On the outskirts of Monrovia, the Liberian capital, in the town of Jah Tondo, I recently saw for myself the real impact of climate change in a tropical developing country.

Jah Tondo is in the lower Western Cluster region of Liberia. Many of the local farms which have always produced rice, the nation’s staple food, have been abandoned because the searing heat has simply destroyed the fertility of the land.

Gender equality to tackle climate change
When delegates meet at United Nations climate change summits, they try to pursue their common target: how to tackle the warming climate confronting them all.

Some delegates join forces to press towards their common cause. Others try to draw the world’s attention to key issues that, whilst important, are sometimes overlooked.

Liberia is one nation seeking to show the world that it needs to make gender equality central to tackling climate change.

Liberia has direct experience of climate change, not only on its farms but along its coast, where beach erosion has washed away houses and displaced hundreds of people. The country is convinced that to further progress in combating the changing climate requires people to pay close attention to the plight of women and children.

Bringing gender into the mainstream
Benjamin Karmorh was a member of the Liberian delegation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 2008 summit in the Polish city of Poznan. He also leads on climate change at Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency.

Karmorh says there is one compelling reason to bring gender issues into the mainstream. “There must be a framework put into place to address women’s and children’s needs” he says, “Because we believe they feel the worst impacts of climate change.”

He said Liberia had raised its concern at Poznan and had received overwhelming support from most of the delegates. He added that Liberia would continue pushing the issue, with the next stepping being to ensure its concerns are transformed into a text for negotiation.

Karmorh continued, “Whenever there are climate change impacts, for example flooding, it hampers women’s ability to farm. And, as you may know, in most African settings women are good farmers, and if they cannot farm their children are affected and there will be no food for their families.”

Seasons change for Liberia’s farms
Back on Liberia’s farms, his words find a worrying echo. Mrs. Agnes Kortimai is executive director of Zorzor District Women’s Care, a group working with rural Liberian women involved in agriculture, especially in the interior of Northern Liberia.

She says climate change worries them: “We are concerned because over the years we have seen how it has affected us.

“In the past we farmed in keeping with a familiar seasonal pattern. But things have changed. When we think we should be planting, harvesting or resting, in fact it’s the opposite, because of the climate.”

Krubo Seanneh farms in Liberia’s breadbasket county of Lofa in the north of the country, near the border with Guinea. Normally, she says, they clear their farmland in November and December so they can spend January, February and March planting and then prepare for the harvest.

“But we are not keeping to this schedule any longer because the weather changes so much. When this happens, we do not grow enough food, meaning shortages, especially between June and July. And then the food prices increase because of the scarcity,” she added.

A women’s colloquium
As part of its efforts, Karmorh said, Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency is embarking on an awareness campaign to bring gender to the forefront in the climate debate.

“Our efforts are now gaining momentum and we are planning, with the government of Finland, to use an upcoming women’s colloquium to be held in Monrovia to draw the world’s attention to this issue.”

Karmorh said the colloquium was due to be attended by world leaders including Tarja Halonen, the President of Finland, and the US First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama, the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as well as other prominent women from across Africa and the world.

“We intend to highlight the important role women play, especially in caring for crops, planting trees and ensuring they grow to maturity, and making reforestation happen”, he said.

The Director of the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Department for Latin America and the Caribbean, Laura Tuck, said that 30 per cent of the coral reefs in the Caribbean coast are already dead, and the rest are bleaching and dying. Should this continue, said Tuck, the Latin American coast will be devoid of its bio-diversity by 2060.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday in the conference room of the ongoing UNFCCC, in Poznan, Poland, Tuck said that global warming has had a huge impact on Latin America’s and the Caribbean’s fishing and tourism industries, the general maritime eco-system, as well as the coastal protection of the region.

She said already studies have shown a considerable increase in the intensity of extreme weather, and video footage shows that this could get significantly worse in the near future.

“By 2025, we are projecting an increase in damage from hurricanes in Mexico, and a three-fold to four-fold increase [in the same] in Central America and the Caribbean,” Tuck said. “On an average, estimates show that each weather advance costs about 26 per cent of the GDP in the countries that are affected.”

