ODI/BBC: Left in the dark: The unmet need for information in humanitarian response

When crisis or disaster strikes, people need help. They need, shelter, food, water and safety. They need these things rapidly and effectively. Modern humanitarian responses have become more efficient and effective at providing these things.

This policy briefing argues that people need information too. It does so not to create an added burden on humanitarian responses that are always stretched thinly. It does so because such responses are too often undermined, often insufficiently effective – and sometimes outright counterproductive – if people’s information needs are considered a low priority during humanitarian crises.

Effective information and communication exchange with affected populations are among the least understood and most complex challenges facing the humanitarian sector in the 21st century.

Download the policy briefing from the BBC website, or attend the event.

ODI Blog: Realising Urban Potential: Are donors keeping pace with rapid urbanisation?

Urbanisation is characterised by the massive expansion of informal settlements and strains on existing urban work, land, services and infrastructure. For example, the number of people living in slums has doubled in India in the past 20 years and is now greater than the entire population of Britain. Are donor strategies, policies and programmes keeping up with the pace of change occurring in the least developed countries?

From a quick review of ten major international donors we saw little or no evidence that urban insecurities are moving up the aid agenda. What we tend to find is that development itself retains a very rural focus, with the urban focus limited to a series of statements about the challenges of infrastructure, environment and sustainability, and urban governance.

Read more on the ODI blog.

ODI Blog: What does 'early recovery' mean?

The international community has long been concerned with the need to strengthen the synergies between humanitarian and development assistance and improve the transition from relief to recovery and, ultimately, to longer-term development. Over the past decade, efforts to address the ‘gap’ between humanitarian and development, such as the ‘relief-development continuum’ and ‘linking relief, rehabilitation and development’, have resulted in significant discussion but little substantive impact.

The early recovery approach represents the latest expression of the ‘linking’ debates, but to move from decades-long debates to concrete solutions and actions in the field it is important that earlier mistakes are not repeated. This would mean that more significant efforts should be made to clarify this relatively new concept both at conceptual and programmatic levels.

Read more on the ODI blog.

IRIN: Juggling emergency aid and long-term development

As the global recession bites, analysts are asking if emergencies such as natural disasters will continue to receive funding (on 19 November, a record appeal for US$7 billion was launched for crises) while development aid, which could save many more lives long-term, such as agricultural investment in Africa, is left to languish.

Read more on the IRIN website.

Alertnet: The 'sting' of climate change will be malaria and dengue

Southeast Asia and South Pacific island nations face a growing threat from malaria and dengue fever as climate change spreads mosquitoes that carry the diseases and climate-change refugees start to migrate. A new report titled "The Sting of Climate Change", said recent data suggested that since the 1970s climate change had contributed to 150,000 more deaths every year from disease, with over half of the deaths in Asia.

"Projections of the impact of climate change on malaria and dengue are truly eye-opening," said the Lowy Institute report released in Sydney on Thursday. According to the World Health Organisation, rising temperatures and higher rainfall caused by climate change will see the number of mosquitoes increasing in cooler areas where there is little resistance or knowledge of the diseases they carry.

The Lowy report said early modeling predicted malaria prevalence could be 1.8 to 4.8 times greater in 2050 than 1990. The share of the world's population living in malaria-endemic zones could also grow from 45 percent to 60 percent by the end of the century.

By 2085, an estimated 52 percent of the world's population, or about 5.2 billion people, will be living in areas at risk of dengue.

It also said diseases will spread once climate change forces people to flee their homes, such as low-lying islands or coastal land swamped by rising sea levels.

Read more on Alertnet.

UN-OCHA: Humanitarian Coordinators Pool Mapping Exercise Report

This report outlines the evolution of United Nations humanitarian leadership; reports key outcomes against the plan; reviews current leadership development across the humanitarian system (UN, NGOs, IOM, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement); and highlights issues of concern and ways forward for consideration of the IASC HC Issues Group and the IASC. It goes on to outline recommendations regarding the continuation of the HC Pool and the creation of an IASC Humanitarian Coordinators Assessment Panel.

More than 200 stakeholders were contacted, from operational humanitarian United Nations agencies on the IASC, International Organizations (ICRC, IFRC, IOM), NGO Consortia, key NGO humanitarian agencies and large Red Cross National Societies, key donors on UNOCHA support network, and humanitarian standard and quality projects dealing with personnel.

Read more on Reliefweb.

