COMESA-EAC and SADC Launch Climate Change Intitiative

The East African Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) have launched a joint five-year Programme on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. The focus of the Programme is increasing investments in climate resilient and carbon efficient agriculture (climate-smart agriculture) and its linkages to forestry, land use and energy practices by 2016. The programme has received $20 million funding from the Royal Government of Norway, the European Union Commission and UK’s Department of International Development (DfID), signifying an exemplary partnership between Africa and Europe on climate change.

The three RECs comprising the Tripartite will synergize on their respective comparative advantages that include: main-streaming climate change in national and regional policies and strategies; climate resilient and climate smart agriculture; vulnerability assessment and disaster risk reduction approaches; and climate change policy negotiations to provide African solutions to climate change.

EAC’s key achievements in the area of climate change over the last few years include: approval of the EAC Climate Change Policy and issuance a Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change by the EAC Summit; the establishment of the EAC Climate Change Fund and Climate Change Coordination Unit at the EAC Secretariat; as well as the development of a Regional Climate Change Position as input to the African Common Negotiating Position on Climate Change.

See full article here and previous articles on climate change here.

Solar Lighting Boom in Africa?

Nairobi — As many as 120 million households in Africa will be living off-grid by 2015, creating one of the world's largest markets for portable solar lighting in the next five years. This is according to a report, 'Solar Lighting for the Base of the Pyramid - Overview of an Emerging Market' which is published by Lighting Africa, a joint International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank initiative that is developing continent-wide programmes for solar lighting.

The report projects an up to 65 per cent growth rate in sales of portable solar lights, comparable to the recent explosion in mobile phone sales on the continent. Currently, only 0.5 per cent of some 140 million African people living without regular or reliable access to electricity have such lights.  The growth will be fueled by entrepreneurs using the latest technologies and designing products to suit consumers' tastes, the report says. But the market could grow even faster if distribution and financing were scaled up, it says.

Arthur Itotia, Lighting Africa programme manager, told SciDev.Net that the initiative does not just aim to light households but also to save people money and reduce the health risks associated with fuel lamps.  "By converting from kerosene to clean energy millions of consumers can improve their health, reduce their spending on expensive fuels and, ultimately, benefit from better illumination and more productive time in their homes, schools and businesses."  

The report also found that an average African household could spend US$225 less a year on kerosene by using solar lighting. Lighting Africa is helping to build the market for off-grid lighting across Sub-Saharan Africa by investing in consumer education, improving access to financing and looking at new ways to distribute the lighting.

Dana Rysankova, senior energy specialist in the Africa Energy Unit at the World Bank, said that Africa's high population growth and low levels of access to the grid mean that it will soon surpass Asia in the number of people without electricity.  The lessons learned from Africa, she said, are being used to give advice to other areas.  "For example, Lighting Africa advised another World Bank project in Haiti that was disseminating solar lanterns after the devastating earthquake there," said Rysankova.

But other experts warn that such noble ideas risk being overridden by market forces - especially if left solely in the hands of private sector players.  "Much as the idea is great and tenable, the implementers need to shape the market to allow poor households to buy the lights," said Simon Mugambi, an independent energy market consultant.

Dan Okoth All Africa 22nd December

Economics and Politics of Electricity- The Case of SA

Today, 25 African countries face an energy crisis and the World Bank has recently stated that only 26 per cent of the Sub-Saharan Africa population has access to electricity, in spite of various interventions by international agencies to address the continents' energy power crisis. In fact the number of African households without electricity access is projected to rise from 590 million in 2008 to 700 million in 2030, following the growing population in the continent against the background of inefficient power systems.

The irony is that the African continent is well endowed with energy resources but most remain untapped. To combat the energy crisis, many countries have had to contract expensive diesel-fuelled emergency generation plants – in some cases, the estimated annual costs are equivalent to more than one percentage point of growth domestic product (GDP). 


Some solutions to this problem include: boosting cross-border power trade, improving existing utility companies, improving access to electricity on a large scale, while helping countries chart low-carbon growth paths. A major portion of the challenges require massive infrastructure investments, however there are some opportunities for distribution and supply companies.  However for the private sector to participate, the economics and politics of electricity need to be understood- as shown in this piece on South Africa. 

