With the United Nations Climate Change Conference less than four months away, African countries need to present convincing arguments and successful adaptation projects to attract competitive funding for adjusting to changes in global weather patterns, climate finance experts say. 'Africa needs to focus on developing strong arguments for COP 18 and beyond based on clear evidence,' climate change and finance expert, and chief executive of OneWorld, Belynda Petrie, told IPS. The 18th Conference of Parties or COP 18 will take place in Doha, Qatar in late November.

Nine women in the northern Côte d’Ivoire town of Katiola have been convicted for carrying out female genital mutilation – the first time that a 1998 law banning FGM has been applied. The women were found guilty of excising thirty girls aged between 10 and 15 in February. They were each sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a fine equivalent to roughly 100 dollars. 'We have been waiting a long time for a boost in the fight against this scourge,' said Rachel Gogoua in the Ivorian economic capital, Abidjan, where she heads the National Organisation for Children, Women and the Family (ONEF), a non-governmental organisation that campaigns against FGM.