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FCTA introduces ‘Blue Bin Project’ to reduce waste

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FCTA introduces ‘Blue Bin Project’ to reduce waste

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has, through its Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), introduced Blue Bin Project to reduce the quantum of wastes that go to its landfill.

Abuja Environmental Protection Board
Officials of one of the AEPB waste evacuation contractors, on duty in Garki Area of Abuja

Malam Muhammed Bello, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said this in Abuja on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at the commemoration of the 2018 World Environment Day (WED).

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the commemoration has ‘‘Beat Plastic Pollution’’ as its theme.

Bello, who was represented by the Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Mr Umaru Shuaibu, said the project involved recycling of waste materials with a view to reducing waste in the FCT.

‘‘In 2016, based on Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Administration and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the AEPB introduced an integrated Solid Wastes Management pilot scheme, in life Camp District of FCT.’’

According to him, FCTA promotes the three concepts of waste management which are aimed at reducing, reusing and recycling wastes.

‘‘In the FCT, we shall continue to take very proactive steps towards ameliorating the hazards of plastic pollution.

‘‘We are working to increase general awareness among the populace on the consequences of disposable plastics on the environment.

‘‘One way of doing this, we believe is by sticking with one of the slogans of WED, which is `If you cannot reuse it, refuse it’, the minister said.

AEPB Director, Baba-Shehu Lawan, said that 13 million plastics were being dumped in the world indiscriminately into land, river and ocean yearly.

He described plastics as non-biodegradable which destroyed marine life and the environment.

Lawan said that AEPB joined the world to commemorate WED to raise awareness on people’s actions that led to the blockage of water channels and caused the destruction of the environment.

The Chairman, AEPB Governing Board, Dr Baruwa Yahaya, who said that the environmental management was a collective responsibility, urged residents to assist in controlling plastic pollution in the FCT.

NAN reports that the FCT minister and other stakeholders in the environment sector plant tree seedlings to commemorate the day.

By Deji Abdulwahab

Businesses, cities, regions urged to disclose their carbon pollution

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Businesses, cities, regions urged to disclose their carbon pollution

Governor of California State, Edmund G. Brown Jr.; United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa; and Mahindra Group CEO, Anand Mahindra, have joined forces to spur more businesses, cities, states and regions to transparently report carbon emissions and progress toward meeting verifiable emissions reduction goals.

Anand Mahindra
Mahindra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra

“Tracking and reporting carbon pollution keeps governments and businesses accountable,” said Governor Brown. “Governments and businesses must turn their climate goals into bold climate action by honestly and fully reporting their emissions.”

“If we are to keep the target of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius within our grasp, we need more governments and corporations than ever before to report on exactly how they are stepping up to address climate change,” said Espinosa, who is also Summit Co-Chair.

“It is only with resource to such information that the world can begin to understand how it can meet the urgent task of implementing the Paris Agreement. Today’s challenge from Governor Brown – which aims to stimulate greater levels of disclosure – is therefore a much welcome ‘call to action’ ahead of the Summit, ahead of COP 24 in Poland,” Espinosa added.

“We can’t manage what we don’t measure, and disclosure is a crucial step for that,” said Summit Co-Chair, Mahindra. “I echo the challenge to companies and governments to enhance disclosures from Summer 2018. The time to step up and act is now.”

Transparently tracking and monitoring greenhouse gases is a key component of holding governments and businesses accountable for meeting emissions reduction targets. The challenge issued today sets a goal of having at least 300 more companies, cities, states and regions publicly disclose their carbon emissions and reduction efforts by the Global Climate Action Summit this September.

More than 570 cities with a combined population of 608 million people, 100 states and regions across 88 countries and 6,300 companies with 55 percent of global market capitalisation have already taken urgent action by measuring and reporting their climate impact through CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project.

The challenge issued today also calls for universal and standardized reporting by all governments and entities worldwide by 2030 as a clear and achievable goal.

