Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Mustapha Maihaja, on Tuesday, November 27, 2018 assured that the Federal Government would soon deploy post-disaster damage assessment teams to states impacted by flood.
Mustapha Maihaja, Director General, NEMA
Maihaja gave the assurance while monitoring the distribution of relief items sent by NEMA to flood victims at Alaka Grammar School, Ozoro, Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State.
He said that the measure was to enable government to ascertain the level of destruction, including number of materials and lives lost and all that was required to prepare a post-disaster response.
“That is to say that the livelihood of the people will be looked into and what those farmers that lost their farms would require to boost their livelihood will be taken care of.
“In the next 10 days, the team to carry out the post-disaster damage assessment will be on ground.
They will be supported by the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to look into all areas and come up with details,” Maihaja said.
He however said that the process of settling the flood victims would not be done in a hurry.
According to him, the federal government has this year, provided relief materials for no fewer than three million displaced persons, including more than 400,000 people with special needs.
Maihaja said that NEMA gave 61.92 kilogrammes of food items and condiments to a household as relief for the impact of the flood.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 128 households received the relief materials consisting of food items at the Ozoro Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp.
Maihaja said that although the relief items were meant to cushion the suffering of the people, it turned out to be an occasion for lamentations.
He also extended the compliments of President Muhammadu Buhari to the affected people, adding that Delta was one of the states declared as flood emergency states.
He said that when Vice PresidentYemi Osinbajo was in Delta to see flood disaster victims, he gave the assurance that the federal government desired to get the IDPs back to life.
“In fact, when the VP was here, we delivered some non-food relief materials and today, we are distributing food items to the flood victims; this is part of that response.
He commended the Delta Government and members of NEMA team for effective distribution of all the items, adding that he had not received any complaint of diversion of items by the officials at the camp.
In a remark, the state Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Ernest Ogwuezzy, thanked the federal government for the various interventions given to the flood victims in Delta.
Ogwuezzy gave the assurance that all the relief items would be effectively utilised for the purposes they were meant.
Some of the recipients, Mr Samson Ebunka, Mr Godwin Onyide and Mrs Rhoda Agbede, commended the federal and state governments and other stakeholders for their support.
The recipients, who spoke separately, said although they had returned to their homes, the items were of great relief to them because they had lost their means of livelihood to the flood.
They also called on government to empower them to start life again.
“I want to beg government to help us so that we can start life again because we lost everything including our farms; nothing is left for us to live on,” Agbede said.
Considered as the way forward for Nigeria’s power sector, Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) gathered key stakeholders in Nigeria’s environment and power industries to discuss “Post-Extractivism: Energy Transition for National Development”. This was the theme of the organisation’s 11th Annual National Environment Congress holding in the Rivers State capital city of Port Harcourt from November 27 to 28, 2018.
Delegates at the opening of the Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) 11th Annual National Environment Congress in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
Provoked by the global responses to climate change and rising earth temperature, the congress aimed to work towards a national commitment for the adoption of energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable and to ensure development pathway and global average temperature stays within 1.5 degrees Celcius.
The ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, said: “Nations all over the world have declared that 2020 and 2025 will be fossil free but, in Nigeria, we are yet to start because there is no declaration on the part of the government. We think electricity should be decentralised in the energy sector to create greater energy access should be democratised.
“It is believed that the way forward is to be consistent and agree that there is the need for energy transition. There is a need to move away from extractives to renewable energy. There is a need to move from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy.”
Presenting the “Just Energy Transition” manifesto for Nigeria at the opening of the congress, Dr. Ojo called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, embrace energy transition.
He said: “Fossil fuels are dirty, expensive and kills our people almost daily. There is the need for transition from dirty energy to renewable energies such as solar, wind and fuel-efficient cook stoves to promote energy access for all in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7.
“To avoid energy colonialism, the Nigerian and African government should adopt a deliberate policy for energy democracy and transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources.”
