Genetically modified (GM) “male-sterile” mosquitoes are due to be released in the very near future, in Burkina Faso by the Target Malaria research consortium, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has disclosed.
Target Malaria acknowledges however that there are no benefits to the proposed GM mosquito release.
The National Biosafety Agency of Burkina Faso is under pressure not to release sterile genetically modified male mosquitoes as planned
According to Mariam Mayet, Executive Director of the ACB, “There is absolutely no justification for releasing these GM mosquitoes. It is highly unethical and totally unacceptable to conduct experiments which carry risks, yet do not bring any benefit for malaria control in Burkina Faso.“
The application to make open releases of GM mosquitoes was reportedly approved by the National Biosafety Agency (Agence Nationale de Biosécurité, ANB) in Burkina Faso in September 2018 and, as a result, the first open releases of GM mosquitoes in Africa are planned for the coming year.
The open release is intended to test the infrastructure and systems for future release for, as yet, experimental technologies, notably “gene drive” mosquitoes. Target Malaria’s ultimate aim is to release gene drive mosquitoes, with the aim of reducing the population of Anopheles mosquitoes, which can transmit the parasite that causes malaria. The hope is that reducing the mosquito population will reduce the risk of malaria transmission and hence disease incidence.
However, the proposed release of GM “male-sterile” mosquitoes, meant to only be for training purposes, is not expected to deliver any benefits for malaria control in Burkina Faso. This is not an early stage trial for later releases of the gene drive mosquitoes, but releases of an entirely different GM mosquito.
Instead, the release of the GM mosquito poses risks, including the incidental release of some biting female GM mosquitoes during the experiments, according to the ACB. While Target Malaria claims that the number will be small, nevertheless, since GM female mosquitoes can bite humans and spread disease, the release of biting females still poses some risk to local people.
ACB claims it has evidence that Target Malaria is paying compensation of 400 CFA francs (approximately 70 US cents) per hour to local villagers to allow for the collection of biting female mosquitoes from their own bodies.
“The use of a financial incentive to individuals to expose themselves to biting female mosquitoes, and potentially to malaria, is also ethically extremely questionable,” said Dr. Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK.
There is no published environmental risk assessment (ERA), other than that published by Target Malaria and there has been no public consultation, apart from “public engagement” activities conducted by Target Malaria (the organisation proposing the releases). Any decision on open releases of GM mosquitoes requires meaningful public consultation, as mandated by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, to which Burkina Faso is a Party, insists the ACB.
“The lack of a comprehensive, published ERA, which has been subject to a full public consultation, undermines the legitimacy and credibility of the reported approval of these experiments,” said Lim Li Ching, Senior Researcher from the Third World Network. “Without this, local people cannot be fully informed about the risks before making a decision on whether to accept them.”
According to scientists, malaria is a serious public health issue that disproportionately affects Africa.
“Instead of investing in risky GM technologies, what is needed is a more holistic approach to significantly and sustainably decrease the burden of malaria – one that integrates interventions and research on health, climate, agriculture (and eventually economics and housing) – in tackling the main factors contributing to the disease and its transmission,” said the ACB.
African ministers of health and environment have agreed on a 10-year strategic plan to increase investment and accelerate joint health and environment priorities.
Prime Minister of Gabon, Franck Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet
The “Strategic Action Plan to Scale Up Health and Environment Interventions in Africa 2019 – 2029 to the African Union” was adopted on Friday, November 9, 2018 at the closing of the Third Interministerial Conference on Health and Environment held in Libreville, the Gabonese capital, from November 6 to 9.
The Prime Minister of Gabon, Franck Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, said: “We must go further, particularly in terms of mobilising material and financial resources for the implementation of national plans, but also in terms of clarifying and sharing responsibilities.”
Nearly one in four premature deaths in Africa are linked to the environment and climate change threatens to increase the number of health emergencies and outbreaks in the coming years. African leaders have recognised the need for health and environment sectors to work together since the 2008 Libreville declaration and in 2010 the Luanda Declaration led to the creation of the Health and Environment Strategic Alliance, which is viewed as a pathmaker.
