Out of the 12 beneficiary nations mentioned in the 11 new projects and programmes approved by the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) at the weekend in Egyptian capital of Cairo, three African countries have emerged lucky recipients.

Senegal, Egypt and Ethiopia are getting their fair share from a total $392.86 million in funding to assist developing countries respond to climate change. The 18th meeting of the Board (B.18) approved the funding for 11 climate finance initiatives during a recent three-day meeting.

In Senegal, via a collaboration involving the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), some $9.98 million will be used to build climate resilience of food insecure smallholder farmers through Integrated Management of Climate Risk.

Egypt, on its part, will work with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to enhance climate change adaptation in the North Coast and Nile Delta Regions. The project is estimated to gulp $31.39 million.

With $45 million in the kitty, Ethiopia, along with its Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC), will attempt to respond to the increasing risk of drought by building gender-responsive resilience of the Most Vulnerable Communities.

Other projects and programmes approved at B.18 include:

• $8.65 million for the Renewable Energy Programme No. 1 – Solar in Mongolia with XacBank.
• $110 million for the GCF-EBRD Kazakhstan Renewables Framework programme in Kazakhstan with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
• $20 million for Low Emissions and Climate Resilient Agriculture Risk Sharing Facility programme in Guatemala and Mexico with the Inter-American Development Bank.
• $26.56 million for the Bhutan for Life project in Bhutan with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
• $17.35 million for the Scaling-up Investment in Low-Carbon Public Buildings project in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
• $26.91 million for the Sustainable and Climate Resilient Connectivity for Nauru project in Nauru with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
• $58.53 million for the Implementation Project for the Management Plan of the Lujan River Basin in Argentina with the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).
• $38.5 million for the Scaling up Climate Resilient Water Management Practices for Vulnerable Communities in La Mojana project in Colombia with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Fund’s portfolio now consists of 54 projects and programmes amounting to $2.59 billion in GCF funding.

The 24 members of the GCF Board, who equally represent developing and developed nations, also took a number of key policy decisions to further strengthen the operations of the Fund and its support for high-quality climate finance initiatives. Among these were decisions to approve a simplified approvals process for certain small-scale activities, and to approve a Request for Proposals for REDD+ results-based payments.

Additionally, the Board approved the accreditation of five new partner organisations as Accredited Entities. The newly endorsed organisations, bringing GCF’s total of Accredited Entities to 59, are:

• China Clean Development Mechanism Fund Management Centre (China CDM Fund Management Centre), based in China;
• Department of Environment (DOE) of Antigua and Barbuda;
• Fiji Development Bank (FDB), based in Fiji;
• Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), based in Bangladesh; and
• Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), based in Tunisia.

“My thanks go to the Government of Egypt,” said Ayman Shasly, Board Co-Chair from Saudi Arabia. “The Board has received a warm and generous welcome in Cairo, and this has resulted in a highly productive and enjoyable meeting. The decisions we have taken here will benefit climate-vulnerable developing countries and strengthen GCF’s role in delivering sustainable climate change adaptation and mitigation outcomes.”

“Cairo has been a great GCF experience,” said fellow Co-Chair, Ewen McDonald from Australia. “Encouraged by a challenge for ambitious outcomes from His Excellency Dr Khaled Fahmy, Egypt’s Minister of Environment, in his opening address, the Board has taken a number of important decisions at this meeting. Notable among these is our approval for a REDD+ results-based payments system which has the potential to make a globally significant contribution to efforts to tackle deforestation.”

More than 300 participants took part in the 18th Board meeting, including observers from civil society and private sector organisations, National Designated Authorities (NDAs), Accredited Entities, and GCF Delivery Partners.

The next GCF Board meeting, B.19, will take place in Songdo, Republic of Korea, from February 27 to March 1, 2018.

Nigeria, the most populous black nation with so much tourism potentials, seems to be blinded by petrodollars; hence it abandoned tourism, which, experts say, could earn more foreign exchange than the dwindling black gold. The beaches, which abound in the coastal areas, are among the tourist sites. But they are in a sorry state; hence some non-profit organisations are taking it upon themselves to give them a facelift.

