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Government urged to legislate use of less plastics for manufacturing

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Government urged to legislate use of less plastics for manufacturing

A don, Prof. Nasiru Idris, on Thursday, January 31, 2019 urged the Federal Government to legislate the use of less plastics by manufacturers for products packaging to curb plastic waste pollution in the country.

Nasiru Idris
Prof Nasiru Idris

Idris, who is Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

He said that the industrial revolution brought about technological advancements, which resulted to the emergence of new waste fraction that made waste management a challenge.

“Globally, plastic waste is generated mostly from packaging material for commercial product, thus resulting in its abundance in waste.

“With increasing populations, urbanisation and social status evolving, the consumption of more diversified goods created more diversified waste fractions.

“In developed and developing countries, high quantities of mixed plastic waste are generated but in the developed countries extensive recycling and reuse strategies have been implemented toward minimising its quantity in waste flow.

“If manufacturers are not legally required to use less plastic, it will be difficult for Nigeria to have clean environment since the concept of recycling is coming up and recycling is found mostly informally and carried out by scavengers.

“Plastic is abundantly found littering areas, filling up gutter, waterways and drains all over the city, especially the suburbs thus plastic waste is becoming an environmental and aesthetic nuisance.’’

Idris said that manufacturers should provide affordable and convenient alternatives like woven fabric bags instead of plastic bags and use glass bottles for packaging water and beverages.

“Also, legally pay tax on waste generated from the consumption of their products and reuse used plastic for manufacturing processes where visible.’’

He also suggested “a-no plastic day’’ within shopping malls with fabric bags as alternative for the day and extra charges on plastic bags in shopping malls on those specific days.

Idris, however, said that there was the need for an aggressive enlightenment and education of people on the environmental effects of plastic waste.

“We must create serious awareness on this so that all will work together in keeping the Nigerian environment,’’ he added. 

Zambia calls for closer collaboration to tackle climate change

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Zambia calls for closer collaboration to tackle climate change

Zambia on Thursday, January 31, 2019 called for closer collaboration among stakeholders to tackle the negative effects of climate change.

Alexander Chiteme
Alexander Chiteme, Zambia’s Minister for National Development Planning

Zambia’s Minister of National Development Planning, Alexander Chiteme, said at a World Bank-led Climate Investment Fund meeting in Morocco.

“Collaboration between the public and private sectors is vital in tackling the challenges that climate change is posing to humanity, the environment and economies,’’ Chiteme said.

The minister also said that Zambian government has developed a multi-sectoral approach to tackle climate change, adding that challenges remained.

“We have faced challenges in attracting private sector financing and effective participation.

“However, with the additional financing coming on board late last year, we will manage to mobilise private sector investments in economies such as agriculture, natural capital and by providing technical support to relevant beneficiaries.

“It is critical to respond to climate change, using a proactive and strategic approach across all sectors in an integrated manner,’’ he said.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the landlocked sub-Saharan African country has been experiencing the adverse impact of climate change. “The adverse impact of climate change includes an increase in the frequency and severity of seasonal drought, occasional dry spells, increased temperatures in valleys, flash floods and changes in the growing season,’’ UNDP said. 

Environmentalist decries continuous decline in Nigeria’s forest cover

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Environmentalist decries continuous decline in Nigeria’s forest cover

An environmentalist, Chief Philip Asiodu, has decried the continuous declining of the Nigeria’s forest cover.

Izoma Asiodu
NCF President, Izoma Philip Asiodu

Asiodu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday, January 31, 2019 that the country’s forest cover was declining rapidly to at least less than four per cent.

According to him, some things need to be done to reverse the trend.

“In 1988, there is a quest for Nigeria to return to 25 per cent forest cover.

“A lot needs to be done to achieve this 25 per cent which is about covering 250, 000 square km.

“And this requires deliberate efforts by all tiers of governments, corporate bodies and individuals.

“It also calls for a change in the way we do things as individuals, corporate organisations and governments at all levels,” he said.

Asiodu, who is President, Board of Trustees, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), said that conserving the environment required the efforts of all as damage in the environment was damage to the survival of mankind on earth.

He said that a good environment ensured that human and animals have oxygen to breath and enough trees purifying the air.

Asiodu said that pollution of the air and depletion of Ozone layer would not be an issue.

The environmentalist said that everything on earth revolved around the environment, adding that a clean environment would result to good quality of life on earth.

He said that God had given man charge over the environment to keep and till it for the benefit of all living creatures on earth.

“But what do we see today?

“Man destroying the environment and endangering all the other creatures including their habitat,” he said.

The bureaucrat and former Minister of Petroleum said that human beings had to change the way of living in the environment in order not to endanger themselves and other inhabitants of the environment.

