The largest of several wind-driven wildfires blazing north of Los Angeles was rapidly expanding to 400 square kilometres on Thursday, December 7, 2017 forcing authorities to order further evacuations.
A fireman watches helplessly as fire consumes a building in Los Angeles
Much of Los Angeles and neighbouring Ventura counties are under the highest fire alerts through Saturday.
Wind gusts on Thursday were hitting 80 to 110 kilometres per hour and forecast to continue into the weekend, lowering relative humidity levels into the teens or lower, the National Weather Service said.
Across the region, more than 100,000 people have been evacuated.
The so-called Thomas fire, centred in Ventura on the Pacific Coast, was known to have destroyed 150 structures with 15,000 more threatened, according to state fire agency CalFire.
The blaze remained only five per cent contained, with more than 2,500 firefighters at the scene.
Nearly 500 fire engines were deployed, as well as 12 helicopters and 26 bulldozers.
“The fire continues to burn actively with extreme rates of spread and long range spotting when pushed by winds,” CalFire said.
“Firefighters continue to work aggressively to protect life and property while working on control efforts around the fire perimeter.”
The National Weather Service has described this week’s conditions as this year’s strongest and longest event of the dry, seasonal Santa Ana winds.
Two other major fires were burning in Castaic Junction, near the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park, and in the Kagel Canyon area.
Combined, the three largest blazes have scorched about 470 square kilometres, an area more than half the size of the city-state of Berlin.
The U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) and All On on Thursday, December 7, 2017 announced the creation of a $3 million partnership with the goal of expanding access to energy for underserved and unserved markets in Nigeria.
Off-grid lighting attending to the needs of energy poor communities in West Africa. Photo credit: unep.org
Over the next three years, both parties will jointly provide funding for up to 30 Nigerian small and medium enterprises that improve energy access through off-grid energy solutions spanning solar, wind, hydro, biomass and gas technologies. USADF will provide grant funding to the selected companies while All On will provide an equal amount of impact capital in the form of convertible loans and/or equity.
“We are proud to partner with All On to find sustainable solutions to the significant energy gap in Nigeria,” says C.D. Glin, USADF President and CEO. “It is through such collaborative partnerships that we can transform local energy access, identify unexplored opportunities, and bring affordable energy sources to those who need it most.”
According to All On CEO Wiebe Boer, “This partnership with USADF to provide blended capital for Nigerian owned off-grid energy companies is an innovative approach towards investing in Nigerian solutions to the country’s energy gap. We look forward to working with USADF to invest and support the growth of Nigeria’s future off grid energy sector leaders.”
Since 2013, USADF off-grid energy investments have already turned on the lights for over 120,000 people in hard-to-reach areas. USADF has invested over $7.5 million in 75 energy entrepreneurs in nine countries to bring affordable and renewable energy to rural communities across Africa. USADF is a key partner in Power Africa, a U.S. Government-led initiative aimed at doubling the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa who have access to electricity.
“Public-private partnerships are the cornerstone of the Power Africa model, and we are pleased to support USADF and All On to foster the growth of energy enterprises to bring reliable electricity to more Nigerians,” says Andrew M. Herscowitz, Power Africa Coordinator. “This partnership demonstrates that ‘bankable’ projects do not just exist at the multi-million-dollar level. Nigeria’s off-grid energy sector is full of potential to serve a vast untapped market and this partnership will combine USADF’s grant dollars with private sector funding to produce even greater impact.”
All On is an impact investing company that works with partners to increase access to commercial energy products and services for under-served and unserved markets in Nigeria, with the Niger Delta as the priority region of focus. It seeks both financial returns and social impact to provide or improve access-to-energy for millions of households and SMEs. The company recently announced their first set of debt and equity investments.
Twelve fast-growing African companies have been selected to win a place in the Deal Room – a special matchmaking platform for African companies – to be held at the Africa Forum 2017 on December 8 and 9 in Egypt.
The Egyptian resort town, Sharm el-Sheikh, hosts Africa Forum 2017
The selected companies will meet and pitch their business to leading investors, private equity firms and venture capital firms to secure funding for their business expansion and growth. They will have a 30 minutes window to achieve this. The 12 companies – hand picked from over 100 entrants from across Africa that applied to participate – were chosen for their strong financial track record, solid revenue, and expansion and export potential. Leading African economic intelligence company Asoko Insight ran the selection process.
