Frontline communities around the world are shouldering the deleterious injustices of climate change, especially in Africa despite it emitting only around 4% of total global carbon emissions. 

A case in point is the nomadic Amazigh tribes in the southeastern reaches of Morocco. The Amazighs are the oldest known inhabitants of Northern Africa. Their ancestral lifestyle is threatened by climate change, manifest in consecutive years of drought, relentlessly eroding their rights, including access to water and education, and their heritage. 

The story is personal to me, as I am from this region, and these are my people. My father was a nomad but was forced to give up nomadic life and settle in a village due to drought in the early 1980s. 

Among our tribe, “we’ve gone from nearly 600 tents in 1961 to just a few dozen today”, my father declares. According to the national census, Morocco’s total nomadic population in 2014 stood at just 25,274, a 63% drop from 2004. 

“Great enabler of climate action” – UN urges Bonn progress on new finance goal

As pastoralists reliant on livestock, particularly sheep and goats, nomadic families depend on suitable pastures, but drought increasingly has rendered pastures and water sources barren. “This is the eighth consecutive year of drought, this situation is unprecedented,” a 91-year-old nomad told me. 

This is also a story of loss and damage to the nomads’ very culture and way of life. As someone familiar with the experience of displacement, I have witnessed how climate change strikes at the heart of our culture and identity. It’s not just about losing homes or livelihoods — it’s about losing the very essence of who we are.  

Each drought-induced exodus undermines our traditions, leaving us adrift in a world that seems less and less familiar.  

This is an existential crisis for my community. 

In search of water 

In Morocco, the frequency of droughts has increased fivefold, from one dry year in 15 between 1930-1990 to one dry year in three over the last two decades. Now, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts a doubling of drought frequency in North Africa to come.  

Water is being lost, and much is lost with it. As Moha Oufane, another nomad, said to me: “Water is everything. It’s the most important thing for us. We can buy food and feed livestock with what’s left in the mountains or by going into debt, but water can’t be bought. It’s priceless.”

Water shortages are disrupting traditional pastoral routes, forcing families to give up nomadism or put themselves at risk. In the past, the year would be structured around a well-defined nomadic pattern: summer months were devoted to Agdal-to-Imilchil, while winter months were spent on the Errachidia side, with a return to Assoul (a village in Tinghir) and the surrounding area when the cold set in.  

Today, this traditional route no longer exists. Nomads go where little water remains, to preserve their livelihoods and the lives of their livestock. 

Only one new water point exists on this traditional route, a project led by the Moroccan state. “This project is extremely beneficial for us,” Moha says. “Similar projects in other nearby areas would be of immense help to us.”

Loss and damage sub-goal

Many nomads are forced to go into debt to feed their livestock, their main source of income, which worsens their situation. According to Moha, some accumulated debts of nearly 30,000 dh ($3,000) between October 2023 and January 2024”. Debt has long been used by these communities, but this was when nomads were confident of being able to pay it back after good rainfall seasons, which is no longer the case. 

Conflicts over territory and diminishing water-dependent resources, once unthinkable, now disrupt the social cohesion and hospitality for which nomadic communities are renowned. 

The plight of Morocco’s nomads illustrates the need for international support for climate-affected communities. Rich historic-emitter countries must honour their obligations to provide climate finance under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  

Quality – not just quantity – matters in the new climate finance goal

Economic costs of loss and damage in developing countries are estimated to reach $290-580bn/year by 2030. Grant finance, not debt, must be provided for communities to repair and recover. Developing countries should not have to spend a penny to cope with loss and damage they did not cause. However, despite the celebrations, the new UN Loss and Damage Fund has only received $725 million in pledges. 

We need a sub-goal for loss and damage in the New Collective Quantified Goal (“NCQG”) on climate finance, to be debated over the coming days at the mid-year UN climate negotiations in Bonn and the agreed at COP29 in Baku. It is immoral for developed countries to be blocking such a sub-goal. 

It is outrageous that nomads and frontline communities should be left to fend for themselves and see their ancestral lifestyles, identities and cultures eroded, while some wealthy nations prosper from investment in fossil fuels and find public finance for their own purposes but not for climate finance. We refuse to be collateral damage in a game of power and profit. 

The post North Africa’s disappearing nomads: Why my community needs climate finance appeared first on Climate Home News.

The journey is equal parts dramatic and harrowing—with canyon-like views of the Atlas Mountains via treacherous switchbacks, and a vast landscape of desert beyond Ouarzazate.

Along the way—some 330 kilometers from Marrakech—the commune of Imider sits nestled on Morocco’s National Route 10 (N10). Hardly registering to passing tourists, Imider is one of the poorest and most-water stressed communities in Morocco. The climate is semi-arid—it rains only a few times a year—and poverty levels are nearly triple the national average.

Indigenous adaptation

Despite general disregard from passersby and neglect from Morocco’s central government in the northwest, Imider’s residents are proud members of the indigenous Amazigh Ait-Atta tribal confederation (otherwise known as “Berber” to western audiences).

Senegal shows African countries are not passive beneficiaries of climate finance

For centuries, Amazigh communities have populated much of the country’s southeast, adapting to the harsh and semi-arid climate that comes with being east of the mountains and isolated from the seaside. Despite the unforgiving landscape, these groups are agropastoral—herding sheep and goats and farming a variety of crops like olives, almonds dates, and vegetables. In Imider, most people live on less than a dollar a day.

In a region where annual precipitation can range from a few inches to less than an inch, water is life—or “aman iman,” as residents say.

Drought-affected fields in the Tinghir province. Photo: Rachel Santarsiero

To adapt to such low rainfall levels, Amazigh groups have long depended on a traditional system of water storage and distribution, known as ‘khettara’. This system relies on a series of underground canals to source water for farming fields and is incredibly efficient in arid and semi-arid climates. To the Amazigh, the khettara is sacred.

