When Cyclone Pam arrived in the south Pacific Ocean bringing destruction, devastation, and new levels of anxiety to those it affected, I thought it was wrong to sit by and do nothing. I decided to use my business, Five Boys Clothing, as a mechanism for good.

I am half I-Kiribati (the term used to describe a person from the country of Kiribati) and still have relatives living in the far-flung, low-lying beautiful island of Kiribati and across the Pacific.

In the past few weeks, I and others from the I-Kiribati community have found it increasingly difficult to establish good communication channels with our families in Kiribati. What we have heard consistently over the past few months is that the “king tides” that naturally occur at this time of year have been the biggest that anyone who lives in the Oceana region have ever been known.

The author, Sophia Walsh (middle of the second row from the top), at age eight, with her family.
In accordance with I-Kiribati tradition the extended family mostly live as a Kainga – all the siblings live together, with their children and grandchildren, and now great grandchildren. Walsh now lives in England.

Because of Kiribati's geography, any small changes in sea level can have an enormous effect.

Kiribati is composed of three archipelagos in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Together, they span an area greater than the United States. Straddling the equator, Kiribati is the only nation in the world to have land in both the Northern, Southern, Western, and Eastern Hemispheres. With the sole exception of one raised atoll, no where in Kiribati is more than two meters above the sea level.

The Tarawa atoll, capital of the republic of Kiribati. Credit: Mark Tranchant

Freak high tides creep up and across the island, spilling into ground-level wells and contaminating the water.

Due to the low lying position of the atolls of Kiribati, small changes in weather conditions have a big effect. Severe changes in weather conditions have a disastrous effect.  Global warming is causing severe and consistent damage to the islands, particularly with fresh water supplies because the rise in sea levels causes increased salinity in the ground water.

My family has one well that hasn't been contaminated, but there are many families in the Pacific region that are not so fortunate.

Last December I was one of the lucky six chosen by the University Centre for Development Cooperation (Brussels) to attend the second week of the biggest climate change event of the year: the COP18. I was so looking forward to experience a U.N. international conference from close-by.

This time the 18th Conference of the Parties took place in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Isnt it ironic that the country with the highest ecological footprint per capita on earth, hosts a conference on climate change?

The first couple of days went by quite fast. I was impressed by the size and the organization of such an event. The Qatar National Convention Centre (where the COP was held) is huge: it hosted about 30,000 people (delegates, visitors, journalists, members of NGOs and volunteers). At least I got to stay fit from walking a couple of kilometers a day!

The real negotiations were not opened to observers like me, but there were plenty of side-events I was allowed in, like press conferences and information panels. Some very interesting topics were discussed, like sustainable energy resources, food security, impact of climate change on indigenous groups, etc.

I also attended a couple of actions organized by NGOs. I got the chance to interact with young people from all over the world, people who really care about the climate and would do a lot to try to save it. It was very inspiring to hear their point of view, to see how driven they were. It was also touching to see how, by the end of the COP, they had lost all hope for this COP: they realized there would be no ambitious climate agreement this year. Despite this, they were more determined than ever to keep on fighting for the climate, and to organize many more actions back home to make people realize that climate change is an urgent matter: we cannot afford to wait another ten years. Time is running out Werent typhoon Bopha and hurricane Sandy recent proof of this?

Talking to them was what made me understand that waiting for a global, ambitious agreement is not an option anymore. Maybe it is time for usthe civil societyto take action, instead of waiting for politicians to do so: a so - called bottom - up approach to fight climate change instead of ineffective climate negotiations.

Unexpectedly, attending the COP18 has radically changed my views on what seems to be the best way to tackle climate change. All over the globe, climate action movements are growing.  Thousands, maybe millions of people are ready to act. They are hopeful that together we can build a worldwide movement of solidarity and that we have the potential to actually make a change if we cooperate.  I too am now convinced of this.

More experiences of the 6 students at the COP18 can be read at the UCOS @ COP 18 blog.  

When I was working as a journalist in Peru in 1999, I saw the devastation of the 1997-98 El Nio first hand. Heading north from Lima, the flood damage to homes was clearly visible. Large sections of road were cut off by landslides, buildings were turned to rubble and cultivated fields were laid to waste.

Rising sea surface temperatures suggest that another El Nio is on its way. The UN's weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation, says there is a 60% chance of it starting before September this year. An El Nio event usually happens every five years, but a severe one hits every 15 to 20 years. We are due for another.