Africa 2017 is said to be the biggest B2B and B2G forum to take place in Africa this year, bringing together government delegations from over 30 countries and over 1,000 business leaders from across the continent. The Forum, which holds from December 8 to 9 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, was preceded by a Young Entrepreneurs Day, on Thursday, December 7 aimed to connect tomorrow’s future business leaders, with like-minded entrepreneurs and help them, through a series of workshops and discussions, take their businesses to the next level.
Speaking on the partnership, Asoko CEO and co-founder, Rob Withagen, said, “We are delighted and excited to be an official knowledge partner at the Africa 2017 Forum. African businesses are rapidly growing in number and sophistication, but the challenge of positioning themselves in front of institutional investors and global corporates, remains. Being part of initiatives such as this, designed to enhance private sector cooperation and drive investment in sectors of strategic interest within Africa, is at the core of our vision at Asoko”.
The Deal Room at Africa 2017 will focus on companies from three sectors: i) agri/agribusiness, ii) transport and logistics, and iii) light manufacturing. Each of these industry sectors align with the theme of Africa 2017 to promote inclusive growth and cross border trade in the African region.
The companies selected are : Variable Solutions Pvt Limited, Zimbabwe; Tabbris Oil Mills Limited, Nigeria; Wilson’s Juice Co., Nigeria; Lori Systems, Kenya; Berekotry Ltd., Nigeria; Simplex, Egypt; Tagaddod , Egypt; Sustineo Magnus Limited, Nigeria; Hamaressa Edible Oil Share Company, Ethiopia; Beza Mar Agro Industry P.L.C, Ethiopia; Naviacom, Tunisia; and Heavymat Industry, Togo.
The Chairman of Bwari Area Council, Mr Musa Dikko, has urged committee members of the 2017/18 Measles Vaccination campaign to ensure that every child in the area is vaccinated to promote healthy living.
A WHO team carrying out measles vaccination campaign at internally displaced people’s camp in Nigeria
Dikko said this while inaugurating the committee and sub-committees on Thursday, December 7, 2017 at the council secretariat in Bwari, Abuja.
The committee and sub-committees are: Area Council Measles Technical committee, Social Mobilisation Sub-Committee, Cold Chain and Logistics Sub-Committee and Waste Management Sub-Committee.
Others are: Monitoring and Evaluation Sub-Committee, Adverse Events Following Immunisation Sub-Committee and Training Sub- Committee.
The chairman also urged the committee members to be dedicated to the task given to them in order to save the lives of children, instead of focusing on the stipends they would get.
According to him, the privilege of being part of the working committee comes with a higher responsibility than selfish interests.
“Let us not forget that we are privileged to be picked among thousands to be part of saving lives and only the healthy is able to serve in a committee to save the unhealthy.
“The purpose of setting this committee is to save lives and it can only be done with resources, yet, we sometimes put these resources first before the main purpose.
“I hereby urge you to check very well and decide as individuals, which should come first. To save lives or our selfish interests, don’t allow people to die because of your personal interests.
“Put it at the back of your mind that someday, someone would tell you thank you for a job well done.’’
He urged the committee to put in their best in order to make positive difference in the council.
According to him, the council has set the pace in all its programmes which have direct bearing on the lives of people for others to follow.
Earlier, Mr Sunday Goji, Head of Department of Health in the council, said that the campaign which was scheduled for Feb. 2018 would require “close supervision’’.
This, he said was due to the need for intense collaborative efforts by stakeholders to enable the campaign achieve its goal.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the campaign is being done with support from the Public Health Department of Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has called on Federal Government to resuscitate the Ghari Irrigation Project in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of the state to boost food production.
Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State
Ganduje made the call on Thursday, December 7, 2017 at an interactive session with President Muhammadu Buhari and community leaders, held at the Coronation Hall, Government House, Kano.
He said if rehabilitated, the facility would boost irrigation activities and encourage many farmers to embrace dry season farming in the area and boost food production in the state.