But as higher temperatures and drought conditions become the norm in Morocco, and as privatized companies continue to mine the south and southeast for phosphate and silver—as has been done in Imider—the centuries-old irrigation system is under threat.

The khettara irrigation

Among those affected is Mohammed Boumnir, a farmer in Imider who maintains his family’s plot of land, and harvests olives, dates, figs, grass, buckthorn, pomegranates, and radishes. The hand-dug canals of the khettara separate each set of crops like a lattice, but today they are bone dry. “This drought, the mining, it’s all affecting the farm. It’s cut off more than 80% of our water”, he told me.

In place of the dried-out khettara system, Boumnir has had to install irrigation pipes to help source water. Other farmers on adjacent plots have installed solar panels and mechanized wells to pump water from deeper beneath the ground. Those are costly endeavors that not all farmers in the area can afford.

Even with these advancements, the results of these new technologies are mixed. “The figs, almonds, olives—they’re all getting smaller, and they taste different than they used to”, Boumnir said.

With the onslaught of climate change, the Kingdom of Morocco has sought to position itself as a leader in the green technology economy—both within Africa and on the world stage with its western partners.

Mining dependence

Despite its sustainable agenda, phosphate and silver mining contributes to over 10% of the country’s GDP – just behind agriculture and tourism. But Morocco’s dependence on mining gets overshadowed by its flashy renewable energy projects, most notably the Noor Solar Power Station in Ouarzazate.

Latin America leads resistance to global shipping emission tax

Extractive capitalist projects in the southeast, like the Noor Solar Plant, or the deleterious silver mining in Imider, only exacerbate the harsh conditions that vulnerable Amazigh communities are struggling with. And while the Kingdom of Morocco continues to uphold its “green” façade to the international community, Amazigh locals in the southeast—battling land grabs, groundwater depletion, and resource extraction—are being left behind.

Hope for the future is hard to come by in Imider. Many locals are unemployed, and others are moving away. But there is one phrase that’s continually shared amongst residents, in native Tamazight: “You can pluck all the flowers, but you can’t stop the march of spring.”

Rachel Santarsiero is a climate researcher at the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

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Hakima el Haite, who was Morocco’s environment minister until a change of government in March, still represented Morocco as a UN ‘climate champion’.

The role meant El Haite was in charge of guiding a process called the UN global climate action agenda – a programme that encourages partnerships between countries, regions and businesses to reduce emissions.

That agenda grew in significance in 2017, as Trump’s reversal on the Paris deal undermined confidence the world could act together.

El Haite: Morocco targets long term climate plans at COP22 talks

But in October, Morocco’s king Mohammed VI included El Haite’s name on a list that led to a mass cull of ministers and officials. Those named were said to have failed to improve the situation in the country’s northern regions and had shown “negligence in the exercise of responsibility”, according to a report released by the monarch.

Civil unrest, which began just before Morocco hosted the 2016 UN climate talks in Marrakech, has continued in the north this year. This led the king to commission a review of government activity in the region. The report was then used as grounds for dismissal of several serving ministers and the demotion of El Haite.

On Friday, El Haite announced she was closing her climate champion Twitter account. “I close this account shortly. To continue to follow my activities, follow me on @HakimaElHaite. Thank you for your loyalty,” she said.

She would have been passing the baton to Fiji’s minister for agriculture, rural and maritime development Inia Seruiratu at the Bonn 23rd conference of parties (Cop23) to the UN climate convention.

El Haite was preceded by and worked closely with Laurence Tubiana, a high-level French diplomat credited with a key role in the Paris climate agreement.

The Moroccan Cop22 presidency, which is led by former foreign minister Salaheddine Mezouar, will officially hand over the running of the talks to the Fijians on Monday in Bonn, Germany. El Haite’s busy schedule at the talks will be filled by other Moroccan officials.

The Moroccan presidency would not comment on the loss of the powerful diplomat. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which oversees the conference and the global action agenda, confirmed El Haite would not be attending the conference.

Bonn COP23 climate talks

When? 6-17 November, 2017

Where? Bonn, Germany

What? A meeting of 197 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, where the implementation of the Paris climate agreement will be the major point of negotiations.

Not just Donald Trump news! Climate Home will be taking its biggest ever team to the talks.

How to keep up? Sign up to Climate Home’s newsletter, Facebook and Twitter feeds for the most in-depth, dedicated reporting from this critical meeting.

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Scientific evidence is the foundation of robust adaptation policies that tackle water management, energy and food security, the study says. Without it, the climate impacts that are already plunging Africa into a humanitarian crisis are poised to get much worse.

But patchy weather records, most of which lay abandoned in meteorological offices and are unlikely to ever be digitised, make the African climate system among the planet’s least understood.

#Marrakech mail: sign up here for your daily #COP22 update

The study, produced by the Future Climate For Africa initiative, a joint program of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), finds that while Africa is poised to get hotter and its weather more erratic, most government departments are only planning short term, therefore failing to respond to slow onset environmental changes.

“It is difficult to model through computers, which makes predictions of future rainfall under climate change challenging,” said John Marsham, one of the authors at the University of Leeds, in the UK.

Although scientists know that both dry spells and heavy rainfall are likely to increase, whether some regions will get wetter or drier remains unclear.

Marsham also said that poor funding and the fact that the data are rarely shared with the scientific community are deepening the crisis.

“Long term decisions that do not account for climate change risk serious negative impacts” Marsham said. “Water supply, irrigation and drainage infrastructure built now need to be designed for the water availability, water needs and flood occurrence of the coming decades, as well as the present.”