“The Health and Environment Strategic Alliance in Africa represents a powerful model of multisectoral partnership, which is exactly what we need to achieve the sustainable development goals,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General in a video message.
Ministers agreed to strengthen policy frameworks and institutional mechanisms for more integrated interventions as well as develop innovative platforms for funding, including more domestic resources allocated to joint actions on health and environment.
Rapid and unplanned urbanisation and industrialisation in Africa is increasing the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke.
“We must act on air pollution, the biggest killer of humans that causes 7 million deaths annually on our planet. Governments, businesses and citizens are stepping up responses to pollution and environment degradation, but we need to do far more,” said Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
“There are inspiring examples across Africa. We must take the opportunity to share best practices and learn from each other. We need urgent, large scale and coordinated actions. We need to scale-up government and private sector investments. Together we can beat pollution and improve the health of our citizens,” he added.
Supported by the WHO, UNEP and development partners, the action plan can positively change the course of sustainable development in Africa, it was gathered.
“A penny saved today in avoiding the prevention of ill health, is a pound spent tomorrow on rising hospital bills, lost work days, and cleanup costs,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Regional Director for Africa. “We need a new business model based on an integrated approach to programming and service delivery.”
The economic cost of premature deaths from air pollution is estimated at $450 billion. The economic loss due to the lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation is estimated to be 5% of the region’s gross domestic product.
The return on investment in health and environment will have significant social and economic impact for Africa. For instance, the benefits from eliminating lead in gasoline on a global scale have been estimated at $2.45 trillion per year, saving an estimated one million premature deaths per year.
The Ministers at the conference called on the President of Gabon as host country to present the strategic action plan for endorsement by the African Union and the outcomes will provide invaluable inputs to the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly to be held from March 11 to 15, 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Senate Committee on Environment has lauded the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) over its modern state-of-the-art Genetic Modification (GM) Detection and Analysis Laboratory.
Officials of the NBMA briefing members of the Senate Committee on Environment during the visit
The senators made the commendation during an oversight visit to the agency in Abuja on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018 while they were taken on a tour of the agency’s laboratory.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, said that, in such a short time of establishment, the agency has achieved a lot in terms of equipment, personnel and performance.
Senator Tinubu, who said the committee came to ascertain the level of performance for the years 2017 and 2018 of the agency’s budget, also commended the Director General/CEO of the agency, Dr Rufus Ebegba, for achieving so much in a short time.
Dr Ebegba presented the 2017 and 2018 budget performance to the committee, noting that the essence of the GM detection and analysis laboratory is to ensure that no Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) is allowed into the country without proper verification and authorisation.
While presenting the budget, the DG/CEO said that, in 2017, about N243,734,400 was appropriated, about N170,806,235 was released and N170,806,235 was expended.
Dr Rufus said for 2018, about N258,069,920 was appropriated, N25,860,992 was released and about N25,851,051 has been expended so far.
The eight-man Committee promised to relate the progress and needs of the agency back to the National Assembly for onward action.
The DG/CEO thanked the Senate Committee on Environment for the encouragement during the visit.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Friday, November 9, 2018 invited experts and governments to review the Second Order Drafts of two Special Reports that will be launched next year.
The Expert and Government Review for the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) takes place between November 16, 2018 and January 11, 2019. The Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) can be reviewed from November 19, 2018 to January 14, 2019.
The two reports, to be finalised in the second half of 2019, follow the Special Report on “Global Warming of 1.5ºC”, which was released on October 8.
All IPCC reports go through multiple stages of formal review. After the Expert Review of the First Order Draft, the Second Order Draft is produced and reviewed by both governments and experts alongside a first draft of the Summary for Policymakers (SPM). Once the second round of review comments have been considered, governments review the Final Draft of the report and offer comments on the SPM.
Finally, governments meet to approve the SPM line by line and accept the underlying report. The thorough review process ensures that IPCC reports consider objectively the full range of scientific, technical and socio-economic information from around the world.
