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How HYPREP deviated from Ogoniland clean-up blueprint, by ERA

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How HYPREP deviated from Ogoniland clean-up blueprint, by ERA

Analysing the activities of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in line with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recommendations for the remediation and restoration of the polluted Ogoni environment, Dr Godwin Uyi Ojo, Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), at a forum in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 says there is “monumental deviation” from the UNEP blueprint that he claims has eroded public confidence and will likely compromise the quality of the clean-up process. He urges HYPREP to stick to the concrete recommendations relating to the clean-up process

ERA/FoEN
L-R: Queeneth Stephen (Member, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People – MOSOP), , Dr Godwin Uyi Ojo “Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria – ERA/FoEN) and Chief Saint Emmah (Village Head, Deebon Village, Bodo City, Ogoni) during the forum

The much-anticipated clean-up of Ogoniland which has become very contentious and politicised.

In 2015, the current federal administration announced the fast tracking of the implementation process and worked to correct the structural defects as well as the paucity of funding for the agency. Although the clean-up of Ogoniland was flagged off on June 2, 2016 with the setting of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP 2), it was only in January 2019 that the agency announced that it was handing over 16 sites to contractors to commence the clean-up processes.

The verdict on Ogoniland by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Environmental Assessment has not changed. Recent visits to the communities indicate that Ogoni land remains a wrecked environment and environmental disaster zone. Despite efforts made towards the clean-up, till date, contrary to popular belief, not a drop of oil has been cleaned.

The multiple claims that contractors have mobilised to site, and that clean-up has commenced is false as there is no visible sign of contractors going by reports from our independent field monitors who are closely monitoring the process and were there this week.

The report finds monumental deviation that has eroded public confidence and will likely compromise the quality of the clean-up process. Hence, we request HYPREP to stick to the concrete recommendations relating to the clean-up process. This report is of interest to critical stakeholders in the Ogoni clean-up process.

Scanty information about Ogoni clean-up contractors

There are interested observers and local communities who would like to get full information about the contractors that were finally selected to undertake the current clean-up jobs. Apart from the list of over 170 firms who submitted their expression of interest and bid documents, there is an information gap in the public domain on who the successful companies are, where they come from, track record of similar work done and the terms of the contract.

It is now international best practice to publicly disclose the terms, scope and cost of the contracts entered between entities such as HYPREP and each of the companies selected to commence the clean-up process in the 16 selected sites. The World Bank, the African Development Bank and several other international institutions have had this as part of their operational guidelines and disclosure policy. The process should therefore scrupulously abide by international best practices to ensure appropriate monitoring and evaluation by the international community.

HYPREP and a five-year work-plan

HYPREP has raked in huge public outcry and negative criticism by the secrecy surrounding the work-plan. In a multidisciplinary and complex undertaking such as the Ogoni clean-up process, a work-plan should be made available publicly. A work-plan outlining a set of goals and processes is not in public domain, thereby shrouding the process in secrecy. A work-plan would demonstrate a set of outcomes to be achieved in the short, mid and long term.

Thus, the work-plan could be used as a tool for measuring and evaluating the progress of the work over time. Work plans, whether used in professional or academic life, help you stay organised while working. If it has not done so already, HYPREP should develop and put in the public domain a five-year work-plan for Ogoni clean-up process with enough in-built flexibility to allow for practical public input and adaptation to emerging realities.

Sustainable funding for the clean-up process

So far, after nearly three and a half years after the presidential announcement on the fast-tracking of the Ogoni clean-up process and the $10 million take-off fund, the only announcement in 2018 was that the stakeholders have finally mobilised about $177 million to enable the commencement of clean-up project. While there is a shortfall in 2018, it is hoped that funding of $200 million for 2019 should be released early so that there is sustainable funding for the exercise. The inability to quickly mobilise funds to ensure effective commencement of the clean-up process created a perception of lack of sincerity and commitment on the part of government and the other contributing stakeholders led by Shell.

Establishment of the Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre

According to the UNEP report, the key recommendation for the clean-up of the Ogoni environment is the establishment of the Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre (ICMSC) comprising an incinerator, thermal unit, soil washing unit and a contaminated water treatment unit that are yet to be built even after a ground-breaking ceremony in 2017 by the then Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed.  Yet, this facility is one of the most crucial in commencing the clean-up exercise.

