The Czech Republic on Thursday, October 5, 2017 deposited its instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, making the small landlocked Central European nation the 167th Party to the global treaty. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the ratification will come into force on November 4, 2017. Previously, Dominican Republic (166th) and Cape Verde (165th) had ...

Marc Chardonnens, Director, Federal Office for the Environment, Switzerland, who was President of the First meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP1) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury that held recently in Geneva, presents the Key Take-Home messages from the High-Level Segment that took place from September 28 to 29, 2017 This session of the Conference has agreed on ...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Friday, October 6, 2017 that it has delivered nearly 1.2 million doses of antibiotics and released $1.5 million in emergency funds to fight plague in Madagascar. “Plague is curable if detected in time. Our teams are working to ensure that everyone at risk has access to protection and treatment. The faster we move, ...

The Federal High Court, Lagos has adjourned further hearing till Monday, October 9, 2017  in the case of a former Governor of Oyo State, Chief Rashidi Ladoja, who is charged with N4.7 billion fraud. Ladoja is being tried alongside a former Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State, Waheed Akanbi. The trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, adjourned on Friday, October 6 ...

The Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), which came into existence about five years ago with seven states, has expanded and now operates in 19 states. National Coordinator of NEWMAP, Mallam Salisu Dahiru, who made the disclosure in Abuja on Wednesday, October 4, 2017 during the opening of the International Conference on Geo-Spatial Technology, disclosed that the development was ...

In its 2016 Sustainability Report released on August 2017, Zenith Bank Plc has unveiled a range of plans and processes through which it is reducing its carbon foot print, albeit by curbing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and consumption of energy. Themed “Creating Wealth Sustainably”, the Sustainability Report which is the second in the series, has been touted as ...

The 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CMS COP12) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), scheduled to hold from October 23 to 28, 2017 in Manila, Philippines, will address links between sustainable development and the conservation of wildlife. The first to be held in Asia, the CMS COP12 is touted to ...

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has upheld a complaint by Forest Peoples Programme against logging company PT Kemakmuran Berkah Timber (PT KBT). The FSC-certified company has been operating on the lands of the indigenous Dayak Bahau community in the Upper Mahakam in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, without their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) for the past three years. Despite the FSC’S ...

A year and half after its launch, history beckons as “Mami Water”, a scheme aimed at ensuring sustainable use of the ocean along the West and Southern African coastline, holds its first Expert Working Group (EWG) meeting in Freetown, Sierra Leone from Monday, October 9, 2017. The three-day forum brings together experts from across the Abidjan Convention Region to discuss ...

A new report, “Catalyst for change”, analyses 22 of the largest global chemical companies with a total market capitalisation of $650 billion and responsible for a quarter of all emissions of the sector at 276 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. The report reveals that the chemicals sector is making progress on climate risk but that rapid process innovations will be ...