“Disclosure works,” said Lance Pierce, President of CDP North America. “Companies, cities, states and regions who have disclosed via CDP for many years – and even those new to the process – are reaping great benefits from public disclosure, and the world is rewarded with collective data, insights and knowledge. They are forging ahead with climate action because it is both in their and their stakeholders’ best interests to do so. I hope that many more are inspired to embrace today’s universal disclosure challenge in time for the Global Climate Action Summit,” he added.

As a member of the Under2 Coalition, California discloses its mitigation and climate goals to CDP alongside more than 100 state and regional governments, a 150% increase in just two years. Together these governments represent 18% of the global economy and 658 million citizens. The disclosures are displayed in CDP’s States and Regions online climate tracker.

Businesses and governments are stepping up their climate efforts head of this year’s Global Climate Action Summit on September 12-14 in San Francisco.

In March, Christiana Figueres, the former UN Climate Chief & Convenor of Mission 2020, challenged corporations and governments to increase the use of green bonds for financing projects

Later Figueres challenged the tech-sector to commit to achieve a series of new goals by the September Summit

In February, McDonald’s Corporation became the first fast food company in the world to answer a call from Summit Co-Chair Anand Mahindra in January to see 500 companies adopt science-based emissions reduction targets that require measuring emissions by the Summit

The finance sector has been activated by a worldwide challenge to major investors to accelerate and scale up climate actions including Investment, Corporate Engagement, Disclosure and Policy Advocacy and a Green Bond Pledge.

A key purpose of the Summit is to showcase climate action around the world, along with bold new commitments, to give worldwide leaders the confidence they need to go even further by 2020, starting from when they meet at the United Nations COP24 in Poland in November and through to a climate leaders’ Summit scheduled by the UN Secretary-General in late 2019.

Worldwide emissions must start trending down by 2020 in order to keep a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees C and avoid dangerous, rising risks to people and economies world-wide: the Summit will play a key role in galvanizing the support necessary to make that happen. Disclosure is fundamental to tracking individual and collective progress towards global climate goals.

The Summit marks the first time a U.S. state has hosted an international climate change conference with the direct goal of supporting the Paris Agreement.

The Global Climate Action Summit takes place from September 12 to 14, 2018 in San Francisco under the theme “Taking Ambition to the Next Level.”

Towards a plastic pollution-free Nigeria: Strategies and tactics

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Towards a plastic pollution-free Nigeria: Strategies and tactics

In line with this year’s World Environment Day theme on beating plastic pollution, Climate and Sustainable Development Network (CSDevNet), in collaboration with partners and other non-state actors, is calling on the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to go beyond rhetoric and mere sloganeering and set in motion the process of banning single-use plastic in Nigeria.

Plastic bottle scavengers
Plastic bottle scavengers and their wares at the Epe Landfill Site/EcoPark in Lagos, Nigeria

The 2018 WED theme represents a veritable opportunity to consider how we can make changes in our everyday lives to reduce the heavy burden of plastic pollution on our natural places, our wildlife – and own health. While plastic has many valuable uses, Nigeria has become over-reliant on single-use or disposable plastic – with severe environmental consequences.

CSDevNet recognises that beating plastic pollution is a huge challenge especially when we consider the perverse culture of current disposable economy. Fifty percent of plastics in use are disposable or single-use type. Globally, we buy one million plastic bottles every minute and use up to five trillion plastic bags every year.

Dumping plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use is projected to result in our oceans holding more litter than fish by 2050, while an estimated 99 percent of all seabirds will have ingested plastic. There is even evidence that plastic waste threatens soil fertility.  Reports by Ocean Conservancy, suggest that there will be more plastics than fish in the oceans by 2050. Already, plastics have been found in over 60 percent of all seabirds and in all sea turtles’ species that mistake plastic for food. We must beat plastics, for our survival and for the survival of other species. We need fish, not plastics.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has a major role to play in beating plastic pollution and particularly addressing the current scourge of plastic waste on urban and rural landscapes across Nigeria. Across Africa, several African countries (including Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Mauritania, Tunisia, Kenya, Uganda Rwanda, Tanzania, Morocco, and South Africa) have enacted laws related to the ban on the use, manufacture and importation of single-use plastic bags.

