Working Toward the Durban Conference on Climate Change (COP-17)

The Durban Conference on Climate Change will take place from November 28 to December 9 in Durban, South Africa.   Officially the meeting is the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol, will be held in the sunny city of Durban, South Africa.

A video from the World Bank, Taking Action on Climate Change in Africa, features Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region.   She notes that climate change is adding to an already tough set of development challenges for the continent. Around 560 million Africans do not have access to modern energy, for example. And weak infrastructure – water, roads, electricity and communication technologies– cuts economic growth by 2 percentage points per year.