Fewer rhinos were poached across South Africa in 2017, in comparison with same period in 2016, Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa, announced on Thursday, January, 2018.
A poached rhino. Photo credit: www.telegraph.co.uk/ALAMY
“There has been a minor decrease in the number of rhino poached nationally in 2017,” she said during a briefing in Pretoria.
A total of 1,028 rhino had been poached from January to December 31 last year compared to 1,054 in the same period for 2016, representing a decrease of 26 rhinos,” said Molewa at a briefing in Pretoria.
“With regards to the Kruger National Park, the number of arrests of alleged poachers stood at 504 in 2017. This is is 24% less than the 662 recorded in 2016.
Molewa said despite the national slight decline in poaching, which was a national priority crime, it remained a serious problem in South Africa.
“As we have always stated, these declining numbers do not mean we can proclaim victory. Nevertheless, the downward trend is being established, which is cause for cautious optimism,” she said.
Molewa said the poachers were now also targeting elephants.
“It is clear that more resources are required to address this challenge that we are experiencing in terms of both rhino and elephant poaching,” she said.
Rhino poaching in South Africa is on the decline while elephant poaching showed an increase in 2017.
Molewa said rhino poaching was still driven by lucrative demand in Vietnam and China where rhino horn is considered “traditional medicine” despite little proof of any medicinal effect.
TRAFFIC, the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, has described as “tiny” the rate of decrease of rhino poaching in South Africa in 2017 compared to 2016.
South Africa rhino poaching figures
South Africa on Thursday, January 25, 2018 announced the official number of rhinos illegally killed in the country during 2017 as 1,028 animals. But the a non-governmental organisation working globally on the trade of wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity and sustainable development describes the development as a tiny decrease on 1,054 in 2016.
“The marginally lower total in 2017 still remains unacceptably high and with close to three rhinos illegally killed daily in South Africa every single day, the bottom line is the crisis continues unabated,” said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC’s Rhino Programme Leader.
The group disclosed in a statement made available to EnviroNews on Thursday that although the figure marks the third year in a row where the rhino poaching total has dropped since the record high of 1,215 losses reported in 2014, undetected carcasses in vast places like Kruger National Park could easily account for the reported decline.
Kruger National Park, where the heaviest poaching losses have occurred previously, reported 504 animals poached in 2017, a further significant drop from the 662 rhinos illegally killed in 2016 and 826 in 2015. However, the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Dr Edna Molewa, also noted a rise in the number of elephants poached in the park – some 67 in 2017, a worrying development and further evidence of organised criminal activity taking place there.
But this is not only a provincial KZN problem, as at a national level, efforts to address rhino poaching appear to be hampered by the dysfunctional National Prosecuting Authority and Crime Intelligence division of the South African Police Service (SAPS), two of the country’s main crime fighting institutions.
In February 2016, David Mabunda, Chief Executive of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, highlighted the “…increasing levels of corruption among our ranks, the police, immigration officials and other law enforcement and professional services such as veterinarians. The number of corruption cases in wildlife management is making our efforts to achieve success more difficult.”
Although official poaching figures are still awaited from other rhino range States, unofficial figures suggest there has been an overall drop in rhino poaching across Africa in 2017.
However, combatting rhino poaching effectively will require a concerted global effort, greater information sharing between law enforcement agencies in source and consumer countries and targeted investigations aimed at dismantling criminal networks with tentacles that span the globe.
In September 2017, TRAFFIC revealed disturbing new evidence of criminal networks of Chinese origin operating in South Africa processing rhino horn locally into beads, bracelets, bangles and powder to evade detection and provide ready-made products to consumers in Asia, mainly in Viet Nam and China, and called for increased resources to be made available to already over-stretched law enforcement efforts.
“TRAFFIC calls on South Africa urgently to adopt and implement its national strategy to combat wildlife trafficking: the potential growth of new markets for rhino products is a deeply worrying development that needs to be nipped in the bud – we’re far from seeing the light at the end of this very long, dark tunnel,” said Milliken.