Tuck said the study has also seen an increase in mortality rates from tropical diseases like malaria. Statistics available from the ’70s to ’90s in Columbia show a jump from 400 to 800 cases in the disease. With due projection, the country may face an increase of 8 per cent by 2050. Tuck noted that the World Bank foresees a worsening in the number of cases in coming years.

Tuck further said: “Latin America is the most biodiverse region in the world. There are a lots of mammals in the region. But we are also projecting that countries like Mexico could lose up to a quarter of their mammal species by 2050 under the current trend.”

Commenting on the agricultural situation in the region as contained in the World Bank’s latest study, Tuck said the biggest impact on the economy of the region would be on agriculture, and that the World Bank sees an average reduction of about 12 per cent to 50 per cent in agricultural production in the region by 2010, with some parts being worse affected than others. “Overall, the impact would be negative,” she quoted the study as saying.

Using Mexico as an example, the World Bank’s study shows that nearly 30 per cent to 85 per cent of farms here could face severe reduction in productivity, which, she noted, could impact global food crisis across the world.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the biggest global financial crisis in decades, the World Bank is urging the international community attending the Poznan summit to look to Latin America for innovative solutions to avert a climate crisis.

“The region is in a position to lead middle income countries in reducing emissions from deforestation, breaking the impasse on hydropower development, improving efficiency, and transforming urban transport,” the World Bank said in a statement today.

Anna Creed, who is working with ’The Prince Rainforest Project’, told members of the Liberian delegation attending the UNFCCC summit taking place in Poznan, Poland, during a meeting on Wednesday, that His Royal Highness Charles, the Prince of Wales, is interested in initiating dialogue with the Liberian forestry authorities on what can be done for the country to help it reap benefits from its natural forest regions. Ms. Creed is part of the Prince Rainforest Project delegation attending the Poznan summit.

Speaking shortly after the meeting, the head of the Liberian delegation at the ongoing Poznan summit, Mr. Ben Donnie, said the Prince of Wales is interested in working with countries around the world, such as Liberia, which is seeking to make sure that its forest regions are wisely use for the benefit of its people, and the nation. He said that as part of the aims and goals of the Prince Rainforest Project, the delegation was informed that the project would work with local community dwellers and seek their economic advancement. The project and local dwellers can work together in areas such as forest preservation, and put in place a proper and prudent management system that would ensure natural resources are used in the overall interests of a nation and its people.

“As a clear manifestation of the Prince’s desire to help us manage our forests, the Liberian delegation has been invited to Wales next year, to meet with the Prince and hold further discussions with the project officials on the way forward in helping Liberia manage its forests,” he said.

Liberia is one of the west African countries that have forests, which are very vulnerable to illegal trading in forest produce, and the indiscriminate cutting down of trees for timber. These illegal actions had become rampant during the course of the country’s 14-year civil war crisis, with money generated from trade landing in the pockets of the country’s political leaders, or a privileged few, to the detriment of ordinary citizens.

Earlier this year, in partnership with the international community, the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, elected democratically after the civil war ended in 2003, drafted and adopted a new forest regulation that seeks to control illegal forest-related trade and transactions.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has approved funds of the amount of US $2 million for the construction of a mini hydro project that will help boost power supply to the country. The Director of the Energy and Climate division of UNIDO, who is in Poznan to attend the UNFCCC, made this disclosure today, when he met with the Liberian delegation attending the summit.

Mr. Pradeep Monga of UNIDO told the Liberian delegation that as part of UNIDO’s decision to approve the money, a delegation from the organisation would pay an official visit to Liberia next January, to meet with and hold further talks with the Liberian energy authority, on the way forward in implementing the mini hydro project.

At the same time, the Liberian delegation has told summit delegates to consider gender as a mainstream issue in the results that would come out of the summit.

The Liberian delegation said its decision comes against the backdrop that women and children are considered the most vulnerable groups in matters concerning climate change. Liberia’s position has so far received the backing of most nations and, notably, Sierra Leone.

The squabbling over who should manage the climate change adaptation fund has now been settled, with the decision to allow its management to rest with a special Board comprising of donor nations. Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said the adaptation fund would be managed and disbursed by the Board, which will take decisions on how to manage the fund. This is contrary to earlier reports circulated at the summit that donors have favoured the World Bank in helming the fund’s management process.

