As the world observed the International Day of the Older Person on Sunday, October 1 2017, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for a new approach to providing health services for older people.
An aging couple
In a recent publication, the WHO highlights the role of primary care and the contribution community health workers can make to keeping older people healthier for longer. The UN organisation also emphasises the importance of integrating services for different conditions.
“By the year 2050, one in five people in the world will be aged 60 and older,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “It’s our goal to ensure that all older people can obtain the health services they need, whoever they are, wherever they live.”
Yet, even in the rich world, people may not be getting the integrated services they need. In a survey of 11 high-income countries, up to 41% of older adults (age ≥65 years) reported care coordination problems in the past two years.
WHO’s new “Guidelines on Integrated Care for Older People” recommend ways community-based services can help prevent, slow or reverse declines in physical and mental capacities among older people. The guidelines also require health and social care providers to coordinate their services around the needs of older people through approaches such as comprehensive assessment and care plans.
“The world’s health systems aren’t ready for older populations,” says Dr John Beard, Director of the Department of Ageing and Life course at WHO.
“Everyone at all levels of health and social care, from front-line providers through to senior leaders, has a role to play to help improve the health of older people. WHO’s new guidelines provide the evidence for primary care workers to put the comprehensive needs of older people, not just the diseases they come in to discuss, at the centre of the way they provide care.”
Older adults are more likely to experience chronic conditions and often multiple conditions at the same time. Yet today’s health systems generally focus on the detection and treatment of individual acute diseases.
“If health systems are to meet the needs of older populations, they must provide ongoing care focused on the issues that matter to older people – chronic pain, and difficulties with hearing, seeing, walking or performing daily activities,” adds Beard. “This will require much better integration between care providers.”
Some countries are already making smart investments guided by WHO’s Global Strategy on Ageing and Health.
Brazil has implemented comprehensive assessments and expanded its services for older adults; Japan has integrated long -term care insurance to protect people from the costs of care; Thailand is strengthening the integration of health and social care as close as possible to where people live; while the Ministry of Health in Vietnam will build on its comprehensive health care system and the large number of elderly health care clubs to better meet the needs of older people in their communities. In Mauritius, the Ministry of Health provides universal health coverage for older adults including a network of health clubs and primary care clinics with more sophisticated services in hospitals. The United Arab Emirates are meeting the health needs of older people by creating more age-friendly cities. In France, a new WHO Collaborating Centre called Gerontopole, located in the Toulouse University Hospital, is helping to advance research, clinical practice and training on Healthy Ageing.
“Integrated care can help foster inclusive economic growth, improve health and wellbeing, and ensure older people have the opportunity to contribute to development, instead of being left behind,” concluded Dr Beard.
The United Nation’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) should continue to spur emission reductions and sustainable development, on the ground, to help countries under the Paris Climate Change Agreement, companies, organisations and individuals meet their climate goals.
Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UNFCCC
This was the message from some 80 Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Designated National Authorities (DNAs) who met in Bonn, Germany, from September 19 to 20, 2017 at the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Projects and programmes registered under the CDM and which contribute to sustainable development – everything from clean cook stoves, to wind and solar power projects, to large industrial gases projects – earn a saleable credit for each tonne of emission reduction they achieve. The credits can be used by countries with a commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to meet a part of that commitment.
The Global DNA Forum “called on the Convention and Kyoto Protocol Bodies to provide clear guidance, as a matter of urgency, about CDM’s continued operation beyond the end of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (in 2020).”
“No doubt that the CDM, over the last 15 years, has established itself as a role model of market mechanisms in terms of the capacity and knowledge that DNAs, international and local institutions, consultants, (and others) have gained,” said Laurence Mortier, Co-chair of the Global DNA Forum.
This can be used “to harness other climate mitigation activities under nationally determined contributions” under the Paris Agreement, she said, citing the now broader reach and greater flexibility provided by CDM programmes of activities, the CDM standardised baselines, and leveraging the “value added” of the CDM in terms of sustainable development co-benefits.