Corruption and climate change are arguably the defining challenges facing the world today. Both problems – and their solutions – are interlinked. In particular, corruption is one of the driving forces behind deforestation and forest degradation, a major cause of climate change (according to the UN, deforestation and forest degradation account for around17% of carbon emissions worldwide).
Kenya Forestry Service guards
Interventions to reduce deforestation and forest degradation therefore have to take corruption risks into account.There have to be robust anti-corruption mechanisms and sound governance systems in place to ensure that forests are preserved transparently and accountably.
Although Kenya’s work on REDD+ began in 2008, little progress has been made in implementing it to conserve the country’s forests.
In 2013, a corruption risk assessment for REDD+ in Kenya prescribed a range of recommendations for different stakeholders. As a result, the Kenya Task Force on Anti-Corruption for REDD+ was established, and operated between 2014 and 2015. Aiming to enhance dialogue among different stakeholders about the relationship between REDD+ and corruption, it brought together national actors working on forest governance, anti-corruption and transparency.
Until recently, corruption and governance were not major parts of conversations in relation to forest conservation. As a result, many REDD+ stakeholders in Kenya and the world over had a limited understanding of the connection between corruption and REDD+ – corruption is almost always a significant factor in the illegal exploitation of forest areas and thus threatens initiatives such as REDD+. The majority of countries that are heavily forested and benefiting from REDD+ are also those where corruption is perceived to be high and corruption is often endemic in the forestry sector of these countries. A new report from Transparency International Kenya found that the taskforce managed to quickly fill the knowledge gap through consultation and information sharing.
The taskforce achieved significant milestones, notably bringing the anti-corruption and transparency agenda into the centre of REDD+ processes.
Additionally, the taskforce brought together an unusually diverse blend of stakeholders in a country with numerous tensions between government institutions, civil society and indigenous communities. This collaboration enabled progressive dialogue about corruption and governance to take place in various parts of the forestry sector.
The taskforce, however, seems to have largely focused on national actors, leaving behind county-level stakeholders who are vital in the management of forests. Kenya has a highly devolved system of governance, meaning that county governments hold considerable responsibility for forest and natural resource governance.
The taskforce encountered other significant challenges, such as resource constraints and significant staff turnover at some of its member organisations. Coupled with a lack of proper documentation of the taskforce’s work, this made it challenging for successor projects to quickly integrate and push on with the work. While these challenges did not prevent the taskforce from achieving significant milestones, they are serious considerations that should be taken into account when establishing other multi-stakeholder approaches.
Kenya’s approach to addressing these challenges in the forestry sector is worth strengthening and replicating.Kenya is at a crucial stage of developing its framework for REDD+ implementation and the task force has immense potential to make REDD+ successful in the country.
Its founders, including the REDD+ Coordinating Office, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, and Transparency International Kenya, should consider reviving the initiative while addressing the challenges faced during its initial lifespan, including admitting county-level stakeholders.
Read the assessment report on Kenya’s Task Force on Anti-Corruption for REDD+.
The Author leads the Climate Governance Integrity Programme at Transparency International Kenya.
More than 74,000 people have been forced to flee their homes after two weeks of eruption from Philippines most active volcano, scientists said on Thursday, January 25, 2018.
Mayon volcano spews red-hot lava in another eruption as seen from Legazpi city, Albay province, roughly 200 miles (340 kilometers) southeast of Manila
Mayon Volcano in Albay province, 330 kilometres south of Manila, has been belching lava fountains and huge ash plumes since Sunday, one week after it started erupting on January13.
Heavy ash fall has blanketed towns at the foot of the mountain, prompting local officials to suspend classes in the entire province. Domestic flights to the area have also been cancelled.
So far, no deaths have been reported, but officials were worried of health impacts of the ash fall and cramped conditions in evacuation centres.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) warned the eruption could go on for months as pressure was found to be still building up in Mayon.
Electronic and other measures “indicate sustained swelling or inflation of the edifice (of Mayon), consistent with pressurisation by magmatic intrusion,” the institute said in an update.
