Two talented and environmentally minded young people from India and Mexico, with their video reports on actions to fight climate change, have been selected as the winners of the 2018 Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change.
Vikas Yadav from India and Andrea Sofia Rosales Vega from Mexico are winners of the 2018 Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change
The winners, chosen through an online public vote, are Vikas Yadav, 20 years old, from India for the category “Green and climate friendly jobs” and Andrea Sofia Rosales Vega, 20, from Mexico for the category “Responsible production and consumption”.
They will travel to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland, in December and will work with the UN Climate Change’s Global Climate Action Team covering highlights of the meeting, reporting for a global youth audience. The winners will be recognised in a ceremony at the COP24 Action Hub on Thursday, December 6.
The video by Sofia Vega shows how we can clean up urban areas while also making a difference to people’s lives. Her video describes the “Eco Urban” project, which collects and re-uses waste, including plastic and old clothes, helping to clean up the streets. Selling products made from the recycled material raises funds, some of which are reinvested in collection centres, and 60 per cent of the income used to fight childhood cancer. As she says at the close of the video, the participants are “ordinary people, making our world extraordinary.”
In his three-minute entry, Vikas Yadav visits rural areas of India, where he reports that more than 70 per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture. As food production is particularly sensitive to climate change, the farmers explain how innovative agriculture practices can play an important role in climate change mitigation and adaption. Vikas encourages people to “Go green” in moving towards more natural growing and management techniques.
“These two young people and their videos are encouraging examples of the global climate action needed to address climate change,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa. “I congratulate Sofia and Vikas, and I applaud all the entrants showcasing international youth’s essential response to climate change.”
Entries were received from over 100 countries, from Azerbaijan to Yemen, with young people between the ages of 18 and 30 submitting over 300 videos.
The competition was launched by UN Climate Change as part of its work on Action for Climate Empowerment, in partnership with tve (Television for the environment), the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme, which is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme, and Connect4Climate, and supported by Fondation BNP Paribas and the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU).
Women’s groups from Asia Pacific are deeply concerned about the bill passed by the Government of Poland that will prevent any “spontaneous” public gathering of climate groups during COP24 and subject human rights defenders to state-led surveillance including access and storing all personal information.
The UNFCCC COP24 holds in Katowice, Poland
The bill, initiated by the government of Poland, is said to be setting a dangerous precedent that undermines human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and of speech, and the right to privacy in the context of digital technologies, multilateral process, and the role and importance of peoples’ organisations in fighting climate change.
Civil society organisations from the Global South say they see the bill as a deterrent to attend COP24, participate in the negotiations and organise people’s action that are crucial to raise civil society concerns while finalising the Paris Agreement.
“This clamp down on civil society space and freedom of expressions is a sign of increasing influence of the profit earning actors who do not want to change the system of exploitation that is leading to climate change. By closing spaces for voices of the people to come into global platforms like the COP, the profit-making exploitative industries and the States continue business as usual at the cost of the planet,” said APWLD member Banamallika Choudhury, NEThing, India.
Civil Society present at a pre-COP 24 session in September in Bangkok reportedly asked the Polish government about the bill and the right to peaceful assembly.
“When asked at the Inter-sessions, the incoming Polish presidency responded that the bill was enacted to solicit funding support for the COP24. This basically means that the global climate negotiations are resourced by the groups who want to suppress democratic and peaceful civil society organising. In addition, tying this bill to the visa application process is fundamentally discriminatory against women human rights and environmental defenders from the Global South who are most affected by climate change. Global solidarity is required to resist this tactic of oppression,” said Misun Woo, Regional Coordinator, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, Thailand.
According to the activists, the UN’s decision of working with “oppressive governments” like Poland violates the Paris Convention, UN principles on human rights and European Union’s Aarhus Convention and enables the increasing threats to environment and human rights defenders and shrinking civil society spaces.
“In a letter sent by APWLD to UNFCCC this month, we raised security and personal safety concerns that will be faced by civil society. The Polish government has still not disclosed what data will be screened and what will be labelled ‘spontaneous demonstration or gathering’. With previous experience of facing immigration screening and policing of civil society in COP19 Warsaw and the current provisions of Bill that subject everyone to undisclosed State surveillance, it is a grave concern for women from the Global South on personal and organisation levels who will likely to be subjected to such scrutiny,” they stressed.
The civil society organisations therefore demand the Polish government to give assurances by repealing the bill and that human rights will be protected at COP 24 including the right to assemble.