It started with some groups like Beach Samaritans who clean the beaches around Lagos. They did not mind that some individuals are living off the proceeds from the beaches.

Now, a partnership between Nene-Uwa Hub Limited and TVP Adventures seems to be upping the ante. They not only clean the beach; they plant more coconuts to replace the ageing ones.

Nnenna Fakoya-Smith, a tourism promoter, founded Nene-Uwa Hub Limited, while Funmi Oyatogun, a tourist and environmentalist, founded TVP Adventures a year ago. The two young ladies found a common ground in tourism.

So, as part of activities to mark the World Tourism Day (WTD), marked globally on September 27, the two organisations, through the social media, selected volunteers to help give one of the popular beaches in Lagos a facelift. The Badagry Beach that hosted the Point Of No Return – from where slaves were ferried to the “New World” many centuries ago – was the destination.

The journey started from the National stadium in Surulere, where the volunteers gathered, before they were transported in two coaster buses to Badagry. The trip was somewhat interesting. The volunteers did a bit of trekking and travelled in the notorious Lagos traffic gridlock. Imagine leaving Badagry by 4pm and getting to Surulere about 8.30pm. The distance from the Lagoon to the Point Of No Return had to be trekked. However, it was like a picnic; lots of fun for both the organisers and the volunteers.

With spades, rakes, waste bags, latex gloves and nose masks, the group made up of tourists and even under-10 children stormed the beach, which was in a sorry hygienic state. Within one hour, there was a transformation; the debris had been gathered in about 10 waste bags.

Not done, with the help of the tour guide identified simply as “Cornerstone” and his partner identified as “Stone”, they planted 40 coconut trees bought from a nursery. Even as the holy books promised reward in paradise for those who do good, the volunteers got some reward from within when a Red Cross member bought one coconut fruit for each participant. The water was rejuvenating.

Oyatogun, who had her first degree in Environmental Studies from a United States university, told EnviroNews that the project got her interest because of its environmental and tourism significance.

The essence of the campaign, she added, is for awareness creation on the need to keep the beaches clean.

“I want to create awareness. After this exercise, none of the volunteers or even their family members will ever litter the beach,” she said.

The tourist disclosed that she was partnering Nene-Uwa for the beach clean-up.

Fakoya-Smith, on her part, told EnviroNews that she was practically going the project alone, wishing that government and public-spirited individuals could buy into the project and lend a helping hand.

She seems not to be aware of Beach Samaritans who also sanitise beaches, but she would be glad to partner with them.

Her aim of embarking on the project is for sustainable tourism, which she believes would replace oil, an exhaustible resource.

She was also creating awareness for cleaner beaches, trying to reach as many people as possible.

By Innocent Onwuji

Whether or not Africa will be able to maximise her potential in food production will depend to a large extent on the ability of countries to adopt science, technology and innovation. And if the continent can fully maximise her agricultural capacity, then she has to position herself to take advantage of new and emerging technologies.

This was the consensus at the end of the three-day High-level Conference on Application of Science, Technology and Innovation in Harnessing African Agricultural Transformation, which held recently in Kampala, Uganda.

About 100 African agricultural experts and scientists, government delegations including policy makers, technocrats and Parliamentarians as well as representatives of civil society organisations, international organisations, the UN systems, academia as well as the media, attended the conference, held from Wednesday September 26 to Friday, September 29, 2017.

It was jointly organised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Uganda and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) on the theme: “Integrating the path in Africa’s agricultural transformation”.

The conference was formerly closed by the Ugandan Prime Minster and Leader of Government Business, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, with a speech that highlighted the importance of science in turning the fortunes of Africa’s agriculture around from its abysmal performance, even though a little more than two thirds of the population is involved in agriculture.

“It is a shame,” he said, “that 60 to 70% of the people are involved in agriculture and yet we do not produce enough to feed Africa, and look for food from Europe and America where only 2% of the people are involved in agriculture, and are producing more than enough for them and export some to Africa.”

Currently, the continent imports over $35 billion food products, most of which can be produced locally.

Therefore, Dr. Ruganda urged African nations to embrace science as the only option to improve the continent’s food production, and commended participants for identifying the adoption of science and technology as the mechanism that will ensure sustainable production for small holder farmers.