A statement from HYPREP’s website reads: “On 16th February 2017, the ground-breaking ceremony was performed for the construction of the Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre in Bori New City in Khana Local Government Area in Ogoniland”. However, there are concerns about the delay in the commencement of the ICMSC and what it portends for the project.

Another statement from HYPREP’s website gives us even more cause for concern. The HYPREP’s Milestones document that formed part of their media briefing on Saturday January 26, 2019 stated: “We have adopted an updated site remediation strategy which divides the sites into three categories; category A – complex, category B – less complex and category C – sites that require further investigations.  The work of remediation in less complex sites does not require utilisation of the ICMSC.  We have since commenced feasibility studies for both ICSMC and Centre of Excellence. We are adopting international bidding process to get the best of expertise and technology for the construction of both facilities.”

That the clean-up process does not require ICSMC is malicious falsehood and such a manipulation will likely affect the integrity and quality of the clean-up process.

From HYPREP statements, the following questions naturally agitate the mind of any interested observer in the light of claims that contractors have been mobilised to clean up and requested to deal with wastes from their project area.

  • The ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the ICSMC has already been done in Bori in 2017 but the site is currently abandoned and overgrown with weeds. This presupposes that the necessary condition precedent to any construction project had been completed e.g. feasibility studies, architectural, structural and mechanical drawings, etc.
  • Why then is HYPREP still as recently as last week looking to perform feasibility studies and adopt international bidding processes to get the best experts for the ICSMC?
  • Interestingly, only category B, less complex sites made up the 16 sites showing that complex and heavy polluted sites have been left out. This makes the initiative as superficial, make-belief and unserious. For example, what facilities and processes have been put in place by HYPREP to ensure that waste generated by remediation contractors even from their project sites are properly treated and appropriately disposed in the absence of the ICSMC that is crucial to this exercise. When will this ICSMC be built before the real clean-up of heavily polluted sites could commence?

Federal Ministry of Environment cutting corners in the Ogoni clean-up process

In a recent engagement with Amnesty International, the Federal Ministry of Environment confirmed that there are currently no plans for ICSMC. The FME argued that communities are interested in clean-up right now and all activities cannot be simultaneously undertaken. This indicates that the FME is oblivious of the nature of contaminated land waste – a major source of worry to civil society organisations and contaminated management experts in Ogoniland.

In HYPREP’s advert for remediation, one of the items highlighted was for prospective contamination remediation companies to possess ability to manage their waste. This could mean that different companies would adopt different approaches to managing waste from remediated sites. This approach is different from the thinking that led to the recommendation of the ICSMC by UNEP.

The ICSMC is expected to be a facility for receiving and treating waste from remediated sites. All remediation approaches that would require ex-situ treatment would generate significant hazardous waste. Thus, given the nature of contamination in many sites in Ogoniland, the UNEP report envisaged that managing generated waste could be challenging, hence recommended an exclusive facility for waste management. Experts expected this Centre to be in place before awarding any remediation contract – because it is the only effective mechanism to manage generated waste in the clean-up process. This recommendation was mainly to manage cross environmental contamination and ancillary pollution of plausible receptors, create sustainable jobs and transform Ogoniland to a global hub of skilled manpower and expertise on contaminated land remediation.

It is our hope and the prayer of all Ogonis that the Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre and the Centre of excellence which were facilities that were both highly recommended by the UNEP report will not be abandoned and the laudable objectives behind it defeated.

On several monitoring visits in 2018 including a visit to Bodo on November 11, 2018, our team including campaigners from Europe, Asia and Africa witnessed first-hand how contractors handling the initial Free Phase oil removal operations under the Bodo Mediation Initiative (BMI) dumped bagged potentially toxic wastes around three sites in Bodo community.

Ogoni Centre of Excellence is jettisoned

The Ogoni Centre of Excellence has not been built and highly relegated. According to the UNEP report, the clean-up of Ogoniland is not exclusive to environmental restoration but includes social and livelihood restoration. This Centre is expected to train the required local manpower to participate in the clean-up exercise and ensure that Ogoni youths secure jobs with contractors. The Centre was also expected to increase tourism to contaminated sites for students and researchers globally. For this reason, UNEP in their preliminary cost estimate for the first five years allocated substantial funds to the establishment of the Centre of Excellence.

