The Country Manager of HarvestPlus Nigeria, Mr Paul Ilona, on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 said that bio-fortified crops were natural and different from genetically modified (GM) crops, which are basically synthetic.
Bio-fortified crops in Africa
Ilona, who said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, pointed out that the crops were also different from foods that were fortified with vitamins and other trace minerals.
He said that, for instance, scientists had identified some genes in cassava and maize that were beneficial to human’s health.
“There are no health concerns with bio-fortified crops like it is the case with GM crops.
“‘Albinos’ have been identified in tuber crops like cassava and grains like maize.
“Some of the tubers and grains are carriers of Vitamin A and other trace minerals.
“So, whatever is being done in the crop bio-fortification process is to identify the carriers of micro-nutrients and naturally accentuate the genes.
“That is why straight from harvesting, we have grey, white and orange coloured cassava varieties which you fry and get the exact colour without adding oil or any colouring material,’’ he said.
Ilona said that there were over 3,000 varieties of cassava in the system with broad genetic forms.
He said that some of the varieties had high starch and increased level of nutrients in them.
Ilona said that HarvestPlus was introducing Vitamin A cassava stems to smallholder farmers and empowering them with machines to facilitate proper crop processing after harvest.
He said that the idea of crop bio-fortification was to curb malnutrition by fortifying basic staple foods with the necessary nutrients that could be obtained from the food which the people consumed.
Ilona, however, urged the federal and state government to earmark funds for crop bio-fortification projects.
He said that HarvestPlus was working with Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike, to train farm managers, as part of efforts to attract investors in the agriculture sector.
He said that high-quality custard and snacks as well as grey, orange, dark coloured cassava were currently produced from the bio-fortified Vitamin A cassava.
Ilona said that HarvestPlus had also introduced automated cassava planters, automated cassava harvesters and mobile flash driers to dry cassava tubers when processed.
Ilona said that the agency invested heavily in women, while organising them into community organisations as a means of fighting malnutrition using bio-fortified crops.
The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 called on the participants of the Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany, to adopt a coordinated policy approach in order to achieve zero hunger and ensure food security across the world by 2030.
René Castro, Assistant-Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Jose da-Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said: “Climate change, hunger and poverty must be tackled together, and with the right intervention across sectors this can be achieved.
“We can have zero hunger by 2030, this is still possible. We need to work on it together but we need to act now.”
According to the FAO director-general, climate change is a fundamental threat to the Sustainable Development Goal II (SDGII) that aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition.
“To achieve SDG2 and effectively respond to climate change, we require a transformation of our agriculture sectors and food systems,” da Silva explained.
This year’s COP23 conference, which kicked off on Nov. 6 and will continue through Friday, is focused on ways to implement and improve countries’ pledges on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the Paris Agreement, its signatories must keep the increase in average global temperature at below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Rice Farmers Association, Daura Local Government chapter in Katsina State, northern Nigeria, says it has so far registered 500 farmers for the second phase of the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers Agricultural Programme.
Rice farming
Alhaji Nura Baure, the chairman of the association made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Daura on Tuesday, November.
He said the farmers would be provided with farm implements such as seedlings, fertiliser, insecticides, water pumping machines and cash to enable them become fully committed in the venture.
Baure noted that the first batch of farmers who benefited from the programme had started repaying the loan.
“We have received hundreds of bags of rice as loan repayment from the first batch of the beneficiaries,’’ he said.
According to him, the second phase of the disbursement and distribution of farm implement is expected to hold in December for the dry season farming.
He urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the loan when collected with a view to promoting food security and economic sustainability.
The chairman commended the Federal Government for the reforms in the sector, especially the Anchor Borrowers Programme, adding that it had created thousands of millionaires nationwide.
NAN reports that the Anchor Borrowers Programme was established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in line with its developmental function.
The programme, which was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on Nov. 17, 2015, is aimed at creating a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing, and small holder farmers of the required key agricultural commodities
The programme thrust of the programme is the provision of farm inputs in kind and cash (for farm labour) to small holder farmers to boost production of these commodities, stabilise inputs supply to agro processors and address the country’s negative balance of payments on food.