The Paris Agreement allows countries to cooperate on climate action and established a “mechanism to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and support sustainable development,” taking into account experience from existing mechanisms, like the CDM.
“With the adoption of Paris Agreement and its entering into force, we need all the tools we can use to advance mitigation efforts,” said Ovais Sarmad, Deputy Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change. “DNAs have the opportunity to advance carbon markets and mechanisms, including the CDM, among a multitude of options.”
Frank Wolke, Chair of the CDM Executive Board told DNAs: “The Board, with the encouragement of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, continues to explore and support these expanded uses to ensure that the CDM is best used by all, that its emission reductions continue to be recognised, and that it continues to assist in the achievement of sustainable development for host Parties.”
There are now more than 8,000 CDM projects and programmes registered in 111 developing countries. Lately, credits from the CDM, called certified emission reductions, have seen use outside the Kyoto Protocol, for example in domestic emissions trading systems or for voluntary cancellation by companies, organisations and individuals wishing to supplement their emission reduction efforts.
The Global DNA Forum convenes Designated National Authorities from around the world, supporting the CDM at the national level to build capacity, share information, and discuss how to further support climate action through the CDM. The agenda and presentations made at Global DNA Forum 2017 are available here.
The Global DNA Forum elected new regional and global co-chairs for 2018:
For African Group: Rachel Boti-Douayoua (Côte d’Ivoire), co-chair, and Wael Keshk (Egypt), alternate;
For Asia-Pacific: Albert Magalang (Philippines), co-chair, and Nasimjon Rajbov (Tajikistan), alternate;
For Latin America and the Caribbean: Federico Grullon De La Cruz (Dominican Republic), co-chair, and Lennox Gladden (Belize), alternate;
For Eastern Europe: Maia Tskhvaradze (Georgia), co-chair, and Ms. Enkelejda Malaj (Albania), alternate;
For Western Europe: Lorna Ritchie (United Kingdom), co-chair, none was elected as alternate;
As Global Co-Chairs: Maia Tskhvaradze (Georgia) and Lorna Ritchie (the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), who take over from Anne Omambia (Kenya) and Laurence Mortier (Switzerland).
Representatives from 24 countries across Africa have reaffirmed the continent’s commitment to bringing degraded landscapes and livelihoods back to life. At a meeting in Niamey, partners of the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) exchanged their experiences using forest landscape restoration practices to achieve their national environmental and sustainable development goals.
Niger’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Almoustapha Garba
AFR100 is a Pan-African country-led initiative that aims to bring 100 million hectares of degraded land into restoration by 2030. To date, countries have already committed more than 80 million hectares. On September 26-27, participating countries analysed how to go from commitment to action and shared practical ways to work with the communities to initiate restoration on the ground.
Host country, Niger, is said to have already successfully restored five million hectares using farmer-managed natural regeneration. “Restoration is a key issue for the resilience of our communities,” said Niger’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Almoustapha Garba. “The Bonn Challenge, focused on Africa through AFR100, is very ambitious but achievable. The attitude in Niger is that this is hard but not impossible.”
The forest landscape restoration approach driving AFR100 goes beyond protecting nature and focuses on people. For Africa, restoring landscapes is an opportunity to generate income, improve livelihoods, strengthen food security and build resilience, especially against the effects of climate change seen in the Sahel.
“The enthusiasm from countries comes from the fact that we are moving from the designing of restoration to actual implementation and execution on the ground,” expressed Mamadou Diakhite, Team Leader at the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency, which hosts the AFR100 secretariat. “There will be shovels to dig the ground, plant the trees and restore the land. This is the engine for the countries.”
