Pollution levels on Tuesday, November 7, 2017 hit alarmingly high levels in New Delhi, India with authorities considering emergency measures such as closing schools and top ministers likening the city to a “gas chamber.”

With an estimated population of 19 million, New Delhi is ranked as among the most polluted cities in the world, but plans to tackle the worsening ambient air quality do not appear to have worked so far.

Residents of the city woke up to a morning shrouded by thick smog as doctors warned of a health crisis and advised people not to venture outdoors unless absolutely necessary.

The levels of suspended particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) hovered between 400 and 900 microgrammes per cubic metre from Tuesday morning, several times higher than the safe limit.

Report says the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that people are not exposed to PM2.5 levels above 10 microgrammes averaged over a year or 25 microgrammes in any 24-hour period.

WHO said the small particles can get deep into the lungs and even the blood stream.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said Delhi had become a gas chamber.

“Every year this happens during this part of the year.

“Considering high level of pollution, I have asked Education Minister Manish Sisodia to consider closing schools for a few days,’’ Kejriwal said, reacting to the high pollution.

Officials said that extra measures, such as a four-time hike in parking fees and limiting vehicle numbers, may kick in if the situation does not improve.

Weather analysts suggested the smog could be caused by a complete absence of wind, with moisture trapping emissions from the ground.

Zonal Director, National Oil Spill Detection and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA), Mr Cyrus Nkangwung, has expressed the agency’s readiness to continue to combat oil spill in the Niger Delta.

Nkangwung made the assertion at the maiden Obolo Achievers Award organised by the group on Monday, November 6, 2017 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

He appealed to communities to complain about oil spill to the agency rather than drag companies operating in their areas to court.

Nkangwung applauded the recent complaint by the Ataba community in Andoni Local Government Council area which was affected by the Bodo (Gokana) oil spill.

The zonal director promised that the agency would soon adopt a quick measure to clean up the Ataba community.

Also, Mr Nkpon Ijonama, President, Andoni Youth Leaders and Stakeholders said that the youth of Obolo extraction in Rivers and Akwa Ibom needed to embrace peace to attract investments to their area.

Ijonama said they should emulate the recipients and strive toward the betterment of Obolo.

Ijonama said the group resolved to honour indegines/corporate organisations that performed meritoriously in the area with the award as part of efforts to reawaken youths of Obolo to the need for peace and development.

According to him, subsequent editions of the award would be held after every five years.

Ijonama said the award, including post-humous and honorary for individuals and corporate organisations, was initiated to encourage peaceful and productive cooperation among them and youths of the area.

He, however, condemned the recent security traits which had ravaged the economy of area and urged parties involved in any form of criminality to turn a new lease of life.

The youth leader also urged youth in the area to shun war and learn to settle disputes through dialogue.

Some of the recipients are Prof. Alice Nte (a Pediatrician), the late Maj. Samuel Ogotnte, Chief Davies Ikanya, Hon. Awaji-Inombek Abiante and Mr Sampson Ngerebara an engineer.

Others are Dr Silas Eneyo, Mr Jonah Gogo, Mr Anthony Nted, Mr Ikpong Etteh Verokebi Enterprises Nigeria Ltd.

The award recipients thanked the organisers and pledged their cooperation toward the development of the area.

Delegates from about 196 countries have gathered in Bonn, Germany for what has become a semblance of a yearly ritual – the 23rd conference of parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The conference holds from November 6 to 17, 2017 under the leadership of Fiji, which is the first small island developing state to hold this role.

The COP is coming at a time extreme weather events like floods, hurricanes and fires have destabilised millions of people in Africa Asia, the Americas and the Caribbean. COP 23 therefore aspires to propel the world towards the next level of ambition needed to tackle global warming and put the world on a safer and more prosperous development path.

Africa and the COP Process

At the beginning of COP 22 in Marrakech, Morocco, November 2016, the Paris Agreement era had been ushered in. Countries of the world had demonstrated commitment and the Agreement had come into force faster than anticipated. Due to this reality, COP 22 then focused on how to make Paris agreement work by setting up mechanisms and structures that would facilitate its implementation.