HYREP’s 2017 Year Book has no mention of the Centre for Excellence. Similarly, the 2018 HYPREP Milestones updates, due to pressure from civil society groups such as ERA/FoEN, only carries a cursory mention of the Centre with the vague statement that feasibility studies are being considered for it.

Clearly, the Ogonis feel that they have been short-changed and taken for a ride.

Recommendations

  • The Federal Government should comply with the UNEP recommendation on emergency measures to provide the Ogoni communities water for drinking and other uses. In the short term, the Port Harcourt Water Corporation should play its statutory role of ensuring that “every citizen of the state has equal access to safe, adequate and reliable water supply”. HYPREP recourse to a comprehensive water scheme to embrace all the Ogoni communities is a welcome development but should translate from talks to immediate action because people are dying daily from drinking polluted water contaminated with heavy mental such as benzene. According to UNEP report, the pollutants in Ogoni water are cancer-causing and kill over time.
  • HYPREP and government should develop a five-year work-plan that indicates short-, mid-, and long-term goals of the project lifecycle and ensure transparency of the process.
  • HYPREP should urgently commence the development of the Centre for Excellence and ICSMC as no meaningful clean-up will be done without it.
  • A quarterly transparency and accountability meeting open to all stakeholders should be initiated. Such a platform should be used to gain trust and confidence and validate the integrity of HYPREP.
  • HYPREP should set up a database for the information on the remediation process.
  • HYPREP should develop a robust economic empowerment package/programme for local community members involved in artisanal crude oil refinery.
  • Government should ensure that at least $200 million per year is provided timely and sustainably to avoid the situation of shortfall that occurred in 2018.

Government, HYPREP cautioned over Ogoni clean-up waste management

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Government, HYPREP cautioned over Ogoni clean-up waste management

The Head, Environment and Conservation, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), Dr Kabari Sam, is worried over waste management issues under the clean-up programme. While cautioning against the possibility of a region-wide contamination of land, he wants an Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre (ICSMC) or a Mini Soil Management Centre (MSMC) to be in place

Oil spill pollution
A water body in the Niger Delta polluted by crude oil

There are lots of things that we seem to have taken for granted in the clean-up process that are very important and waste management is one of them. We were supposed to have somewhere or a preferred environment that will take the waste before we take them to other sites by prospective contractors or people that will carry out the remediation.

Unfortunately, we seem to be putting the cart before the horse and so we might run into trouble at some point because you are digging up waste from somewhere and dumping elsewhere where we have clean land. We do not have an Integrated Contaminated Soil Management Centre (ICSMC) now and there is no plan on ground for us to have it. Worse still, we do not have a Mini Soil Management Centre (MSMC).

For situations where you don’t have the funds or you don’t have the capacity to build an ICSM, we should have had MSMCs. The difference between the two is the facility they have in both environments.

We are supposed to have at least for a start somewhere to treat the hazardous wastes that will be coming from the polluted sites. We are not learning lessons from the results of our experience. The implication is that if the contractors begin the clean-up today whatever waste that will be arising from those sites, people are going to need land to treat the waste.

Because of the high level of poverty in our community, people will be more than willing to sell or lease their land without asking what their land will be used for and they will fall prey to that because companies will buy the land at whatever exorbitant price because they know what they want to use it for.

It is a big problem that we are going to face because there are reports that contractors have already started acquiring land in other places outside of Ogoni. So, at some point it is going to degenerate into a regional issue and not just an Ogoni issue because they (the contractors) will dig up waste from Ogoni and dump it in other parts of the Niger Delta.

Now we had a similar waste from the initial phase of clean-up that was done in Bodo. Some of us do not know where that waste is at the moment. There was no facility prepared to take that waste, we hope that the waste has been evacuated.

Let us avoid making the same mistake this time around. As we already have sites for clean-up being allocated to contractors, let us have the ICSMCs.

Ogoniland clean-up: Community monitors emerge, concerns over emergency measures

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Ogoniland clean-up: Community monitors emerge, concerns over emergency measures

To complement the Ogoni clean-up process, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and its allies at the local, national and international levels, on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State launched some 100 Community Independent Monitors (CIM) to provide qualitative and scientific progress reports on the state of the clean-up process.

ERA/FoEN
Inauguration of the Community Independent Environmental Monitors by Dr Godwin Ojo of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN)

According to Dr Godwin Ojo, head of ERA/FoEN, the CIM will provide feedback to the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), government agencies, media and the relevant stakeholders to ensure transparency and accountability and ensure quality clean up.