Expert Reviewers, according to the IPCC, can register with a self-declaration of expertise up to a week before the end of the review period.
For the “IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate” (SROCC), more than 100 scientists from more than 30 countries are assessing the latest scientific knowledge about the physical science basis and impacts of climate change on ocean, coastal, polar and mountain ecosystems, and the human communities that depend on them. Their vulnerabilities as well as adaptation capacities are also evaluated. Options for achieving climate-resilient development pathways will be presented.
The SROCC is prepared under the joint scientific leadership of Working Group I and Working Group II, with operational support from the Working Group II Technical Support Unit. It will be launched in September 2019.
“Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems” (SRCCL) assess topics such as the interactions between climate change and desertification, land degradation, food security, sustainable land management, and opportunities and risks associated with land-based adaptation and mitigation responses to climate change.
The SRCCL is being developed under the joint scientific leadership of Working Groups I, II and III and the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, with operational support from the Working Group III Technical Support Unit. It will be launched in August 2019.
The Global Financing Facility (GFF) in Support of Every Woman Every Child in Oslo, Norway on Tuesday, November 6, 2018 announced $1.005 billion in contributions from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Burkina Faso, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire the European Commission, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Laerdal Global Health, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar and the United Kingdom. This will help the GFF partnership on the pathway toward expanding to as many as 50 countries with the greatest health and nutrition needs and contribute to saving and improving millions of lives by 2030.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the launch of the Global Financing Facility in support of the “Every Woman Every Child” initiative for maternal, newborn, and child health, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo credit: Eskinder Debebe / U.N.
Tuesday’s event has been described as an important milestone toward the goal of raising as much as $2 billion to expand to a total of 50 countries; the GFF is expecting additional pledges from new and existing investors who are considering new multi-year commitments.
The GFF is a catalyst for health financing that is helping countries to transform how they invest in women, children and adolescents because for too long, their health and nutrition has been chronically and persistently de-prioritised and underfunded – resulting in the preventable deaths of five million women and children every year. The GFF helps countries in three specific ways:
developing an investment case and implementation plan prioritizing reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition and a strong primary health care system;
strengthening a country-led platform that aligns all key stakeholders around a prioritized health and nutrition plan; and
working with countries to mobilise and coordinate the financial resources needed to accelerate progress for the most vulnerable populations in the hardest-to-reach regions.
“Today there is great hope that the world’s poorest countries can build healthy, vibrant futures where no woman, child or youth is left behind. The GFF partnership is effective and efficient – working with countries to develop the capacity to build and sustain the health systems their women and children need to survive and thrive,” said Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway and Co-Chair of the Sustainable Development Goals Advocates.
More than two billion people live in countries that spend less than $25 per capita on health, which is said to be less than a third of what is needed for countries to provide basic, life-saving health services for their people.
Through working with the GFF, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and other GFF-supported countries have shown that it is possible for all countries to improve their future and invest in the most vulnerable people in their societies by increasing investment in health, says the GFF. It says that it also demonstrates that generous, but relatively small financial contributions can – when aligned and spent catalytically and efficiently in support of national investment cases – have exponential impact by mobilising additional financing and saving millions of lives.
On Tuesday in Oslo, Burkina Faso reaffirmed its commitment to allocating at least 15% of its annual budget to improve health; Côte d’Ivoire committed to increasing its health budget 15% annually; and Nigeria recommitted to investing $150 million per year from its budget to sustainably finance health and nutrition of women, children and adolescents. Increasing domestic resources is an integral focus of GFF-supported countries.
“The GFF is about country-ownership – working with countries to set priorities, and drive domestic resource mobilisation. These are the GFF’s great strengths. It makes the most compelling case for why countries must lead and put their own money on the table, and it reinforces the prioritization of resource allocation for basic social sectors, particularly the health sector,” said Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina Faso.
Donors and countries reportedly responded to an urgent need for countries to transform health financing in order to accelerate progress on universal health coverage and to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets of ending preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths and improving the health and nutrition of women, children and adolescents.
