Children and youth are amongst the largest stakeholders of civil society but, sadly, continue to be the least represented. Due to pre-conceived notions about our capabilities, we are often taken for granted and not allowed to have a say in determining our future. The youth of today are aghast at the escalating rate of environmental degradation and at the prospect of us, future generation, inheriting a barren planet that cannot sustain its inhabitants.

We cannot and should not remain mute observers at the increasing imbalance of the three pillars of sustainability. With the global population crossing 7 billion, the earth's finite natural resources are under tremendous strain. Economic progress is being achieved at the cost of the environment while, paradoxically, the polarization between the global north and south continues to increase. Vast tracts of forests are getting wiped out daily, fresh water bodies are being polluted by industrial effluents, millions of hectares of arable land are degrading into deserts and multitudes of species are being pushed towards extinction. The rapid increase in the global carbon footprint is having a hugely detrimental effect on our climate.

[video:https://vimeo.com/101874077]

 

Performing climate justice song Tree planting is an integral part of all our academies as we feel that this is the simplest and most effective way of combatting climate change. It is also very relevant to the region we live in, since deserts surround us. Trees not only stop land degradation, they also reduce your carbon footprint, retain water and positively impact climate change. As an outcome of our academies, our members have planted thousands of trees not just in the UAE, but in other countries as well. Each academy is taught by a fresh group of members and during our preparations we train them on public speaking and presentation skills. Our academies are now much awaited events and not only schools, even corporates, have started to invite us to hold sessions for their employees. We have also begun conducting road shows so that we can reach out to a wider segment of civil society.

The private sector has a huge responsibility in working to slow climate change, but what’s its role in developing policies? Recently an innovative report by UNEP, WRI, WWF, Ceres and CDP was released, providing guidelines to companies in best using their influence to shape good climate policies. The “Guide for Responsible Corporate Engagement in Climate Policy”, which was developed based on interviews with more than 75 leading companies, policymakers and investors, is intended to compel businesses to identify, align and report their actions towards climate policies in order to bring transparency and accountability. 

Since there has been much inconsistency in companies’ sustainability commitments and their lobbying actions, CDP has recently called on corporations to disclose their climate lobbying positions. The Guide for Responsible Corporate Engagement in Climate Policy can help in managing and reporting influences on climate policy to make sure that proposed sustainability commitments are linked with lobbying actions.

This guide is innovative and inspiring; by helping companies take responsibility and subtly calling them out for working against climate policies, we find a way to incorporate corporations into the conversation without making them seem like the enemy. It is true that corporate influences have presented a major obstacle to the climate policy process, but private sector participation is necessary to establish a low-carbon economy. The UN Global Compact reports that “only 30% of leading companies have aligned their lobbying with their corporate responsibility commitments”, but with more pressure to ensure transparency and accountability, there will be a stronger business for consistency.

At COP19, business leaders and government officials came together to learn about this new guide at the Caring for the Climate Business Forum at the UNFCCC in Poland.  Other business forums at the UNFCCC this year, like the Climate Solutions 2013, help the private and public sector work together to find solutions and be able to come up with a global climate agreement in 2015. At the UNFCCC’s Business, Industry & NGOs Day, Christina Figueres stressed that “we must hear loudly and clearly that the private sector is willing to participate in markets, increase efficiency, capture technology gains and produce low-carbon products” for an international agreement.

So it seems that we are entering a new paradigm, one in which governments and the public are holding the private sector accountable in their actions towards climate policy. Many companies understand the risks involved in not addressing climate change; in the US, we recently saw the Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy stressing that action on the national level needs to happen. Although many are criticizing corporations for holding COP19 hostage, we must stop labeling companies as the bad guys, and start thinking of how they will be able to help in establishing a new regime of progressive climate policy and a low-carbon economy.

Source: WRI 2013

It is that time of the year when climate change brings the world together. On September 23rd, world leaders will gather in New York, and in December the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will take place in Lima, Peru.

In both summits, policy makers, political leaders, the business community, NGOs and civil society will meet to discuss challenges, opportunities and best ways to cope with climate change.

The New York summit is convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, aimed at catalyzing and galvanizing climate actions and decisions.

Of the sectors that are experiencing the adverse effects of climate change, agriculture is doubly affected due to its sensitivity to various climate aspects.