The El Nio Southern Oscillation, to give it its full title, is characterised by higher water temperatures in equatorial regions of the Pacific Ocean, which leads to changes in wind patterns. This has widespread effects, from higher-than-normal rainfall in the Americas, to droughts in India and Australia, to heavy snowfall in the UK. If a severe El Nio hits this year it would bring heavy rainfall to South America in December. Much needs to be done to protect lives and livelihoods, and the next four months are critical.

In Peru, local governments have identified flood control channels and embankment projects that would help minimise losses. A recent report published by UNDP and ODI says local governments should come up with their own risk management projects and seek support to implement them. But national government bureaucracy in Peru is holding things up. In the border province of Piura, 115 small projects have been identified to prevent flooding and landslides, but none have received funding yet, and local officials are getting nervous. There are even calls for the National Public Investment System to relax its rules to allow projects to start immediately.

In neighbouring Ecuador there are problems that may take longer to fix. Disaster risks are not addressed in 90% of Ecuadors municipal development plans, said a source in a provincial planning department. This means that buildings keep going up in high-risk areas.

Despite these issues, much has changed in South America since 1998. I would expect the impact of a severe El Nio to be less damaging. Banks across South America are in better financial shape this year to deal with the costs than in the past, according to Moody's Investors Service. Over the last decade, economic growth, poverty reduction and disaster risk governance reforms have made Peru and Ecuador more resilient to climate extremes. At the Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas last month, Ecuador's Minister of Defence, Mara Fernanda Espinosa, spoke of "constant improvements in practices, laws and standards for risk reduction".

Scientists now know a lot more about El Nio and can give advance warning of the kind of event that is expected. I spoke to UNDP Perus Alfredo Zerga, who said that a great deal can be done to prepare for a severe El Nio now. Families can find out if their home is in a flood-prone area as all local governments have risk maps, and they can identify points that are higher than the surrounding topography. These actions will certainly help save lives.

So how will South America fare when the next severe El Nio hits? Thanks to strong economic performance, political will and decentralisation of risk management, we have come a long way since 1999. But populations are still at risk and urgent action is needed.

In Luca Florez's Action4Climate documentary Back to Paoyhan, a shipibo shaman visits his home community in the Peruvian Amazon after the flood.

Watch below.

[video:https://vimeo.com/95548021]

A commuter walking on Sandton's West Street, half of which has been closed to cars. Credit: Simphiwe Nkwali (City of Johannesburg)

Johannesburg may be a city built on the profits of gold, but Mpho Parks Tau, Mayor of South Africa’s largest city, has a green dream. His dream is to make “public transport, walking and cycling more accessible, safe, attractive and cool.”

"For our economy to grow and flourish, we need to decongest our roads and have fewer people spending time in their cars stuck in traffic," he said at the launch of Africa’s first EcoMobility World Festival on Oct.4.

During the festival, Sandton central business district–also known as Africa’s richest square mile–is partially closed to private cars and converted into an ecomobile zone, not just for a car-free day as in Paris, but the entire month. Leading by example, the dynamic 45-year old mayor encourages the city’s 4.8 million residents to go ecomobile as well and "show that is possible for the residents of Joburg to break away from the habit of using private vehicles."

Transport accounts for 31% of South Africa’s energy consumption and 16% of its CO2 emissions. A relevant share of it comes from transport in urban areas. The promotion of ecomobility, which means prioritizing walking, cycling, public transport and shared mobility, is a key part of the city’s action on climate change, air pollution and social inequalities.

The city’s forward-thinking initiative puts Johannesburg on the world map of city-driven climate change action. The opening of a new bike path between Sandton and the township of Alexandra and the “Streets Alive – Jozi W-R-1” parade underlined the link between ecomobility and social inclusion.

“Cycling should become a way of life, our municipalities must become sustainable,” said South Africa’s Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, announcing further national policies in support of ecomobility. South Africa is not only Africa’s largest economy, but also the continent’s biggest polluter, ranking among the 15 largest CO2 emitters worldwide.

“We contribute to climate change systematically through carbon emissions, and the reliance by Joburg commuters on single-passenger vehicles is an inefficiency we must confront,” Mayor Parks Tau declared in his State of the City address in May.