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World Bank decision is crucial for South Africa's economic future

ENERGY FORECAST 2010

The World Bank’s decision, due on Thursday this week, whether to give Eskom a $3.75-billion loan - the bulk of which will be used to complete its 4 800MW Medupi coal-fired power station in Limpopo, with the balance to be invested in wind and concentrated solar power projects - could have a telling influence on the country’s economic development in the immediate years to come. If activist environmental groups have their way, disputed global long-term environmental benefits will get preference over domestic short- to medium-term economic necessity.

The background facts are that the present-day South African economy is two-thirds larger than it was a decade and a half ago on the back of substantially increased electricity needs, to which supply has not kept up. To achieve the growth rates going forward, which are required to ensure social stability, sustained job creation and poverty alleviation, increased generating capacity is needed urgently.

With the development of alternative renewable electricity still some years away from affordability and sustainability, coal seems to be South Africa’s only hope to keep the economy going during the bridging period until alternatives come on stream in any meaningful way. Fact is that for now, coal remains South Africa’s most abundant and affordable energy source.

The Medupi plant is a first of its kind which will be using the most efficient and lowest emission coal-fired technology available.

Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, in a recent article, wrote: “If there were any other way to meet our power needs as quickly or as affordably as our present circumstances demand, or on the required scale, we would prefer technologies that leave little or no carbon footprint. But we do not have that luxury if we are to meet our obligations to our people and to our broader region. South Africa generates more than 60% of electricity produced in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Activists still say “no”

To the environmental lobby groups, these arguments are not good enough. Staging a protest in front of the World Bank’s Pretoria offices 10 days ago, environmental watchdog Earthlife said the loan would be unhealthy for people in the vicinity of the proposed Medupi power station. It also would impact negatively on the country’s carbon footprint.

Earthlife organiser Makoma Lekalakala said that for environmental and social reasons, the World Bank must not grant the loan to Eskom.

“If the World Bank grants the loan, that means greenhouse [gas] emissions are going to increase and at the moment, South Africa is the highest greenhouse emitter in Africa. In that way, we will be doubling our emissions,” said Lekalakala.

Coal is not the future of generating energy in South Africa, which has abundant renewable power resources. Demonstrators also sarcastically awarded Eskom the Fossil Fool Award for even having considered the loan.

The narrow focus of activist groups, however, does not always achieve the most desired results in the long run. In the Untied States, today the world’s largest economy, still relies for more than 50% of its power needs on coal-generated electricity, with a massive negative impact on the global environment.

This picture, however, could have been dramatically different if it were not for the 'successes' of the activist lobby against nuclear power in the 1970s, which stunted the development to its full potential of that much 'cleaner' electricity option.

The fact that South Africa has plans in place to reduce the expansion of its carbon footprint over time and start reducing it before the middle of this century, again brings to the fore the question of why it should be expected now of developing countries effectively to pick up the tab of the past carbon overindulgence of the developed world.

Political complications

In the interim, Eskom’s loan application further is politically complicated by the involvement of the ANC as a player in the electricity sector.

Opposition leader Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has chosen the fact that the ANC’s investment arm has a 25% stake in Hitachi Power Africa - a main supplier to the Medupi power station - as a front to do political battle with the government.

She has written to the World Bank, asking whether a finding by the public protector, that former Eskom chairperson Vallie Moosa acted improperly in awarding a R38.5-billion Medupi contract to the Hitachi consortium, would influence the loan application.

Referring to calculations that the ANC is set to gain at least R1bn from the contract, she wrote in her weekly newsletter to supporters that “it is no exaggeration to say that if the loan is granted and the deal goes through, no opposition party may ever be in a postion to compete fairly with the ANC again. The ANC will entrench its single-party dominance and, in doing so, gravely weaken our democracy."

She also indicated that the DA would be meeting with the World Bank’s local chief Ruth Kagia and would lobby board members ahead of Thursday’s decision. She wanted Eskom to get the loan, but only on condition: that Chancellor House (the ANC’s investment arm) pulls out of the consortium which is building the power station.

Proposed West Africa Solar Power Commission

ECOWAS. Tapping into solar energy.  This is useful.

In a previous post we discussed the announcement by the EU Commissioner for Energy on the EU's plans to start importing solar power from Northern African countries; Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, through the the Desertec Industrial Initiative, launched in July 2009. 

Along similar lines, West Africa is also gearing up to develop solar resources given the abundance of sunshine and near possession of the largest desert in the world. In this regard, the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS have endorsed an initiative by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal that will enable the region to harness its solar energy potentials through the construction of solar power plants that will provide cheap energy as a complementary source for meeting West Africa’s energy needs. 