In a similar vein, the group has expressed reservations over the implementation of the emergency measures in Ogoni under the clean-up initiative.

Essentially, the Ogoni environmental remediation project as outlined in the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) recommendations should be implemented in phases – the emergency measures and the full-scale remediation of polluted sites. There were eight emergency measures highlighted in the UNEP report.

But Ojo alleged that, till date, only a few measures had been partially attempted without any form of a fast-tracked implementation, while many others are yet to be conceived.

For instance, on the emergence measure that wants the authorities to ensure that all drinking water wells where hydrocarbons were detected are marked and that people are informed of the danger, the group remarked: “This emergency measure is yet to be attained. Two communities in Ogale Clan – Ekpangbala and Agbi – have contaminated water wells that are yet to be marked, and people still use water from these wells for different purposes.”

On provide adequate sources of drinking water to those households whose drinking water supply is impacted, ERA/FoEN commented: “This is one measure that is yet to be implemented. Contracts were advertised to study the water reticulation in Ogoniland and provide water. HYPREP is yet to provide potable water to any community.”

On informing all families whose rainwater samples tested positive for hydrocarbons and advise them not to consume the water, ERA/FoEN observed: “HYPREP is yet to identify these families, consult or inform. Or better still, sensitise the Ogoni population on the hazard of drinking contaminated rainwater.”

Concerning mounting a public awareness campaign to warn the individuals who are undertaking artisanal refining that such activities are damaging their health, ERA/FoEN stated: “HYPREP has undertaken strategic level consultations with ex-artisanal refiners. This approach has been ineffective and given that the real people involved in artisanal refining (‘the foot soldiers’) and suffer the impacts of the illicit and crude business are yet to be consulted.”

Top 10 animals going extinct because of climate change

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Top 10 animals going extinct because of climate change

NASA scientists have announced that 2018 was the fourth hottest year on Earth, exceeded only by 2017, 2016 and 2015. After 140 years of record-keeping, 18 out of 19 of Earth’s warmest years have occurred since 2001.

Butterflies
Milkweed, Monarch Butterflies’ favourite, are now being destroyed by hotter dryer land often damaged by pesticides

For humans, this means more destructive hurricanes, floods, forest fires, droughts, and bone-chilling Arctic blasts resulting in thousands of deaths, billions in property destruction and massive interruptions of life as we know it.

By 2100, an estimated 50% of all the world’s species could go extinct because of climate change. 

Here are 10 animals threatened with extinction because of climate change.

  1. Bumblebees: Rising temperatures force bees north, disrupting access to the nectar and pollen they need to survive.
  2. Whales: Migration, feeding, and reproduction necessary for survival are disrupted by warming waters.
  3. Asian Elephants: Habitat is disappearing due to lower rainfall and higher temperatures.
  4. Giraffes: In addition to illegal poaching, shrinking habitat and disappearing food sources threaten their survival.
  5. Insects: 18% of insect species will die off due to warming by 2100; if the planet warms 3.2°C, that number rises to 49%.
  6. Oceanic Birds: Rising waters threaten to submerge their coastal habitats and nests completely.
  7. Sharks: Difficulty hunting and lower birth rates threaten sharks as ocean temperature and acidity rise worldwide.
  8. Monarch Butterflies: Monarchs can’t survive without milkweed, now being destroyed by hotter dryer land often damaged by pesticides.
  9. Great Apes: With nearly 75% of forest cover at risk due to climate change, their habitat is disappearing.
  10. Coral: Sustained heat stress causes coral bleaching, an often-deadly occurrence in which coral starves from a loss of nutrition.

IUCN identifies tree species for climate-resilient reforestation

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IUCN identifies tree species for climate-resilient reforestation

A study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has identified tree species native to Indonesia’s Kutai National Park that are resilient to climate change and support threatened East Bornean orangutan populations, recommending their use in reforestation efforts. The study was funded by the Indianapolis Zoological Society, Inc.

Orangutans
The tree species are resilient to climate change and support threatened Orangutan populations

Recognising that saplings planted today face dramatic climate changes over their 100+ year life-spans, the study, titled: “Reforesting for the climate of tomorrow”, analysed the traits of around 250 species of trees and other plants native to the rainforest of Kutai National Park. It identified species resilient to the fires and drought conditions that are expected to increase as the climate warms. The authors also identified tree species that provide food and habitat for threatened East Bornean orangutans, for which the park provides a key habitat.

