Overall, the Pittsburgh G20 Summit appears to have made some progress towards reshaping global power structures to make them more representative, but it still has some way to go before it becomes a truly representative global decision making body.

I spent the summit with our US Government Relations Director Tom Hart, who said:

“Moving from the G8 to the G20 is a seismic shift: it brings many more of the world’s people to the table, but the new expanded world body must now start addressing the needs of the poorest countries, especially in Africa. For nearly a decade now, Africa has been squarely on the G8’s agenda, even if delivery on their commitments has been mixed. During this transition time, African development must not fall through the cracks. One way to show the world will not forget Africa would be to hold an upcoming G20 summit on the African continent.”

As I posted earlier here, we passed our petition, in which 75,000 ONE members worldwide call for a G20 Summit to be held in Africa, to the US delegation at the summit.

Below are some key points in the summit’s communique that are relevant to Africa:

• Agriculture – The G20 called on the World Bank to develop a new trust fund, as a way to implement the G8’s food security initiative announced at the L’Aquila Summit in Italy in July. This multilateral fund will support the set of principles championed by the White House to make aid for agriculture more effective, coordinated and geared towards the strategies developed by poor countries themselves.
• Climate change – The G20 failed to call for resources to help the poorest countries adapt to the harmful impacts of climate change, and tackle its causes. It was disappointing that there was no mention of the urgency of addressing these needs.
• African Development Bank – The G20 have reaffirmed the commitment to make sure the multilateral development banks have enough finance, especially the World soft loan arm, the International Development Association (IDA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The African bank has increased its lending to respond to the financial crisis by as much as US$4bn and now needs support to replenish its coffers. ONE welcomes Canada’s announcement of an extra US$2.8bn in loan guarantees for the Bank.
• World Bank and IMF- Both International Financial Institutions took steps towards increasing representation of developing countries.

Climate change is more firmly on the global agenda now more than ever, not just because the final round of the UN Climate Change Conference is taking place this December in Copenhagen, but because we are increasingly seeing the effects of climate change. ONE is also calling for the G20 to address climate change this weekend at the Pittsburgh G20 summit, but we’re keeping with our theme looking at it from the perspective that ‘Africa can be a part of the solution.’

Despite contributing only 3.6% of total global carbon emissions, sub-Saharan Africa will feel these effects—through droughts, floods, erratic rains that disrupt growing seasons—both first and worst. Any deal brokered in Copenhagen later this year must include the impact that climate change will have on the world’s poorest—and take into account the potential that developing countries hold to address climate change. The G20 meeting in Pittsburgh is the perfect place to get ahead start by working to do the following:

• Ensure that any global climate deal mobilizes funding to support the response to climate change in developing countries. In the short-term, agree on a down-payment to help developing countries deal immediately with the impact of climate change and build trust in international negotiations;
• Agree on principles to ensure that climate financing is spent predictably, effectively and through transparent governance structures;
• Ensure that a global climate deal considers Africa’s potential contribution toward reducing global carbon emissions, particularly in regard to carbon markets.

Not only will Africa bear the brunt of the climate change impact, but sub-Saharan African countries have the potential to help reduce global carbon emissions. The development of robust carbon markets, the adoption of low-carbon and leap-frog technologies, and the institution of carbon-offsetting programs like re-forestation projects can all flourish in the developing world—without sacrificing development, and maybe even encourage it.

ONE’s message at Pittsburgh is that no global recovery can be constructed in a stable manner if it excludes Africa, and the same goes for any discussion on climate change. We’ll be bringing you the latest from Pittsburgh as the week progresses, so keep an eye out here on the blog.

-Beth Adler

On Tuesday the World Bank Released the World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change. The topic is particularly timely as the UN member states will be gathering in Copenhagen in December to attempt to construct a new global climate agreement, which will serve as the successor to the Kyoto Protocol which was adopted in 1997.

While substantial progress has been made in combating poverty and promoting development, there is a long way to go, and climate change makes development even more complicated. As the report outlines, the impacts of climate change, which are already being felt, will hit the developing world hardest, pushing more people into poverty and undoing years of successful poverty eradication. These impacts must be addressed. In addition, further investments in energy, transport, urban systems, and agricultural production are needed to ensure ongoing development and these investments will need to be ‘climate proofed’.