The move reiterates a proposal at the Copenhagen World Summit on Climate Change for Africa to commit to solar energy not only because of its availability but also because it is a less expensive source of energy that would help improve the competitiveness of the continent’s industries.

As evidence of support for President Wade’s initiative, the regional leaders urged each Member State to attach technical and financial experts to President Wade ‘in view of establishing the Commission on solar power that shall operate under President's Wade's chairmanship and authority.

EU Plans to Import North African Solar Power

Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 10 • Number 12 • 25th June 2010

Gunther Oettinger, Europe’s Energy Commissioner, has announced that the EU is expected to begin importing hundreds of megawatts of solar energy from North Africa within the next five years. The Commissioner’s comments came following a 20 June meeting with Algerian, Tunisian, and Moroccan ministers aimed at moving the renewable energy initiative forward. Importing energy from arid regions south of the Mediterranean has been proposed by Brussels as one of several strategies for helping the EU to meet its long-term goal of decarbonising its economy.

The EU currently aims to have 20 percent of its total energy requirements come from renewable sources by 2020. To help meet this goal the EU is looking to import solar energy to supplement domestic renewable energy initiatives. The solar energy captured in northern African nations would be transmitted to Europe via an inter-connector - a high voltage cable that will run under the Mediterranean Sea.

Launched in July 2009, the Desertec Industrial Initiative, which comprises 12 companies including Siemens, Deutsche Bank and REW, is in the process of developing a plan for solar power development in northern Africa. The consortium will seek public funding for its projects. The EU has stated that it will assist with updating regulations to allow transmission across European borders, coordinating stakeholders and conducting feasibility studies. The consortium has yet to produce a business plan for the proposed projects.

“I think some models starting in the next 5 years will bring some hundreds of megawatts to the European market,” Oettinger told Reuters on Sunday after the meeting. The long-term vision for the project is to provide thousands of megawatts to Europe in the next 20-40 years. The project will require a projected investment of about €400 billion and will aim to provide 15 percent of EU electricity demand. Subsidies from the EU will not be considered until the consortium produces a business plan for the project but are expected to go towards the construction of the interconnector.

Because the cost of transmitting energy from North Africa will be significant, officials must first determine whether the costs are offset by the amount of green energy the EU will actually receive. Even if solar power plants in the Sahara exhibit much higher performance, there could be a significant energy loss in the transmission to the EU.

The ministers from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco have agreed they are ready to start trade negotiations. In response to past concerns from Algerian officials regarding the EU’s exploitation of North African resources, Oettinger responded in a Reuters interview by saying, “maybe a bigger percentage of the electricity will be exported to Europe but at the same time we have to export the technology, tools, machines, experts, and so it’s a real partnership, not only a partnership by selling and by buying.”

There are concerns over how the EU will ensure that the energy transmitted is, in fact, green energy, not cheap and dirty fossil fuels. Oettinger says the problem of monitoring must be resolved in the next couple of years.

Climate Change and Africa’s Food Deficit

"Africa is now facing the same type of long-term food deficit problem that India faced in the early 1960s". This is according to a Study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) which recommends that Africa should spend more on Agriculture in order to avert a possible crisis. Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) food deficit is also increasingly compounded by climate change. In fact, one-third of the African population lives in drought-prone areas while two-thirds of SSA’s surface area is desert or dry land. The major impact of climate change on food security includes changes in precipitation and insulation, changes in the length of growing seasons and changes in carbon uptake. Additionally there are declines in agricultural yields, decline in the quality of pasture and livestock production, and reduced vegetation cover which place local people at risk of famine.

Climate change also affects rain-fed agriculture which is the main safety net of poor people in rural areas where agriculture employs about 70 percent of the population. The rain related challenges can either cause drought or floods and the maps shown (Source: World Bank Development Report 2010) indicates the countries likely to be affected by either.

Despite the fact that most people in SSA are engaged in agriculture, its productivity has stagnated for several years across the whole sub-region making the region a net food importer. In fact, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) list for 2010 of Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDC) - 44 of the 77 low income food deficit countries in the world are in Africa.

An example is the disappearance of Lake Chad over a 40 year period as shown in the image (source: GRID Arendal UNEP). Lake Chad is shared by Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger and its disappearance is a grim reminder of the dramatic ecological challenges and food shortages that lie ahead. The lake's area has decreased by 80 per cent over the last four decades, with catastrophic impacts on those reliant on its resources. Lake Victoria is receding as well and projected reductions in the rivers in the Nile region signal difficult times ahead. 

