The UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn (COP23) scheduled to hold from November 6 to 17, 2017 is designed to increase climate action and more sustainable development at all levels of society. The organisers of COP23 are apparently walking the talk, the conference will be made sustainable to the greatest possible extent. In a special series, the UN Climate Change News team is looking at the different aspects of sustainability – including transport, waste management, catering, energy and offsetting. To kick off the series, the team looked at the issue of making the conference fully climate neutral, including by offsetting carbon emissions. In this second installment of its special series, the team is looking at the issue of sustainable transport and energy.

Ensuring that carbon emissions from energy and transport are kept to a minimum will be an important way of ensuring the upcoming COP23 conference is as sustainable as possible.

Up to 25,000 people are expected to participate in COP23 – including government delegates, representatives of observer organisations, businesses and journalists. The lion’s share of transport emissions will be from long distance travel of participants coming from abroad (see the team’s special article on the overall climate neutrality of the COP, with a focus on offsetting emissions from international travel).

Once the participants are in Bonn, they will have to make their way to the conference site each day, get around on site – and get back to the places they are staying at night. Reducing emissions caused by local transport is therefore a crucial part of the work of the COP23 Sustainability Taskforce.

“The most important aspect is that local public transportation is free of charge for all registered participants from Parties, observer organisations and media,” says Dennis Winkler, Lead of the COP 23 Sustainability Taskforce and responsible for the sustainability of UN climate change conferences at UN Climate Change. “Also, 600 bikes will be provided free of charge for participants to get from one conference zone to another, or even to the city.”

Riding from Bula to Bonn on electric shuttles

The city of Bonn has several electric and hybrid buses in service and special electric COP23 shuttles, running on 100% renewable energy, will connect a brand-new UN Campus train stop with the nearby metro stop and the two conference zones (“Bula” and “Bonn”).

“We think it is important for there to be electric transport at the Bonn Climate Change Conference, as it absolutely meets the key goals of COP23,” says Anja Wenmakers of Bonn’s public transport provider, SWB. “We are committed to supporting climate action goals and believe that public transport in general can make an important contribution to quickly achieving these goals.”

Furthermore, a shuttle service with smaller electric vehicles through the Rheinaue park will be organised by the German Environment Ministry.

Using clean energy efficiently

Transport aside, energy is another important aspect of reducing the footprint of COP23. In an effort to use energy efficiently, the organisers are seeking to keep all indoor areas at an average temperature of 21 degrees Celsius, and not warmer. And participants are requested to turn off room lights and ventilation as well as ICT equipment when not in use.

In addition to maximising energy efficiency, the COP organisers are making sure that the energy that is used in buildings is to the greatest extent possible from renewable sources.

“We have a target of 80 percent renewable energy all over the conference,” says Winkler, adding that he and his team would have to make an assessment of whether this target has been reached at the end of the conference.

The secretariat of UN Climate Change runs on 100% renewable energy, some of it sourced from solar panels on the roof of its headquarters building.

The Federal Government has promised to collaborate with the stakeholders in Kogi State to give the necessary support to the state government in managing disaster.

Dr Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu, team leader, Disaster Risk Management team, Office the Vice-President, made the promise while speaking with journalists on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 in Ibaji, Ibaji Local Government Area of the state.

He said that the team was in the state to carry out assessment of flood sites and disaster-prone areas in nine riverine local governments of the state.

Oke-Osanyintolu said: “We are here to do a holistic assessment, resource mappings, risk analysis and look at the overview of preparedness of Kogi State to manage any form of disaster.

“We are trying to mitigate the impacts of both man-made and natural disasters on the people of Kogi.

“We want to help reduce the rate of mortality and morbidity that is always associated with disaster.

“We have done a holistic assessment in areas worst hit by flood; we are satisfied with our assessments because Kogi government and other stakeholders are doing their best.

“We are going back to the drawing board to do a holistic planning; we will ensure that Kogi is well-prepared to effectively and efficiently respond to any form of emergency disaster.”

Oke-Osanyintolu, who is also Senior Technical Adviser on Disaster Risk Management, said the collaboration became necessary because of the realisation that the state government could not manage disaster alone.

The Deputy Governor, Mr Simon Achuba, who received the team, said that the state government had made provision in its 2017 Budget to equip the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

He said the equipment include flying boat for rescue operation and other materials, to mitigate the effects of flooding.

“On 2017 flood, we took some steps ahead of time by doing monthly sanitation to clean our drainage system, flood sensitisation campaign and stakeholders meeting; if not, the situation would have been terrible just as in 2012.

“I come from a flood-prone environment; as I speak to you now the road leading to my local government in Ibaji is cut-off due to flood.

“We thank the Federal Government for coming to our aid,” he said.

Contributing, Mrs Rosemary Osikoya, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, expressed delight over the team’s visit to the state.

She said: “It is exciting and encouraging that the Federal Government is having more reawakening to our challenges in Kogi.

“It is an assurance that the people of Kogi have not been forgotten.”

Chairmen of Kogi/Kotonkarfe, Lokoja, Idah, Igalamela and Ibaji Local Government Areas, in their separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), also commended the Federal Government for the exercise.

According to them, the gesture would go a long way in ameliorating the hardship facing victims of disaster in the state.

They also thanked the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, for sending the team down to the communities for flood assessment and make some interventions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the exercise, which began on Monday ended on Wednesday with the team visiting some communities affected by flood in the state.

The team also paid courtesy visit to the Achandu Attah Igala, Dr Yusuf Ameadaji, who lauded the efforts  of the federal and state governments, saying that idea behind the visit was to reduce the effects of  flooding in his domain.

He, however, appealed to the Federal Government to provide the victims of the flood with succour, saying that the flood had destroyed their roads and farm lands.

“We are very grateful to the Federal Government for taking up these issues and for giving the needed support that our people deserve,” he said.

By Stephen Adeleye 

Participants at an international conference on rivers and deltas in Africa on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 said the management and challenges of ecosystem could be better addressed through integrated and multi-sectoral framework.

The conference, with the theme, “Sustaining Ecosystem Services of Africa’s Rivers and Deltas”, was organised by a consortium of universities in the Niger Delta and hosted by the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State.

The stakeholders called on the government to encourage research in ecosystem services for sustainable development of the Niger Delta.

The participants, who were drawn from the academia, government, non-governmental organisations and community representatives, said there had not been sufficient investment in the ecosystem services in the region to complement revenue from oil and gas.

The universities include the University of Port Harcourt; Federal University, Otuoke; Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt; Federal University of Technology, Owerri; Delta State University, Abraka; University of Calabar; and University of Uyo.

Others are Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt; University of Benin; and the Foundation for the Conservation of Nigerian Rivers.

The conference was the second in the series in response to a 10-year Global Delta Sustainable Initiative agreed upon by a network of international experts on rivers and deltas at a conference in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in September 2013.

The stakeholders, in an eight-point communiqué, urged the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to collaborate with government, host communities, NGOs and other corporate bodies to chart a new course for sustainable development agenda for the Niger Delta.

They also called for a paradigm shift from the current flood control and crisis management approach to sustainable and integrated flood-risk management method in line with global best practices to address flood disasters in the region.

They further suggested that tertiary institutions in the Niger Delta need to strengthen research collaboration on sustainable development activities in the region.

The participants also advised that the IOCs, government and communities should emphasise and carry out modern environmental pollution control measures to save the rivers and deltas.

By Nathan Nwakamma