“We remind the Government of Poland to uphold their legal and human rights obligations as set out in the European Convention of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
No fewer than 33 million people in the Sahel are food insecure, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the UN Peacebuilding Commission have said.
Ibrahim Thiaw
The UN bodies, at a joint forum in New York, also said building climate resilience and peace, must go hand in hand for the region.
The forum said to build a sustainable peace in the Sahel, urgent attention was needed to mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure that communities have access to enough opportunities
The UN Special Adviser on the Sahel, Ibrahim Thiaw, said: “The region consists of 10 different countries, totalling 300 million people.
“Currently, 33 million women, children and men are food insecure, while 4.7 million children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition.
“The Sahel is arguably one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. It is most likely the region with the largest number of people disproportionately affected by global warming”.
President of ECOSOC, Inga King, stressed that climate change was compounding the problem of the region.
“With rapid population growth estimated at 2.8 per cent per year in an environment of shrinking natural resources, including land and water resources, climate change in the Sahel can compound existing vulnerabilities.
“These risks generating new conflicts and forced migration, issues which already characterize the region. This situation requires our urgent attention,” King said.
Chair of the Peace building Commission, Ion Jinga, also regretted the impacts of climate change around the globe.
Jinga said: “Climate change impacts around the globe – including, desertification, droughts, floods and food insecurity – all pose grave threats to generations of human and development gains”.
He noted that, together, ECOSOC and the Peacebuilding Commission could support local initiatives through coordination of policies, building partnerships, resource mobilisation, and promotion of national ownership for projects implemented.
The joint meeting included local leaders invited to present their climate action initiatives to address their insecurity challenges.
Ahmed Diallo, Mayor of the city of Dori, in Burkina Faso, said “we are convinced that there are solutions, that with effort we can get out of this situation, and improve the current trends.
“This is because the youth that commit terrorist acts are often enrolled to do so, not so much by religious conviction, but due to a lack of opportunities.
“If a pastoralist can’t feed his animals because he doesn’t have food and he doesn’t have water, then he is going to look for other ways”.
Diallo gave examples of actions taken in his town to mitigate the effects of climate change including reforestation efforts, financial support to farmers, trainings for bee keepers, and cross-border cooperation with other countries’ municipalities to implement common projects.
Greenpeace celebrates in November 2018 10 years of environmental activism on the African continent.
Greenpeace Africa Executive Director, Njeri Kabeberi
Partnering with artists, volunteers and other civil society organisations, the environmental watchdog is organising an open day to spark an environmental revolution. As part of commemorative activities in South Africa and Senegal, artwork will be used to encourage partners and Africans to celebrate their individual acts of courage towards the environment.
“Greenpeace Africa is using this occasion to highlight environmental concerns and calling on partners to share their memories of being part of this environmental movement over the years. The challenges facing the environment are enormous in Africa and it is impossible for Greenpeace Africa to address them without the goodwill of other stakeholders,” says Njeri Kabeberi, Greenpeace Africa’s Executive Director.
Greenpeace Africa currently runs campaigns on four key issues on the continent: to protect the Congo Basin from large-scale deforestation, stop overfishing in West Africa, promote ecological farming in the horn of Africa as well as demand a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources in South Africa in order to reverse the impacts of climate change.
Over the past 10 years, Greenpeace Africa has exposed illegal fishing by Chinese companies in West Africa which led to the cancellation of over 29 fishing licenses in 2012 and pushed relevant ministries to seek help from Greenpeace Africa in finding solutions to the problem of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing in West Africa.
In the Congo Basin, the group says it investigated and exposed breaches on the moratorium and succeeded to push the government to cancel more than three illegal logging titles. Africa is said to be the organisation’s largest and most active volunteer base.
Greenpeace says the anniversary is an opportunity to appreciate and amplify the contribution of local and indigenous communities, volunteers, staff and donors who gave substance in its struggle to protect the environment. It adds that it is likewise celebrating a decade of “fruitful militant contribution towards protecting the planet and the amazing work of partners that resonate across the continent”.
“After 10 years of countless affirmative actions down the lane, the people remain central to Greenpeace Africa’s identity. Communities are at the heart of who we are and what is needed to create the green and peaceful Africa we crave for. Without the activists, volunteers, partners and local communities, Greenpeace Africa will just be a farce and we won’t be able to face environmental injustices with courage,” stated Njeri.
“We all value nature in very different and sometimes conflicting ways. Nature can be seen as a provider of food or water, as a regulator of climate, as part of our heritage or our identity, or as our home and that of life on earth. Assessing this diversity of values and how they are incorporated into decision making will contribute to addressing conflicts over nature and promoting more equitable decisions.”