“In 2018, all mothers should be able to protect their own health, and the health of their babies and children. But each day, 830 women die from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth and 450,000 children under five die needlessly every month,” said Kristalina Georgieva, CEO of the World Bank. “The GFF brings bold new thinking that aims to end this injustice through smart interventions and coordinated finance that can transform the health, wellbeing and life-chances of women, children and adolescents in developing countries.”
The World Bank, which hosts the GFF, announced on Tuesday that, in just the last three years, $482 million in funding from the GFF Trust Fund had been linked to $3.4 billion in funding from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The $1.005 billion pledged to the GFF Trust Fund in Oslo is expected to link to an additional $7.5 billion in IDA/IBRD resources for women, children and adolescents’ health and nutrition.
Additionally, in partnership with the GFF, the World Bank announced that the World Bank Treasury had launched a series of Sustainable Development Bonds to raise awareness among investors of the significant and long-lasting benefits of investing in the health and nutrition of women, children and adolescents, and that these have raised $935 million since June 2018. These bonds are said to bring private capital into the IBRD financing pool and serve as an entry point for investors to become aware of the growing opportunities in sustainable investments. To reduce barriers for countries to access these funds, the GFF provides co-financing and loan buy-down grants that enable governments to catalyse public and private funds for investing in the health and nutrition of women, children and adolescents.
A recent peer-reviewed study published in The BMJ Global Health – reflecting the combined efforts that contribute to bending the curve on maternal, newborn and child mortality rates, including by the GFF; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; UNAIDS; FP2020; and other partners – estimated that countries can save as many as 35 million lives by 2030 if global health investment continues to grow at current rates and if other global health initiatives hit targets, and if the GFF partnership can extend its reach and help all 50 countries with the greatest health and nutrition needs. It also estimated that the GFF Trust Fund financing had the potential to mobilise as much as an additional $50-75 billion for women, children and adolescents’ health and nutrition, 70% of which would be from countries’ domestic resources.
“Healthy women, children and adolescents contribute to a virtuous cycle,” said Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “With health comes the ability to go to school and learn, which helps people prosper as adults, who are then able to raise empowered children who continue the cycle. That’s why the GFF is such a great investment.”
With the commitments announced on Tuesday, a total of $1.005 billion in commitments has been raised for the 2019-2023 replenishment period, which aims to raise $2 billion in total to expand the GFF to reach a total of 50 countries.
“Today we are on the cusp of transformative change in global health when no woman, child or adolescent will be left behind. The GFF partnership is helping countries to transform the futures of their people by embedding the prioritization of health culturally, politically and financially. Supporting leaders around the world to make these changes is vital and we are thrilled today to have the support of so many to make this vision a reality,” said Mariam Claeson, Director of the GFF.
The GFF was founded in 2015 by the World Bank, the governments of Canada and Norway, the United Nations and other partners. As a pathfinder for innovative financing of the SDGs the GFF is helping to address the unfinished agenda of women, children and adolescents’ health and nutrition and to close the financing gap.
Development Partners have commended President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring a state of emergency in the Water and Sanitation Sector, calling for deliberate political will to improve the sector.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the inauguration of the National Action Plan for the Revitalisation of Water Supply and Hygiene Sector in Abuja on Thursday, November 8, 2018.
According to them, this has shown the highest commitment of the country toward changing the narratives of the water and sanitation sector.
The Deputy Representative, UNICEF Nigeria, Ms. Pernille Ironside, said the declaration was not just historic for Nigeria, but a call to action to improve the wellbeing of all Nigerians.
“It is truly historic to witness such a commitment coming from the highest level for Nigeria.
‘‘It is a commitment that will genuinely make a difference for all Nigerians; it is not just historic for Nigeria, its district for the world.
“With the commitment of Nigeria, it is possible for the world to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, so I congratulate you on behalf of the development partners group for playing such a critical role toward sustaining this milestone.’’
