Transcript Perspectives on Climate Change: What the Media Need to

Perspectives on Climate Change: What the Media Need to
Know
By: Grace Akumu (Ms)
Executive Director
Climate Network Africa
Nairobi – Kenya
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Background/Science – IPCC Fourth Assessment
Report, 2007
• Simply put, climate change has been taking
place over time due to natural variability or
human activity
• General agreement: Human activity has
accelerated climate change than ever before
Some Causes of Climate Change
• Use/burning of fossil fuels e.g. hydrocarbons
such as petrol, diesel, gas
• Land use change (though small but significant)
Some Recent Observations of CC
• Increase in global temperatures. For example,
1995-2006 has been the warmest in recorded
history
• Sea level rise caused by thermal expansion of
oceans, melting of glaciers, ice caps,
Greenland ice sheet, Arctic ice sheet
• In Africa, ice caps on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt.
Kenya, Rwenzori Mountains, have almost
disappeared
Recent Obsrvtns Contd..
• Increased precipitation – within and without
seasons
• Increased heat waves responsible casualties
such as the 2003 heat wave in France
• Increased hurricanes
Projected Impacts of CC
• Agriculture and food security threatened
(increase in lose of yields, food prices)
• Extreme wind and turbulence could decrease
fisheries productivity
• Water resources in some regions such as SubSahara Africa will decrease and IPCC Fourth
Assessment Report predicts that by 2020, 250
million Africans will be at risk of increased water
stress and by 2050, 350-600 million Africans
Impacts Contd..
• Will be at risk of water stress
• Human health will be impacted. There will be
increase in diseases such as malaria in
highland areas e.g. Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda,
Burundi, etc.
• Tourism will be impacted. Africa will
experience losses in animal species. In some
parks in Sub-Sahara Africa, 25-40% of species
may be endangered or extinct by 2080
Impacts contd..
• National economies will not be spared. In
Kenya for example, there will be losses of
some crops such a mangoes, cashew nuts,
coconuts which could cost the national
treasury some US$500 million for a 1 metre
rise of sea level.
• Cities may disappear or be submerged.
Banjul, the capital of Gambia, could be
submerged with a 1 metre rise of sea level.
Mitigation
• How can the world mitigate greenhouse gas
emissions?
• Undertaking energy efficiency
• Fuel switching
• Nuclear power
• Reneawbles (hydropower, solar, wind,
geothermal)
Mitigation Contd..
• Control of non-CO2 emissions
• Promoting efficient lighting
• Promoting efficient appliances/air
conditioners
• Improving insulation
• Afforestation, Reforestation and Forest
Management
Mitigation Contd..
• Promoting fuel efficient vehicles
• Shifting from road transport to rail & public
transport
• Land-use planning
• Cycling
• Walking
• Promoting more efficient electrical equipment
• Recycling
Adaptation to CC Impacts
• Previously adaptation was a taboo to discuss
in the climate change negotiations as priority
had been given to mitigation which is a
priority of industrialised countries
• Now there is consensus that adaptation must
be discussed along side mitigation
• There is also consensus that adaptation
requires a lot of funds but there is no
consensus on how much is required
Adaptation to CC Impacts
• Nobody is an expert on adaptation
• Indigineous knowledge should be supported.
Some communities have used it for millennia
• Exchange of ideas
• Build capacity of developing countries in
adaptation
• Mobilising info which is already there
• Share good practices for cost effectiveness
Adaptation Contd..
• Meanwhile, IPCC has emphasised that Africa
will suffer the most from the impacts of
climate change.
What the Media Need to Know
• Climate change is a very technical subject
• There are those few denyers of climate
change, but they are very few in deed
• Simplify the science of climate change for
effective reporting
• Remember climate change is a national
security issue (threat to food security, water,
energy, etc)
Media Contd..
• Media from Africa should remember that climate
change is not only an environmental issue but
equally an economic and political issue with
every region angling for their interest
• African media should participate on a regular
basis in the CC negotiations in order to enhance
their knowledge and analytical capability
• All media should be sensitive to gender
Media Contd..
• Climate Change has become a life and death
issue in Africa and other regions. Need to be
reported rapidly and effectively
• Work with and report local experts on climate
change
• Be aware of external politics of CC, e.g., the
skewed nature of the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM), Adaptation Funds and
their deliberate fragmentation
Media contd..
• Politics of Green Technologies and the lack of
commitments of industrialised countries in
the Climate Change Convention
• WTO politics around Patenting, TRIPS, etc.
Challenges to Media
• The emergence of social media in reporting
climate change on a minute by minute, hourly,
daily basis reporting vs. mainstream media
reporting climate change, sometimes on a
once in while basis, or monthly, quarterly..
Media contd.
• THANK YOU!