Professor of Geography with the Kaduna State University (KASU), Prof. Bala Dogo, on Monday, January 29, 2018 called for massive awareness campaign to enlighten the public on the negative impact of climate change.
Dr Peter Tarfa, Director, Department of Climate Change (DCC) in the Federal Ministry of Environment
Dogo, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna, said that the awareness campaign was crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change.
He called on relevant government agencies, nongovernmental organisations and other stakeholders to focus more on awareness creation, particularly in rural areas to efficiently manage climate change.
According to him, human activities in the environment to a great deal, impact negatively on the climate, as such people should be mobilized to stop activities that may lead to climate change.
He identified human activities like, deforestation, bush burning, building of houses and felling of tress for firewood among factors contributing to climate change.
“The impact of climate change is very visible from drying up rivers, to desertification and changes in weather condition with adverse effect on agricultural production and human health.
“As you might have noticed, rivers and streams of yesterday are either dry or have become ponds, speeding desert encroachment, particularly in Northern part of the country and gully erosion in Southern part of the country.
“Not only that, climate change affects grazing of cattle due to the disappearance of grasses and forest due to shortage of rainfall and human activity,’’ he said.
Dogo called on people to have a change of attitude toward the environment by planting trees and reducing the use of firewood for cooking.
“We can positively impact on our environment if we can change our attitude from cutting down trees to planting of trees and using the right energy like solar energy that is not toxic to the environment.
“The Government must also play its role of instituting environmental friendly policies, particularly restricting gas flaring and other industrial emissions to help manage the ongoing changes in the climate,’’ the professor said.
The Director-General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Sani Mashi, says the agency increased the number of its weather stations from 53 to 100 in 2017 through collaboration with some Nigerian universities.
Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NiMet, Prof. Sani Mashi
Mashi, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, January 28, 2018, said that NiMet also overhauled and upgraded about 36 weather stations belonging to those universities.
According to him, the major interests of the universities are teaching and research while the interest of NiMet is generating data that will facilitate national assignment.
“We took the option of partnering with institutions so that instead of going for brand new stations, we collaborated with educational institutions that already have these stations but are in poor shape.
“When we entered into partnership with the institutions, we completely overhaul and upgrade those stations and now we have established a joint ownership between NiMet and those universities.
“They are posting their staff and we can jointly manage those stations and any data we get we can adjust the data after subjecting it to certain processes.
“Through that way we have established a total of 36 brand new stations within the country which means our stations have now increased to 100 from 52.
“This is phase one and we are moving to the phase two because we have over 100 universities in the country.
“Our target is that we will cover all the universities after which we will go to polytechnics, then Colleges of Education and then to all Senior Secondary Schools,’’ he said.
On internally generated revenue (IGR), Mashi said that it had always been the traditional source of funding for the agency, which according to him has been affected by recession.
“Like you know the main source of our funding are usually from the ticket sale, landing charges and then the other charges over data that NiMet is producing.
“The actual sources have really gone down, it means effectively that revenue has also gone down but we have aggressively improved our system of selling data within the agency.
“What we have done is to increase the tempo because, before it takes time to respond to request for data by users but now it has been made very effective.
“We have given it like a presidential order that any request that comes must be responded to within one or two weeks.
“Through that way we have been able to satisfy the needs of customers and it has significantly increased our revenue earning from the sale of data to those that are interested in it,’’ he said.
Mashi said that NiMet had decided to improve on its infrastructure in 2018 through private investors’ involvement as well as diversifying into other sectors of the economy other than aviation.
On the use of mobile phone to broadcast weather information, Mashi said the agency had already secured approval from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and contacted telecom operators.
He said that NiMet could not commence the mobile met application because it lacked the infrastructure to transmit directly to mobile phone users.
According to the D-G, the agency has concluded the feasibility study on potential users based on the advice of the operators who it is expected to enter into partnership with.
NAN recalls that NiMet had in 2017 announced its plan to allow weather information get to a large number of Nigerians through mobile as part of its efforts to enhance its revenue base.
The Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, has called for an end to stigmatisation and discrimination against victims of leprosy.
Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor
Ezeokafor made the call while presenting some items to victims of leprosy as part of activities to mark the 2018 World Leprosy Day at the Leprosy Settlement, Oji-River in Enugu State on Sunday, January 28, 2018.
Some of the items donated include bags of rice, mattresses, mats, cartons of noodles, tubers of yam and crutches.
The cleric, who described stigmatisation and discrimination against leprosy victims as “unfortunate” also urged the Enugu State Government to resettle victims cured of the disease with their families.
“It is unfortunate that in spite of recent developments in medicine and health education about leprosy, people still do not understand that they can be cured of the disease permanently and be integrated into the society.
“They see the external signs and think it is not over. Leprosy can be cured and once cured, it is cured.
“This question of their continuous stay here as a result of stigmatisation makes no meaning of life,” the bishop said.
Ezeokafor, who noted that the children of the leprosy victims were free from the disease called for more support to fund their education.
In his remark, Mr Emmanuel Omeke of the Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Unit of General Hospital, Oji-River said the settlement was still faced with challenges of routine drugs.
“It is true that German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association supply free leprosy drugs, but other routine drugs for treatment of malaria and other ailments are lacking for treatment of the victims,” he said.
Responding, the Chairman of the Leprosy Settlement, Mr Benjamin Udenze, commended the Catholic Bishop for the gesture, noting that the centre currently had over 140 members.
Udenze also commended the bishop for sustaining a scholarship scheme for 22 children of the settlement for15 years.
The chairman said the donations from the cleric as well as from other donors would go a long way to relieve them of their sufferings.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other donors were Obijackson Foundation, Omex Global, the Anglican Church, Enugu Diocese and other individuals also made separate presentations to the victims.
Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Colorado have developed a superconducting switch that “learns” like its biological counterpart.
The new computer operates like the human brain
The switch, called a synapse, could connect processors and store memories within future computers operating like the human brain.
According to the study, the NIST switch supplies a missing piece for so-called neuromorphic computers.
Envisioned as a new type of artificial intelligence, such computers could boost perception and decision-making for applications such as self-driving cars and cancer diagnosis.
Biological synapse is a connection or switch between two brain cells.
NIST’s artificial synapse, a squat metallic cylinder 10 micrometers in diameter, is a connecting switch between incoming electrical spikes and the signals being output.
It works in the same way that a human synapse quickly switches between two brain cells.
According to the study, NIST’s synapse would be used in neuromorphic computers made of superconducting components, which can transmit electricity without resistance, and therefore, would be more efficient than other designs based on semiconductors or software.
Data would be transmitted, processed and stored in units of magnetic flux.
“The NIST synapse has lower energy needs than the human synapse, and we don’t know of any other artificial synapse that uses less energy,” NIST physicist Mike Schneider was quoted as saying in a news release.
Compared to a brain cell’s 50 times per second, NIST synapse is capable of firing one billion times per second.
The more firing between cells or processors, the stronger the connection.
Both the real and artificial synapses can thus maintain old circuits and create new ones.
The new synapse would be used to make neuromorphic computers, computers that function like the human brain, a reality.
These conceptual machines are made of superconducting components, which can transmit electricity without resistance, and therefore, would be more efficient than other designs based on semiconductors or software.
Data would be transmitted, processed and stored in units of magnetic flux.
Other superconducting devices mimicking the human brain cells and transmission have been developed in the past, but efficient synapses have been missing.
And NIST’s synapse now could be the crucial invention that would essentially tie them all together.
Crucially, the synapses can also be stacked in three dimensions (3-D) to make large systems that could be used for computing.
NIST researchers created a circuit model to simulate how such a system would operate.
Scientists have found a potential food source for astronauts, using microbes to convert human waste into Marmite-like food, local media have reported.
Christopher House
This is contained in their study published in the quarterly scientific journal Life Sciences in Space Research by Professor of Geosciences, Christopher House, and Director of the Penn State Astrobiology Research Centre.
