When we started early this morning from Islamabad, I didn’t exactly know what would be awaiting me in the region of Mardan.
There is still water in the streets and the victims are waiting for support. (Photo: CARE/ Schwarz)
I had seen many reports on TV, read the papers, listened to the radio and had spoken with my CARE colleagues. The whole weekend I had met UN representatives as well as other international humanitarian organisations.
My friend Manika who came from Cambodia with me asked an interesting question: “Does the climate change people’s habits?” She noticed that people in Germany get up and go to sleep later than people in Cambodia do and that the sun in Germany sets later, too.
My friend, Michael said that in front of the University of Bonn, there are often many people sitting around, sun bathing, but now it looks so quiet. (Photo: Chandara Tith)
When I walked to the city with my friend Michael, he told me that the park in front of the University of Bonn was always full of people sun bathing during the summer. But now, less people go there. He wondered if it is too hot for people to do so.
The COP15 in Copenhagen (or “Brokenhagen”, as some like to call it now) is over. CARE is in no way happy with the results of this mega-event. This is why we will put even more effort in helping the poorest of the poor to adapt to a changing climate and get out of poverty.
Speaking from Copenhagen, Robert Glasser (Secretary General of CARE International), Geoffrey Dennis (National Director of CARE UK) and Niels Tofte (National Director of CARE Denmark share their view on climate change and how it will impact the work of CARE in the future. (more…)
Here is CARE’s Secretary General Robert Glasser giving a speech in Copenhagen downtown on yesterday’s humanitarian day. The day also highlighted that women and children in developing countries already spend hours every day fetching water. Climate change means that they will have to walk even further as wells dry up. To draw attention to this fact, the opening was followed by a youth solidarity event where Danish school girls carried carry water containers. They walked from Kongens Nytorv all the way to the Bella Centre – about 6 kilometres. Danish-Zambian singer Karen Mukupa sent the girls off with a song.
CARE at Humanitarian Day from CARE & Climate Change on Vimeo. (more…)
Today, we have two videos on the work of CARE in Copenhagen. The first one features Cynthia Awuor, CARE’s regional climate change coordinator for eastern and central Africa. She explains the impact of climate change on Africa and especially the women living there. Cynthia has also written a letter to the negotiators at Copenhagen. Read it at the homepage of CARE Canada. In the second video, CARE’s international climate change adaption coordinator Angie DazĂ© will give an introduction to Community Based Adaption.
Cynthia Awuor on climate change in Africa and its impact on women:
Climate impacts on East and Central Africa from CARE & Climate Change on Vimeo.
Angie Dazé on Community Based Adaption:
CARE’s approach to CBA: Community-Based Adaptation from CARE & Climate Change on Vimeo.
Ulrich Bang, CARE International Sustainable Energy Advisor in Ghana, explains the importance of developing and implementing sustainable and poverty-related energy projects.
Climate change and energy from CARE & Climate Change on Vimeo.
Sofia Sprechmann, deputy director for CARE Latin-America and the Caribbean, talks about the women and climate change. Women make up 70 percent of the global poor and will be heavily affected by climate change.
CARE policy analyst Christina Chan explains why a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal on adaptation is so important:
CARE’s Position on Adaptation from CARE & Climate Change on Vimeo.
ADVOCACY: Poul Erik Lauridsen, CARE International’s Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator, explains what CARE will be doing in the next two weeks at COP15 to advocate for a fair, ambitious and binding Agreement.
CARE’s Advocacy Efforts at COP15 from CARE & Climate Change on Vimeo.
At COP 15, CARE International will work towards mobilizing the much needed political will to seal a fair, ambitious and binding deal in Copenhagen that puts especially vulnerable people at the centre of the world’s response to climate change.
Such a deal should include a commitment to deep cuts in emissions and strong adaptation and REDD provisions. It much also address the needs and rights of especially vulnerable people and ensure their active and meaningful participation at all levels of decision-making.
See an introduction to the positions of CARE in this video:
Welcome to COP15 from CARE & Climate Change on Vimeo.
