More than 150 countries are gathering in Geneva this week to mark a major milestone in their efforts to fight mercury pollution. Mercury is one of the most dangerous chemicals to human health and the environment.
A view of participants at the opening of the COP1 of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Photo credit: Leslie Adogame
Mercury is a neurotoxin with a global reach. The heavy metal is released into the environment as a result of a number of human activities. In the environment, it enters the food chain, accumulates in the body and can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune system of people of all ages. Mercury is particularly harmful to unborn children and infants whose nervous systems are under development. Damage to the brain cannot be reversed. There is no known safe exposure level for elemental mercury in humans, and effects can be seen even at very low levels.
The Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which entered in to force on August 16, 2017, will now begin to implement the new global treaty which includes banning new mercury mines and phasing-out existing ones; regulating the use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, certain industrial processes and the production of everyday items such as certain compact fluorescent lamps, batteries and teeth fillings; as well as controlling the emissions of mercury as a by-product from a range of industrial sectors – including coal combustion.
“This Convention will save lives,” said Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment. “People around the world are being poisoned and it’s time for this to stop. Now the work begins to remove it from our industrial processes and keep it out of our bodies and our fragile ecosystems.”
Thousands of tonnes of mercury are emitted each year through releases to air, land and water. Mercury may be released naturally through the weathering of mercury-containing rocks, forest fires and volcanic eruptions. However, the most significant emissions come from human activities, particularly coal burning and artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Mining alone exposes up to 15 million workers and their families in over 70 countries to being poisoned by mercury, and this includes child labourers.
Like other heavy metals, mercury persists in the environment and builds up in human and animal tissues. Exposure to mercury occurs mainly through ingestion of fish and other marine species contaminated with methylmercury, its most toxic and bioaccumulative form. People are also exposed to elemental or inorganic mercury through inhalation of mercury vapour during occupational activities or spills or through direct contact from mercury use.
Mercury pollution is a global problem as it vaporises and can therefore be transported through the air over long distances far removed from its original emission source, polluting air, water and soil. As mercury is an element it is indestructible, and the Convention therefore also stipulates conditions for its interim storage and sound disposal once it becomes waste.
The opening session of the Conference
The Minamata Convention stipulates phase-out of manufacturing, import and export of these mercuryadded products by 2020. Several health care facilities in countries like South Africa, Brazil and the Philippines have demonstrated that phase out is feasible. Countries have been promoting the use of alternatives/mercury free medical devices, lessening exposure of the health professionals and the general public to mercury.
The Minamata Convention contains provisions that relate to the entire life cycle of mercury, including controls and reductions across a range of products, processes and industries where mercury is used, released or emitted. It also addresses primarymining of mercury, its export and import, its safe storage and its disposal once it is waste.
Under the Convention, countries are to:
Control mercury emissions from key industries (including coal, waste incineration, non-ferrous metals, and cement production)
Ban new mercury mining and close existing mercury mines after a period of time
Control trade in mercury
Work to reduce the use of mercury in artisanal and small scale gold mining – the largest source of mercury pollution
Promote international cooperation on mercury monitoring and innovation.
The UN Environment’s new report titled: “Global Mercury Supply, Trade and Demand” confirms artisanal and small-scale gold mining as the world’s largest source of mercury emissions (primarily in Africa, Asia and Latin America) followed by coal fire. The major mercury uses continue to be in artisanal and small-scale gold mining and for the production of vinyl chloride monomer, with these two applications responsible for over 60 percent of global mercury demand.
Artisanal and small-scale gold produces 12 to 15% of the world’s gold and employs around 15 million people, often in remote rural areas, including 4 to 5 million women and children, who often have little or no awareness of the risks posed by mercury, and safer alternativesto its use. Multiple programmes are in place to help miners shift to mercury-free mining processes, but the challenges are vast.
Signed by 128 countries and ratified by 80 countries and the European Union, the Convention takes its name from the most severe mercury poisoning disaster in history, which came to light in Minamata, Japan, in May 1956, after sustained dumping of industrial wastewaters into Minamata Bay, beginning in the 1930s. Local villages who ate fish and shellfish from the bay started suffering convulsions, psychosis, loss of consciousness and coma. In all, thousands of people were certified as having directly suffered from mercury poisoning, now known as Minamata disease.
A survivor of Minamata mercury poisoning, Shinobu Sakamoto, is attending the First meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP1) which is ongoing in Geneva, Switzerland.
Shinobu Sakamoto in Geneva
Sakamoto, 61, who suffered mercury poisoning while still in her mother’s womb, graces official and related events of the global confab to speak about her life and issues faced by survivors.