Countries are increasingly embracing preparedness, and initiatives for adaptation in agriculture often include climate risk in their agenda.

The Adaptation of African Agriculture, presented at the UN climate talks in Marrakech this week, is one of the programs that builds on research and scientific evidence to devise practical solutions.

It connects governments and farmers in fields such as soil management, agricultural water control, as well as risk management.

“Africa, long neglected, can no longer be ignored. Today, it is an active, respected partner in the debate on global governance,” said Moroccan King Mohammed VI at the launch of the initiative.

“Cooperation, which is already intense with many countries at the bilateral level, will be further expanded and revitalized.”

But to create a robust, long term climate response strategy, funding from developed countries needs to keep flowing.

Teresa Anderson, climate and resilience expert with ActionAid, said that every dollar invested in prevention and resilience saves seven dollars in humanitarian response. “But donor countries prefer to wait until the crisis is in the news before responding to it, by which time is too late to make a real impact.”

She said that rich nations should ramp up their financial contribution to climate response, and makes no concessions to the US President-elect who vowed to slash climate aid.

“No country lives in a bubble, in a world where this year was the hottest ever recorded and 400 million people were affected by drought there is no space for climate denialism. The American people need to be aware that they live in the rest of the world,” she said.

Lou Del Bello’s series of reports on Africa and climate change is funded by CDKN

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Suelma Beirouk was held for 75 hours without food or water, she told Climate Home after arriving in Algeria on Tuesday afternoon. On Sunday, she had arrived at Marrakesh airport and was approached by three policeman.

“They asked me if I could go with them. I said yes. First of all they said ‘you are not accredited’. I showed my accreditation number, and they took it from me. They also took my passport,” she said.

Despite her protestations that she was a legitimate representative of the African people, Beirouk was held until Tuesday morning. She said she was diabetic, but was not offered any food or water. She ate only some apples she had in her bag.

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“They did all different kinds of psychological torture. They were telling me ‘you will get in, we only need to contact the UN’. And I was telling them that I already had an accreditation… They turned off the lights and they were looking for things to scare me,” she said.

Sources close to the UN talks confirmed Beirouk was accredited to attend the conference, known as a COP in UN jargon.

“They prevented me to enter the COP, they did not allow me. I was registered, and they did not let me in because I am Sahrawi [the name of the Western Saharan people],” she said.

Western Sahara is a deeply controversial subject in Morocco. The kingdom’s 40-year occupation has never been recognised by the international community. The UN lists the former Spanish colony as a non-self-governing territory. A UN process to grant the local Sahrawi people a referendum on their independence was established in 1991, but is yet to bring about a vote.

Pic: Google

The Pan-African Parliament is the legislative arm of the African Union (AU). Morocco is the only country on the continent that remains outside the union. It withdrew because of the AU’s recognition of the Western Saharan people’s claim for self-determination.

“Morocco sees me as a threat… They were telling me ‘you are not Sahrawi, you are Moroccan’. And I said ‘no’, if something I have clear, is that I am Sahrawi,” said the vice-president. “My objective at COP22 was to speak in the name of the Africans about climate change, to work, to understand the good and bad parts of it. To end climate change, bringing the message of the peoples of Africa.”

Beirouk, who uses her non-Sahrawi name Suilma Hay Emhamed Saleh in her role at the parliament, represented the continent of Africa at the previous UN climate conference in Paris. She questioned the UN climate body for allowing Morocco to hold the conference.

“I ask the people that organise the COP to look for places that are not in dictatorships, in kingdoms that only do torture and terrorism… There is more police than people in Morocco, everything is terrorism, torture. How is it possible that they organise a very important event like this in Morocco?” she said.

Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the UNFCCC, said: “We are aware of the situation and are seeking clarification from the Moroccan authorities.”

A spokeswoman for the Moroccan COP22 presidency told Climate Home that she had no information about the incident. The Moroccan ministry of the interior did not respond to a request for comment.

Erik Hagen, a spokesman for Norwegian NGO Støttekomiteen for Vest-Sahara, said the treatment of Beirouk was “symptomatic of the Moroccan approach to the Sahrawi people”.

“Morocco consistently refuses to listen to their opinions. Sahrawis have been incarcerated, disappeared and expelled for it, and the Moroccan government deny all collaboration with the UN for the organisation of the referendum,” he said.

On Monday night, Elkaid’s daughter Dahba, told Climate Home she had not known where her mother was for a full day. “She wasn’t allowed to stay in Marrakech. Yesterday she arrived there from Casablanca and had to stay there the whole night until they told her this morning she had to leave,” she said.

“She went back from Casablanca and from there was supposed to leave the country, either to Spain, Algeria or Oman. She ran out of battery, so I’m not sure where she is heading to at the moment. I’m not sure why she wasn’t allowed in. When we spoke, I decided not to ask her directly about that.”

Anna Pérez Català and Diego Arguedas Oritz conducted interviews in Spanish and translated them into English

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“Food production” featured just three times the Paris climate agreement text, with “hunger” registering a solitary mention in the preamble to the main chunk of decisions.

That will change if a coalition of 27 African states led by Morocco has its way, spurred on by the savage impacts of El Nino through 2015 and 2016 on the continent’s ability to feed itself.

The “triple A” alliance – short for Adaptation of African Agriculture – says it will embed farming communities at the centre of negotiations at the upcoming UN summit in Marrakech.

“This could be a game changer for African people,” said Mohamed Ait Kadi, president of Morocco’s General Council of Agricultural Development, a government-linked think tank.

“There is a general consensus that our countries are already affected by the impacts of climate change. African farmlands and ranges are increasingly degraded and face declining yields.”