Ganduje also urged Federal Government to reconstruct the Kano-Kaduna-Abuja Road to reduce the number of accident being recorded along the route.
The governor said: “I want to use this opportunity to call for total rehabilitation of Kano-Kaduna-Abuja road to save lives and property being lost as a result of accidents.”
He announced that the Kano State Government planned to establish a Seed Development Company in collaboration with some research institutes in the country and urged Federal Government to support the initiative in terms of concession support.
He commended the Federal Government for making the Kano-Maiduguri, Kano-Katsina roads dual carriage and for constructing western bye-pass roads.
Ganduje said “the visit of Mr President to Kano has put to rest some mischievous speculations that you will not visit Kano.
“I want to assure the President that the government and people of Kano State will continue to support you.”
Organised by the Kano State Government to enable stakeholders to interact with President Buhari, the interactive session was attended by religious and community leaders, as well as members of the business community, among others.
President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in Kano on Wednesday for a two-day official visit to the state.
The United Nations is to spend $12.3 million in famine prevention efforts in 2018 in Somalia.
Displaced Somalians
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the funds would be disbursed by the Somalia Human Fund (SHF).
SHF, is a multi-donor country-based pooled fund established in 2010 to support the timely allocation and disbursement of donor resources to address the most urgent humanitarian needs.
Peter de Clercq, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said the critical funds, part of the SHF Second 2017 Standard Allocation, will support 30 famine prevention projects in some of the worst-affected areas across Somalia.
“These SHF funds will allow humanitarian partners to continue their enhanced famine prevention response from Jan. 1, 2018,” de Clercq said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.
He said almost two-thirds of funds are geared towards the integrated multi-sectorial response, providing food, clean water and life-saving health, nutrition and sanitation and hygiene services in areas where needs are the greatest.
De Clercq said the amount is only a small fraction of what will be required to sustain famine prevention efforts in 2018.
“Donors are urged to provide funding for the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan, which was part of the global launch on Dec. 1,” he said.
According to the OCHA, this standard allocation round, focusing primarily on national and international non-governmental partners (98 per cent of funds), brings SHF funding for famine prevention response in 2017 to more than $57 million.
It said over 37 per cent of these funds have been channeled directly through local NGOs as part of the Grand Bargain commitment from the World Humanitarian Summit to support localisation of aid.
According to the OCHA, poverty, marginalisation, armed violence, insecurity, political instability, natural disasters and a lack of economic development have driven up humanitarian needs for decades in Somalia.
OCHA said a lack of access to basic services, especially in the areas of education and livelihoods opportunities, can also easily tip residents into the vulnerable category in terms of relief needs.
The UN relief agency said famine prevention efforts need to be sustained into 2018, alongside scaling up of livelihoods support to prevent populations at risk from sliding deeper into food insecurity.
“Early funding in 2018, including through the SHF, will be critical to enable humanitarian partners to sustain the current life-saving efforts,” said the OCHA.
A consultant pediatrician at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr Uduak Offiong, has advised parents to ensure adequate protection of their children against sudden illness.
School children
Offiong gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday, December 7, 2017.
The consultant said the current change in weather was usually characterised by dust and cold to which children usually responded by falling ill.
According to her, immunity against illness is always boosted by intake of variety of healthy foods, adding that parents should ensure that their children were well nourished.
“Good nutrition builds up immunity in growing children and fights against common illnesses such as cold, catarrh and cough which have tendency of recurring frequently.’’
She noted that there was high rate of malaria among children and advised parents to keep them under long-lasting insecticide-treated nets.
“Because of the heat sometimes, we tend to expose the children to mosquito bites which result in malaria. That is the reason why they have fever, cold, catarrh and diarrhea.
“You can discover this illness when the child develops catarrh, cold and diarrhea which come with dehydration,” the pediatrician added.
She further advised mothers to remember to give their children oral rehydration solution (ORS) and zinc whenever they suffered from diarrhea, adding that the affected children should get more fluid.
The Niger State Ministry of Health has inaugurated an 11-man committee for the training of health workers on prevention and control of cancer.
Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, Governor of Niger State
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Muhammed Makusidi, on Thursday, December 7, 2017 in Minna, the state capital, said the action was aimed to fight the scourge of the disease in the state.
