Rob Macaire

BLOG ACTION DAY 2009 - CLIMATE CHANGE

Today is Blog Action Day, with bloggers around the world writing about climate change, from thousands of different perspectives.
 
Writing here in Nairobi, it's particularly topical.  Parliamentarians from around Africa have just been meeting here, and have made very clear that they want African voices to be heard more strongly in the debate, as the negotiations intensify in the run-up to the Copenhagen conference in December.   

And tomorrow, together with representatives from the Government of Kenya and UNEP, I will be taking part in an event highlighting a ground-breaking research and communication initiative called 'Africa Talks Climate'.

Run by the British Council and the BBC World Service Trust, this work is founded on the belief that those worst affected must be better informed in order to understand and effectively respond to their changing climate.  Discussions were held with over 1000 citizens from countries across Africa, and interviews carried out with policymakers, religious leaders, business people and the media.

These two events show two different aspects of the climate change debate.  On the one hand, the importance of countries that are vulnerable to climate change having a full say, and being clear about their priorities and needs.  A remark made repeatedly at the MPs' meeting here this week has been that developed countries, who have historically produced most emissions, need to support developing countries, both in coping with and acting on climate change.   That must be right, and the UK believes that a high priority for Copenhagen will be to put in place finance needed by developing countries for both mitigation and adaptation.   And of course developed nations must set ambitious and binding targets for emission reductions.
 
But the the other interesting thing for me is that the Africa Talks Climate project shows that people most affected, here in Kenya, actually need better information about what climate change is and what it means. When this research is published after tomorrow's launch, I will put a link up on this blog.
 

Posted at 15:11 15 October 2009 by Rob Macaire  |  Comments[2]