The UN has expressed outrage at the abduction of 110 schoolgirls of Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, by suspected Boko Haram terrorists.
Some students of the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State
The Secretary-General, Mr Antonio Guterres, said in a statement by his Spokesperson, Mr Stephane Dujarric, that he “strongly condemns the abduction and attack”.
Guterres said he was gravely concerned over the situation of the schoolgirls’ abducted during an attack on their educational institution in Dapchi on Feb. 19.
The Secretary-General called for the immediate and unconditional release of all missing girls and for their safe return to their families.
The UN chief urged the Nigerian authorities to swiftly bring those responsible for this dastardly act to justice.
Guterres reiterated the solidarity and support of the UN to Nigerian Government and other affected countries in the region in their fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
The UN had earlier described the abduction as “another horrific incident where young women and girls are targeted by terror groups”.
“And we very much hope that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, and just as importantly, that the girls will be found and returned to safety.
“I think the fact that these young women were abducted in an educational setting, where they should have been safe, where they should feel safe, just adds to the horror of the story.”
The Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 called on the member-states of the African Union (AU) to take ownership of the project to save Lake Chad from imminent extinction.
Lake Chad viewed from Apollo 7
Its Executive Secretary, Alhaji Sanusi Abdullahi, made the call at the opening of the 63rd Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the LCBC in Abuja.
He underscored the need for Africa to collectively tackle challenges facing the survival of Lake Chad by demonstrating the needed political will.
He said it was an indisputable fact that Climate Change was the major cause of the shrinking of the lake and the degradation of the lands and environment, which had resulted in the loss of agricultural productivity and ecosystem.
“Africa contributes the least carbon emission that causes global warming and negative effects of climate change, but Africa suffers the most.
“Thus, it is now time for the African Union to face the challenges in the Lake Chad basin as an African strategic problem.
“The AU should factor in the restoration of the lake as part of the pan-African initiative for peace, security and infrastructural development of Central Africa, West Africa and the Sahel.
“Africa must collectively resolve to tackle these issues head-on with all we have through the strong political will of our leaders,’’ he added.
Abdullahi said that it was saddening to note that the depressed socio-economic conditions of the people in the Lake Chad basin had contributed to their recruitment by the insurgents apart from the trafficking of idle, poor and uneducated youths.
He said it was gratifying to note that there was a reduction in suicide attacks by the insurgents, adding that a large number of the insurgents were surrendering because of the intensified efforts of non-military actors.
The executive secretary, nonetheless, urged the people to remain vigilant, while cooperating with the military and other security agencies by providing information on suspicious activities in their localities.
Mr Issoufu Katambe, the Chairman of the Council of LCBC Ministers, commended Nigeria for paying its annual dues, calling on all other member-states to also contribute their quota toward the restoration of the Lake Chad basin.
He also stressed the need to find sustainable solutions to the crises in the Lake Chad basin, saying that efforts to end violent extremism would require deliberate action to solve its root causes, which included poverty and unemployment.
Katambe said that LCBC member-states ought to promote regional integration, educate all stakeholders and engage in capacity building, adding that this was a potent way of addressing the current challenges in the region.
Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, said that Nigeria had been spearheading the execution of the mandate of the LCBC through the implementation of emergency programmes across the basin.
He reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to the Lake Chad restoration project through the payment of its contributions, in spite of the country’s lean budget.
He said that the commitment was also evident with the signing of the Lake Chad Basin Water Charter into law in 2017, adding that all the country’s obligations to the LCBC would be fulfilled.
The member-states of the LCBC countries are Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya and Niger.
In a related development, Mr Dawuda Gowon, a former Director of Federal Ministry of Water Resources, says efforts to restore the shrinking Lake Chad require political will and cooperation of countries in the Lake Chad Basin.
Gowon said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on the sidelines of the international conference on strategies to revitalise the Lake Chad Basin in Abuja.
He underscored the need for the revitalisation of the lake, saying that many people depended on the lake for their farming, fishing and livestock production, while it was also a source of water supply for drinking.
“Unfortunately, Lake Chad is shrinking due to human pressure and adverse effects of climate change, thereby reducing its size.
“Saving the lake is a big challenge that requires political will, engineering skills and cooperation of the people of the region as well as diplomacy because the project is quite enormous.
“Millions of people are living within the Lake Chad basin; they need to farm, they need to fish and the water is the only resource that would enable them to achieve all these activities.