Dr. Ojo further called for a ban on generating sets in all MDAs at the Federal, State and Local Government levels.
He disclosed that, since 1993, the organisation is dedicated to the defence of human ecosystems in terms of human rights, and to the promotion of environmentally responsible governmental, commercial, community and individual practice in Nigeria through the empowerment of local people.
The congress helds few days before the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) holding in Katowice, Poland from December 2 – 14, 2018.
Some 8,300 participants representing over 77 countries, including 53 African countries and nearly 3,000 local elected representatives, mayors and other leaders of local and subnational governments gathered from December 20 to 24, 2018 in Marrakech, Morocco at the occasion of the Africities Summit 2018, which organisers say has proven itself to be the most important democratic gathering on the continent.
Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa)
“The Africities Summit gave a voice to local authorities. Thanks to that recognition, the idea that local Africa will change Africa is making headway,” said Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa).
Indeed, 20 years of the Africities Summit was celebrated and highlighted with the presentation of the UCLG Africa anthem, composed by David André, Mayor of the City of Victoria, Seychelles, and Vice President of UCLG Africa.
The closing ceremony of the Africities 8 Summit was marked by the reading of the Royal Message by Princess Lalla Meryem, who, on the occasion, officially launched the pan-African campaign, “African cities without street children.”
The initiative from the Network of Locally Elected Women in Africa, (REFELA), UCLG Africa’s Gender Equality Commission, is supported by the National Observatory for the Rights of Children (ONDE) of Morocco. About 20 cities in Africa have already subscribed to this campaign, including the city of Rabat, which will serve as the pilot city for the campaign in Morocco. For the implementation of this campaign, three memoranda of understanding have been signed between ONDE and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in support of this international campaign between ONDE and UCLG Africa.
The campaign will be implemented across the continent by UCLG Africa; and between ONDE, the City of Rabat and four ministerial departments of the government for the national campaign in Morocco.
The political segment of the Summit started on November 23 with a round table on city diplomacy introduced by Denis Coderre, former Mayor of Montreal, Canada, with the participation of panelists including Catherine Samba-Pandza, former Head of State of the Central African Republic and former Mayor of the city of Bangui.
Several recommendations and proposals emerged from the 160 sessions held across the five days under the general theme “The transition to sustainable cities and territories: the role of local and sub-national governments of Africa”.
All the recommendations and proposals were submitted to ministers, mayors and leaders of local governments and development partners for consideration and adoption at the meeting of ministers, the general meeting of UCLG Africa, and the meeting of development partners, which were organised in parallel during the afternoon of November 23. The political segment ended on the morning of November 24, with a tripartite dialogue meeting between ministers, mayors and development partners.
UCLG Africa’s Executive Committee held its elections at which The City of Libreville, represented by its Mayor, Mrs. Rose Christiane Ossouka-Raponda, was elected as the new President of UCLG Africa for a term of three years, which will end at the next general assembly scheduled for 2021. In addition, the city of Bagangte in Cameroon, represented by its Mayor, Celestine Ketcha-Courtès, was re-elected as President of REFELA.
Amongst the special events of the Summit, meetings held between the mayors and locally elected officials of Africa and their counterparts in Asia-Pacific, mainly from China and Japan; and the meeting between the mayors and leaders of local and regional governments in Africa and their African American counterparts.
The African American network of mayors announced: “Some 400 years after crossing the Door of No Return, where the first boat left the shores of Africa bound for the Americas carrying children of Africa, it is now time to consider starting the opposite wave, by opening, at the initiative of the mayors and leaders of the local and regional governments of Africa, the ‘Door of Return’ to the African Americans of the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America and declaring that Africities is the right place to launch this mobilisation for the Road of Return.
Three special days were organised during the Summit: “Migration Day” on November 21, “Climate Day” on November 22 and “Urban Planning Day” on November 23.
The Migration Day recalled the crucial role of local and subnational governments in managing migration, and the urgent need to make them stakeholders in the negotiation of the Global Compact on Migration, which must be concluded at the United Nations Conference on Migration, due to take place from December 8 to 11, in Marrakech.