She said no fewer than a million children were affected daily globally from preventable diseases and deaths from poor access to water and sanitation.
The Deputy Representative said that these diseases also affect under-five children from diarrheal-related deaths.
Ironside noted that within six weeks, many families affected in both urban and rural areas suffered bouts of diarrhea, saying this was not a good circumstance for anyone to witness.
She added that the implications of poor access to water and sanitation were critical on humans in areas of education, health, loss of dignity and economy.
She, therefore, called for more commitment from all tiers of government to reverse the statistics and make a difference.
“There is the need for capital investments to ensure access to the un-served and the under-served, it is sound sector institutions that are needed to sustain the existing and the new WASH related efforts.
“It is investing in systems for sustainable performances that is critical, not only ensuring service quality, but conserve capital investments.’’
She urged all Nigerians to play their parts by constructing toilets and contributing finances toward water taps for sustainability.
WaterAid Nigeria Country Director, Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, told NAN that the sanitation condition of the country was an embarrassment.
She said there was the need for willingness from state actors and other stakeholders to ensure that they invested in the sector.
Aniagolu-Okoye expressed regret that, with current investments, Nigeria might not meet the Sustainable Development Goals target on water and sanitation.
“In Nigeria today, we have people building houses without toilets, how is that allowed to happen?
‘‘It is not all about resources, we are always talking about resources; it is just about ministries doing their work.
“The issue of regulation, just getting the ministries more coordinated, like education and health, and how important water and sanitation is to those ministers, and yet, to try to get that coronation to happen, is not as well as it should be going,” she said, adding:
“With one in three Nigerians without clean water, and two in three Nigerians without decent household sanitation, strong political will is what is needed to address the water and sanitation crises in Nigeria and at WaterAid we are delighted that the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari is demonstrating the needed political will with the launch of the Action Plan.
“The National Plan of Action is a significant political milestone towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 to reach everyone, everywhere with clean water and decent sanitation by 2030 and our expectation is that state governments will follow suit in developing Action Plans to address the Water and Sanitation crises in their respective states.”
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja declared a state of emergency on Nigeria’s water supply, sanitation and hygiene sector.
The president said that the declaration had become imperative to reduce the high-prevalence of water-borne diseases in different parts of the country to save people from preventable deaths.
Buhari directed government at all levels to redouble efforts and work toward meeting the nation’s water supply and sanitation needs.
The president described statistics on open defecation, access to piped water services and sanitation in the country as “disturbing”.
He warned that, henceforth, Federal Government’s support to state governments would be based on their commitment to implement the National WASH Action Plan in their respective states and to end open defecation by 2025.
President Muhammadu Buhari has declared a state of emergency on Nigeria’s water supply, sanitation and hygiene sector.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Buhari made the declaration at the inauguration of the National Action Plan for Revitalisation of Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector at State House Conference Centre on Thursday, November 8, 2018 in Abuja.
He directed governments at all levels to intensify efforts and work towards meeting the nation’s water supply and sanitation needs.
Buhari warned that, henceforth, Federal Government’s support to state governments would be based on their commitment to implementing the National WASH Action Plan in their respective states and to end open defecation by 2025.
The president said the declaration had become critical to reduce the high-prevalence of water-borne diseases in different parts of the country, which has caused preventable deaths.
He described statistics on open defecation, access to piped water services and sanitation in the country as “disturbing”.
“Access to piped water services which was 32 per cent in 1990 has declined to seven per cent in 2015; access to improved sanitation has also decreased from 38 per cent in 1990 to 29 per cent in 2015.
“Our country now ranks number two in the global rating on Open Defecation as about 25 per cent of our population are practicing open defecation.
“WASH services at the rural areas are unsustainable as 46 per cent of all water schemes are non-functional, and the share of our spending on WASH sector has been declining from 0.70 per cent of the GDP in 1990 to about 0.27 per cent in 2015, which is far below the 0.70 per cent at the West African regional level,” Buhari said.
The president restated that the provision of potable water supply, adequate sanitation and hygiene were primarily the responsibilities of State and Local Governments.