“And that is why Nigeria is putting more efforts, trying to get the lake revitalised,’’ he said.
Gowon said that Nigeria has huge water resources, adding that what was imperative was to maximise the resources to boost the country’s development via enhanced productivity.
He, therefore, described Nigeria’s cooperation with other countries in the nascent efforts to revitalise Lake Chad as an added advantage.
Besides, Gowon stressed the need to engage qualified personnel to work in the ministry of water resources because of the technical nature of the ministry and the requirements of managing the water sector.
NAN reports that the theme of the conference is: “Saving the Lake Chad to revitalise the basin’s ecosystem for sustainable livelihoods, security and development’’.
The member states of Lake Chad Basin Commission are Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Niger and Sudan.
After five decades of the creation of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), the basin is still characterised by increasing population and severe drought.
Sand miners on the Ubangui River in Democratic Republic of Congo, where water will be transferred to replenish the Lake Chad
Scholars believe that as the population growth rate increases from 40 million in 2010, to a projection of 62 million in 2030, the consequences of famine, water distribution problems, human and animal disease will also rise.
They said these changes that have occurred could have been because of global climate change, fueled by accelerated population growth.
They also averred that these factors were responsible for the accumulation of social tensions which could have led to the outbreak of the violent insurgency that the region is faced with lately.
In 1992, a decision was taken to develop a master plan for the Lake Chad basin to include the establishment of an environmentally sound management of the natural resources of the Lake Chad conventional basin.
The feasibility study for the water transfer from the Congo basin to the Lake Chad was the second priority project selected for implementation by the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).
A proposal to transfer water from Congo to the Lake Chad was submitted to the LCBC in 1984 at the height of the most severe drought affecting the Lake Chad basin.
This proposal was approved and shared by the then President Mobuto Sese Seko of Congo, but was considered to be too big, hence a similar proposal of taking water from the Ubangi river to the Lake Chad was adopted by the Member-states of the LCBC.
Raising an estimated $6 million for the pre-feasibility study of the Ubangu-Lake Chad Inter- Basin Water Transfer became a problem until the government of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo provided support and launched a diplomatic campaign to get the no-objection of the two Congos.
The conduct of the feasibility study was awarded to a Canadian firm, CIMA International, with work commencing on the October 13, 2009 for a period of 28 months.
The study was concluded in 2011 with the conclusion that the Ubangi-Lake Chad Inter-Basin Water Transfer project is technically feasible and economically viable from the Congo basin via the State Ubangi River to Lake Chad through an inter-basin transfer, a pumping transfer via the Palambo Dam and a gravity transfer through a deviation of the Koto River.
This will increase the water level of the Lake by at least one meter in both the south and the north basins and increase the size of the Lake by about 5,000km square over a period of four to five years.
The combined cost estimate of the projects for the transfer was put at $14.5 billion.
The result of the study was endorsed by the 14th Summit of the Head of States and Government of the LCBC on April 30, 2012.
Delivering a speech at the ongoing International Conference on Lake Chad in Nigeria, the Executive Secretary of the LCBC, Sanusi Abdullahi, said there was no solution to the shrinking of the Lake Chad that does not involve recharging the Lake with water from outside the basin.
He opined that the issue was not an option but a necessity, saying the region was faced with the possibility of the Lake disappearing with catastrophic effects to the African continent.
“Poverty, misery, loss of hopes and the spread of violent extremism, human trafficking and migration in the Lake Chad has endured for too long.
“It must come to an end, that is the task before all of us.”
The Chairman of the Council of LCBC Ministers, Mr Issoufu Katambe, commended Nigerian Government on its efforts at paying its annual dues, calling on all other member-nations to contribute their quota towards the realisation of the restoration of the basin.
He stressed the need to find sustainable solutions to the Lake Chad crises, saying that ending violent extremism would require the deliberate action of solving its root causes, such as poverty and unemployment.
Katambe also said that member-nations ought to promote regional integration, educate all stakeholders and deliberate capacity building, adding that this was a sure way to tackle the ongoing challenges.
However, the solution to Lake Chad insecurity became obvious with the opening up of new opportunities and sustainable solutions through regional partnerships and economic integration.
Sharing a different view on the Lake Chad restoration, a water engineer, Guy Immega, advocated the use of solar energy to recharge the drying lake chad basin to promote livelihood for those in the region.