Climate Day emphasised the urgency of involving local and subnational governments in the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and even considering Locally Determined Contributions (LDCs) if, as is desirable, local and subnational governments plan to participate in the Paris Agreement ambitions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century with respect to the pre-industrial period.
In this context, the localisation of NDCs is essential and UCLG Africa was asked to develop and implement a capacity-building programme for its members, so that they have a climate plan and can prepare applications that are eligible for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). UCLG Africa was also asked to broaden the scope of its Climate Task Force to spearhead the climate action of African local governments. A Declaration was adopted at the end of the proceedings of the Climate Day.
The Urban Planning Day focused on urban planning as a basic tool for transitioning to sustainable cities and territories. It reiterated the importance of setting up urban agencies to monitor the dynamics of urbanisation and to put in place a framework for dialogue between all actors to define the allocation and policies around the use of urban space in respect of ecological constraints.
The day resulted in the signing of eight partnership agreements between 14 African cities in Morocco and their sisters in Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Uganda, Tunisia and Cameroon, with the technical support of the Association of Urban Agencies of Morocco, the Moroccan “Al Omrane” Holding, the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
Partnership agreements for urban planning and the establishment of urban agencies were entered between: the cities of Dakar (Senegal) and Rabat (Morocco); Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) and Casablanca (Morocco); Yaoundé (Cameroon) and Marrakech; Jinja (Uganda) and Essaouira (Morocco); Sousse (Tunisia) and El Jadida; Rufisque (Senegal) and Dakhla; and Abomey (Benin) and Al Hoceima.
The Summit highlighted two key players, without whom the transition to sustainable cities and territories cannot be envisioned in Africa: they are women and youth. About 25 percent of Summit sessions were dedicated to gender issues, including the fight against violence against women; and the economic empowerment of women.
At the Youth Forum, 20 young people aged 16 to 35 were selected on the basis of a call for ideas to participate in a Creative Lab on the theme, “Imagine your city and imagine Africa in 2030 and 2063”. These young people were invited to submit their projects to the delegates of the Summit, using the Africities new innovative voting platform, of which three projects would be awarded.
The following three projects were the successful recipients of the Creative Lab awards: First prize winner was Yvette Ishinwe, from Rwanda, for her project on the use of new technologies for optimal use of drinking water at standpipes (Iriba tap and drink innovation); Second Prize winner was Zaheer Allam, from Mauritius, for his smart urban regeneration project; while Third Prize winner was Oulimata Sourang, from Senegal, for her E-Learning Assistant project.
A further competition, Climate Initiatives Trophies, was organised and also decided by the voting of delegates at the Summit. It celebrates cities and territories that have implemented the most remarkable actions in the fight against climate change. These were awarded to three categories of cities and territories.
For the small towns category (less than 20,000 inhabitants), the winner was the Municipality of Ndiob (Senegal) for the implementation of its “green and resilient commune” project. For the category of cities and territories of intermediate size (between 20,000 and 200,000 inhabitants), the laureate is the City of Chefchaouen in Morocco, for the realisation of its “Energy Info Centre”. For the category of cities and large territories, the laureate is the Tivaouane Departmental Council (Senegal) for the implementation of its project “Preserving a sustainable agricultural environment”.
The Africities Exhibition, which was organised simultaneously, saw the participation of 84 exhibitors, coming from Morocco (39 exhibitors), other regions of Africa (29 exhibitors from 11 countries), Europe (14 exhibitors from 6 countries), from Asia (one exhibitor from South Korea), and from America (one exhibitor from Canada).
Delegates paid tribute to King Mohammed VI of Morocco for agreeing to grant his High Patronage to the eighth edition of the Africities Summit and thanked the Government of Morocco, the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Communal Councils, and the City and administrative authorities of Marrakech who made every effort to ensure that the Africities Summit took place under impressive conditions.