“It is obvious that there was the need for us as a state to develop our own manpower especially in the training of cancer specialist that will man the proposed cancer centre,” he said.
He explained that with the committee, a lot of modalities would be put in place to chart appropriateways especially in sensitising the people about the disease.
“You see we cannot be categorical in terms of the number of cancer patients in the state because records are not straight here.
“A large proportion of those that come down with the disease, will rather patronise spiritual healers and this does not augur well for the patient and the records,” he said.
Makusidi said that inadequate record keeping of the disease was a major constrain in the estimation of the exact burden of the disease in the state.
The world on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 committed to a pollution-free planet at the close of the 3rd UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-3) in Nairobi, with resolutions and pledges promising to improve the lives of billions across the globe by cleaning up our air, land and water.
Closing Press Conference, UNEA-3 on Wednesday, December 6, 2017
If every promise made in and around the summit is met, 1.49 billion more people will breathe clean air, 480,000 km (or around 30 per cent) of the world’s coastlines will be clean, and $18.6 billion for research and development and innovative programmes to combat pollution will come online.
“The science we have seen at this assembly shows we have been so bad at looking after our planet that we have very little room to make more mistakes,” said Dr. Edgar Gutiérrez, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica and the President of the 2017 UN Environment Assembly.
“With the promises made here, we are sending a powerful message that we will listen to the science, change the way we consume and produce, and tackle pollution in all its forms across the globe.”
Over 4,000 heads of state, ministers, business leaders, UN officials, civil society representatives, activists and celebrities gathered at the summit in Nairobi, which ran for three days.
For the first time at a UN Environment Assembly, environment ministers issued a declaration. This declaration said nations would honour efforts to prevent, mitigate and manage the pollution of air, land and soil, freshwater, and oceans – which harms our health, societies, ecosystems, economies, and security.
The declaration committed to increasing research and development, targeting pollution through tailored actions, moving societies towards sustainable lifestyles based on a circular economy, promoting fiscal incentives to move markets and promote positive change, strengthening and enforcing laws on pollution, and much more.
UNEA-3 also passed 13 non-binding resolutions and three decisions. Among them were moves to address marine litter and microplastics, prevent and reduce air pollution, cut out lead poisoning from paint and batteries, protect water-based ecosystems from pollution, deal with soil pollution, and manage pollution in areas hit by conflict and terrorism.
“Today we have put the fight against pollution high on the global political agenda,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. “We have a long struggle ahead of us, but the summit showed there is a real appetite for significant positive change.
“It isn’t just about the UN and governments, though. The massive support we have seen from civil society, businesses and individuals – with millions of pledges to end pollution – show that this is a global challenge with a global desire to win this battle together.”
A large part of the impact from the assembly comes from global support. UN Environment’s #BeatPollution campaign hit almost 2.5 million pledges during the event, with 88,000 personal commitments to act.
Chile, Oman, South Africa and Sri Lanka all joined the #CleanSeas campaign during the Nairobi summit, with Sri Lanka promising to implement a ban on single-use plastic products from 1 January 2018, step up the separation and recycling of waste, and set the goal of freeing its ocean and coasts of pollution by 2030. There are now 39 countries in the campaign.
Colombia, Singapore, Bulgaria, Hungary and Mongolia joined 100 cities who were already in the #BreatheLife campaign, which aims to tackle air pollution. Every signatory has committed to reduce air pollution to safe levels by 2030, with Singapore promising to tighten fuel and emissions standards for vehicles, and emissions standards for industry.
The global momentum comes not a moment too soon, as the UN Environment report, The Executive Director’s Report: Towards a Pollution-Free Planet, lays out.
Overall, environmental degradation causes nearly one in four of all deaths worldwide, or 12.6 million people a year, and the widespread destruction of key ecosystems. Air pollution is the single biggest environmental killer, claiming 6.5 million lives each year.
Exposure to lead in paint causes brain damage to 600,000 children annually. Our seas already contain 500 “dead zones” with too little oxygen to support marine life. Over 80 per cent of the world’s wastewater is released into the environment without treatment, poisoning the fields where we grow our food and the lakes and rivers that provide drinking water to 300 million people.