According to him, the use of solar is a cost effective approach that could provide technical and social benefits to the benefiting countries.
“The solar option is the best choice because it is approximately 10 per cent of the cost of a hydroelectric dam, no flooding and displacement of villages and people.
“No disruption of fisheries and agriculture, No significant Ubangi River water loss, renewed Lake Chad ecosystem will lead to increased agriculture, food security and economic opportunities,” Immega said.
He said using this option would enable an inter basin water transfer project that would not have direct consequences on the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighboring countries.
According to him, Lake Chad was once the most important freshwater ecosystem in the Sahel, providing sustenance to 30 million people living in Africa’s central sub-Sahara.
He said in the last 50 years, it has shrunk to less than 10 per cent of its former size, leading to a major humanitarian crisis.
Immega commended the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), representing the countries surrounding the lake, for studying the problem and seeking a viable approach for Inter-Basin Water Transfer from the Ubangi River to replenish the Lake.
Stakeholders believe that what the Lake Chad region is asking the African leaders is to look at the problem of insecurity and lack of infrastructural development.
All in all, experts believe that the continent should align its interventions with the Agenda 2063 for the sole purpose of socio-economic transformation of the continent, just like the dream of its founding fathers.
Director and Co-Founder of Climate Scorecard, Ron Israel, has disclosed that Olumide Idowu will be the Nigeria Country Manager for the international not-for-profit organisation. Mr Idowu will be responsible for monitoring and reporting on current climate change related activities in the country.
Olumide Idowu
An entrepreneur, environmentalist and activist, Idowu, who has successfully led grassroots campaigns in over 42 African countries with over 10 years’ experience in the non-profit sector, specialises in practical issues associated with climate change, open data and development policies as they affect rural communities.
He is the co-founder of Climate Wednesday, an international climate change development initiative, which Idowu leads the development and implementation of its strategy with responsibilities of creating, communicating and implementing corporate vision, mission and overall directions.
He seats on the continental team of the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC), managing communications with over 65,000 young people to share best practices and leading campaigns using technology tools in shaping Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030. Presently, he is working on a mobile app for citizen reporting on waste management and disaster risk reduction.
His responsibilities as Country Manager include:
Write a monthly country News Brief – Action Alert that spotlights a relevant activity that impacts the ability of the country to help implement the Paris Agreement
Specify in the “Take Action” section of the Brief what action needs to be taken in response to the issue described, and identify the policymakers or others that need to be contacted along with their contact information.
Rate the activity described in the Brief according to Climate Scorecard’s rating system, with each rating accompanied by a sentence or two explaining the rating.
Coordinate with Climate Scorecard’s in-country Partner Organisation to get their input into the monthly News Brief – Action Alert and to encourage them to distribute the Brief to their members, contacts, journalists, policymakers and the general public to advocate for change with leaders and decision-makers.
The Federal Government on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 released the names and details of the missing 110 girls following attack on the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State on Feb. 19.
Some students of the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi
The list was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The minister said the list which was handed over to him by the Yobe State Government, contained the name, age and class of each of the 110 students.
He said that out of the 110 missing girls, eight were in JSS1, 17 in JSS2, 12 in JSS 3, 40 in SS1, 19 in SS2 and 14 in SS3.
The girls’ ages range from 11 to 19 years.
He said the list which contained the contact address and phone number of each missing girl, was verified by a 26-member Screening Committee.
The committee, according to the minister, included: the Executive Secretary, State Teaching Service Board, Musa Abdulsalam, Director, Schools’ Management, Ministry of Education, Shuaibu Bulama and the Principal of GGSTC, Adama Abdulkarim.
Others were the two Vice Principals, Ali Mabu and Abdullahi Lampo, Admission Officer, Bashir Ali Yerima, and the Form Masters for all the classes.
The minister said that the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar had relocated to Yobe to personally supervise search for the girls.
He said the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) had earlier deployed more platforms to the North-east for the search, as the security agencies ramp up their efforts to locate and rescue the girls.
The minister said that as at 6 p.m. on Monday, the NAF had flown a total of 200 hours, while conducting the search.
It will be recalled that the minister had twice led a Federal Government delegation to Yobe since the tragic incident occurred.