The report emphasizes that countries need to act now, act together, and act differently not just to address the impacts of climate change, but to continue to prioritize development without furthering the climate crisis. Developed countries can and must reduce their carbon footprint, and stop using more than their fair share of the ‘atmospheric commons’, says the report. It also notes that developing countries can shift to lower-carbon activities without endangering development or exacerbating poverty. However, more financial and technical assistance—both public and private—is needed from developed countries. The report cautions that only with swift, collaborative action can we create a “climate-smart” world, at a cost that will be high, but reasonable.

With regards to mitigation, the report notes that one key way to address climate change is to scale-up mitigation projects (new technologies, reforestation and forest protection, etc.) in the developing world, so that development can continue to take place in a climate-friendly way. The report finds that existing, low-carbon technologies and best-practices could reduce energy consumption and save money, while development takes place. In terms of adaptation, the report emphasizes that countries in the developing world will bear the brunt of the costs of climate change, and developing countries, particularly those most exposed, will need assistance in adapting to climate change. Climate finance must be expanded, it says, since current levels fall far short of estimated needs. According to the World Bank, Research and Development investments of $100-$700 billion annually will be needed, while only $13 billion of public funds and $40-$60 billion of private funds are currently invested.

Everyone knows climate is hot right now. What you might not know is that we’ll be following the lead-up to Copenhagen here on the blog, so be sure to check back.

-Beth Adler

Check out this great post from Robert Sherman, Executive Director of Mercy Corps’ Action Center:

If you travel through Niger, you may meet farmers like Namata Abba, who will tell you how the young people often go elsewhere in search of work to provide for their families.

The migration leaves behind women, children and the elderly struggling to farm in a drying landscape. It strains the resources of the cities like Niamey, Niger’s capital, which become crowded with migrants looking for a way to survive.

In addition to hearing firsthand accounts like Namata’s, learn more about how global warming threatens Niger’s future and what you can do about it by watching the Niger online training at Mercy Corps’ Action Center. Learn how the water sources that support the area’s farms, fisheries and wandering herds are disappearing, including Lake Chad.

Once the third largest lake in Africa – and a major water supplier for the region’s roaming livestock herds in Niger, Chad and Nigeria — Lake Chad has shrunk by more than 90% over the past 50 years. It is likely to disappear this century, placing the food security and survival of millions of people in the region in jeopardy and intensifying the competition for ever-dwindling natural resources.

Niger is already one the driest places on earth. But in 2005, a particularly severe drought compounded by locust swarms caused much of Niger’s crops to fail. The drought wiped out livestock, which in turn sparked a food shortage that left millions of people hungry and in need of emergency assistance.

Mercy Corps and other humanitarian aid organizations were there to provide help, but the situation is likely to worsen as one of the poorest countries on the planet gets drier and competition for resources intensifies.

-Robert Sherman, Executive Director of Mercy Corps’ Action Center.

When the Senate reconvenes this fall, the chamber is slated to debate a bill that would address America’s greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change. Helping the world’s poorest people take on the negative impacts of climate change is a small part of the US legislation, but will play an important part in fighting global poverty.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that agricultural yields in Africa will be reduced by 50% by 2020 due to shortened growing seasons. Between 75 and 250 million additional Africans could be lacking access to clean water supplies by 2020. This would increase the risk of resource-based conflicts. Diseases such as cholera, malaria, dengue fever, and meningitis will have increased prevalence among populations not yet exposed to these deadly infections. All of these damaging impacts of climate change combine to undermine the progress that has been made in the developing world, and threaten to leave millions more in poverty.

In an attempt to quantify the necessary level of contribution to help the world’s poorest, international organizations and NGOs have put forth a variety of proposals. Projected annual international contributions range from Oxford Institute of Energy Sciences’ $28 billion annually to a UNDP estimate of $86 billion annually. Just this week, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Yvo De Boer asserted that $100 billion per year would be necessary to sufficiently adapt to the negative impacts of climate change. A US contribution of 5% through its domestic legislation would deliver a strong signal for the global response to help the poorest countries respond to the effects of climate change.

