African Climes

Energy is connected to water as water is connected to energy while both are influenced by climate change, further altering the dynamics of this relationship. A growing world population means more energy and water will be needed. Energy is used in withdrawal, transport, processing and cleaning of water. Water withdrawal refers to removal/collection of water from source. Energy is used to pump water from surface water (lakes, springs, rivers and even oceans) and transport it to processing plants. Here, the water is cleaned and purified according to its various purposes. Large scale distillation and chlorination, done to make water potable (drinkable) all require quite the amount of energy. Energy is then used to transport and distribute this water to households. The Kaptis Hydropower plant (image: Africa Energy Portal) Industries and farms require a different quality of water but energy is also used in water treatment and transport/ distribution especially over long distances. The

 The Paris Agreement is a climate change treaty that was signed in Le Bourget, Paris, France by 197 countries on 12th December 2015. It is one of the most widely subscribed to international agreements having near universal acceptance. It succeeds the Kyoto Protocol and is to ‘govern’ from 2020 onwards. The Agreement is based on the parent treaty of the UN Climate Change Convention, which is the basis for all international laws about climate change. The fact that climate change is a global challenge is what informs international cooperation on the issue because emissions anywhere affects life everywhere. Therefore, for action taken to be successful, all parties must be involved and everybody’s voice heard. This agreement, which tries to be holistic, looks at all aspects of climate change and involves all stakeholders. It is different from the previous one because it involves the participation of both developed and developing countries in mitigation (cutting emissions) and is ‘bottom