Climate – Views & Research – The Conversation

Stones and a few plants in a city landscape with some park benches

Brown is beautiful: what Namibia’s capital Windhoek can teach African cities as they get hotter and drier

Gaby Hansen, Namibia University of Science and Technology and Christina Breed, University of Pretoria

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Jabulani Sikhakhane, The Conversation

Rows of women in brightly coloured clothes planting seedlings on swampy land

Africa’s climate services need local detail and knowledge, say people who use the information

Petra Holden, University of Cape Town; Cherié Janine Forbes, University of Cape Town; Gerald Ngoma, University of Cape Town, and Martine Visser, University of Cape Town

A landscape with cracked dry earth, a leafless tree and the sun in an orange sky

New report on climate ‘overshoot’: what it means for Africa and how faster action can limit the damage

Oluwafemi E. Adeyeri, Australian National University

Africa gets only 23% of the climate finance it needs – and pays too much for it

Carlos Lopes, University of Cape Town

A group of people protesting with placards stating Funding Mechanism for Losses and Damages associated with climate change; Flooded victims have right to loss and damage finances and Stop Funding Wars, Fund loss and damage facility

A record-shattering El Niño is almost here. Here’s what that means for the world’s weather

Mandy Freund, The University of Melbourne

A dry flat dusty paddock with a solitary small tree.

South Africa’s top court blocked Shell’s Wild Coast oil search: why it matters for climate justice

Angela van der Berg, University of the Western Cape

The Anthropocene was rejected as a geological epoch – but the idea is still changing how we see the world

Jan Zalasiewicz, University of Leicester; Colin Waters, University of Leicester, and Martin J. Head, Brock University

A concentrating solar plant in the middle of a desert - circles of solar panels around a massive central tower

South Africa is overlooking solar technology that can keep generating electricity after sunset

Craig McGregor, Stellenbosch University

Confused about carbon capture? Experts explain why we need different types

Ben Kolosz, University of Hull and Jon Gluyas, Durham University

power station releasing gas into atmosphere

How can governments tackle poverty when climate change, conflict and economic shocks hit all at once?

Vidya Diwakar, Institute of Development Studies

Wind and solar projects in Kenya and South Africa don’t always benefit the communities that host them – study

Lars Buur, Roskilde University

A man stands on a wide stretch of bulldozed land dotted by huge wind turbines

East Africa’s iconic snow peaks will soon disappear for good – what will be lost when they melt

Rainer Prinz, University of Innsbruck

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Solutions

How Ethiopia can make COP32 the summit that actually delivers

Lisa Sachs, Columbia University

A park with a greenhouse, different plants everywhere, a stone sculpture of a head and stone terraces

Lessons from South Africa on how parks and community gardens can help cities adapt to climate change

Jan Hugo, University of Pretoria; Chrisna du Plessis, University of Pretoria, and Karina Landman, University of Pretoria

Climate shocks are hitting South Africa’s food businesses – study shows what they need to adapt

Adrino Mazenda, University of Pretoria

Urban farming helps Johannesburg’s poorest households survive – now it needs bigger investment

Blessings Masuku, University of Pretoria and Colleta Gandidzanwa, University of Pretoria

A woman stands on a patch of land next to a greenhouse where a few plants are growing

How a basic solar grant brought cheaper electricity to one shack settlement in South Africa

Federico Caprotti, University of Exeter

A shack made of corrugated metal with three solar panels mounted on poles outside, generating energy for the residents.

Could the roofs of low cost houses be South Africa’s secret weapon against hunger?

Mark Volmink, University of the Western Cape

A child stands smiling holding lettuce and bean sprouts

Climate change is threatening sheep farmers in South Africa’s Drakensberg – how they’re adapting

Mhlangabezi Slayi, University of Fort Hare; Admire Rukudzo Dzvene, University of Fort Hare; Hlekani Muchazotida Kabiti, Walter Sisulu University; Shadreck Muchaku, University of Fort Hare; University of Venda, and Simbarashe Ndhleve, Walter Sisulu University

Mountains with grassland in the foreground and about 60 sheep grazing

Green Transition

A large area of dry, brown grassland with a few shrubs and a high, reinforced fence cutting through it for about 2 kilometres.