In the past few years, millions of small scale farmers with limited resources available to adapt have felt the heat in different parts of the world.Within East Africa alone, there have been severe droughts in The, erratic weather patterns and outbreaks of crop diseases in Kenya, and floods in Tanzania, just to mention a few.

A farmer tills his land so as to plant drought resistant crops. Photo: Elijah Mumo

This year has not been an exemption in Kenya, as far as these adverse events are concerned. A severe shortage of rain hit Kenya between the months of March and June. During this period, farmers normally expect rain so they can plant maize and a variety of other crops.

Further worsening the situation, maize lethal necrosis has in recent years struck crops in normally high-yielding regions. The disease causes maize plants to wilt and die during their flowering stage.

According to Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), small scale farmers produce about half of food for the Sub-Sahara region. Small holders who own 2 hectares of land or less are the least likely to be resilient to these shocks.

The alliance published the “2014 African Agriculture Status Report” on September 3, in which it argues that these small holder farmers run the risk of experiencing the effects of climate change in severe ways, particularly because about 90% of them rely almost entirely on rain fed agriculture.

The report underscores the importance of addressing climate change to increase African agricultural productivity, improve food security and enhance the resilience of farmers to climate change. The report could not have come at a better time. With the unfolding climate trends, the need for innovative agricultural practices to adapt to the changing climate has never been more urgent.

Earth To Paris, a coalition of partners helping to drive awareness about the connection between people and planet as well as the need for strong climate action, announced it will host “Earth To Paris—Le Hub” a two-day, high-impact, live-streamed summit on 7 and 8 December in Paris during COP21 — the United Nations climate conference to deliver a new universal climate change agreement.

Earth To Paris—Le Hub will provide the opportunity for cross-sector, solutions-oriented engagement in climate change conversations around COP21; a platform for amplifying the conversation across social and digital media; and series of activations through inspiring calls to take bold, meaningful action to address climate change. Experts, advocates, CEOs, and other leaders in Paris will discuss creative and impactful solutions to climate change, while participants around the world take part through multi-language livestreamed video and real-time interactions across multiple social media platforms using the unifying hashtag #EarthToParis.

A unique mix of speakers will share their visions for the future. The first tranche of speakers-- with more to come--includes:

•     Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris
•     Helen Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
•     Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF
•     Irina Bokova, Director-General, UNESCO
•     Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Former Prime Minister of Norway; Special Envoy, United Nations; Deputy Chair, The Elders; Board Member, United Nations Foundation
•     Esther Agbarakwe, Digital story-teller and +SocialGood Advisor
•     Dr. Paul Bunje, ‎Senior Director of Oceans, XPRIZE Foundation
•     Kathy Calvin, President and CEO, United Nations Foundation
•     Rocky Dawuni, Singer, songwriter, Ambassador for United Nations Foundation-hosted Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
•     Dr. Sylvia Earle, Marine biologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence
•     Andrew Freedman, Science editor, Mashable
•     Livia Firth, Film producer; Executive producer, The True Cost
•     Blanca Juti, Chief Brand Officer, Rovio Entertainment Ltd.
•     Dr. Jane Goodall, Primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist; United Nations Messenger of Peace
•     Runa Khan, Executive Director, Friendship Bangladesh
•     Ismaël le Mouël, Co-founder & President at HelloAsso; Founder, Social Good Week Paris; +SocialGood Advisor
•     Anne-Sophie Novel, Economist, journalist, and organizer of Place to B COP 21
•     Dr. M. Sanjayan, Conservation scientist, writer, and Emmy-nominated television news contributor
•     Max Schorr, Co-Founder and Director, GOOD Magazine
•     Jakob Trollbäck, Founder, Trollbäck + Company
•     Ted Turner, Founder and Chairman of United Nations Foundation and Turner Enterprises, Inc.
•     Timothy E. Wirth, Former United States Senator; Vice Chair, United Nations Foundation Board of Directors

COP21 is an extraordinary opportunity for the international community to rise to meet the threat of climate change. With the world recently adopting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a new set of global goals to end poverty in all its forms, fight inequalities and tackle climate change by 2030, Earth to Paris—Le Hub is primed to capture and build on the desire for leaders, businesses, organizations and individuals from the world to come together and call for real change.

The first day of Earth To Paris—Le Hub, 7 December, will convene at the Petit Palais in partnership with the City of Paris, and the second day, 8 December, will be held at UNESCO headquarters.