According to British online newspaper, The Independent, researchers at Pennsylvania State University outlined a method to break down solid and liquid waste for producing protein and fat-rich substance from human waste.
“We envisioned and tested the concept of simultaneously treating astronauts’ waste with microbes while producing a biomass that is edible either directly or indirectly, depending on safety concerns,” they said.
“It’s a little strange, but the concept would be a little bit like Marmite or Vegemite, where you’re eating a smear of microbial goo,” the professor added.
Food supply is a major hurdle when planning lengthy space flights.
Recycling waste into nutritious food is one solution to this problem.
According to House and his colleagues, the method involves anaerobic digestion, a process that refers to the breakdown of materials in the absence of oxygen.
It is considered an efficient way of breaking down biodegradable matter.
The researcher said while their method is not ready for application yet, it provides a new model for creating food on board spacecraft.
“Imagine if someone were to fine-tune our system so that you could get 85 per cent of the carbon and nitrogen back from waste into protein without having to use hydroponics or artificial light,” said House.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says national programmes should boost active case-finding, strengthen surveillance, improve contact-tracing and focus more on early detection of leprosy cases among children to ensure achievement of the global target of zero child infection by 2020.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Photo credit: AFP / FABRICE COFFRINI / Getty Images
The call comes as the world observes World Leprosy Day on Sunday, January 28, 2018 to mark the suffering of people affected by this preventable and curable disease that appears to have eluded defeat.
Leprosy was globally declared to have been “eliminated as a public health problem” 18 years ago. However, pockets of endemicity have continued in many countries. India and Brazil report the highest number of cases annually.
Some of the children who have recently been diagnosed already showed signs of disability. This strongly calls for early case detection and surveillance, says the WHO.
Leprosy is caused by infection with the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae, which multiplies very slowly in the human body. The bacterium has a long incubation period (on average five years or longer). The disease affects nerve endings and destroys the body’s ability to feel pain and injury.
Data published by WHO in 2017 show that although the overall number of cases is slowly declining, that of new cases does not align with global efforts and resources deployed to interrupt transmission.
Reports from 145 countries of WHO’s six regions show that, of the total of 216,108 newly diagnosed cases of leprosy during 2016, 18,472 involved children, representing almost 9% of all new cases reported annually.
Leprosy is curable and treatment provided in the early stages averts disability.
Multidrug therapy is made available free of charge through WHO and has been donated to all patients wordwide by Novartis since 2000 (and earlier by The Nippon Foundation since 1995). It provides a simple yet highly effective cure for all types of leprosy.
Discrimination
Despite global efforts to repeal laws that discriminate against those affected by leprosy, adults still face crippling social barriers and children are deprived of education or subject to bullying and rejection due to stigma associated with the disease.
Besides elimination, WHO’s new global strategy focuses on working with governments and partners to end the discrimination and stigma associated with the disease and ensure that all legislation that allows for discrimination on the basis of leprosy is overturned.
Continued discrimination against people affected by leprosy has deterred people from coming forward for diagnosis and treatment and encouraged cases to remain hidden, indirectly contributing to transmission.
Social stigma also facilitates transmission among vulnerable groups, including migrant populations, displaced communities, and the ultra-poor and hard-to-reach populations. Combating stigma and ensuring early diagnosis through active case-finding, which the new strategy emphasises, is critical to making progress.
From the pace of climate action to saving the oceans, world leaders had plenty to say about the environment during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2018 in Davos. Jahda Swanborough, Lead, Environment Initiatives, World Economic Forum, recalls the key moments from the week-long forum, which held from January 23 to 26, 2018 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland
Participants during a session at Davos 2018
The greatest threat to civilisation
As leader of the fastest growing major economy in the world – as well as the world’s largest democracy – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi started the week by telling the Davos audience that climate change is the greatest threat to civilisation.
He was followed on the Davos stage by a week-long call to action by government, business, civil society, and youth leaders.
