Founded over a decade ago, Climate Home News is a leading independent digital media outlet covering climate change. We aim to be the go-to newsroom for a global community seeking to understand the political, social and economic drivers of the climate crisis and responses to it.

As efforts toward a just energy transition expand in the Global South, we plan to bring the latest developments across Africa to our international audience of professionals working on climate and energy issues.

In this new reporting role at Climate Home News, the successful candidate will produce regular news stories and features covering energy transition on the African continent and at the global level, working closely with our editors.

We seek applications from well-connected journalists with a few years’ experience, capable of proposing story ideas, cultivating sources, analysing data, and delivering accurate copy in English. Our reporters are also expected to align with our rigorous and ethical journalistic standards.

Salary range: USD25,000-30,000 per year depending on experience and location

Location: 100% remote working (based in Africa – some travel will likely be required)

Term: Full time for a 12-month fixed-term freelance contract, with a possibility of renewal

Application deadline: September 1, 2024

Responsibilities:

• Identify high-impact stories on the politics of the global and African energy transitions of interest to our specialist audience
• Produce weekly news stories and regular features, under the supervision of our news editor and general editor
• Cultivate sources in the energy sector and explore varied reporting techniques including data analysis, field visits and analysing company reports and documents
• Contribute to Climate Home’s popular weekly newsletter
• Use reporting skills to produce multimedia content for social channels, including video scripts and infographics
• Seek out and develop reporting and publishing partnerships with African media outlets to increase our reach and impact

Requirements: 

• At least three years of media reporting experience
• Spoken and written fluency in English
• Self-starter who is comfortable interacting with everyone from local communities to governments and businesses
• Ability to work remotely and coordinate tasks with an international team

Desirable qualifications:

• Experience working in the international field
• A track record of interest in climate change and energy issues
• Experience with investigative and accountability reporting
• Languages other than English
• Proficiency in photography and video

How to apply:

Please send a full CV, a cover letter and links to three recently published samples of your work using this form. The deadline for applications is Sept. 1, 2024.

Note that applicants selected for interview will first be asked to complete a short writing test.

As an organisation committed to diversity and inclusion, we particularly welcome applications from citizens of African countries, women and non-binary people.

Due to an expected high number of applications, we will only be able to respond to those we would like to pursue (this will be no later than mid-September). Thank you for your understanding.

The post Climate Home News is hiring! Apply to be our new energy transition reporter (Africa-based) appeared first on Climate Home News.

But now it is becoming the end-point for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) where, after a journey of over 1,400 km through Uganda and Tanzania, the oil is stored and put onto ships bound for customers abroad.

EACOP is a joint venture between French multinational TotalEnergies, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation and the governments of Uganda and Tanzania. It plans to bring oil from the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields near Uganda’s Lake Albert, down past Lake Victoria and all the way east through Tanzania to the Chongoleani Peninsula.

While the $4-billion project promises economic growth and energy security for the region, it has sparked protests due to its negative environmental, economic and social impacts – which have been met by crackdowns on the part of the authorities in both countries.

East African climate activists have joined forces with their international counterparts in a campaign called #StopEACOP, arguing that the pipeline will exacerbate climate change by transporting 246,000 barrels of oil a day to customers to burn, releasing greenhouse gases. They also warn that it will displace thousands of people and endangers water resources, wetlands, nature reserves and wildlife.

The Ugandan government says that it has the right to exploit the country’s fossil fuel resources in order to fund much-needed economic development and is taking measures to reduce the project’s climate impact, such as heating the pipeline with solar energy. Wealthy nations like the US, Canada and Australia, meanwhile, are also increasing fossil fuel production.

Living “like town dwellers”

In Tanzania, Chongoleani residents said they had been warned by the village chairman and other ward leaders not to talk to journalists, but Climate Home spoke to two whose land had been taken over by the government for the pipeline and its port.

Without adequate compensation, they said they had been unable to buy a new farm in the area and have to buy food from the city rather than growing their own and selling the surplus.

Mustafa Mohammed Mustafa said his family used to own two farms in Kigomeni village, together about as big as eight football pitches. On these, they grew coconut, cassava, corn and groundnuts. They ate some of it and sold the rest.

But with the pipeline coming, the government-owned Tanzania Ports Authority took over their land, compensating them with 15m Tanzanian shillings ($5,700), which hasn’t been enough for them to buy new farmland in the area.

“We live like town dwellers these days,” said Mustafa. “We buy firewood, we buy charcoal, we buy lemons, coconut, cassava. We buy all of these supplies from the city centre. How is this alright?”

House prices soar

Part of the reason they cannot afford a farm, says Mustafa, is that EACOP’s arrival has increased the price of local land, as it is considered a project area with potential for business investment.

Villagers either put a high price on their land or hold onto it and only accept offers from the government or foreign investors, according to Mustafa, believing this will get them a better deal.

A sign for Chongoleani oil terminal (Photo: Climate Home News)

Mustafa blames the government for not giving them proper information from the initial stages of the project, nor a choice about whether they wanted to sell their property. Instead, he said, they were told that the project is of great economic importance for the country.

