Tobacco not only damages human health but also threatens the planet’s wellbeing, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report published on Tuesday, October 2, 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland.
A tobacco factory worker
“The damage to the environment occurs across the entire life cycle of tobacco products due to deforestation, water pollution from pesticide use, and cigarette littering,’’ Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva, who manages the secretariat of the WHO tobacco control treaty (FCTC), said.
According to the study, tobacco production uses over 22 billion tonnes of water each year, which the treaty secretariat commissioned from Imperial College London.
Almost 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide end up in the atmosphere annually because of tobacco agriculture, accounting for 0.2 per cent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
In addition, the study said that tobacco farming hampers economic development.
“Tobacco has a lower yield and requires more input by farmers than many other agricultural crops,’’ the authors said.
They cited the example of Zimbabwe, where one hectare of land yields only one tonne of tobacco, compared to 19 tonnes of potatoes.
Almost all the world’s tobacco originates in developing countries.
The top 10 producers include low-income countries that are net importers of food, such as Zimbabwe and Malawi.
The report was made public during a meeting by the 181 countries that have signed the WHO tobacco control treaty, formally known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
An environmentalist, Mrs Gloria Bulus, has called for the application of evidence-based research and data to mitigate the effects of climate change in the country.
Gloria Bulus
Bulus, who is the Founder of Bridge-that-Gap initiative, a Kaduna-based non-governmental organisation, made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, October 2, 2018 in Lagos.
She said that her call was in reaction to President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement on climate change concerns in his independence speech on Oct. 1.
NAN reports that President Buhari, in his address, said that Nigeria was one of the countries in the world mostly affected by environmental degradation because of climate change.
“We are signatories to almost all conventions and agreements aimed at slowing down the effects of climate change and mitigating its now-evident consequences.
“The consequences of the shrinking of the Lake Chad and pollution caused by oil exploration activities on lives and livelihoods alone have made it mandatory for us to be at the forefront of the struggle for a safer and more sustainable environment.
“We will continue to mobilise international support for our efforts in this regard,” Buhari had said.
However, Bulus stressed that the fact that Nigeria was a signatory to various environmental and climate change accords was not enough to solve the climate change issues.
“Being signatory to various environmental policies across the globe is not enough, as the consequences of climate change are already evident in our country.
“There is the need to strengthen our capacity to plan and respond effectively to climate change impacts through scientific research and evidence-based data.
“What we need now is action to effectively mitigate climate change; we must first understand deeply the impact of climate change and its effects on us now and on the future generation,” she said.
Bulus underscored the need for Nigeria to strengthen its environmental laws, policies and ensure compliance to mitigate the effects of climate change in a pragmatic way.
“We have some environmental laws and policies, but these laws and policies need to be strengthened; we also have to ensure they are implemented.
“We need strategies and a well-formulated action plan to mitigate climate change.
“The action plan should have specific time-frame and periodic evaluation mechanisms to fully implement sustainable climate change solutions,” she said.
Bulus urged the government and other stakeholders to make concerted efforts to overcome the challenges of climate change.
“The Federal Government needs to collaborate with other organisations and stakeholders to address environmental issues both internationally and locally.
“Nigerians at the grassroots level are needed in the fight against climate change; it requires the collective effort of everyone,” she said.
As part of efforts to manage waste properly and forestall flooding incidences, the environmentalist called for sensitisation of Nigerians and concerted efforts to tackle the menace of climate change.
“There is so much to be done. If we can put in a little more effort into flood mitigation, waste management and recycling projects, we will reduce climate change concerns.
“If we recycle our waste, we will not only generate income, but we will also reduce waste and flood.
“Direct engagement with citizens will help Nigerians to better understand what climate change is and its horrible effects.
“Evidence-based data and reports on climate crises should be made available to the public, especially through downloadable soft copies, use of infographics and hard copies from research centres.