Africa leads the way
The ambitious commitment of AFR100 partner countries makes Africa a global leader in restoring forests, landscapes and livelihoods. In addition to feeding into domestic restoration and sustainable development commitments, AFR100 contributes to the achievement of global initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge, the Sustainable Development Goals and the New York Declaration on Forests. It also complements regional initiatives such as the African Resilient Landscapes Initiative (ARLI), the African Landscapes Action Plan (ALAP) and the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI). The AFR100 initiative was announced during the Global Landscapes Forum at the Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris, where forest landscape restoration was highlighted as a key ingredient of the global movement to adapt to and mitigate climate change.
“In 2011 the Minister of Environment started the Bonn Challenge, with a global aspiration to restore 150 million hectares by 2020,” explained Horst Freiberg, Head of Division at Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. “The AFR100 initiative is a reaction to support and implement this global goal on a regional level.”
“Our two ministries, basically, work hand in hand to make AFR100 the implementation platform of the Bonn Challenge in Africa,” added Bernhard Worm, Senior Advisor at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
At the meeting, AFR100 partners reviewed guidelines and frameworks to track progress towards their shared goal and to capture and share best practices. They also encouraged other African countries to make restoration commitments and join the initiative.
Shell has launched its global education initiative, NXplorers, in Nigeria, in the latest effort to inspire young people to find solutions to the global challenges of food, water and energy in the face of an increasing global population.
Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria
“NXplorers will connect Nigeria to the global search for solutions to the interlinked challenges of food, water and energy by inspiring, preparing and enabling young Nigerians to embrace complexity and address these real-life issues,” said the General Manager External Relations of Shell Nigeria, Igo Weli. “As the world population grows, the challenges of food, water and energy also increase. These challenges do not have set solutions but look to innovations that can address them in a sustainable manner.”
About 150 students from 12 public and private secondary schools in Port Harcourt and Lagos have been enrolled on the programme and trained by local and international consultants in collaboration with Mind Africa and LEAP Africa. NXplorers uses a unique combination of three methodologies of Systems thinking; Scenario planning; and Theory of change, to explore the issues, create solutions and effect sustainable changes that directly impact the food-water-energy nexus challenges in the local environment.
Systems thinking prepares participants to explore complex issues particularly of food, water and energy nexus using a variety of thinking tools and strategies; Scenario planning helps them to imagine different futures using scenario planning tools; while theory of change equips them to plan for and enact positive change using theory of change methodologies. Using these methodologies, the programme provides a foundation for equipping future policy makers to develop complex problem-solving skills and change projects in the context of the food-water-energy nexus and beyond.
NXplorers was commissioned by the Projects and Technology business division of the Shell Group and is currently being implemented in 10 other countries across four continents of the world. Current beneficiary countries are: Qatar, Ghana, Oman, Brazil, England, Netherlands, India, Singapore, Russia, and Indonesia.
Other smart-energy initiatives by Shell include a global Shell LiveWire programme that encourages young people to develop entrepreneurial initiatives and energy innovations; Shell Eco-marathon which supports university students to design, build, test and drive ultra-energy-efficient vehicles; and Shell ideas360 programme which challenges university students of all disciplines to share ideas to meet the needs of a growing global population.
The call by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) for the restoration of the nation’s forest cover to at least 25% through the Green Recovery Nigeria (GRN) appears to be gaining momentum and support from both the public and private sectors in the country.
Adeniyi Karunwi, Director General of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF)
In an apparent bid to nip the gloomy but probable prediction that Nigeria’s landscape may wear a semblance devoid of forest cover over the next 30 years, NCF had, through the GRN Initiative, a multistakeholder platform for re-greening the nation’s landscape, enjoined all and sundry to engage in aggressive tree planting and responsible forest management to assuage the consequences of a desert experience.
In response to the call, the Anamelo Forest Concession Limited (AFCL) has launched a community engagement and tree planting programme in Tumbuyan Village, Ilesha-Ibaruba – a community in Kwara State – to build local capacity in tree nursery operations, tree planting and woodlot establishment for energy purposes.