More information, including background and partner information and a live-stream of Earth to Paris—Le Hub, can be found at www.EarthToParis.org. Download the overview page.

Connect4Climate with The Guardian hosted a Live Q&A Session on May 1 to discuss waste management issues. Questions addressed included: Could a potential waste management crisis actually be an opportunity to innovate in disguise? How can different actors work in partnership to find low-cost, environmentally friendly solutions? And in what type of waste management technologies and program is funding most effectively placed?

The live chat is being fed into the Cittadinanza in Festa 2014 discussions on sustainability and waste, 2-4 May 2014. The event is supported by Connect4Climate and Earthday Italia and will also celebrate Rokia Traoré as a Connect4Climate Global Leader for her commitment and dedication to supporting climate change initiatives around the world.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Limahave come to an end. Due to last minute haggling, the climate conference ran until Sunday morning, well after the official deadline on Friday. In the end, 190 countries agreed on the next steps needed for tackling climate change – what needs to be done now, and what information should be included in pledges by countries for COP 21 in Paris in December 2015, when countries are expected to submit commitments to reduce carbon emissions, and much more.

“Governments leave Lima on a fresh wave of positivity towards Paris with a range of key decisions agreed and action-agendas launched, including on how to better scale up and finance adaptation, alongside actions on forests and education,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework on Climate Change. View more about the final outcomes on the UNFCCC website.

The Conference of Parties got off to a good start, thanks to the building momentum around the world calling for action on climate change. Before the Climate Summit in New York in September, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in 166 countries, calling for immediate action. At the UN Climate Summit businesses joined national and regional governments supporting a price on carbon.

In addition, the European Union reached agreements and, on November 12, the United States and China announced an ambitious cooperation plan for Paris 2015 and actions on climate change after 2020.  This year has also played an essential role in preparing the “field” for solution-oriented agreements that will help fulfill the climate agenda in 2015 leading up to COP 21 in Paris in December.

In Lima, Connect4Climate supported several high-level sessions at COP 20, in particular the Global Landscapes Forum, organized by CIFOR, the Sustainable Innovation Forum, and events hosted by Connect4Climate partners such as TerrAfrica’s panel discussions, UNFCCC youth sessions and the Italian Ministry of the Environment’s high-profile events.

Once again, another Conference of Parties is here, and once again, it is time to talk, talk and talk. Though the COP 17 is not the first COP held in an African soil (COP 12 was held Kenya in 2006), but this one by and large is the much talk-about COP in Africa, hence dubbed as the Africans COP. But the questions which remain are what make COP 17 really an African COP? What is unique about it?  Is it only because it is held in Africa and that’s it!! Or is organising the COP in Africa really means the outcome of the negotiation will favour Africa’s agenda? Can South Africa, the incoming president really steer the negotiation to make it swing in favour of Africa? 

Will the outcome of the discussion going to be as usual, a simple COP decision without any binding targets or this time round would it be a fair ambitious and a legally binding one?  Is this year’s COP going to be different from that of 2009, where few powerful countries meet in a green room, put up negotiating text, tailored to suite their selfish national interest then ask the world to accept what they decided?  Or is COP 17 going to be a COP, where leaders make franks talks, having the threat of climate change at the back of their minds and then make a COP where parties big or small unclenched their fists for national interest to a global climate treaty that is needed to salvage the planet and the future generation?

Well, these are questions that needs urgent and decisive answers yet many a time there is none. So the world once again sit and wait, and as usual hoping for the best but expecting the worst. The COP 17 ends on the 9th December 2011 and then we shall know what our leaders have put on the table for us.

While we are waiting, fingers-a-crossed, we want to reflect on what we think should constitute a successful COP or otherwise, in the eyes of an African youth. First, we want to join the African group stand at the negotiation and want to say to them, louder and clear that we are behind you. As young people, representing the future, the generation that will inherit whatever decision reach today, and living in Africa, the continent that is most vulnerable and less capacities to adapt, we are equally perturb by the slow pace to act by those countries that are able, and in fact responsible for current predicament of the changing climate.

We are now tired of the hide-and-seek and business as usual of talks that lead us nowhere. The COP is such an expensive under-taking that we can longer accept the lack progress to reach a definitive agreement for global emission reduction. So, it’s time to act.