A year later and with with over 33 African countries ratifying the Paris Agreement, Africans are heading to Bonn with a bag full of expectations for the continent and the world.

As the region with least contribution to green house gas emissions and the most affected in terms of climate disasters, African delegates are not happy with the failure of the COP process to close the finance gap; inadequacy in pledges; delay in addressing ‘orphan issues’ under the Paris Agreement especially common time-frames for NDCs, and adjustment of existing NDCs. Others are recognition of developing countries’ adaptation efforts; guidance related to finance; and the slow pace and ambiguity in sequencing of work on the Paris Agreement Rule Book thus creating roadblocks in advancing the its formulation.

African demands

Prof Seth Osafo of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) believes that the slow progress by developed country parties towards reaching the US$100 billion goal of joint annual mobilisation by 2020 is not in Africa’s interest. Speaking at the African civil society Pre-COP workshop in Bonn, Prof Osafo said Africa’s interest lies in developed countries providing financial support to developing countries and positioning the Paris Committee on Capacity Building (PCCB) to provide support to developing countries in finance, technology and capacity building.

At the Pre-COP workshop organised by African civil society actors including farmers, pastoralists, youth and gender groups under the umbrella of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), non-state actors from the region expressed their desire for loss and damage concerns to be fully taken into consideration as the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) shifts to serve the Paris Agreement after 2020.

According to Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of the alliance, parties should establish a globally supported insurance mechanism (especially for agriculture and infrastructure sectors) in line with the objectives of the WIM for Loss & Damage by 2020. “We call on Parties to establish a framework, preferably outside but complimentary to UNFCCC, for addressing liability or compensation due to losses and damages in developing countries by extreme weather events and severe impacts of climate change,” he added.

Pre-2020 commitments

Heading into the 23rd session of the Conference of Parties this year, one of the issues that have emerged as key expectation for African Parties to this year’s climate talks is progress on pre-2020 commitments.

African groups want COP23 to provide an opportunity for rich countries to revisit their commitment to undertake pre-2020 actions. The deliverables could be the concrete progress or signal with regards to the ratification of the Doha Amendment of the Kyoto Protocol (KP) to enable the entry into force of the second commitment period (for emissions reductions by developed countries under the KP) and the operationalisation of the $100 billion per year from 2020 and other resources for developing countries.

The implementation of pre-2020 commitments which cover actions to be taken before the Paris Agreement comes into force are of high importance to safeguard the future of the climate.

Rule book for Paris Agreement

Another issue of urgent African importance at this COP is progress on the work programme to implement the Paris Agreement. Negotiations on the Paris Rule Book will be critical to ensuring that the promises made in the Paris Agreement are met. Some of these promises include the commitment of governments to respect, protect and take into consideration existing human rights obligations.

To enhance the likelihood that the Paris Agreement is effectively implemented, when developing the Paris Rule Book, parties are expected to integrate human rights and the social and environmental principles reaffirmed in the agreement’s preamble, including the rights of indigenous peoples, public participation, gender equality, safeguarding food security and ending hunger, a just transition, and ecosystem integrity.

Facilitative Dialogue 2018

According to the agreement reached in Paris, a facilitative dialogue (FD 2018) is to be convened to take stock of the collective efforts of Parties in relation to progress towards the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement and to inform the preparation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

The Facilitative Dialogue is expected to ensure the linkage between policies, actions and means of implementation. It will also be instrumental to maintaining the political momentum of the Paris Agreement and its long-term goal and the need to be informed by what science indicates as necessary for climate actions and ambition for next 15 years.

The design of the dialogue as an overall feature together with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on 1.5°C, the work of the climate champions and work of non-state actors, are critical for this purpose.

Courtesy: PAMACC News Agency

Migration has been identified as an inevitable phenomenon with far-reaching advantages when done within the context of available conventions.

This was made known in a communique by participants at the three-day European Union (EU) funded Media Roundtable on Smuggling of Migrants (SOM), organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in partnership with the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). It held from October 30 to November 1, 2017 in Kaduna, Kaduna State.

However, they observed that these advantages and opportunities are being lost to irregular migration, which is being perpetrated by smugglers of migrants.