The creation of wildlife protected areas is set to benefit most African countries, a UN official has said.
Jaime Cavelier, senior environmental specialist with the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), said during an interview that African countries can benefit handsomely from the creation of protected wildlife areas. Photo credit: Duncan Mboyah
Jaime Cavelier, senior environmental specialist with the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) said that the protected areas can develop sustainable tourism that can be a major source of revenue generation for the countries.
“The protected areas are capable of improving the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) hence helped in improving the lives of populations,” Cavelier told EnviroNews in an interview on the sidelines of the UN convention on biodiversity that is ongoing in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt.
He said that the countries must begin to be strategic regarding their expenditures since donor funding is getting limited with time.
Cavelier said that the creation of conservancies has proven very useful as it helps offer communities socio – economic benefits and has reduced human – wildlife conflicts.
He said that with proper management, the revenue accrued from the protected areas can help support other sectors such as health, education and infrastructure.
Cavelier revealed that GEF has donated $131 million to help 19 countries in Africa and Asia to address problems associated with poaching that threatens the survival of wildlife globally.
He said that part of the amount will be used to train wildlife rangers to help preserve pangolin and rhinos that are threatened with extinction due to demand for their products by illegal traders in wildlife products.
“It is important that governments allocate additional funds to help save the wildlife from extinction,” he added.
He further said that UN agency has also allocated $1.2 billion in recent years towards the conservation of biodiversity and a further 500,000 million towards climate change and land degradation through small grants projects.
The official said that GEF is in the process of integrating the programs on conservation of biodiversity, climate change and land degradation that has been running independently for a long time.
He said that the approach will forge a joint effort to help arrest environmental degradation that has been continuing despite interventions put in place by UN programmes and other development agencies.
Cavelier stressed the need for countries to mainstream fisheries and tourism as part of the productive sectors in line with SDGs.
The UN Biodiversity Conference 2018 has been going on since Nov. 13 in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, with the participation of representatives from about 196 states, under the slogan of “Investing in biodiversity for people and plan”. It will come to an end on Thursday, Nov. 29.
Climate change experts from the ACT Alliance network have published a report assessing the threats posed by climate change on the sustainable development goals (SDG) and disaster risk reduction.
Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance’s General Secretary
The report finds that warming of 1.5°C will severely impact climate-vulnerable developing countries and urges more ambitious climate action. The report also identifies policy recommendations to maintain the possibility of staying at 1.5°C global warming.
Titled “Enhanced Climate Action in Response to 1.5°C Global Warming: Scaling up Nationally Determined Contributions”, the research focuses on climate impacts in particularly climate-sensitive regions in which ACT members and partners are present. The report features case studies from the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Jordan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central America (including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua), and the European Union.
Bold climate commitments are needed by 2020 to respond to the risks of 1.5°C warming, as highlighted in the IPCC Special Report earlier this year. The authors state that climate change is affecting the most vulnerable populations and is hindering progress made towards the SDGs, particularly the goals related to poverty, health, water and sanitation.
“We are running out of time. As caretakers of creation, we need to hold governments to account and we must act to prevent any further risk to human life and dignity. Commitments and messages of solidarity must be transformed into concrete climate action so that support is provided to those most in need,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of ACT Alliance.
Africa and Asia are projected to experience 75 per cent of the global risks associated with increased temperatures, putting a tremendous burden on governments to achieve the SDGs.
“Without effectively aligning 1.5°C-consistent national mitigation and adaptation action with SDGs and disaster risk reduction goals, sustainable development will remain an illusion, leaving behind hundreds of millions of people,” the report reads.
ACT’s call for action is further rooted in the experiences of ACT members who note that climate change is depriving poor and vulnerable people of their fundamental human right to be free from hunger and extreme poverty. The report notes that scaled-up climate action to reduce climate impacts around the world is a humanitarian, human rights, development and justice imperative.