“I am angry that the government took advantage of our ignorance of legal matters and gave us a bad deal that we couldn’t argue against,” Mustafa said.

Sitting alongside Mustafa in Chongoleani village, Mdiri Akida Sharifu said he regrets selling his family’s land in Kigomeni but they had no other option.

“At the moment, we have very little faith that this will benefit us. When government officials came here, they encouraged us to give up our land with the promise that once the project started, we would be given priority in getting jobs. But now that we’ve given up our land, we even have to buy lemons from Tanga town,” he said.

Countrywide compensation battles

Elsewhere along the pipeline’s routes, landowners have complained about unfair compensation, saying the government paid them in 2023 using price estimates made in 2016, ignoring seven years of inflation. Kamili Fabian from the Manyara region told local paper Mwananchi that he was paid less than a third of his land’s value. “Where is the justice in that?” he asked.

The government says it uses national and international standards to compensate people fairly. Energy minister Doto Biteko has said 35bn shillings ($13m) had been allocated for this purpose and the government had built 340 new homes for relocated people.

Reporting on these issues is a challenge. When Climate Home visited the coastal village of Putini, a man called Mahimbo – who would only give one name – refused to comment on the compensation process and said local leaders had told the villagers not to speak to journalists about the pipeline.

But he took Climate Home to the office of village chairperson Abdallah Said Kanuni to seek permission to comment on the record. “We have been given clear instructions to neither speak with journalists nor allow them to interview villagers on matters relating to the pipeline, unless the journalists have official permits from the regional [government] office,” Kanuni said.

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Compensation battles are playing out far beyond this area.  A Total spokesperson told Climate Home nearly 19,000 households have been compensated for the effects of the pipeline and the associated Tilenga oil field on them and about 750 replacement houses have been handed over.

But Diana Nabiruma, communications officer for the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), said her organisation had spoken to hundreds of people who had received compensation and had yet to meet any that said it was adequate.

She said a major problem has been that people were paid in 2023 based on their land’s value in 2019. As in Chongoleani, the price of land rose in those four years, partly because of EACOP and the promise of paved roads. Many people have not been able to replace the property they lost, she said.

Ugandan riot police officers detain an anti-EACOP activist in Kampala, Uganda, on October 4, 2022. (REUTERS/Abubaker Lubowa)

Nabiruma added that many people want to seek top-up compensation but are scared – and unable to afford – to challenge EACOP and the government in court. In Uganda’s capital Kampala, police have beaten and arrested activists protesting against the pipeline.

The Total spokesperson said EACOP will improve living conditions, adding that Total complies with local regulations and international standards and there is a fair grievance management mechanism in place for local people.

An EACOP spokesperson said that since last year, the project has provided households affected by leasing of their land in Chongoleani with food baskets and cash transfers, adding that the villagers are given preferential access to unskilled or semi-skilled work on the project.

The Tanzania Ports Authority did not respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by CHN staff and Joe Lo, editing by Joe Lo and Megan Rowling)

The post Where East African oil pipeline meets sea, displaced farmers bemoan “bad deal” on compensation appeared first on Climate Home News.

The Swedish company’s labs form the largest campus for battery research in Europe. It’s here, in a former industrial zone on the outskirts of the town of Västerås, about 100 kilometres northwest of the capital Stockholm, that one of the continent’s best-funded climate tech companies could write the future of batteries.

In November 2023, Northvolt – Europe’s only major home-grown EV battery maker – announced a breakthrough in battery development.

The company had manufactured a first-of-its-kind energy storage battery by replacing widely used critical minerals – such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite – with cheaper and far more abundant sodium – a chemical element which is found in table salt – as well as iron, nitrogen and carbon.

“This is a fundamentally new technology,” Andreas Haas, head of Northvolt’s sodium-ion programme, told Climate Home News in an interview.

Read the story here.

The post Beyond lithium: how a Swedish battery company wants to power Europe’s green transition with salt appeared first on Climate Home News.

Despite its isolation, a nearby sulfur mine gave purpose to the town in the northwest province of Salta. For decades, mine employees and their families made this inhospitable place their home.

Today, La Casualidad is a ghost town. The mine’s closure in 1979 sealed the settlement’s fate. Rubble and empty streets now stand among snowy mountain peaks and the silence of the salt flats.

But a new surge in mining activity has gripped the area, this time focused on the white-hot rush for lithium. The lightweight metal is critical for manufacturing rechargeable batteries for energy storage and electric cars – technologies at the cornerstone of building clean economies.

Left virtually untouched for millions of years, the salt flats of the sparsely populated Puna plateaus are being transformed into a bustling lithium production centre, bringing both new economic opportunities and concerns of environmental degradation.

Salta’s mining secretary Romina Sassarini points to the potential benefits for local people. “We believe that mining can bring true development to these historically marginalised communities, which lack water, sewage systems and electricity,” she told Climate Home News in an interview.

Read the story here.

The post Lithium tug of war: the US-China rivalry for Argentina’s white gold appeared first on Climate Home News.

All await the same fate: being crunched into a powder so their critical minerals can be extracted.

