The two-day annual Development and Climate Days was held on 8–9 December 2018 alongside the United Nations climate talks in Katowice, which came after what the UN has called “a year of devastating climate disasters around the globe”. It was opened by Clare Shakya, who leads on climate change at joint organizers, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). The weekend workshop was the first since the IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC. “Half a degree matters,” said Bruce Currie-Alder, who leads on climate adaptation in Africa and Asia at Canada’s International Development Research Centre. The Saturday plenary heard national stories from a panel comprising Veronica Rivera of the Guatemala Red Cross Society, Ana Carolina Barbosa Lima of the Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano, Prince Ansah, from the University of Ghana’s Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, and Pin Meechaiya of the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre. Climate Centre Director Maarten van Aalst said it would be the task at D&C Days to “build bridges and get connections” between stories such as these and others emerging from formal climate negotiations. Dr Debra Roberts, who co-chairs the IPCC’s working group on impacts and adaptation, said the underlying message of the SR1.5 report “was that we have to have urgent and far-reaching action”. D&C Days also included a Recipes for Change cooking challenge, a session on the use of humour in communications, and the closing panel on Sunday comprised the lead climate negotiator for the world’s least developed countries, Gebru Jember Endalew of Ethiopia, IFRC Undersecretary General for Programmes and Operations Jagan Chapagain, Constance Okolett, a farmer, community activist and chair of the Osukura United Women Network in eastern Uganda, Bernice Van Bronkhorst, Director of the World Bank Climate Change Group, Michelle Winthrop, who leads on climate policy at the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Veronica Gundu-Jakarasi of Zimbabwe, lead negotiator for the African group, Inge Vianen, CARE International Climate Change and Resilience Platform lead, and Barney Dickson, Director of Strategy and Policy at the new Rotterdam-based Global Centre on Adaptation. It was chaired by Van Aalst and Saleemul Huq, Director of the Bangladesh International Center for Climate Change and Development. (Photos: Climate Centre)