Before I introduce today’s topic of discussion, I think we need a quick recap on what has been presented this week in order to put today’s topic into perspective. We have so far talked about the effects climate change has on agriculture, energy, gender and health.

Underlying each of those discussions was the topic of water. It is necessary and sometimes harmful to human health. It is used to create hydroelectricity. In most of rural Africa, it is left to women to gather water. And rain is the mechanism used to sustain agriculture on the continent. It used to be that rain seasons were predictable to the week. For centuries, Africa’s farmers used this predictability to their advantage. They knew when it was time to harvest or when it was time prepare the land for planting because predictable changes in wind patterns, cloud formations and temperatures signaled the coming rain season.

Today, long extremes of rain and drought are the norm, not the exception. Many communities that are dependent on natural systems for survival are now more vulnerable than ever. This is not just in Africa, it is a world-wide problem:

“What we are seeing is there are more floods, more extreme weather events, higher temperature, more variable rainfalls and we believe that is caused by the climate change.

And we should expect this to increase, sadly,” Andrew Steer, the World Bank’s special envoy for the climate change, told reporters in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

Thailand’s worst floods in half a century have killed 533 people and damaged the homes and livelihoods of millions around the country.

In the neighboring Cambodia, the deadliest floods since 2000 have killed at least 247 people while more than 100 have died in Vietnam, mostly in the southern Mekong Delta.

Water is the glue the to the planet’s ecosystem balance. But everywhere we read, it seem like the planet is at war with itself. According to the World Bank’s page on climate change and water:

Extreme variability of precipitation is expected to place 2.8 billion people at risk of water shortages.
...
The effects on natural systems will be widespread: from accelerated glacier melt, altered precipitation, runoff, and groundwater recharge patterns, to extreme droughts and floods, water quality changes, saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers and changes in water use.

As important as water is to humanity’s survival, it is telling that we don’t put more emphasis on ensuring that all sources of water are free from human interference. There is no room for man’s interference with the planet’s water supply. Examples of disregard for the purity of this life source, as depicted in this photo taken by Ida Horner on a recent trip to Madagascar, point to a complete lack of sensitization on how critical water sources are to developing countries.

But this is not just about our disrespect for the environment. It also illustrates exactly how critical to survival access to clean water is. The photo above illustrates that it is easier to bring the clothes and wash them in the lake than to find water near the home.

Pay close attention to the heavily deforested hills in the background. I can’t say that there’s a better picture illustrating how naked and vulnerable the environment has become. With water being an ingredient necessary to the survival of every living being on this planet, why are so irresponsible in taking care of it?

“Water is practically an issue tied with the existence of life because of its importance in nearly every area of development including sustaining life on the planet earth” (Akiyode, 2010).

In what ways can we be more responsible in taking care of our limited fresh water resources? How can we better provide clean water for those that need it? If we can’t build infrastructure to the last mile to make sure everyone has access to piped water, how far can distributed solutions like rain water harvesting schemes go to making sure vulnerable communities have access to water?

Once again, let’s hear your thoughts to this critical discussion. Next week, we’ll begin looking at some of the solutions you have contributed and discuss them at length.

Densely populated and low-lying, Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. How can millions of Bangladeshis protect their families and incomes from rising sea levels, erratic rainfall and temperature extremes? That’s the topic of a new film by tve: Television Trust for the Environment, commissioned by CDKN. The filmmakers follow a group of researchers from Bangladesh and the UK as they investigate how climate change is causing people to migrate within Bangladesh, as a way of coping.

They follow communities in the Gabura, Satkhira region that were affected by Cyclone Aila in 2009.  Some families, exasperated by the damage to croplands, decide to migrate to inland cities for good, while others try their hand at seasonal work in the city, returning to their home village every few weeks or months.

“When people are in stress, they use migration as a climate change adaptation tool,” said Dr Tasneem Siddiqui, the study lead and a founding chair of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) at the University of Dhaka.

The research team investigates whether public policy options are available to protect migrants’ livelihoods, in facing such climate-related stress.