These were the words on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 of Prof. Patricia Balvanera of the Institute for Ecosystem and Sustainability Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico while welcoming over 70 experts from 40 countries to Mexico City, for the first author meeting of a new expert assessment to improve decision-making at all levels.
Prof. Patricia Balvanera
Leading the new assessment, under the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), Dr. Balvanera was joined at the event by her three co-chairs: Brigitte Baptiste (General Director, Alexander von Humboldt Institute, Colombia); Prof. Unai Pascual (Ikerbasque Research Professor at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Spain, and Associated Senior Research Scientist at the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), (University of Bern, Switzerland); and Prof. Mike Christie (Director of Research, Institute of Business and Law, Aberystwyth Business School).
“This assessment will be a game-changer,” said Prof. Pascual, “It will provide evidence to help decision-makers see different types of values of nature, choose and design appropriate valuation methods, recognise the data gaps that exist and identify areas in which more capacity is needed – all to integrate plural valuation approaches into diverse decision-making contexts.”
An IPBES technical support unit, also led by Prof. Balvanera, will coordinate the production of the assessment and is based in Morelia, Mexico. It is hosted by the Institute for Research on Ecosystems and Sustainability (IIES-UNAM), the Secretariat of Institutional Development (SDI-UNAM), and the University Seminar on Society, Environment and Institutions (SUSMAI-UNAM) all within the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the Mexican Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO).
“One of the key elements of the assessment will be to empower individuals and groups whose voices are typically not heard in discussing values,” said Brigitte Baptiste. “This is why it has been so important to assemble an expert author team from a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary backgrounds, ranging from the natural sciences to diverse social sciences, such as sociology, philosophy, economics, geography and many others.” The expert group is also quite gender balanced, comprising 53% women and 47% men.
In addition to the first author meeting this week, the experts are expected to meet again twice over the next two years. Drafts of the assessment report will be opened for two rounds of external review, by experts and governments, before the final report is presented for consideration to the 130-member States of IPBES – expected to be in 2021.
Speaking about the timing of the meeting, and the importance of the work, Prof. Christie said: “This week also sees the opening of global negotiations on a new biodiversity action framework for the world, at the UN Biodiversity Conference 2018 in Egypt. It is expected that this process will culminate in 2020. We believe that effective achievement of the post-2020 biodiversity targets will be greatly strengthened by the evidence we will present – helping to ensure that the many values of nature are considered.”
A new report by Greenpeace has found that Mondelēz International has destroyed over 25,000 hectares of orangutan habitat in Indonesia.
Orangutans
The company, responsible for Cadbury, Cadbury Roses and Oreo, is one of the biggest buyers of palm oil.
A Greenpeace-led investigation has found that, between 2015 and 2017, 22 of Mondelez palm oil suppliers cleared 70,000 hectares of rain forest.
This deforestation is having devastating effects on the orangutan population, every year it is estimated that 1,000 to 5,000 orangutans are killed in palm oil concessions.
Palm oil suppliers to Mondelēz have also been accused of child labour, exploitation of workers, illegal deforestation, forest fires and land grabbing.
Kiki Taufik, head of Greenpeace Southeast Asia’s Indonesia forests campaign, said: “It’s outrageous that despite promising to clean up its palm oil almost ten years ago, Mondelez is still trading with forest destroyers. Palm oil can be made without destroying forests, yet our investigation discovered that Mondelez suppliers are still trashing forests and wrecking orangutan habitat, pushing these beautiful and intelligent creatures to the brink of extinction. They’re literally dying for a biscuit.”
Mondelēz announced on Monday, November 12, 2018 that it is committing to 100 per cent sustainability and transparency across the palm oil industry.
Jonathan Horrell, Global Director of Sustainability at Mondelēz International, said: “Mondelēz International remains fully committed to driving change in the palm oil sector and today’s actions against 12 upstream suppliers reflect that commitment.”
This news follows Iceland’s Christmas TV advert being banned by Clear Cast for being ‘too political’. The advert explicitly showed how palm oil deforestation affected orangutan habitats, watch the advert here.
If electricity markets continue to depend on coal-fired power plants – which today account for a third of CO2 emissions – or gas-fired power plants, countries will not be able to meet the long-term climate objectives of the Paris Agreement, the International Energy Agency (IEA) was warned.