“Advocacy on climate change effects should start from households, communities, schools, worship centres and markets,’’ Bulus added.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) health specialist, Mr Hilary Ozoh, has decried the low-level public awareness of the deadly Maternal Neonatal Tetanus disease (MNT) ahead of the Oct. 18, commencement 2018 MNT elimination campaign.
The MNT kills new born and sometimes the mother
Ozoh made the assertion at the opening of a one-day media orientation forum for 2018 MNTE campaign holding in Benin City, Edo State.
MNT is a swift and painful killer disease that kills new born and sometimes the mother.
According to UNICEF’s report, MNT killed no fewer than 34,000 newborns in 2015 alone while a significant number of women also die to due to maternal tetanus every year.
Ozoh said that MNT represented a very high proportion of the tetanus disease burden due mainly to inadequate immunisation services, limited or absent clean delivery services and improper post-partum cord care.
He however, expressed worry that not much had been done in terms of media enlightenment of the public with the Oct. 18, 2018 commencement day.
Speaking on the “Role of the media in the 2018 MNTE’’, Ozoh said the level of the campaign awareness was abysmal where the South-South zone had been identified as one of the high-risk states.
He noted that the campaign would not yield the desired result if the media was not involved.
Earlier, Dr. Eugene Orvihi-Ivase, Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in his welcome address, identified the media as a veritable vehicle for the effective implementation of all health programs.
Orvihi-Ivase, who heads NPHCDA’s Advocacy and communication department, said that the aim of the forum was to sensitise the media on the 2018 MNTE campaign, and identify the roles and responsibilities of the media, among others.
He expressed the hope that the forum would provide participants the platform for better understanding of the MNT health menace particularly in the South South zone.
Dr. Kizito Obi of the NPHCDA, in his presentation on the overview of 2018 MNTE campaign, said majority of mothers and newborns dying of tetanus live in Africa and Southern and East Asia.
Obi identified the major causes of the disease as poverty, little access to health care, and lack of information about safe delivery practices.
He said that Nigeria was among the 16 countries yet to eliminate MNT adding that the states in the South-South had been identified to be high risk zone.
The health expert noted that vigorous campaigns and follow ups on MNT needed to be sustained ahead of the 2020 total elimination date by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
According to him, once the disease is contracted, the fatality rate can be as high as 100 per cent without hospital care and between 10 per cent and 60 per cent with hospital care.
“The true extent of the tetanus death toll is not known as many newborns and mothers die at home and neither the birth nor the death is reported,’’ he said.
Obi, however, said that MNT was easily preventable through immunization of women with TT vaccine for protection against Tetanus.
“A child born to a woman protected against tetanus is also protected from the disease in the first few months of its life.
“Practice of hygienic birth practices to ensure infection is not contracted by mother or newborn during the birth process.
“Also, proper cord care to ensure that contamination of cord does not put the newborn at risk,’’ he said.
About 40 participants, drawn from the media, UNICEF and NPHCDA attended the daylong programme.
Nigeria and 180 other countries meeting in Geneva, Switzerland for the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP8) of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) have expressed worry about tobacco industry influencing the talks.
Dr, Nnenna Ezeigwe, National Coordinator, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Federal Ministry of Health (left); with Mr. Babatunde Irukera, Director-General of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), at a plenary session at the COP8 of the WHO-FCTC in Geneva, Switzerland
At the conference which began on Monday, October 1, 2018 (and is billed to end October 6), calls for live-streaming of the discussions to supposedly guarantee transparency met stiff resistance from countries that felt such a move would backfire and instead open the talks to interference of tobacco industry.
The African bloc stood firmly in support of live-streaming on the condition that it is only the opening and closing plenaries while the technical deliberations remain closed to avoid pressure from the tobacco industry, which had in the past slowed or caused stalemates in talks.
A member of the Nigerian delegation, Dr. Nnenna Ezeigwe, Director/National Coordinator, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Federal Ministry of Health, said that, like other African countries, Nigeria supported only live-streaming of the opening and closing deliberations but keeping the technical sessions insulated.
