Africa Climate Conversations.

A 24-member transitional committee on loss and damage issued a proposal for a new loss and damage fund ahead of the 28th UN Climate Summit (COP28) taking place in Dubai this November.

According to Alpha Oumar Kaloga, the African group's lead negotiator on loss and damage, the final decision was made in a tense atmosphere; thus, there is a need to understand the status of the final decision, as the United States had objected at the last moment.

Kaloga told the Africa Climate Conversations podcast that developing countries have made compromises because “we cannot abandon our people. We cannot wait any longer, and we recognise that we are in a multilateral process and must make compromises. We accepted the World Bank (a red line) as the financial intermediary fund, but only under conditions."

Developing countries have been pushing for a loss and damage fund since 1991, when the Alliance of Small Island States proposed creating an international insurance pool to compensate for loss and damage.

The fund is intended to help developing nations recover from losses and harm caused by climate change. It is anchored on the UNFCCC’s principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, which underlines that the global challenge of tackling climate change should be met in a fair and equitable manner.

"We want justice; we want loans to safeguard our progress, but it only takes one dramatic occurrence to undermine what has taken decades to establish." Says Kaloga.

However, according to Kaloga, as part of the Paris agreement package, the world community agreed during COP21 in Paris that there would be no compensation and no culpability for loss or damage.

"The devil is in the details; people only see the Paris agreement, but the operational decisions, and particularly paragraph 54, speak about no liability, no compensation”.

However, though Article 8 of the Paris Agreement does not provide a basis for any liability or compensation, it specifies some areas of cooperation and facilitation to enhance understanding of and action to address loss and damage, such as irreversible loss and damage, slow onset processes, early warning systems, and risk management.

Will the transitional committee proposal sail through at COP28, or is it likely to be a bomb? Have a listen.

70 percent of GLF Africa participants were aged between 18 to 35 making up 3000 of the 7000 registered participants. Cities Alliance, a global partnership fighting urban poverty and promoting the role of cities, notes that almost 60 percent of Africa's more than 1 billion people are under the age of 25, making Africa the world's youngest continent.

The youth are a massive resource. The youth are technologically astute with a capacity to deal with technology compared to other age groups. They are more invested in sustainable means of Restoration and adaptation as climate change impacts their current and future livelihoods. But are they fully engaged? Do they have access to means of implementation? Do they have access to mentorship?

"Let us not look at land just as space needed to build houses and grow food but as open safe spaces where young people can meet and share innovative ideas" Diana Kyalo, a land right activists, founder, and writer at Land Pages told the Africa Climate Conversations. Amina Aden, a Research scientist at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) currently, the only female forestry researcher in North Eastern Kenya, says the youths are not participating in critical decision-making processes. Aden believes involving youth and women would provide a mentorship ground and allow them to share their input.

This episode is part of the Restoration of the African Dryland series is a six-part series on the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) Africa Digital Conference led by the Center for the International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), in collaboration with its co-founders UNEP, the World Bank, and its Charter Members.

The 27th United nation Climate summit (COP27) is eight weeks away. COP27 occurs when several climate-related emergency crises, such as floods, drought, wildfires, storms, and cyclones, devastate communities, economies, and ecosystems.

Today we welcome the COP27 President Special Representative Ambassador Wael Aboulmagd.

About 30 years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, agenda 21 recognized that humanity stands at a defining moment in history, confronted by worsening poverty, hunger, ill health, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we all depend for our well-being. Years later, world leaders continue to prioritize development over the environment. Today’s episode explores the link between biodiversity and our day-to-day life, like food, water, and air. We also discuss how best nations can develop while sustaining their biodiversity and reducing emissions.

Urban development in Kenya's Capital city, Nairobi, started when Nairobi was established as a railway headquarters in the late 19th Century. Despite numerous attempts at planning, Nairobi has operated for decades without a plan. Until 2014 when the Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Master Plan (NIUPLAN) expected to guide the city until 2030 was drawn.

NIUPLAN comes after the 1973 Metropolitan Growth Strategy, which legally expired in 2003. Lack of finance, lack of commitments, and political will saw most of the 1973 strategy recommendations go unimplemented. Currently, most infrastructure developments being implemented were proposed by the 1973 strategy.

Over the years, unplanned development has come up in areas originally zoned for agriculture, or low population density straining the current drainage system while encroaching on the green spaces that originally gave Nairobi its legacy of a green city in the sun.

In today's episode, Dr. Lawrence Esho, a professor of spatial planning at the Technical university of Kenya and a practicing urban regional planner says lack of proper planning exacerbated Nairobi's sewer system challenges solid waste collection, and has seen industrial waste dumped in rivers over the years. Additionally, flooding due to surface runoff has become a norm in Nairobi. How far has Nairobi's urban development come? With decentralization, has the counties learned from previous planning mistakes?