The report provides a ten-step plan of action for all governments to respond to the risks of 1.5°C global warming including; undertaking a gap analysis; ratcheting up mitigation; fostering climate resilience and scaling up climate finance to name a few.
The next round of climate negotiations (COP24) is less than one week away and provides governments with another opportunity to increase their climate commitments towards the 1.5°C temperature target. ACT Alliance will present the report to government and civil society alike at a side event at COP24.
“Enhanced Climate Action in Response to 1.5°C Global Warming” was commissioned by the ACT Alliance Secretariat under its Global Climate Justice Project. To date, the report has been launched in Bangladesh for the Asia region and San Salvador for the Latin America and Caribbean region.
Global emissions are on the rise as national commitments to combat climate change come up short. But surging momentum from the private sector and untapped potential from innovation and green-financing offer pathways to bridge the emissions gap. Those findings along with a sweeping review of climate action and the latest measurements of global emissions were presented by authors of the 2018 Emissions Gap Report during a launch event in Paris, France on Tuesday, November 27, 2018.
UN Environment Acting Executive Director, Joyce Msuya
The flagship report from UN Environment annually presents a definitive assessment of the so-called “emissions gap” – the gap between anticipated emission levels in 2030, compared to levels consistent with a 2°C / 1.5°C target.
The findings presented offer the latest accounting of national mitigation efforts and the ambitions countries have presented in their Nationally Determined Contributions, which form the foundation of the Paris Agreement.
Evidence outlined in Paris, just days before the start of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24), show global emissions have reached historic levels at 53.5 GtCO2e, with no signs of peaking – the point when emissions switch from increasing to decreasing. Authors assessed that only 57 countries (representing 60 percent of global emissions) are on track to do so by 2030.
That analysis and a review of progress against national commitments under the Paris Agreement makes clear that the current pace of national action is insufficient to meet the Paris targets. Increased emissions and lagging action mean the gap number in this year’s report is larger than ever. Translated into climate action, the authors conclude nations must raise their ambition by 3x to meet the 2°C and 5x to meet 1.5°C.
“If the IPCC report represented a global fire alarm, this report is the arson investigation,” said UN Environment Acting Executive Director, Joyce Msuya. “The science is clear; for all the ambitious climate action we’ve seen – governments need to move faster and with greater urgency. We’re feeding this fire while the means to extinguish it are within reach,” she said.
A continuation of current trends will likely result in global warming of around 3°C by the end of the century, with continued temperature rises after that, according to the report findings.
While the authors highlight that there is still a possibility for bridging the emissions gap and keeping global warming below 2°C, the assessment issues a clear warning: The kind of drastic, large-scale action we urgently need has yet to been seen.
To fill this void, the 2018 Emissions Gap Report offers new insight into what meaningful climate action will look like. Through new analysis of global emissions in the context of fiscal policy, the current pace of innovation and an exhaustive review of climate action from the private sector and sub-national level, authors gathered here offered a roadmap for implementing the type of transformative action required to maximise potential in each of these sectors.
Ranging from city, state and regional governments to companies, investors, higher education institutions and civil society organisations, non-state actors are increasingly committing to bold climate action. These institutions are increasingly recognised as a key element in achieving the global emissions goals. Although estimates on the emission reduction potential vary widely, some mention 19 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2030. This is enough to close the 2°C gap.
Complimented by carefully designed fiscal policy, the potential is even greater.
“When governments embrace fiscal policy measures to subsidize low-emission alternatives and tax fossil fuels, they can stimulate the right investments in the energy sector and significantly reduce carbon emissions.” said Jian Liu, UN Environment’s Chief Scientist. “Thankfully, the potential of using fiscal policy as an incentive is increasingly recognised, with 51 carbon pricing initiatives now in place or scheduled, covering roughly 15 percent of global emissions. If all fossil fuel subsidies were phased out, global carbon emissions could be reduced by up to 10 percent by 2030. Setting the right carbon price is also essential. At $70 per ton of CO2, emission reductions of up to 40 percent are possible in some countries.”