Initially, Canada introduced a decision that called for webcasting all sections and relaying them after a negligible three-minute delay, But, after Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and the other African countries spoke during the deliberations and stood firmly behind the stronger African bloc’s position, all the Parties – including Canada – supported the stronger position.
Among a host of issues, this week Parties will advance a provision that prohibits the tobacco industry from exploiting public badges, which are primarily used by tobacco industry representatives to delay, block and weaken the treaty.
“The number one barrier to fully implementing this life-saving treaty is industry interference,” said Michéel Legendre, associate campaign director with Corporate Accountability. “With Big Tobacco on the defensive, and governments poised to give it the boot, the outcomes of this year’s Conference of the Parties will mark a turning point for public health.”
“We support consensus on insulating the talks from Big Tobacco promoted by the African bloc today. We anticipate that similar bonding will shut out Big Tobacco which has exploited the Public Badges policy to swarm the talks with their foot soldiers,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, deputy executive director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN).
The global tobacco treaty, known formally as the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), entered into force in 2005. To date, 181 countries and the European Union have become Parties to the treaty. It contains the world’s most effective tobacco control and corporate accountability measures – estimated to save more than 200 million lives by 2050 when fully implemented.
Earlier, Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyeseus, said the treaty talks has witnessed progress in previous years which the ongoing talks will build upon.
Ghebreyeseus expressed worry about low- and middle-income countries that bear the brunt of the tobacco burden in terms of healthcare costs and deaths.
He urged Parties to do more in three critical areas: Increase tobacco taxes to save lives and raise revenue, initiate comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising promotion and sponsorships, and commit to universal health coverage for citizens.
The Health of Mother earth Foundation (HOMEF) and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) have pledged to work with the media to increase awareness of the public on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Nnimmo Bassey, Director, HOMEF (right) with Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, Chairperson, AFSA
Nnimmo Bassey, Director, HOMEF and Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, Chairperson, AFSA made the submission in a statement issued at the close of a Media Training on Promotion of Biosafety in Nigeria on Tuesday, September 25, 2018 in Abuja.
The move, they said, would strengthen the voices of Nigerians on these issues of food and biosafety.
“We believe that a knowledgeable media can make a huge difference in our duty to protect our biodiversity, agriculture and food systems,” Bassey and Bassey-Orovwuje jointly said.
They however lamented that the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) was not ensuring sufficient safeguards for the people and the environment.
“NBMA approves nearly every application brought to it without due consideration of the impact of proposed activities or of the concerns raised by the public,” the activists allege, even as they listed several instances.
The statement reads in part:
“The fact that some of these crops are brought in for feed processing does not reduce their risks as there is no way to prevent the seeds from getting to the hands of unsuspecting farmers.
“Besides the reality that there are no proper risks assessments, the public is largely unaware of the type of food that is coming on their plates. At a dialogue session with farmers in Benin City recently, it was revealed that 98% of the participants had not heard of GMOs.
“The GMO promoters project biotechnology as the solution to agricultural challenges in the nation but these challenges are those that can be tackled by natural means and through adequate support for farmers.
“GMOs with more extreme variants known as Gene Drives are coming on stream. These target whole populations and involve gene editing. They pose special and unique dangers to Nigeria and Africa. One of the dangers is that our regulators-cum-promoting architecture keeps wide open doors to untested technologies. Another danger is that even when risks are known, they are happy to allow experimentations and expose our people, communities and environment to be used as guinea pigs.
“The threats posed by these crops grow with the advances in the technology and the impact of GMOs on health, environment and socio-economic wellbeing of the people stares us in the face.
“To preserve biosafety in Nigeria, the NBMA Act 2015 needs to be reviewed before it is too late. Gaps with regards to access to information, public consultation and participation, liability and redress, labelling and the right to know, appeals and reviews and conflict of interest need to be closed.