The CEO of AFCL, Mr. Edward Ayeni, stated that it is the responsibility of economic actors in the forest sector to ensure the sustainability of the forest so as to secure their businesses and livelihoods. He acknowledged that forest businesses would in the near future be constrained by the shrinking forest cover if actors fail to plough back into the environment. He revealed that AFCL have been able to plant 7,000 seedlings in areas previously deforested with support from the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) and NCF. An area measuring over 65 hectares of marginal land had been earmarked for rehabilitation in the coming years and AFCL will scale-up efforts in subsequent years to secure the livelihood of the communities through sustainable agroforestry management.
The Emir of the Ilesha-Ibaruba Kingdom, Professor Halidu Abubakar, was impressed with the initiative as he expressed profound appreciation and lauded AFCL for bringing the community to limelight through the tree planting initiative. He promised the support and commitment of the community to the project.
The Emir extended gratitude to NCF, FRIN and the Kwara State Ministry of the Environment and Habitat for availing the community with technical support and other logistics in the area of tree planting. The Director General of NCF, Mr. Adeniyi Karunwi, who said that the forest is the backbone of rural economy, extolled the dynamic efforts of Mr. Edward Ayeni in driving the community tree planting inauguration at a scale unparalleled in recent history of tree planting efforts in the state.
“With NCF’s renewed role as the environmental watchdog and whistleblower, we are committed to our vision of a country where people live in harmony with nature. Forest stakeholders and users are therefore encouraged to refrain from unsustainable forest practices and report progress made in the area of forest landscape restoration in Nigeria for proper documentation and future reference. NCF is partnering with Anamelo on the project through monitoring and assessment in accordance with global best forestry practices,” Karunwi stated.
It is a small neighborhood, a crowded community that sits on a fetid lagoon, colored in sepia and greyscale, located on the coast of mainland Lagos. Wooden stilts are tucked deep inside its brackish waters with bits and pieces of rubbish adorning its surface and a tangle of boats impatiently slithering through the labyrinth of its waterways. Just above it is, in a fitting contrast is, coloured in all shades of commerce, the most travelled bridge on the West African continent. Like everyone who travels the bridge, the skies of the slum dwellers are blue and bright, but their waters are not, and certainly, not their health. And this, because, climate change came to the slum.
Makoko is a 19th century Lagos slum, formerly a fishing village and one of the oldest slums in Nigeria. Photo credit: The Guardian Nigeria
Makoko is a 19th century Lagos slum, formerly a fishing village and one of the oldest slums in Nigeria, yet an area of startling patchy development. Listed as one of the top 10 slums in Africa and regarded as the world’s biggest floating city, the area has an estimated population of about 86,000 people. With low hygiene and sanitary conditions, lack of toilets and constant exposure to vectors and extreme weather conditions, these 86,000 people are sitting ducks for climate change and its rancid effects on human health.
It is even scarier when one considers that Nigeria has over a thousand of these kinds of slums, with a bulk of them being in Lagos. And with climate change wreaking havoc on the health of communities, these slum dwellers are at high risk of diseases, major epidemics and even death.
Since the Paris Agreement was signed by countries of the world in 2015, the commitment of countries and cities has spiraled, leading to various climate action and activities to reduce global warming. The conversation around the term has also gained traction. Yet, for slum dwellers in Nigeria, not much has been done to keep them immune from the disasters climate change brings with it. If there was any doubt before, there is little now, that climate change is already affecting our health, in the slum and elsewhere. This is not a future prediction or a problem for the next generation, it is happening here and now, and of course happening disproportionately. The poorer population is more vulnerable than the rest. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated from the current rate of epidemics caused by climate change that, between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress. This spells doom for more vulnerable populations like slum dwellers.
With the increase in downpours, floods and rising sea levels, these slum dwellers in Makoko whose existence is almost entirely on water and whose shelters are ramshackle combinations of wood and rusted zinc, are at an alarming risk of displacement as their shelters are not built to adapt to the changing climate. This displacement means more vulnerability, more climate displaced persons, more mental health disorders and more spread of diseases. It can also lead to major injuries, contamination of water supplies and death.