ALNAP on Alertnet: Don't chase headlines, chase quality news

Written by: Ben Ramalingam

A leading UK newspaper recently reported a warning by Britain that lives are being lost because of a lack of U.N. leadership in responding to humanitarian crises. It sounds like a strong story, doesn't it? While not exactly inaccurate, it's a striking example of the problems humanitarians face in dealing with a story-hungry media.

The report was based on a speech given by Gareth Thomas MP, the UK Secretary of State for International Development, to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) in Geneva in October. In it he set out five key changes necessary to deal with humanitarian crises in a world being buffeted by climate change, rising food prices and financial meltdown. His points covered stronger in-country leadership from the U.N.; better coordination across all agencies with more support to the U.N.; more and better humanitarian funding, especially from the USA; greater accountability to aid recipients and sustained political commitment from all quarters. He highlighted how these issues were ever more important in a world facing rising numbers of disasters.

These are good suggestions and - if backed with political will - have the potential to make a real difference for disaster affected people around the world. But the article didn't mention any of this. Its report instead focused on one particular element: that the key problem with the humanitarian system was a lack of properly trained or appropriate U.N. humanitarian coordinators to oversee disaster relief in operational settings. By positioning the story as a "warning" from Britain, the sense of drama and tension in the story was heightened.

While not incorrect or false, it was hard not to see this is as yet another example of the media absorbing a nuanced, complex narrative and broadcasting a partial and over-simplified message.

Read more on the Alertnet website.

Federation video: How to build a safer wooden house

ALNAP: The Global Food Price Crisis: Lessons and Ideas for Relief Planners and Managers

The first half of 2008 was marked by significant rises in commodity prices, with food price increases averaging 52 percent between 2007 and 2008. While the response to the wider situation is largely outside the scope of humanitarian programmes, those managing relief and recovery efforts have faced a number of challenges. This paper lays out the background to the food price rises, outlines a number of key challenges for those planning and managing relief efforts, and suggests ideas, tools and approaches that could prove of value.

Download the paper from the ALNAP website.

IRIN via Alertnet: SPHERE endorses INEE education in emergencies standards

Humanitarian policy-makers have endorsed internationally-agreed standards on rebuilding education sectors shattered by crises, in a move experts say shows that education is increasingly being regarded as life-saving. The Sphere Project has endorsed emergency education standards created by the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), a network of 3,000 members representing UN agencies, NGOs, donors, teachers and students who promote education in emergencies.

"We believe education having been embraced within the Sphere family is a demonstration of the consensus in the humanitarian community that education must be considered as a sector within immediate emergency response," said Alyson Joyner, project manager of Sphere.

The Sphere Project which sets minimum standards food aid, shelter and other core humanitarian sectors, endorsed the INEE standards in October 2008, marking a change of approach. Prior to this Sphere had remained quiet about education because not all of its members saw it as life-saving and thus part of the classic humanitarian repertoire, according to Joyner.

Do standards work?

"Minimum standards are about boosting quality," said Allison Anderson, INEE director. "The most powerful thing they can do is give people a goal to work towards, to help them build their [emergency] response strategy." The INEE standards outline how to recruit teachers, undertake an education assessment, write up codes of conduct for educators and work with communities to develop an education programme. "The more practical they are, the more useful they are," Anderson said.

Measuring the standards' impact is difficult with so many other variables, such as security and funding, Sphere's Joyner told IRIN. But despite this, she said, "There is mounting anecdotal evidence that minimum standards have had a positive impact."

Read more on Alertnet.

John Holmes: New “business model” for humanitarian aid

IRIN: You are on the WEF Council on Humanitarian Assistance. What specific ideas have you brought to the council in terms of climate change and food insecurity?

JH: What we were discussing was the need to do two things which aren’t exactly new ideas but we were trying to formulate them in a reasonably coherent way. One is to spend a lot more time and effort on what you might call the upstream side - the prevention, the disaster risk reduction, the preparedness side so that there is more effort and more resources and more thought going into that, rather than concentrating too much on the response side after the event - which is necessary because you need to help people when they’re in their moment of need but it is not a very good investment because you can’t solve any problems that way. And the second related thought is to try to empower national governments, local communities, maybe regional organisations - to make them have more capacity, be more empowered, so that the international community doesn’t need to intervene so much and can reserve itself for cases of really major need. So those two things go together if we can get that combination right. It is what we try to describe as a new business model for humanitarian assistance. These thoughts have been had before but we are trying to encapsulate them in a new way.

IRIN: But what has hindered this development? Kofi Annan when he was UN secretary-general talked about the need for humanitarians to move from a culture of response to a culture of prevention. This has not happened yet.