As countries scramble to secure supplies of the raw materials they need to manufacture wind turbines, batteries and other technologies key to preventing runaway climate change, this facility run by local startup Cyclic Materials is part of an emerging industry: creating a circular economy for critical energy transition minerals.

“Recycling means you get [back] the high-value stuff,” said Ahmad Ghahreman, CEO of the company, which has received funding from electric vehicle heavyweights like BMW.

Read the story here.

The post The Canadian city betting on recycling rare earths for the energy transition appeared first on Climate Home News.

Nickel is a key component of dominant battery technologies for electric vehicles. It helps to give EVs more miles out of a single charge. 

Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, is actively building out an EV battery industry. It is betting on the rapidly growing sector to help power economic development.

The future of the nickel industry is a key issue in next week’s presidential election. Its expansion has recently drawn scrutiny over its environmental and social impacts. 

In Southeast Sulawesi, the construction of a nickel industrial complex on the Indigenous Mopute people’s traditional land has sparked conflict. 

Communities compelled to leave this tract of forest, where their ancestors are buried, are alleging rights violations and police intimidation. The authorities have kept silent. 

Read the story here

Analysts are warning that the boom in nickel projects is eroding officials’ capacity to robustly examine safeguards. But the choice is not either/or. 

Electric vehicles are a necessary part of the energy transition. But as rights NGOs highlight, the sector has a responsibility not to perpetuate the harmful practices of the extractive industries of the fossil fuel era.

You can read the full story on a specially designed mini-site here. Learn more about our Clean Energy Frontier, our series exploring the supply chains of clean energy technologies, here.

To never miss a story, sign-up to Climate Home’s weekly newsletter and get the news straight to your inbox.

The post Indonesia turns traditional Indigenous land into nickel industrial zone appeared first on Climate Home News.

The world’s most populous nation already manufactures some solar PV. But the process is largely that of an assembly line, where imported components are fitted together into modules.

Further up the supply chain, solar components are made from a high-grade silicon known as polysilicon. Today, polysilicon production – like every other stage of solar manufacturing – is dominated by China. 

But buoyed by energy security concerns and US-China trade tensions, a handful of Indian solar manufacturers are benefiting from government support to produce polysilicon components in India. 

Among them is Adani Solar – the greener side of the Indian multinational conglomerate which was built on a bedrock of coal.

In this second story in our Clean Energy Frontier series, Monika Mondal reports from the city of Mundra, Gujarat, where Adani intends to build a polysilicon-to-module manufacturing hub. 

Read the story here

Think-tank Ieefa foresees that India could become the world’s second-largest solar PV manufacturer by 2026 – producing enough solar panels to be self-sufficient and export the surplus. 

But India’s dependence on China for solar components and technology runs deep and its attempt to rival its neighbour’s colossal solar production capacity will require a lot more government support. 

You can read the full story on a specially designed mini-site here. Learn more about our Clean Energy Frontier, our series exploring the supply chains of clean energy technologies, here.

To never miss a story, sign-up to Climate Home’s weekly newsletter and get the news straight to your inbox.

The post India wants its own solar industry but has to break reliance with China first appeared first on Climate Home News.

In this dry part of the country, where repeated droughts have brought misery for small-holder farmers, the lithium mining industry is promising local people a better life. And Mushove is hopeful.

Zimbabwe has Africa’s largest reserves of lithium – a lightweight metal, which can store lots of energy and is used to manufacture batteries for electric cars.

Chinese companies have invested millions to access Zimbabwe’s lithium. And the Southern African nation sees this rush for the critical mineral as an opportunity for economic improvements.

Read the full story here

But in the past, Zimbabwe has failed to turn its vast diamond and gold wealth into revenue for development. This time, the country wants to add value to its lithium reserves by processing them into battery-grade metals that can find a place in the EV supply chain.

In the first of a series of stories exploring the supply chains behind clean energy technologies, Andrew Mambondiyani reports from eastern Zimbabwe on the country’s ambitions for its rapidly growing lithium industry.

You can read the full story on a specially designed mini-site here and learn more about our Clean Energy Frontier series here. Watch out for more stories from India and Indonesia soon.

The post Zimbabwe looks to China to secure a place in the EV battery supply chain appeared first on Climate Home News.

Non-binary campaigners told Climate Home News they would not attend Cop28, which starts on 30 November, or were wavering due to the host country’s record.

Non-binary foreigners have been detained at the UAE’s borders and deported and non-binary Emiratis have reported difficulties expressing their gender in public 

Rani is a non-binary Pakistani who works for an umbrella group of NGOs on climate issues. They are grappling with whether to attend the talks or not.  

Rani read reports from 2022 that Thai trans model Rachaya Noppakaroon was detained at Dubai airport because her passport had a male gender marker. She endured a nine-hour interrogation at the airport before being sent back to Thailand. 

Slow start for Indonesia’s much-hyped carbon market

Rani fears something similar will happen to them as their  passport identifies them as non-binary.

That’s an option in her native Pakistan as well as several other South Asian nations and developed countries like the USA and Australia.

In January, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that two Pakistanis with this identification stopped over for a layover at Dubai airport but were denied boarding for their onward flight just 15 minutes before takeoff.