In view of the fact that outright bans on single-use plastics without viable and affordable alternatives (such as biodegradables or paper-based alternatives, which are often perceived as more expensive and “less durable”) could negatively affect some sections of society and small and medium-size enterprises, we urge Nigerian authorities to introduce the plastic bag levy, which is favoured in several countries across the globe, including the United Kingdom with significant success in relation to behavioural change towards single use plastics.

In some countries, such as South Africa, it has been reported that funds raised from the plastic bag levies are not entirely used in investing in recycling programmes and programmes that will bring about fundamental behavioural changes both at the individual and at the corporate level, towards beating plastic pollution for good. They are also channelled towards creating empowerment opportunities for the teaming young population.

We believe Nigeria can toe this line by providing incentives such as tax breaks for companies to encourage recycling as well as to transform their production processes towards the production of biodegradable alternatives and also strictly enforcing legislation as part of a holistic programme for sustainably transforming their economy and banning all non-biodegradable plastics from the country.

In line with the above, we call on the Presidency of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Environment to orchestrate steps aimed at regulating the manufacture, use and disposal of of single-use plastics in Nigeria. CSDevNet hereby commits itself to collaborating with the National Assembly Committees on the Environment, Habitat and Climate Change and other relevant non-state actors in the aggregated efforts at crafting an institutional framework to tackle the plastic menace in the country.

By Atâyi Babs

Bauchi students want conservation clubs established in schools

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Bauchi students want conservation clubs established in schools

Students of Immaculate Conception Secondary School (ICSS) Bauchi, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 called for the establishment of “Environmental Conservation Clubs” in all the primary and secondary schools in the country to instil the culture of environmental conservation in the minds of children.

Conservation Clubs: Zuwaira Hassan
Bauchi State Commissioner for Health, Zuwaira Hassan

The students made the call at a ceremony organised by the institution’s environmental conservation club, the Young Leaders Development Project (YLDP), to mark this year’s World Environment Day.

Speaking through the President of the club, Mr Peter Okafor, the students noted that a lot still needed to be done in area of environmental protection and sanitation.

They said one way of curbing environmental disasters was for the government to encourage environmental conservation practices.

“The government and individuals are not doing enough in the area of environmental protection and sanitation, which is the reason why environmental challenges such as flood, drought and climate change related disasters, are engulfing the Nigeria environment.

“The only way to reverse this ugly trend is for Nigerian government and international organisations to encourage environmental conservation practices across the strata of the society,” they said.

They also called on the Federal and state governments to allocate enough resources for the “greening of cities and town” across the country, adding that this could be done through the encouragement of planting of trees.

Also speaking, the Director of Bauchi State Environment Protection Agency (BASPA), Mr Ibrahim Dalari, said some of the major environmental challenges facing the state were desertification and poor environmental sanitation.

“Our major environmental challenges in Bauchi are desertification, which is in alarming rate, as well as poor environmental sanitation.

“This poor environmental sanitation has triggered diseases, which have claimed lives across the state,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other activities that featured to mark the Day included cultural dance, planting of economic and normal trees within the school premises, as well as the recitation of the “green pledge”, among others.

By Saheed Olaide

Niger to commence monthly environmental sanitation in July

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Niger to commence monthly environmental sanitation in July

The Niger State Government on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 said that it would commence monthly environmental sanitation across the state in July to ensure clean environment and healthy living.

Alhaji-Abubakar-Sani-Bello
Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, Governor of Niger State

The state Commissioner for Environment and Forestry, Alhaji Idris Amin, made this known after a cleaning exercise carried out in Minna the state capital, to mark this year’s World Environmental Day.

Amin noted that the monthly exercise had become necessary saying, “we want our environments to be clean and safe for healthy living.

“We are starting the monthly environmental sanitation exercise as from next month and it will take less than two hours.

“We are almost implementing the sanitation process in the state and everyone must abide by it.”

According to him, there will be restriction on human and vehicular movements, except for those engaged in essential duties and inter-state journeys during the exercise.

Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Hajia Ramatu Umar, promised that there would be massive awareness campaign to ensure compliance, adding that defaulters would be prosecuted.

Umar said that necessary measures had been put in place to ensure that the monthly exercise would be sustained.

