Highlights and images for 7 October 2019

Highlights for Monday, 7 October 2019

The first African Climate Risks Conference (ACRC) opened on Monday, October 7, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, aiming to offer a robust platform for sharing the latest African climate research.The meeting kicked off with a high-level opening session under the overarching theme: “Dismantling barriers to urgent climate change adaptation actions.” Fekadu Beyene, Commissioner, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Commission, Ethiopia, noted that while Africa's contribution to GHG emissions is negligible, it is heavily impacted by climate change, thus rendering climate adaptation a necessity. Joseph Mukabana, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Regional Office for Africa, highlighted the conference as a space for coordinating efforts to optimize resources and avoid duplicating efforts, and noted the need for technology, capacity building, and finance. Drawing attention to various climate change-related challenges affecting Africa, Fetene Teshome, National Meteorology Agency, Ethiopia, noted that climate variability is a threat to agricultural production, compromising development.Julius Kabubi, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, urged the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the African programme of action for the implementation of the Framework. Filipe Lúcio, Global Framework for Climate Services, drew attention to the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Idai, noting that drainage systems provided by mangroves and wetlands serving the city of Beira, in Mozambique, had been degraded by human settlements and charcoal production. Rosalind West, Climate Science and Services Advisor, Department for International Development, UK, stressed the meeting as an opportunity to: listen and learn; collaborate; and scale up efforts by transitioning from research into action.Before breaking into parallel thematic sessions, participants heard presentations, in plenary, on findings from the Future Climate for Africa Programme. Various projects were outlined on, inter alia, rainfall trends, rainfall paradoxes in different African regions, and future resilience for African cities and lands.Parallel thematic sessions were held throughout the day, including:

The dense first day of ACRC also included two panel discussions, focusing on the agricultural and water sectors, respectively; two workshops on climate information distillation, focusing on constructing climate messages for decision making, and on collaborative resilience-building through Theatre Forum; a training session on the messages of the 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special reports for sub-Saharan Africa; and a seminar examining climate change adaptation.

IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB+ meeting coverage, provided daily photographic coverage and a summary report from ACRC 2019. The summary report is now available in HTML and PDF.

Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth

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Opening Session

Delegates gather for the opening session of ACRC 2019.

Julius Kabubi, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

Joseph Mukabana, World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Rosalind West, Department for International Development (DfID), UK

Suzanne Carter, SouthSouthNorth (SSN)

Fekadu Beyene, Commissioner, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Commission, Ethiopia

Fetene Teshome, National Meteorology Agency (NMA), Ethiopia

Moderator Filipe Lúcio, Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS)

Findings from the Future Climate for Africa Programme

Catherine Senior, Met Office, UK

John Marsham, University of Leeds, UK

Richard Washington, University of Oxford, UK

Christopher Taylor, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK

Christopher Jack, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Delegates participate in an interactive discussion following the presentations.

Theme 1: Latest Research on Climate Science of Africa

Delegates listen to more than 20 presenters discussing the latest research on climate science.

Caroline Wainwright, University of Reading, UK

Wilfried Pokam, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon

Ritah Nakanjako, Makerere University, Uganda

Moustapha Tall, University of Dakar, Senegal

Martin Addi, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Theme 3: Evidence for Action - Climate Change Risk Analysis

Delegates attend the discussions on 'evidence for action - climate change risk analysis'.

Joyce Kimutai, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Kaitano Dube, Vaal University of Technology, South Africa

Ifeoma Quinette Anugwa, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Cheikh Kane, French Research Institute for Development

Meryl Jagarnath, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Theme 5: Co-Production of Knowledge Between Science, Business, Policy, Practice, and Local Communities

Delegates during the session on 'co-production of knowledge.'

Alice McClure, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Bruce Currie-Alder, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Emmah Mwangi, Kenya Meteorological Department

Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Georgetown University, US

Amy Pieterse, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa

Workshops and Panel Sessions Throughout the Day

Participants during the panel session on 'Adapting to Climate Today for Tomorrow - example of agriculture'.

Sylwia Trzaska, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), US

Pauline Nantongo Kalunda, Executive Director, Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda

Participants attending the briefing for journalists workshop focused on the 'IPCC Special Reports 2019: What do they mean for
sub-Saharan Africa?'

Jemal Seid Ahmed, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research

Tony Knowles, SouthSouthNorth (SSN)

Participants watch a scene from a theatre production during a workshop on 'Exploring differing priorities of actors engaged in
collaborative resilience-building through Theatre Forum.'

Around the Venue

Delegates arrive for the first day of the ACRC 2019.

Delegates speak informally before the start of plenary.

A delegate reads the programme for the week.

Materials on display around the venue.