“We reprise our call for an investigation of the process by which the NBMA issues out permits for dealings with GMOs, we reiterate our call for a repeal of the Act and a ban on GMOs. Nigerians should not be used as pawns and as guinea pigs in a commercial gambit to open the country to toxic technologies in furtherance of blatant commercial interests.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has lamented the effects of climate change as well as shrinking of the Lake Chad on the nation.
President Muhammadu Buhari
The president made this known while addressing the citizens in a nationwide broadcast as part of activities to mark the nation’s 58th independence anniversary in Abuja on Monday, October 1, 2018.
Speaking on the danger of the shrinking of the Lake Chad and climate change, the President said: “We are one of the countries in the world most affected by environmental degradation, as a consequence of climate change.
“We are signatories to almost all conventions and agreements aimed at slowing down the effect of climate change and mitigating its now evident consequences.”
According to him, the consequences on lives and livelihoods of the shrinking of the Lake Chad and the pollution caused by oil exploitation activities alone make it mandatory on the nation to be at the forefront of the struggle for a safer and more sustainable environment.
We will continue to mobilise international support for our efforts in this regard,’’ he assured.
He also assured that the age-long conflict between herders and farmers, which he claimed was exploited by those seeking to plant the seeds of discord and disunity amongst Nigerians, is being addressed decisively.
President Buhari stated that the Federal Government and other stakeholders had intensified efforts toward finding lasting solution to the problem.
However, the president vowed that the perpetrators of murder and general mayhem in the name of defending or protecting herders or farmers would face the full wrath of the law.
“We will sustain and continue to support the commendable efforts by all including civil society organisations, local and state governments and our traditional and religious leaders in finding durable solution to this problem.
“This being a transhumance issue, we are working with countries in our region that are also facing similar difficulties to complement our common efforts.
“In this context I must warn that the perpetrators of murder and general mayhem in the name of defending or protecting herders or farmers will face the full wrath of the law,’’ he said.
President Buhari urged all well-meaning citizens to always avoid primordial sentiments while analysing such conflicts in the society.
“We urge all peace-loving Nigerians to reject any simplistic portrayal, at home or abroad, of this conflict as either religious or ethnic based.
On security, Buhari noted that there had been a steady improvement in the security situation in the North East.
He, therefore, stated that his administration remains committed to ending the crisis and make the North East safe for all.
“Our thoughts and prayers are always with the victims of the Boko Haram’s atrocities and their families.
“Beyond that, we know that the goals of the Boko Haram terrorists include capturing territories, destroying our democracy and denying our children the right to education. We will not allow them to succeed.
“I want at this point to pay tribute to the men and women of our armed forces, the Police and other security and law enforcement agencies, who have been working under the most difficult conditions to keep the country safe.
“In the process, many have made the supreme sacrifice.
“As their Commander -In- Chief, I assure these our gallant men and women that I will continue to empower them by deepening their professionalism and providing all the necessary force multipliers and enablers required for them to prevail on the field,’’ he assured.
He further disclosed that he was looking into all reported cases of inadequacies in relation to their entitlements, their welfare and those of their families with a view to addressing them.
COPAGEN Mali, a member organisation of the West African Global Convergence for Land, Water and Seeds, is frowning at an apparent plan by the Malian authorities to authorise test for genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the country.
Before the current case in Mali, the National Biosafety Agency of Burkina Faso had been under pressure not to release sterile genetically modified male mosquitoes as planned
Under the nation’s “Target Malaria” project, which COPAGEN Mali claims is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Biosafety Committee had planned to meet to evaluate the dossier application for a test authorisation with GM mosquitoes in the fight against malaria under the Ministry of the Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development.
The request for authorisation reportedly came from the Centre for Training and Research against Malaria whose experimental laboratory is located at Point G at the Faculty of Medicine and Odontostomatology (MRSC / FMOS) of Bamako.