NAN reports that the theme for this year’s Environment Day is ‘Beating Plastic Pollution.’

By Amen Gajira

ILO underlines need to curb plastics pollution

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ILO underlines need to curb plastics pollution

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Tuesday, June 5 underscored the need to curb plastics pollution globally, as the world marks the 2018 World Environment Day.

Guy-Ryder
Director-General of the ILO, Guy Ryder

Mr Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, said this while addressing over 5,700 workers, government representatives and employers at the 107th Session of the International Labour Conference with the theme “A Future with Decent Work” in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ryder said that plastics had become the workhorse of the modern economy and was found in all aspects of modern life.

The director-general said that while plastics were providing significant benefits, its current use had many drawbacks.

He said that paying attention to the drawbacks was necessary to curb pollution, as more than 32 per cent of plastics packaging escaped collection systems.

According to Ryder, most of it ends up in landfills, dumps or simply in the environment in cities, in the oceans or farmlands.”

He quoted the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, unless the necessary action was taken now, there will be more plastics than fish in the oceans by 2050.

“The challenge before us is to transform the “make-use-dispose” plastics’ economy into a circular economy, based on recycling. We also need to reduce our consumption of single-use or disposable plastics.

“We can lessen the environmental damage that plastics pollution is causing by extending the use of plastic products for as long as possible, while recovering, reusing and recycling plastics at a much higher rate.

“This will not only reduce the environmental damage that plastic pollution is causing, but will also open up new opportunities for decent work.”

He noted that the ILO World Employment and Social Outlook: Greening with Jobs 2018 Report suggested a sustained five per cent annual increase in recycling rates for plastics.

He said that others as glass, wood pulp, metals and minerals could generate around six million additional jobs across the world.

Ryder said that the waste management and recycling sector already employed over 500,000 people in Brazil, and no fewer than the same number of workers in Bangladesh, the majority of whom were women.

According to him, the sad reality is that the handling of plastic waste as well as e-waste and other fast-growing solid waste streams, remain largely part of the informal economy in many countries.

“Workers face serious decent work deficits such as work-related hazards, discrimination, stigmatisation, violence and harassment, low earnings and long working hours.

“They often are not legally registered and are not protected by labour laws, with no access to social protection benefits.

“Addressing these gaps will greatly enhance opportunities for decent work. A coherent and integrated legal framework is a first step in that direction.

“Therefore, the ILO constituents — governments and employers’ and workers’ organisations have an important role to play.’’

Ryder said that next year, the ILO would convene a Global Dialogue Forum on decent work in the management of e-waste which is expected to generate new solutions and recommendations.

He said that the ILO had implemented successful projects around the world, to support formalisation in the waste management sector, skills’ development and entrepreneurship.

Ryder said that the ILO also played a major role in promoting social dialogue in partnership with industry, as well as with employers and workers’ organisations.

He noted that cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy organisations had been set up in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines and South Africa, to increase the collective voice and negotiation power of waste pickers.

The ILO chief said that the world body would ensure their integration into waste management chains as recycling workers.

“Building on these successful experiences, we can do more to keep our planet safe, clean and fit for work,” he said.

By Joan Nwagwu

UNILAG generates 2.5 tons of plastic waste daily, says official

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UNILAG generates 2.5 tons of plastic waste daily, says official

The University of Lagos, Akoka (UNILAG) has appealed to Lagos residents to reduce the use of plastic to protect the environment from further degradation.

University of Lagos Unilag
University of Lagos, Akoka

The institution made the appeal at a walk for the environment to commemorate the 2018 World Environment Day (WED) on Tuesday, June 5 in Lagos.

The theme for this year’s celebration, “Beat Plastic Pollution’’, aims at encouraging global action against the use of plastic.

Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, said that the walk was to create awareness among students and members of staff of the institution to protect the environment.

“Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental concerns facing us today and this has constituted a global problem,’’ he said.

Ogundipe said that residents should be cautious about the use of plastics considering the topography of the state.

“We are flagging off the occasion with a walk and we want to involve everyone because we all have roles to play in taking care of the environment,’’ he said.