Authorities have evacuated residents living within a 9-kilometre-radius expanded danger zone amid warnings of a more violent eruption and mud flows amid rains brought about by low pressure.
The 2,463-metre volcano has erupted about 50 times since 1616.
The last deadly eruption was in May 2013 when five hikers were killed and seven people injured in that incident.
Mayon’s most violent eruption was in 1814, when more than 1,200 people were killed and a town was buried in volcanic mud. An eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.
Forty-one communities in the six states of the northeast geopolitical zone are benefiting from the Federal Government’s emergency response plan to scale up sanitation and health programmes.
Suleiman Adamu Kazaure, Water Resources Minister
Mr Emmanuel Awe, the Director of Water Quality Control and Sanitation, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, made this known on Thursday, January 25, 2018 in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
The states are Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe and Yobe.
Awe said that the intervention had increased sanitation and hygiene practices among returnees from Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps and residents of their host communities.
He said that the ministry had made provision for the award of contracts for water schemes, saying that the selected local government areas were those with large numbers of host communities of the IDPs.
“The ministry has commenced the sinking of boreholes in different communities for returnees in the six northeast states.
“We are also helping in rehabilitation of the communities, while helping in providing water and sanitation services to host communities that received those who were displaced by the Boko Haram insurgents.
“We have also made provision in the 2018 budget for the continuation of construction works in the northeast states,’’ he added.
Awe said that the step was necessary as Nigeria could not afford to rely only on development partners to intervene in rebuilding the communities.
He said that the ministry was ensuring that the returnees and host communities had access to basic needs such as water and sanitation facilities.
“The ministry had budgeted N1 billion for water and sanitation interventions, through the provision of hygiene kits and overall goal of health promotion,” he said.
The director said that efforts were underway to construct boreholes and provide sanitation facilities in the communities to improve the people’s living conditions.
Speaking on the UN humanitarian response plan budget of $1 billion for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme, Awe said that the ministry was the lead agency, working in partnership with UNICEF.
He said that the intervention was part of the partnership between Nigeria and the UN, which was aimed at re-integrating the people of the north-eastern states, who were hitherto ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Awe said that the ministry was currently using its annual budgetary allocation to finance intervention projects in the northeast states.
He gave an assurance that the Federal Government would always implement policies and programmes that would improve the lives of the citizens.
A rapidly growing group of ambitious multinational businesses are actively reshaping the energy market through their global investment decisions and accelerating a zero emissions economy, a new report released on Tuesday, January 23 2018, shows.
Renewable electricity generation has continued to rise. Photo credit: IRENA
The report also provides insight into emerging trends in corporate sourcing of renewables around the world, with 122 RE100 members operating in 122 countries averaging 1.3 times more renewables in their electricity mix than the global rate of renewable electricity use.
Thanks to falling costs of renewable energy technology, there is a notable shift away from renewable energy attribute certificates towards direct contracts with suppliers, as well as onsite generation and offsite grid-connected generators (power purchase agreements, or PPAs) – meaning that increasingly, members are directly growing renewable energy capacity.
Specific findings in the report include:
25 members had reached 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2016, with Autodesk, Elopak, Interface, Marks and Spencer and Sky reaching this goal during 2016, while Equinix and Kingspan surpassed their interim targets during the same year;
The biggest achievers in 2016 included Bank of America, Astra Zeneca and Coca Cola Enterprises Inc., whose share of renewable electricity increased more than threefold;
The proportion of renewable electricity being sourced via power purchase agreements grew fourfold in 2016, while the quantity of electricity sourced from onsite generation increased x15 (via supplier-owned projects) and x9 (via member-owned projects);
88% of respondents cited the compelling economic case for renewable electricity as a major driver – with 30 out of 74 reporting that renewable electricity was either cost competitive or delivered significant savings on energy bills;
Policy barriers represent the most common challenge for RE100 companies, alongside a lack of availability of suitable contracts or certificates in some markets.
The report comes as government and business leaders gather at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss pathways to a sustainable economy, and a few days after Nike signed its second major wind contract, in Texas, US, that will take the company more than half way to reaching 100% renewable electricity globally as part of RE100.