JH: I think it is something to do with human nature. In our personal lives we know that prevention is better than cure, prevention health is better than response afterwards, but we don’t actually behave in ways which correspond to that. I think similarly governments and international institutions know in theory that it’s much better to invest more and do more on the prevention side but they don’t actually do it. You have to convince finance ministers, you have to convince presidents and prime ministers that they need to invest in something the results of which will only be seen in 10 or 15 years when they may no longer be in power. That is quite a tricky thing to do. So you’ve got to have your arguments marshalled. You have got to be able to prove to them - as we hope to be able to do in the new study which is under way - that this is actually a really good investment because there are going to be more and more disasters from climate change and hence the importance of the disaster risk reduction agenda because of the link to climate change.

Read more on the IRIN website.

Guardian: Paradise almost lost: Maldives seek to buy a new homeland

The Maldives will begin to divert a portion of the country's billion-dollar annual tourist revenue into buying a new homeland - as an insurance policy against climate change that threatens to turn the 300,000 islanders into environmental refugees, the country's first democratically elected president has told the Guardian.

Mohamed Nasheed, who takes power officially tomorrow in the island's capital, Male, said the chain of 1,200 island and coral atolls dotted 500 miles from the tip of India is likely to disappear under the waves if the current pace of climate change continues to raise sea levels.

The UN forecasts that the seas are likely to rise by up to 59cm by 2100, due to global warming. Most parts of the Maldives are just 1.5m above water. The president said even a "small rise" in sea levels would inundate large parts of the archipelago.

"We can do nothing to stop climate change on our own and so we have to buy land elsewhere. It's an insurance policy for the worst possible outcome. After all, the Israelis [began by buying] land in Palestine," said Nasheed, also known as Anni.

The president, a human rights activist who swept to power in elections last month after ousting Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the man who once imprisoned him, said he had already broached the idea with a number of countries and found them to be "receptive".

He said Sri Lanka and India were targets because they had similar cultures, cuisines and climates. Australia was also being considered because of the amount of unoccupied land available.

"We do not want to leave the Maldives, but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades," he said.

Read more on the Guardian website.

IASC: Humanitarian Action and Older Persons: An Essential Brief for Humanitarian Actors

Between 2006 and 2050, the number of persons aged 60 and over will triple from 650 million, or 11% of the world’s population, to 2 billion people, or 22%. By then, older persons will begin to outnumber children aged 14 and under. Just over 80% of the world’s older persons will be living in developing countries, compared to 60% today. In developed countries, the proportion of older persons will rise to about one person in three by mid-century. Globally, the “oldest-old” (80 and above) constitute the fastest growing age segment of the older population.

Recent events have brought to light the disproportionate impact of natural disasters and crises on older persons:

• 80% of the “extremely vulnerable individuals” remaining in camps in northern Uganda’s Lira District in 2007 were over 60 years.
• 71% of those who died in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 were 60 years and older.

Older persons play key roles in their families and communities. These roles continue, and may even become more important, in emergency situations:

• UNICEF data show that 40 to 60% of orphaned children in countries severely affected by HIV/AIDS are cared for by their grandparents.
• During and after the 2007 Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh, older persons’ committees took an active role, disseminating early warning messages to vulnerable older persons and their families, identifying those who were worst hit, compiling beneficiary lists and notifying people when and where to receive relief goods.

Older persons are entitled to equal protection under international human rights and humanitarian law. Building awareness about the rights and needs of older persons is the first step to reducing their marginalization during and after crises and enabling them to continue supporting themselves and others.

Download the briefing paper from Reliefweb.

Emergencies in Urban Settings: A Technical Review of Food-Based Program Options

No. 6 in FFP's Occasional Paper Series

The objective of this paper is to provide technical information and lessons learned to support the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partners to effectively design and implement emergency food assistance programs in urban and peri-urban settings.

Although food assistance needs in urban and peri-urban areas are expected to require increased resources in the coming years, most experience with food-based programs is in rural areas. Against this backdrop, USAID's Office of Food for Peace Occasional Paper No. 6, Emergencies in Urban Settings: A Technical Review of Food-Based Program Options, examines 11 common food-based programs to highlight advantages, disadvantages, targeting and implementation modalities in the urban context. The paper also presents tools to help determine the most appropriate interventions and approaches for given settings.

Download the paper from Reliefweb.