Five percent builds upon last year’s bipartisan Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act which included in it that amount for the world’s poorest. In allocating 5% in this year’s Senate bill, we secure last year’s bipartisan commitment once again towards a sustainable future for the world’s poorest.

To sign ONE’s petition asking the Senate to allocate 5% of any revenue to begin helping the world’s poorest people overcome the threats posed by climate change, please click here.

-Darren Nowels

With climate being a hot topic these days, we thought we’d share this cool article about windfarms in Kenya. Turns out that plans are in the works for Kenya to build the continent’s largest windfarm. A desert area of northern Kenya around Lake Turkana will soon play host to 365 wind turbines which, when completed in 2012, will provide Kenya’s power grid with 300 megawatts (MW) of power—a quarter of Kenya’s current energy capabilities. The £533m project is sponsored by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Northern African countries like Egypt and Morocco have already harvested wind power for energy, but larger-scale projects are beginning to take hold in sub-Saharan Africa, which is plagued by rolling blackouts and an increasing demand for electricity. Ethiopia and South Africa are also in the process of designing wind farms, and Kenya has other windfarm projects planned, too. Not only is this kind of energy more environmentally friendly than coal or other fossil fuels, but there is the potential for countries like Kenya to produce surplus energy that can be exported to neighboring countries, or sold in the form of credits to developed countries to offset their carbon emissions.

The demand for electricity in Kenya—most of which currently comes from hydropower, with some from geothermal plants—is increasing, particularly in rural areas and because of business development. In addition, erratic rainfall and the destruction of key water catchment have hindered hydroelectricity output. To close the gap the government is currently importing fossil fuels, but within five years it aims to decrease the reliance on hydroelectricity by adding additional geothermal and wind energy to the Kenyan Power grid. These alternatives are greener and cheaper over time than fossil fuels, and come with the possibility of selling carbon credits to developed countries in the future.

-Beth Adler

I’m a ONE member, an evangelical minister, and a strong believer in protecting this world and all its inhabitants. In 2007 and 2008, I had the honor of working with Rabbi David Saperstein and a bipartisan group of senators to make sure the first ever comprehensive climate change legislation included provisions to help the world´s poorest people overcome the terrible suffering threatened by a changing global climate.

The legislation we helped with did not become law, but what we fought for is back in the spotlight again. as a new climate bill works its way through Congress. Unfortunately, the House version, which passed earlier this summer, falls far short of meeting the needs of those most vulnerable to the devastating effects of climate change. That´s why I’m taking action and adding my name to ONE’s petition calling on our senators to correct this injustice.

Click this link to add your name to ONE’s petition: http://www.one.org/us/climatefive/

Petition text:

Please ask your leadership to make sure this year’s Senate climate change legislation meets the standard set by last year’s bipartisan Lieberman-Warner climate bill, and allocates 5% of any revenue to begin helping the world’s poorest people overcome the threats posed by climate change.

I grew up on a farm in the Pacific Northwest, and as the old saying goes, you can take the boy out of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy. I’ve often joked about how I learned the hard way that climate can seriously impact a farm family’s income—on more than one occasion rainstorms destroyed our cherry crops. But for countless small-scale farmers in the developing world, more and more intense storms, increased droughts and floods, and the expansion of deserts are no laughing matter. These climate-driven changes threaten livelihoods and lives, and demand a response from us and our leaders.

We can convince our senators to commit 5% of any potential revenue from their climate change legislation as an important first step towards investing in the infrastructure and development needs—the dams, sea walls and upgraded agricultural practices—that will allow the world’s poorest people to not only weather this very literal climate storm, but even continue to make progress against poverty and disease.

Please take action and join me in making sure our senators hear from us right now, while they’re writing this climate change bill: http://www.one.org/us/climatefive/

Climate change is a phenomenon of biblical proportions, and its first victims will be those who can least afford to face more suffering. A challenge this big will take all of us: students, teachers, doctors, lawyers, moms, dads, activists, and yes, even evangelical ministers, working together as ONE. That is the strength of our movement, the ability to come together as people of all different faiths, ideologies, and from all walks of life to compel our senators to take action and make sure the world´s poor have the resources they need to meet this climate challenge.

