The Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 approved the ratification of the Doha Amendment of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Usman Jibril, made this known when he briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the weekly meeting of the Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to the minister, the protocol concerns the UNFCCC, an international environmental treaty adopted on May 9, 1992. Climate change is regarded as a major global issue across the world.

The Doha Amendment establishes a second commitment period (2013 to 2020) for the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1997 by the third Conference of the Parties (COP3) in Kyoto, Japan.

The Federal Ministry of Environment presented a memo which was taken and approved for the ratification of the Doha amendment of the Kyoto Protocol.

“This Protocol concerns the UN framework convention on climate change, which is a major global issue across the world now.

“The Protocol was crafted in 2004 and Nigeria is a party to that and the initial period of commitment of the Kyoto Protocol was from 2008-2012 and, after that, the new segment now is 2013-2020,’’

He maintained that the essence of the protocol was to commit advanced countries to mitigate the effects of gas emissions on developing countries.

The minister further stressed that the Doha Amendment of the Kyoto Protocol was essentially meant to assist countries like Nigeria that were not producing any significant emission but suffering the consequences.

“The essence of this protocol is to commit advanced or developed countries that are mostly industrialised and are at the forefront of production of gas emissions, which are harmful to the environment, leading to climate change and therefore causing global problems environmentally.

“So, the Doha Amendment of the Kyoto Protocol is essentially to assist countries like Nigeria, which are developing and are not producing any significant emission but are suffering the consequences. We are all aware of flooding that we experienced this year, and this has been going since 2012.’’

According to the minister, by ratifying the protocol, Nigeria and other developing countries stand to gain a lot in form of financial assistance and access to technology.

“The benefit Nigeria stands to gain from this Doha Amendment of the Kyoto Protocol is that, first of all, once the amendment is ratified as we want it to be, there will be access to financial assistance which will help in motivating and adapting to impact of climate change.

“Secondly, there will be access to technology and capacity building and there will also be networking with other nations and organisations, who are more advanced and can be of help to us as a country.

“Lastly, continuation of flexible mechanisms and contribution to global efforts as no one country has the solution for this problem alone. So, the idea is to team up and then get the developing countries to be assisted effectively, he added.

He said the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, would provide the instrument of ratification, which would also be signed later by the President and be deposited at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

On the Ogoni cleanup, Jibril said the Federal Government had so far generated over $180 million for the commencement of the exercise in the next few weeks.

The minister disclosed that about 21 contractors would be mobilised to site as the procurement processes had reached the final advantaged stage.

He said: “Yesterday (Nov. 13) the Ministerial Tender Board sat to consider the submission of the procurement department of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) and 15 lots were up for grabs.

“On Friday, the Governing Council of the Ogoni Trust Fund will meet and ratify this, and we hope that, by the next week, these letters will be out, and the contractors will be mobilised to site.

“You must ask whether there is funding, yes, of course there is funding. Again, this is the first time the government has done something.

“Because of the confidence that the oil companies have in the government, because of the governance structures that are put in place, the opening of the Ogoni Trust Fund will be able to mobilise $180 million from the oil companies.

“From the NNPC, SPDC and other ventures, they have mobilised $180 million and it is in the escrow account with the Standard Chartered Bank of London and the Board of Trustee is managing that.’’

Usman observed that the Buhari administration had indicated genuine commitment towards ensuring smooth implementation of the Ogoni cleanup.

He, therefore, enjoined all stakeholders, including the affected communities, to continue to support and show more understanding for a hitch-free cleanup.

“So, as far as we are concerned, we can beat our chest and say that the Buhari administration has shown the way forward on this cleanup exercise and we hope and pray that the people whom we are working for, will have cause to laugh and smile very soon,’’ he added.

By Ismaila Chafe

Two talented and environmentally minded young people from India and Mexico, with their video reports on actions to fight climate change, have been selected as the winners of the 2018 Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change.

The winners, chosen through an online public vote, are Vikas Yadav, 20 years old, from India for the category “Green and climate friendly jobs” and Andrea Sofia Rosales Vega, 20, from Mexico for the category “Responsible production and consumption”.