In a recent interview of Tosi Mpanu, the chief Negotiator of the African group under the UNFCCC with leaderhiponline, he said that Africa has high respect for the Kyoto protocol, and will not comprise with the life of the KP, the only legally binding instrument that requires those countries most responsible for causing climate change to reduce pollution. We welcome this tough stand and are happy that our leaders think this way.

Though we has no doubt that with a united African front this is achievable, however, we are worried that annex 1 countries will use their divide-and-rule  tactic which they are very good at, to get an easy way out.  We hope that the respective African countries will not be lured again to comprise their concerted efforts for big promises that are often not fulfilled. What we want to see now is tangible commitments that is legally binding and support climate financing needed to curb the climate crises. Funding for climate change based on bilateral agreement cannot just work for Africa and should not be accepted.

We therefore join Mr.Tosi and the general African group to ask for tangible outcome from Durban that is based on science that is fair and that honours the promises all countries have made to each other in the UN Climate Convention and its Kyoto Protocol. Unlike the mainly perceive death of Kyoto protocol in Durban we expect nothing less extension of the KP to another commitment period, after the current commitment expires in 2012.

This agreement need to be reach in Durban in order to avoid gap. Parties need to agree to a level of co-operative global efforts that cut emission to a safe level for Africa and other developing nations. And hence we want implore on all parties to agree to global emission reductions well below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Also, we want to remind parties do all it require to close the “mitigation gap”, ensuring that the developed countries take on the lead for fair and appropriate contributions to the global emission reduction efforts, based on historical responsibility and ability.

We want the “finance gap” to be close ensuring that the developed countries meet their commitments to enable the adaptation and mitigation efforts in developing countries that is clean and not following the annex 1 countries development pathway. In addition we want to see, capacity building, climate Education integrate into central focus on negotiation.

This may look to be a tall demand for many critics but we stand firm until these demands are met. We have Faith!!!

Ebrima S. Dem, youth climate activist. He is the climate change focal person for the Network of African Youth for Development ( NAYD),Climate change Education specialist and member African youth Initiatives on climate change (ayicc). He is currently the National Coordinator of Global Unification the Gambia. He can be reach at: climateinfo@nayd.org.

Connect4Climate launched in 2011 with a photo and video competition, inviting people from ages 13 - 35 to share personal climate change stories. We asked that the stories take place within the continent of Africa and focus: Agriculture, Energy, Forests, Gender, Health and Water. Through photos and short videos, participants shared with us how climate change affects their lives, communities, and environments. The selected winners were announced at a high-profile award ceremony at COP17 in Durban, where world leaders and prominent climate change thinkers had the chance to look, listen, and learn about these climate stories.

See the original competition information here

Receiving entries from every country in Africa, Connect4Climate team members have kept in touch with many of the contest participants and winners, including Mants’ase Children’s Home located in Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho. Children from Mants’ase won three prizes for their photo submissions focusing on the agriculture and energy themes. 

On February 3, 2015, one Connect4Climate team member traveled to Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho, and visited Mants’ase. The children and staff showed her the location of the winning photos and told her about the climate change projects they have implemented and how they are contributing to the global climate conversation.

One student living at Mants’ase studies by solar lamp. Photo by Leigh Vogel

According to Elaine Herbert, Mants’ase Children’s Home Secretary and liaison to the Connect4Climate team:

“In 2003, the first solar water heaters were installed (on the roof of the building) and since then we have purchased more solar water heaters, so that we now only use solar energy for heating water for baths, showers and for doing the laundry.

The pump that pumps the water from the well up to the water reservoir (situated at the highest place on the property) is powered by solar energy. There are two big solar panels (on top of tall poles) situated not far from the teenage boy’s dormitory. The water is then fed by gravity from the reservoir to the taps.

The children and staff at Mants’ase Children’s Home stand near the garden. Photo by Leigh Vogel

We have a few solar lights, including the ‘street light’ in the grounds, which has its own solar panel so that it is recharged every day. The electricity we buy (from the national grid) is a fairly clean form of energy in that most, if not all of it, is hydroelectricity.

A lot of thought and planning has gone into the positioning and orientation of the new buildings (still under construction) along with the number and size of the windows, to allow maximum natural heating of these buildings by the sun during winter. Although in mid-winter our temperatures often drop to well below freezing at night, and very cold winds blow from the mountains, winter is our dry season and most days are sunny. So by keeping the cold wind out, while allowing maximum sunshine in, we should be able to keep to a minimum the use of other forms of energy for heating these buildings during winter.