Helen Clarkson, Chief Executive Officer, The Climate Group, said: “I’d like to congratulate every RE100 member accelerating the roll-out of renewable energy through their investment decisions. Their leadership is vital for overcoming policy challenges, shifting global markets, and inspiring many more companies to reap the economic benefits of renewable electricity. Rapidly growing demand from world-leading RE100 companies – and increasingly their suppliers and peers – means governments can confidently look to ratchet up targets in 2020 for slashing greenhouse emissions, to deliver on the Paris Agreement.”
Paul Simpson, Chief Executive Officer, CDP, said: “CDP data shows a jump in renewable energy procurement and that motivations are not only environmental but economic. With nearly 90% of companies driven by the economic case for renewables, this demonstrates a fast approaching tipping point in the transition to a zero-carbon economy. These companies prove that energy is becoming a board level issue across the globe and sustainability is essential for future business security. Now, it’s time to tip the balance and make 100% renewable the new normal.”
The report also shows key findings by region:
In Europe, renewable energy has been the main source of electricity for RE100 members for the second year running. However, the lucrative PPA market is largely untapped; EU policy makers have an opportunity unlock its full potential through the next phase of the Renewable Energy Directive;
In the US, we have seen a major increase in the use of PPAs by RE100 members, with continued momentum on renewable electricity sourcing by major businesses, despite political uncertainty;
In India, the amount of renewable electricity consumed by our members has more than tripled, thanks to falling costs. The diversity of ways in which companies are sourcing renewables has also increased.
The leading global food company Danone is targeting 100% renewable electricity by 2030 (50% by 2020). In September last year the company revealed its new evian bottling site in France, the largest food production site to achieve carbon neutrality and completely powered by renewable electricity.
Katharina Stenholm, Senior Vice President and Chief Cycles and Procurement Officer, Danone, said: “The transition to renewable electricity is a key lever to help Danone strengthen efficiency and achieve our commitment to being carbon neutral by 2050. Our first milestone will be to reach 50% of renewable electricity by 2020. We are therefore delighted to join the RE100 initiative. We look forward to working with other companies to show that green energy is good for the environment and good for business.”
British consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser Group plc – which owns “Powerbrands” such as Durex, Air Wick and Dettol – has also committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
Hatsun Agro Products Ltd, India’s largest private dairy, has committed to a 2032 target. Already sourcing over 80% of its global electricity consumption from renewable sources, the company aims to reach 100% by investing in solar and wind energy and converting diesel generators into lithium storage batteries for maximising its use of renewable power.
RG Chandramogan, Chairman and Managing Director, Hatsun Agro Products Ltd, said: “Our mission to leave the world in a better place for future generations is at the heart of our business strategy. That’s why we’ve joined the global RE100 campaign alongside other forward-thinking companies, in our commitment to source 100% renewable electricity – by 2032. Thanks to our investments in wind and solar power, we’re already more than 80% renewable. We hope that many other businesses follow suit.”
RE100 now brings together 122 global companies, with a collective revenue of over $2.75 trillion and operations spanning six continents. Together they represent over 159TWh of demand for renewable electricity – more than enough to power Malaysia, New York State or Poland, and equivalent to the 24th largest electricity demand of all countries.
The Finnish government was on Wednesday, Janauary 24, 2018 called upon to suspend a €9.5 million fund to the Kenya Forest Service because of escalating human rights abuses of the country’s indigenous Sengwer people.
Indigenous Sengwer people
In an open letter sent to the Finnish government, organisations from across the world said: “The Finnish Government has been the main supporter of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) over many years and so shares significant responsibility for funding these human rights abuses.”
The letter was sent on Wednesday – the day the Sengwer of Embobut Forest gathered for the funeral of Robert Kirotich, a 41-year-old man who was shot and killed by the KFS on Tuesday, January 16 while out herding cattle on the Sengwer’s ancestral land.