I hope you’ll join us and send a message to your senators that their climate bill must include 5% for the world´s most vulnerable people: http://www.one.org/us/climatefive/

Thank you,

Rev. Richard Cizik, ONE member and President of The New Evangelicals

People in the world’s poorest countries don’t need any new challenges, but they’re facing a major one that threatens all the progress they are making against poverty and disease. That challenge is climate change and in places such as Malawi, Kenya and Ethiopia, it threatens already vulnerable people with increased droughts, floods and storms, eroded coastlines, falling crop yields, and the spread of waterborne and insect-driven diseases.

We have the power to help prevent the worst of this devastation, because right now, the senate is writing a landmark climate change bill. It’s up to us to convince our senators that any legislation must help the world’s poorest people meet this climate challenge.

Take action now to ask your senators to commit 5% of any revenue generated by the climate bill to helping the world’s most vulnerable people overcome the threats posed by climate change:

http://www.one.org/us/climatefive

-Aaron Banks

On Tuesday, I attended a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing entitled Climate Change and Global Security: Challenges, Threats, and Diplomatic Opportunities. The hearing investigated the link between climate change and the predicted consequences to U.S. and international security. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) stated that climate change is a threat multiplier in its propensity to cause draughts and famine, creating ripe circumstances for devastating conflict. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) linked national security threats seen from American dependence on foreign oil with possible threats arising from the effects of climate change.

The star witness, former Senator John Warner (R-VA) focused on the need for the United States to be an international leader in developing new strategies to counter the consequences of climate change. Another witness, Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, President of the American Security Project, put forward that conditions such as famine and draughts that result from climate change will create an atmosphere conducive to the recruitment of terrorists. Admiral Gunn followed Senator Warner’s sentiments, saying the United States must lead the international community in adapting more effective climate policies. Sharon Burke, Vice President of the Center for a New American Security, highlighted the draughts and famines which help fuel conflict in places such as Somalia.

Members of the Committee in attendance were Senators John Kerry, Richard Lugar, Robert Casey (D-PA), Bob Corker (R-TN), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Ted Kaufman (D-DE).

Senator Casey asked about the role of the NGO community, Senator Corker discussed the effect of migrating and refugee populations on the management of resources such as water supply, Senator Shaheen asked what support is necessary in order to carry out the needed reforms and what the costs would be of inaction.

-Darren Nowels

Bob Geldof guest-edited Sunday’s edition of the Italian publication La Stampa. In the coming days we’ll be posting English language versions of the featured articles, including this one from Kofi Annan:

The financial meltdown has translated into a development crisis for Africa. This is revealing its vulnerability not only to economic contraction but also to climate change. Changing weather patterns are already affecting the lives of millions of Africans by reducing food security, facilitating the spread of diseases like malaria, and prompting mass migration. The livelihoods and lives of millions of people are at risk.

Ironically, this crisis also presents a unique opportunity for Africa. The urgency of efforts to address climate change is revealing interesting prospects on the mitigation side, particularly in the areas of renewable energy and low carbon growth.

There is a real possibility to steer countries toward a new development model that will not only benefit Africa but the world. In the meantime, adaptation to climate change is critical. For Africa this means ‘weather proofing’ development by increasing food yields, investing in climate-resilient crops and infrastructure, promoting rainwater harvesting, and expanding medical control measures in anticipation increased vector-borne diseases.

Africa needs additional resources, over and above existing ODA commitments, to adapt to climate change. Financing adaptation to climate will be a formidable challenge, particularly as it involves additional costs above traditional development assistance – when ODA budgets are under pressure. Estimates of the amounts needed by developing countries to help them adapt to these challenges vary between 50 and 100 billion USD per year.

This is why Prime Minister Brown’s proposal last week on creating a fund for climate change is so welcome.

Failing to act now will not increase costs in the future – both financial and humanitarian. We all stand to lose from a reversal of the economic and social progress made across Africa in the past decade. Burgeoning markets might disappear and investment opportunities evaporate, while the risk of political instability will increase. Every percentage fall in growth has direct social consequences whether on nutrition levels, infant mortality or school attendance. Every person pushed back into poverty is another step away from achieving the Millennium Development Goals. For all of these reasons, the continued engagement and support of all of Africa’s partners including the G8 counties is vital.

As this year’s DATA Report from the Africa advocacy group ONE underscores, (more…)