Johannesburg's Executive Mayor Parks Tau (with green helmet) amongst riders of bicycles and other ecomobility vehicles heading off from Sandton CBD, Adfrica's richest square mile, to the low-income township of Alexandra. Credit: Simphiwe Nkwali (City of Johannesburg)

My country Sierra Leone, meaning Lion Mountain has a tropical climate because of its proximity to the equator. Well watered with strong annual rainy seasons, it is considered one of the most humid countries in Africa. The land is blessed by the Atlantic Ocean on the West and Southwest shores. Mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, and beautiful mountains grace the East. 

The country enjoys two separate seasons, dry and wet. When I was growing up in Koidu Town, Sierra Leone, the seasons lasted for six months each, but this has tremendously changed in the last couple of years. It was recently determined that the dry season now lasts only 3 months, from December through February. This new pattern is credited to the impact of Climate Change, which causes a subsequent change in the countrys climate. This has greatly impacted the pattern of the countrys seasons, and if urgent action is not taken by the government to mitigate its effect, a socio-economic and political price will be paid.

There is insufficient daily data available to determine the temperature extremes; there is, however, data that significantly indicates increasing trends in the frequency of hot nights. The average number of hot nights per year increased significantly between 1960 and 2003. There has been a decrease in heavy rainfall after 1960, and it had been difficult to establish if this was part of a long term trend. The rainfall record is determined by wetter and drier periods. For example, the 60s and late 70s were particularly wet, whilst the early 70s and 80s were very dry. Rainfalls in 2005 and 2006 have been have also been very low. 

The vast majority of the population in the city and provinces heavily relies on the countrys natural resources for its economic base. The country is highly dependent on mining - especially diamonds. This is mainly done in Koidu town, where I grew up, and rumor is that besides diamonds, the country is likely to become a significant iron ore, gold and oil producer.

Photo by Eduardo Arraes

The people of Sierra Leone also rely on natural resources such as land to grow food. The country is blessed with one of the most fertile lands in West Africa. As kids in a family of over thirty brothers and sisters, each one of us had his or her own little garden, we grew corn, pepper, etc. There is planter of water, but this is threatened by population growth (increase in population include displacement caused by Civil War) and the rising demand from agribusiness and deforestation causing soil erosion. There are threats to our beautiful inland valley swamps and the rich forests. One of the problems our forests are now facing is that only 4 percent of the original forest cover remains and few areas are protected. And last but not the least, fish. The country has plenty of it. Fish are our livelihoods . All of the natural resources face challenging pressures because of Climate Change.

The weather pattern in Sierra Leone, like most of Africa is experiencing a change in its climate. This change results in extreme weather events such as storms, floods and droughts with hostile impacts on the socio-economic fabric of the country. This in turn leads to disruption of agricultural activities, increase in water-borne diseases, such as malaria and cholera, and the loss of lives. 

Businesses, decision makers, and politicians should come together to discuss climate change. Full understanding of this issue is needed so proper decisions that could lessen all damages that arise from the effects of the weather could be made. Delays from inaction or placing practical policies in environmental protection and sustainable development will cause a lot of harm to the country.

With this in mind, the government needs to undertake climate change related actions very seriously and the people can assist by encouraging government to fulfill their obligations on the subject of climate change.

We now live in a world where temperatures are rising, natural resources are being depleted, and species loss is accelerating. Agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to Green House Gas (GHG) emissions; yet it is greatly affected by climate change. Sustainable agriculture is the way to go if we are to mitigate the effects of climate change. According to Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, "Sustainable Agriculture is a productive, competitive and efficient way to produce agricultural products, while at the same time protecting and improving the natural environment and social / economic conditions of local communities."

Rainforest Alliance (RA) certification is one of the certifications that promote sustainable agriculture practices. The RA works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour. I had a chance to be involved with Rainforest Alliance certification while working with a tea growing and export company in Uganda as a Standards Coordinator. We decided to pursue RA certification to improve overall sustainability in the tea estates having been alarmed by a recent report released by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture entitled "Future Climate Scenarios for Ugandas Tea Growing Areas" which revealed that climatic suitability of much of Ugandas tea-growing areas would decline significantly by 2050 due to climate change.

Rainforest Alliance certification hinges on the Sustainable Agriculture Network Standard represented by the following ten principles:

1. Management System
2. Ecosystem Conservation
3. Wildlife Protection
4. Water Conservation
5. Working Conditions for Workers
6. Occupational Health and Safety
7. Community Relations
8. Integrated Crop Management
9. Soil Conservation
10. Integrated Waste Management

A patch of forest adjacent to a tea estate

Patches of natural forests (bio-corridors) are maintained within the tea estates. This helps in crop care as forests are sources of natural predators, and helps in maintaining soil health and preventing erosion. It is also one way of conserving biodiversity and for this matter there are numerous fauna and flora on the tea estates.