At harvest, the small holder farmer supplies his/her produce to the Agro- processor (Anchor) who pays the cash equivalent to the farmer’s account.
About 2,000 farmers have so far keyed into the programme since its inception.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) on Monday, November 13, 2017 announced its support for a first of its kind climate resilience investment fund today at the UN Climate Conference (COP23) in Bonn. The fund will boost adaptation efforts in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries. And, for the first time, private investors will have the opportunity to get their return by investing in a fund that exclusively focuses on resilience-related companies.
Announcing the GEF’s contribution of $1 million, GEF CEO and Chairperson, Naoko Ishii, said “The tide is changing with respect to private sector support for resilience.”
“Our role as a public institution is to share the risks,” she said. “I hope the new equity fund, the first of its kind for the GEF, can serve as an example of how to get more private sector capital into the resilience space.”
CRAFT will invest in companies that provide either “resilience intelligence”, such as data analytics, modeling, and forecasting, or “resilience solutions” including products and services that address climate risks in areas like water, agriculture and energy.
Envisaged areas for investment range from climate-smart supply chain analytics software and drought-tolerant tree crops to coastal protection and disaster recovery.
The Lightsmith Group has developed the concept and will be in charge of executing and managing the fund. Conservation International will be the implementing agency for the GEF project. The NDF has approved financing of €500,000 to partly finance the preparation activities and establishment of CRAFT.
In a press statement, NDF said it would support the Lightsmith Group in bringing the CRAFT concept into execution, by leveraging the extensive experience that NDF has built over the years in the field. “By supporting CRAFT in the early-stage phase, NDF has the opportunity to consolidate its leading role in the context of building the business case of climate adaption and resilience and private sector engagement in developing countries,” said Isabel Leroux, Country Programme Manager at NDF.
“Given their leadership in climate finance, GEF and NDF are ideal partners for this effort to launch the first private sector climate adaptation and resilience investment strategy,” said Sanjay Wagle, Managing Director of The Lightsmith Group. “This funding demonstrates the public sector’s commitment to working with the private sector to address the critical problem of climate change and its recognition of Lightsmith’s unique combination of investment expertise and government experience.”
“Many of the most cost-effective solutions for building resilience to the impacts of climate change come from nature itself. Conservation International, as the GEF Implementing Agency, is pleased to be part of this partnership,” said Shyla Raghav, CI’s Climate Change Lead. “As pressure mounts to find new and innovative sources of climate finance, this effort is a promising and paradigm-shifting approach to scaling up finance for climate change adaptation. It will go a long way to help us start mobilising the resources to finance the needed solutions.”
The new SCCF project, also endorsed by the Climate Innovation Lab, will facilitate the completion of investment, impact, and fundraising strategies for CRAFT, support the identification and incorporation of 250 companies into the Fund’s database of climate resilience companies, and identify at least five high-probability potential investment transactions.
CRAFT could mobilise as much as $500 million to invest in adaptation, acting as a stepping stone towards catalysing a broader market for climate resilience solutions and investments, and provide direct benefits to reduce the vulnerability of businesses and communities through building resilience.
Helping the most vulnerable countries adapt
The SCCF is a fund open to all vulnerable developing countries, and supports a wide range of activities related to climate change. It funds, in addition to adaptation, technology transfer, mitigation in selected sectors including: energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management; and economic diversification.
The SCCF complements the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), which holds the largest portfolio of adaptation projects in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Both are entrenched in the Paris Agreement, and expect to deliver benefits to 25 million people though past and current projects. In 2017, the GEF Council approved $140 million in grant resources from the LDCF for projects in 19 of the poorest countries in the world.
At the opening of the COP23 in Bonn, the German government announced €100 million to support developing countries in climate change adaptation, including 50 million to the LDCF.
The Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and partners on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 launched the new People-Centred Accelerator – a voluntary partnership led initiative that aims to advance social inclusion, gender equality and women’s empowerment in sustainable energy.