According to him, water supply and sanitation are not being given the required attention judging from the high prevalence of water-borne diseases that are being reported in different parts of the country.
He said that the stakeholders could not and would not continue to allow the preventable occurrences to decimate Nigeria’s population.
Buhari said that he was aware that Nigeria did not meet the MDG targets for Water Supply and Sanitation that ended in 2015.
“The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets (6.1 and 6.2) for WASH are even more demanding as they require WASH services to be provided in adequate quantity and quality on premises at affordable prices.
“This cannot be achieved if we continue with ‘a business as usual’ approach.
“It is on this premise that I fully endorse the decision taken at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council in April this year to declare a State of Emergency on our WASH Sector.
“I call on all state governments to complement this effort by according the sector similar recognition to enable us work together to achieve the SDG targets for WASH by 2030.’’
At the federal level, Buhari pledged that his administration would continue to place priority on infrastructure development including those of water supply, sanitation and hygiene services towards ensuring a better life for Nigerians.
According to him, the commitment is being demonstrated through faithful implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) – which is the present administration’s blueprint for infrastructure and economic development.
“From the inception of this administration, we have demonstrated serious commitment to the development of the Water Sector by preserving the Ministry of Water Resources and subsequently approving the 15-year roadmap developed for the sector.
“The transformation being witnessed in the sector since then is highly commendable.
“I have no doubt that the on-going initiatives including the implementation of the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) in the Ministry will take the water sector to improved performance and supply, thereby meeting the national aspirations as well as the SDGs,” he said.
The event was attended by representatives of state governments and development partners.
No fewer than 75 million cows slaughtered for consumption end up wasting every year, a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says.
Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO
The UN agency, in a report entitled “Preventing Nutrient Loss and Waste Across the Food System: Policy Actions for High-quality Diets” in New York also stated that regular eating of poor-quality food had become a greater public health threat than malaria, tuberculosis or measles.
According the the report, more than half of globally-produced fruits and vegetables are lost or wasted each year.
It added that “moreover, around 25 per cent of all meat produced, equivalent to 75 million cows, goes uneaten.”
With the value of global food lost or wasted annually, estimated to be around 1 trillion dollars, the report said cutting down on waste would yield major economic benefits.
Additionally, eating more of the food already produced, would avoid wasting the water, land and energy that went into its production, FAO said.
The report also said that one-in-five deaths was associated with poor-quality diets, and urged policymakers to reduce food loss and waste, to improve access to nutritious and healthy food.
According to the report, approximately one-third of food produced for human consumption never reaches the consumer’s plate or bowl.
It added that nutrient-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, seafood and meats were highly perishable, rendering them susceptible to losses throughout increasingly complex food production systems.
“To tackle all forms of malnutrition and promote healthy diets, we need to put in place food systems that increase the availability, affordability and consumption of fresh, nutrient-rich food for everyone.
“Reducing food loss and waste, particularly high-nutrient foods, not only has nutritional benefits, but also contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and should be a new priority for improving nutrition.
“Taking specific actions to reduce the losses and waste of fresh and nutritious food is a fundamental part of this effort,” stressed FAO Director-General José da Silva, who is also a member of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, joint report author.
To remedy this, the report proposed series of policy actions across the entire food system, including educating all concerned; focusing on perishable foods; improving public and private infrastructure; and closing data gaps on food losses and waste.
FAO data indicated that in low-income countries, food was mostly lost during harvesting, storage, processing and transportation; while in high-income nations, the problem was in retail and consumer level waste.
Together, the two forms of food loss directly impact the number of calories and nutrients actually available for consumption, FAO said.
It noted that given the direct impact on wellbeing, learning capacity and productivity, the loss and waste of micronutrients was of particular concern.
Globally, agriculture sectors produce 22 per cent more vitamin A than we require, however, after loss and waste, the amount available for human consumption is 11 per cent less than required.
Reducing the loss and waste of nutritious foods could, therefore, yield substantial health benefits, FAO stressed.
