Africa - Up in Smoke?: The Second Report from the Working Group on Climate Change and Development

by Andrew Simms

Africa - Up in Smoke?--the second report from a coalition of the U.K.'s top environment and development groups, the Working Group on Climate Change and Development--says that efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa will ultimately fail unless urgent action is taken to halt dangerous climate change. The report says that G8 nations have failed to “connect-the-dots” between climate change and Africa. Unless addressed, this could condemn generations in the world’s poorest nations. The G8 summit can choose to act now, or see human development gains go up in smoke, the coalition warns.

The report, with a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and pictures, graphics, and case studies throughout, details the impact that climate change is already having on Africa and the threat it poses to human development. Africa - Up in Smoke? calls for new and deeper emission cuts in rich countries, and for the G8 to make significant new funds available to help poor countries adapt to the impacts that are already being felt.
Written with support of with support from Hannah Reid, International Institute for Environment and Development, and based on material supplied by the members of the Working Group on Climate Change and ActionAid International, Bird Life, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, Christian Aid, the Catholic Institute for International Relations, Columban Faith and Justice, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Institute for Development Studies, IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development), MedAct, nef (new economics foundation), Operation Noah, Oxfam, People & Planet, Practical Action (formerly ITDG), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Tearfund, teri Europe, WaterAid, and the World Wildlife Fund.

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Andrew Simms is policy director of nef (the new economics foundation) the award-winning UK think-and-do tank, and head of nef's Climate Change Programme. His latest book is Ecological Debt: Global Warming and the Wealth of Nations published by Pluto Press.