Rachel Kyte, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL). The COP22 Energy Day is being jointly organised by IRENA, SE4ALL, MASEN and AMEE
Announced on Gender Day at COP23, in Bonn, Germany, the People-Centered Accelerator has been developed with over 40 organisations from across government, civil society, private sector, finance and non-government organisations.
The Accelerator aims to gain and improve clean energy access for those who will not be reached by business as usual approaches. The Accelerator will focus on unlocking finance, both private and public, strengthening collaboration and connections between stakeholders concerned with energy, gender and social justice, and increasing women’s full participation in sustainable energy solutions.
Speaking at the launch, Rachel Kyte, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO, Sustainable Energy for All, said: “Part of the ambition of the Paris Agreement was to “leave no one behind”. The world has committed to leave no one behind. To keep this promise as we move through a clean energy transition, we need to think differently about how we deliver affordable, reliable and modern energy services to those who are most marginalised. By promoting the inclusion of women and the most marginalized in society, in efforts to achieve universal energy access, the energy transition can truly be for all.”
Through gender-responsive and socially inclusive approaches, the People-Centred Accelerator will also complement ongoing efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework for Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: “We know that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is key to the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement, climate change solutions and the Sustainable Development Goals. I believe that when we talk about a topic as significant as climate change and sustainable energy, women who are working in this field as well as those who are potential beneficiaries, are provided an equal opportunity to share their knowledge, perspectives and needs.”
Ajaita Shah, CEO and Founder, Frontier Markets, a founding Accelerator partner that supports clean energy solutions in rural India, said: “We must place women at the centre of energy access to achieve deeper, wider impact. Investing in women is crucial not only for economic development, it is the key to productive household change to combat the barriers to energy access, sustainability, and scale.”
To coincide with the launch of the Accelerator, a new report – “Opening Doors: Mapping the Landscape for Sustainable Energy, Gender Diversity and Social Inclusion” – was also released.
The report maps the global landscape of support for women and marginalised groups in sustainable energy across organisations, programmes and policy that is already underway, including a focus on the 45 countries that are critical to meet SDG 7 targets. The landscape shows an active – but very fragmented – agenda that provides an important foundation to grow and accelerate action on gender and social inclusion in sustainable energy. To support this, the report provides immediate recommendations that philanthropic donors and development finance institutions can take to enhance the integration of these issues.
Dr. Ellen Dorsey, Executive Director of the Wallace Global Fund, who funded and helped catalyse the “Opening Doors” report, said: “Donors are uniquely equipped to help advance a truly transformative agenda for women’s rights by rapidly accelerating access to sustainable energy. Grants and impact investments can build women’s leadership, champion powerful policies, seed new technologies, and scale women-led businesses. When women have access to clean and affordable energy, their families are healthier, safer, and more productive. As the world seeks to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and uphold the Paris Climate Agreement, there is no other single strategy more effective than investing in women and sustainable energy.”
The findings from the “Opening the Door” report will support the ongoing development of the Accelerator and its core workstreams: demonstrate and help scale-up sustainable access pathways for the most vulnerable and hardest to reach people; direct capital to gender-responsive and socially inclusive energy businesses to support faster delivery of sustainable access solutions; and empower women engaged in energy service delivery to achieve autonomy, authority, and decision-making power at work.
The new technology industrial revolution will provide a major boost to speed up climate action but only if business commits to it and governments back it with stable policy and new incentives, delegates at the COP23 Innovation Day said on Tuesday, November 14, 2017.
John Danilovich, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce
In an example that embodies all these essential components of successful innovation, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) on Tuesday launched the below50 initiative hubs in North America, South America and Australia to create much bigger demand and markets for sustainable fuels.
Getting ideas into action is a major theme of the Global Climate Action Day where representatives from business, government and civil society are delving into technological and policy innovation and new ways of collaborating to get the world on track to achieve the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.
“Faced with the growing problem of climate change, the instinct of companies is not to be passive but to take action and find solutions. Global climate policy must provide the framework necessary to encourage the private sector to increase investment and spur innovation to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement,” said John Danilovich, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce.