Minamata disease, which paralyses the central nervous system and causes birth defects, was caused by mercury-tainted water being dumped into the sea by a Chisso Corp. chemical plant in Minamata in Kumamoto Prefecture. The disease, affecting thousands, was formally acknowledged by the local health authority in 1956.
Sakamoto was just 15 when she left her home in the southern Japanese fishing village of Minamata to go to Stockholm and tell the world of the horrors of mercury poisoning.
Forty-five years on, she is apparently defying the implications of oversees travel on her health to travel again, this time to Geneva, as signatory states to the international treaty to prevent mercury pollution gather fron Sunday, September 24 to Friday, September 29.
Sakamoto is said to be one of a shrinking group of survivors from a 1950s industrial disaster in which tens of thousands of people were poisoned after waste water from a chemical plant seeped into the Minamata bay.
Shinobu Sakamoto
The waste contained a toxic organic compound, methylmercury, which can cause severe damage to the brain and nervous system, leading to a condition called Minamata disease. It gives its name to the U.N.-backed treaty that took effect last month.
Symptoms worsen with age, leaving some victims grappling with the question of who will care for them after the death of siblings and parents, while others face legal disputes.
“If I don’t say something, no one will know about Minamata disease,” said Sakamoto, who is one of the few born with the disease who is still able to talk.
“There are still so many problems, and I want people to know.”
Just 528 people survive from among the 3,000 certified victims of Minamata disease, environment ministry data shows. More than 20,000 people have sought to be designated victims, hoping for legal compensation.
“We need to take seriously the fact that there are still many people raising their hands,” said ministry official Koji Sasaki, referring to victims’ efforts to win recognition.
In a related development, Mauritius and Singapore have deposited their instruments of ratification thereby becoming the 80th and 81st Parties to the Convention.
The Convention, which aims to curb the release of mercury into the environment and establish protocols for mercury storage and disposal, came into force on August 16, 2017.
With countless incidents around maternal health in the country and little or no justice achieved, lawyers have been urged to engage in creative lawyering, utilising the right-based aspects of the constitution to demand justice for victim. This will go a long way in reducing incidences of careless and needless maternal deaths and enhancing women’s rights.
Founding Director of WARDC, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi. Photo credit: topcelebritiesng.com
This was the focus at a two-day training for lawyers in rights-based perspectives in maternal health adjudication, litigation and other legal measures in handling maternal health cases organised by the Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC).
According to the Executive director, WARDC, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, “Nigeria rates second to India in maternal mortality, even the reduction at 630 deaths per 100,000 live births in Nigeria is unacceptably high. The deaths of women during pregnancy or delivery is a major public health challenge hence constitutes a violation of fundamental rights, including rights to life and right to family life.”
She noted that even though maternal health issues are not properly stated in the Constitution, most countries where they have successfully challenged constitutional reproductive right issues do no also have chapters that are justiciable, but they picked it up from right to life and other related areas which are also in our constitution.
Akiyode-Afolabi added, “We are asking lawyers to be more creative, we want them to expose the laws and get them tested, it is because we have not tested the laws enough that have made some cases not litigated. Some of the things that Gani Fawehinmi talked about in those days were not in the law, he tested it and the decisions has helped to strengthen the law. Some of our laws should not just stay as decoration, they should be investigated and examined.”
A legal practitioner with WARDC and one of the speakers, Emmanuella Azu, said, “Most lawyers are trained to believe that issues around sexual and reproductive health is an issue of negligence, but then this is more of a human rights issue. This perspective is missing in our curriculum especially for older lawyers who have been in the field practicing. So we are not taught that issues around sexual health could also be a human rights issue. So this training brings to the fore that when there is a violation in sexual health, it is a violation of the individual’s rights.
“Going further we hope to see that lawyers become creative in handling issues like this when faced with them. Although we have challenges and some of them have impede some lawyers from litigating these cases. For instance, chapter two of our constitution makes issues around right to health not justiciable but this training will open up more creative ways that will make issues around sexual and reproductive health more justiciable looking from the perspective of right to life, right to privacy and torture which are linked to sexual and reproductive health.”
Former Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch, Yinka Farounbi, said that awareness is key to gaining knowledge.
His words: “The law is crucial in any society and more importantly when handled appropriately to get justice. And so this training is to re-awaken the consciousness of lawyers to their responsibility in ensuring that they play a major role in protecting and saving lives. This training also gives us a platform to give a holistic look at the law and see areas where we can recommend to the legislature for necessary amendment.”
As part of its efforts to fasten criminal justice administration and decongestion of prisons in the state, Lagos State Government has unveiled a manual for “Plea and Sentence Bargaining”.
State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem
While speaking at the event which held at the Conference Room of state Ministry of Justice, Alausa, Ikeja, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem, disclosed that the manual, the first if its kind in the country, “provides practical information about what plea bargain entails”.