These established pathways are further enhanced when policy makers embrace innovative solutions. Authors here outlined five key principles that should be considered to accelerate low-carbon innovation. Including risk-acceptance commercial scalability, holistic economic alignment, mission-oriented approaches and a long term-horizon to increase financial uptake.
The ninth Emissions Gap Report has been prepared by an international team of leading scientists, assessing all available information, including that published in the context of the IPCC Special Report, as well as in other recent scientific studies.
A brand-new national water policy, an innovative water law and a foreign intervention running into millions of Euros now typify the hitherto sluggish water sector in Benin Republic.
Stilt Village on Lake Nokoué. Photo credit: E. Lafforgue/GWP
Courtesy of the Global Water Partnership (GWP), the West African nation has developed an effective Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) plan, which was facilitated by GWP Benin (the Country Water Partnership), with support from GWP technical and financial partners.
The process, it was gathered, led to the incorporation of IWRM principles in multiple national Strategies for Growth and Poverty Alleviation (SCRP), the government’s 2009 national water policy, and its 2010 national water law. A total of over €23 million was reportedly generated for the implementation of Phases 1 and 2 of the national IWRM action plan.
According to the Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso-based GWP West Africa, The IWRM plan has three five-year phases. Phase 1 (2011-2015) includes the definition and costs of priority actions as well as governance reforms identified as necessary for achieving plan objectives, such as establishing a Steering Committee, an Implementing Unit, and Basin and Local Committees. The total budget for Phase 1 was approximately €22.5 million.
Phase 2 (2016-2020) pushes for improved coordination of IWRM implementation at all watershed levels. The budget for Phase 2 is €36.8 million; external financing is estimated to represent 59%.
“The IWRM planning process was successful in mobilising finances for sustainable water management. This dates to 2006 when the Government of the Netherlands set up PPEA I in Benin, which included over €5 million to support IWRM. An additional €1.6 million was secured from other partners, including the governments of Denmark, Germany, and France,” stated GWP.
It adds that, in terms of implementation, the Netherlands and the European Commission provided support in funding PPEA II (2013-2015) and Programme Omi Delta (2016-2021), which uses Benin’s national IWRM plan as a reference document. Total funding for these programmes is said to over €100 million, with approximately €17 million is specifically allocated to IWRM interventions.
Benin began an IWRM deltaic planning process targeting the Ouémé basin under PPEA II, in respect of which GWP Benin is working to improve understanding of delta management among key stakeholders, including non-state actors.
The influence on water governance frameworks spread far beyond the creation of an IWRM plan, says the GWP. The organisation adds that, from a development planning perspective, the IWRM planning process was closely linked and incorporated into Benin’s SCRPs, which serve as key national reference documents on the country’s socio-economic development as well as mechanisms to align external funding with national priorities.
From a political and legal perspective, the IWRM process, notes GWP, enabled Benin to develop a new national water policy in 2009 and a new water law in 2010, which provide the institutional basis for improved water management strategies.
The establishment of the Benin Country Water Partnership in 2001 was said to have laid the foundation for the development of a national IWRM action plan, which pioneered capacity building initiatives that improved stakeholders’ understanding of IWRM principles and implementation.
GWP says: “Benin’s government formally requested GWP’s support in developing its national IWRM action plan. GWP’s first task was to reignite sectoral ministries’ interest in IWRM, which had decreased due to a lack of tangible progress since the Kouhounou Declaration and the WSSD. GWP Benin’s proactive and persistent advocacy led to the establishment of a management committee to oversee the IWRM planning process.
“GWP Benin provided the committee’s Vice-Chairman and Deputy Secretary, thereby counter-balancing the political weight and maintaining impartiality. All stakeholders approved an IWRM roadmap structured according to the steps of the IWRM planning cycle developed by GWP under the PAWD programme.
“As well as playing a key role in management mechanisms, GWP Benin mobilised its network to support a decentralised approach. Area Water Partnerships (AWPs) were established in eight different regions. These AWPs facilitated local participation in the plan’s development, training sessions, and consultation workshops. GWP was also responsible for engaging with media to maintain visibility of the process.