By Chidinma Agu

Cocoa: Group urges end to child labour, deforestation

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Cocoa: Group urges end to child labour, deforestation

The European Union and Germany have come under intense pressure to put an end to child labour and deforestation – offshoots of growing cocoa plantations in the developing world.

Child labour
A child working in a cocoa plantation

As Germany is expected to reach a decision on the issue soon, the popular desire is for the country to champion the campaign to halt the menace.

Reinhard Behrend of the Rainforest Rescue is bothered by the fact that while rainforests on one hand are cut down for cocoa plantations, children from poor homes are, on the other hand, made to work on the plantations for a living.

“Some 1.2 million children are forced to work on plantations and have no perspective of ever lifting themselves out of poverty. In many places, the expanding plantations are eating their way into protected rainforest areas,” he said, even as he clamoured EU-wide regulations “to put an end to these abuses”.

His words: “Germany is the largest cocoa market within the EU, and regulation with teeth can only be realised if the German government is on board. The German cabinet, however, disagrees over how to deal with the issues of deforestation and child labour: While the Development Ministry is in favour of a proactive approach, the Agriculture Ministry is digging its heels in – as it often does whenever environmental protection is at stake.”

A decision will be reached soon, and observers are hoping that Germany will lead the fight against the abuses rather than turn a blind eye towards them.

Behrend added: “Many of the cocoa plantations were established where rainforests used to grow. Ivory Coast, one of the world’s biggest cocoa suppliers, has lost almost all its forests, including some of the last habitats of the critically endangered chimpanzee. Even national parks are being cut for cocoa production. In Peru’s Amazon region, hundreds of hectares of untouched forests have been destroyed.

“None of this is new. Producers have been promising for two decades to end child labour, human rights violations and environmental destruction, but little has improved. They fear losing customers and profit if they make the first move and raise their prices while their competitors continue to sell cheap. Promises and voluntary initiatives clearly don’t work, so we need legally binding EU regulation.”

As a way out, he stated that cocoa imported to the EU must henceforth be:

  • free of human rights abuses, including child and forced labour
  • provide a living income for farmers so they can feed their families
  • free of deforestation and environmental destruction.

He added: “The EU is the number-one cocoa importer and manufacturer and consumer of chocolate worldwide. If the EU doesn’t deal with this crisis, no one will. The EU needs to take responsibility! A key figure holding the EU back from acting is Germany’s minister for agriculture, Julia Klöckner. Ms. Klöckner should know that children don’t belong on plantations and that intact forests are more important than Europe’s sweet tooth.”

Rainforest Rescue is seeking signatories to a petition apparently aimed at the German government and demanding it to put a stop to the development.

NABDA partners with firm, Cuba to produce bio-fertiliser, vaccines

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NABDA partners with firm, Cuba to produce bio-fertiliser, vaccines

Acting Director-General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof. Alex Akpa, says the agency is partnering with Biocrops Nigeria Limited in a research to produce indigenous products suitable for farmers.

Prof. Alex Akpa
Prof. Alex Akpa

Similarly, he disclosed that the agency is collaborating with the Cuban Government to produce vaccines and bio-pharmaceuticals.

Akpa said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, January 30, 2019 in Abuja.

Biocrops is an indigenous company devoted to providing tools for farmers at an affordable price by unleashing the powers of biotechnology and economics.

The NADBA boss said that the agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the tools company in December 2018 to jointly do a research and come up with products for farmers.

He added that “right now, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has shown interest in one of the products, the Bio-fertiliser.

“The bio-fertiliser is environmentally-friendly and not only that, it is totally harmless to the environment, and it has little or no harm to individuals as it is biologically based.

“There is another important product that we developed with the company called bio-pesticide, which is particularly useful for the preservation of beans.’’

Akpa said that the product came about because of the recent devastating attack on beans, also known as cow pea by a pest called `maroca’.

He explained that “sometime last year, farmers and people who deal in beans were frustrated that they used “snipper’’, a dangerous chemical to preserve beans out of desperation because of the devastating weavels that ate up their crop.

“We, therefore, developed the bio-pesticide to preserve beans, it is safe to the environment, humans and it is biodegradable.’’

The director general added that those were some of the important achievements recorded by the agency in 2018 and expressed optimism that 2019 would be better.

Akpa stated that the collaboration with Cuba came after a visit to the country, led by the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, in 2018 to forge a joint relationship into research to locally produce vaccines and bio-pharmaceuticals.

He said: “The Cuban Government has agreed to collaborate with Federal Government in a research at our centres to produce vaccines and other bio-pharmaceuticals like insulin.”

The NABDA boss explained that the insulin productuin was for the management of diabetes, while another product called interferon would be produced for the management of cancer.

“So hopefully before the end of this year, we should see something tangible in that regard, that is another thing that gives me a lot of happiness and excitement.