RC/RC Climate Change Centre Newsletter

Issue 12, November 2008

1. IFRC Secretary General Bekele Geleta will join the RC delegation at the UNFCCC Climate Conference COP 14 in Poznan, Poland 1-15 December 2008
The Red Cross/ Red Crescent Climate Centre and the IFRC are currently preparing for the COP 14. This year we are very pleased with a substantive cooperation amongst a large number of other humanitarian organizations in this preparatory process. Within the Inter Agency Standing Commission (IASC), that established an informal climate change taskforce, we are investing in a coordinated approach with the main humanitarian actors in the field to bring one joint message at the COP.
This has led to the production of a joint paper by ISDR and IASC in disaster risk reduction and risk management. Furthermore the Red Cross Red Crescent will organize a side event on Early warning Early Action (see news item number 4.) during the first week of the conference. At this side event, which the IFRC will host and organize together with OCHA and the Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), we shall demonstrate the first IFRC experiences of using seasonal forecasts for disaster risk management. Read more about Red Cross/ Red Crescent advocacy at the UNFCCC Climate Conference. All National RC Societies interested to be engaged in the preparatory work for the Climate Change Conference in Poznan (and in Copenhagen next year) are invited to contact the Red Cross/ Red Crescent Climate Centre. We call upon National Societies to join the IFRC delegation in Poznan, but can't provide financial support.

2. Progress of the Preparedness for Climate Change programme
The Preparedness for Climate Change Program, in which 37 National Red Cross Red Crescent Societies participate, will soon end. Many National Societies will be able to finalize the last phase of the programme successfully and we are happy to see the results. In brief, this programme consists of four consecutive steps, in which the National Societies are supported to assess the climate risks within their countries, align with all possible partners in their country, explore which climate risks are effecting the existing programmes and in the last phase: come up with a concrete action plan to integrate addressing climate risks in the operations of the National Society. In addition to that, most National Societies were able to share their experiences in a regional workshop and exchange ideas and knowledge with other National Societies. This whole process will lead to concrete ideas on how to reduce vulnerability due to climate change. In September and October four regional meetings were held in Mombasa (East Africa), Jakarta (South East Asia), Dakar (West Africa) and San Salvador (Central America plus Colombia). Read more about the regional climate risk meetings. Please find more information about the programme on our website.

3. Your National Society can now request a Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) BEFORE a disaster strikes.
If scientific evidence clearly shows a substantial risk of an emerging disaster, which might hit specific regions in your country, a preliminary DREF request can be granted by the IFRC so that your operations and contingency can lift off ahead of time. This early warning can improve disaster preparedness and response and hence safe lives. The supporting evidence needed for a preliminary DREF request can be based on short-term predictions, as well as seasonal precipitation forecasts (from sources like your country's meteorological service, the IRI-IFRC map room, or regional centres with climate expertise, like CATHA/SERVIR, CILSS or ACMAD, and it can be obtained with assistance from the IFRC. Until very recently it was common to only provide evidence during and after the disaster. We believe this to be revolutionary within the Red Cross Red Crescent and it can further stimulate National Society to focus also on early warnings and the climate risk management discourse. Please visit DMIS (internal IFRC information site) for more information. The RC/RC Climate Centre has recently facilitated workshop on new tools for climate risk management in two zones (Americas and West & Central Africa), and if there is interested this kind of initiative could be scaled up.

4. Early Warning Early Action
With the IFRC-secretariat in Geneva, the RC/RC Climate centre is working on a paper explaining and promoting 'Early Warning Early Action' -- routinely taking humanitarian action based on scientific information on all timescales. This concept bridges disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response, and integrates information about long-term trends in risk, seasonal forecasts and immediate early warnings for disasters, which should lead to action at international, regional, national and local levels. It is one of the most promising ways to better deal with rising risks in all aspects of our work. Shortly the Climate Centre will launch a special case study on 'early warning early action' which shall explain the concept and the Red Cross/ Red Crescent approach to the subject. This case study will be published on the Climate Centre website at the end of November. Early Warning Early Action will also be the main theme in the production of the World Disaster Report (WDR) 2009.

