Africa Climate Debate

Africa Climate is a portal where news about Africa, that affect Africa and are linked to development in general are posted. You can join the list of followers, contributors using the various social networking tools. The focus is in general climate change. But then.. what is climate change? Climate Change is about everything! It is about YOU!

In total, the public will spend Sh4.3 billion a year on 222 MPs’ salaries and their many allowances. Currently, the MPs’ salaries and allowances other than sitting allowances cost the taxpayer Sh2.2 billion per year. This will rise to Sh3.3 billion under the new plan. The annual bill for sitting allowances alone will be Sh1 billion.The cost of MPs’ wages is only Sh100 million less than the Sh4.4 billion set aside for the purchase of medicine for all hospitals in Kenya under the current budget. MPs’ sitting allowances alone exceed the Sh900 million the government has set aside to buy ARVs for HIV patients this financial year.It is equal to the Sh1 billion the government intends to spend on recruitment of 15 nurses and five health technicians in each of the 210 constituencies. Each MP will cost Sh123 million for one parliamentary term, a lot more money than what the government intends to use to build 200 fish ponds across the country this financial year.Salaries and allowances for all MPs for one term will be Sh27.3 billion, more than the budget for free primary education and the purchase of computers in each of the 210 constituencies this financial year. But the MPs’ salaries and allowances are set to balloon to Sh5.2 billion every year if the proposed constitution sails through, creating a 350-member Parliament, only Sh200 million short of the money the Treasury has set aside for rural electrification which will see 3,310 public institutions in rural areas connected to the national grid this financial year

via Daily Nation: - News |Not with Kenyans tax money.

The Real Story of the POSCO Project

Today, Orissa police opened fire on peaceful protesters sitting on dharna for their lands and livelihoods. The Campaign for Survival and Dignity joins other democratic forces in condemning this atrocious brutality, in which at least 50 people have been injured, markets have been burned and many more are likely to be wounded or killed. We also wish to draw attention to the following facts:

Please call the following people:

1- Superintendent of Police (Debadutta Singh) at 09437094678
2- Naveen Pattnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa
Tel. No.(O) 0674- 2531100,2535100 (FAX)
Tel. No.(R) 0674- 2590299, 2591099,2590844,2591100,2590833
Email : cmo@ori.nic.in

3- Prime Minister of India – Shri Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, + 91 11 2301 6857
manmohan@sansad.nic.in

Your urgent action is needed. Let us not let another Kalinganagar, Kashipur or Narayanpatna happen again.

The body admits one error, concerning the melting date of Himalayan glaciers, but robustly rebuts the wider charge.

The review panel was set up by the InterAcademy Council which comprises bodies such as the UK’s Royal Society.

IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri will be the first person to present to the panel when it begins on Friday, and is expected to outline the organisation's rules and procedures.

“I’ve read many many comments about the IPCC and I’ve talked to people inside and outside the organisation,” said Robbert Dijkgraaf, co-chair of the InterAcademy Council.

via BBC News – Review of IPCC workings set to open.

Africa on Tuesday expressed doubt over the capacity of developed nations to keep their financial commitments made during last years Copenhagen summit to help poor countries deal with climate change.”It;s primordial to know whether the financial pledges will be kept. Doubts have been expressed and we have indications that these doubts are justified,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the opening of an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa.Meles said that at the next climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, in December, “we need to refine our strategies in concentrating especially on the implementation of the financial commitments of Copenhagen.”The Ethiopian leader is the chief negotiator appointed by the 53 member states of the African Union for all issues relating to climate change. Africa has decided that it wants a single voice to represent it during international meetings.

via AFP: Africa skeptical over funds to combat global warming.

“At a time when climate change is already making it harder for people in Bangladesh to find enough drinking water, it seems callous to fret about what might happen to premium wines” according to Williams from Frog’s Leap.

Williams is the founder of Frog’s Leap, one of the most ecologically minded wineries in Napa and, for that matter, the world. Electricity for the operation comes from 1,000 solar panels erected along the Merlot vines. The heating and cooling are supplied by a geothermal system that taps into the earth’s heat. The vineyards are 100 percent organic and — most radical of all, considering Napa’s dry summers — there is no irrigation.Yet despite his environmental fervor, Williams dismisses questions about preparing Frog’s Leap for the impacts of climate change. “We have no idea what effects global warming will have on the conditions that affect Napa Valley wines, so to prepare for those changes seems to me to be whistling past the cemetery,” he says, a note of irritation in his voice. “All I know is, there are things I can do to stop, or at least slow down, global warming, and those are things I should do.”Williams has a point about keeping things in perspective.

via What Climate Change Means for Wine Industry | Wired Science | Wired.com.

Using productive farmland to grow crops for food instead of fuel is more energy efficient, Michigan State University scientists concluded, after poring over 17 years’ worth of data to help settle the food versus fuel debate.It is 36 percent more efficient to grow grain for food than for fuel,” said Ilya Gelfand, an MSU postdoctoral researcher. “The ideal is to grow corn for food, then leave half the leftover stalks and leaves on the field for soil conservation and produce cellulosic ethanol with the other half.”

via Scientists Say Growing Grain For Food Is More Energy Efficient – US News and World Report.

Using productive farmland to grow crops for food instead of fuel is more energy efficient, Michigan State University scientists concluded, after poring over 17 years’ worth of data to help settle the food versus fuel debate.It is 36 percent more efficient to grow grain for food than for fuel,” said Ilya Gelfand, an MSU postdoctoral researcher. “The ideal is to grow corn for food, then leave half the leftover stalks and leaves on the field for soil conservation and produce cellulosic ethanol with the other half.”

via Scientists Say Growing Grain For Food Is More Energy Efficient – US News and World Report.

The East African nation flies up to £1.3 million of freshly cut flowers to Europe each day but British, Dutch and Kenyan airlines have all grounded their flights from Nairobi since Thursday.Some 400 tonnes of flowers were due to be destroyed on Sunday, and from then onwards flowers and fresh goods will be destroyed each day that the crisis caused by the volcanic ash cloud continues.

Is there an irony in this?

Kenya can not produce enough food for the stomach but is able to generate 1.3 Million pound flowers per day — food for the Western Souls?

Food security issues are just political talk and about volcanic purses of dough for some!!

via Fresh goods for supermarkets rot in Kenya as volcano grounds flights – Telegraph.

Have you noticed lately that most of your contacts who prefer to be invisible in google mail are suddenly visible?

Incidentally, in their message panel, it still shows that they are invisible.. but to their contacts, it shows they are available to chat!!google do something!!!