The list:
GOVERNMENT GIRLS’ SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE (GGSTC) DAPCHI
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard for the good governance of oil, gas and mineral resources. It seeks to address the key governance issues in the extractive sectors.
However, the inclusion of oil majors such as ExxonMobil and Chevron in the EITI Board has become a cause for concern among certain quarters, who are demanding the immediate removal of these companies.
Nigerian environment activist, Nnimmo Bassey, says: “This is a great call. It does not make sense for companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron or any oil company operating in Nigeria to sit on the board of EITI. How can they promote transparency when no one knows exactly how much crude oil they pump out of the poorly metred oil fields of the Niger Delta?
“This is a serious point with regard to Nigeria because we do not see how any tax returns can be trusted if we do not know exactly how much crude oil is being extracted.”
In a recent correspondent to the EITI Boar chair, Fredrik Reinfeldt, a group of concerened stakeholders make a case for the exclusion of the companies from the Board. Excerpts:
EITI Boar chair, Fredrik Reinfeldt
Dear Chair Reinfeldt:
We are writing to draw your attention to actions by EITI Board members that we believe constitute violations of the EITI Code of Conduct and, as such, are grounds for their immediate removal from the Board.
Specifically, we urge that the February EITI Board meeting include a discussion about the refusal of ExxonMobil and Chevron to disclose their tax payments through the term of implementation of the EITI Standard in the United States. We believe strongly that the refusal to engage in this most basic aspect of compliance with the EITI Standard constitutes a repeated and willful violation of the EITI Code of Conduct, the EITI Constituency Guidelines, the Terms of Reference of the now defunct USEITI MSG, and an act of bad faith that is counter to the spirit of the EITI movement itself. These actions not only contributed to the demise of the USEITI process, but damaged the credibility of the Standard and of the EITI both in practice and in the eyes of the global community.
ExxonMobil and Chevron were members of the USEITI MSG from its creation in December 2011 to its disbandment in November 2017. Both companies are members of the EITI International Board’s industry constituency and have served in that role, with a few brief exceptions, since its creation in 2003. From its founding, the EITI and its Standard have required comprehensive disclosure of material payments from companies to governments, including taxes. In fact, no EITI implementation has ever excluded the disclosure of tax payments.
In the USEITI report issued in 2016, 12 of the 38 eligible companies disclosed their taxes. In the USEITI report issued in 2015, 12 of the 41 eligible companies disclosed their taxes. ExxonMobil and Chevron were among the companies that refused to disclose their tax payments in both cases. In its 2016 USEITI Annual Progress Report to the EITI Secretariat, the USEITI MSG acknowledged, “With the exception of corporate income taxes, the 2016 Report comes very close to fully meeting the requirements of the EITI Standard.”
During the December 2015 USEITI MSG Meeting, an ExxonMobil representative provided the following explanation of his company’s decision not to disclose taxes through the USEITI process:
“… knowing that income tax reporting will soon be required under Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act, companies may have chosen to wait until that rule was finalised and the requirements more clear. (ExxonMobil representative) added that many of these companies have exercised leadership in EITI around the world, and are very committed to USEITI and to tax reporting, but are awaiting the finalisation of the SEC’s rulemaking.”
Of particular note, on January 31, 2017, the American Petroleum Institute (API) sent a letter to the Honourable Paul D. Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Honourable Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, that outlined its strong support for H.J. Res. 41, the law that nullified the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission’s final rule implementing Section 1504. Public lobbying records for that period also indicate that both ExxonMobil and Chevron met with Members of Congress regarding H.J. Res. 41. ExxonMobil’s former CEO, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson – a former chair of the API, played a well-documented role in opposition to Section 1504 during his tenure at the company.
API, of which ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods is Chairman, and Chevron’s recently retired CEO and Chairman John Watson is a board member, also used false arguments to lobby against Section 1504, despite also being an industry representative on the USEITI MSG.
Section 1504 and its implementing rule are referenced in the EITI Standard and were instrumental to USEITI implementation. The 2016 USEITI Annual Progress Report states, “The regulation (the SEC’s June 2016 final for Section 1504 implementation) would substantially assist the implementation of USEITI. It defined “project” at the contract level and required the reporting of taxes.” Further, the public notes of a January 2017 USEITI workshop include the following references to the importance of Section 1504:
“Section 1504 reporting is necessary to ensure reporting by covered companies meets the requirements of the EITI Standard…The group discussed the intrinsic nature of Section 1504 to the USEITI process and its equivalence to implementing legislation. As such, should 1504 be undone, USEITI would not have a path forward to implementation and validation.”