They also observed that Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) is not abating in Nigeria and is constituting threat to national security, economy and socio-political sanity and well-being of the country.

Stating that the rise of SOM is a consequence of improper and ineffectual information dissemination and citizen education on the phenomenon, the participants observed that there is lack of synergy between the agencies coordinating Migration Management in Nigeria (such as NIS and NAPTIP) and the media.

To this end, they recommended that government at all levels and its relevant agencies must wake up to the urgent need to tackle SOM, adding that there is an urgent need for agencies managing migration in the country to synergise with the media for effective campaign against SOM.

Stressing further, the participants, who maintained that there is need for NIS to develop a proactive information management system on migrants-related issues as well as develop a robust social media engagement strategy to counter the narratives on SOM, emphasised the need for media organisations to establish Migration Desks for effective reportage of migration and related issues.

Earlier, while declaring the meeting open, the Deputy Comptroller Immigration, Kaduna Command, DCI Jerry Adah, who noted that there is always a pull and push factor in migrants being smuggled, said SOM is a current topic and the media need to properly sensitise and disseminate information on migrants smuggling, with a view to addressing the ills inherent in the practice.

Also speaking, National Project Officer of UNODC, Mr Sylvester Atere, in his goodwill message, said the Media Roundtable was designed to ensure that Nigeria maximises the potentials of migration to deter people from irregular migration.

According to Mr Atere, migration is a timeless issue, hence, it is very important to build the capacity of media practitioners to be on first hand understanding of the issues of migration, in order to promote its better management.

By Damian Daga, Kaduna

The UPS Foundation, which leads the global citizenship programmes for UPS, announced on Monday, November 6, 2017 that it would award more than $2.6 million in grants to non-profit organisations focused on environmental initiatives that align with its new sustainability goals to increase reliance on renewable energy sources and reduce absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from global ground operations.

A significant grant will support The World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organisation that provides continued programme support for the development of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the Science Based Targets initiative, and the sustainable use of Renewable Natural Gas.

According to UPS, these protocols and targets were used to help establish its 2020 and 2025 emissions, energy, fuel, and vehicle environmental goals. The UPS Foundation’s funding of WRI has reportedly helped produce many of the GHG Protocol Standards and Tools that companies are using to set and measure their emission reduction goals.

Grants will also be awarded to UPS partners The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Both organisations are said to have played an integral role in the UPS Global Forestry Initiative, a programme designed to plant, protect and preserve trees in urban and rural areas and forests worldwide.

By the end of 2017, 2.6 million trees will have been planted as a part of the programme. The UPS Foundation’s goal is to fund the planting of 15 million trees by the end of 2020. At the end of this year, 9.7 million trees will have been planted during the last five years which equates to reaching 65 percent of the goal.

“UPS set aggressive environmental goals that require innovative solutions for today’s global sustainability challenges,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and chief diversity and inclusion officer at UPS. “The UPS Foundation helps us partner with organisations that help meet those same challenges. From helping build standards and tools to measure progress, to increasing reforestation efforts, we continue to fund projects that deliver impact for the environmental issues we face on a daily basis.”

In addition to The Nature Conservancy, the WRI and the WWF, The UPS Foundation awarded environmental grants to eight other organisations:

• DonorsChoose.org, backing environmental education classroom projects submitted by public school teachers in rural communities in the U.S.
• Earth Day Network, for the Trees for Communities project that will plant more than 500,000 trees in Mexico, India, Cameroon, Uganda and the Boreal Forest in Canada.
• Earthwatch, to support an education and research workshop as part of UPS’s Climate Ambassadors Programme.
• Keep America Beautiful, Inc., to fulfill local tree planting grants and beautification projects, advance community education and engage UPS employees through volunteerism.
• National Arbor Day Foundation, for continued help with reforestation programmes of Canada’s Boreal Forest, planting 50,000 trees.
• National Park Foundation, to extend reforestation efforts in reclaimed mining land at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Penn.
• Student Conservation Association (SCA), for assistance with its National Conservation Internship Programme for college students interested in environmental stewardship careers.
• World Business Council for Sustainable Development, to support public private partnerships to enhance environmental sustainability.