Environmentalists in the U.S. have welcomed the election of candidates promising a “Green New Deal’’ but cautioned that green goals would be hard to achieve under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Donald Trump, US president
The U.S. Congress will include four new representatives who campaigned on a public works programme – like U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal that helped end the 1930s depression – aimed at building a renewable energy economy.
The plan will, however, need to be packaged differently, said University of Albany’s political scientist Brian Greenhill, given Trump’s rollback of climate regulations and his dismissal of man-made global warming as a hoax.
“I can’t imagine under the Trump administration that anything labelled a `Green New Deal’ would be successful, especially if it is framed in terms of climate change,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
However, he said that the plan seemed like a “no-brainer’’ after recent discussions between House Republicans and Democrats about infrastructure as an area where the two parties could find common ground.
Green victories came amid setbacks in Colorado, Arizona and Washington states, where voters rejected initiatives to curb fossil fuels by restricting drilling, putting a fee on carbon emissions and mandating the wider use of renewable energy.
Jason Albritton, a director at the Nature Conservancy, said that in spite of being “disappointed’’ by the rejection of those state measures, addressing environmental issues by creating jobs is “a potential path to success’’.
The most vocal champion of the Green New Deal has been Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 29-year-old educator who won a seat in New York State.
Ocasio-Cortez has spoken of her vision of the Green New Deal as a programme which is comparable in scale to the “Marshall Plan”, the U.S.-backed programme initiated to rebuild Western Europe after World War II but focused on renewable energy.
But her campaign platform contains few concrete details on the topic and her representatives did not respond to a request for further information.
Cassady Craighill, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace, said that the plan could prove to be a “powerful’’ concept, even though she said that fleshing out details of “what a Green New Deal means should be a priority”.
Other candidates sliding toward victory whose platform included the ambitious proposal were Icahn Omar, victorious in Minnesota, Rash Tlaib, who ran in Michigan, and Antonio Delgado, a Harvard-educated lawyer in New York.
The Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has called on the three tiers of government to pay more attention to physical planning for a comprehensive urban development of the country.
Chairman of Lagos NITP, Mr Adebisi Adedire
Chairman of Lagos NITP, Mr Adebisi Adedire, made the call on Thursday, November 8, 2018 at a news conference to mark the 2018 World Town Planning Day in Ikeja, the state capital.
Adedire said that town planning was the bedrock of any meaningful physical and economic development of a community, city or nation.
According to him, the World Town Planning Day creates an opportunity for professional planners and the general public to come together to dialogue on necessary steps to take the pursuit of achieving an environment which is safe, economical, sustainable and convenient for habitation.
“Nigeria is yet to enjoy an environment of these characteristics.
“But we are optimistic that with continuous dialogue like this as well as involvement of town planners in policy formulation and implementation, the country will become an envy of other countries in the world,” he said.
Commending the Lagos State Government on its effort in the aspect of plan preparations, Adedire called for recruitment of town planners into the ministries both at the federal and states level.
He lamented that the governments had not recruited town planning staff in the last five years, saying that if this continued, there would be a lacuna and their positions would be filled by members of other professions.
Adedire also appealed for the creation of a full fleshed ministry of physical planning and urban development at the federal level to ensure effective operation of town planning administration and activities at the federal level.
“With the great importance attached to town planning globally, it is not wise for physical planning and urban development to be operating as a department under a ministry in the country.
“What obtains today is that physical planning is under the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. This shouldn’t be. The country is in urgent need of proper physical planning. As such, a ministry needs to be created for this purpose,” he said.
Mr Toyin Ayinde, the 2nd Vice President of NITP, called for an ultramodern transportation system to ease the incessant gridlock across the state.
Ayinde said that transportation still posed great challenge to the state, saying that in organised societies, no government would allow numerous minibuses to apply the road as obtained in many cities in the country.
According to him, availability of too many minibuses and private cars on the road is an indication of constant violation of the traffic rules and orders as witnessed on Nigerian roads.
