Foreword by Daniel Nyanganyura
xi
impacts Africa in particular is the weakness of models that predict climate change at
the local level. Better modeling capacity is critical to ensure that management options
and investment decisions are based on scientifically sound information. Accurately
describing the current state, identifying emerging trends, and anticipating possible
outcomes and associated vulnerabilities and risks also require appropriate monitoring
systems to provide necessary data at an appropriate scale.
Against the backdrop of existing development challenges, substantial increases
in financing to African countries are needed to improve land and water management
systems and their capacity to adapt to climate change and to enhance resiliency.
A range of new, innovative financing options is therefore required, including from
government and private sources in developed countries.
A recurring theme in considering climate change is that no one is immune to
its impacts, and that tackling it will require global collaboration, with emphasis on
contributions from the industrial countries that have been responsible for most GHG
emissions since 1850, and also from countries that are the current major contributors
to GHG emissions. Wealthier developed countries, and major current GHG-emitting
countries, must take the lead by
• Reducing their own GHG emissions, and meeting and/or exceeding the agreed
emission targets;
• Meeting the financial commitments declared at global meetings and summits (i.e.,
ensuring that pronouncements made for political gain are matched by action and
investment);
• Developing carbon pricing that provides incentives for transfer to sustainable
sources of energy and phasing out perverse subsidies of all kinds;
• Implementing relevant measures to improve access by the poor to water, food,
and energy; and
• Reviewing existing, and developing new, trade policies that support both development and technology transfer, in addition to training and capacity building, in
Africa and developing countries elsewhere.
Overall, cutting emissions at their source aggressively, while addressing the impacts
of global warming in the most vulnerable zones, is required. The obligation to act is
therefore unequivocal: no matter what policy is in place; good intentions alone are
not sufficient to address our grave imperative to take responsibility for emissions.
There is an urgent need to act now to avoid severe climate change risks and impacts
on water resources. At risk is nothing less than human livelihoods, as well as an
existential threat to animal species that would likely be lost on an African continent
that will soon be 2 °C warmer than pre-industrial levels.
Let’s Act Now!
Dr. Daniel Nyanganyura
Regional Director, International Science,
Council/Former ICSU-Regional Office for Africa,
Pretoria, South Africa
xi
impacts Africa in particular is the weakness of models that predict climate change at
the local level. Better modeling capacity is critical to ensure that management options
and investment decisions are based on scientifically sound information. Accurately
describing the current state, identifying emerging trends, and anticipating possible
outcomes and associated vulnerabilities and risks also require appropriate monitoring
systems to provide necessary data at an appropriate scale.
Against the backdrop of existing development challenges, substantial increases
in financing to African countries are needed to improve land and water management
systems and their capacity to adapt to climate change and to enhance resiliency.
A range of new, innovative financing options is therefore required, including from
government and private sources in developed countries.
A recurring theme in considering climate change is that no one is immune to
its impacts, and that tackling it will require global collaboration, with emphasis on
contributions from the industrial countries that have been responsible for most GHG
emissions since 1850, and also from countries that are the current major contributors
to GHG emissions. Wealthier developed countries, and major current GHG-emitting
countries, must take the lead by
• Reducing their own GHG emissions, and meeting and/or exceeding the agreed
emission targets;
• Meeting the financial commitments declared at global meetings and summits (i.e.,
ensuring that pronouncements made for political gain are matched by action and
investment);
• Developing carbon pricing that provides incentives for transfer to sustainable
sources of energy and phasing out perverse subsidies of all kinds;
• Implementing relevant measures to improve access by the poor to water, food,
and energy; and
• Reviewing existing, and developing new, trade policies that support both development and technology transfer, in addition to training and capacity building, in
Africa and developing countries elsewhere.
Overall, cutting emissions at their source aggressively, while addressing the impacts
of global warming in the most vulnerable zones, is required. The obligation to act is
therefore unequivocal: no matter what policy is in place; good intentions alone are
not sufficient to address our grave imperative to take responsibility for emissions.
There is an urgent need to act now to avoid severe climate change risks and impacts
on water resources. At risk is nothing less than human livelihoods, as well as an
existential threat to animal species that would likely be lost on an African continent
that will soon be 2 °C warmer than pre-industrial levels.
Let’s Act Now!
Dr. Daniel Nyanganyura
Regional Director, International Science,
Council/Former ICSU-Regional Office for Africa,
Pretoria, South Africa