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    Nairobi, Kenya, November 3, 2006 — IDRC's recently-launched Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) program will be on the ground in Nairobi, November 6-17, with experts available to discuss the urgent need for Africa to adapt to the expected impacts of climate change.

Nations signed on to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are set to meet for the 12th Conference of Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 12) and second Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/ MOP 2). Taking place on the African continent, this round of talks will foreground the threat climate change poses for some of the world's most vulnerable populations, and the possibility that hard-won development gains in Africa will be undone.

Many parts of Africa already suffer extremes of climate variation, with drought and unpredictable rainfall patterns a major factor in famine and related humanitarian disasters. Climate change is expected to add to these extremes, with the poorest communities least equipped to cope.

Though its contribution to climate change is negligible, Africa faces an urgent need to adapt to the expected impacts of this global phenomenon. These include threats to coastal communities from rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and changes in fisheries; increased drought and desertification in Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa, and shifting patterns of malaria and other vector borne diseases due to changes in rainfall patterns.

In May 2006, Canada's IDRC and the UK Department for International Development (IDRC) jointly launched the CCAA, a five-year, CA$ 65 million program of research to support African efforts to increase adaptive capacity on the continent.

IDRC will host an official side event on November 8 and a roundtable on November 9 in Nairobi focusing on adaptation research. The Hon. Prof. Kivutha Kibwana, Kenyan Minister for the Environment, will preside at a reception marking the African launch of the CCAA on the evening of November 9. His Excellency, Mr. Adam Wood, British High Commissioner to Kenya, and Mr. Keith Christie, Canadian Co-head of Delegation to the Climate Change Conference will also address the event.

Experts with the CCAA will be available to talk with media about expected climate change impacts in Africa, what is being done to help African countries adapt, and the program's first round of support for research and capacity development.

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For more information on IDRC events, or to speak with members of the CCAA delegation at COP 12, COP/MOP 2, please contact:

In Ottawa:
Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé at ibourgeault-tasse@idrc.ca;
(613) 236-6163 x2343

In Nairobi:
Mary O'Neill at maoneill@idrc.ca ;
+254 72 708 6846
or Vivianne Ngugi at +254 72 253 0437

More information on the CCAA program: www.idrc.ca/ccaa;

2006-11-03

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