2018: A year to step up climate action
Risalat Khan, a young climate campaigner, said: “The previous generation of decision-makers have failed us, have failed our generation. I’m not sugar coating this. I think you have already failed us through the inaction from the previous generation. And the next three years, from 2018 to 2020, that’s the time that you have to redeem yourselves.
“That is the message to the previous generation of decision makers.”
Greenpeace’s Jennifer Morgan issued a plea to every leader at Davos to “connect the dots” on climate change and recognize that incremental change will not be enough. Leaders needed to catch up with their citizens, customers, and employees in connecting the dots and increasing the pace and scale of climate action.
Leading the charge in setting new climate commitments, French President Emmanuel Macron announced France would shut down all coal-fired power stations by 2021 and would make climate action one of five pillars in his plans to reform the economy.
Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, described efforts to address climate change as the century’s biggest business opportunity. For his part, he announced that all Mahindra Group companies would commit to the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change by setting science-based targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. He called on his peers in business to “step up” and align their business strategies with the Paris Agreement.
The head of global insurance giant AXA told participants that climate change had become a reality for the insurance industry. Thomas Buberl said a global warming scenario of 3-4C degrees would not be insurable. As a consequence he announced that AXA would no longer insure coal projects and was also divesting from coal.
A one-man parade?
Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, said President Trump was out on his own on climate change. “There is only one man in this parade. And no one has followed him in this regard.” He said that 15 states had joined the United States Climate Alliance, which was committed to the Paris agreement and represented 40% of the US economy.
An ocean of opportunity
To date, the world has relied on the oceans to mitigate climate change. They have absorbed 90% of the excess heat humanity has produced and around 30% of our CO2 emissions. But our oceans are under threat from plastics, over-fishing, global warming, and acidification.
An ambitious new global partnership to save life in the ocean was launched by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson, and Isabella Lövin, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, with funding from Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff through the Benioff Ocean Initiative.
The Friends of Ocean Action partnership will comprise leaders from science, technology, business and non-governmental groups – around 40 of the world’s most committed and influential ocean activists and thought leaders – who will leverage their collective network to scale and accelerate action to meet Sustainable Development Goal 14, which is on oceans.
A window of opportunity
However, despite the commitments and strong words used throughout the week, there was also strong agreement that the environmental challenges facing humanity and our planet are urgent and cannot be ignored. We have a narrow window of opportunity to reverse course before it is too late and 2018 must be the year leaders step up to meet the challenge.
France will shut down all coal-fired power stations by 2021, President Emmanuel Macron said in an energetic speech to participants at Davos.
President Emmanuel Macron says a green strategy could create jobs. Photo credit: REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier
President Macron said he wanted to “make France a model in the fight against climate change,” as one of five pillars in his plans to reform the economy.
“That is a huge advantage in terms of attractiveness and competitiveness. Talent will come where it is good to live. We can create a lot of jobs with such a strategy,” he said.
Across the European Union, the economic tide is already turning against coal power: more than half of the bloc’s 619 coal-powered plants are losing money, according to a report. A combination of rapidly falling prices for renewables and air pollution laws are pushing them out of business.
President Macron also called for the EU, which already opened the world’s first carbon trading market, to “go a little bit further and create a floor price for CO2.” Carbon markets work by providing a financial incentive to pollute less; many experts have called for a minimum price on carbon to boost progress.
Not long returned from a meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping, President Macron acknowledged the Chinese leader’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
Looking ahead to the gargantuan infrastructure project set to link China with Europe, Macron said:
“The new Silk Road has to be a green road. We cannot have a coal-based route.”
Whether silken or green, it will still be a bumpy road ahead to keep warming within the 2°C
targeted by the Paris agreement.
“On climate change, we’re losing the battle,” Macron said, adding that the world needed concrete action and results by 2020.
The Director-General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Sani Mashi, says the mixture of harmattan and heat conditions presently being experienced in some parts of Nigeria is caused by oscillation of Inter Tropical Divide (ITD).
Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NiMet, Prof. Sani Mashi
Mashi, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, January 28, 2018, explained that ITD is the point where the South-westerly air mass and north-easterly air mass meet.
He further explained that the climate of Nigeria was being controlled by those two major air masses that were moving along opposite directions.
According to him, while the north-easterly travels from Chad, through the Sahara desert into Nigeria through the north eastern direction, south-westerly comes from the ocean through the coastal side.
“Wherever they meet, that point is a divide that is known as Inter Tropical Divide (ITD).
“Already, that oscillation has ceased and it is much towards the southern part of the country meaning that the much of ITD is already in favour of the south-westerly that is coming from the southern part of Nigeria.
“Meaning that the south westerly is pushing the north westerly.
“So, that being the case, it means we are now expecting more moist condition than dry condition in the north central part of Nigeria.
“That is why we are not experiencing much of harmattan in the north central Nigeria and the temperature has started going down already.
“That means a build up to the expectation of rainfall in the northern central Nigeria and that is the situation we have right now,’’ he said.
According to Mashi, the south westerly air mass from the southern part of the country is moist and usually hotter, while the north easterly air is drier and cooler.
He added that while the north easterly air mass brought lower temperature, the south westerly air mass transported hotter and higher temperature into the central region.
“Because of that the higher temperature is leading to more evaporation leading to more chances of condensation and that is why you have such a contradicting situation.
“You have haze and at the same time, the temperatures are higher.
“The expectation is that when you have haze the temperature should be lower because the north easterly is associated with lower temperature.
“South westerly is warmer because it has moisture and it is associated with warm air (ocean current).
“You are expecting that you would have higher heat where you are having because the ITD is oscillating and it is moving from one part of the north central to another.
“That is why we have these two contrasting situations in one location in most of north central Nigeria,’’ Mashi explained.
According to him, the harmattan period is already becoming shorter because the south westerly air mass is already overpowering north easterly air mass over central northern Nigeria.
The implication of this according to him is that we are likely to have early commencement of rain within central northern Nigeria.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) says the mixture of harmattan and heat presently being experienced over the central part of Nigeria can lead to early rainfall in the region in 2018.
Submerged part of BIPC Quarters, Makurdi, Benue State. Rainfall caused widespread flooding in central Nigeria in 2017
Prof. Sani Mashi, the Director-General of NiMet, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, January 28, 2018.
He explained that the oscillation of Inter Tropical Divide (ITD) within the central region resulting from the meeting of south-westerly and north-easterly air masses would lead to early rains.
Mashi explained that ITD is the point where the South-westerly air mass and north-easterly air mass meet.
According to him, wherever the two major air masses meet will have rain.
“The harmattan period is already becoming shorter because the south westerly air mass is already overpowering north easterly air mass over central northern Nigeria.
“So, the implication of this is that we are likely to have early commencement of rain within central northern Nigeria,’’ he said.
The NiMet boss also said that the rainfall around the central states in December was not unusual, explaining that the same concentration of ITD within the region was responsible.
NAN recalls that there was rainfall in mid-December, 2017, a situation that had not occur for some years.
He said that the ITD had been oscillating going up and down within the central part of the country from November to December and even early part of January.
Mashi added that instead of the ITD to be progressing either moving down south or moving completely down north, it had continued to oscillate going up and down within the region.
“The implication of this is that over the central part of northern Nigeria for most part of November and December because of that oscillation, you have two conditions that were interchanging.
“The dry condition that is coming because of the air mass that is coming with the dry air and then the moist air that is coming from the southern region.
“Because of these two conditions you have the heavy air mass that is dry and the heavy air mass that is moist.
“Because of that, condition was created within the central northern Nigeria with condensation which means, moist condition coming to become condensed into cloud leading to the formation of rains.
“Because of that, you have some isolated cases of rainfall events in the central northern part of Nigeria.
“For instance, within Abuja, there was rain towards the third week of December and like I said, those events were recorded mainly within the central northern part of Nigeria and because this oscillation of ITD,’’ he said.