The climate frontline
-The negative effects of climate change are reducing Africa’s GDP by 1.4% a year
-Adaptation costs can reach up to 3% of GDP, each year, until 2030
-This GDP value loss is largely attributed to the degradation of agricultural capacity
-Agriculture is a vital sector in Africa, concentrating between 25% and 35% of direct jobs
-Farming is a source of revenue for about 70% of the African population
-Of $391 billion global climate investments in 2014, sub-Saharan Africa received $12bn

Source: AAA white paper

As ever, a key issue is that African farmers lack access to cheap sources of finance, technology that can help them plan for extreme weather and the latest forms of fertilizer and seeds.

A July meeting in Morocco of 60 experts including officials from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded soil and water management across Africa was at crisis point.

Combined with rising global temperatures and erratic rainfalls, this could lead to a 20% slump in crop production by 2050, they said in a paper released this week.

“The issue of funding is crucial. A recent UNEP study (2010) indicates that the economic cost of climate change in Africa could account for 1.5 to 3% of GDP, every year, until 2030.

“Additionally, an ADB 1 study evaluated the adaptation costs in Africa at about 20 to US$30bn per year over the same period. Current flows remain insufficient to meet the real needs of Africa, especially in agriculture and adaptation.”

AAA signatories
Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo

Kadi wants one result of the COP22 summit to be easier and cheaper access to funding for African farmers, who are frequently viewed as risky bets by banks and international donors.

The Green Climate Fund, UN Adaptation Fund and African Development Bank are among organisations known to be piloting agriculture adaptation initiatives, but with limited impact.

“We want to see easier access to climate funds that will help African countries deliver agricultural adaptation programmes,” said Kadi.

“Water is the big issue and the major limiting factor for Africa’s agriculture. Less than 6% of farmland is irrigated. To face the scourge of climate variability we need at least to bring this to 20-25%.”

The post Africa’s farmers need help: can the UN climate talks deliver? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Hakima El Haite told Climate Home the meeting would be a chance for governments to show “solidarity” with the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

“There’s only one way to do that, and that is to fulfil all promises from the Paris pledges,” said El Haite. “We need to show the money is there and allocated to key projects.”

The roadmaps would help guide governments through the next few years and beyond as they prepare to implement the UN’s new climate deal, she said.

France, China and the US are among countries to have committed to working on longer term carbon plans through to 2050, with further discussions expected at September’s G20.

Reports: Governments asked for 2050 plans to phase out coal, oil and gas

Last December 195 countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2C above pre industrial levels, and added a new defence line of 1.5C, a key demand of climate vulnerable countries.

Governments also agreed to review their national climate goals in 2018, and potentially raise their ambition by the end of the decade.

It could enter into force before the start of the COP22 Marrakech meeting, with analysts predicting that the required 55 countries covering 55 of emissions will ratify the pact as early as next month.

“This would send a very important political signal. It’s important because it would mean countries are committed to a long term strategy,” said El Haite.

COP22 will also witness from afar the election of a new US president, with the potential of climate sceptic Donald Trump taking power filling many climate activists with fear.

“This is a worldwide issue – it’s not just about the US,” said El Haite. “Obama has made huge commitments and I hope the next president will do the same.”

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“We’re giving a signal to developing countries to show we are really working to make it happen,” said Rabat’s special envoy on climate change, Hakima El Haite.

“The COP22 [UN conference] should answer those African and small island state voices who are asking for urgent action to survive.”

A ‘solutions conference’ planned for the sidelines of the UN’s annual climate gathering will target “problem solving, brainstorming, and global co-creation” said a statement.

While 195 countries agreed to a new UN plan to tackle climate change in Paris last December, it is unlikely to deliver immediate results as many finer details have to be resolved.

Speaking at a climate conference in Washington DC, El Haite and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon urged governments to accelerate greenhouse gas cutting plans.

“We need to accelerate the speed, scope and scale of our response, locally and globally,” said Ban.

So far 175 countries have signed the Paris Agreement, which requires 55 countries covering 55% of global emissions to sign and ratify the deal before it comes into force.

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Funding desert: Row centres on disputed territory of Western Sahara (UN Photo/Martine Perret)

By Ed King

Millions of Euros to help Morocco fund this November’s UN climate summit in Marrakech are being withheld due to a diplomatic spat between the hosts and the European Union.

Ties between Brussels and Rabat were suspended last week after the European Court of Justice binned an EU-Morocco agriculture deal covering the contested Western Sahara.

The region has been held by Morocco since 1975, but the court said a trade agreement covering the area was invalid due to continued protests against Rabat’s rule.

The Moroccan government said the move was “highly political” and against international law.

Climate Home understands €12 million (US$13m) for the COP22 summit is being withheld by the EU until the dispute is resolved.

Report: Morocco opens first stage of vast solar power plant

Local media report the conference venue alone will cost US$23 million (€21m), around a third of the total cost of staging the summit.

The country had hoped external donors would be able to offer a large chunk of funding. Canada and the US are also understood to have made offers of support.

Senior UN officials met in January to discuss Morocco’s hosting of the event, amid fears the North African nation was unprepared to host a meeting deemed critical to boosting climate action.

Nearly 200 countries agreed the framework of a global climate pact last December in Paris, but specific details need to be signed off before it comes into effect from 2020.

Concerns September’s parliamentary elections could derail planning saw King Mohammed appoint civil servant and interior minister Mohamed Hassad to take charge of planning.

He replaces foreign minister Salaheddine Mezouar and environment minister Hakima El Haite who will be standing for election this year.