Mrs Sade Nubi, a Senior Environmental Engineer with the Department of Works and Physical Planning, said that the event involved a walk for the environment and a presentation on beating plastic pollution on campus.

The presentation by Nubi revealed that UNILAG generates an average of 2.5 tons of plastic waste per day and a huge volume of 840 tons per year.

Nubi said that the university had made progress in her recycling effort by being able to recycle an average of 10.4 tons of plastic per month.

She noted the need to cut down on the volume of plastic generation on campus through the use of reuse plastic.

Nubi urged the staff and students to pledge to keep to the habit of refusing single use plastic in line with international global practice and this year’s world environment day: “Beat Plastic Pollution’’.

“The earth’s potential is being threatened by poor disposal of plastic waste into the environment affecting the air, water and land.

“Currently, the world generates an average of one million single use plastic per minute.

“These mainly find their ways into the water bodies disintegrating to micro-plastic which are consumed by aquatic animals and ultimately kills them or are transferred into the food chain,’’ Nubi said.

She added that some health issues like cancer and food poison have been traced to issues of micro-plastic consumed from fishes and sea foods.

She urged everybody to think globally and act locally to ensure we beat plastic pollution through adherence to reuse plastic and creating alternative to single use plastic.

By Okuanwan Offiong and Florence Onuegbu

Climate Wednesday to Celebrate World Environment Day with #Sport4PlasticPollution – @ClimateWed

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Climate Wednesday to Celebrate World Environment Day with #Sport4PlasticPollution – @ClimateWed

world environment dayWhat is World Environmental Day being a global celebration of nature, a day to reconnect with the places that matter most to us.

 

A Platform for Action: World Environment Day is the UN’s most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.

 

The People’s Day: Above all, World Environment Day is the “people’s day” for doing something to take care of the Earth. That “something” can be focused locally, nationally or globally; it can be a solo action or involve a crowd. Everyone is free to choose.

 

The Theme: Each World Environment Day is organized around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. The theme for 2018 is “Beating Plastic Pollution”.

 

Plastic pollution has become an epidemic. Every year, we throw away enough plastic to circle the Earth four times. Much of that waste doesn’t make it into a landfill, but instead ends up in our oceans, where it’s responsible for killing one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year. For the good of the planet, it’s time to rethink how we use plastic. This year, Climate Wednesday registered as International Climate Change Initiative Development will be commemorating this year’s World Environment Day with an initiative tagged “#Sport4PlasticPollution”

 

#Sport4PlasticPollution: The “#Sport4PlasticPollution” capitalizes on the popularity of the sports industry. Individuals around the world have an up close and personal relationship with sports. Sporting activities require good weather conditions for trainings and events, to this end it is imperative that man’s negative impact on the environment is minimized. Individuals, organizations and civil society groups around the world are organizing different events to create awareness about this year’s theme “Beating Plastic Pollution” with the hope that this would spur governments, business leaders, and everyday global citizens to take action.

 

Sport is universal. So is Plastic Pollution. This is why Climate Wednesday is seeking support from organizations’ and relevant stakeholders to execute the #Sport4PlasticPollution event. The event would showcase how sports can be a driving force in tacking plastic pollution

 

This year’s activity on World Environment day with the theme “Beat Plastic Pollution” will involve the following activities:

 

  1. Game/Sport on the beach (Teams from different Organization)
  2. Adopting A Tree to conserve our beach.
  3. Clean Up the beach.
  4. Brief discussion about how we can reduce plastic pollution.

 

Why the concept #Sport4PlasticPollution?

 

  1. To create awareness about the impacts of plastic pollution
  2. To provide a playful and relaxed atmosphere where individuals can engage, discuss and share ideas on everyday actions that can help to reduce plastic pollution
  3. The event would foster team work and collaborations as we can only “Beat Plastic Pollution” when we work together.
  4. The event also aims to show that sports can be a driving force for reducing plastic pollution.
  5. To see how individuals across Nigeria are standing up to beat plastic pollution.
  1. To help discover how the global sports community is coming together to raise awareness and inspire action on Plastic Pollution.
  2. Educating individuals to help promote and facilitate into committing themselves to the initiative.
  3. #Sport4PlasticPollution is set to make a real, lasting difference.

