A short film by ACCCRN partner Mercy Corps showcasing a range of projects in Indonesia aimed at building urban climate change resilience in coastal cities and vulnerable communities.

The rise in global food prices and the ever-growing food import bill have prompted sharp attention on agricultural policies in Africa. African policy makers are grappling with what unstable food prices mean for their countries; how these price movements will affect their food security situation; how the private sector is likely to respond; and what governments themselves can do. In addition, they fear that global warming may significantly change the location of food production within Africa. This report discusses how opening up cross-border trade will boost the potential for greater food production in Africa and contribute to food security by improving poor people’s access to food and by increasing returns to poor farmers for the food they produce.

Africa Can Help Feed Africa by World Bank Publications

In a boost for global efforts to combat climate change and tropical deforestation, Finland, Germany, and Norway have each announced new financial contributions totaling approximately US$180 million to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), the World Bank administered facility that was set up to compensate developing countries for reductions in carbon dioxide emissions achieved by preserving their forests.

Read more: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2013/01/10/new-funding-for-climate-fore...

The World Trade Organization Secretariat (WTO) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through the Integration and Trade Sector and its Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL) and the CARICOM Secretariat, are jointly organizing an “Regional Workshop on Trade and Environment for Caribbean Countries”, that will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Kingston, Jamaica, on January 15th to 17th, 2013.

Read more: http://events.iadb.org/calendar/eventDetail.aspx?lang=en&id=3954

The latest International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Medium-Term Coal Market Report 2012 re-confirms the dangerous path the world is on–a path of increasing dependence on coal, which carries serious environmental risks for people and the planet. According to the report, the world will burn 1.2 billion metric tons more coal per year by 2017 compared to today, surpassing oil as the world’s top energy source.

Read more: http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/12/new-coal-report-underscores-urgent-...

Nessim J. Ahmad talks about ADB's environment community of practice.

In the cool, fertile highlands of the Rift Valley Province in western Kenya, the landscape is dominated by tea. Kenya is the world’s largest producer and the leading exporter of the caffeinated leaves, and the land around the township of Kericho and bordering the Mau Forest Complex is one of the country’s primary tea producing areas. But recent projections by tea industry group Ethical Tea Partnership show that, without substantial action, climate change will render most of the Kericho-Mau area unsuitable for tea production by 2050.

Read more: http://blog.ecoagriculture.org/2012/12/17/kerichomau/

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing $300 million towards a groundbreaking project that will replace 100,000 gasoline-burning tricycles in the Philippines with clean, energy efficient electric tricycles, or E-Trikes.

“E-Trikes are a cleaner, greener transport solution for the Philippines, and provide a better quality of life for trike drivers,” said Neeraj Jain, ADB’s Country Director for the Philippines. “This project can help transform transportation in the Philippines, and positions the country as a leader in electric vehicle development in Asia.”

Read more: http://www.adb.org/news/300-million-green-transportation-revolution-phil...

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One of the big debates at the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which came to a close last week, revolved around the role of agriculture and whether to establish a separate agricultural work programme. The decision to set up a work programme has now been deferred – again. This is an opportunity to rethink the broader issues around climate change and agriculture.

Read more: http://www.ids.ac.uk/news/time-for-a-rethink-getting-smart-about-politic...