“The capacity to produce the vaccines will be there, but since we cannot produce all at the same time, we are going to take them in phases from the simplest technology.

“We will then gradually move to the higher ones and as we do that, we will build the capacity of our people because they will be involved in the production, so we are going to start doing that locally.’’

He added that power as a critical aspect of vaccine production had also been put into consideration, noting that “we are going to have both solar power backup and electric generators in addition to our national grid.

“So, we will make sure that enough is put in place to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the vaccine production.’’

Established under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, NABDA’s objective is to implement policies aimed at promoting, coordinating and setting research and development priorities in biotechnology.

Based on the premise, the programmes of the agency are structured in line with international standard, bearing in mind the development of local technology.

By Perpetua Onuegbu and Rukayat Anifowoshe

Africa accused of not investing enough on environment

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Africa accused of not investing enough on environment

A university teacher, Prof. Victor Ojakorotu, said in Lagos on Wednesday, January 30, 2019 that governments in Africa were not making enough investments to secure the environment to protect people from hazards.

Alhaji Suleiman Hassan Zarma
Alhaji Suleiman Hassan Zarma, Minister of Environment

Ojakorotu, who made the statement in an interview with a correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria, said the investments being made by many governments in Africa were negligible to mitigate various environmental problems, including climate change and other challenges.

“The reality is that these environmental problems are the root cause of conflicts in Africa.

“Many of the intra and inter-state conflicts have links to squabbles over land, water and other natural resources,” he said.

Ojakorotu, a lecturer at North West University in South Africa, said that environmental problems were among the most pressing developmental challenges plaguing the African continent.

“Our continent’s environmental problems have resulted to a rise in intra and inter-state politics, diplomacy and multi-lateral agreements to curb the negative scale of the socio-economic and political problems brought about by the environment.

“Therefore, the need to ensure environmental sustainability through increased investments to mitigate adverse environment by our political leaders in Africa cannot be under-estimated.’’

The don stressed that African scholars needed to engage more on issues relating to environmental security of African countries.

“A group of African scholars have resolved to engage this problem by calling for well researched papers which shall be complied into a manual to provide guidance towards the continent’s policy direction.

“We are collaborating with a United Kingdom-based university to enable African scholars in the diaspora to contribute to lessening the scourge of climate change and other environment hazards on our people,’’ he said.

North West University is already collaborating with the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom to organise a three-day conference with theme: “Environmental Security, Diplomacy and Conflict in Africa’’ as part of efforts to design a blueprint to address the problem.

The conference is billed to hold from July 25 to 27, 2019 at the University of Bradford.

By Ikemefuna Okudolo

Nigeria gets $29m grant to fight TB

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Nigeria gets $29m grant to fight TB

The Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) says the Global Funds has provided 29 million dollars grant to help fight against Tuberculosis (TB) in the country.

Isaac Adewole
Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole

Dr Patrick Dakum, Chief Executive Officer, IHVN, who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, January 39, 2019, stressed that TB detection in the country remains extremely poor.

Dakum explained that Nigeria has the highest burden of TB in Africa and is the 6th highest globally.

“Every hour, it is estimated that 47 Nigerians develop active TB, of which seven of them are children and every hour, 18 Nigerians including women and children also die of TB.

“TB, a disease that is preventable and curable, has turned many children to orphans, taken many bread winners away with severe consequences on the economy of families and on the economy of the nation.’’

The IHVN Boss said that the $29 million covers supplies, resources needed for the private sector and incentives.

Dakum said that lack of establishment of private clinics for free TB services has made the disease to increase.

“At the TB Centre, it is supposed to be free; therefore, for every TB case they detect, we have to give money to cover part of the overhead because there are no free private clinics.

“This is just an incentive to find out more cases, so they confirm more suspected TB cases knowing that if they do, they will get paid for it.

“One of the unique things about the private sector is that of the incentive driven service.’’

Dakum said that the grant would contribute to providing quality care and services to Nigerians troubled with TB, thereby reducing mortality and morbidity associated with the disease.

“Case detection and coverage is extremely poor, poor in the sense that we are just at about 27 per cent of coverage for TB case detection.

“The expectation is that we should raise it in the next two years to a minimum of at least 50 per cent coverage.

“We are targeting to reduce TB cases in two years, so we need innovative measures, we are going to be supporting community pharmacies, private clinics and hospitals,’’ he said.

According to him, the idea is to now focus resources in the private sector in a way that would enable case detection to go up.

“When someone who has TB coughs into the air, that person infects the environment; somebody breathes in the air and gets TB.

“And when people fall sick, it is the community pharmacy or private hospital or community clinic they run to for treatment,

“However, our target is to equip them to be able to treat when they confirm any case, instead of referring and the disease keeps spreading,” he said.