In the November 2017 statement announcing the end of USEITI implementation, the U.S. Department of Interior (Interior) falsely suggested that U.S. laws restrict companies from voluntarily disclosing information, including taxes. However, a May 2017 Interior Department Inspector General assessment of USEITI points out that the Internal Revenue Service may disclose tax data with the authorisation of the taxpayer. Interior’s November 2017 assertion echoes false insinuations by both ExxonMobil and Chevron that indicate laws prohibit tax payment disclosure. To the contrary, Dallas-based Kosmos Energy has voluntarily disclosed its U.S. tax payments for years, and BHP Billiton, one of the largest mining companies in the world, voluntarily disclosed its tax payments to the U.S. government before it was required to do so by the EU Directives.
This issue could have been avoided if there was a standard that required companies to practice what they preach and disclose their payments fully as a condition of being an EITI supporting company or EITI Board member. In the absence of this, and in light of the ongoing circumstances outlined above, we recommend strongly that these companies be removed from the EITI Board for violating the EITI Code of Conduct, as well as the spirit of EITI, thus endangering the EITI Standard.
We thank you and the EITI Board for their consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely,
Danielle Brian, Executive Director, Project On Government Oversight (POGO), USEITI CSO Co-Chair
Simon Taylor , Co-founder and Director, Global Witness
Bennett Freeman , EITI Global Board Member 2006-2009; Former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour; Former Senior Vice President, Calvert Investments; Board Chair, EG Justice
Kate Watters, Executive Director, Crude Accountability
Tutu Alicante , Executive Director, EG Justice
Waseem Mardini , Policy Advisor, Publish What You Pay – United States
What looks like the largest rural movements in Brazil, representing well over a million farmers, are protesting a new Brazilian regulation that would allow release of gene drives, the controversial genetic extinction technology, into Brazil’s ecosystems and farms.
Over a million farmers, are protesting a new Brazilian regulation that would allow release of gene drives, the controversial genetic extinction technology
On February 3 and 4, 2018, the National Coalition of Farmworkers and Rural, Water and Forest Peoples met near São Paulo, Brazil and sounded the alarm about new Brazilian regulatory changes – a resolution passed on January 15 by Brazil’s National Technical Commission on Biosafety that would allow the release of gene drive organisms into the environment.
The effect of such a change is that Brazil becomes the first country in the world to establish a legal channel for the release of gene drives into the environment. The new rule could potentially make it even easier to release a living gene drive organism than a GMO seed.
The farmers organisations are concerned about agribusiness giants spreading more transgenic seeds, but also attempts to directly change the nature of wild plants and animals.
João Pedro Stédile, from the National Coordination of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) which represents over a million landless peasants in Brazil and is part of the global peasant movement La Via Campesina, summarised the concerns expressed in the meeting: “Brazil is living a serious political, economic, social and environmental crisis, and transnational capital has supported a political coup. Within this context, the government is now changing laws and the Constitution to allow them to take over our natural resources. This decision from CTNBio is illegal, and would allow the dissemination of new transgenic seeds and living organisms without even minimal controls and assessments. We are not staying passive on these assaults, we will fight back against this resolution.”
Scientists and Peasant Movements’ Concerns About Gene Drives The concern of the movements has been echoed by Brazilian scientists as well. “This decision undermines some of the fundamental tenets of biosafety legislation in Brazil,” said Leonardo Melgarejo, a former representative of the Ministry for Rural Social Development to CTNBio. “The CTNBio has no authority or mandate to do this. Moreover, this decision has huge potential impacts on farmers, consumers and Brazil’s biodiversity, but was taken without consulting civil society or movements. Many experts that have been following biosafety in the country will now join with farmers and other movements to challenge this absurd decision.”
Brazil’s new “normative resolution” allows the Biosafety Commission to approve the release of products derived from what they called “Innovative Precision Breeding Techniques” without going through established biosafety risk assessment or requiring labeling, if the Biosafety Commission considers they are not “GMO.” Among the technologies enlisted for such exception are several new genetic modification techniques, including CRISPR technology and gene drives.
