Let's talk climate change

The severity of climate change is demonstrated when at least 150 heads of State congregate in Paris a city that two weeks ago came under attack from blood-thirsty terrorists that killed 130 people.

The aim of COP21 is to reach an agreement on how to minimise significantly, the emission of greenhouse-gases that are blamed for the heating of the earth and containing average global temperatures at below 2 degrees Celsius of current temperatures.

Climate change is a matter of life and death; it is a social, political and economical problem as much as it is environmental. It not only impacts negatively on agricultural production; it affects tourism, the environment and people's health; it causes food shortages. The ravages of climate change cost Africa an estimated $2 billion annually. That is staggering.

Some of measures deployed to contain global warming include increasing forest cover to at least 10 per cent of the land area, encouraging sustainable land use, using renewable forms of energy, innovation and most importantly, talking about climate change: its causes, effects and how to halt it.