“Increasing drought and fires caused by a warming climate are important emerging threats to species-rich areas such as Kutai National Park,” said Alan Lee, lead author of the study and member of the IUCN SSC Climate Change Specialist Group. “Selecting climate-resilient tree species can help protect the park and the orangutan populations it shelters from the impacts of climate change. We hope that the information in this study is taken up by all those working to restore this unique area of rainforest.”

Climate change-resilient species included those with low sensitivity to changes, high capacity to adapt to them, or both. Two tree species that were singled out for their resilience to fire – a native palm, Borassodendron borneense, and the hardwood tree Eusideroxylon zwageri, known locally as Bendang and Ulin – should be planted in buffer zones around fire-prone areas, the authors recommended. 

“This study provides valuable practical guidance as to how we can make a unique Bornean rainforest more climate-resilient. Of course, to halt the catastrophic impacts of climate change on nature we urgently need ambitious emissions cuts. But with climate change already impacting many species in alarming ways, nature needs all the help it can get in adapting to these rapid changes,” said Sandeep Sengupta, IUCN’s Climate Change Coordinator.

Seven plants that are likely to be climate resilient emerged as key food sources for East Bornean orangutans, and these should be planted alongside vines that the apes use for moving through the forest and trees which they prefer for nesting, such as the Ulin tree, according to the study. To minimise conflict with humans – a key threat to orangutans – the authors recommended planting these species in areas that humans are unlikely to access. 

“Kutai National Park was once one of the most important lowland rainforest sites in Borneo, and its degradation is a major loss not only for Indonesia but for the world,” said study co-author Douglas Sheil. “But there is a glimmer of hope in that populations of threatened East Bornean orangutans persist there, and work continues to restore forest cover in the park. Selecting which species to plant is a significant contribution to restoring the health of this ecosystem. Of course, the reasons why forest cover was lost in the first place must also be addressed for reforestation efforts to succeed.”

Biodiversity in Kutai National Park faces multiple threats, including population expansion into the protected area, hunting, forest clearing for agriculture, fire, and coal mining, with climate change an important emerging threat. Reforestation efforts in the park are being undertaken by local organisations, government, and PT. Indominco Mandiri, a coal mine operation on the edge of the park.

Key collaborators in this work included Anne Russon of York University (Ontario), the staff of Kutai National Park, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and a range of dedicated conservationists and researchers from local and international organisations. Three members of the IUCN SSC Climate Change Specialist Group played leadership roles.

“My research team had the very telling but heart-breaking opportunity to study warming and severe drought effects on Kutai National Park first hand, via the 2015-16 El Niño drought – the most severe ever recorded.  By its end, we had seen severe drops in KNP’s wildlife numbers – from invertebrates to orangutans and other large mammals – and very high tree death rates in drier areas,” said study co-author Anne Russon of York University, Ontario. “Almost three years later it is clear that KNP’s forest and resident wildlife have recovered somewhat, but very slowly. Innovative studies like this IUCN one stand to contribute importantly to nature conservation by offering constructive methods for buffering the effects of climate change.”

“This work is among the first of its kind, in that it moves away from more common approaches to identify species that are most threatened by climate change, and instead focuses on practical ways to restore ecosystems using species that will be resilient far into the future,” said Jamie Carr, the IUCN SSC Climate Change Specialist Group member who conceived and co-led the work. “Moreover, it identifies practical and political challenges that will need to be overcome if such restoration work is to be successful.” “Kutai National Park faces many challenges in managing its area. Forest degradation is the biggest and the most pressing one. We give our utmost regard for all supporting organisations who made the Kutai National Park ecosystem restoration publication possible,” said Nur Patria Kurniawan, Head of the Kutai National Park.

“The results will guide our ecosystem restoration activities and will be implemented not only in Kutai National Park, but also in tropical forests outside the KNP. There will be immediate follow-up action related to ecosystem restoration in KNP. Moreover, we also call for continued support from IUCN and other parties in preserving the Kutai ecosystem and protecting orangutans.”