About Gene Drives Gene drives are a controversial new technology that uses CRISPR-Cas9 to spread a specific genetic trait through an entire species or population – in some cases with the purpose of driving species to extinction. Current gene drives experiments have been conducted on insects, rodents and plants. If the inserted genetic trait results in only male offspring, as is being attempted for rodents and mosquitoes, a full wild population or even a species could go extinct. As far as is known, gene drives have never been released into the environment anywhere in the world.
“Gene drives organisms pose unique threats to nature and livelihoods”, says Silvia Ribeiro, Latin America Director for ETC Group. “It is the first time that the biotech industry has intentionally designed GMOs to spread aggressively in the natural environment and contaminate wild species. It seems surreal that a decision to impose such great dangers to a mega diverse country such Brazil would be taken by a small technical commission, without even involvement of either Congress or civil society.”
Concerns About Biological Warfare and Use by Agribusiness/Chemical Giants At the gathering, the movements and organisations signed an open letter stating that they “emphatically reject the CTNBio’s Normative Resolution 16/2018, which seeks to legalise and release without regulation, assessment or labeling new transgenic organisms which will have an impact on peasants, food sovereignty, health and the environment. We particularly denounce and reject the CTNBio’s intent to legalise ‘gene drives,’ i.e. transgenic organisms that can be used to drive species into extinction and as biological weapons…”
Because of the technology’s power and inherent risks, gene drives are considered a potential bioweapon. According to 1,200 emails released under access to information requests by a group of civil society organisations, the US Military has become one of the main funders of gene drives research at the global level. (They acknowledge the potential use as a bioweapon but allege that their interest is only defensive.) The second biggest funder of gene drives is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which claims to be supporting the development of the technology to combat pests, such as the mosquitoes that carry malaria, by genetically eliminating their ability to reproduce.
The movements argue instead that it is giant agribusiness corporations who will benefit, as they will seek to manipulate herbicide-resistant weeds to reinstate their susceptibility to chemicals, and they “will be free to invade fields and markets with new genetically manipulated products, free from assessments, regulations or labels, thus expediting releases and hiking their profits.”
Is Brazil Preemptively Undermining UN Regulations? Gene drive technology is currently being discussed in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), where a group of experts (the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Synthetic Biology) have recently warned that they pose new risks to the environment, for which current biosafety assesments might not be sufficient or adequate.
The conclusions of Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) will be discussed by CBD in 2018. Marciano Toledo from MPA (Small Farmers Movement, Brazil) one of the signatories and also a member of La Via Campesina, was present in the CBD Conference of the Parties in 2017, where 160 international organisations asked the Convention to establish a moratorium on gene drives.
“Brazil’s move to include this technology in its legislation now is probably aimed at influencing the outcomes in the UN discussion in a effort to preempt a decision on a moratorium. This is unacceptable,” said Toledo. “CTNBio never opened the space for consultations with civil society or independent researcher in its own country. They also choose to disregard the scientific debate at the CBD, which shows that there is not yet adequate capacity nor biosafety frameworks to evaluate the results and impacts of new biotechnologies, particularly gene drives.”
The biotech industry has attempted to exempt new biotechnologies from biosafety legislation in other countries, including at the European Union, the US, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. Argentina approved a similar normative resolution in 2015 – also in an administrative measure and without any discussion. However, the Brazilian resolution is the first to explicitly include gene drives in its scope.
Alhaji Sanusi Abdullahi, Executive Secretary, Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), says inter-basin water transfer from the Ubangui River in Democratic Republic of Congo is the only way to save the lake from extinction.
Sand miners on the Ubangui River in Democratic Republic of Congo, where water will be transferred to replenish the Lake Chad
Abdullahi said this when he spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the ongoing International Conference on Lake Chad in Abuja on Tuesday, February 27, 2018.
According to him, the extinction of the lake is not acceptable as it is the major source of livelihoods for no fewer than 30 million people.
“There is no solution to the shrinkage of the Lake Chad that does not involve recharging the lake with water from outside the basin.
“Therefore, inter-basin water transfer is not an option but a necessity; otherwise we are faced with the possibility of the lake disappearing and that would be catastrophic for the entire Africa continent,” he said.
He said that poverty, misery, loss of hopes and spread of violent extremism as well as human trafficking and migration in the Lake Chad basin had endured for too long and should be reversed.
He said that the Lake Chad area was facing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with seven million displaced people and no fewer than two million persons depending on humanitarian assistance.