5. The continuation of fruitful partnerships on climate risk reduction
The IFRC and the Climate Centre cooperate closely with the:
- International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)
- African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD)
- Centre Regional de Formation et d'Application en Agrométéorologie et Hydrologie Opérationnelle (AGRHYMET)
- Centro del Agua del Trópico Humedo para America Latina y el Caribe (Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean) (CATHALAC)

Cooperation with these specialized scientific agencies help the Red Cross/ Red Crescent to 'translate' important weather forecast for operational use. The RC/RC Climate Centre and the IFRC have been embarking on a number of initiatives, especially with the IRI and Cathalac. A number of interns located in Central America and West Africa have occupied themselves to bridge between the available science and the operational disaster management of the IFRC and National Societies. Specific attention was given to the development of climate forecasting tools aimed at strengthening early warning for the Movement, like the development of a flood forecasting tool in conjunction with CATHALAC. The IRI also positioned an intern at the IFRC office in Dakar, Senegal to help shape the collaboration with the IFRC, AGRHYMET and ACMAD to improve the capacity to comprehend the weather forecasts and to make the right interpretations based on the predictions.

Please find below two important achievements:

• The IFRC and the IRI set up a specific 'help desk' for National Societies that want to understand the more technical information about forecasts in their region. Every RC-related question on observed and projected conditions are given in the most timely and reliable way possible. This partnership proves to be a solid longer lasting collaboration and we can identify the fruits of this partnership in West Africa, where a seasonal forecast indicated an enhanced chance of above average rainfall. This was communicated as a warning from the IRI to the IFRC and an early action could start in the region and a preliminary appeal based on a seasonal forecast was launched by the IFRC: Read more. Early action can lead to improved response capacity, hence to saving lives.
• CATHALAC and the IRI organized a specific workshop on new tools for disaster management, specifically aimed at improving tools for Red Cross staff. Discussions during this workshop dealt with the use of satellite data for disaster damage assessment, prediction of hydro-meteorological events and information in real time to monitor phenomena like storms of short duration, as well as climatological information of the seasonal trends of climate long period available for the region to aid in the monitoring of extreme weather events.

6. The PAN AFRICAN Conference
At 19 October 2008 the 7th Pan African Conference took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. 53 African National Red Cross/ Red Crescent Societies reflected on today's humanitarian priorities in Africa and aimed to set the agenda of the four years to come. The Climate Centre was present at the Pan African Conference and gave a general presentation on climate change and climate risk management within the Red Cross/ Red Crescent. In preparation to this Conference the Climate Centre Journalist, Alex Wynter prepared a very interesting case study about climate risks in Africa.

7. The Pacific Round Table, Samoa October 2008
Held amongst the backdrop of coconut palms and frangipani was the 2008 Pacific Climate Change Roundtable in Apia, Samoa 14-17 October. Governments and civil society met to map out organisations working on climate change in the region, achievements to date, share information and approaches as well as look to the future. 2009 will be the Pacific 'Year of Climate Change' which will call for involvement at all levels to bring messages home not just about the causes of climate change but also practical measures that can be taken to adapt to it. There will be many opportunities for Pacific National Societies to get involved in national efforts. Further collaborations with meteorological agencies and climate science providers in the region are also being fostered as a result of the meeting. During one of the lunch breaks at the meeting the Samoa Red Cross youth volunteers conducted a funny drama routine on climate change to bring the message home that creativity and youth can bring a new vibrancy to talking climate.

8. Guatemala: growing awareness for climate change (an article by Marie Louise Belanger, Regional Communications Officer IFRC)
Protecting the livelihoods of vulnerable communities against the future effects of climate change can take many different forms. The Guatemalan Red Cross, with support from the Netherland Red Cross (funded through the HERE Campaign in the Netherlands), is working towards this goal by strengthening local capacities to respond to disasters and raising awareness about the effects of climate change. One of the activities involves the planting of saplings near the community school of Sabana Grande in the Chiquimula-region in the southeast of the country. This is done together with teachers, students and parents. Once the trees have grown, they will help keep the local stream in place, a vital water source for the whole community. Read more.

A similar project has kicked ofF in India and an article on the IFRC website, written by Amit Kumar explains very well how changes in India's annual monsoon cycle are expected to result in a combination of severe droughts and intense flooding in some parts of India. Such extremes in the availability of water resources are likely to have a serious affect on human health, agriculture, forests and wildlife. On World Red Cross Red Crescent Day, the Indian Red Cross Society launched a nationwide tree-planting initiative through its network of 700 branches. Leading the campaign is Professor S.P. Agarwal, Secretary General of the Indian Red Cross Society. He highlighted the need to work together to combat climate change. "There are no easy solutions to global warming and tree planting drives in a growing country like India have the potential to be beneficial to poor and vulnerable populations." Read more.