They will travel to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland, in December and will work with the UN Climate Change’s Global Climate Action Team covering highlights of the meeting, reporting for a global youth audience. The winners will be recognised in a ceremony at the COP24 Action Hub on Thursday, December 6.

The video by Sofia Vega shows how we can clean up urban areas while also making a difference to people’s lives. Her video describes the “Eco Urban” project, which collects and re-uses waste, including plastic and old clothes, helping to clean up the streets. Selling products made from the recycled material raises funds, some of which are reinvested in collection centres, and 60 per cent of the income used to fight childhood cancer. As she says at the close of the video, the participants are “ordinary people, making our world extraordinary.”

In his three-minute entry, Vikas Yadav visits rural areas of India, where he reports that more than 70 per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture. As food production is particularly sensitive to climate change, the farmers explain how innovative agriculture practices can play an important role in climate change mitigation and adaption. Vikas encourages people to “Go green” in moving towards more natural growing and management techniques.

“These two young people and their videos are encouraging examples of the global climate action needed to address climate change,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa. “I congratulate Sofia and Vikas, and I applaud all the entrants showcasing international youth’s essential response to climate change.”

Entries were received from over 100 countries, from Azerbaijan to Yemen, with young people between the ages of 18 and 30 submitting over 300 videos.

The competition was launched by UN Climate Change as part of its work on Action for Climate Empowerment, in partnership with tve (Television for the environment), the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme, which is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme, and Connect4Climate, and supported by Fondation BNP Paribas and the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU).

Women’s groups from Asia Pacific are deeply concerned about the bill passed by the Government of Poland that will prevent any “spontaneous” public gathering of climate groups during COP24 and subject human rights defenders to state-led surveillance including access and storing all personal information.

The bill, initiated by the government of Poland, is said to be setting a dangerous precedent that undermines human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and of speech, and the right to privacy in the context of digital technologies, multilateral process, and the role and importance of peoples’ organisations in fighting climate change.

Civil society organisations from the Global South say they see the bill as a deterrent to attend COP24, participate in the negotiations and organise people’s action that are crucial to raise civil society concerns while finalising the Paris Agreement.

“This clamp down on civil society space and freedom of expressions is a sign of increasing influence of the profit earning actors who do not want to change the system of exploitation that is leading to climate change. By closing spaces for voices of the people to come into global platforms like the COP, the profit-making exploitative industries and the States continue business as usual at the cost of the planet,” said APWLD member Banamallika Choudhury, NEThing, India.

Civil Society present at a pre-COP 24 session in September in Bangkok reportedly asked the Polish government about the bill and the right to peaceful assembly.

“When asked at the Inter-sessions, the incoming Polish presidency responded that the bill was enacted to solicit funding support for the COP24.  This basically means that the global climate negotiations are resourced by the groups who want to suppress democratic and peaceful civil society organising. In addition, tying this bill to the visa application process is fundamentally discriminatory against women human rights and environmental defenders from the Global South who are most affected by climate change.  Global solidarity is required to resist this tactic of oppression,” said Misun Woo, Regional Coordinator, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, Thailand.

According to the activists, the UN’s decision of working with “oppressive governments” like Poland violates the Paris Convention, UN principles on human rights and European Union’s Aarhus Convention and enables the increasing threats to environment and human rights defenders and shrinking civil society spaces.

“In a letter sent by APWLD to UNFCCC this month, we raised security and personal safety concerns that will be faced by civil society. The Polish government has still not disclosed what data will be screened and what will be labelled ‘spontaneous demonstration or gathering’. With previous experience of facing immigration screening and policing of civil society in COP19 Warsaw and the current provisions of Bill that subject everyone to undisclosed State surveillance, it is a grave concern for women from the Global South on personal and organisation levels who will likely to be subjected to such scrutiny,” they stressed.

The civil society organisations therefore demand the Polish government to give assurances by repealing the bill and that human rights will be protected at COP 24 including the right to assemble.

“We remind the Government of Poland to uphold their legal and human rights obligations as set out in the European Convention of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”