One of the team’s key conclusions, says Dr Siddiqui, is that once internal migrants arrive in cities, they lack some of the basic employment rights and social support mechanisms of established residents. The government could do more to recognise migrants’ vulnerability and protect them: “Mega city development [should] take into account that these people should have their rights. All this can be done through preparing an internal migration policy and following it up with the employers, so that [there is a] certain type of rights protection.”

Join the film crew and the research team as they travel down the Kholpetua River to Gabura and talk with climate-affected families, then visit migrant workers in the cities, to hear how they are making ends meet.

 

Watch the short version of the film: Climate change and migration – Living on the Go  (12 minutes)

Watch the longer feature version with more material from Bangladesh’s climate-affected villages: Climate change and migration – Living on the Go (20 minutes)

With its scenarios of increasing risks as a result of climate change – from sea level rise to disappearing fish populations, food insecurity, and forest diebacks from extreme heat – the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a picture of a complicated future where no one gets by unscathed, where existing vulnerabilities are exacerbated, and where, as Fred Pearce so aptly puts it, we need to “prepare for the worst.”

But, as the scientists rightly point out, it doesn’t have to be like this.

Climate change, the report concludes, is a challenge in managing risks and planning under increased uncertainty. It says the effects of climate change that have already occurred are widespread and “consequential”. Its emphasis on risk makes plain that the world is largely ill-prepared for climate risks.

It is not the job of the IPCC scientists to propose solutions, but scalable solutions are close at hand. The challenges are replication, the pace of innovation, and how quickly behaviors can change.

A new genre, born from novels and movies about climate change, has surfaced. "Cli-fi," short for "climate-change fiction,” are novels and movies set in the present or the near future that put the true story of climate change in fictional settings and scenarios. They help us better understand our climate not with scientific statistics nor government charts but by engendering raw emotions with stories that are relatable.

I coined the cli-fi term to serve as a platform for writers and film directors who create art about the biggest existential threat humankind has ever faced. We need novels and movies that go beyond abstract predictions and statistics to show the moment-by-moment reality of a possibly painful future, and the tragic price we may have to pay for our passionate devotion to all the wrong things.

Climate Change is one of the most important challenges facing the world in this century in all the four dimensions of sustainable development (ecological, economic, social and cultural). Europe takes a leading role in the necessary response to these challenges. Severe impacts are unavoidable and European adaptation strategies must be supported by a coherent base of knowledge on its key vulnerabilities and response options. Such a base can only be generated by European, national and regional policy-relevant research.

CIRCLE-2 is focused on the interface between Climate Change science and policy. Through the promotion of networking activities it aims to maximise the degree to which research outcomes address both national and European climate policy needs.

The CIRCLE-2 Climate Adaptation INFOBASE, is a publicly accessible, online database on Climate Adaptation research. The INFOBASE includes relevant information on European research projects funded at national and local levels as well as transnational projects funded within the framework of CIRCLE1 and CIRCLE-2 ERA-Net. The INFOBASE is limited to projects with a completion date subsequent to 2005, and by the end of CIRCLE-2 (set to 2014) it will cover a timeframe of 10 years (2005-2014) of European Climate Adaptation research.

The INFOBASE aims to contribute to the mapping of national, local and transnational CCIVA projects in a larger Europe, as well as other countries that want to contribute. The information at InfoBase will allow to address the fundamental gaps in the understanding of how Climate Adaptation science has evolved over the past decade and to provide policy-makers, the scientific community and research managers, with relevant facts and figures on the larger Europe research landscape on climate change adaptation.

If you are aware of climate adaptation research projects in your country please insert them using the INFOBASE user interface or contact the CIRCLE-2 coordination at circle2infobase@fc.ul.pt

Energy use (kg of oil equivalent per capita)

Energy use refers to use of primary energy before transformation to other end-use fuels, which is equal to indigenous production plus imports and stock changes, minus exports and fuels supplied to ships and aircraft engaged in international transport.

This past week, we discussed with you the different categories of our campaign. We had also previously asked our audience of African writers to pen their thought on climate change based on these very same categories.