One of them, Zehrish, told Climate Home at the time that the state-owned airline FlyDubai cited the UAE’s immigration policy when refusing them boarding.

‘I am numb’

The UAE has no explicit policy addressing the entry restrictions for gender non-conforming individuals but Zehrish said that fact was no help to them in practice

Rani, who also missed out on Cop26 in the UK because of problems getting a visa unrelated to their gender identity, told Climate Home they were disappointed.

“I just don’t know how to feel anymore,” they said, “I am numb. No matter how hard I work in life, something will be there to prevent me from going further, from helping my community, from helping myself.”  

James is a young non-binary climate activist from the Pacific island of Tuvalu who has attended many summits but will stay away from this one.

“Climate negotiations are very important to me and my whole nation,” they said, “but I will not be going for this. I am uncertain about the risks that are involved and cannot justify these risks”..

France, Kenya set to launch Cop28 coalition for global taxes to fund climate action

James said they had spoken to young people from the UAE about “intersectional aspects of activism and it is warming to know that many young UAE citizens are not like the government – though I am sure I am only interacting with a certain demographic online”.

Unwritten rules

Climate Home spoke to a non-binary person who has lived in the UAE their whole life. They empathise with the challenges faced by queer, non-binary visitors navigating unfamiliar laws just to exist in the UAE.

“We who grow up here know how to ‘fit in’—for lack of a better word… it is about knowing the nuances of how to be here, unfortunately,” they said.  

They added that the “unwritten rule” is that you can do whatever you want in private but you can’t be “too loud” in public. ” If you cannot do that or don’t know how to, it will be impossible to exist here,” they said.  

All sexual acts outside of marriage are illegal in the UAE and same-sex marriage is not allowed, effectively criminalising gay people. Breaking this law is punishable with at least one year in prison. 

The United Arab Emirates government and FlyDubai did not respond to requests for comment.

The post Fearing repression in Dubai, non-binary people stay away from Cop28 appeared first on Climate Home News.

This is a unique opportunity to set the news agenda internationally on a topic of intense public interest. 

Since 2012, Climate Home News has built a reputation as the go-to news source for original reporting on the international politics and diplomacy of the climate crisis. 

Climate Home’s core audience includes climate diplomats, policymakers, researchers, practitioners and activists across the globe. We reach hundreds of thousands of generalist readers too. 

Initially centred on the UN climate negotiations, our beat broadened to how the Paris Agreement is playing out in the real world. As climate journalism entered the mainstream, we honed our focus on where we could add value: authoritative reporting on multilateral affairs and collaborative investigations. 

The successful candidate will build on this legacy and steer Climate Home through its next phase. You will navigate industry-wide trends such as news avoidance, stagnating social media engagement and the rise of AI tools. You will have big ambitions for climate journalism and a track record to back them up. 

Location: Remote 

Salary: £50,000 – £70,000 FTE depending on experience and location

Terms: Full time or part time/job share negotiable 

Contract type: Permanent 

Start date: As soon as possible after 2 January 2024 

Responsibilities 

• Lead the editorial strategy for Climate Home News 
• Manage a team of journalists 
• Maintain the high quality of journalism for which Climate Home is known 
• Uphold industry best practice in ethical and responsible reporting 
• Mitigate legal risks 
• Work with the CEO and operations manager to secure resources to sustain Climate Home’s original journalism 

Role Requirements 

Essential 

• A minimum of five years’ journalism experience, including at least two years in an editorial capacity 
• A vision for advancing independent climate journalism 
• Keen interest in the climate crisis, its causes and solutions 
• A track record of producing hard-hitting news and investigative stories 
• Proven ability to secure resources to sustain quality journalism 
• Networking prowess 
• Awareness of audience trends and their implications for news publishers 
• Understanding of media law and industry standards 
• Excellent written and spoken English 
• Willingness to work remotely 

Desirable 

• Deep knowledge of the climate crisis and multilateral efforts to tackle it 
• Existing networks in the climate journalism space 
• Experience of managing people 
• Multimedia experience 
• Additional languages 

Application process 

To apply for this role, please send a CV and one-page covering letter to md@climatehomenews.com outlining your editorial vision for Climate Home News and how your experience equips you to deliver it. Attach or link to published work that you have reported or edited. Include contact details for two referees, who will only be contacted with your prior permission. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview with CEO and publisher James Ramsey, editor Megan Darby and an external panel member tbc. 

Deadline for applications: 09:00 GMT, Monday 6 November 2023 

Interviews will take place the week beginning: 13 November 

The post Could you be the next editor of Climate Home News? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Climate Home News needs a finance and operations manager to support our work. We deliver original journalism that informs and inspires action to tackle the global climate crisis. 

The finance and operations manager will ensure the smooth and effective running of Climate Home News, leading on finance, human resources, administrative and information systems.   

As a member of a small team, your role will span everything from processing invoices to guiding strategy. 

You will report to the CEO and work closely with the editor to solve problems and create the conditions for the organisation to flourish. 

There will be opportunities to develop the role in lockstep with Climate Home’s growth. 