Paying a visit to Makoko, one would see that they are surrounded by water. With the extreme rising temperature and floods, the water becomes an easy breeding ground for mosquitoes, leading to malaria for most of the population which has little access to medical supplies without a standard hospital, facilities, equipment and available health personnel in the area. And with the surroundings saturated with dirt of various dimensions including human waste, the flood drags all the dirt and waste into the water which the slum dwellers still drink, making them susceptible to water-borne diseases. The children too, another set of people more vulnerable to climate change effects, run around barefooted and unclad, exposing them to mosquitoes and other vector carriers, and to sharp objects that the flood brings along with it to the settlement.
One dweller in the area has confirmed that their commonest ailments in Makoko are malaria, respiratory diseases and malnutrition. Climate change increases the possibilities of these three types of diseases-mosquitoes escalate incidences of malaria; lack of access to markets and farms due to flooding as well as negative effects of weather patterns of food crops required for healthy feeding increase likelihood of malnutrition; and with climate change effects that engender air pollution, come respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Coupled with the fact that there is little or no standard health care, climate change makes the slum dwellers prone to heightened levels of illnesses with no prevention or cure in sight. According to the WHO, malnutrition and undernutrition – two damaging health issues – contribute to 3.1 million deaths every year. This spells gloom for the slum, except something is done.
The starting point for any solution is commitment, complemented with positive action to fight climate change through targeted policies and legislations for achieving Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and widespread knowledge sharing on climate change. The slums should be taken as a major concern by the government and mitigation and adaptation strategies especially in health, should be taught to the dwellers, access to medical supplies and facilities should be ensured, hospitals should be equipped to handle the spate of climate related epidemics and all medical centres should be fortresses for preventing climate change-related health crises, and curing them when they occur.
By Caleb Adebayo (Lawyer and environmental enthusiast, Lagos)
A cross section of agricultural scientists, water experts and sector related policy makers in Ghana have established the importance of the management of agricultural water for the national attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Sagre Bambangi, launching the book titled: “The Volta River Basin: Water for food, economic growth and environment.”
This was at a forum on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 in Accra, organised by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to discuss agricultural water management related issues that have implications for the attainment of the SDGs in the country. It was one of the series of High Level Policy Dialogues initiated by IWMI to share with stakeholders innovations that respond to challenges in agricultural water management.
The significance of the forum has to do with the urgent need for efficient management of water for agriculture, which is the highest user of water globally. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), “at the close of the 20th century, agriculture used a global average of 70% of all water withdrawals…” The organisation notes that while global food production has at least kept pace with world population growth since the 1960’s, this has been achieved through extensive use of water resources. It projects that water scarcity stress will increase locally and regionally, and thereby constrain food production.
Hence, the need for countries like Ghana to revamp their agricultural sectors through integrated approaches to water resources management in the area, while striving towards the attainment of the SDGs.
Participants at the forum included the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Sagre Bambangi; the Africa Director of IWMI, Dr. Timothy Williams; and the Director of Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI, CSIR), Dr. George Essegbey. Others were the Executive Secretary of the Water Resources Commission (WRC), Ben Ampomah; Deputy Director of the Water Research Institute (WRI), Dr Kankam Yeboah; and the Chief Executive of Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), Dr Ben Nyamadi.
Also present were Valere Nzeyimena of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO); Tom Martijn of the Integrated Water and Agricultural Development Ghana Limited (IWAD); representatives of the World Bank; Institute of Environment and Sanitation Studies (IESS), University of Ghana, Legon; and other officials of CSIR and IWMI.
They examined the challenges and opportunities for agricultural water management in Ghana in the quest for the achievement of the SDGs, and noted a number of issues. First of all, “there is no specific indicator looking at how agriculture water can contribute to the national targets for SDG in Ghana.” The participants agreed on the need for a holistic overview and integrated policy approach to ensure that agriculture plays its expected role in the national attainment of the SDGs.
