The ECOWAS Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status Report,  produced collaboratively by REN21 and ECREEE with lead authorship from the Worldwatch Institute, provides a regional perspective on the renewable energy and energy efficiency market and industry development in West Africa. It says that although access to energy services remains severely constrained in the region, renewables and energy efficiency measures contribute to improved access. Launched on November 10, ...

The tabling of national climate action commitments by the world’s two major polluters, the US and China, adds welcome momentum to what will amount to first steps in unison down a low carbon development pathway that brings us closer to a phase out fossil fuel pollution in favour of 100% renewable energy. Commenting on the US-China climate announcements on Wednesday, the ...

A clear message is coming from mining affected communities the world-over: No More! In a statement released today by the growing Yes to Life, No to Mining movement – a global coalition of civil society movements and mining affected communities – voices from Colombia, Uganda, the Philippines, Spain, Scotland, South Africa and beyond are united in their call for No ...

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has flayed the Federal Government for failing to address issues that led to the death of playwright and activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight other Ogoni leaders in 1995. The group is also demanding a public apology from the government and Shell for the incident. In a statement issued in Lagos to commemorate the ...

Rural communities in six states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are being offered a helping hand in their bid to cope with the vagaries of the warming weather and it’s damning consequences. In the light of the nation’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, local folks in Kwara, Osun, Imo, Kogi, Gombe and Cross River states along with ...

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It is late afternoon and the September heat is taking its toll on some portions of Moroson Hakakwale’s vegetable garden. Hakakwale, who is village headman at Hajunza in Pemba district of Southern Zambia, engages in gardening especially during summer when it is off-field activity season in this Southern African nation. “Off season gardening has become critical to our survival as ...

I would like to thank the scientists and the IPCC team chaired by Dr Rajendra Pachauri for their painstaking work in delivering the synthesis report of the 5th assessment for approval. It comes in advance of the UN Climate Convention’s conference in Lima, Peru where one key aim is to deliver a new draft universal agreement that can be finalized ...

The United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD+) has suddenly become the beautiful bride of numerous state governments in Nigeria, where the initiative’s pilot implementation via an innovative, two-track approach consisting of actions by the Federal Government and Cross River State Government is ongoing. But others want a share of the action and no ...

Human influence on the climate system is clear and growing, with impacts observed on all continents. If left unchecked, climate change will increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. However, options are available to adapt to climate change and implementing stringent mitigations activities can ensure that the impacts of climate change remain within a ...