He said the procedure for applying and general information would make the process less complicated for all stakeholders.
According to him, Section 75 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, 2015 empowers his office to consider and accept plea bargain proposals from and on behalf of a defendant.
He noted that plea bargaining is not new to criminal justice system of the state, but that its applicability has been poorly utilised by lawyers more than a decade after it came into being.
“Given that the length of time awaiting trial inmates and detainees remain in prison custody is mainly dependent on the length of court proceedings, it is important as stakeholders to embrace creative provisions in our law to decongest the prisons. It is against this backdrop that the plea bargain protocol and manual was designed,” he said.
The AG further stated that, in many jurisdictions, plea bargaining has served as an important, useful and effective tool used to keep the wheels of justice moving in a timely and cost effective manner.
He therefore recommended the use of plea bargain to all and sundry. “Private counsel should imbibe the culture of advising their clients appropriately especially in the face of overwhelming evidence rather than the usual practice of encouraging them to plead ‘not guilty’,” he said.
Elucdating the benefit of the plea bargaining, he said would not allow his office to be used to settle family and commercial disputes among others.
The Commissioner for Justice reiterated that his office is fully committed to ensuring speedy and fair dispensation of justice to all the citizenry regardless of economic or social status.
He remarked that his commitment to speedy dispensation of justice extends to providing a secure environment for commercial and other economic activities to thrive adding, “We will not hesitate to prosecute defendants who have been found to have committed commercial or financial related offences which are contrary to offences created by statute.
“It is important to reiterate that my office understands and indeed is constantly mindful of the unbargainable need to exercise its discretionary powers to prosecute, not to prosecute, take over or discontinue criminal cases within its jurisdiction as entrenched in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) with a great sense of responsibility devoid of any bias, prejudice, fear or favour.
“Therefore, prosecutorial powers of this office will not be used as a platform for settling commercial disputes, family quarrels or Land tussles and we will not be pressurised to act in the interest of one party against the interest of another party or any party where no criminal offence has been committed.
“To do otherwise would be against the Constitutional responsibilities of my office; therefore we are fully committed to the tenets of justice and our prosecutors discharge their duties with professionalism while operating within the parameters of clearly defined and transparent prosecution policy guidelines,” he said.
To prove effectiveness of plea bargaining, he said between January 2017 and now, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) filed Information papers in respect of the 1086 cases in the High Court and 56 charges in the Magistrate court for prosecution by the DPP while the Police also prosecute a number of cases in the Magistrate Court.
He said this was done to have a glimpse of the volume of criminal cases that require processing in our Administration of Criminal Justice system and underscores the need for exploration of alternative methods of resolving criminal cases without going through the full gamut of trial.
“In a bid to ensure maximum transparency and objectivity in the bargaining process, a Plea Bargain Committee was set up in April 2017 to consider/review cases in which proposals for plea bargain were made to my office and to make appropriate recommendations on them.
“The committee has considered 14 cases so far and the plea Bargain process has been successfully concluded in the cases.”
However, he listed the offences in which plea bargaining was considered to include conspiracy and murder, armed robbery, robbery, manslaughter, causing death by dangerous driving and forgery”.
He said he was mindful of the fact that the law places the burden on the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, however, the Defence has a pivotal role to play in discharging its duties to the court.
In her remark, the acting Chief Registrar of the Lagos State High Court, Mrs Abiola Soladoye, said she believed in decongestion and plea bargaining and that it is not in all offences that offenders should be sent to prison.
She said the courts, particularly at the magistracy level, will collaborate with government to ensure success of implementation of the manual.
Also, the duo, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Bolaji Salami and Lagos State Controller of Prisons, Tunde Ladipo, promised that their departments would collaborate with government to ensure successful implementation of the manual.
As the world marked the 2017 World Rhino Day on Friday, September 22, obsevers hoped that a landmark diplomatic achievement made about a year ago would be further built upon.
The West African black rhino
At the 71st Regular Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 71) in September 2016, world leaders agreed on a resolution at the close of the global confab to save the animals.
A couple of days prior to Friday, the 193 Member States of the UN at the UNGA 72 in New York announced strengthening their commitment to address illicit wildlife trafficking, which is decimating rhino populations worldwide.
Observers believe that, in the light of this development, 2017 could effectively kickstart the much-needed political support worldwide which is considered essential to the survival of rhinos.
“As we remain in the midst of a global poaching crisis, this signals the growing and crucial political will to enhance national legislation and enforcement measures and counter corruption, alongside measures to support sustainable livelihoods and undertake targeted demand reduction efforts,” disclosed the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Every year since 2010 when it was first announced by WWF South Africa, World Rhino Day has provided a rallying point for the global rhino conservation community to unite around all five species of rhino: black, white, greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan.