Impressed by quality leadership and preparedness of #cop22 Moroccan team. Confident we will have a great cop.Morocco/France one team #cop21

— Laurence Tubiana (@LaurenceTubiana) February 28, 2016

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Concentrated solar works by mirrors reflecting rays onto a central tower (Pic: Masdar/Flickr)

By Ed King

The world’s largest concentrated solar power plant is open for business.

Morocco’s Noor 1 plant is the first phase of a vast array of parabolic mirrors that will eventually cover 30 square kilometres and power more than a million households.

The $9 billion project is part of a push to wean Morocco off fossil fuels. The country imports 91% of its coal, oil and gas, a situation long recognised as a serious drain on resources.

“Today we wrote a new page in the history of the climate,” said the country’s environment minister Hakima El Haite, after King Mohammed officially opened the plant.

@andreborschberg and I just flew over Morocco solar plant, project we started in 2012 and will be inaugurated today pic.twitter.com/z6CGslw0wn

— Bertrand PICCARD (@bertrandpiccard) February 4, 2016

The African Development Bank’s Yacine Fal said the complex would “serve as an example for Africa”, while the World Bank hailed its impact on energy security and job creation.

The plant – which was due to open in December – marks the latest stage in Morocco’s move towards a greener economy.

In 2014, it started a programme of fossil fuel subsidy reform, redirecting saved money into clean energy projects in a move former World Bank climate chief Rachel Kyte described as transformational.

This November, Marrakech hosts the COP22 UN climate summit, where countries will be expected to build on the Paris agreement signed off in December 2015.

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COP21 president Laurent Fabius and Laurence Tubiana, his chief climate diplomat (Pic: COP21/Flickr)

By Ed King

“Everything is done but nothing is done,” warns France’s chief climate diplomat.

It is little over a month since Laurence Tubiana helped engineer agreement on a greenhouse gas slashing pact between 195 countries in Paris, and she is keen to build on that success.

The top priority is maintaining what she terms “political momentum”. Governments were closely involved in the build-up to Paris, but world leaders have short attention spans.

A stuttering global economy and fears of a Chinese financial meltdown are a “new element,” she says. “Frankly I don’t know what negative impact it will have.”

France and Morocco – which will host the 2016 UN climate summit in Marrakech – plan to organise a series of ministerial meetings throughout the year to maintain a spirit of cooperation.

The first is primed for April, a month in which world leaders are expected to arrive in New York to officially sign the Paris agreement.

Invites from Ban Ki-moon have been sent to all capitals. The day will be a “symbolic call for political mobilisation,” says Tubiana.

US president Barack Obama is rumoured to have bagged himself the first slot to ink the deal; ratification through his executive authority – bypassing Congress – could follow soon after.

Analysis: 9 reasons to be cheerful about global climate action

Paris was “beyond my expectations” admits Tubiana, a veteran from previous climate summits who had seen similar attempts to achieve global consensus descend into acrimony.

Developed, developing and emerging economies agreed on a plan to radically cut fossil fuel emissions by the second half of this century.

National policies submitted towards the deal aren’t ambitious enough to meet the global goal. So governments settled on a series of five-yearly reviews to assess climate policies, with the option of ramping up carbon cuts over time.

“We thought it would have been very difficult to finally get this. I was happily surprised with what we got,” she says.

Tubiana and Fabius consult with UN officials after the publication of a final text (Pic: COP21/Flickr)

Yet while the 32-page Paris text and an accompanying ‘decisions’ document offers a framework for global action, it omits to mention how many of its targets will be achieved.

For instance, it establishes a ‘Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency’ but leaves the tough decisions over how deep officials will delve into national climate policies for another day.

India and China are unwilling to have their plans pulled apart by foreign powers and will likely oppose any move to give this transparency mechanism real teeth.

This will dominate a May session of UN talks in Bonn and November’s Marrakech summit. It needs intense “political mobilisation” to ensure it doesn’t get bogged down, says Tubiana.

“We will open discussions and then try and capture a landing zone,” she says, indicating her hectic travel schedule shows little signs of diminishing.

US support for a global pact – driven by secretary of state John Kerry – was a vital element in securing agreement (Pic: COP21/Flickr)

Time is not on the side of the UN or efforts to tackle global warming. Average temperatures passed 1C above pre industrial levels in 2015, which was also the hottest year on record.

Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are also at record highs, passing the symbolic 400 parts per million last year, up from around 320ppm in 1960.

To be in with a chance of limiting warming to “well below 2C” – as agreed in Paris – emissions need to peak in the next decade.

The 188 national climate plans presented ahead of Paris won’t make that happen, so Tubiana is banking on a new round of pledges before 2020.

A proposed UN progress review in two years is critical she says. “If everything goes well we will have more mobilisation of countries by 2018.”

Radical proposals

Equally important is delivery of long term climate plans up to 2050, a little-reported element of the Paris deal but one the French and the UN believe could turn the tide on fossil fuels.

China, France and the US have committed to working on long-term scenarios, while the EU is looking how it can fund research among member states.

A Deep Decarbonisation study published by the Paris-based IDDRI think tank last September said avoiding 2C was still possible – if governments moved fast this decade.

Coal and petroleum would need to be replaced by nuclear, renewables and some natural gas, while nascent carbon capture technologies must become widespread.

“For me it’s very important as that’s the way government would begin to imagine how they can be compatible with what we agreed in Paris,” says Tubiana.

“That was the logic of having this long term objective of net zero [in the second half of the century]… 2050 goal is a milestone in a longer term process.”

Leadership

Despite news it’s likely to miss an EU-mandated 2020 target to deliver 23% of electricity from renewables, France appears committed to maintaining a strong focus on climate through 2016.

Tubiana believes business leaders are on board with the deal, a hunch borne out of meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davis last week.

President Francois Hollande was in Delhi this week laying the foundation stone for a new 120-country solar alliance, while environment chief Segolene Royal headed to New York for a UN climate investor’s summit.

