Another Music Monday- #MusicWedeyFeel

African music in its entirety is one to revere. Its rich drums especially, create wonderful sound for which people being entertained by it can dance to the rhythm it produces.

Some few years back I started to even appreciate it the more when it earned its new face. African music nowadays, for which some call it Afro Pop as well as genres like Kwaito, House, Hip Life and the likes, really tickles my fancy and I am sure it does to you also.

A few years on social media, I found a running hashtag on Mondays which sounded interesting. Want to know? #MusicMondays it is –it highlights the various songs people are grooving to, downloading or enjoying at that moment.

So the little African in me decided to check out f there were any African tunes being shared. That led me to the hashtag #MusicWeDeyFeel. Following it keenly especially in twitter, I realized it was targeted towards tunes from our continent. I later found out that it was spear-headed by Museke. Over the period I had contributed to the trend of sharing my favorite African music.

Now I want to bring it to my platform here. So every Monday hopefully, I should bring you my pick of tunes from the continent so you also check it out.

So for this week, I start with these two tunes, I am sure you’ll love. And for your enjoyment pleasure, watch it right here;

     1. Seyi Shay featuring Iyanya and Banky W – Right Now (Remix) –  Nigeria

    

2. Mi Casa featuring Sauti Sol – Tuale Fofofo   –          South Africa/Kenya

Stay tuned till I come your way next week Monday for another set of enjoyable African music. If no one will celebrate us, we will celebrate ourselves.

Link to Seyi Shay artist profile

Link to Mi Casa artist profile.

Credits:

Video – www.youtube.com

GHANA NEEDS $22.6 BILLION TO IMPLEMENT CLIMATE ACTIONS

Ghana needs $22.6 billion in investments from domestic and international public and private sources to finance its climate mitigation and adaptation actions.

The country's 31 programme of actions will drive the strategic focus of a “10-year post-2020 enhanced climate action plan” that would be developed after the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris.

This is contained in Ghana’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) submitted on September 23, 2015 to the UNFCCC, ahead of the deadline.
An INDC is a government's proposed 'contribution' to the UNFCCC as to what it will do about climate change.

COP 21 CLIMATE CHANGE

The Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC invited parties to communicate to the secretariat their INDCs well in advance of the Paris climate summit in December 2015 “in a manner that facilitates the clarity, transparency and understanding of the INDCs.
As at October 1, there were 108 submitted INDCs on the UNFCCC website, including that of Ghana.

Ghana's INDC is anchored on the medium-term development agenda (Ghana Shared Growth Development Agenda II – GSGDA 2), National Climate Change Policy and the Low Carbon Development Strategy, as well as the anticipated 40-year long-term development and the universal sustainable development goals.

According to the document,“the proposed measures to achieve the INDC goal will build on existing measures and strategies”.
In all, 20 mitigation and 11 adaptation programme of actions in 7 priority economic sectors are being proposed for implementation in the 10-year period (2020-2030).

The implementation of the actions are expected to help attain low carbon climate resilience through effective adaptation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in the priority sectors: Sustainable land use including food security; Climate proof infrastructure; Equitable social development; Sustainable mass transportation; Sustainable energy security; Sustainable forest management; and Alternative urban waste management.

Ghana's emission reduction goal is to unconditionally lower its GHG emissions by 15% relative to a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario emission of 73.95 MtCO2e by 2030.

An additional 30 percent emission reduction is attainable on condition that external support is made available to Ghana to cover the full cost of implementing the mitigation action (finance, technology transfer, capacity building).
With this external support, a total emission reduction of 45% below the BUA emission levels can be achieved by 2030.

The total investment cost for implementing the 20 transformational mitigation actions is $9.81 billion – representing 45% of the total investment. Out of this, Ghana will mobilize $2.02 billion (21% of the total investment cost) to finance the two unconditional INDCs. An additional $7.79 billion will be needed to finance the remaining 18 mitigation actions in order to achieve more ambitious emission reductions in the 10 year period.

The long-term goal of Ghana’s adaptation is to increase climate resilience and decrease vulnerability for enhanced sustainable development.
Ghana will require $12.79 billion for adaptation – $4.21 billion (34%) will be mobilized at the national level, whilst the remaining $8.29 billion is the international contribution Ghana is looking for in order to meet the cost of implementing its adaptation actions.