Another dimension is that of water, storage and infrastructure. Most rivers cross more than one country, necessitating effective cooperation across borders. Africa’s 63 transboundary river basins together account for 90 percent of its surface water resources necessitating regional water control systems.  Armed conflict further complicates agriculture and climate change risk management. For poor people living in weak or unstable states, climate change will deepen hunger, suffering, and intensify the risks of food insecurity, mass migration, violent conflict, and further fragility.

According to a World Bank Publication, by 2050, Sub-Saharan Africa will need to feed more people in a harsher climate. Agriculture will simply have to become more productive, getting more crop per drop while protecting ecosystems. Water resources need to be managed better by scaling up existing infrastructure to manage watersheds, rainfed agriculture and protecting forests. Improved planning for storage, power transmission, and irrigation including screening investments for climate risks will also be necessary. Countries will need to develop mechanisms for collaboration across sectors and countries.

There is a role for innovation and academic research institutions as well. This could be done by adopting simple technologies suitable for small farmers such as low-cost drip irrigation and storage of rainwater. African farmers should also be helped to work with new crop varieties. One example is "New Rice for Africa" (Nerica), an Asian-African hybrid developed in Africa with support from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), that combines drought resistance with high yields and high protein content. 

NERICA, the new rice variety was the result of years of work by a team of plant breeders and particularly Sierra Leonean molecular scientist Monty Jones at the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA – now the Africa Rice Center). When Dr. Jones (a 2004 winner of the WFP) set up the biotechnology research program in 1991, some 240 million people in West Africa were dependant on rice as their primary source of food energy and protein, but the majority of Africa’s rice was imported, at an annual cost of US$1 billion. According to WIPO, the most popular Nerica rice takes only three months to ripen, as opposed to six months for the parent species, thus allowing African farmers to “double crop” it in a single growing season with nutritionally rich vegetables or high-value fiber crops. 

Meanwhile in 2009, Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia, was the recipient of the World Food Prize for his sorghum hybrids which are resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed and which has dramatically increased the production and availability of one of the world’s five principal grains and enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Overall, a Climate Strategy for Africa and food security should also include: sustainable land and forest management; increased knowledge and analytical capacity, improved weather forecasting, research, extension services, market infrastructure and renewal energy generation systems. Farmers will also need to benefit from integrating biodiversity into the landscape and reducing carbon emissions from soil and deforestation.

The Green Wall of the Sahara and Sahel

going green... 


The Sahara desert experiences one of the harshest weather conditions in the world. The very dry, sandy winds and hot weather conditions certainly affect trade output and patterns in this region. For instance as sand dunes move, they bury villages, roads, oases, crops, irrigation channels and dams, causing major economic damage and increasing poverty and food insecurity.This groundbreaking transcontinental project tries to address this.

African nations on the desert border south of the Sahara are taking action to halt the march of sands by creating a great wall of green. They are contributing to the prevention of desert advancement and the development of the Saharo-Sahelian zones in order to ensure sustainable natural resource management and poverty reduction.

The “Great Green Wall” project is largely a multi-species vegetal belt 15 km wide that will link Dakar and Djibouti and stretch over a distance of about 7000 km. However it won’t be a continuous band of trees, but may be rerouted if necessary to avoid obstacles (streams, rocky terrains, mountains and rock hills) or go through inhabited areas, stretching from Mauritania in the west to Djibouti in the east.

The initiative will be a set of cross-sectoral actions and interventions aimed at the conservation and protection of natural resources with a view to achieving development and particularly, alleviating poverty. The trees however will be "drought-adapted species", preferably native to the areas planted, and so far about 37 suitable species have been identified. 

The African Union officially adopted the Great Green Wall initiative in December 2006 as one of the pillars of a rural strategy which reconciles development and environment. At the 8th common session of the Conference of the Heads of State and Government held in January 2007, the African Union adopted Declaration 137 VIII approving the Initiative "Green Great wall of Sahara. "

The plan benefits from Africa-EU Climate Change Partnership support and is implemented in collaboration with the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD). The Project has been in the works for several years with sources indicating funding difficulties and concerns regarding its maintenance. Nonetheless, it is expected that tree planting will soon begin. The great green belt will be 7000km long and 15km wide, at a cost $3 million to plant. The west-most section will be planted in Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal, while the eastern section will be planted in Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan.


Being a transboundary Programme, the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative would require some degree of policy harmonization for the implementation of issues such as transboundary range, ecosystems, water management and joint afforestation programmes. The participating countries would need to review their relevant policies and legislation to accommodate community involvement in environmental resources management and ownership of the benefits. 