Climate Wednesday – ICCDI can be contacted on Twitter via @ClimateWed

Nigeria can lead in phytomedicine, says biologist

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Nigeria can lead in phytomedicine, says biologist

Mr Longinus Chima, a biologist, on Monday, June 4, 2018 said Nigeria could lead the world in phytomedicine and non-synthetic drug production if concrete effort was made at analysing its rich plant resources.

phytomedicine
phytomedicine

Phytomedicine is the scientific investigation of the medicinal properties of plants or specific plant extracts. It also entails the evaluation, herbal preparation and use of herbal medicines on pharmacological principles.

Chima, a U.S. trained biologist, made the disclosure in Aba, Abia State, in interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that if the nation could invest in assessing, analysing and profiling its rich plant resources, it could be a health destination and a leader in natural drug production.

“Nigeria is blessed with plants that have better medicinal properties than those found abroad, hence the need for assessment, analysis and profiling of the plants to improve the nation’s fortunes.

“Phytomedicine is the future of medicine. We need additional analysis to get to know more about the functions or the constituents of the various plants.

“And if Nigeria wants to lead the world in phytomedicine, because it has the capacity to, there is the need to study the plants around us and know their constituents and functions.

“That Nigeria is in this tropical region of the world is an advantage. We in Nigeria experience C4 photosynthesis whereas the rest of the temperate regions of the world experience C3 type.

“As a result, our own photosynthesis and plants are richer and higher than their own and that is why plants here are much more effective in doing anything medicinal than those in the temperate regions.

“As Nigeria is tinkering with revenue diversification, this is the opportunity to study the plants and understand their constituents because somebody said ‘no plant grows in vain’, God puts them there for a reason.

“So every plant has something special given to it that makes it unique. And studying and understanding them will be of great benefit to our health system because all of them function as antigens when we take them in. They are all beneficial,” said he. He therefore charged the government to set up a mechanism for the special study of all available plants in Nigeria to reap the benefits of their richness in drug manufacturing and other uses.

Chima, who is a table yeast manufacturer in Aba, said that he holds 18 patents from his discoveries of how to produce table yeast from different plants.

He also urged the government to provide equipped laboratories to assist interested citizens investing in science to conduct researches at little or no cost to boost the nation’s scientific development.

“Plant yeasts have the possibility of solving some health problems because of the properties of the plants, they are isolated but lack of scientific help to verify some of the claims is a major challenge,’’ he said.

By Ijendu Iheaka

IPCC seeks governments’ comments on draft global warming report

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IPCC seeks governments’ comments on draft global warming report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is inviting governments to comment on the Final Draft of the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Special Report on “Global Warming of 1.5ºC” (or SR15) ahead of the approval plenary for the SPM at the IPCC’s 48th session in early October, 2018.

Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair of Working Group I, IPCC
Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair of Working Group I, IPCC

The IPCC distributed the Final Draft of the report, whose full name is “Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty”, to governments on Monday, June 4, 2018 with a request to comment on SPM by July 29.

The review of the Final Draft is a key stage in the preparation of the report, allowing authors to prepare for the line-by-line approval session of the SPM that will take place in Incheon, Republic of Korea, from October 1 to 5,, 2018. The report, to be released on October 8 subject to approval by the Panel, will be the key scientific input into the Talanoa Dialogue at the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Katowice, Poland, in December.

The aim of this final review, according to the IPCC, is to ensure that the Summary for Policymakers is accurate, well-balanced, presents the findings of the underlying report clearly, and is consistent with the scope of the full report as approved by the Panel at the 44thsession of the IPCC in October 2016.

“This is the last step of the IPCC review process. Chapter drafts have been finalized, and key findings have been distilled into the Summary for Policymakers,” said Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I. “Governments will now review the report that we have prepared following their invitation to the IPCC in December 2015, at COP21.”

In line with IPCC procedures, the report has already undergone two formal review stages: the expert review of the First Order Draft from July 31 to September 24, 2017, and the government and expert review of the Second Order Draft from January 8 to February 25, 2018.

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