Location: Remote, UK 

Salary: £40,000 – £45,000 FTE depending on experience 

Terms: Flexible, 0.4 FTE/16 hours a week 

Contract type: Permanent 

Start date: 2 January 2024 

Responsibilities 

• Developing our finance systems, including taking a lead on budgeting, planning and oversight of book-keeping 
• Handling the financial relationship with corporate and philanthropic partners, fulfilling their compliance and reporting requirements 
• Processing invoices and making international payments through PayPal, Wise or the bank as needed 
• Coordinating with the payroll provider to process staff salaries 
• Ensuring compliance with legal requirements and voluntary regulatory schemes such as IMPRESS 
• Supporting the governance of Climate Home News Ltd, for example by organising meetings of the advisory board 
• Contracting and managing operational support as required, including web development services and travel planning for staff to attend international conferences 
• Designing and implementing HR processes and policies including contracts, recruitment and onboarding 
• Developing organisational strategy alongside the editor and CEO 

Role Requirements 

Essential 

• Three years’ experience of financial management (including overseeing budgets and financial planning) 
• Proven ability to establish effective processes and systems (HR, finance and others) to support the needs of a small and growing organization 
• Experience of managing staff and familiarity with UK workplace legislation 
• Experience of contracting and managing freelance employees and external providers
• Proven ability to set priorities and manage multiple tasks and react positively in light of shifting and competing timelines 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills 
• Ability to work both independently and in a team-oriented, collaborative manner 
• Willingness to work remotely 

Desirable 

• Experience working in climate or media 
• Technical proficiency in QuickBooks or equivalent accounting software 
• A degree (Bachelors or Master’s) in a relevant subject 
• A track record of networking and establishing productive relationships with new partners and other key stakeholders 
• Experience of fundraising, grant writing, monitoring/evaluation or grant reporting 

Application process 

To apply for this role, please send a CV and one-page covering letter to james@rtcc.org identifying why you are a good fit. Include contact details for two referees, who will only be contacted with your prior permission. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview with CEO and publisher James Ramsey, editor Megan Darby and an external panel member tbc. 

Deadline for applications: 09:00 GMT, Monday 6 November 2023 

Interviews will take place the week beginning: 13 November

The post Climate Home News is hiring a finance and operations manager appeared first on Climate Home News.

As Cop27 starts in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, guests Eric Njuguna, Eva-Peace Mukayiranga, Mamadou Sylla and Sam Okorie talk about why loss and damage is a hot topic.

An environmentalist and climate finance negotiator in the UNFCCC, Eva-Peace Mukayiranga works to advance the needs and priorities of vulnerable countries in terms of climate finance and loss and damage within the international/National fora. In addition, she focuses on scaling up climate action and education on the ground toward a transition to a green economy within the Local NGO_The Green Protector. Eva is the co-founder/training working group coordinator of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition.

Mamadou Sylla is an environmental activist from Senegal and a member of ASAN, a non-government organization working on the protection of nature and the promotion of sustainable tourism. Founding member and president of Naturefriends UGB in 2019, the local branch of ASAN in Gaston Berger University, he is currently serving as an advocacy coordinator for the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition.

Eric Njuguna is an organizer for Fridays for Future Kenya, consultant at Unicef, and director of international affairs at Kenya Environmental Action Network.

Samuel Chijioke is the founder of the Youth For Today Initiative and leads the POP Nigeria Initiative (on climate education).

In this episode, the young environmental advocates share their personal experiences fighting for climate justice and why this work is important to them. They sign off the show by sharing their Cop27 strategy that begins today and their demands for loss and damage. Enjoy the Show!

The post Hali Hewa episode 7: Youth talk loss and damage appeared first on Climate Home News.

Ina-Maria Shikongo from Namibia is an artist, fashion designer, activist — and celebrates the power of being an African woman every day. Vowing to stop planetary disaster, she has rallied humans from across the world to stop a Canadian company from drilling for fossil fuels in her country. The Okavango Delta is home to some of Africa’s most ancient communities and the largest surviving elephant herd. Canadian oil & gas company, ReconAfrica, has already begun exploratory drilling in the region.

The post Hali Hewa episode 6: What fossil fuel development means for Africa appeared first on Climate Home News.

Sofanit is a gender specialist working as the regional gender and social inclusion coordinator at Ripple Effect, formerly known as ‘Send A Cow’.

Ripple Effect works with smallholder farmers to equip them with knowledge and skills enabling them to improve their livelihoods and thrive.

Farmers working alongside Ripple Effect learn more, grow more and sell more. They can feed their families nutritious food, and by having a surplus to sell can invest in their farms, send their children to school and build sustainable agri-businesses.

In this episode, Sofanit takes us through her journey working with women farmers in different African countries to deliver training programs that help them adapt to a changing climate.

She explains how and why women and children are  disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change, and what Ripple Effect is doing to ease the burden on women, children and their households.

Sofanit also explains how other stakeholders can come on board to support this kind of work, ensuring that more and more communities get support to build resilience and
secure a healthy future for themselves and their children.