Not so surprisingly many of you chimed in on the topic of energy. Energy drives a lot of human activity these days and is a necessary fuel for some of the fastest growing economies in Africa and the world; both as a domestic resource and as a revenue stream.

We also discussed how Africa could better balance the attack on solving energy poverty and environmental degradation. Just today there was a brief discussion on Uganda’s deepening energy void. Jared Ombui, had this to say on Twitter following never-ending black outs and loading-shedding in the country:
“Nuclear will end blackouts. Ask France…”

This got us thinking. Access to nuclear energy might work in Africa and could possibly be a great solution, but it is a solution whose time is not yet ready on the continent. If the near-meltdowns that plagued Japan’s nuclear facilities after this year’s earthquake are any indication, nuclear power may be too far down the road to be an effective remedy for the continent’s energy poverty.

If we follow the continent’s pattern of innovation leap-frogging that redefined computing and telecommunications industries, can we posit that solar and wind are solutions waiting for an appropriate distribution strategy for the continent?

Katherine Lucey, founder of C4C partner, Solar Sister, is hopeful about solar technology on the continent:

Solar is the most democratic source of energy that we have. We all live under the same sun. It is available freely and abundantly. Especially for those living on or near the equator, solar is a renewable, distributed energy source. And especially where the lack of infrastructure investment means that there are no wires for a grid system, solar is an energy solution that people can access themselves, today, without waiting for government or NGO interventions that may never come.

The reduction in infrastructure expenditures for mobile network operators made it easy for mobiles to surpass land lines in the last decade on the continent. The marriage of 3G internet wireless modems and laptops has ushered in a quick death to location-based internet access.

Like communications technologies, could solar be the next technology to help the continent leap-frog traditional energy? Like land-lines, hydro, and nuclear energy sources are centralized and require large investments in delivery mechanisms, making them less favorable energy solutions.

Hydro-power currently makes up the lion’s share of renewable energy produced globally, while solar accounts for only a sliver. Africa, on the other hand, has managed to only tap into 20% of it’s total available hydro capacity. Some of the biggest barriers to faster hydro-energy adoption include lack of adequate infrastructure to move this energy to the last mile, the high cost of building dams, and the accompanying disruption of sensitive ecological systems. A recent HYDROPOWER RESOURCE ASSESSMENT OF AFRICA noted as much:

The total installed capacity of Africa is about 20.3GW and a total generation of 76 000GW/year. A comparison with the Gross theoretical hydropower potential of about 4 000 000 GWh/year indicates that the current production from hydropower plants in Africa is about 20% of the total potential.

Of course, the solar revolution is not going to happen overnight, or without its own investment requirements. But if a financial bet similar to mobile platform investment can be targeted towards upscaling the solar industry, imagine the possibilities. And it requires less investment than you might think.

Katherine Lucey again,
Education, awareness, distribution - a presumption that it is expensive and a luxury, when in fact it is extremely economical and appropriate for all levels of income, from the $20 lamps that replace families expenditure of up to $100 of kerosene in one year, to larger scale systems appropriate for the rising African middle class.

Reaching out to the Cambrdige climate community

Represented by Max Edkins and Ivan Bruce, Connect4Climate (C4C) was honored to participate in the 2013 Cambridge Climate Forum on March 15. 

 

Here's the thing. We can talk about gender and its relationship to climate, the role of women in the battle against climate change, and the effects of climate change on gender all day everyday. That dialogue is happening around this subject is an acceptible reality. Climate change is (rather should always be) a critical topic of discourse. What we can't do is talk at the people most affected. We can't simply talk around them, study them, think about them, and convene conferences in their name.

More importantly, the affected must be allowed to voice their opinions, their concerns, their realities, and their solutions. Climate change doesn't just severely affect nameless, mass groupings of peoples. It touches, destroys and transforms the lives of real people, who are simply separated by geography and economic status.

Here at C4C, we feel that your personal stories matter, that they are important to consider as we all gear up to find solutions that will allow us to live happier lives and survive an ever changing environment.