The central goal of the Paris Agreement is to keep the average global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees. About one degree of that rise has already happened, underlining the urgency to progress much further and faster with the global clean energy transformation.
Meeting the Paris goal is also inextricably linked to the success of the 2030 Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, in this case particularly Goal 9 – to build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation.
Launching below50
The below50 initiative is a global collaboration that brings together the entire value-chain for sustainable fuels – that is, fuels that produce at least 50% less CO2 emissions than conventional fossil fuels. The goal is to create the demand and market for these fuels to scale up deployment.
The below50 hubs allow companies to engage with the below50 global campaign at the local level. Each hub works on solutions tailored for their regions – including local policy, awareness raising and financing. Every hub is led by a below50 partner and welcomes companies with an interest in the regional low-carbon fuel market.
Transport accounts for nearly 18% of all emissions worldwide, and over 90% of the sector is still dependent on carbon intensive fossil-fuels. To date, only 3% of transport fuels are low-carbon. According to the International Energy Agency, if we are to satisfy economic growth and limit global warming to below 2°C, 10% of all transport fuels must be low carbon by 2030 and 30% by 2050.
“We are standing at the cusp of a new industrial revolution. Forward-looking businesses are exceeding their climate targets by using innovation to help them reduce their carbon footprint. This is happening now as carbon smart technologies are disrupting the fuels and chemicals supply chain, and initiatives like below50 are turning this approach into a global movement,” said Freya Burton, Chief Sustainability and People Officer at LanzaTech.
This kind of innovation, partnership and united drive towards low-carbon must be replicated across the globe.
“We need innovation across policies, technologies and methods of collaboration,” said Rasmus Valanko, Director of Climate and Energy at WBCSD. “We’re not going to solve the climate challenge with existing technology only. We need to invest in the technologies and the partnerships we’ll need when decarbonisation gets even harder.”
Below50 not only represents innovative technology, but also innovative ways of partnering with governments to create enabling policies that will to bring low-carbon solutions to local markets.
Moving towards low-carbon requires identifying clearly which policies work and where they can be replicated in other parts of the globe. For example, through below50, WBCSD is working with the Brazilian government to adopt low-carbon fuel policies from California.
The idea is to create systems that reward and encourage sustainable investment.
“The Paris Agreement has delivered a shared ambition on climate change, and based on that, there needs to be clear national and local action plans which includes innovation. That’s where the actual emissions reductions happen,” Mr. Valanko said.
The devastating impacts of this year’s hurricane season have brought home the need to invest urgently in societies that can resist climate change, a fact which Norway and Unilever have taken to heart at COP23 with a commitment on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 of $400 million to stimulate resilient social development.
Vidar Helgesen, the Minister of Climate and Environment of Norway
At the Global Climate Action Resilience Day during the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn (COP23), leaders from across government, business and civil society stressed that cutting greenhouse gas emissions to prevent worse climate change and adapting successfully to existing climate change were not separate objectives but a single goal.
At the roundtable on unblocking investment into resilience, Vidar Helgesen, the Minister of Climate and Environment of Norway, gave a clear example of action.
He said: “I am pleased to announce that Norway with Unilever and other partners is setting up a new $400 million fund to invest in business models that combine investments in high productivity agriculture, smallholder inclusion and forest protection. This should be only one of many new public and private investments in more resilient socioeconomic development.”
Taking action now to build social and economic resilience against climate change is essential to successfully meet the objectives of three inextricably linked international agreements – the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
“Achieving economic development and the eradication of poverty can’t be achieved if we don’t build climate resilience. This is why the World Bank is putting resilience, and the management of climate risks, at the heart of its investments,” said Laura Tuck, Vice President Sustainable Development, at the World Bank.
Coordinated Public-Private Response
Building resilience requires investment by the public and private sector. This makes economic and environmental sense.
Roelfien Kuijpers, Head of Responsible Investments and Global Head of Strategic Relationships of Deuche Asset Management, said:“For many years, investors haven’t been able to fully assess climate change risks. Big data initiatives, such as the work of Four Twenty Seven, is allowing investors to do this and reduce the climate risks to their portfolios. This is an important step but more is needed to limit climate change risks, increase environmentally responsible investing, and to improve the disclosure of climate risks by companies.”