There is also a huge economic cost. A recent report by the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health says that welfare losses due to pollution are estimated at over $4.6 trillion each year, equivalent to 6.2 per cent of global economic output.
“We had two missions at this assembly,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, UN Environment’s deputy head. “One (agreeing on action) is accomplished. The second we must start tomorrow.”
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, has pledged to make gender issues a priority in chemicals and waste management in the country.
Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, with participants at the side event at UNEA-3
He made the pledge at a side event on gender, chemicals and waste, held on the second day of the 3rd session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 3), in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday, December 5, 2017.
The side event, titled: “What has gender got to do with chemicals?”, was organised by Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF) in collaboration with Women Environmental Programme (WEP), Balifokus Foundation, Women’s Major Group and International Pesticide Elimination Network (IPEN), with support from the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions.
How are women and men differently impacted in their health by Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), hazardous chemicals and waste?
How do women and men’s occupations and their roles at home and at work influence exposure to POPs, hazardous chemicals and waste?
What best practices with women and men’s leadership exist to substitute and eliminate POPs, hazardous chemicals and waste?
Presenting the result of the scoping study in Nigeria, Dr. Priscilla Achakpa of WEP said that the scoping study was conducted in January and February, 2017 in Lagos and Abuja, and included interviews and focus group discussions with relevant government ministries and agencies, waste management companies, scientists, media and civil society, a multi-stakeholder meeting and literature review.
Findings from the scoping study, she said, showed that there is high level of exposure to POPs and other harzadous chemicals whose major sources are from imported electrical and electronics equipment, pesticides, burning of municipal and plastic wastes and informal recycling. The study, she added, found that the human breast milk samples obtained from volunteer-mothers at Maitama Hospital showed high levels of chlordane, dieldrin, DDT, toxaphene, PCBs, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS).
Another shocking finding from the study was that PCB oil (Polychlorinated byphenyls), a liquid used in electrical transformers as a coolant, is used as cooking oil by some women. These, she said, are found to be the causes of genetic disorders, delayed pregnancy, birth defects, male infertility and other deleterious health conditions.
Although recognising that the Federal Government of Nigeria has taken steps to address exposure to POPs and other harzadous chemicals by women through her updated Implementation Plan of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants by sensitising women on practices that could lead to exposure to POPs, Dr. Achakpa recommended in addition that the government should:
Find alternative to chemical pesticides and insecticides
Improve waste management through deployment of appropriate technologies, improvement in waste management infrastructure and capacity building of waste management personnel.
Increase inter-sectoral coordination on chemicals and wastes including its gender dimensions
Increase law enforcement of chemicals and wastes management regulations
Design and implement programmes that will promote recycling of plastics and discourage open burning of wastes.
She concluded that exposure to chemicals has deleterious effects on human health and the environment and given the biological composition of women and children, exposure to chemicals affect them seriously. She called for a strong commitment from government to address the pollution of environment by chemicals if it must achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking at the event, Jibril applauded the scoping study and stated the readiness of the ministry to discuss with relevant stakeholders to ensure that the recommendations of the study are implemented to address the findings in the report.
The ministry, he said, would make gender issues a priority in designing and implementing chemicals and waste management projects and programmes. He stated that he learnt so much from the former Minister of Environment, Amina J. Mohammed, who inculcated in him the consciousness about gender.
According to him, the former Minister of Environment would always say that gender issues could be likened to a bird that cannot fly on one wing, unless it uses two wings; and so development cannot be sustainable unless different categories of people are involved and their needs taken into consideration in the planning and implementation of programmes.
The Minister of State for Environment appreciated the Secretariat of the BRS Conventions for making gender issues central to the work of the Secretariat and pledged that Nigeria, as a Signatory to these Conventions, would follow the same track.
The scoping study is part of the activities of the Secretariat of the BRS Conventions based on its Gender Action Plan that was developed in 2013 and aims to ensure that principles of gender equality are firmly embedded in the activities undertaken by the BRS Secretariat.
The scoping study was conducted by WECF in collaboration with WEP and Balifokus Foundation, with support from BRS Secretariat.