Secondly, they acknowledged that the government’s policy of “One Village, One Dam” is laudable, but that it should be implemented based on adequate hydrogeological, environmental and social feasibility assessments. The “One Village, One Dam” policy is aimed at making water readily available to rural communities to enhance agricultural productivity. The participants concluded that “what is important is to ensure that farmers get sufficient water to secure food production in the country and that they are supported to improve their competitiveness.”
Dr. Sagre Bambangi, who set the tone for the discussion, said the use of irrigation as a dependable source of water for agriculture, coupled with the use of improved seeds and adoption of best agronomic practices, “are the surest ways to modernise agriculture and increase productivity as part of efforts to achieve these SDGs.” Therefore, government was focusing on the irrigation sub-sector to restructure and modernise it based on the four pillars of “… Institutional and Policy Reform; Water Resources Management Reforms; Irrigation Service Delivery Reforms; and Improving Water Use Efficiency and On-Farm Productivity,” he added.
The expectation is that these four pillars will form the basis of restructuring the irrigation sub-sector which, according to the Deputy Minister, “will further involve rehabilitation and modernization of irrigation infrastructure; improving water management through the use of non-conventional infrastructure such as Continuous Contour Binding; Use of Rainwater Harvesting Techniques for Home Gardening and Recession Water Management; and Developing Groundwater and Environmental Management Framework for Sustainability of Irrigated Agriculture; and Employment of Solar Energy for Small-Scale Activities.”
Dr. Bambangi was hopeful that restructuring the irrigation sub-sector would boost agricultural production, which directly and indirectly employs about 60% of Ghanaians through various linkages, and will be “key in achieving the first three SDGs namely: no poverty, zero hunger, and good health and well-being.”
In a statement read on his behalf, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, re-echoed the fact that “water is indispensable to the quest to attain the SDGs, because of its role in economic development, human wellbeing and environmental health.” But he was also concerned about how to balance the competing demands for water for agricultural production, energy generation and industrial development, while maintaining healthy ecosystems.
The Minister’s solution to this issue was that since agriculture was currently the largest user of water resources, going forward as a country, “it is important to ensure an efficient use in the agricultural sector, so as to make water available for other sectors that are also expected to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.”
His statement was read by the Director of CSIR-STEPRI, Dr. George Essegbey, who was personally confident that the discussion was helping to collate knowledge that will contribute significantly to national development and strengthen management water resources in the country.
A team of scientific experts namely Dr. Olufunke Cofie, Head of IWMI West Africa; Dr. Emmanuel Obuobie of WRI; Dr. Marloes Mul of IMWI; and Dr. Philip Amoah also of IWMI, delivered presentations that demonstrated that prioritising the management of water, produces positive results whether for agricultural productivity, or in securing livelihoods or in transforming waste water into valuable resources.
The climax of the Forum was the launch by Dr. Bambangi of a Book titled: “The Volta River Basin: Water for food, economic growth and environment,” with contents compiled by a team of water and agricultural scientists, and produced by IWMI. It was based on various research findings that revealed the potential of the Volta Basin to support livelihood and sustainable development, tied to efficient management of its water resources.
In an earlier introduction of the book, Dr. Williams said the idea for the publication was inspired by the need to find answers to the basin’s challenges and tap into existing opportunities. He added that “it contains research-based evidence to inform policy decisions on food production, energy generation, ecosystems and transboundary management in the Volta basin.”
Soil quality has direct impact on the quality of harvests. Poor soils produce poor yields and climate change affects the quality and availability of soil for food production. We experience this directly when there are floods or droughts. The increasing desertification in Nigeria can be attributed in part to climate change. Poor soil management is equally responsible for incidents of desertification that is sometimes erroneously described as the “southward march” of the Sahara Desert.