The executive secretary said that famine and water distribution problems had become rampant in the area due to rapid population growth and severe droughts, thereby fuelling violence and continued conflicts.
He said that the non-payment of annual contribution by the member states of the LCBC had led to the inability of the commission to execute over 70 per cent of its programmes.
Abdullahi, however, commended the Federal Government for meeting its obligations to the LCBC via the payment of one million U.S. dollars annual dues.
NAN reports that the conference with the theme, “Saving the Lake to Revitalise the Basin’s Ecosystem”, is aimed at creating global awareness on the socio-economic and environmental challenges stemming from the shrinking lake.
The LCBC was established in 1964 to ensure the sustainable and equitable management of Lake Chad resources and the preservation of the ecosystems in its basin.
Members of the commission are Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya and Niger.
African governments should harmonise their laws to safeguard countries from the invasive species, an expert said on Tuesday, February 27, 2018.
Invasive alien species:. An invasive North American mink predating a gannet chick in the Firth of Forth, Scotland. Photo credit: BirdLife International
Invasive species are plants, fungus, or animal species that is not native to a specific location, and that has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.
Martha Byanyima, expert on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), said many countries have experienced devastating economic losses due to attacks from invasive pests in the recent years.
“We need to have a harmonised law that enables countries to trade in a liberalised economy and also protect them from invasions by unwanted species,” Byanyima told Xinhua in Nairobi.
She called for a harmonised approach since regulations that are being applied in almost all countries are not coordinated.
Byanyima said that although most African countries have signed both the WHO-SPS agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), legislation, enforcement is still weak or in some countries lacking.
“As a result, the weakness has allowed the introduction of Invasive Alien Species at a faster rate,” she added.
Byanyima said the impacts of the loss on livelihoods undermine the trends made on trade liberalisation in the region.
She urged the countries to integrate their model and strengthen their bio-security to safeguard internal and external trade.
According to Byanyima, COMESA has embarked on strengthening bio-security of Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Burundi with aim of equipping them to respond to their needs on safeguarding their territories from invasive species.
Byanyima noted that the regional economic body has entered into a working relationship with the Australian government on how best the member countries can leverage their resources in tackling the general problems.
She called for investment in agriculture since it is the mainstay of most economies in the continent.
According to experts, with climate change becoming the biggest challenge in the continent, old pests and diseases, new biological risks and the invasive alien species are now threatening economies of most countries in the continent.
Scientists have referred to invasive alien species coupled with climate change as a “deadly duo” as they are regarded as one of the biggest threats to plant species.
An ecologist, Mr Habib Omotosho, has urged the government to provide adequate funds for relevant waste management authorities to purchase more waste evacuation equipment.
A dumpsite being evacuated in Lagos
This, he said, became necessary to achieve sustainable solid waste management in the country.
Omotosho, who is the National Coordinator, Environmental Advancement Initiative, an NGO, gave the advice in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 in Abuja.
“Government should provide adequate funds for waste management personnel for the purchase of more evacuating vehicles and waste disposal containers.
“There is need to strengthen the work force by recruiting more personnel in the waste management authority,” the ecologist said.
According to him, solid waste disposal is one of the most serious environmental problems facing many cities in Nigeria.
Omotosho, who said waste management played an integral role in human activities, said ways to manage solid waste include disposal by burying or burning, reducing or reusing, recycling and energy generation.
“Solid waste management differs in developing countries like Nigeria and in industrialised countries of the world like Germany.
“Several factors are responsible for the differences, a good example of these is the type of waste generated in developing countries,” he said.
The ecologist said that in developing countries, there was high proportion of organic and considerably less plastic waste.
He said the development was such that the large amount of organic material made the waste denser with greater moisture and smaller particles.
“Another factor identified is that the technology in use in industrialised countries are inappropriate in developing countries because of the much heavier, wetter and corrosive nature of generated waste in developing countries,” he said.
According to him, in developing countries, most cities are unplanned and characterised by haphazard construction of sprawling slums with narrow roads that are inaccessible to collection vehicles.
He said in recent years, solid waste generation in metropolitan cities had increased considerably, adding that major highways had suddenly become the dunghill for many citizens.
“Strict environmental laws should be promulgated to ensure an appreciable participation in the general environmental sanitation as well as to bring violators to book in the country.”