The European Union has already taken the step of suspending funding of a €31 million project to the Kenyan government and KFS in response to the killing. A delegation from the EU is due to conduct a site visit tomorrow, with Amnesty International and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
Justin Kenrick, a senior policy advisor at Forest Peoples Programme, said: “The Finnish government has been a major funder of KFS over many years, and needs to learn from KFS’s history of illegally logging the forests they are supposed to protect. Conservation science is clear that securing the collective land rights of such indigenous forest communities, communities who have cared for their lands for centuries, is the surest way of securing such forests and the flow of water from them to Kenya. The Finnish government should support forest indigenous communities to secure their constitutionally recognised land rights, rather than fund KFS which violently evicts them. ”
“The other excuse KFS and the Kenyan government provide for these violent evictions is that they are clearing bandits from the forest, but there are none. The government is treating the Sengwer as bandits because they have not left their ancestral lands. In these years no one has been killed at Embobut by bandits, only by the KFS.”
On January 22, the Eldoret High Court in Kenya issued a court order stopping the police from evicting members of the Sengwer community from the Embobut Forest. Following the suspension of EU funding, however violent forced evictions of the Sengwer community have continued at the hands of the Kenya Forest Service. Yesterday, a Sengwer leader, Yator Kiptum, reported that “evictions continue with KFS guards burning down more Sengwer homes in Kapkok glade, Embobut forest.”
Another Sengwer delegate, Milka Chepkorir Kuto, spoke to EU officials on Tuesday, January 23 in Brussels. She was invited to the Investing in Human Rights Defenders event, and outlined the human rights abuses that have been ongoing for decades but which have intensified in recent years as powerful interests use the excuse of conservation to remove the very people who are protecting their ancestral forest
She said: “Today Kirotich, one of my own community members, is being buried. He leaves behind a family that looked up to him. He was killed by KFS in Embobut forest during their violent forceful evictions. KFS officers are committing massive human rights violations. Any funding and any organisation or person willing to fund KFS is funding violations directly or indirectly.”
Justin Kenrick added: “Whether the Finnish public support development aid or not, none surely want their tax money to be wasted on a KFS that destroys forests and commits such human rights abuses?”
The current spate of attacks by the Kenya Forest Service against the Sengwer began on Christmas Day, when more than 100 armed guards went on to Tangul, in Embobut Forest.
The data collection tools and the methodology for the strategic environmental and social assessment to enable the execution Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in Nasarawa and Ondo states have been adopted.
Participants at the workshop
This was the major outcome of a workshop on Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) and Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) for Nigeria REDD+ Readiness held on Tuesday, January 23, 2018 in Keffi, Nassarawa State.
The result of this assessment, it was gathered, will be used to develop the Environmental and Social Management Framework to guide the implementation of REDD+ in the project states.
Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the role of forest conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) is an international Instrument of the United Nations under its Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to mitigate climate change through forest conservation, to enhance carbon sink and reduce the quantity of carbon in the atmosphere.
Organised by Darashaw and Company Private Limited and ECMC Engineers, the workshop was supported by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the World Bank and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The workshop was part of the activities under the SESA/ESMF project which aims at developing Environmental and Safety Management Framework to safeguard environmental and social benefits and minimise risks in the course of developing and implementing REDD+ programme in Cross River, Nasarawa and Ondo states.
Declaring the workshop open, the, Nasarawa Commissioner for Environment and Solid Minerals, Akaaka Gabriel, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, expressed the commitment of the Nasarawa State Government to preserve the environment from degradation, hence the choice of the state as one of the two additional pilot states in addition to Cross River, for REDD+ readiness programme.
Setting the background for the workshop, Mr. Odigha Odigha, erstwhile Chairman, Cross River State Forestry Commission, gave a background to the journey of the REDD+ readiness in Nigeria with Cross River State as a pilot State. According to Odigha, the country saw the asset it has in the massive natural forests in Cross River State, which it can use to enroll in the REDD+ programme to mitigate climate change while at the same time reaping social and economic benefits.