Dr Simon Young of Willis Towers Watson and the Insurance Development Forum highlighted the importance of public and private partnerships to assess and reduce risks saying: “To build climate resilience we must first understand the risks and how to assess them. The insurance sector working through public/private partnerships can do this, so that communities and businesses can not only anticipate risks but absorb, cope and rebound from them.”
Global and Local Response
Mary Robinson, President of Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, said: “To build resilience effectively we must address the root causes of poverty, inequality and exclusion and put people at the centre of decision making.”
Elhadj As Sy, the Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, emphasised that, to reach vulnerable people, efforts must not remain focused at the international and national level.
He said: “Our volunteers demonstrated the positive impact local action can have when they responded to the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean, heat waves in Europe, and floods in Bangladesh. We must empower local actors so they know what’s coming their way and have the resources to act.”
Nature, Science and Resilience
To build resilience most effectively means understanding the science, and working with nature.
Johan Rockström, the Executive Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, said: “Investing in resilience has two climate benefits. First it enables communities to navigate rising climate shocks and stresses. Second, it reduces climate risks by safeguarding carbon sinks and unleashing novel thinking on transformations to diversified fossil-fuel free societies.”
Inger Andersen, Director General of International Union for Conservation of Nature, said: “Climate change is putting millions of lives at risk and causing enormous economic losses. Well-functioning ecosystems are critical to reducing these risks while boosting the resilience of those that are most vulnerable. For example maintaining mangrove forests are a cost-effective nature based solution.”
Fiji’s Global Climate Champion, Minister Inia Seruiratu, underlined the importance of resilience and action by a wide range of stakeholders, saying: “Everyone needs to come together in unprecedented ways to tackle the challenges ahead of us. For all of us, but especially in vulnerable areas such as the Pacific, working together to build resilience is more urgent than ever before.”
Rene Castro, Assistant Director General of FAO, speaking on behalf of the UN Climate Resilience Initiative (A2R) echoed Minister Seruiratu’s comments saying: “The UN Climate Resilience Initiative is an excellent example of how public and private partners are coming together to help countries and communities anticipate and absorb climate risks, and to reshape development for sustainability”
Rommel Lo from the Dumaguete Effata Association of the Deaf (DEAF) in the Phillipines underlined the importance of putting communities at the heart of decision making saying: “Over a tenth of the world’s population live with some form of disability, and are among the most vulnerable to disasters. For the deaf community, it is my hope that even if we cannot hear, we can still be heard. We must be involved in making the decisions that will affect us.”
The events at COP23 have been organised by the by the following partners of UN Climate Resilience Initiative (A2R): the Global Resilience Partnership, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, the Insurance Development Forum, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, UN Environment, and the World Bank.
To be climate resilience means people and their economies need to have three things: to be able to understand and anticipate climate risks and hazards (both extreme events such as hurricanes and long term changes such as hotter temperatures and sea level rise); to be able to absorb and cope with the impact of shocks and stresses when they occur; and, in the long term a transformation of development and what they do to reduce these risks.
Executive Secretaries of the United Nations (UN) Biological Diversity, Climate Change, and Desertification Conventions are calling for the establishment of a Facility to secure finance for large projects that will help to address common issues.
UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. Photo credit: UN /Mark Garten
“We are calling for the establishment of a new Project Preparation Facility to bridge this gap and promote an integrated, coherent and multi-disciplinary approach to these related issues while supporting the respective mandates of the three Rio Conventions,” they said in a joint statement issued on Monday, November 13, 2017 by the Executive Secretaries at the UN Climate Change Conference 2017 (COP23) taking place in Bonn, Germany.
“There is strong demand for a Rio Conventions Project Preparation Facility to help finance large-scale, transformative projects that deliver multiple benefits in addressing global challenges and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the Desertification Convention.
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said “the need for supporting improved proposal design and structuring the investment case for multi-dimensional projects is the core mandate of this Facility.”