Over 100 Indian cities commit to adopt sustainable waste management practices

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Over 100 Indian cities commit to adopt sustainable waste management practices

“Keeping our cities clean by only collecting and disposing wastes is not sufficient. What is required is source-segregation, proper treatment, recycle and reuse of the waste. Zero landfill should be the goal of municipal waste management in India,” said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), at the inaugural session of the Regional Meeting for Eastern and North Eastern States under CSE’s “Forum of Cities that Segregate” initiative attended by all the urban local bodies of Bihar and major cities from eastern and north-eastern India.

Chandra Bhushan
Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

CSE has been working with cities to promote and implement source-segregation and decentralised model of waste management.

“To advance this work and to create a movement in the country on source-segregation, CSE had launched the ‘Forum of Cities that Segregate’ on December 12, 2017. The Forum now has over 80-member cities from across the country including Indore, Thiruvananthapuram, Mysuru, Muzaffarpur and some municipal corporations of Delhi NCR and all the cities of Bihar,” said Swati Singh Sambyal, Programme Manager, CSE.

“Indian cities continue to struggle with waste- of the total 52 million tonnes that is generated yearly, only 21 per cent is processed and over 50 per cent is disposed in dumpsites, drains – contaminating our rivers and oceans. Also, with growing consumerism and changing lifestyles, plastics has become a huge problem especially single use plastics,” added Bhushan.

The management of municipal solid waste in eastern and north-eastern India continues to be a severe problem because of the poor management systems. From collection of wastes to disposal, these cities are struggling to manage their waste. Majority of the cities in this region have been ranked low in the Swachh Survekshan assessments in the past few years.

“It is important for cities in states like Bihar to adopt successful waste management models like the one being implemented in Muzaffarpur. The Muzaffarpur model not only manages the waste sustainably, but it also makes money out of waste,” added Bhushan.

CSE’s latest report on the need for a new policy on City compost, titled “Çharting the Future of City Compost”, was also released in the inaugural session by the Urban Development Minister of Bihar Shri Suresh Kumar Sharma. Speaking at the function, Shri Sharma emphasised the need of replication of Muzaffarpur model in cities as well as urged cities to practice composting and decentralised waste management.

“If we can return back the food waste as organic fertiliser to our farmers, it will lead to less chemical in the environment which will reduce pollution and improve our health,” said Shri Suresh Sharma at the meeting.

For the past year Muzaffarpur is said to have seen a lot of progress. The city has become a model city in eastern and north-eastern India by adopting the source segregation model of waste management.

“Over a period of two years, Muzaffarpur has become one of the cleanest cities in Bihar with all 49 wards segregating waste at source and with segregation percentage of over 80 per cent. The city has currently three processing centres which also includes Bihar’s first learning centre on composting,” said Sanjay Dubey, Municipal Commissioner of Muzaffarpur.

“However, a lot needs to be done, we have completed 50 per cent of the work in Muzaffarpur, now we need to address issues such as plastics and ensure this model becomes sustainable and self-sufficient,” added Sambyal.

At the meeting, cities like Muzaffarpur, Panchgani, Ambikapur, Gangtok, Gaya, Kakching and Munger made presentation on the models they have adopted for the waste management. The need for the solid waste management (SWM) byelaws, proper dry waste management systems and plastic management was discussed at the meeting.

The new forum cities were distributed the membership certificate to join the movement on source segregation and cleanliness in the country. A roadmap for replication of decentralised waste management models by cities of Eastern and North Eastern states was discussed and the cities pledged to practice sustainable waste management.

“We hope that the cities in the Forum would become pioneers in terms of SWM and guide other cities on technical, economic and social aspects of managing their waste,” Bhushan added.

Lake Chad Basin Commission budgets 17.67bn CFA for 2019 operations

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Lake Chad Basin Commission budgets 17.67bn CFA for 2019 operations

The Executive Secretary, Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), Amb. Mamman Nuhu, on Friday, February 8, 2019 said a budget of 17.67 billion CFA Francs has been approved for the commission’s activities in 2019.

Mamman Nuhu
Amb. Mamman Nuhu

Nuhu disclosed this in N’djamena while speaking with some Nigerian journalists on a working visit to Chad.

He said that the budget was approved by the Council of Ministers of LCBC at its 64th session in N’djamena on Thursday.

He stated that the budget comprised of 15.36 billion CFA Francs for capital development and 1.78 billion for running cost of the commission.

The executive secretary said that funding of the commission came from two sources – contribution by member-states and international partners.

He said that the countries were responsible for the cost of administration of the commission, while the partners’ contributions took care of development.