But COPAGEN Mali has declined to endorse the meeting, saying that it does not seem to comply with the provisions of Law No. 08-042 on Biotechnology Security in Mali and its implementing decree setting the powers, the composition and the operating procedures of the National Biosafety Committee (Decree No. 10-683 / P-RM of December 30, 2010).
In a statement made available to EnviroNews, COPAGEN Mali disclosed that, according to Article 6 of the decree, an order of the Minister of the Environment sets the list of the members of the National Biosafety Committee on the proposal of the respective bodies. The group notes that the decree has not been taken to date.
The statement, titled: COPAGEN’s Declaration on the “Target Malaria” project and the process of its authorisation in Mali, adds: “In addition, Article 3 of the same decree stipulates that the Committee is composed of about 40 members whereas only 14 persons were invited to the meeting which is currently held in Selingué (from September 24 to 29, 2018) to rule on the application for authorisation of experimentation of genetically modified mosquitoes.
“No meeting of the persons from the Committee’s member bodies can take the place of a meeting of the Committee unless these persons have been duly mandated through an official appointment of the Minister of the Environment, who cannot, therefore, make legally valid recommendations to the competent national authority. So, any decision from the authority, in this case the Ministry of the Environment, based on these recommendations has no legal value and is therefore null and void.
“Furthermore, we disapprove of this project, which we consider to be a false solution to the eradication of malaria. Since any genetic manipulation forced by biotechnology involves risks to health and the environment, we warn public opinion.
“This project involves a lot of uncertainties and its erroneous vision will deviate us from real strategies for fighting malaria. Among them, sanitation remains the most effective. It is fundamentally essential and should be the priority target of the Ministry of the Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development.
“While Mali has hardly requested authorisation for the experimentation in a confined environment, which we refuse, things are even more serious in Burkina Faso. As they are still recovering from their disappointment with BT cotton, the Burkinabè people are again being used as “guinea pigs” after the authorisation to release genetically modified mosquitoes in the region of Bobo-Dioulasso, which is a threat to our entire subregion.
“Our silence will make us guilty victims, so let’s act!”
Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), commented: “Experimenting with genetically engineered mosquitoes in villages in Burkina Faso is an utter disregard of the safety of the people and their right to dignity and their right to have comprehensive and comprehensible information on this risky and untested technology. Using Burkinabes as guinea pigs is an assault on our collective sensibilities. The experiments must be halted.”
Wetlands, believed to be the most economically valuable and among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, are disappearing three times faster than forests with severe consequences for our future unless urgent action is taken to ensure their survival, warns a new report released by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands on Thursday, September 27, 2018.
The National Arts Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos is bordered by a wetland
Approximately 35 per cent of the world’s wetlands were lost between 1970-2015 with annual rates of loss accelerating from 2000, according to the first-ever “Global Wetland Outlook” of the Ramsar Convention, a global treaty ratified by 170 countries to protect wetlands and promote their wise use. The report shows every region is affected.
Losses have been driven by megatrends such as climate change, population increase, urbanisation, particularly of coastal zones and river deltas, and changing consumption patterns that have all fuelled changes to land and water use and to agriculture.
Wetlands, which include lakes, rivers, marshes and peatlands as well as coastal and marine areas such as estuaries, lagoons, mangroves and coral reefs, are currently estimated to cover more than 12.1 million km2, an area greater than Greenland. Between 13-18 per cent of them are on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance, which are protected sites.
Wetlands are critical to human and planet life. Directly or indirectly, they provide almost all the world’s consumption of freshwater. More than one billion people depend on them for a living and 40 per cent of the world’s species live and breed in wetlands. They are a vital source for food, raw materials, genetic resources for medicines, and hydropower; they mitigate floods, protect coastlines and build community resilience to disasters, and they play an important role in transport, tourism and the cultural and spiritual well-being of people.
Studies show the economic value of services provided by wetlands far exceeds those of terrestrial ecosystems. Inland wetlands, for example, have a total economic value five times higher than tropical forests, the most valuable terrestrial habitat.