Sofanit signs off the show by sharing what she wants the upcoming COP27 climate conference in Egypt to deliver in November. Enjoy the show!

Learn more about Ripple Effect on LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube and on their website.

The post Hali Hewa episode 5: Female farmers appeared first on Climate Home News.

[Editor’s Note: We experienced connectivity issues between minute 5 and 6 and some parts are incoherent. Kindly bear with us. There is also a bit of background noise that could not be cleaned out during post production.]

Vanessa Nakate is the founder of Youth for Future Africa, the Africa-based Rise Up Movement and One Million Activists Stories. She runs The Vash Green Schools Project and recently received the prestigious Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy for her inspiring climate activism in Uganda and beyond.

In this episode, Vanessa takes us through her journey as an activist and shares what has inspired the impactful work she has been doing over the last several years. She tells us about an initiative she founded called the Vash Green Schools project, which helps schools in Uganda transition to solar energy and clean cooking stoves.

One of the key issues that Vanessa campaigns on at the international level is “loss and damage”. Vanessa explains why it is a critical issue for Africa in the context of upcoming Cop27 climate negotiations. She shares her personal reaction to the recent devastating flash floods that took place in Uganda, which claimed lives and left thousands of people displaced and with no access to clean water.

Vanessa signs off the show by sharing what she wants the upcoming Cop27 climate conference in Egypt to deliver in November. Enjoy the show!

Find all episodes of the Hali Hewa podcast here.

The post Hali Hewa episode 4: Vanessa Nakate appeared first on Climate Home News.

The government provided emergency relief to help people cope in the aftermath of the floods, but migrants told Climate Home News they are concerned about more flooding and extreme weather in the future in a country that is ill-equipped to deal with heavy rainfall.

Heavy rains began on 27 July, resulting in flash floods across the UAE. Seven people died in the floods, all of them Asian migrants. Five of the seven who died were Pakistani citizens, according to Pakistan’s embassy in the UAE. Neither the UAE or Pakistan have shared more details about the victims.

Sharjah, the UAE’s third most populous city, and the emirate of Fujairah, on the Gulf of Oman, were among the worst hit.

“At first we were enjoying the rain but then it got dangerous quickly,” said Amir Bukhari, a migrant from Pakistan who works in sales and lives in Sharjah. “Roads started collecting water. I live on the ground floor and the water started coming inside and that was scary.”

G20 Bali meeting highlights Indonesia’s weak climate action

“I didn’t need to evacuate and there was not too much damage,” Bukhari told Climate Home.  “I cannot afford to buy new furniture or move somewhere.”

Two-thirds of UAE’s residents do not have home insurance. Almost 90% of the UAE’s population is made up of migrants, who often have difficult living and working conditions.

“I am worried about those who are very vulnerable, the migrant workers and undocumented migrants,” said Natasha Abaza, an urban designer and planner of Arab origins, who is now based in the UK and works at the architecture firm Prior + Partners.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think they are any resilience plans to prepare urban cities in the Gulf for flooding. They have money so they can help with the damages but I think that is the whole plan right now,” she said. “There is no resilience because of, well, racism.”

African nations eye debt-for-climate swaps as IMF takes an interest

UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) told local press that climate change is responsible for the increased frequency of heavy rains, which can cause flooding – especially in the mountainous areas of the northern Emirates.

Such extreme weather events “may be even more impactful in a warming world” in the southeastern Arabian peninsula, according to a study by Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with the UAE’s NCM. A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour, meaning extreme events last longer, the study notes.

Faizal E, who would not give his full name as he fears “offending the government”, was forced to leave his home in Fujairah, with his wife and two children, along with hundreds of other families, when floods hit the region in July. The NCM issued a code red alert, signifying that “hazardous weather events of exceptional severity are forecast.”

“We stayed in a government facility for a few days but now I am back home,” he told Climate Home. “The government was very helpful and worked hard to rescue us.”

“Red Crescent and other charities have been providing free hot meals to [everyone], no questions asked,” he said. Over 500 volunteers are working in coordination with organisations such as the Emirates Red Crescent. “There was a lot of damage…the UAE is not a country that sees a lot of rain.”

Faizal praised the authorities for “quick and successful restoration efforts” but is concerned about similar outcomes if heavy rains occur again.

“I think heavy rains show the country’s strongest and weakest points,” he says. “They are so capable of offering help and saving people but there are no plans to prepare for this type of weather, which is rare but happening more and more now.”

Faizal is no stranger to heavy rains because he is a migrant from Kerala, India, which experiences monsoon rains for several months each summer.

“I think my town in Kerala sees this much rain usually during the summer but that is just how the weather is there,” he said. “The UAE does not see this type of rain. It is built better in many ways but it is not built to handle such weather.”

Nigeria plans gas-led transition to full energy access and net zero emissions

Many of the large cities in Fujairah are located in valleys and have drainage systems that are not able to cope with heavy rainfall or dams to protect people from flash floods.

Large and expensive development projects are often built on flood-prone areas because the “likelihood [of severe floods] is very unlikely,” said Abaza.

“They know it, of course. They have access to this data, [but] they don’t care,” she said. “I am not talking about the UAE specifically, [but] about the region in general.”

