Electricity + Control January 2016

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ROUND UP
Climate Change: Briefings from Southern Africa
Bob Scholes, Mary Scholes and Mike Lucas
In the recently published book, written by Bob Scholes, Mary Scholes and Mike Lucas,
entitled: Climate Change: Briefings fromSouthernAfrica, the authors identify four sections:
• The changes we observe and their underlying causes
• The likely consequences for the natural world
• The consequences for humans and their enterprises
• Some potential solutions
It answers questions such as:
• How do greenhouse gases regulate the Earth’s temperature?
• How hot will it get?
• Will South Africa run out of water?
• Isn’t climate change just part of a long-term natural cycle?
• Do cow-farts really cause global warming?
• Is sea-level rise something to worry about?
• Will marine fisheries collapse?
• Can solar and wind power meet our energy needs?
• How can I reduce my carbon footprint?
• Is there any chance of runaway global warming?
In her Foreword, Minister of Science andTechnology, South Africa, Naledi Pamdor, writes:
This book summarises the important knowledge gathered around global change and its impact in the Southern African region. It points
out that the southern African region has over the past century warmed at a rate of about twice the global average. What is more perturb-
ing is that it will continue to do so if proactive actions are not taken to address global warming.The fact that large parts of Southern Africa
are already hot and dry makes the countries in this region all the more vulnerable to further waarming and greater rainfall uncertainties.
Book available from Wits University Press
A brief on COP 21 outcomes
The world’s first universal climate accord has been signed.The 2016
ParisAgreement is a landmark deal that brings together 196 nations,
uniting them in the fight against climate change and its impacts.
The 31-page document contains advantages and disappointments
for rich and poor. According to NastasyaTay of IRIN (humanitarian
news and analysis).
It won't prevent dangerous climate change:
Scientists estimate that we are currently on course for a global
temperature increase of 2,7 ºC from pre-industrial levels by 2100.
The Paris Agreement includes a temperature limit of ‘Well below
2 ºC’, and says there should be ‘efforts’ to limit it to 1,5 ºC.
Parts of it are legally binding, but not emissions' cuts:
Emissions cuts have been left up to national governments, and
while they're not legally binding, the architecture of the system is.
International aviation and shipping – which, if they were a country
would be the world's 10th largest emitter – have been omitted from
the agreement.
Green economy goal:
The long-term goal of the Paris Agreement is to ‘reach global peak-
ing of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible’ and achieve
‘balance’ between emissions and ‘removals by sinks of greenhouse
gases’ in the second half of the century. It is effectively a promise
to try to reach zero net emissions in the second half of this century.
It speaks of ‘universal access to sustainable energy in developing
countries’ in particular inAfrica, through the enhanced deployment
of renewable energy. Fossil fuels are not mentioned.
Developed and developing countries:
The Paris Agreement makes a conscious effort to be balanced. It
draws distinctions between developed and developing countries…
from providing finance, to transparent reporting, adding that devel-
oping countries will act based on their capacity to do so. It makes a
concession when it comes to emissions cuts with large, emerging
economies to be done ‘on the basis of equity, and in the context of
sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.’
Loss and damage:
The Agreement addresses ‘averting, minimising and addressing
loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate
change, including extreme weather events and slow onset events,
and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of
loss and damage’.
Poor countries will get money:
In Copenhagen, rich countries promised to give $100 billion a year
from 2020 to 2025.The Paris Agreement confirms that, adding that
this number is only the ‘floor’ of climate finance and that there is
an intention to scale this up.
Assistance to countries to adapt:
Helping countries adapt features heavily in the Paris Agreement -
on a par with mitigating its effects. It establishes a ‘global goal’ on
adaptation of ‘enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience
and reducing vulnerability to climate change’.
Acknowledgement of human rights:
It tells countries that, when taking action to address climate change,
they should ‘promote and consider their respective obligations on
human rights and that even in the face of grave and urgent climate
change challenges’, nations must not compromise the fundamental
rights of their citizens.
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