9. Engaging young people in the Solomon Islands for Red Cross Action on Climate Change
Julie Webb recently wrote a case study capturing the hard work of the Solomon Islands Red Cross on engaging youth on the issue of climate change. Poster competitions, school visits, village assessments, radio programmes and World Environment Day activities have all involved young volunteers. A National Youth Forum on Climate Change will be held in the first week of November and will heavily involve Solomon Islands Red Cross staff and volunteers in creating action plans for risk reduction with the young participants. Read more.

10. Climate Centre films
The Climate Centre is currently working with a number of filmmakers to explore on future possibilities of the production of videos in the coming months. A project to promote climate adaptation in Malawi has been in the works since 2007, and several short films were recently released. Here, villagers in Mphunga village produced a participatory video to share, through video screenings workshops, community-based adaptation practices with four other neighboring communities that face similar problems.
- Film nr. One: 'Adaptation to climate Change by Mphunga Villagers' was 100% made by the villagers on a participatory video approach. It consists of the villagers' perspectives on climate change and how they are adapting by capturing and sharing six of these community-based practices.
- Film number two is called: 'Farmers become Filmakers' and it includes, interviews with the neighboring villagers and viewers about what they have learned on climate risks and final interviews with the filmmakers about their impressions of making such a film. This film has been selected for the shortlist of the 'Social Dimensions of Climate Change award' and is now proceeding to an independent judges panel. . We also enrolled part of this footage at the video festival at development and climate days during UNFCCC COP 14 in Poland.
- The video 'More than Survival' was made in Tabasco, Mexico. It gives a very good overview on the harsh impacts of climate change on the living conditions. It is a spanish film with English subtitles.
To see more films on climate change and the Red Cross, please visit the Climate Centre film's section at htpp://www.climatecentre.org.

11. Publications by the Climate Centre Staff
- An interview with Madeleen Helmer: Not just a band-aid in 'Onearth', Published by the natural resources defense council, fall 2008.
- Communicating Climate Risks, by Maarten van Aalst. Published in the Forced Migration Review on climate change and displacement, October 2008
- Video-Mediated Approaches for Community-Level Climate Adaptation, by Suarez, P., Ching, F., Ziervogel, G., Lemaire, I., Turnquest, D., Mendler de Suarez, J. and Wisner, B.. IDS Bulletin 39 (4) 96-104, September 2008.
- International Youth Day: mobilizing Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers on the impact of climate change, article produced in conjunction with the IFRC Youth Department in Geneva, August 2008.
- Climate-Related Disasters: Humanitarian Challenges and Reconstruction Opportunities, by Pablo Suarez, Graham Saunders, Sandra Mendler, Isabelle Lemaire, Jorge Karol, and Laura Curtis in the Journal called: "Places: a Forum of Environmental Design", October 2008
Please contact the Climate Centre if you would like to obtain any of the articles.


For more information and the Red Cross/ Red Crescent Climate Centre Climate Guide (5MB) or the Climate Centre's Annual report 2007 please visit the website at www.climatecentre.org.

What will Obama mean for Africa?

In 2006, reporting on an Obama visit to Kenya, Time magazine asked not only what Africa could do for Obama, but as the saying goes, what he could do for Africa.

As the news of his historic victory in the US presidential elections sinks in, the media and the blogosphere are reflecting today on the implications of an Obama administration for Africa.

The South African Times concludes that policy will not be markedly different under the Democrat; Vanguard in Nigeria collects the comments of government ministers and a human rights activist; the Kigali New Times reports on the hopes of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda that Obama's victory will inspire Africa to do better and more for themselves; and a bewildering array of reactions and reportage on the news on AllAfrica.com.

Meanwhile, as the eyes of the world focussed on the polling booths of America, many Western news outlets could spare an occasional cutaway spot to coverage of the reaction in Africa, including the Chicago Tribune.

John Liebhart collates comments from bloggers back in July, on Voices without Votes, including an interesting reflection from South Africa on whether that nation is ready for a white President. Meanwhile, theleoafricanus says 'We’re celebrating this week. Next week we start asking questions.'

For background a useful summary of policy indications from the Guardian, although of course, the President-elect is notoriously difficult to predict.

Alertnet want to know what you think:

As Africans celebrate the election of Barack Obama, hopes are high that America's first black president will tackle poverty, hunger, conflict and disease across the continent.

But what reason is there to suppose Obama's commitment to Africa will be any greater than that of U.S. President George W. Bush, whose efforts to draw attention and aid for combating diseases in Africa has been one of the few widely hailed successes of his foreign policy agenda?

Read and add your comments on the Alertnet website, or below.

Myanmar: including our own Liz Hughes