How can rural communities benefit from South Africa’s green energy transition? A solar farm in Limpopo offers clues

Helena Hastie, University of Exeter; Adedayo Adeleke, University of Pretoria; Damien Mansell, University of Exeter, and Simon Hull, University of Cape Town

A solar plant seen from the sky - a tower in the middle with solar panels all around it.

South Africa’s move to renewable power is complex, but clearing 5 bottlenecks would speed it up

Rod Crompton, University of the Witwatersrand

A small building made of wood and grass at the edge of a water body, with dense forest and jungle in the background

The 20km ripple effect: how mines can trigger distant deforestation in Africa

Oscar Morton, University of Sheffield and Chris Bousfield, University of Cambridge

Fossil fuels still dominate in Africa’s electricity future – study tracks 3,139 power plants

Davy Vanham, CGIAR

Dozens of large solar panels mounted on stands in a green field

How did a major mangrove restoration project in Senegal end up selling ‘ghost carbon’?

Julien Andrieu, Université Côte d’Azur

A watery area like a lake with a few trees sticking out of the top.

Climate finance for Mauritius needs good management: report finds gaps

Neekhil Bhowoniah, University of Mauritius

A stormy sky with waves flowing over a sea wall and windy conditions

Shifting from fossil fuels will fail without funding for African industry and energy infrastructure

Ese Owie, Euclid University | Pôle Universitaire Euclide ; University of Essex

Firefighters stand on top of a red firetruck while a huge fire blazes on top of a giant oil storage tank

More Green Transition

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Climate crisis

Impact of climate change may be equivalent to 3.3 million years of transformations in tropical vegetation

Ubirajara Oliveira, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)

Floods forced Zimbabwean women to leave their homes. They rebuilt their lives but here’s what they still need

Gracsious Maviza, CGIAR and Joyce Takaindisa, CGIAR

A group of about 25 women pose for a photo outside on dusty soil under a tree

A Super El Niño is coming: 5 hard-won lessons the world can learn from Africa

Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Mendy Ndlovu, University of KwaZulu-Natal

A group of people sit in a circle under an awning

Language matters for disaster warnings – this community didn’t get useful flood alerts

Mosekama Osia Mokhele, Nelson Mandela University and Andiswa Mvanyashe, Nelson Mandela University

Shacks in the background of an area of open land

Informal workers in Lagos are left to cope with devastating floods alone: why things must change

Gbenga Akinlolu Shadare, Buckinghamshire New University

A very busy open air marketplace with hundreds of stalls and customers

Hantavirus in Africa: why climate change, rats and weak surveillance are worrying scientists

Wolfgang Preiser, Stellenbosch University; Carla Mavian, University of Florida; Cheryl Baxter, Stellenbosch University; Richard Lessells, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and Tulio de Oliveira, Stellenbosch University

A rat in eating some food on what appears to be a dirty pavement

Climate disasters don’t just destroy homes, they change lives forever. We spoke with cyclone survivors in Zimbabwe

Denboy Kudejira, University of Cape Town; Christopher Mabeza, University of Zimbabwe, and Liboster Mwadzingeni, Midlands State University; University of South Africa

A small child looks out across a landscape that is covered by giant boulders and mud washed over houses and cars

Climate change hits South African women unevenly: why race, class, age and power matter

Petra Holden, University of Cape Town; Gina Ziervogel, University of Cape Town, and Leigh Stadler, University of Cape Town

People walking over rocks on the shore with buckets to pick mussels

More Climate Crisis

Justice

A person in a helmet and protective equipment stands on a paved area between two massive industrial buildings covered with tubes, wires and staircases.

French climate lawsuit offers a window into the next round of the global legal fight

Aminta Ossom, Harvard University; Harvard Kennedy School

Efforts to combat climate change often exclude Indigenous people – and they may not have any recourse

Buket Altınçelep, UMass Boston

Two people pick through debris left from the destruction of a home.

Africa’s climate crisis is a legal crisis too: what are states’ duties under human rights law?

Zunaida Moosa Wadiwala, University of the Witwatersrand and Tracy-Lynn Field, University of the Witwatersrand

Students hold up signs saying 'People's power' and 'We Can't Breathe'

South African court orders Eskom to disclose R70 billion coal and diesel contracts – why the ruling matters

Felix Dube, University of Venda

South Africa’s power utility Eskom tried to block a gold mine from going solar – but lost in court