World Rhino Day, it was gathered, provides a symbolic focus of these commitments as well as an opportunity to reflect on the continued challenges facing rhinos and the recent successes in rhino conservation.
The special day provides the opportunity for cause-related organisations, NGOs, zoos, and members of the public to celebrate rhinos in their own unique ways.
If you’re an African adult of about 25 plus years, living on the continent, then you will need to pay close attention to the following information. From now on, you will need to be concerned about how you will sustainably feed your family – first, the nuclear and then, the extended family, by the time you reach the jubilee period of your life – 50 plus years – which is 33 years from now, precisely by year 2050.
Managing Editor of Down to Earth, Richard Mahapatra
According to the United Nations Population Division, by year 2050, Africa’s current population of a little of over 1.2 billion would have more than doubled. And this rapid population growth rate, said to be second fastest in the world, is seen as a challenge to food security on the continent.
This challenge will worsen by 2050 per the UN projection, due to the numbers of the people, combined with the on-going trends towards urbanisation as well as climate change related problems such as flooding, landslides and droughts that are increasing and hitting hard at Africa’s agricultural sector.
The sector has been performing creditably of late as many African governments have prioritised agriculture, according to the Africa Agriculture Status Report 2016. “… Governments have put agriculture back to the top of the development agenda, and from a growing revenue base, they have increased the proportion of their national budgets going to this vital sector. Private companies have invested heavily in Africa’s agriculture value chains in recent years, paving the way for a renaissance in Africa’s agri-food systems that multiplies the options for farmers in terms of the seeds they plant, the fertilisers they use, the markets they can now tap into, and the information services now available to help them manage their farming activities.”
Africa’s leadership has demonstrated commitment to the sector with the introduction in 2004 of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the launch in 2014 of African Union’s “Year of Agriculture and Food Security,” and the adoption that same year of the “Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.” As part of the recent commitments, the AU Heads of State and Government made a commitment to end hunger by 2025 and to achieve this they further resolved to halve the current levels of post-harvest losses by the year 2025.
The 2016 Africa Agriculture Status Report notes that “agricultural growth in Africa has also expanded livelihood opportunities for millions of people now engaged in the growing off-farm stages of the agri-food system.” This trend is seen as “offering a glimpse of future success,” and has inspired “a new vision for Africa, one in which farming realises its potential to help make the continent sustainable and hunger free.”
But underneath the excitement is the gnawing issue of how to deepen the on-going agricultural transformation process in Africa, in the midst of the growing pressure on the agricultural sector to deliver more and better food for her rapidly increasing population with all of its associated problems such as decreasing availability of agricultural lands.
Moreover, Africa has become a net importer of food and reportedly spends $35 billion every year on food imports. This is more than what the continent receives in total overseas development assistance.
And the fact is that as at now, lots of individuals, families, communities and nations of Africa are still struggling to feed themselves (in terms of quality and quantity).
However, African countries are not alone in this state of affairs. The continent shares similar features with India, the world’s second most densely populated country after China. The agriculture of India and most African countries have similar characteristics including more than half of the population involved in agriculture with majority doing subsistence farming. Agriculture is dominated by food-crops, it is rain-fed and mainly seasonal based.
Africans and Indians have realised that together they can work to strengthen and make agriculture more resilient. Therefore, their political leaders, technical experts, private sector as well as students have initiated partnerships to strategically find solutions to the common problems saddling their agricultural sector. The media in Africa and India have joined the trail in a bid to jointly utilize their skills to support the general efforts in sustaining the sector.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a leading public research and advocacy organisation of the Global South based in New Delhi, India, has for some years now been interacting with civil society, media and environmental regulators across Africa to forge common understanding of common issues. It has held two media workshops in Kenya and Ghana. CSE’s programme teams are also currently engaged in training environmental regulators and discussing environmental policy change issues in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Namibia, Swaziland and Zanzibar.
And from CSE’s perspective, “the fundamental idea behind nurturing this association between Africa and India is our belief that as nations and peoples from the Global South, our environmental concerns are similar. We can, therefore, share learnings and experiences and work together towards solutions.”
Accordingly, CSE’s Media Resource Centre and its subsidiary magazine “Down To Earth,” have in collaboration with African Voices for Climate Change and Conservation as well as Media for Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) Kenya, have organised a consultative and skills-enhancement, for African media on agriculture. Participants were from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi and India. The workshop took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on September 14 and 15, 2017.
The participants were taken through approaches to understanding and using data as sources for agriculture and environment stories. The Director of the Environment Resources Unit of CSE, Kiran Pandey, and Assistant Editor of “Down To Earth,” Rajit Sengupta, exposed the participants to the appropriate use of data to generate stories. They agreed that the ability of African journalists to properly utilise data will enable them to position themselves “in this era of social and new media, characterised by the speed at which information is sent and the diversity and size of the audience.”