Everyone should tell their stories, if for nothing else than for that one chance that someone will hear it and relate to our lives, our struggles, and our ambitions. Tell your stories so that you can emerge from under the weight of being a number, a statistic, an unidentified face in the crowd.

Today, we decided to let Africa speak for herself. We interviewed Milly Kugonza. She is a mother, wife, preacher, and an elected official in a small village of Kikuube in Uganda. The village has no access to electricity, or running water - two of the categories we discuss weekly. But Milly's story isn't simply about highlighting a woman in an African village, her story is the start of connecting the many threads that make up the global human tapestry we live under. 

Milly shares how her village deals with climate change. She talks about the challenge of accessing water during dry seasons and the creative ways in which her community has devised to harvest rain water. These are challeges and solutions that would really apply anywhere on the continent.

How does Milly's experience resonate with you? Could you use some of the solutions her village uses in your life or in your community? Climate change might impact us in various ways, but one thing that unites us all is the desire to make the best of out of life.

It's 5 o'clock in the morning. I'm wide-awake struggling with jetlag, but glad about it because it gives me time to reflect.

Since January this year I have been an active part of the Connect4Climate team at the World Bank, and what exciting months these have already been. In 2011 I was honoured to receive the special prize of the Connect4Climate Photo and Video competitions with my photograph Climate Theatre and my video The World Has Malaria. At the time my partner Astrid Westerlind Wigström and I were running a number of rural climate change communication interventions in South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya under the ClimateConsious Programme.

Working with local partner NGOs we engaged communities to tell their climate change experiences through photostories. These were re-worked into an educational climate change theatre or film script and participatory community productions were initiated. The theatre/film teams performed their shows in communities in the region and educational discussions followed the performances/screenings. Thinking back I am excited to see how far the climate message has progressed.

There’s no question, the environmental and social challenges of the 21st century are complex. While design alone may not solve all of these issues, Big Future Group believes that many of the adverse effects of climate change can be mitigated by sustainable design. As designers, we hope to address not only the immediate physical effects of climate change on communities, but also provide a framework of practices that advances quality of life issues with minimal impact to respective ecosystems over time, with specific attention to sustainable practices that minimize human impact on water, land, energy consumption, and biodiversity. These sustainable building methodologies can help people adapt, and sometimes even benefit from the effects of extreme environmental conditions that have become the new normal.

While sustainable design remains at the forefront of climate related dialogue, Big Future Group approaches the conversation from a different perspective: a multi-disciplinary collaboration of research and expertise. The founders—Sharon Davis, Julie Farris, Arun Rimal, and Eric Rothstein—met while working on the design and construction of an award-winning Women’s Opportunity Center in Kayonza, Rwanda. Together, they represent fields of architecture, engineering, hydrology and landscape architecture, to collectively explore multi-faceted solutions to food shortages, flood/drought, deforestation, unavailable access to energy, poor sanitation and health conditions, and an increasing carbon output.

Their work in Rwanda is a good example of the work they’ll be doing moving forward. The project, sponsored by Women for Women International, is made up of 20,000 sq ft of space covered by roofs that serve to shade and shelter women, and simultaneously harvest rainwater with durable cisterns. Rwandan women living in the area handcrafted a half-million bricks on site in order to build classrooms, which are made up of curved walls that create intimate communal spaces. The project also incorporates a landscape designed to nourish the community, a communal kitchen, lodging, and a marketplace to sell goods made there. While working together on this transformative project, the four decided that the Women’s Opportunity Center project was just the beginning, and that more work was to be done. In June of 2011, they founded Big Future Group.

Utilizing innovation-generating design methodologies, Big Future Group will develop achievable goals for specific community-based projects, and multi-disciplinary teams will research, design, and build sustainable infrastructure for areas in need. Big Future Group’s projects are focused on scalable, replicable and transferable measures, as these practices are essential to sustainability and viability.  The projects also aim to serve each community’s unique site conditions, values and communal needs, which can often lead to unexpected opportunities for innovation, essential for future progress.

To learn more about Big Future Group and their initiatives, visit www.bigfuturegroup.org.