We reduce our carbon footprint in other small ways—the vegetable garden for example, drying our laundry outside in the sun, and by generating relatively little refuse.

As far as conservation is concerned, most of our efforts have been focused on preventing soil erosion on our property.”

See the prizes the Connect4Climate team is shipping to Mants’ase on the Mants’ase Facebook page here

At C4C we want to make your voices heard by the key actors in climate change policy. With that goal in mind, we set out to have a presence at COP17 in Durban, through participating in or hosting five interactive events that would allow us to showcase your messages on climate change issues and actions. The variety in scope of C4C’s events in Durban helped to amplify the voices of our community amongst both current and potential partner organizations as well as youth delegates who were active at the conference. Having events both in and outside of the security perimeter meant that audiences for the C4C events included both accredited delegation members as well as press, NGOs, academics, private sector, and concerned individuals. You can find more information on each of our events at COP17 below. 

C4C delegates unfurling a banner in the Africa Pavilion at COP17.

African Bloggers on Climate Change kicked off this morning and will run through October 31st. Below is a list of all the commentary and blog posts related to AVCC. We will update this list daily with all the blog posts that have been written so far. If you are an African blogger or a climate change, environment blogger, we encourage you to join the conversation. Check out the original AVCC posts for guidance on how to engage in the global conversation.

1) Voices

by Rowan Emslie

Recently the whole climate change debate has been mostly dominated by ‘climate deniers’ and those who deny their denials. A tale as old as time, we have progressive thinkers attacking conservative thinkers and vice versa.

2) Rwanda Shines in Conservation Where Her EAC Partners Falter

by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome

Conservation is never easy, always full of the challenge to keep growing populations reconciled with having protected areas set aside near where they live and percolate benefits to those who live nearby, derived from tourism and conservation income.

3) Blogging for Connect4Climate - WildLife

by Solomon Jagwe

With most of the wildlife in the East African Rift Valley depending on the changing of seasons to migrate to areas where their offspring can stand a chance of survival, it is of great importance to discuss how the climate change adversely affects those migration patterns.

4) Innovative Solutions in Africa

By Independent Global Citizen

Deforestation and waste management are two challenges facing the global community.  Trees are often cut down in rural parts of developing countries to be used as firewood to cook and to fire mud bricks used in the construction of buildings like houses, shops, and latrines.

5) Act now, Act together, Act differently

By Mimieux

In just 3 years, Kenya has suffered two bouts of severe drought leaving thousands of people dead. Northern Kenya, boasting extreme temperatures of up to 35 degrees falls under the 80% of Kenyan land that is arid/ semi-arid and consequently not suitable for Agriculture.

6) This is about Climate Change really, but it's about My Childhood Too

By Iwaya Mataachi

The boys would run naked into the “river” and splash water at the giggling girls huddle on the bank and I could see, even then, in the corner of my eye, the boy and the girl who had split from the group to talk in private under a tree away from us.

7) Energy poverty - Where does the answer lie?

By Evelyn Namara

In Uganda today, according to a report submitted by UNESCO "Overall, only 9 percent of Uganda’s population is supplied with grid electricity (20 percent in urban areas compared to only 3 percent in rural areas), and 70 percent of these customers reside in the three major towns of Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja."

8) Changing the World

By Ruth Aine

You and I may never make it to The UN Convention on Climate Change: We may never be able to be part of the debate on the environment in Uganda led by the Ministry of Water and Environment; We may never be able to know and understand what is meant by major greenhouse gases being necessary to identify the current trends in atmospheric concentrations and climate change: But I believe that we can effect change by being the voice in our communities where we belong.

9) Listen; the trees and water are talking

By Mark Keith Muhumuza

Little known to the active men and human nature is that their actions will be met with vast environmental misgivings. The energy demands by human nature often growing and depleting natural resources like water and forests have vast consequences mostly unknown or that they have no control over.

10) "Climate Smart" - Agriculture Initiatives Will Save Africa

By Maureen Agena

Climate change impacts are much localised and hence some areas are more vulnerable than others. Therefore African Governments need to spearhead initiatives of climate proofing Agriculture with all partners involved in climate change adaptation strategies.