The wealthiest cities of UAE boast record-breaking infrastructure, including some of the tallest buildings in the world. This might be part of the problem.

“Everything that has been built there has been built against nature. And nature will fight back,” said Abaza. “Over-engineering to fight these floods is never the solution.”

Instead, more drainage, ending developments in flood-prone areas and landscape restoration should be prioritised, she said.

A report from Khalifa University recommends the following infrastructure investments: “Drains need to be up to the job, or the roads will flood. Dams need to protect from flash flooding, especially in dry river bed wadi [valley] areas. Airport runways need to slope, so the rain runs off into the drains (which must work).”

The UAE was not the only country in the Arab Gulf to experience severe flooding. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia also witnessed heavy rainfall last month, something the arid region has not seen during the summer in over 30 years.

The UAE government did not respond to Climate Home’s request for comment.

The post Deadly flash floods in UAE highlight need for resilience investment appeared first on Climate Home News.

Cindy has a background in law and indigenous peoples’ rights. She is a recent law graduate from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and was a 2020 participant at the Global Leadership School for Indigenous Women by International Indigenous Women’s Forum ( FIMI). She is currently pursuing a postgraduate in Law at Kenya School of Law to become an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She is also the Chair of the Tirap Youth Trust (Tirap means “safe haven”) formally known as Ogiek Youth Council where she has been actively promoting the rights of indigenous peoples, youth and girls in Kenya.

Cindy takes us through her experience as an indigenous person growing up in Mau Forest: what it was like and what has changed now in the wake of land rights issues and the climate crisis. She speaks about her work at the Tirap Youth Trust, which focuses on capacity building, advocacy and empowerment of indigenous communities in Kenya. And she shares with our audience a beautiful song written by young people from the Ogiek community that speaks to the protection of the forests and which acts as an educational tool within the community.

Cindy signs off the show by sharing what she wants the upcoming Cop27 climate conference in Egypt to deliver for indigenous communities and countries across the African continent. Enjoy the show!

To support Tirap Youth Trust find their contacts on their website. Find the song by the Ogiek Youth on protections of the forest on YouTube, Twitter @ogiekyouths or Facebook @OgiekYouthCouncil

Find all episodes of the Hali Hewa podcast here.

The post Hali Hewa episode 3: The indigenous experience appeared first on Climate Home News.

Professor Youba Sokona, from Mali, is vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC is the United Nations body tasked with assessing the latest science related to climate change. Regular scientific assessments from the IPCC play a critical role in shaping the international communities’ response to the climate crisis.

In this episode, Sokona takes us through his journey at the IPCC and explains what the best available science currently tells us about climate risks and impacts faced by countries across the African continent. He also tells us what gaps in climate science and the governance of climate change he sees that must be addressed if the needs of African countries are to be met on key issues such as energy access.

Sokona signs off this episode by sharing his call to action to world leaders ahead of the Cop27 climate talks, to be hosted in Egypt in November this year.

Find all episodes of the Hali Hewa podcast here.

The post Hali Hewa episode 2: Climate science appeared first on Climate Home News.

Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti is  a passionate environmentalist and climate activist from Kenya. She is the founder of Green Generation Initiative (GGI) and the Head of Campaigns and Coordinator of Daima Coalition for the Protection of Urban Green Spaces at the Wangari Maathai Foundation. She served as Global South Youth Co-chair for the COP26 Civil Society and Youth Advisory Council and addressed world leaders at the World Leaders’ Summit opening ceremony at COP26 in Glasgow.

Wanjira Maathai is the vice president and regional director for Africa at the World Resources Institute. She previously served as senior partnership advisor, strategy and advocacy at wPOWER – Partnership on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables and WRI’s senior advisor to the Global Restoration Initiative. She is chairperson of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and former chairperson of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.

Wanjira and Elizabeth share their thoughts with us about the role and participation of youth and women in the climate and environmental justice space, and explain how the inspirational leadership of the late professor Wangari Maathai has impacted their own lives and continues to shape their work.

Elizabeth also shares what it was like attending last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos as a young African climate activist.

Wanjira and Elizabeth sign off by sharing their calls to action ahead of this year’s Cop27.

Enjoy the show!

Find all episodes of the Hali Hewa podcast here.

The post Hali Hewa episode 1: Youth and women appeared first on Climate Home News.

Through sharing real stories and experiences, this podcast aims to make the complexities of climate change relatable.

Across 8 podcast episodes, key African players talk about the realities of climate change in Africa ahead of the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt in November.

Themes include a just energy transition, loss and damage, youth participation in intergovernmental processes and indigenous rights.

Find all episodes of the Hali Hewa podcast here.

The post Introducing: The Hali Hewa Podcast appeared first on Climate Home News.

Climate Home News’ correspondent Fabiano Maisonnave has been documenting the destruction of the forest since long before Jair Bolsonaro’s name became internationally synonymous with ecocide.

His reporting has focused on several important themes that predate Bolsonaro but have been exacerbated by his administration.