Rumours abound Foreign minister Laurent Fabius may be saying goodbye to the Quay d’Orsay soon, but Tubiana insists he will remain as UN talks president for the rest of the year.

“He is very committed and preparing intensively to play his role till the end,” she says. “We are working with Morocco, and I’m confident. It’s important to keep the momentum.”

The post France plans renewed climate diplomacy blitz to protect Paris deal appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: UNFCCC)

Next year’s UN summit in Marrakesch will focus on ‘action and innovation’, said Morocco’s environment minister Hakima El Haiti.

“We will have to step up the pace of decisions taken for the pre-2020 period, we must innovate for motivation and adaptation,” she said. “It will be a COP [Conference of the Parties] of action and shared solutions.”

Morocco will assume the presidency of the UN climate talks after a summer meeting of envoys in Bonn, where governments will start working on the details of a new UN climate pact agreed in Paris last Sunday.

Top of the list will be working on the technical aspects of a new transparency system, establishing guidelines for how countries will measure, report and verify their greenhouse gas emissions.

Rules governing a new, five-yearly cycle of climate plan reviews will need to be thrashed out, while countries will also assess what more needs to be provided to help vulnerable countries with the loss and damage linked to climate impacts.

“We will have to maintain momentum,” said Hakima, “and we are counting on the support of all our stakeholders. A battle has been won but the struggle continues.”

The post In Morocco, ‘innovation’ will drive 2016 climate summit appeared first on Climate Home News.

Climate negotiators are meeting in Rabat (Pic: Pixabay)

By Megan Darby

National climate pledges submitted to a UN deal will more than double the rate of emissions intensity cuts globally.

They imply a 3% annual decline in greenhouse gases for each unit of GDP, according to consultancy PwC. That is up from a 1.3% average between 2000 and 2014.

Yet to hold temperature rise to 2C, the international goal, analysts calculate that rate needs to reach 6.3%.

“Despite being a step change, the Paris targets fall short of the 2C goal,” said PwC climate change director Jonathan Grant, who will present the findings at a summit in Rabat, Morocco.

“The Paris agreement will need a process to review national progress and to raise ambition in future.”

Analysis by PwC shows how decarbonisation needs to accelerate to hold warming to 2C

Chief negotiators of most major economies are in Rabat to discuss the adequacy – or otherwise – of contributions towards the global climate deal to be struck in Paris this December.

Backed by the European Union, the summit will be “non-confrontational”, according to organisers, and focus on ways to accelerate moves to a low carbon economy.

Report: Climate pledges overshoot 2C target but emissions gap narrowing

Some countries are doing more to decouple growth from emissions than others, the PwC report found.

The UK last year scored a record-breaking 10.9% emissions intensity cut, with a number of coal plants closing and low gas use over a warm winter. France was not far behind, with 9.1%.

At 6%, China had the fastest decarbonisation rate of any non-EU country.

Five countries intensified their emissions, on the other hand. Turkey and Saudi Arabia recorded the largest increases, of 4.4% and 4.0% respectively, followed by Brazil, India and South Africa.

Sad to miss @MAC_europa‘s #INDCForum but worried my seawall will collapse. Nobody can say targets go far enough. TdB pic.twitter.com/omzUIToy1D

— Tony de Brum (@MinisterTdB) October 11, 2015

Underscoring the significance of the 2C goal, a minister from the Marshall Islands withdrew from the summit to deal with unseasonal storm damage at home.

Tony de Brum, a tireless campaigner for the future of his low-lying group of coral atolls, was due to attend.

But with more than 150mm of rain in a week, gale force winds and 2m-high king tides battering the islands, he sent his apologies.

“Sadly, the latest crisis sadly means I cannot join ministers in Rabat this week, but I hope they have my country firmly in mind when they look at how we’re tracking for the Paris Agreement,” de Brum said.

Marshall Islands minister: Climate change migration is ‘genocide’

That extreme weather deals another blow to the vulnerable state, following an estimated US$4.2 million of damage from July’s Typhoon Nangka.

Climate models predict sea level rise, more intense tropical storms and volatile rainfall as greenhouse gases heat the planet.

It is why the Marshall Islands argues the world’s 2C goal is not enough and warming should be held to 1.5C.

De Brum added: “Without much more urgent and ambitious action, my country simply won’t survive.”

The post Morocco summit told carbon-cutting rate must double appeared first on Climate Home News.

21 ministers are expected at the Rabat summit (Pic: Wikimedia Commons/Elooas)

By Ed King

Little over two months remain before a UN deal to tackle global warming is set to be signed off, and already it is evident planned greenhouse gas cuts will not be enough.

As of this week, nearly 150 countries have sent in their plans to the UN, covering 90% of carbon pollution around the world.

The level of engagement is unprecedented. The inadequate level of cuts on offer is not.

Analysts say the planet is still on course to heat beyond the 2C danger zone by 2100, although around 0.9C of warming will have been avoided thanks to the new plans.

It’s under this cloud that leading envoys from nearly 50 countries will meet at a conference convened by the EU in Rabat, Morocco next week.

The guest list appears impressive: 21 ministers including US climate envoy Todd Stern and France’s Segolene Royal.

India, China, Japan, Brazil and South Africa plan to send their chief climate negotiators. A Green Climate Fund official is also slated to attend, presumably cap in hand.

The gathering will be “non-threatening” and “non-confrontational” an EU source told Climate Home. No-one will be publicly shamed.

Analysis: US-China chat broke impasse at Lima climate talks

For European climate chief Miguel Arias Canete, it’s a chance to show Brussels can still do climate diplomacy after being blindsided by China and the US at the 2014 Lima climate summit.