11) The environment does not need saving

By John K. Abimanyi

Go build an industry in a wetland, a sugar cane farm in a forest, a shopping arcade in a wetland, a hydro power dam on the longest river, a collection of nightspots in the few green spaces in the capital, cut some trees and make some charcoal, drain all the fish from the seas, and help promote the cause of humanity. Self-destruction is, after all, what humanity is best experienced at doing.

12) An Ode To Mother Earth

By Lydia Idem Finkley

I’ve always been a tree hugger. Directly because they are Nigerian, mine have always been “waste-not-EVER” parents. So even if they never admit it, it’s in my blood. I do my best to support local farmers and green companies. When I grow up, I’ll be an investor in green and sustainable technology.

13) Connecting4Climate: Promoting an Active Recycling Culture in Nigeria

By Tukeni Obasi

The present stigma attached to waste management and recycling reveals the disconnect between the average Nigerian and their waste and yet as reality has shown, climate change continues to connect us all. In order to turn that connection into a beneficial one, we must change our cultural practices.

14) Reflections on the festival of lights

By Neha Misra

Electricity access is fundamental for achieving UN’s millennium development goals (MDG’s), the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific development goals the world has ever agreed upon. 

15) Energy at the cost of the environment

But that said, the energy demands of our nation need to be paid attention to and planned for wisely because our current energy consumption isn’t sustainable even in the short run. Uganda as a country needs a sustainable model of handling its energy demands and still paying respect to the environment from which these demands are met.

16) The road to sustainable energy in Nigeria

By Lyinoluwa.O Aremu

This is why the introduction of the new electric prepaid meter, few years back, is a good idea for sustainable energy in Nigeria. This meter, unlike the old one, requires customers to buy electric units on the meter, which will eventually be used up, depending on how many electric appliances are used or the frequency of the usage of the electric.

17) Our Health and Climate Change

By Njeri Nancy Maina

Water is life and as long as man shall live, water remains the most essential element to life on earth. Liquid in normal room temperature and ice when frozen; water is basic to our everyday activities especially around the home. Water may appear of less importance to those who have consistent access to it but once it’s out, one then realizes the service water offers.

18) 6th African Economic Conference: Youth employment within the new African Green Economy Agenda 

By Esther Agbarakwe

So does Green Economy bring hope to African youths seeking Jobs? Speaking at the Special Session on the Role of the State in promoting Green Economy, African Youths and experts urge government to ensure that decent Jobs are indeed created for Africa’s  youths and not use the notion of technology transfers and innovation to give jobs to non-Africans employed to help Africa transits to a green economy.

19) Dear baby Seven [ Billion ]

By TMS Ruge

That intelligence and ambition drives us to invent and reinvent. We are destructively creative beings by nature; never satisfied with the status quo. “Out with the old and in with the new,” is a motto you will hear a lot in your lifetime. We create to destroy.

20) A key: the role of women in climate change

By Iyinoluwa O. Aremu

So, how do we go about this? We don’t need much of government action in raising awareness of climate change to women, we only need interested and motivated people or organisations, who are ready to go into the rural areas, meet the women and show them demonstrations of how they can save their environment.

21) Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food

By Olumide Idowu

Populations in the developing world, which are already vulnerable and food insecure, are likely to be the most seriously affected. In 2005, nearly half of the economically active population in developing countries—2.5 billion people—relied on agriculture for its livelihood. Today, 75 per cent of the world’s poor live in rural areas.

22) Nigeria: Why Climate Change

By Olumide Idowu

Peer-reviewed research accepted by the Journal of Geography and Regional Planning concludes that Nigeria’s average temperature has risen by 1.7 degrees in the period 1901-2005. The increase has been higher in the semi-arid regions and lower in the coastal zone. The paper also demonstrates that the rate of change has increased since the 1970s.

23) 7 Billion People and Counting: {Connect 4 Climate - Change}

By Andy Kristian

In short, more than 45% of the people that dwell in urban areas do not have electricity. And that’s not all, in the cities, the other 45% who have electricity, they probably don’t have it all week and sporadically experience power outages during the week.

24) Of Human Waste and Water: Cleaning up Lagos City

By Olatunbosun Obayomi

In July, Lagos experienced heavy rain fall. Storm water overwhelmed the poorly designed drainage and canal systems which were already choked with refuse. Twenty-five people lost their lives and the city came to a halt. Both rich and poor were impacted. The event was blamed on climate change, specifically the rise of the Atlantic Ocean.