In other words, this is an era that presents journalists with the challenge of how to tell a story for such globalised and at the same time local audience. This is underscored by the fact that current data production is transforming the world and journalists will have to be abreast of events to report accurately.
The two-day event was also used to launch the September 1 to 15, 2017, special edition of “Down to Earth,” titled “Talking About A Revolution,” devoted to African agricultural issues. The magazine’s cover story examines the challenges that have caused Africa to become a net importer of food, despite having the ability to be the world’s food basket; and how this trend could be reversed. It was compiled by a team of African and Indian journalists.
This special edition of “Down to Earth,” was launched by Nairobi-based Environmental Communication Expert and former BBC Presenter, Uduake Amimo. She hoped that, in spite of challenges such as the refusal of African media organisations to invest in the career of journalists, they will find innovative ways to enhance their professional capabilities to address issues in specialized areas including agriculture and environment.
The Managing Editor of “Down to Earth,” Richard Mahapatra, emphasised that it was the duty of the media to create awareness about the reality of what was happening in the agriculture sector. He urged journalists to create awareness “about the fact that the bulk of agricultural produce is wasted; that there is a crisis of failure of agriculture due to aging farming population; use their reportage to innovatively make governments responsible and convince the population including the media that agriculture is lucrative.”
He said: “Journalists need to be principled in seeing agriculture as national security issues, grounded in African values. This should reflect in the collection, packaging, branding and framing of agricultural stories as social and business issues.”
Mr. Mahapatra added: “We have to tell the African agricultural story – we must tell it competently, consistently and professionally.” To this end, he stressed the need for training of journalists, saying, “Training is essential to enable journalists understand issues enough to demystify them in their reportage, apply interpretative skills in analysing issues and empathizing with the affected people.”
Kaah Aaron Yancho of the African Voices for Climate Change and Conservation and Daniel Aghan of MESHA, were grateful to CSE for its support in making the programme a success. Mr. Aghan announced that he would with effect from 2019 personally sponsor one African journalist to participate in a related international conference.
United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, and World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, have unveiled plans to accelerate the flow of finance for climate action through a new platform dedicated to identifying and facilitating transformational investments in developing countries.
United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres (right), with World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim
Following meetings with world and business leaders, state and city representatives, and civil society, the two leaders pointed to the urgency for climate action and the need for a massive ramp-up of investment.
“Countries are successfully reducing emissions and building resilience to climate change, but getting to the level of action needed to reach the global goals set in Paris two years ago will require a huge leap in the flow of financing and investment for implementing the National Determined Contributions,” said Secretary General Guterres. “The disasters we are currently seeing – including storms, floods and drought – are also demonstrating just how urgent the need is especially for the Small Islands Nations.”
President Kim, speaking during the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, said: “There are vast opportunities in developing countries in areas like clean energy and climate-smart agriculture that will lay the groundwork for a more prosperous and sustainable future. Our challenge is to create the conditions for investment to flow, and to get all forms of finance working together for maximum impact.”
The new Invest4Climate platform is designed to bring together national governments, financial institutions, private sector investors, philanthropies, and multilateral banks to support transformational climate action in line with the Paris Agreement. The platform will bring together investors with high-impact opportunities in developing countries such as large-scale development of battery storage, electric cars, and low emission air conditioning. It will also facilitate such investments through the development of risk mitigation instruments and, based on demand, will work with national governments to improve policy environments.
“Cities are leading the way in confronting climate change, and they would be doing even more, even faster, if they had greater access to funding,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. “This is a big challenge that we can start to address with practical steps, like helping cities improve their credit rating, measure their funding needs, and connect specific projects with lenders. The World Bank and UN are taking an important step forward by bringing people together who are in a position to help achieve those goals.”
Invest4Climate will be supported by national finance ministers, climate thought leaders, chief executives of firms, foundations and financial institutions, as well as senior representatives from the UN and the World Bank Group. It will not have its own funding sources but will complement existing climate and development finance initiatives and institutions.
The platform will be further developed in close collaboration with partners at the forthcoming World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings and COP23. The first Invest4Climate initiatives are expected to be announced at the Climate Summit in Paris in December 2017.
Public and private sector players in the Nigerian oil and gas industry have described the annual Global Nigeria Forum (GNF) as a model worthy of emulation by the country’s local content regulator. They spoke at the fourth edition of the forum held in Aberdeen, Scotland on September 9, 2017 with the theme: “Enabling Competitive Local Content Through Sustainable Partnerships”.
Executive Secretary, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote
The forum, a brainchild of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), the deep-water arm of Shell companies in Nigeria, aims to strengthen local content in offshore exploration by opening the opportunity space to Nigerian professionals in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom.