Coal-fired power plant in China
In a recent World Energy Outlook 2018 report, the IEA examines the impact of increased electrification in transport, buildings and industry. The analysis shows that increased electrification would lead to a peak in oil demand by 2030 and reduce harmful local air pollution. But electrification alone would have a negligible impact on carbon emissions without increased efforts to raise the share of renewable and low-carbon energy sources.
“We have reviewed all current and under-construction energy infrastructure around the world – such as power plants, refineries, cars and trucks, industrial boilers, and home heaters – and find they will account for some 95% of all emissions permitted under international climate targets in coming decades,” says Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the Paris-based institution. “This means that if the world is serious about meeting its climate targets then, as of today, there needs to be a systematic preference for investment in sustainable energy technologies.”
Countries around the world are rapidly increasing their share of solar photovoltaics and wind power, and the share of renewable energy in electricity production will rise to more than 40% in 2040, a positive trend for the environment, the Agency says. But the trend needs to be accelerated to achieve the central goal of the Paris Agreement, which is hold the global average temperature to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Even the existing expansion of renewables brings major environmental benefits but also a new set of challenges that policy makers need to address quickly. With higher variability in supplies, power systems will need to make flexibility the cornerstone of future electricity markets.
The analysis, based on scenarios in the report, describes the different possible futures of the energy system for all fuels and technologies. It contrasts with different approaches, based on current and planned policies, and those that can achieve the long-term climate objectives of the Paris Agreement, reduce air pollution and ensure universal access to energy.
According to the IEA, natural gas is expected to overtake coal as the second largest energy source in the world after oil by 2030 due to a drive to cut air pollution and the rise of liquefied natural gas use.
In its “Sustainable Development Scenario”, the IEA projects global energy-related CO2 emissions to peak around 2020 and then decline sharply and sustainably, in line with the trajectory required to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
“It will be essential to develop the right policies and incentives to achieve our common objectives of security of energy supply, reducing carbon emissions, improving air quality in urban centres and expanding basic access to energy in Africa and elsewhere,” said Fatih Birol.
The problem: Most emissions linked to energy infrastructure are already essentially locked-in. In particular, coal-fired power plants, which account for one-third of energy-related CO2 emissions today, represent more than a third of cumulative locked-in emissions to 2040. The vast majority of these are related to projects in Asia, where average coal plants are just 11-years-old on average with decades left to operate, compared with 40 years on average age in the United States and Europe.
Energy demand is set to grow by more than 25% to 2040, requiring more than $2 trillion a year of investment in new energy supply.
“Our analysis shows that over 70% of global energy investments will be government-driven and as such the message is clear – the world’s energy destiny lies with government decisions,” adds Dr Birol.
The decisions will partly be shaped by the outcomes of the UN Climate Change Conference COP24 in December, where governments are set to on agree the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement and discuss next steps to increase climate ambition.
Artisanal fishermen in the Niger Delta, affected by the Dec. 2011 Bonga oil spill, have urged the Federal Government to compel Shell to pay the $3.6 billion fine for the spill.
A water body in the Niger Delta polluted by crude oil
Rev Samuel Ayadi, Coordinator, Niger Delta zone, Artisana Fishermen Association of Nigeria, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Tuesday, November 13, 2018.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Lagos Federal High Court, on June 20, upheld the $3.6 billion fine imposed on Shell by the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), dismissing Shell’s appeal.
Ayadi lamented that Shell Nigeria Production and Exploration Company (SNEPCO) was yet to comply with the court order, saying that the judgment was a lifeline to the fishermen.
Following the Dec. 20, 2011 spill, NOSDRA in March 2015 imposed a $3.6 billion fine on Shell for discharging 40,000 barrels of crude into the Atlantic Ocean.
The fine comprised $1.8 billion as compensation for the damage to the natural resources and consequential loss of income by the affected shoreline communities as well as a punitive damage of $1.8 billion.
The Chairman of NOSDRA board, Sen. Ayo Akinyerule, had urged SNEPCO to pay the fine to enable the agency to compensate the impacted fishermen and communities.
Ayadi said that the fishermen thrown out of business by the incident had patiently waited for the litigation processes to end.
“The Bonga oil spill was a heavy blow to us artisanal fishermen. Ironically the spill from the oilfield named after the local fish specie, Bonga, was what led to the near extinction of the specie.
“We can no longer see Bonga fish in our dishes because the spill wiped out generations of the specie.
“The chemical dispersant spread to dissolve the leaked crude is very toxic to fish and other marine creatures.
“We were directed by NOSDRA to pull out of fishing to avoid catching contaminated fish that would jeopardise public health.