Wetlands are also essential to efforts to regulate the global climate. Peatlands store twice as much carbon as the world’s forests despite accounting for just three per cent of the world’s land surface, with salt marshes, sea grass beds and mangroves also carbon-dense ecosystems. However, wetlands produce 20-25 per cent of global methane emissions and rising temperatures from climate change are expected to increase greenhouse gases from wetlands, particularly in permafrost regions.
Despite this, wetlands remain dangerously undervalued by policy and decision-makers in national plans. An inexplicable omission given the pivotal role wetlands play in delivering global commitments on climate change, sustainable development, biodiversity and disaster risk reduction, with wetlands contributing to 75 indicators of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) alone.
The persistent and growing threat to the world’s remaining wetlands from water drainage, pollution, unsustainable use, invasive species, disrupted flows from dams and sediment dumping from deforestation and soil erosion upstream is detailed in the GWO, released ahead of the 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP13) in Dubai, UAE.
Water quality trends are worsening with nearly all fresh water sources in the world compromised to some extent. Water pollution and nutrient loading from fertilizers are among the biggest challenges. According to the UN, more than 80 per cent of waste water is released into wetlands without adequate treatment while fertilizer use in 2018 is likely to be 25 per cent higher than in 2008, exacerbating excessive wetland plant growth and levels of decomposition resulting in oxygen starvation for flora and fauna alik
The biodiversity crisis is just as alarming. More than 25 per cent of all wetlands plants and animals are at risk of extinction. The IUCN’s Red List Index which assesses survival probability using available data has identified negative trends for wetland mammals, birds, amphibians and corals, an indication they are heading for extinction. Coral reefs are declining fastest due to rising sea temperatures, while amphibians have the lowest numbers and are the most threatened. Wetland fish, reptiles and large mammals are also vulnerable with every turtle species globally threatened and a third critically endangered.
“The Global Wetland Outlook is a wake-up call – not only on the steep rate of loss of the world’s wetlands but also on the critical services they provide. Without them, the global agenda on sustainable development will not be achieved,” says Martha Rojas Urrego, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. “We need urgent collective action to reverse trends on wetland loss and degradation, and secure both the future of wetlands and our own at the same time.”
The Parties to the Ramsar Convention have committed to the conservation and wise use of all wetlands. Although they have designated more than 2,300 sites of international importance so far, making the Ramsar List one of the world’s largest networks of protected areas, designating new sites for protection is not enough.
The GWO emphasises the necessity of developing effective wetland management plans and integrating wetlands into the planning and implementation of national plans on sustainable development, climate change and other key global commitments.
The report also stresses good governance and effective institutions at local, national and regional levels as a crucial factor in preventing, ending, and reversing trends in wetland loss and degradation. More accurate data on wetland extent and wetland inventories is needed to help countries identify priority sites for restoration. Indigenous and local knowledge as well as citizen scientists are already invaluable resources on the state of wetlands and can be used more.
Drawing on successful examples across the world, the report recommends using existing funding mechanisms to apply economic and financial incentives for communities and business to protect wetlands through tax benefits. Perverse incentives for farmers and business such as subsidies to agriculture that encourage wetland conversion or pollution should be ended.
Additional recommendations include identifying solutions for wise use of wetlands that draw upon all expertise, ranging from hard science to traditional knowledge, to secure wide engagement on wetland protection and wise use and ensure sound decision-making. The GWO’s findings are expected to inform discussions and decisions at the Ramsar COP13, which holds from October 21 to 28.
“There is a slow awakening to the value of wetlands. Across the globe, legislative bodies need to integrate wetlands into policy programs and make investments into their sustainability. We need to educate the world on the critical importance of this most rapidly disappearing ecosystem. Without the world’s wetlands, we all hang in the balance,” asserts Rojas Urrego.