In his keynote address, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote, described the annual event as a huge success. “I am happy to see growth in a partnership that has continued to build capacity without compromising standards,” he said.
Chairman of the Local Content Committee of the House of Representatives, Mr. Emmanuel Ekong, who led some other members of the National Assembly to the 2017 forum, proposed the takeover of the organisation of the forum by NCDMB. According to Ekong, saddling the local content agency with the ownership of GNF will ensure “inclusion of other international oil companies for greater impact and access to support from the Nigerian parliament”.
“This forum is unique and germane particularly at this time of the low oil price regime, and it aligns with the recent NNPC policy to increase participation of the private sector while attracting the right people with the right technology into the Nigerian oil and gas industry,” said the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Exploration Manager, Mr. Marcel Amu, who represented the national oil company.
In his remarks, President of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Mr. Kashim Ali, pledged the continued support of his organisation to the forum and asked participants to take advantage of COREN’s new accreditation procedure for Nigerian professionals outside the country.
Reacting to the endorsement of the forum and the successes of the initiative in the last four years, Managing Director of SNEPCo, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, acknowledged the support of NNPC, NCDMB, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, and the co-venture partners – Total, NAE and Esso – in the strides by SNEPCo and called for continued support and collaboration to further unleash the country’s huge deep-water potential to build a better Nigeria with stronger economy for now and the future.
Ojulari, who was represented at the forum by SNEPCo’s Acting General Manager, Nigerian Content Development, Mr. Austin Uzoka, said, “Nigeria’s deep-water outlook indicates a high volume of activity in the building of FPSOs and drilling of new high performance wells with cutting edge sixth and seventh generation drilling rigs delivering unprecedented schedule optimisation. SNEPCo obviously has blazed the trail here and would continue its strive to be the best-in-class deep-water energy company generating top-end employment and boosting local capabilities.
“As a Nigerian engineer, nothing makes me happier than seeing indigenous vendors and service providers break new grounds and play up to the international stage in engineering and other seemingly complex jobs.”
Those present at the forum included the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Mr. Jones Onyereri; Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora (NIDOE) North UK, Dr. Paul Eke; General Manager for Contracting and Procurement, Shell Nigeria and Gabon, Mr. Antony Ellis; and his counterpart for the UK, Mr. Anthony Makenna.
The first Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP1) formally opens on Sunday, September 24, 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Participants at the chemicals and waste briefing
The weeklong historic confab follows the entering into force of the Convention on August 16, 2017.
Ahead of the COP, a Chemicals and Waste briefing focusing on preparations for the Conference took place on Tuesday, September 12 at the International Environment House II. The event also provided updates on the implementation of the work programmes of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions and on the intersessional process for Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the sound management of chemicals and waste beyond 2020.
This is coming even as the Governments of Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Indonesia on Friday, September 22 deposited their instruments of ratification, thereby becoming the 78th and 79th future Parties to the Minamata Convention.
Luxembourg on Thursday, September 21 deposited its instrument of ratification to become the 77th Party, following closely on the heels of Germany, which on Friday, September 15, did likewise to become the 76th Party to the mercury treaty.
Luxembourg’s action came as the third ratification of the global pact after it entered into force and became legally binding on Wednesday, August 16, 2017. The first nation to ratify the treaty after it entered into force and became legally binding is the Republic of Namibia, which on Wednesday, September 6, 2017 deposited its instrument of ratification, thereby becoming the 75th future Party to the Minamata Convention.
Prior to the entry into force, Brazil on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 deposited its instrument of ratification, thereby becoming the 74th Party.
Earlier, Kiribati (July 28) and Syria (July 26) deposited their instruments of ratification to become 73rd and 72nd Parties, while Jamaica on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 became the 71st Party to the mercury convention.
Hitherto, the Governments of Rwanda, Palau, Thailand, Slovenia and Viet Nam deposited their instruments of ratification, thereby becoming the 66th to 70th future Parties to the mercury treaty.
The depositions were made on Wednesday, June 21; Thursday, June 22; Friday, June 23; and Thursday, June 29, 2017. While Palau deposited on Wednesday and Thailand on Thursday, both Slovenia and Viet Nam did likewise on Friday. Rwanda followed up a week later on Thursday.
Previously, Iran and Estonia had ratified the Convention, which has already entered into force, thanks to the landmark rash of ratifications on Thursday, May 18, 2017 that triggered the entry into force of the mercury accord, having garnered the required 50 ratifications.
On that day, the EU and seven of its member States – Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden – deposited their instruments of ratification at the UN Headquarters in New York, bringing to 51 that day the number of future Parties.