“GWP Benin has retained a key role in supporting the implementation of the completed IWRM plan. This includes maintaining the neutral partnership platform established as an essential component of the plan and acting as an advisor to the plan’s Steering Committee, which was set up to monitor progress and mobilise external financing.”
An expert on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) from India has told a UN conference on biodiversity that GMO cotton growing is not causing of deaths in the country.
Bhagirath Choudhary
Bhagirath Choudhary, founder director of South Asia Biotechnology Centre, said that the cotton variety has nothing to do with suicide cases in the country.
“The deaths are as a result of social problems linked to high cost of dowry demand by the parents of daughters,” Choudhary said.
Choudhary noted that majority of the people are unable to borrow money from the banking intuitions hence forcing them to borrow from the middlemen who ends up harassing the borrowers as some commit suicide to escape the demands.
He observed that it is wrong to for some people to use deaths as a mockery of social problems that the country is going through.
He said that new technologies have never killed people in thousands as claimed by opponents of the technology that has increased cotton production from 13 million bales in 2002 to 36 million bales in 2017.
Choudhary said that seven million farmers have been growing GM cotton I 12 million hectares throughout the country since it was introduced 16 years ago because it reduces the amount of pesticides farmers buy to control pests and increase harvests.
“If Indians stops practicing agriculture, they will not have food as out of the 1.3 billion people in India, 50 percent depend on agriculture as a living,” he added.
The expert told opponents to stop misleading the people at conferences adding that Sudan and many other countries have been growing GM cotton and no deaths has been reported in the countries.
He said that cotton productivity has doubled in the past years due to farmers demand and adoption of the GM cotton variety.
“India currently produces a quarter of cotton demand globally and chances are that the production rate will continue to rise in the coming seasons,’ he said.
The expert said that the technology has delivered its benefits for 16 years and continue being adopted by farmers.
According to International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), up to 17 million farmers in 24 countries planted 189.8 million hectares (469 million acres) of GM crops in 2017, an increase of 3 percent or 4.7 million hectares (11.6 million acres) from 2016.
ISAAA global status of commercialised GM crops in 2017 indicates that GM crop adoption surges as economic benefits accumulate in the past 22 years.
It said that so far United States of America (USA), Brazil, Argentina, Canada, India, Paraguay, Pakistan, China, South Africa, Bolivia, Uruguay, Australia, Philippines, Myanmar, Sudan, Spain, Mexico and Colombia are growing GM crops.
India, China, Pakistan, USA, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Columbia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Burma, Australia and Egypt are growing GM cotton.
A senior UN official has commended sub-national governments in ensuring that the global biodiversity targets, known as Aichi Biodiversity targets, are achieved on the ground.
Cristiana Paşca Palmer, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Cristiana Pașca Palmer, UN Assistant Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, told journalists that by being the nexus between the Parties and the local governments, the sub-national governments are responsible to mainstreaming biodiversity across sectors.
“These groups are the key architects of vertical integration of policies and the implementation on the ground of coherent, coordinated and cooperative biodiversity actions,” Palmer said during the launch of the Sub national coalition for biodiversity action as part of a proactive Sharm El Sheikh to Beijing Action Agenda for nature and people.
Palmer said that the Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development (nrg4SD) manages the urban‐rural linkages that contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity especially in relation to water security, human health, and sustainable infrastructure.
The UN official noted that the sun national governments has also leveraged the power of sustainable city‐region food systems and also ensuring the connectivity of parks and other protected areas.
Palmer said that the sub-national governments vertical coordination of biodiversity strategies and action plans between the different levels of government, the design and operation of positive economic incentives and greener business regulation are important for achieving the UN biodiversity goals.
Natiaha Vera, secretary general of nrg4SD, said that the groups lead the development of Sub national biodiversity strategies and action plans in alignment as a complement to national biodiversity strategies and action plans.
