPS) – The combined effects of ballooning populations, poor productivity and threatened water resources present fresh pressures on agriculture to deliver food, money and livelihoods in Africa.

The food system needs urgent reform in the face of climate change which accelerating the speed of change on the farms and on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

Continue Reading

Por Kristin Palitza

DURBAN, Sudáfrica, 3 dic (IPS) Con ruidosos cantos, miles de personas recorrieron las calles de la ciudad sudafricana de Durban hasta la sede de la cumbre de las Naciones Unidas sobre cambio climático para reclamar “una inmediata y drástica” reducción de emisiones de carbono destinada a salvar el planeta. 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

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

Hans-Holger Rogner of the IAEA

More than 190 countries have sent delegates to Durban, South Africa, to take part in COP 17 and thrash out a new deal on energy and climate change. One of the options to reduce carbon emissions, however unpopular, is nuclear power. Tinus de Jager asked Hans-Holger Rogner, of International Atomic Energy Agency, about the current negative global attitude towards atomic energy.