“The income loss is in addition to the damage done by the contamination of our fishing gear, outboard engines and nets.
“Since the three months appeal window has lapsed, we call on President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on SNEPCO to comply with the court judgment and pay the fine so that NOSDRA can compensate the victims.
“We are counting on the fatherly disposition of President Buhari to prevail on Shell to comply with the court’s judgment so that we shall return to our traditional fishing occupation.
“Our return to sea will also guarantee that we play our own part in ensuring food security and reducing our dependence on imported fish,” Ayadi said.
On Dec. 20, 2011, during loading of crude at Bonga fields within OML 118 situated 120 kilometres off the Atlantic coastline, the export line ruptured and discharged crude into the sea.
The export line, according to a joint investigation report by NOSDRA and SNEPCO, spewed about 40,000 barrels (6.4 million litres) of crude oil into the sea.
Whenever agricultural related stakeholders, particularly farmers, are invited to a workshop or forum, they attend in great anticipation – to get answers to all kinds of problems plaguing their activities.
Gershon Wordzra, the Central Regional Director of Agriculture, with one of the diseased oranges, which he said farmers could avoid by maintaining their farms
So, at one such forums in Cape Coast organised by the Ghana Chapter of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in Africa, one farmer came with the hope of finding solutions to what he described as “a strange disease” plaguing his orange orchard. But at the end of the meeting, the experts made it clear that “biotechnology cannot resolve every farming associated problem.”
The purpose of the forum was to sensitise the stakeholders on biotechnology as one of the options for addressing some crop production related challenges. So, in the course of the discussion, when Farmer Joseph Amoah showed participants several diseased oranges, it was obvious he was expecting answers from the technology being talked about.
As a young teacher posted to Asuansi in the Abura Asebu Kwamangkese District of the Central Region, Mr. Amoah established an orange orchard in 1973 and has been having good harvests and enjoying the proceeds for many years. However, his joy over the fruitfulness of the orchard fizzled off after the trees started bearing diseased fruits about five years ago.
And, for an answer, he got a gentle rebuke, which was a solution in disguise from Gershon Wordzra, the Central Regional Director of Agriculture. He made it clear to Farmer Amoah that the disease afflicting his oranges was a fungi disease, which occurs as result of an un-kept farm environment.
“We always tell you to manage your orange farms well and clear them of weeds, especially once they start fruiting or else this disease will become a problem for you,” Mr. Wordzra said.
Known as Anthracnose of orange, the disease, according to a Michigan State University brochure, is very fatal for farmers because “Anthracnose can reduce a beautiful harvest into rotted waste in just a few days.”
Therefore, Mr. Wordzra stressed that farms needed to be tended for farmers to make the make gains of their investments. “Farms are like humans, they also need care and hygiene, crops are like our bodies so nourish them, take good care of them and you will be very happy,” Mr. Wordzra stated.
He observed that farmers are often reluctant to spend money to maintain their farms and urged them to make the needed sacrifices in order to get the most of their farms. Mr. Wordzra also reminded farmers that, “in citrus cultivation, sanitation and regular pruning are very important.”
Other resource persons at the meeting including Country Coordinator of the Programme for Biosafety Systems (PBS), Daniel Osei Fosu, who explained that the need for one to keep his or her farm has nothing to do with biotechnology. Thereby, establishing the point that “whether cultivated crops were from genetically modified seeds or conventional breeding, maintenance of one’s farm, was of essence.”
In an interview, Mr. Fosu said, “Biotechnology cannot resolve issues of diseases from un-kept farms, the technology is applied to resolve specific crop productivity issues including drought and pests that undermine food security.” Thus, biotechnology, genetic modification or engineering should not in any way be the magic wand to maintain one’s farm, he added.
The scenario appears to be a clear pointer to how biotechnology has become the agricultural scapegoat. For instance, during an interaction organised by Alliance for Science, Ghana with officials of the National Biosafety Authority, one participant stated that, based on his personal experience, biotechnology crops can never do well in Ghana and therefore must not be encouraged.
According to him, a relation who lives in Canada came home recently and brought with him orange seeds, which they sowed, and it never germinated. In his view, “the seeds did not grow because they were genetically modified and cannot do well on our soils.” Dr. Richard Ampadu Ameyaw of the Science Technology Policy and Research Institute (STEPRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), who attended the meeting, responded that “so far oranges are not among the crops or plants that have been genetically modified across the world. What is available are improved varieties made possible through conventional breeding methods.”