With an internal control system as part of management system, documentation helps in the prediction of long-term tea production patterns. International tea buyers are also showing a preference for RA-certified teas, one of them being Lipton (a Unilever brand), which is committed to sourcing all of their tea from Rainforest Alliance certified estates by 2015.

With RA certification, the company is playing its part in making sure consumers of their tea worldwide enjoy a cup of tea without compromising the needs of future generations. 

Sustainability -- like so many things in life -- is a journey, not a destination and every company should be in it for the long haul.

In 1939 Walter Lowdermilk, one of the pioneers of resource conservation said:

"Thou shalt inherit the holy earth as a faithful steward, conserving its resources and productivity from generation to generation.

Thou shalt safeguard thy fields from soil erosion, thy living waters from drying up, thy forests from desolation and protect hills from overgrazing by the herds, that thy descendants may have abundance forever.

If any shall fail in this stewardship of the land, thy fruitful fields shall become sterile stony ground of wasting gullies, and thy descendants shall decrease and live in poverty or perish from off the face of the earth."  

You can contact Denis Twinamatsiko at denistwina@gmail.com

 

Denis Twinamatsiko

Such a simple action, one night out that changed my life forever. As a University of Maryland (UMD) student this past spring, I attended the Connect4Climate Right Here, Right Now event at The World Bank in Washington, DC, to celebrate and recognize artists around the world who had participated in a competition to link conversations about global climate change to the local actions of our daily lives. I had no idea at the time what an impact this would have on me. 

Our professor, Dr. Leszek Sibilski, had explained that along with the excellent opportunity of attending this event, a couple of students from another class were working on a video assignment and needed a little extra help. So a few of UMD students came together and had an excellent evening producing video clips and listening to The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Sustainable Development Network Vice President Rachel Kyte, External Affairs Vice President Cyril Muller, Africa Vice President Makhtar Diop, the Global Environment Facilitys CEO and Chairperson Naoko Ishii, and the Italian Minister of the Environment Corrado Clini speak and celebrate youth engagement in creative climate action. Good music, good food and a tour of the World Bank Headquarters left us curious, concerned and inspired to do more. Later I found out that The World Bank, the Italian Ministry of Environment, and the Global Environment Facility in collaboration sponsored that event with more than 150 partners.

Students of the University of Maryland Contemporary Social Problems Class working on iChange competition videos with Professor Leszek Sibilski.
Source: connect4climate.org

On April 8, 2015 we had the unique chance to sit in at the heart of the "Lets Talk Climate" webinar hosted by Earth Day Network and Connect4Climate at the World Bank Group HQ. (To listen to the entire webinar, go to connect4climate and scroll to "Let's Talk Climate"). The idea behind the webinar was to get leading thinkers talking about innovative strategies to communicate climate change. From social medias influence on spreading awareness, to connecting messages to concrete actions, and understanding your audiences values to find achievable solutions, the conversation was dynamic and non-stop, and the room itself was buzzing with energy. Clearly, the buzz was picked up around the world; the webinar boosted Connect4Climate's Twitter impression to 12 million that day!

 

The webinar "Let's Talk Climate" seriously spiked Connect4Climate's Twitter impressions! While the discussion touched on the many angles of climate change communications that we think about every day, it also gave us some new ideas to consider. It also provided some serious food for thought for our upcoming conference "Communication for Climate Change 2.0" on Wednesday, April 15, when Connect4Climate and the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University are bringing together a fantastic blend of scholars and leaders during the World Bank Group's spring meetings to dissect the science of climate change communication and determine the most effective ways to move forward.

See all Connect4Climate's events and initiatives surrounding Earth Day. 

Communications Officer Max Edkins and Lucia Grenna, Program Manager of Connect4Climate, and Joelle Auffray, Director of Apidae Development Pty Ltd., prepare for the webinar.

Liz Ngonzi's introductory remarks for April 20th Connect4Climate 'Local Climate, Global Change: Development Communication in a social media landscape' forum.

"Until the lion has his or her own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story."

Ewe-Mina (African) Proverb

Young people's access to new media worldwide brings new and in some peoples opinions, authentic voices into the global conversation about the issues that affect all of us the most, such as: climate change, conflict, economic crisis, education disparity, access to healthcare, and food security. 