• The critical role of indigenous tribes, whose land rights are protected by Brazil’s constitution, in protecting the forests from extractive industries
• The campaign of the congressional “beef caucus” to erode indigenous land tenure
• The relationship between Bolsonaro and his predecessor Michel Temer with this agriculture lobby
• The forces unleashed by Bolsonaro’s government that have eroded enforcement and encouraged criminals to strip the Amazon with impunity

Here are several of Fabiano’s dispatches that will help readers better understand the history of today’s crisis.

• A brutal murder reveals the chaos spreading in Bolsonaro’s Amazon

When peasant leader Carlos Cabra was killed in a drive by shooting, it seemed like another death in the conflict between landless rural workers and land-grabbing farmers that has been bloodying the Amazon for generations. But the truth was much, much stranger and revealed how Bolsonaro’s undermining of indigenous land claims have opened the gates for chaos.

• Bolsonaro’s plan to unlock the Amazon: split its indigenous peoples

Brazilian environment minister Ricardo Salles visits Utiariti indigenous land, in Mato Grosso state, where illegal soybean farming has become the centre of a national debate (Photo: Ricardo Salles/Twitter)

Traditional landowners will benefit from opening their lands to non-indigenous commercial industry. That’s the rationale of Brazil’s government as it seeks to change long-standing laws that outlaw such activity. While most indigenous people see Bolsonaro as an existential threat, the message has not completely fallen on deaf ears. That division is an opportunity his ministers are keen to exploit.

• Podcast: Reporting from the Amazon under Bolsonaro

Fabiano speaks with CHN editor Karl Mathiesen about being the only reporter from a Brazilian national newspaper to be based in the entire Amazon basin.

• Bolsonaro’s deforestation of the Amazon has already begun

Even before the obscure congressman was elected president, the expectation of a Bolsonaro victory drove land grabbing and deforestation in the Amazon.

• Bolsonaro has made grim threats to the Amazon and its people

In this widely-shared piece from October 2018, Fabiano previewed the promises of destruction Bolsonaro made during his election campaign. Many of these have now come to pass.

• A gold mine swallowed their village. This Amazon tribe is here to take it back

A Munduruku warrior stands above an illegal mine on indigenous land in the state of Pará (Photo: Fabiano Maisonnave)

The story of land conflict in the Amazon didn’t start with Jair Bolsonaro. Fabiano spent days journeying upriver to document a raid by the Munduruku people on their own village, which was taken over by illegal miners.

• Amazon forest fires pushing climate change ‘beyond human control’

Climate change is drying out the Amazon, making fires more dangerous and feeding further warming, according to a leading Amazon scientist.

The post Seven stories that will help you understand the destruction of the Amazon appeared first on Climate Home News.

In an interview with AFP, Cecilia Malmström said the EU-Mercosur treaty was a “good deal that does not sacrifice” European agriculture, hailing one of the last agreements under her mandate, which ends on October 31, after those reached with Japan and Canada.

Last month, after two decades of talks, the EU announced a preliminary trade agreement with Mercosur countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – one of the biggest such pacts ever negotiated.

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Malmstrom, who led negotiations in the final stretch, has since faced a barrage of criticism, notably by European farmers afraid of a flood of beef imports and environmentalists alarmed over Brazil’s rampant deforestation of the rain forest.

At the centre of these concerns is Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, an unabashed climate change sceptic who has ramped up deforestation and threatened to follow Washington by dumping the climate accord.

This trade agreement “does not mean that we agree with all the policies of these countries, but it is a way to anchor Brazil in the Paris Agreement,” Malmstrom said.

A brutal murder reveals the chaos spreading in Bolsonaro’s Amazon

US president Donald Trump “tries to get other political leaders to join him and leave the Paris Agreement. Here, president Bolsonaro chose, and came with us,” she said.

Pressured by France, Malmstrom and her teams made adherence to the Paris climate deal a condition of the trade deal, a position Brussels says will now apply to all such pacts. Under the Paris accord, Brazil is committed to delivering 12 million hectares of reforestation in the Amazonian forest that plays a crucial role in regulating the earth’s climate.

On Monday, Reuters reported Brazil’s vice president Hamilton Mourao said he now considered it “impossible” for Brazil to leave the Paris Agreement.

Malmstrom acknowledged that the deal faces a torturous ratification process, with about 40 national or regional parliaments across Europe as well as the European Parliament needing to approve it.

While it is “hard to know… I believe that at least two years” will be necessary before implementation, she said. Malmstrom also staunchly criticised opponents to the deal, who had not read the agreement.

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“Some have not really read the agreement and spread rumours, false interpretations that frighten people,” she said.

“Those who work in agriculture today are worried about the future. That’s normal. But, in fact, agriculture is not sacrificed in the agreement,” she insisted.

For Europe, the deal would mean greater access to large South American automobile markets and respect for so-called protected geographical indications such as Cognac or Manchego cheese.

Mercosur countries in return hope to export up to 99,000 tonnes of beef to Europe a year before they have to pay tariffs, alongside stronger exports of ethanol, sugar and poultry.

The post Trade deal binds Brazil to Paris Agreement, says top EU official appeared first on Climate Home News.