Dr. Ameyaw explained that the “inability of the orange seeds to grow could be due to the unsuitability of the soil for that particular species of orange,” adding that, “some plants and crops tend to be endemic and once they are moved out of their native soils, can never do well in other soils and that could be case of those orange seeds.”
It is for this reason that improved crop varieties whether by conventional or through biotechnology methods are tested. In Ghana, the Biosafety Act, 2011 (Act 831) provides for intensive field trials to be conducted for genetically modified seeds. The essence is to ascertain the adaptability of a modified crop to the soil in terms of its ability to grow and manifest the traits for which it was engineered such as pest resistance or drought tolerant, and ultimately to produce good yields.
In Ghana, leading Ghanaian scientists are spearheading the process of field trials in genetically modified crops. They include Dr. Mumuni Abudulai of the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute of the CSIR. He is the Principal Investigator of the PBR Cowpea project in Ghana and attests that the PBR cowpea has successfully gone through all the various stages of field trials.
According to Dr. Abudulai, “the dossier for its final release are currently being analysed and what is good about this particular cowpea is that it offers an economically and ecologically sustainable way to combat pod bearers, for which they are no natural sources of resistance.”
He said the trial results demonstrates that the PBR cowpea “when adopted by farmers could reduce the frequency of insecticide sprays to two at the most for increased yields…result in important savings to the farmer from insecticide costs and … reduce the health hazards associated with insecticide sprays, resulting in improved health of farm families.”
From the Crop Research Institute of the CSIR, Dr. Maxwell Asante is leading trials of the NEWEST Rice (Nitrogen Use Efficient, Water Use Efficient and Salt Tolerant rice) Project in Ghana, for which field trials are still on-going. He says, “This rice has been modified to mitigate the effects of climate change on rice production among other things.”
Prof. (Mrs.) Marian D. Quain is a Principal Research Scientist of CSIR’s Crop Research Institute and leader of the Biotechnology Research Group at the Institute. She is of the view that while “the technology is not a panacea for all our agricultural problems,” it is desirable because it is geared towards “alleviating poverty, hunger and malnutrition in the sub-Saharan region and will ultimately improve food production, enhance nutritional contents of crops and contribute to economic growth.”
Dr. Quinn said a survey conducted not too long indicates that “majority of respondents are in favor of introducing genetically engineered crops in Ghana.” She attributed the main challenges to the process to “the very fast rate at which the technology advances,” and the need for Ghana “to secure substantial investment in cutting edge technologies and human resource development.”
UN Deputy Secretary-General, Ms Amina Mohammed, says an estimated $157 billion is needed annually to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Sahel region.
Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed. Photo credit: African Union Commission
Mohammed stated this in her remarks to the Annual Session of the Peace building Commission with the theme: “Peace building and Sustaining Peace in the Sahel Region”.
The UN deputy chief said the Sahel offered enormous opportunities, adding that it is the most youthful region of the world.
Mohammed said: “It (Sahel) has abundant natural resources; it has great potential for renewable energy; and a rich cultural legacy.
“However, financial and human resources remain a challenge. The total needs to implement the SDGs for instance in the region are estimated at $140 billion this year, rising to $157 billion annually by 2022.
“It is therefore imperative that we increase our advocacy and resource mobilization efforts in a more joined-up manner.”
According to her, investment in this region is vital in order to prevent countries that are experiencing fragility today from becoming the failed states of tomorrow.
She said many of these countries were grappling with threats including terrorism and insecurity that originated beyond their borders, and with climate change that respects no borders.
The UN deputy scribe explained that she visited the Sahel earlier in the year with a joint UN-African Union delegation, joined by Sweden’s Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström.
Mohamed said: “We found the resilience of the Sahelian people not only inspiring but humbling.
“Their wish and hope for sustained peace and security was clear – as was the need to ensure women are meaningfully included in all initiatives and policies.
“We met women who had been terrorised by extremists and women who had been married off in childhood.
“We also spoke to women who were supporting extended families and helping to build community resilience, and women religious leaders working to end child marriage and prevent radicalisation and extremism.
“We met women peace builders and mediators, who were driving change and working for a more sustainable future.
“Their voices are essential in peace negotiations and decision-making processes. Their experience and their leadership are essential to building a new Sahel,” she said.
Mohammed said supporting transformative policies for stability and development in the Sahel was a matter of international solidarity and global security of a collective responsibility.
According o her, 41 million young people are in the Sahel, who are often portrayed either as victims, or as potential perpetrators of violence.
She, however, said that these stereotypes are completely wrong.