He said that Nigeria contributed the highest of 40 per cent for the running cost of the commission, followed by Cameroon with 20 per cent and 18 per cent by Libya.

“Chad contributes 11 per cent; Niger, seven per cent and four per cent by Central Africa Republic.”

Nuhu disclosed that aside from Nigeria, other countries of LCBC were in huge arrears of their annual contribution for the sustenance of administration of the commission.

He said that outstanding financial commitments of the defaulting countries was discussed at Thursday’s council of ministers’ meeting, where it was resolved that the nations would be reminded of their obligation in writing.

According to him, the council agreed that Chairman of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of LCBC states, who is currently President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, will write to the countries.

He said that the commission had revived efforts on the actualization of implementation of the Inter-Basin Water Transfer Project (IBWTP) between Congo Basin and LCBC.

Nuhu said that the project, which had been on for about 40 years, had covered some distance before suffering several setbacks.

He, however, said that the process had been re-opened, with the commitment of international partners, including France, which had offered $1.5 million and Italy, €1.8 million.

He assured that the project would be realised as it was one of the core programmes for the development and management of waters of Lake Chad and the ecosystem.

By Olisa Ifeajika 

WHO increases support on Lassa fever in W/Africa

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WHO increases support on Lassa fever in W/Africa

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Sunday, February 10, 2019 said it has increased its efforts to support West African countries in the ongoing Lassa fever outbreak.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. Photo credit: pbs.twimg.com

This was made known in a statement by the Communications Manager, Collins Boakye-Agyemang, in Abuja.

Boakye-Agyemang said that while the outbreaks were occurring during the Lassa fever season in countries where the disease was endemic, the speed of escalation was of concern.

He said that the outbreak has affected 16 states in Nigeria, with about 213 confirmed cases, including 42 deaths, which marked a significant increase.

According to him, Nigeria experienced its worst outbreak of Lassa fever and four health workers have been infected so far in this latest outbreak.

He noted that WHO was scaling up its efforts to support federal authorities, National Council Disease Control (NCDC), and the affected Nigerian states in responding to the outbreak.

He also said that an important focus was on early detection and confirmation of suspected cases.

He said that providing optimal supportive care and ensuring infection prevention and control measures, in designated health care facilities in the affected states were also priority.

“The WHO has intensified its technical assistance and is supporting coordination, enhanced surveillance, epidemiological analysis and risk communication.

“WHO is also mobilising experts to support case management and infection prevention and control.

“A total of 12 cases have been confirmed to date in Benin, Guinea, Liberia and Togo, including two deaths, with more suspected cases being investigated.

“WHO is assisting health authorities in these countries with contact tracing and provision of medical and non-medical supplies with technical and financial resources as needed for case management, risk communication and logistics.

“We are concerned by the high number of cases so early in the Lassa fever season, which is expected to last another four more months.

“WHO is working with health authorities in the five affected countries and will ensure that health workers have the capacity to detect cases and regional spread of the disease was monitored,” he said.

He added that WHO has set up a regional coordination mechanism, for countries to report any suspected case of Lassa fever, to expedite the flow of timely information.

He said that this would assist to assess the situation, recommend actions and help organise assistance.

“WHO has also reached out to the six other at-risk countries; Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone, and is supporting prevention and readiness activities as needed.

‘‘WHO will continue to advise all countries in the Lassa fever belt, to enhance their preparedness and response capacities.

“Especially for early case detection, laboratory confirmation, case management under recommended barrier nursing, risk communication and community engagement.

“Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic illness that occurs predominantly in West Africa, after human exposure to the urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats.

“More than 80 percent of Lassa fever cases are rodent-to-human transmission. Person-to-person transmission occurs in both community and health-care settings.

“Prevention of Lassa fever is based on promoting good “community hygiene,” to discourage rodents from entering homes.

“It could also be by storing grain and other foodstuffs in rodent-proof containers, disposing of garbage far from the home.

“Also maintaining clean households, keeping cats and safe handling of anyone who may have died of the disease.

“In health care settings, health care workers should always apply standard infection prevention and control precautions when caring for patients,” he said.