It’s also an opportunity to put some gloss on Paris and reframe it as the start of a journey to a below-2C greener future, rather than a make-or-break meeting.

“This forum will be an opportunity to answer this question and find ways to accelerate the transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient economies worldwide,” said Canete.

“With just six weeks to go before we meet in Paris, this discussion comes at a crucial moment.”

Analysis: 9 things we learned from national climate pledges

The meeting’s agenda indicates any review of individual “intended nationally determined contributions” will be brief. Two hours are allotted to cover the whole lot – that’s more than one INDC a minute.

There will be a chance for a wider aggregate assessment, moderated by the UN environment body’s chief scientist Jacqueline McGlade and drawing on expertise from Dutch, Brazilian, Indian and German scientists.

The key focus is ensuring countries start looking at these plans as a foundation and analyse what they mean in terms of a long term transformation away from fossil fuels.

“What is at stake is the meaning of the COP [Paris summit] and what success can be,” says Michel Colombier, scientific director at the influential French think tank IDDRI and a speaker in Morocco.

“For many the success lies in the value of the INDCs and there is still a discussion on whether countries would re-open and re-evaluate their INDCs in Paris, which for me does not make sense.”

Colombier’s message will be for Paris to “build a dynamic” to allow the full implementation of these plans from 2016 and accelerate decarbonisation in the decades to come.

Report: UN releases 20-page negotiating text for climate deal

Jennifer Morgan, head of climate at DC-based World Resources Institute, is another speaker.

“My message is that these INDCs thus far are a great achievement to have so many come in, and we are moving closer to the level of ambition that is needed,” she says.

“The Paris agreement has to include the short and long term signals to accelerate the pace and transformation needed to get the type of decision to keep 2C within reach.”

Coming a week before the penultimate round of UN negotiations pre-Paris, the two-day jaunt in the Moroccan sun is unlikely to a chance for negotiators to boost their vitamin D levels.

With a slashed negotiating text on the table, the upcoming Bonn session of talks is set to be intense.

Conversations in Rabat between the US, China, India and the EU could help smooth the ground ahead of those discussions in a more relaxed atmosphere.

“It is another moment in the conversation,” says Morgan. “We’re now in the phase of negotiations where these [talks] need to happen at as many levels as possible. Ministerial engagement is vital.”

The post Top emitters head to Morocco to discuss Paris climate plans appeared first on Climate Home News.

A water buffalo in Hubei (Flickr/Tauno Tõhk / 陶诺)

By Megan Darby

Ethiopia and Morocco have shown up much larger countries with detailed plans to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from farming and forestry.

Both African states set out clear policies on the land sector in their contributions to a global climate deal.

By contrast, China and Canada fell short, according to analysis by the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

“It was somewhat of a surprise – we expected better,” said Doug Boucher, director of UCS’s tropical forest and climate initiative.

Human changes to the landscape account for nearly a quarter of global emissions. Deforestation, fertiliser use and livestock rearing all worsen global warming.

Actions like tree planting and wetland restoration, meanwhile, can have the opposite effect, soaking up more carbon dioxide from the air.

Boucher said: “For both of those reasons, it is globally important.”

Paris tracker: Who has pledged what for 2015 UN climate pact?

To date, 58 countries have submitted national contributions to a UN carbon-cutting pact, with the rest expected to deliver by October.

These will underpin a global agreement to be signed in Paris at the end of the year.

Governments were not obliged to specify policies for the land use sector, but some chose to do so. Measures include restoring degraded forests and changing farming practices.

UCS analysts praised Morocco and Ethiopia, two of the earliest African countries to put forward their pledges, for setting out relatively detailed plans.

For Ethiopia, agriculture and forestry account for 88% of its emissions, so it was a major focus of the pledge.

China, despite having “significant potential” to green its land use, did not show any increase in ambition, researchers found.

Forest-rich Canada, meanwhile, left itself a giant loophole by omitting emissions caused by wildfire or tree disease from its carbon accounting.

“This strategy would be understandable if such natural contributions were truly beyond human control,” said Boucher.

“However, much of Canada’s forest-related emissions result from forest fires and beetle infestations, both of which are affected by human management and should be taken into account.”

An earlier UCS analysis found Mexico had clearer ambitions than the EU or US on land use emissions.

The NGO plans to assess pledges from Brazil, Indonesia and India, which are expected to emerge this month.

The post China, Canada lag smaller countries on green land use pledges appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: Global Compact France/Flickr)

By Ed King

It will be hard to tot up the carbon cuts in national contributions to a proposed global climate deal, says Morocco’s environment minister.

Countries vary widely in the baselines for their targets and which greenhouse gases and sectors of the economy they cover.

Hakima El Haite hopes a newly announced Rabat summit this October, backed by the EU and Morocco, will shed light on global ambitions ahead of the Paris climate summit this December.

She wants invited governments to explain how and why they decided on their goals, El Haite told RTCC. But forcing countries to boost their proposals is “not the aim” of the meeting,

“The aim is to bring everyone around the table and to listen to their experience developing their INDCs [contributions],” she said.

The meeting is set to run parallel to a UN assessment process between October and November. The UN will calculate whether dangerous warming will be averted based on what’s offered, but is unlikely to judge individual contributions on their adequacy.

So far, 44 countries have revealed the level of carbon reductions they will target, but with no strict guidelines on how they should be presented they lack clarity or comparability.

The EU uses 1990 as its baseline year for greenhouse gas emissions, the US 2005, while Australia plans to use 2000.

To further complicate matters most developing countries are not aiming for absolute emission cuts, but using business as usual (BAU) as a baseline.

China aims to cut its emissions per unit of GDP 60-65% by 2030, while India’s government is mulling a separate energy intensity goal.