Seventeen years of long and arduous negotiations later, peasants and other people working in rural areas are only a step away from having a UN Declaration that could defend and protect their rights to land, seeds, biodiversity, local markets and a lot more.
Members of the La Via Campesina in a group photo
On Friday, September 28, 2018 in a commendable show of solidarity and political will, member nations of United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution concluding the UN Declaration for the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. The resolution was passed with 33 votes in favour, 11 abstentions and three against.
The declaration now goes before the upcoming 3rd Committee session at UN General Assembly in New York in October. From there, in November 2018, the Declaration will be up for voting and adoption by all Member States of the United Nations. Once adopted, the UN Declaration will become a powerful tool for peasants and other people working in rural areas to seek justice and favourable national policies around food, agriculture, seeds and land keeping in mind the interests of millions of rural food producers comprising all genders and youth.
After several rounds of international consultation process, La Via Campesina – a global movement of peasants, indigenous people, pastoralists and migrant workers – adopted in 2008 a Declaration of Rights of Peasants – Women and Men. With the support of civil society groups like CETIM and FIAN International, La Via Campesina presented this proposal to the Human Rights Council in 2008.
“This has been a long tough path but as peasants, as people who have seen the worst of poverty and neglect, we are tough too and we never give up,” says Elizabeth Mpofu, the General Coordinator of La Via Campesina.
Observers say that peasants and others working in rural areas have insufficient recourse in the face of the discrimination they suffer and the other challenges they confront when seeking an adequate standard of living when subjected to forced displacement and marginalisation. However, with this win in Geneva, they believe that peasants a step closer to getting their rights recognised and protected.
According to Elizabeth, “This includes the right to life and adequate standards of living, the right to land, to seeds, to information, justice and equality between women and men” For her, it is a turning point for peasant struggles around the world. “Today, we are just a step away from acceptance by all member nations of the United Nations.” She added.
This UN Declaration can provide a global framework for national legislation and policies to:
better protect the rights of peasants – women and men – and improve livelihoods in rural areas;
reinforce food sovereignty, the fight against climate change and the conservation of biodiversity
take actions to implement comprehensive agrarian reform and a better protection against land-grabbing;
realise the right of peasants to conserve, use, exchange and sell their seeds;
ensure remunerative prices for peasant production and rights for agricultural workers;
recognise the rights of peasant women and bring about social justice for people of all origin, nationality, race, colour, descent. Sex, language, culture, marital status, property, disability, age, political or other opinion, religion, birth or economic, social or other status without discrimination
“While all of the member states said they are committed to human rights for all, the no votes and also abstentions are abysmal,” says Ramona Duminicioiu from Via Campesina Europe. “The nos and abstentions mean that these countries are not up to the protection of human rights of peasants and rural populations. They are against a bigger picture: eradication of poverty, food sovereignty, and the effort to reduce inequalities,” lamented Ramona.
“Our campaign for food sovereignty and people’s agrarian reform in Indonesia has received an important and much-needed boost,” says Henry Saragih, the Chairperson of Serikat Petani Indonesia. Indonesia has just passed a Presidential Decree in support of agrarian reform that favours peasants.
“Once the resolution is adopted at the UN General Assembly in New York, we will take the message of the Declaration to our people back home and elaborate its significance and how it could strengthen our struggles against privatisation, criminalisation and more. The more we educate and inform our people back home, the stronger our movements become. It will enable us to demand better policies and laws that will consider the rural realities of the developing world,” added Henry.
“At this point, despite producing the bulk of the food we eat – peasants are subjected to extreme forms of violence. Those who resist are either murdered or arrested. This criminalisation of peasant struggles has to stop, and this Declaration is a step forward in that direction,” says Diego from Movimiento Nacional Campesino Indígena (MNCI) Argentina CLOC-Vía Campesina.