The Nigerian Government started to engage in REDD+ in 2009 when it requested for membership of the UN-REDD Programme, which was granted. In 2012, the Nigerian Government received a grant from UN-REDD to implement a project with the objective to build the REDD+ mechanism in Nigeria, using Cross River State as a demonstration model. The project had a two-track approach to achieve REDD+ readiness in Nigeria: to improve institutional and technical capacity at the federal level so as to give national policy direction to REDD+; and to build capacity of Cross River State for REDD+ so that state-level progress will inform the national process and guide other states interested in REDD+.
With the experience gathered from this project, the Nigeria again received grants from the World Bank and FCPF to extend the REDD+ readiness programme to two additional states – Nasarawa and Ondo.
On her part, Dr. Alice Ekwu, the Cross River State Commissioner of Climate Change and Forestry, narrated the experiences of the Cross River State Government in implementing the REDD+ readiness programme. The experiences, she said, have been compiled in a compendium to serve as learning materials for stakeholders and especially the new and potential states for the REDD+ readiness programme.
Then came Dr. Shilpy Gupta, Assistant Vice President of Darashaw and Company Private Limited who doubles as the Project Director for SESA/ESMF. She provided the overview of the SESA/ESMF project and the objectives of the workshop. According to Dr. Shilpy, the project aims to provide a framework for social and environmental management so that the design and implementation of national REDD+ strategy is sustainable, inclusive and equitable. The objective of the workshop, she said, was to review and adopt the data collection instruments and methodology that will be used for strategic environmental and social assessment in Nasarawa and Ondo states.
Following this, Prof. Francis Bisong of the University of Calabar presented the data collection instruments and methodology that were developed for the Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment in Nasarawa and Ondo states. The development of the data collection instruments and methodology, he said, was guided by the situational environmental and social assessment from literature which he earlier presented.
Participants at the workshop were drawn from civil society organisations, farmers, private sector players, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government at the federal level and in Cross River, Ondo and Nasarawa states.
The Lagos State Government on Wednesday, January 24, 2018 arrested a total of 24 persons including cart pushers, street traders and some residents for dumping waste on road medians and canals contrary to the Environmental Sanitation Laws of the State.
Cart pushers, street traders and some residents arrested for illegal dumping of refuse on road medians and canals by the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) on Wednesday, J
The suspects, who have been charged before the Special Offences Court sitting in Ogba, Ikeja, were arrested in an early morning operation carried out by men of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) recently inaugurated by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Giving details on the operation, LAGESC Corps Marshal, Daniel Isiofia, said the suspects were arrested following investigation which revealed that cart pushers and some residents were indiscriminately dumping domestic refuse at sites not designated for waste disposal and canals, thereby sabotaging the ongoing efforts to make the State clean and hygienic.
He said: “Recently, there has been clamour for cleaner Lagos and the Governor has been very keen on making Lagos clean. To this end, he gave us a mandate to ensure that Lagos is kept clean by ensuring that acts that lead to the city to be dirty are curbed.
“We know that there have been massive efforts to clear the backlog of refuse on the road and our men went on surveillance and we eventually discovered where the cart pushers are operating at Ogunlana Street by Ogbomosho in Itire area. We raided the area and saw the cart pushers whose job is to collect refuse on payment from some residents who feel that they cannot dispose their refuse according to government directive and dump on road medians and canals.
“Often times, if you go to the canal at Itire-Ijesha area, you will see the cart pushers dumping refuse into the canal thereby blocking the waterways which leads to flooding. So, with the determination to stop this menace, we raided them at about 4am this morning and we succeeded in impounding 150 waste carts used for this purpose and arrested 11 suspects while others fled.”
Isiofia, who is a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, advised residents to desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse in public places, as well as patronising cart pushers, saying such were against the law, just as he vowed that ongoing efforts to stop the menace would be sustained.
“We are going to sustain this process. I like to advise the operators of the waste carts to know that Lagos is not a place for them. They should leave Lagos or look for another job and to those who patronise them, if we get them, we will charge them to court because they are running foul of the law.