To commemorate the historic development, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Kumamoto Prefecture and Minamata City on Saturday, July 1, 2017 held “Celebrating Event for the Minamata Convention on Mercury – Voice from Minamata towards the Entry into Force” in Minamata City, Kumamoto, Japan.
The 1st Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention (COP1) will gather governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations from around the world in Geneva, Switzerland from September 24 to 29, 2017.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury (“Minamata Convention”) is a new international environmental convention for global community to work collaboratively against mercury pollution. The Minamata Convention aims at achieving environmentally sound mercury management throughout its life cycle. The Convention was adopted at the diplomatic conferences held in Minamata City and Kumamoto City in October 2013.
Prime Minister of Fiji and incoming COP23 President, Frank Bainimarama, addresses the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York
Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji
As we all know, the global community faces a great many challenges, of which climate change is only one. But I’m sure that we all want to send a message of solidarity and sympathy tonight to the millions of people in the Caribbean who are again suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Maria. It is an especially cruel ordeal so soon after Hurricane Irma carved a path of destruction through the Caribbean and southern United States. And the thoughts and prayers of all of us are with those who are affected.
The Fijian people share a special sense of solidarity with those who have either lost loved ones or their homes and possessions in these events. Last year, we lost 44 of our own people and a third of our GDP when Fiji was struck by the biggest cyclone ever to make landfall in the southern hemisphere. So as incoming COP President, I am deeply conscious of the need to lead a global response to the underlying causes of these events. And the appalling suffering in the Caribbean and the US reminds us all that there is no time to waste.
The Ocean Conference in June that Fiji co-hosted with Sweden was an unqualified success. As a global community, we have begun the massive task of restoring the health of our oceans. And to tackle the overfishing that is stripping our oceans of marine life and depriving many millions of people of a precious resource, now and into the future.
Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of Fiji’s contribution to UN Peacekeeping. As a small nation, we have suffered a great deal of pain from the loss of some of our finest troops on peacekeeping duties over the years. But this contribution is a very important part of how we see ourselves as a nation – our men and women in uniform serving the global community by protecting ordinary people in troubled parts of the world.
For 40 years, we have helped to make the world more secure. And now we are determined to make a successful contribution to the wider security of the planet through our leadership of COP23.
There is no escaping the fact that climate change is as great a threat to global security as any source of conflict. Millions of people are already on the move because of drought and the changes to agriculture threatening their food security. Throughout history, we know that human beings will fight over access to water. And unless we tackle the underlying causes of climate change, we already know that some places will become unlivable and others will disappear altogether.
In my own region, three of our neighbours are at risk, which is why Fiji has offered to give refuge to the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu in a worse case in which their homes sink beneath the waves altogether.
For the Fijian people, climate change is real. It affects our lives altogether. Whether it is the whole villages we are moving out of the way of the rising seas; the loss of our ancestral burial grounds; the salinity affecting our crops; or the constant threat of destruction to homes and infrastructure of the kind we experienced last year.
The reason our hearts go out to the people of the Caribbean right now is not only because we can empathise with them but because we fear the same fate. And I say to the nations of the world: Imagine another third of your GDP destroyed within a year or so. Imagine another cyclone scoring a direct hit and wiping out decades of development.
It is clear that global warming changes our very understanding of what our national interests are. It challenges us to understand that the only way for every nation to put itself first is to lock arms with all other nations and go forward together. Anything else is self-destructive – for the world and for each nation. It may be tempting for political leaders to show that they are protecting some national industry or near-term economic goal, but at what cost? The wise leader must work hard to convince the people to embrace the path we know we must take.
There is no choice to be made between prosperity and a healthy climate. For how prosperous can we be if we must devote our resources to relocating entire populations or reinforcing major cities? What does it cost to find new places to farm? And what about the consequences for global and regional security if nations begin to compete for safe land or have conflicts over the movements of climate refugees? It is obvious that we need to cooperate.
We need to learn from each other and to use the world’s considerable resources to do the most good for the most people. We need to continue to create prosperity and to ensure the well-being of the nations and ecosystems of the world. If we view this as some sort of negotiation in which each country tries to preserve its narrow national interests, we will all lose. We will be powerless to protect our own people from the consequences of climate change. Collective action is the only way forward. Wise men and women will understand that.
That is why I took on the role of COP President, why I eagerly embrace becoming the first Pacific Islander to do so. Because it is about ensuring that my own people flourish and prosper now and into the future. And by collaborating with the other nations of the world through this process, we ensure that together, humanity can flourish and prosper.
The ball will be passed to me and Team Fiji in Bonn in November by Morocco. And we thank the Moroccan Presidency of COP22 for making such great strides down the field towards the end game of fully implementing the Paris Agreement. Next year, Fiji will pass the ball to Poland. And I want to assure the Presidency of COP24 that Fiji will be supporting you all the way to the line.