“If we can reduce the cases such as we have in HIV, we will reduce new incidents of TB, and that is what we are hoping for,” Dakum added.

By Jessica Onyegbula

Government restates commitment to promoting blue economy

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Government restates commitment to promoting blue economy

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to promoting blue economy for safe and sustainable use of the continent’s vast sea and ocean resources.

Blue Economy
Blue and Green Economy

The minister disclosed this in a statement signed by Mr Muhammad Idris, the Head of Press, Ministry of Transportation, on Wednesday, December 30, 2019 in Abuja.

Blue economy implies the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihood and jobs and ocean ecosystem health.

The blue economy encompasses many activities including renewable energy, fisheries, marine transport, waste management, climate change and tourism.

The statement quoted the minister as saying that maritime has a key role to play in the alleviation of poverty and wealth creation, as it constitutes an integral source of income to the economy.

He said that the maritime sector has generated employment for many in the developing world.

On the issue of insecurity plaguing the maritime sector, the minister explained that there is an ongoing agreement with an international company to provide water protection.

He said that there was a bill before the National Assembly, saying that the passage of the bill would help checkmate some of these challenges.

Amaechi said that the bill is an Act to suppress piracy, and other unlawful acts at sea.

He described the maritime sector, as ‘a cheap and reliable’ means of transportation, which needs to be harnessed in the sector.

By Taiye Elebiyo-Edeni

Paucity of fund stalls FAO’s effort to upscale Africa’s Great Green Wall scheme

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Paucity of fund stalls FAO’s effort to upscale Africa’s Great Green Wall scheme

At the Nobel Peace Prize Forum 2018 on how to solve the climate crisis of December last year, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, said the UN body lacks funding to scale up its efforts to expand Africa’s Great Green Wall.

Great Green Wall
The metaphoric Great Green Wall will provide sustainable alternatives for millions of young people considering migrating from poverty-stricken areas in Africa’s Sahel region. Photo credit: theodysseyonline.com

A major obstacle for implementing climate change adaptation measures in agriculture is insufficient financing, the Director-General noted. A study carried out by the World Bank in 2010 estimates the cost of climate change adaptation for agriculture at around $7 billion per year.

“The simplest thing to do is plant a tree. We have a project called the Great Green Wall in the Sahel. It is simple: we collect seeds from local trees and multiply them for local women, as the main workforce, to plant. But we don’t have money to scale it up,” he said.

FAO is a key partner of the Great Green Wall initiative, Africa’s flagship project to combat climate change and desertification. This initiative aims to create green and productive landscapes across North Africa, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, addressing food insecurity and poverty in the area.

Through its Action Against Desertification programme, FAO has reached an estimated 500,000 people and restored approximately 50 000 hectares of degraded land, planting some 25 million trees in less than five years.

Action Against Desertification is an initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States funded by the European Union to support rural communities in Africa, as well as in the Caribbean and Pacific, with large-scale restoration of degraded land, stimulating economic growth and development.

Climate change is a cornerstone of FAO’s work. FAO believes that agriculture adaptation must be promoted through the implementation of climate-smart approaches, practices and techniques that also preserve the environment and biodiversity, and adaptation must help build the resilience of millions of poor family farmers.

Top EU Court upholds regulations on flavoured tobacco

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Top EU Court upholds regulations on flavoured tobacco

An EU regulation that phases out the sale of flavoured “roll your own’’ tobacco is valid, the Top EU Court said on Wednesday, January 30, 2019.

Flavoured tobacco
Flavoured tobacco

The decision concerns a German firm, Planta Tabak, that filed a lawsuit protesting a 2014 EU prohibition on the sale of certain flavoured tobacco products.

The ban was justified on the grounds that the flavour masks the tobacco taste and encourages consumption, thereby posing a health threat.

The EU gave member states two years to implement the rule, and it took effect in Germany in 2016.

But it also granted extra time to manufacturers of products with a market share greater than 3 per cent until 2020, so they would have time to sell off their stock.

After this rule took effect in Germany in 2016, Planta Tabak sued on the grounds that this phase-out structure was discriminatory.

Berlin’s administrative court ultimately referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

The Luxembourg judges rejected the firm’s claim, arguing that the phase-out period granted to member states to implement the regulation was enough for producers.

By allowing member states to determine whether a tobacco product reaches 3 per cent of market share, the ECJ said, the regulation granted enough legal certainty to manufacturers and therefore did not discriminate.

Moreover, the broader health objectives specifically, discouraging tobacco consumption by young people justified the regulation’s “restriction on the freedom of goods,’’ the Luxembourg judges wrote.

“Some flavourings are particularly attractive to young people and facilitate initiation of tobacco consumption,’’ they argued. The case now reverts to Berlin’s administrative court.

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