Adaptation under Ghana’s INDC is informed by: good governance and inter-sectoral coordination; capacity-building, the role of science, technology and innovation; adequate finance from both domestic sources and international cooperation; promoting outreach by informing, communicating and educating the citizenry; and adhering to accountable monitoring and reporting.

Ambitious climate resilient economy
Africa and other developing countries remain vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

In Ghana, the agricultural and food economy are already under threat as local farmers reel under the severity of the weather.
Achieving a 2oC global temperature target is ambitious but means for adaptation and mitigation remain critical to the vulnerable.

In preparing and submitting its INDC, Ghana is mindful of its international obligations as a Party to the UNFCCC while simultaneously pursuing a national development agenda that seeks to achieve the long-standing objective of becoming a fully-fledged middle-income economy.

Ghana’s response to the threats posed to this objective by the impacts of climate change has been to pursue coordinated domestic policy actions that in effect seek to develop a policy framework that integrates adaptation, mitigation and other climate related policies within broader development policies and planning.

This is in order to safeguard developmental gains from the impacts of climate change and build a climate resilient economy.
Ghana holds the view that the INDCs should cover mitigation, adaptation, finance technology, capacity building and transparency and agrees with the common position of Africa.

Original story: ghanaweb.com

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Calling all Filmmakers! The “TAP Potential” Video Contest on Climate Change!

The TAP Video Contest invites you to show off your videography talent, and share your ideas on how to tap the potential for climate action.

Across the globe, people are turning the climate change challenge into an opportunity. We want to hear these stories. Your film might focus on your own actions, those of a community group or university, or perhaps the work your city or region is doing. The story is yours to tell – but here are some ideas to kick-start your brainstorming:

• Describe an initiative that focuses on combating climate change. How could this be scaled up to have an even greater impact in your city or further afield?
• Share your ideas on a new or existing project that would convince your family, friends or colleagues to take climate action. What is it about this project that encourages the community to get on board?
• Have your say on the transformative action needed to encourage sustainable development in your hometown. If you were the mayor, what would be your first order of business?

Whatever you think can make a difference for the climate; we want to see it brought to life through a short, engaging video.

The Transformative Actions Program (TAP) is a 10-year initiative aiming to showcase the potential of local climate action. It aims to improve cities’ and regions’ access to financing, and maximize investment in low-carbon and climate-resilient urban development and governance processes. The TAP will showcase 100 ambitious projects at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris in December 2015.

WANT TO KNOW HOW TO JOIN?

It’s easy! Anyone can join, as an individual or in a group. You may submit as many entries as you like. Simply follow these steps:

1. Create a 15 second to 3 minute digital video about tapping the potential of transformative climate action in cities or regions.
2. Upload your film on Vine, Youtube, Youku or Vimeo.
3. Tag your film with #TAPPotential and share your video with your social network!
4. Write an email to tap@iclei.org to inform us of the link by 30 September 2015. Please provide us with your name and a contact telephone number.

THE REQUIREMENTS

• Your film can be in any digital video format – you can even use your smartphone!
• Choose whatever film style you wish. Perhaps you want to narrate, sketch, sing, animate, or illustrate your story… Be creative!
• Your film can be in any language, but we strongly suggest you include English subtitles and a full script.
• Your film must not have been entered in other film contests before.

THE WINNER

The winner will be marked out of a total of 50 points on the following criteria:

• Content: clarity and effectiveness of the video in documenting a story about climate transformation, promoting action and/or offering new solutions. (15 points)
• Innovation, originality, and impact: telling the story in a fresh and unusual way, appealing to a broad and diverse audience and encouraging further thought and action. (15 points)
• Technical expertise: quality of camera and audio work, effectiveness of editing and strength of script. (10 points)
• Online impact: How many likes or views your video gets when published online. We want you to share and promote your video to your network! (10 points)

THIS IS WHAT YOU GET

• First prize: 500 euros
• Second prize: 300 euros
• Third prize: 200 euros
• Winners will also be offered the opportunity to work alongside ICLEI’s Communications Team as a social reporter at the Cities and Regions Pavilion – TAP 2015 at COP21 in Paris. (Please note the prize does not grant entrance to the restricted UNFCCC Blue Zone at COP21.)

WHEN’S THE DEADLINE?

The deadline for submission is 30 September 2015 and winners will be informed by 10 October 2015.

Formore information, just log on to the TAP Video Contest page.