There’s disappointment and anger over the now-concluded COP26 climate negotiations in Glasgow, with firm commitments on coal phaseouts removed from final-draft language at the objection of developing nations. South Africa, China, India and others made a successful case for a softer commitment and longer timeline on coal. Those changes come…
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya vowed to make Africa’s voice on climate finance heard at the COP26 United Nations Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland on Monday. “Two times in a row, developing countries have been promised US$100 billion per year but it has not yet been delivered,” said Kenyatta, speaking…
By Ousmane Diagana On the shores of the coastal Senegalese city of Saint Louis, climate change is no longer a distant threat. It is already a current issue impacting its people. Hundreds of them have had to flee the devastating effects of rising sea levels and erosion, losing their livelihoods,…
French oil major TotalEnergies is pushing back against detailed claims that its companies certainly knew of the threat of climate change by 1971, while proceeding to shift its defense of its products and its messaging across the decades. The 50-year description of Total’s engagement with climate change was published in…
Climate change is causing the rapid melt of glacier ice on the African continent, with all of it likely to be gone by 2040 or sooner, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization and its partners. There are just three mountains in Africa that are covered by…
On October 7th, Senegal’s Foreign Minister Aissata TALL SALL presided over the official launch ceremony for the seventh edition of the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa. Since 2014, the Dakar Forum, held under the high patronage of Senegalese President Macky Sall, has been one of the…
A new World Bank report on climate migration begins, in part, in Morocco. The authors of “Groundswell” point to water challenges in the life of a village teen who thinks of moving to Rabat because the decreasing water supply is putting too much pressure on his family farm. These are…
How much worse will it get? That’s a climate change question that serves as a theme for a new report released Tuesday by Chatham House, the London-based policy institute focused on global affairs. It looks at impacts that may well be “locked in” by 2040 or 2050, assuming there is…
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations plans to put climate action at the center of all its projects and offices, following a meeting in Rome to evaluate a new strategy and discuss its impact. Speaking to participants, FAO chief Qu Dongyu said the world is facing…
In 2026, Senegal will become the first country in Africa to host an Olympic event, when the Summer Youth Olympics will take place in Dakar. Initially set for 2022, the world’s most important sporting tournament for teenagers has been pushed back on account of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While regrettable,…
With what is now the perhaps unavoidable 2°C in global warming, and as early as 2050, southern Africa will see increases in drought and dangerous fire weather with impacts to agriculture, forestry, health and ecosystems. North Africa will see dry conditions too, as will the western Sahel region. If there’s…
South Africa and the other members of the G20 Environment Ministers issued a final communiqué following their meeting in Italy, but they’ve failed to come to terms on a global coal phaseout. The meeting, which in some respects signals what to expect ahead of the COP26 climate meeting in Scotland…
Increasing rainfall linked to climate change is a main factor causing the water level of Lake Tanganyika to rise, with Burundi – one of four African nations bordering the lake – taking the hardest hit. More than 30,000 people have now been affected, with the rising waters forcing people from…
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says his country will begin reducing carbon emissions in 2025, 10 years earlier than previously projected. “With regard to our energy resources, we plan to build capacity to generate over 17 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030,” said Ramaphosa, speaking at the Leaders Summit on…
As President-elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are sworn into office in the United States Wednesday, there are a number of immediate policy changes that affect the global community and Africans in particular. Biden vowed to reverse the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), a decision…