“We are maximizing sub national efforts by implementing tools, guidelines and nature-based solutions, as well as to exchange best practices and promote decentralized cooperation to support the implementation of the strategic plan for biodiversity 2011-2020,” Vera said.
Vera revealed that the group mobilizes and involve the entire range of civil society through communication, education and public awareness strategies at a sub national level.
She said that they also engage with the private sector, indigenous peoples, local communities and their traditional knowledge.
The sub national groups in the biodiversity debates include nrg4SD, the Group of leading sub national governments for the Aichi biodiversity targets (GoLS) and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).
The groups have been engaging with the advisory committee on Sub national Governments to the Convention on Biological Diversity (AC SNG) to have a voice at the agenda of the CBD and support parties in the implementation of the biodiversity strategy and action plans and advancing the Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020.
Poisonous chemicals will no longer be used for the preservation of food, particularly seedlings, with the development of bioinsecticides, the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) has said.
L-R: Professor Alex Akpa, Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA); Mrs Oniyide, Director, Ministry of Budget and Planning; Mr. Bitrus Nabasu, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology; CEO of BioCrops, Dr Odusanya; Dr. Rose Gidado of the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Nigeria; and Dr. NAsiru. Director, NABDA
Bioinsecticides are organic substances harmless to man the environment, regarded by scientists as safe alternatives to Snipper as a crop insecticide.
The bioinsecticides are being produced by BioCrops Biotechnology Company Ltd, an indigenous company. The substances are set to replace harmful chemicals like Sniper.
This revelation was made at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NABDA and BioCrops held recently in Abuja.
Biotechnology is a valuable tool for addressing the several challenges of Nigeria in terms of food production, genetic improvement of living systems, health management, environmental sustainability and industrial growth, said Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Bitrus Bako Nabasu, at the signing ceremony.
“NABDA and BioCrops have today reached a historic landmark in their relationship by signing this MOU which will ultimately lead to immediate production of Nigerian developed and manufactured biotechnology products, such as biofertilisers, biopesticides, technology seeds and elite seedlings, including elite yam varieties promoted by IITA and YIISWA programme which are grown in the Air. This is in line with the Economic Diversification Agenda of the present administration.
“BioCrops today has brought synergies between farmers, top notch research institutions within the country, digital finance experts, novel market ready products and indeed game changers in the agricultural space.”
He said the feat by both organisations goes to show the seriousness with which the government of the day regards agriculture.
“Nigeria today has signified its readiness to promote and compete in the global village. This collaboration has attracted an initial funding of about N3.2 billion in its phased implementation and will produce close to 10,000 jobs that did not hitherto exist in this county.
“NABDA, through the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, has found a worthy partner that is research rich and product ready and that demonstrates the efficacy of Public Private Partnership when harnessed effectively.”
Nabasu described the partnership as “the beginning of good things to happen to bring back the lost glory of Nigeria’s economy.”
He added: “We sincerely welcome and acknowledge this memorandum as a significant forward in the quest of the administration of President Mohammadu Buhari at making Agriculture a main contributor to the Nigerian economy.
“Globally, science and technology is shaping development and the way people think and act. Government has demonstrated in time past its determination to make science and technology the hub on which the wheel of development revolves. Premised on this, the President has promised to make science and technology the country’s mainstay, and not to allow any research result go to waste ever in this country.”
The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology through its Agencies as a matter of policy, has been forging and supporting collaborations among Public and Private Institutions/Organisations to facilitate development, equity investment in projects and access to new revenue and capacity to service delivery for the fulfillment of the visions and aspirations of the national Science and Technology.
NABDA, an agency under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, is a public institution which has the mandate to acquire, domesticate, deploy, carry out research, coordinate, facilitate and promote biotechnology activities in Nigeria. BioCrops, a private biotechnology firm, is an ERGP Laboratory Incubatee of the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning with a focus on peri-urban agriculture and novel products.