While traditional media and development agencies are able to provide the world with visibility into these issues, they are only able to do so through specific lenses colored by the interests of their leadership - in the case of the media-- keeping advertisers happy and maintaining ratings and with development agencies - satisfying donors requirements.  The result being that the people whose lives are most affected by the issues, have traditionally been left out of the conversation, leading to policy decisions and development projects that in some instances solve the wrong problems, and ultimately do more harm than good, for those they are intended to assist.

What is particularly exciting about new media is that it widens the conversation by providing channels for new voices to be heard and amplified in a matter of minutes. If we think about traditional news cycles and the amount of time it typically takes for a development agency to compile and publish a report, what in the past may have been seen as timely information may in fact become irrelevant by the time it is accessed by the public. Contrast that with social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook which enable a young woman in Mbarara Western Uganda (from where I hail) to use a basic SMS-enabled mobile phone to (in real-time) write about the circumstances in her village and potentially have her voice heard by many people across the globe who can help her affect change. With a more sophisticated video-enabled phone, she can now even record and upload a video to a computer in her local Internet caf (assuming her phone is not WiFi-enabled) and show her reality in a richer manner.

If we take the example further and put it within the context of the Connect4Climate video contest which was piloted in Africa last fall and received over 700 submissions from the continents young people, we really start to see the power of new media.  For instance, the video by South Africa's Thabo Edkins, entitled "The World Has Malaria", through one Connect4Climate outlet alone - Facebook - can be accessed by its 1/4 of a million followers, all of whom could potentially watch each of those videos and even more importantly, forward any of them to their friends - resulting in amplification on a scale unimaginable in the past.  Additionally, if the videos revealed any particular trend that needed to be addressed immediately, policy makers from the countries videos countries of origin can access them on the Connect4Climate Youtube channel and potentially take action in real-time. 

Of course when we speak about this sort of citizen journalism, one of the potential risks we have to consider is that the stories are unvetted, however with enough data points and mechanisms in place to verify information, citizens could very well be some of our best sources.  Another potential risk is that of retribution by governments in countries that disallow free speech, which could lead to some of the censorship efforts weve seen in the last 18 months during the Arab Spring and elections worldwide.  Finally, with the increase in content comes the need for crowdsourced mapping tools to turn the data into actionable information, such as with the case of Ushahidi and ReVoda election monitoring platforms and of course, Microsofts Local Impact Map.

Ultimately, I see new media as providing access to new voices, but I also still believe the traditional outlets are valuable, however as with other industries that have been affected by the disruptive technologies, they will have to find a way to add more meaningful analysis and potentially incorporate the new voices into their reports, in order to remain relevant in the future. 

Ladies and gentlemen, ironically I agree with The New York Times' Thomas L. Friedman the world is indeed "flattening".

 

Liz Ngonzi

Adjunct Professor

New York University Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising

You can find Liz Ngonzi on Twitter at @LizNgonzi. 

 

I have been recycling for about three decades now.

Started in the '80s, back in my home country, where I was thrust in the role of organizing the recycling effort for about 200 families in my neighborhood at the start of the first national recycling campaign. It involved talking to a lot of people, handing them plastic bags of different colors and convincing them to separate their trash into paper, plastic/glass and, well, trash. The idea was good, but lacked municipal support (containers and transportation for the recyclables) and faded away after a few months.

In the '90s, when I lived in North Baltimore, I used to drive twice a month to the closest recycling center with bags, full with paper, plastic and glass. The recycling centers at the time were improvised weekend affairs on a companys parking lot, and there were only a few of them.

The last 15 years, living in NW Washington, DC, I have continued to recycle, and probably do a better job now as there are recycling bins on every floor of our building, right next to the trash chutes.

Moral of my story: recycling works better when it is organized well and easier to do. But isnt that also true of many other things? Why have I been doing it? It is not so much about "doing the right thing", I have to admit, it is more about the reluctance to throw away limited resources that can be re/used again in a variety of ways.

Recycling, for me, is part of a generally green lifestyle (a separate, much larger topic I will not indulge in in this limited space) as well as particular fondness for a green sport and recreation activity, as the attached photo reveals.

Yes, we can do our bit, make a difference, each of us in our own way, but we can do much more together with the right institutional support, with the right international frameworks in place well, I am preaching to the choir, I know, so will stop here. Keep recycling, my friends!