“We are appealing to the citizens to know that a clean Lagos is a healthy Lagos. It is for the benefits of all of us for our environment to be clean. Some people see us as enemies but we are not; we are only doing this job for the benefit of all.
“We are partners in progress; Lagosians should assist us. Governor Ambode too has pleaded with the people to support the bid to make Lagos clean and we are joining the Governor to appeal to people to desist from indiscriminate dumping of waste and make Lagos a very clean city,” Isiofia said.
Meanwhile, four hoodlums have been arrested for attacking LAGESC officials while performing their lawful duties.
The hoodlums carried out the attack on men of the agency on Tuesday at Brown Street area of Oshodi while on their way to enforce the ban on illegal dumping of refuse and street trading.
Two LAGESC officers, Olasilola Muyiwa John and Haastrup Ifealuwa, were seriously injured while a Black Maria used as operational vehicle was badly damaged. All the suspects have since been charged to court.
African civil society organisations on climate change have been at the forefront in building momentum for vulnerable people on the continent and other developing economies to access climate justice.
Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). He will represent the interests and concerns of CSOs in the African region with regard to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. Photo credit: cloudfront.net
The voices were high and loud going into the UN Conference of Parties (COP21) on Climate Change which produced the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015.
But these voices have gone down low after the talks.
Two years after Paris, most countries on the continent have slowed in climate action. Sudanese scientist and climate activist, Dr. Shaddad Mauwa, has sat in meetings, shouted and held placards in demonstrations at the local, continental and global stages to clamour for climate justice.
He acknowledged that though African climate change actors – governments, parliamentarians, negotiators, civil society – are doing better than before, there seems to be a wall that has become difficult to break.
“There are many issues still not going in the line of what Africa will like to see,” he said.
For him, these issues include the commitment of developed economies to heed to the Paris Agreement in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lack of access to climate funds by developing countries and poor implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to be climate-resilient.
Pushing the African Climate Agenda
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) has for almost a decade served as the largest advocacy platform for CSOs in Africa.
The activities of the Alliance resonates with the global call for action against climate change proclaimed by the United Nations, with a singular clarion call that no single individual, institution, country or region can single-handedly defeat the threats posed by the changing climate and the quest for achieving a sustainable development while leaving no one behind.
Secretary-General of the organisation, Mithika Mwenda, however, says the major concern is how to make the Paris Climate Agreement relevant to the vulnerable farmer who needs to irrigate his farm all year round to produce food and the community that gets displaced by flood anytime it rains.
“Having the Agreement is one thing and getting it implemented is another thing,” he said. “One of the things we’ve been trying to do is to push the governments to focus more on implementation because now we have a framework which is supposed to go on the ground.”
It is a shared opinion that Africa is not deficit in policy formulation. But getting the thoughts off paper to achieve set goals on the ground becomes problematic. Lack of finance for implementation is often cited as hindrance.
PACJA has been pushing the international community to provide sufficient funds for the implementation of provisions in the Paris Agreement, which includes each country’s NDCs, to ensure integration of climate change into the new paradigms of low-carbon development and climate resilience pathways.
“We are very optimistic, though it is not an easy thing to do. Africans and the global community have no choice; we have to act on climate change. We have frameworks in countries that if we build on, we can have very transformative economies,” said Mithika.
Building a stronger CSO Alliance
The adoption of the Paris Agreement left many stakeholders and countries unable to shift from the negotiation mode to implementation, including many civil society groups.
PACJA envisions a global environment free from the threat of climate change with sustainable development, equity and justice for all.
The Alliance acknowledges there is still more ground to cover around low-carbon, climate-resilient, green economy discourses.
At its Second Extra-Ordinary General Assembly meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday, January 23, 2018, the Alliance elected the Continental Executive Board as the implementing organ of decisions and policies of the organisation.
Newly elected Chairperson of the Board, John Bonds Bideri, says building capacities of local CSOs remains crucial to PACJA to support grassroots initiatives to deal with climate vagaries.
“The most important thing is that the vulnerable people should have that protection at the global, continental and community levels in terms of responding to issues or challenges that affect them,” he stated.
