Africa needs climate help
A frica needs urgent assistance in adapting to climate change if its people are to thrive in the 21st century, warned Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme. “Response to climate change is interdependent and Africa cannot cope on its own. This makes it the main test of people working together to adapt to the impacts of climate change,” he said, speaking during the launch of a regional report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change entitled “Climate-proofing Africa, Key Challenge for the Continent”. T he report predicts that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions will see up to 1,8 million more people in Africa without sufficient clean water, an increase in arid and semi-arid lands, poverty and an increase in pandemics like malaria, cholera and Rift Valley Fever. – Irin
Zim hamstrings free trade
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Common Market for East and Africa (Comesa) have been urged to implement trade protocols in order to enhance cross-border trade. The Cross-border Traders Association (CBTA) of Zambia has urged SADC and Comesa governments to take these steps for the benefit of markets in these African regional organisations. CBTA acting chair Celeste Mwanakisi said the association was saddened that there was a lack of implementation by member countries on some of the protocols that they had signed. M wanakisi said traders were still facing problems with customs authorities in some Comesa member countries that had joined the Free Trade Area. association, she said, was expecting trade barriers to be eliminated now that the regional bodies were moving towards regional integration. She added the continued economic crisis in Zimbabwe, a member of both the SADC and Comesa, has also restricted cross-border trade. – BuaNews