Providing journalists with a status report of the summit on Wednesday, Mr. de Boer, who was responding to concerns over the management of the adaptation fund, said the special Board that has been working since the Bali summit has the authority to not only manage the fund but to take decisions on how it should be used, and whether someone else should manage it.

Commenting on the composition of the Board, Mr. de Boer said that it is made up of representatives from countries that are donors to the fund.

Asked to comment on when he thinks the Board would begin disbursing moneys from the fund, as most developing nations have been wishing, the UNFCCC secretary declined to say exactly when the disbursement would start, but stressed that this would take some time, and it was left to the Board to decide.

De Boer added that despite the prevailing situation concerning the funds, most developing nations were not waiting for developed nations or donors to make available funding before going ahead with tackling issues related to climate change.

“Most developing nations are taking actions on their own to deal with climate change, but what they have made clear to us is the need to make available finances, and build up their capacity,” he said.

Earlier this week, news coming out of the summit pointed to the fact that most developing nations have outright opposed attempts by donor nations to entrust the management of the adaptation fund to the World Bank.

Some criticised the World Bank’s role in managing the fund citing different reasons but, an executive of the bank, Allan Miller, responding to the accusations against the bank, said it has a sound financial policy that qualifies it to properly manage the fund.

At a news conference earlier this week, Miller told journalists that the bank has, over the years, managed very well the AIDS funds, which have been entrusted to it by donors, too.

The climate change adaptation fund was established to finance concrete adaptation programmes and projects in developing nations that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol, as a way to help them with issues of climate change in their respective countries.

Mr. Ben Donnie, head of the Liberian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the rest of the delegation had to travel from Liberia to Abuja, Nigeria for two days, expecting that they would get visas from the Polish Embassy ahead of the opening session of the summit on 1 December.

But they had to spend nearly five further days in Nigeria before they were finally granted their visas.

Mr Donnie said the delay meant they could attend the summit only for one week instead of the two weeks they had planned.

Speaking to this writer shortly after learning that it would take up to four days for the Embassy to deliver the visas, Mr. Donnie said: “Surely, this will affect our representation. We want to be there ourselves for all the sessions. Although, as head of the delegation, I have been receiving e-mails about what is happening in Poznan from the summit secretariat, this is not enough. We should have been there from the beginning to make our input and meet with colleagues.“He added:”When the summit was held in other countries, for example in Indonesia and Canada, we did not have this kind of problem because the embassies were on time in providing visas. When there is a summit like Poznan, restrictions should not follow the normal path. But here in Abuja, the Polish Embassy is saying that whether or not it is a conference of the parties, there still have to be restrictions and the normal diplomatic protocols must be observed.”

Asked whether this meant the delegation would give up the opportunity to attend the summit, Mr Donnie said:”It is important for us to join the others to speak with one voice on donors making good their commitments during the previous summits. So we will attend, even though there are just a few days left, because it is important for us to be there”.

Mr. Clifford Mahlung, a member of the Jamaican delegation to the summit, and Mrs Manik Roy, vice-president for federal government outreach at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a US group, both underscored the need for developing nations and civil society to take practical action themselves without waiting for others to show them the way.

The two environmentalists made their call Monday when they addressed a media clinic organized by the Climate Change Media Partnership at the summit in Poznan.

In his presentation to the CCMP fellows, Mahlung stressed the need for countries like his to understand that about 85% of what they do to tackle climate change should be their own work.

“Developing nations have to realize that 85% of their action has to be domestic and that developed nations cannot do it 100% for them,” he said.

He said developing nations should understand that they have to be pro-active in getting the resources for adaptation to climate change, and stressed that it would be obvious for the 182 nations who are attending the summit to reach a clear-cut consensus on the adaptation funds for the developing world.

“When someone does not protect you, will you not protect yourself?” he asked. He emphasized that where someone is unprotected, they must take the initative in protecting themselves. And that was a model for developing nations.

For her part, Mrs Roy stressed the importance of community involvement in addressing climate change. She said the communities and civil society groups must work collaboratively to prevent natural disasters, citing the unrestricted cutting down of trees as an example of where action was needed.

Most delegates from developing nations have persistently blamed the developed world for being slow to provide the funding needed to support adaptation to the effects of climate change.

They say it is this perceived slowness by the industrialised world which is obstructing their own efforts to cope with climate change.