Through the entire week commencing from Monday, May 22 2017, Nigeria’s national efforts towards REDD+ Readiness enters into a fresh phase as proponents intensify the initiative, this time under the support of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). REDD+ stands for countries’ efforts to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The ...

No fewer that 180,000 people living in oil field region of Thar Hath in South Sudan are suffering from chronic poisoning from heavy metals as a result of exploratory drillings for crude oil, a study has revealed. According to the findings of a research conducted by Sign of Hope, a German non-governmental organisation (NGO), the poisoning is as a result of the contamination of ...

The Government of Japan has announced that it is providing funding amounting to $3,678,178 (Japanese Yen 377 million) through the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) for the rehabilitation of community infrastructure, livelihood improvement and women’s empowerment in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces over the next two years. This initiative is an extension of the Japanese funded Phase I ...

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) May conference closed in Bonn on Thursday, May 18, 2017 with Fiji Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, the in-coming president of COP23, presenting his political vision for the November Summit. These include forging “a grand coalition to accelerate climate action before 2020 and beyond between civil society, the scientific community, the private sector ...

Officials meeting in Belize’s largest city, Belize City, have unveiled an updated masterplan for Belmopan, the country’s capital, based on good urban practice and design that will shape development of the city over the coming years. The launch was done recently by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) at the Seventh Caribbean Urban Forum 2017 (CUF7), which was designed to ...

Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Bolaji Oyeleye, has reaffirmed government’s commitment at ensuring that the proposed wastes-to-energy project becomes a reality. The Commissioner, who gave this reassurance while receiving the report from Euro Feasibility Study on the project, said the state government remains committed at achieving the project, as all concerned parties in its implementation were on ground. Oyeleye, in ...

Climate change associated extreme weather and demographic shifts means that record numbers of people are exposed to floods, heatwaves and other hazards. Improved early warning systems and more coordinated disaster risk reduction are therefore more important than ever before. To meet the growing challenges, an international conference will launch a concerted drive to improve warnings for an interlocking range of ...

Communities from peatland regions around Indonesia on Thursday, May 18, 2017 joined a global forum in Jakarta on solving the problems they are facing, and to share experiences for those facing similar problems around the world. Local communities were at the centre of discussions among policy makers, scientists, business leaders, civil society representatives and others at the “Global Landscapes Forum: Peatlands ...

Negotiators at the UN climate change talks in Bonn, Germany have been working through details of the Rulebook, an operational blueprint that will ensure the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement. Observers are applauding progress made in Bonn, with negotiators advancing work on the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Indeed, countries reportedly stayed focused on the task at hand: building ...

United Nations climate change talks inched slightly closer to finalising a rule book on how to implement the Paris Agreement, in spite of continued U.S. intransigence across a host of technical and political issues. With only a few years before the window of opportunity to meet the 1.5 temperature target closes, civil society groups had advocated for progress on a number ...