By Jessica Onyegbula

UK, Europe’s worst offender, ‘illegally’ exports electronic waste to Nigeria, others

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UK, Europe’s worst offender, ‘illegally’ exports electronic waste to Nigeria, others

A new report has found that Britain is the worst offender in Europe for illegally exporting toxic electronic waste.

ewaste
Waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) such as computers, TV-sets, fridges and cell phones is one the fastest growing waste streams in the EU

The report, commissioned by the environmental watchdog Basel Action Network (BAN), studied 10 countries, including Austria, Germany, Belgium and the UK.

The study, two-years in the making, followed 314 computers, printers and monitors in which GPS Trackers had been secretly installed. The equipment was then taken to places where consumers are expected to take their waste, most often government-approved takeback stations.

They found that 6 per cent of tracked scrap equipment was exported, including 11 very likely illegal shipments to the countries such as Ghana, Hong Kong and Nigeria, outside of the EU.

The report estimates that flows discovered with figures on electronic waste generation in Europe, if extrapolated, would total 352, 474 metric tonnes per annum moving from the EU to developing countries. This amount could fill 17,466 large-size intermodal shipping containers.

Jim Puckett, BAN Director, said: “It appears that we have discovered a very significant stream of illegal shipments of hazardous consumer electronic scrap to vulnerable populations. This flies in the face of EU claims to make continuous efforts to implement a circular economy which can only responsibly exist by eliminating externalities and leakage from the system.”

The report said that the UK was ‘clearly the worst violator’ being involved with 5 exports. Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland and Poland were also implicated in allowing shipments to developing countries.

In these locations, BAN found that e-waste was often subjected to substandard, dangerous recycling operations involving worker exposure and community pollution.

The EU has deemed electronic waste as hazardous, due to toxic parts containing substances such as mercury, lead and flame retardants.

BAN recommends an enhanced effort in the EU to enforce its Basel Convention treaty obligations and a re-visitation of its Circular Economy policies.

Courtesy: Climate Action

How climate change is hurting Africa’s economy, by experts

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How climate change is hurting Africa’s economy, by experts

Climate change has weakened, and it will continue weakening African economies as countries struggle to counter its impacts, experts attending an event on the sidelines of the traditional Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union for 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have observed.

Harsen Nyambe Nyambe
Harsen Nyambe Nyambe

In a speech read on his behalf at an event organised by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Harsen Nyambe Nyambe of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture at the AUC observed that the cost of climate change to GDP is escalating due to reduced agricultural productivity and higher costs of adaptation.

The experts, some of them drawn from the United Nations, the environmental civil society organisations, academia and African governments, observed that apart, from grappling with poor agricultural productivity due to poor climatic conditions, human displacement has had untold impacts on nearly all the African economies.

“In my country Rwanda, the government has always been forced to move hundreds of families each year to safer grounds, and these are budgets that we have not planned for,” said John Bideri, the Chair of the PACJA Board, an organisation that brings together over 1,000 climate related civil society organisations.

He observed that many other people have as well been forced to move to other continents as refugees due to climate related hostilities and phenomena. “Why are people moving away from Africa, and yet, Africa is the most endowed continent on earth?” he paused.

A World Bank Report shows that unless urgent action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, up to 143 million “internal migrants” will be forced to move within their own countries to escape the gradual effects of climate change by 2050.

Globally, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) points out that an average of 22.5 million people has been displaced each year by climate or weather-related disasters in the last seven years, equivalent to 62,000 people every day

Bideri says that the only way to reverse the situation will be by reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but again, the developed world must provide finances to help Africa cope with the prevailing situation, given that Africa has contributed the least towards emission of greenhouse gas emissions.

“We should continue playing our roles as African countries, but also demand for our rights,” Bideri told experts in Addis Ababa.

Already, Africa is experiencing higher warming and more extreme weather events, leading to disruptions in ecosystems, economies and livelihoods. These disruptions are in turn causing new insecurities in the populations of the continent, leading to conflicts, displacements and disempowerment.

The experts from the African Climate Change community were discussing in a meeting to examine how adequate the outcomes of the COP24 – the “Katowice Climate Package” – is in driving effective actions to address climate-induced human insecurity in Africa. The outcomes will be presented to the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union.

So far, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), under the auspices of the United Nations, agreed on by leaders from 164 countries in December 2018 in Marrakech, Morocco, does cover “all dimensions of international migration” and aims to strengthen the international response to large movements of refugees and protracted refugee situations. It has 10 principles which address the effect of climate change on migration.

Courtesy: PAMACC News Agency

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