“This Facility will help access project funding for a wide variety of sources, including blended finance and public private partnerships,” said Cristiana Paşca Palmer, Executive Secretary of the Biological Diversity Convention.
Land productivity is declining at an alarming rate. More than a third of land is degraded, with most of it happening just in the last two decades.Current management practices in the land use sector are responsible for approximately 25 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Biodiversity is disappearing at alarming rates well above the natural rates. With over 1.3 billion people reliant on degrading land and exposed to an unprecedented level of climate stress, the situation is expected to worsen.
The proposed Facility will have two key functions: first, to deliver on existing commitments by promoting large-scale transformative projects to fill existing gaps between projects and funding; second, to act as a catalyst for more coordinated action. The Facility will simultaneously contribute to the implementation of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (CBD), the Land Degradation Neutrality targets (UNCCD), and the Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans (UNFCCC).
The details for the structure and operation for this facility are being explored in close consultation between the secretariats of the Rio Conventions and potential partners.
The international community and donors have pledged a number of funding commitments such as the enhanced climate financing to address some of the interconnected issues. The Conferences of the Parties to each of the Rio Conventions – namely the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – have underlined through numerous decisions the need for enhanced collaboration in order to harness synergies, enhance coordination and increase the effectiveness of operations. However, the existing technical assistance facilities are sector-specific and do not leverage the synergies between land, climate and biodiversity.
It is against this backdrop, that the Executive Secretaries of the Rio Conventions issued the joint statement to collaborate in the establishment of a Project Preparation Facility.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have set up an emergency post-disaster reconstruction financing initiative to help the Caribbean region recover from recent hurricane events.
A view of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Sint Maarten Dutch part of Saint Martin island in the Caribbean, Sept. 6, 2017.
The arrangement will support investments for infrastructure reconstruction projects in the Caribbean in the wake of the recent hurricanes. The new $24 million financing package is an addition to the $120 million Climate Action Framework Loan II signed in May, 2017, and which remains the EIB’s biggest loan to the Caribbean.
Eligible investments under the new loan will include infrastructure reconstruction, with a focus on “building back better” and integrating climate risk and vulnerability assessments into the projects. This will help reduce the Bank’s Borrowing Member Countries’ vulnerability to future natural disasters and worsening climate change impacts. As well as infrastructure, financing to communities for low-carbon and climate-resilience measures such as improved water resource management are also foreseen.
CDB President Wm. Warren Smith and EIB Vice President responsible for Climate Action, Jonathan Taylor, signed the new agreement during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in Bonn, Germany. Small Island Developing States is a key theme for the event this year under the Fijian Presidency. Against this backdrop, CDB and EIB presented innovative solutions to climate challenges during an event focusing on climate action in the Caribbean, attended by the Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr. the Rt. Hon. Keith Mitchell and other stakeholders.
Jonathan Taylor, EIB Vice President, said: “In response to the devastation caused by hurricanes in the region in recent weeks, the EIB and CDB rapidly agreed to commit additional resources to support reconstruction investment projects in the Caribbean. The $4 million post-hurricane reconstruction initiative comes in addition to the $120 million loan to CDB for financing climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience projects which we signed earlier this year. We stand committed to developing our fruitful 40 year partnership with CDB, to support climate-resilient projects in the Caribbean and to help to adequately tackle the challenges related to climate change.”
CDB President Wm. Warren Smith said: “The 2017 hurricane season was one of the most devastating the Caribbean has ever experienced, and underscored the urgent need for investment in climate-resilient infrastructure in our region. The signing of this agreement is another milestone in our longstanding partnership with EIB, and will facilitate CDB’s increased support for resilient reconstruction in the Caribbean. We remain committed to work with our partners to mobilise resources needed to ‘build back better’ and, despite the recent setbacks, help the most vulnerable countries of our region to remain focused on meeting their goals for sustainable development.”
To date, CDB has committed all of the resources under the first Climate Action Line of Credit – $65.6 million – for seven projects. This co-financing is associated with total project financing of $191 million.