Mixed reviews

Morocco was the second African country after Gabon to submit its INDC, targeting a 32% drop in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 on a BAU trajectory. El Haite said this was a sign it was “moving not waiting”.

Rabat’s ambition is one of the few to be rated as “sufficient” by the team at Climate Action Tracker, a coalition of analysts assessing all national announcements ahead of Paris.

China, the US and EU scraped “medium” ratings, while indications from Russia, South Korea, Canada and Australia on their goals get a red card.

Only tiny, mountainous Bhutan’s mooted policies receive genuine praise, mainly because its vast forest sector exceeds all emissions.

Paris tracker: Who has pledged what for 2015 UN climate pact? 

Morocco hosts the 2016 UN climate summit, so has an active interest in ensuring the Paris meeting this December doesn’t collapse.

Its early declaration of intent was also a sign it’s open to green investment, said El Haite, with plans to rapidly upscale solar, wind, hydro and biomass capacity.

The government estimates the cost of its plans to generate 50% of energy from clean sources by 2025 and prepare for future climate impacts will cost upwards of $45 billion.

Some of that could come from the UN-backed Green Climate Fund, but El Haite predicts the bulk will come from the private sector, especially from investors in the EU.

“We are close to the EU and have a strong partnership,” she said.

Report: Greening Africa’s deserts could stem tragic tide of migrants

Heavy levels of migration from Africa to the EU offer another reason for the two continents to work together, suggested El Haite.

Thousands of migrants from war torn parts of the Middle East and impoverished Sub Saharan countries are risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean for the chance of a better and safer life.

“We have still 300 million people in Africa and 750 million with no access to drinking water around the world,” she said.

“Maybe there are 1.2 billion who have no electricity, and 50% are in Africa. We have 500 billion hectares of soil that is degraded.”

And failure to seal a deal in Paris and sign off on a new set of development goals in New York this September could leave developing countries facing a combination of growth-stunting threats.

“Can you imagine if you have no food or access to water on your territory?” she said.

“The answer is clear. You are pushing people to move so we have no stability, no access to education, no healthcare, homeless. We can imagine there will be a conflict based on food security.

“We can imagine that climate change is one of the factors which could include the phenomenon of local instability.

“I imagine if there’s conflict on food security it would create other phenomena… like terrorism – I can imagine it could be true.”

The post Paris climate pledges need explaining says Morocco minister appeared first on Climate Home News.

Sunset over Marrakech. 5.5% of Morocco’s budget was spent on energy subsidies in 2011 (Flickr/ Elvin)

By Alex Pashley

Morocco, a desert kingdom that imports 90% of its energy, vowed to slash fossil fuel subsidies as its delivered its carbon-cutting pledge on Friday.

The first Arab country to submit an “intended nationally determined contribution” in the UN lexicon, it will target up to a 32% cut in 2030 greenhouse gas emissions from business-as-usual levels.

Slashing subsidies for oil and gas will be one of four main levers in overhauling its dirty energy sector, together with boosting renewables and ramping up imports of lesser-polluting natural gas.

“The main objectives behind this transformation are… substantially reducing fossil fuel subsidies, building on reforms already undertaken in recent years,” the UN submission read.

It is the 40th nation to put forward its draft climate action plan, with more than a hundred still to come. These will form the foundations of a global climate deal set to be agreed in December.

Report: Morocco hailed as climate ‘poster child’ after oil subsidy axe

Morocco submitted it’s INDC supported by @IISD_news first country to commit to reducing #fossilfuel subsidies in INDC http://t.co/6jHzQzp5FO

— IISD (@IISD_news) June 8, 2015

Fossil fuel subsidies are seen as major impediments to emissions reductions as they cheapen consumption and make clean alternatives less attractive.

According to the IMF, by 2011 energy subsidies accounted for 5.5% of Morocco’s GDP and 17% of its investment budget. In the Middle East and North Africa alone they cost $212 billion.

And to quell protest during the Arab Spring, the government increased the handouts to lower the cost of living.

Having ballooned to 7% of the budget, these subsidies must fall to 3% by 2017 as a condition of IMF loans. Steps began in late 2013 to eliminate subsidies on gasoline and fuel oil, according to the International Energy Agency.

The price of a 25-pound butane canister used in cooking was 42 dirhams or $5 in 2014, though it traded for $14.50 on commodities markets, Al Jazeera reported.

Report: Fossil fuel subsidies to hit $5.3 trillion in 2015, says IMF

Morocco, which produces a minor 0.2% of world emissions, says it is “voluntarily and resolutely engaged in a process to combat global warming”.

Of the 32% pledged emissions cuts, 19% are conditional on access to funding by rich countries.

way forward: Morocco submits its national #climate commitment prior to #COP21 http://t.co/zZbMEpDSO6 #SB42 #UNFCCC pic.twitter.com/ze4651BB8Z

— Sébastien Duyck (@duycks) June 5, 2015

The Green Climate Fund, will help provide the $35 billion of $45 billion investment needed to honour its emissions pledge, the submission states.

Renewables will rise to 42% of installed electricity generation, with wind, solar and hydroelectric power making up 14% each.

The North African country said it was growing more vulnerable to climate change and would have to desalinate water for drinking and plant 200,000 hectares of forests.

In another sign of commitment from the expected host of the 2016 annual round of UN climate negotiations, the EU and Morocco are to run an INDC forum in October to assess overall progress on staying within a 2C temperature rise by 2100, said Europe’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete.

The EU & Morocco (next #COP22 host) will organise an international #INDC forum in October to look at global efforts to stay below 2°C #COP21

— Miguel Arias Cañete (@MAC_europa) June 2, 2015

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