Observers contend that the adoption of such a Declaration and the recognition of rights contained in the proposed legal instrument can contribute to better protect the rights of peasants and improve livelihoods in rural areas in the long term and at the global level. It will, according to them, fill existing normative gaps in protection and should also be forward-looking to deal with emerging gaps and thus end discriminatory practices by giving them more visibility and coherence.
As India gets ready to mark the Mahatma’s 150th birth anniversary this year with celebrations about the nation’s impending open defecation free ODF status, a new analysis by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down To Earth magazine has called for a drastic reality check.
Millions of toilets are being built to make India Open Defecation Free by 2019
By February 2019, as per the government, India will lay claim to be an open defecation free nation. Under the flagship scheme Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), 76 per cent of India’s villages have been declared ODF. Around 83.8 million toilets have been built.
Says CSE director general Sunita Narain: “This means the infamous distinction of having the world’s largest number of people going out to defecate in the open is all set to be history. This switchover – involving a generation old behaviour of some 600 million people – is no mean feat.”
But, she adds, building toilets is only the first – and perhaps the easiest – step towards attaining a “clean India” status. “It cannot be seen as the ultimate yardstick of success. What happens to the immense amounts of solid and liquid waste that these millions of new toilets would generate? If human excreta is not handled carefully – safely disposed of or reused – it will add to our health burden and negate all the work done to build the toilets.”
A sea of sewage
The CSE-Down To Earth analysis gives a taste of exactly how monumental the problem would be: 1,00,000 tonne of excreta every day produced by 720 million people using 144 million household toilets – just to give a sense of scale, more than 5,200 trucks would be needed every day to transport this amount of excreta! CSE has based this estimate on the standard calculation that on an average, an individual produces 128 gram of excreta every day.
Says Sushmita Sengupta, programme manager, rural water-waste management, CSE: “This could turn out to be a far bigger problem than that of open defecation. If not managed properly, the mind-boggling amounts of waste that these toilets will spew forth close to people’s homes can severely contaminate the land and water sources.”
“It is clear that toilets must be built keeping in mind the safe disposal and reuse of waste. Without this, we will not get the benefits of safe sanitation – the reduction in disease burden because of safe disposal of human waste,” Narain adds. “This is the challenge that we must keep our focus on.”
What compounds the problem is the manner in which the entire process of making villages ODF has been carried out. The CSE-Down To Earth analysis notes major gaps in the process. To declare India’s 0.6 million villages ODF, the Census 2011 involved 2.7 million officials, ostensibly working in collaboration with 3.6 million village residents. However, the rush to achieve targets has led to false claims. The analysis quotes the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Gujarat and Uttarakhand, which have exposed cases of fudging of data.
For verification of the ODF process, the Union ministry of drinking water and sanitation recommends that concerned state officials/departments should be involved in the process for nine months. During this period, they would be expected to focus on things like availability of water, cleanliness of water sources and water bodies, decentralised waste management, maintenance of school and anganwadi toilets, etc. But the states have modified these guidelines (sanitation is a state subject) and have concentrated largely – and merely – on the construction of toilets, without paying much attention to the other aspects.
The CSE-Down To Earth analysis has found anomalies in the way the toilets have been constructed. Poorly designed and built, many of these toilets have added to the burden. For instance, in those built in flood-prone areas, the stored faeces pose a major pollution and health hazard during monsoons. The high density of pit latrines and poorly made and maintained septic tanks can render the shallow aquifer water unfit for drinking because of nitrate and bacterial contamination.
Says Narain: “Post-2019, the sanitation questions in India will be different, and yet the same. The challenge will remain: how to ensure that the toilets continue to be maintained and used and how to make sure that human excreta is safely handled. If this is not done, the massive investment of counting toilets could go waste – worse, governments would now believe that their task is done, and priorities will change. But the expected health outcome, which requires not just building and using toilets but ensuring that water is not contaminated, will not be realised. This clearly must be avoided at all costs. For the Indian toilet success to have a sustainable future, monitoring and public scrutiny must continue.”