Since CDB’s Climate Resilience Strategy was approved in 2012, 58% of projects financed have included climate change adaptation and/or mitigation elements in the climate-sensitive sectors of water, education, agriculture, and physical infrastructure such as sea defences, drainage, and roads. Using the Joint Multilateral Development Bank Methodology, climate financing represented 13% of total CDB project financing in 2015. In 2016, CDB approved $50 million for projects with explicit climate resilience and sustainable energy actions.
A pipeline of climate action projects amounting to over $300 million and which may be eligible for funding from this new loan has been developed with financing of an EIB-funded technical assistance programme.
The EIB has supported development and economic activity in the Caribbean with loans and equity investment worth €1.6 billion. The EIB is the world’s largest multilateral financier of climate action with €19 billion of lending for this sector in 2016, including €1.9 billion targeted at developing countries.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), in its recent assessment released on Monday, November 13, 2017 at the beginning of “World Antibiotic Awareness Week”, has revealed that fast food multinational companies do not have any India-specific commitments to eliminate misuse of antibiotics in their meat supply chains.
Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Centre for Science and Environment
Surprisingly, as the study highlights, the global giants have made ambitious, specific and time-bound commitments in the US and other countries to eliminate antibiotic misuse, owing to growing pressure from regulators and other stakeholders. Most of these companies have an over-arching global policy that recognises the need to limit antibiotic misuse to contain rising antibiotic resistance.
“Fast food multinational companies have adopted double standards. They have come out in the open and shown commitment to stop antibiotic misuse in the US and other countries, but have not taken any concrete steps in India. They do not seem to care about the Indian consumer and are not keen to cut-down on their contribution to the rising AMR in this country,” said Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Centre for Science and Environment.
The assessment notes that most companies aimed to completely stop using medically important antibiotics – identified and categorised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) into important, highly important and critically important – in their chicken supply chains in other countries. Few have planned to eliminate only the routine use, that is the non-therapeutic use for growth promotion and disease prevention. In fact, in the US, many companies have fulfilled their promise by now and several others will do so by 2018.
“McDonald’s, which has over 300 outlets in India and is very popular especially among kids, has no plans of eliminating even the ‘highest priority critically important antibiotics’ in India at least for the next 10 years. These antibiotics are extensively used in India and must be preserved for human use. The company plans to stop using these in many countries by 2019. However, it did not respond to our queries in India,” added Bhushan.
CSE said it sought response from 11 foreign multinationals and three India-based brands to understand their plans and policies for eliminating antibiotic misuse in their meat supply chains, which includes sourcing chicken, fish or other meat.
“Seven multinational brands and one Indian brand did not respond to us at all. Most of these, including McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut, sell chicken-based food across the country. While some others shared their practices of sourcing and testing, they did not specify any timelines by which they planned to eliminate antibiotic misuse,” said Amit Khurana, Head, Food Safety and Toxins programme, CSE.
CSE recommends
Fast food companies must make ambitious, time-bound India-specific commitments to eliminate routine antibiotic use for growth promotion and disease prevention in their supply chains for chicken, fish and other meat. They must also commit to stop any use of critically important antibiotics. Following in the footsteps of their global counterparts, they should ensure third-party supply chain audits, laboratory testing for antibiotic residues and resistant bacteria, documentation of antibiotic use and commit to making these reports public.
“The fast food industry must be aggressive about stopping antibiotic misuse in India. It’s their responsibility towards the Indian consumer. The multinationals should take a lead and inform consumers about their plans at the earliest; if possible, within this ‘World Antibiotic Awareness Week’. There is no reason for delay,” said Bhushan.
In addition, big institutional buyers such as hotels, hospitals, airlines and railways should develop policies to procure meat raised without routine use of antibiotics. Intensive industrial producers of chicken and fish must adopt practices that reduce dependence on antibiotics. The government must also make laws to prohibit antibiotic misuse.
“It is time that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) conducted regular surveillance of antibiotic residues and resistant bacteria in meat, meat-based foods and other food from animals. By ensuring labelling, FSSAI can help consumers know whether the food bought from a fast food outlet is made from meat raised using antibiotics. This can play a big role in reforming the food-animal production system and in containing AMR,” added Khurana.