He was happy with the acknowledgement by participants that scientific mechanisms could support small holder farmers build the needed resilience to climate change impacts, saying, “This is critical because small holder farmers form the continent’s main source of food, employment and even income.”

The Ugandan Prime Minister said the need for Africa to integrate modern biotechnology as one of the scientific processes for food security and economic growth was long overdue. He noted: “It’s now more than 20 years since GMOs were commercialised and records indicate that using this science and innovation in agriculture has had unblemished results of safe use and consumption.”

GMOs or genetically modified organisms are the products of the scientific process that rearranges genes or DNAs and add new ones to stimulate disease resistance, productivity and other desired qualities in crops and livestock.

Dr. Ruganda stressed that Africa could utilise this scientific process that transforms agriculture, “to feed our people, promote economic growth, fight against poverty and enhance sustainable use of our natural resources and the environment.”

He noted that Africa was lagging behind in using science and technology because of inadequacies in communicating the role of technology and innovation in agricultural transformation. “We have made many advances in research discoveries, but they end up in publications, sometimes in cupboards, sometimes in lecture rooms… we need to harness these valuable information that will empower our people, our farmers, our governments,” Dr. Ruganda added.

He urged policy makers and implementers to translate the innovation in scientific discussions into useful information that can help change the quality of lives of our people and promote production especially in food security.

Dr. Ruganda was also quick to acknowledge the progress that African governments have made so far in addressing related issues and announced that Uganda was about to pass her National Biosafety and Biotechnology Bill into law following final discussions to fine-tune it. The Bill is expected to be passed sometime this week and, once it becomes Law, it will provide a framework for Ugandan scientists to innovate and apply the relevant mechanisms to improve the country’s agricultural production.

Re-echoing similar sentiments about the Ugandan Biosafety and Biotechnology Bill, the Permanent Secretary of Uganda’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MoSTI), David Obong, touched on the importance of the deliberations and outcomes for his country, saying, “The conference was timely as it has coincided with the period of the passage of our Bill.”

He said that his Ministry has established a Directorate with separate Departments on Biosafety and Biotechnology as well as Bio-economy as part of the institutional arrangements for effective functioning.  Mr. Obong was also optimistic that “it is through science and technology that Africa can make use of her vast land resources and be able to feed her growing population.”

Earlier, the Deputy Executive Secretary of Uganda’s National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST), Dr. Belay Getachew, presented details of the conference communique. Among other things, it admitted the constraints in Africa’s agriculture as including poor yields, poor harvests, inadequate sustainable funding sources and the different stages in which countries are in adopting and applying science and technology.

The communique recognised the crucial role of the private sector, women and the youth in transforming Africa’s agriculture. It called for evidenced-based decisions for the sector and for urgent strategic communication in the delivery of science, technology and innovation information.

The communique further recommended that African nations should take measures to increase funding for research, invest in intellectual property in GMOs and address human resources capital. Additionally, the High Level Conference on Application of Science, Technology and Innovation in Harnessing African Agricultural Transformation, should be made an annual affair.

Clearly, the conference has succeeded in creating a dialogue platform that can facilitate effective utilisation of science, technology and innovation to transform Africa’s agriculture and enhance food security. This was the objective of the organisers of the conference, during which experts presented and discussed topics including: “The state of agriculture in Africa,” “Integrating modern biotechnology into Africa’s agriculture for food security,” The role of communication in demystifying adoption of science, technology and innovation for development,” and “Winning public and political support to advances in science, technology and innovation in the age of ‘Alternative Facts.’”

Others were “Inspiring a climate for change to enhance food security,” “Fostering evidence based biosafety regulations and policies for transformational change in Africa’s agriculture,” “Regional approaches to biotech adoption and trade in Africa,” and ‘Strengthening intellectual property in the global bio-economy.”

As part of the conference activities, the Open Forum on Agriculture Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) celebrated its 10th anniversary and formally gave awards to winners under its first ever annual media awards contest on biotechnology for African journalists. The overall winner was Omolara Afolayan of TVC News, Nigeria.

By Ama Kudom-Agyemang