Meanwhile the Food and Agriculture Organization has recently published a manual featuring a project in Mauritania which successfully fixed dunes and stopped sand encroachment. Sand encroachment is what happens when grains of sand are carried by winds and collect in dunes on the coast, along watercourses and on cultivated or uncultivated land.

According to a Study by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), the threat prosed by desertification is particularly acute in Africa, one of the continents most affected by the processes and impacts of land degradation and the deterioration of the communities' living conditions, particularly in the CEN-SAD area characterized by climate ranging from hyper-arid to dry sub-humid. 

Livelihoods in the countries located in this sub-region are heavily dependent on soil, water and vegetation resources, which have become increasingly fragile due to the mounting pressure being exerted on them.

Kenya's Economy; Driven by Services With Merchandise Exports Declining

While telecommunications, construction and transport sectors continued to drive Kenya's economy in 2009, merchandise exports have shrunk over the years and the Port of Mombasa has been identified as one stumbling block to Kenya's continued economic growth.  

This is according to the 2010 Kenya Country Report by the World Bank which finds that Kenya's growth rate was 2.5% in 2009 with higher projections of 4.0% foreseen in 2010. Even tourist arrivals registered a 18.9 percent growth in the first quarter of this year showing positive signs for this sector. Nonetheless, for the third consecutive year, Kenya's growth will continue to lag behind its EAC neighbours, as shown below.  

     The Report finds that overall, services grew by 4.2% and increased share of GDP from 50 % in 2000 to 55% of GDP in 2009. Agriculture contracted by 2.4%,and the role of agriculture in the economy  declined from 32% in 2000 to 26% in 2009, due in part to drought. Meanwhile, industry grew at 3.9% in 2009 due to the construction sub sector. 

This mixed performance is in part structural and in addition, Kenya remains sensitive to climatic conditions.  For instance, the 2009 weak performance in manufacturing was caused by the spillover effects from the drought which caused higher electricity costs, power outages and reduced water supply. The drought had spill-over effects in all sectors and clearly increased efforts in key infrastructure services will be necessary, to sustain increased growth.

Kenya’s economy is currently more dependant on domestic consumption than exports, and Kenya’s highest value exports, especially horticulture and tourism remain heavily dependant on Europe. This high degree of export concentration makes Kenya vulnerable to external shocks and points to the need to further diversify export markets. 

Surprisingly, Kenya has an export strategy, which was approved by Cabinet in 2004.  See previous post here on the weaknesses of export-led strategies. 

While exports of goods have been unimpressive, services exports increased from 8% in 2000 to 12% of GDP in 2009.  The strength of the domestic sector and the weakness in exports has created a large and growing current account deficit which reached 5.5% of GDP by end 2009. This current account deficit was financed mainly by increasing short term financial inflows including investment. 

                              One lesson learnt- so to speak- is that Kenya has not yet developed a targeted and strategic industrial policy. This is despite having several national policy documents such as the Vision 2030, the Private Sector Development Strategy, the Master Plan for Kenya’s Industrial Development, and the recently drafted National Trade Policy. 

Technology and Innovation in Agriculture

The Technology and Innovation Report 2010: Enhancing Food Security in Africa Through Science and Technology and Innovation  looks at the current trend towards declining agricultural productivity in many developing countries, especially in Africa.  


1. The Report identifies key challenges in the growth of agricultural capacity. These include: 
(a) declining investment; 
(b) a lack of guaranteed land tenure and access to credit;
(c) isolation of small holder farmers; 
(d) inadequate adaptation to climate change; 
(e) lack of  high technology bio-energy solutions; 
(f) previous structural adjustment policies and 
(g) a lack of regionally relevant innovation priorities in agricultural research and innovation.  


2. To address these impediments, the key recommendations include to:
(a) Place smallholder farmers at the centre of policy;
(b) Strengthen policy maker capabilities;
(c) Target agricultural investment;
(d) Reinforce agricultural innovation systems by focusing on the enabling environment;
(e) Take into account local agro-ecological conditions;
(f) Explore the potential of global networks and value chains;
(g) Link national, regional and international agriculture research to innovation;
(h) Revitalize funding and strategies for research and development;
(i) Promote Linkages Within and Outside of the Agriculture Innovation System
(j) Engage in capacity building;
(k) International cooperation on technology transfer & technology sharing and
(l) Multilateral rule-making and policy space


The Report can be accessed here.