Our own presidency would not be possible without the wonderful assistance of Germany. We simply could not have staged an event of this size and complexity in Fiji. But out of necessity, we have forged a bond with Germany.
That is an example to the world of how countries at opposite ends of the earth and of vastly different means and size can work effectively towards a common goal. We did it with Sweden with the Ocean Conference and we are equally proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Germany to deliver what the Paris Agreement was meant to do.
Fiji is deeply conscious that governments alone cannot meet this challenge. Which is why we are placing such emphasis on the notion of a Grand Coalition of governments at every level, civil society, the private sector and ordinary citizens moving this agenda forward. I am reaching out to governors, mayors, leaders of every sort across our societies. People of faith. People on the front line of the climate struggle. Women. And the young people who represent our future.
We are going to do things in Bonn differently. The formal proceedings will be led by our Chief Negotiator, Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, and I will play a roving role. I will be on hand to resolve any difficulties in the formal negotiations. But to reflect the importance of our Grand Coalition, I will be travelling between the two zones in Bonn – the formal negotiations and the climate action zone – with my good friend, our Climate Champion, Inia Seruiratu, and my fellow Pacific leaders. I am counting on them to help me get the message across that only by working together can we move this process forward further and faster.
In the Climate Action Zone – the Bonn Zone – Fiji and Germany are bringing together all those who have a part to play in making this Grand Coalition a great transformation. Climate activists, companies at the cutting edge of technology, artists and creative people, dancers and performers. And we will be stamping this zone with the Fijian Bula Spirit of optimism and inclusiveness that has made our islands famous the world over.
In the formal zone – the Bula Zone – we want the nations of the world to embrace what we call the talanoa Spirit in Fiji and certain other Pacific countries – a dialogue based on trust, empathy and the collective good. In our experience, it is the best way of getting things done, especially in difficult circumstances. Engagement that is respectful, honest, cooperative and acknowledges that no-one, no matter how powerful, can solve the climate challenge on their own. For humanity to survive, flourish and prosper, we have no alternative but to cooperate.
We have already established a solid foundation for our work as President. The formal negotiations are progressing. And we are looking forward to ministers and their delegations and representatives of civil society coming to Fiji next month for our Pre-COP. We are already delighted by the energy and sense of purpose of the leaders who make up the Grand Coalition.
I’m especially grateful to the Special Envoy for States and Regions that I have appointed to help me – Governor Jerry Brown of California who heads an impressive list of political leaders around the world in the Under 2 Coalition.
As we all know, the Paris Agreement calls for global warming to be kept well under two degrees over that of the industrial age and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees. A year ago, I stood here before being appointed President of COP23 and called for 1.5 degrees to be our target. I meant it then and I mean it now. There is an urgent need to fix this number as our objective and as soon as possible.
I certainly carry with me the authority of the Pacific to pursue this objective. And at this point, I want to pay a fulsome tribute to a Pacific islander who we have just lost but whose legacy will live on in these negotiations. Tony De Brum of the Marshall Islands took a very powerful slogan to Paris two years ago: “One point five to stay alive”. We intend to honour Tony’s legacy. And I intend to draw upon his spirit during my presidency.
As well as ensuring decisive action to limit global warming, we must also do a lot more to make nations and communities more resilient to the effects of climate change. We know we are all going to have to adapt. But we must make special provision for those who are most vulnerable and have the least resources to cope with the catastrophic consequences we are witnessing all around us.
We are pleased to be part of a serious engagement with governments and the private sector to secure innovative and more affordable access to insurance to enable those affected by disaster to recover more quickly. It is a question of fairness and economic development. Because without insurance, restoration and rebuilding is simply too great a burden for many nations and communities.
We are also encouraged by the rapid development of clean, affordable alternative energy solutions for countries across the world. This offers great promise that we can achieve this 1.5 degree target and prosper.
I am in no doubt that the role that I have embraced as COP23 President is the most important any Fijian leader has undertaken. I appeal to my fellow Pacific leaders to support me as we tackle the greatest challenge to our own region and the greatest challenge to the world. I want to acknowledge the work of the Alliance of Small Island States these past 30 years, which has consistently looked after the interests of our people. And has reminded the world that our interests are the interests of every global citizen.
We are all in the same canoe. Which is why we will have a Fijian ocean going canoe – a drua – in the main hall in Bonn to remind everyone of the need to fill its sail with a collective determination to move this process forward. To deliver on the promise we made to each other in Paris.
And to all the nations that have yet to ratify the Paris Agreement, please do so.
So I appeal to the nations of the world and all the leaders of the Grand Coalition to support me. I draw my power as COP president from you and I will do everything in my power to use it wisely.