Nnimmo Bassey
Global warming is already having impacts on farming and food supply across the world. Projections for food supply if global warming trends are not reversed, or at least slowed down, are quite worrisome. We are witnesses of the impact of floods on farmers and farming in Nigeria this year, 2017. We cannot forget what flooding has meant in the recent past. In the 2012 floods, 6 million Nigerians were displaced and over 300 deaths were recorded. More than 100,000 persons were displaced by flooding in Benue State alone in 2017. Several deaths have also been recorded this year as a result of floods in Lagos and Borno States and other parts of Nigeria.
Without argument, change of rainfall patterns and volumes have direct impact on agriculture, including herding activities. Climate change has effects on access to land, as well as water, for cultivation and for pastoral activities. The effects can also contribute to conflicts arising from the shrinking of these and related resources. Drier lands contribute to migration or displacement of populations. The same happens with flooding or coastal erosion. Pastoralists and farmers can work in ways that are mutually beneficial rather than in the current conflict-ridden ways. With herders and farmers gathered in this dialogue today, we have opportunity to share concerns and build solutions.
Degraded land sometimes get labeled as marginal lands thus setting them up to be grabbed and taken away from communities. Global warming may lead to an increase of pests, diseases and post harvest losses. Even small increases of temperature will negatively impact the production of cereals such as maize. In addition, unusual weather variability coupled with extreme weather events also lead to:
Damaged infrastructure
Coastal erosion and loss of land and fishing grounds
Intrusion of salt water into fresh water systems, thus affecting marine ecosystems
Possibilities of rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50% by 2020
Reduction in grassland and grains production will adversely affect animal husbandry
Increase of family and other social emergencies
Sustainable Development Goal 2 sets the important target of achieving Zero hunger by 2030. If conscientiously pursued, the world would drastically reduce the impacts of global warming on food production.
Specifically, among other things, this important SDG seeks to:
By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality
By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed
The target of Zero Hunger by 2030 may seem impossible to attain in the face of climate change, but with suitable approaches and intensive extension services, food supplies can be sustained and farming can help to cool the earth rather than accelerate Global warming. The sort of farming that would do this would enrich soils rather than degrading poisoning them. They would protect soil organisms rather then killing them. This farming method would be agroecological, and deeply climate and culture smart. Culture smart farming works with the best indigenous knowledge and technologies and protect crop varieties. Such indigenous technologies include the zai method used by farmers in Burkina Faso and others to retain water and nutrients and thus maintain and enrich soil quality and thus protect biodiversity.
Culture smart and climate resilient farming are contrary to what is offered by modern biotechnology by way of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). When GMOs are presented as being climate smart, there is a willful denial of the massive erosion of species that they represent. There is also a willful denial of the soil degradation by the agrotoxics that are applied in such farms.
By Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation – HOMEF)
The African Academy of Sciences and the NEPAD Agency’s Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) on Thursday, September 28, 2017 announced funding for eight African innovators to tackle maternal, neonatal and child health on the continent.
Dahabo Adi Galgallo, Innovator, Marsabit County, Kenya
The funding, through AESA’s Grand Challenges Africa, will support researchers in Kenya, Madagascar and Senegal who were selected from among about 400 applicants from 20 African countries. The first round of the Grand Challenges Africa Innovation Seed Grants (GCA-ISG) supported in partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Institut Pasteur of Paris.
The GCA-ISG are part of the Grand Challenges Africa Innovation Grants that fund innovations that seek solutions and strategies that will help Africa achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Grand Challenges Africa is a scheme that issues annual calls for proposals for seed and scale-up grants.
The eight winners of the 2017 first seed grants will each receive about $100,000 for two years to implement projects that range from a portable system to detect the Zika virus to the diagnosis of maternal bacterial infections. The ultimate goal is to improve maternal, neonatal and child health outcomes on a continent which accounts for more than half of global maternal deaths and more than three-quarters of neonatal deaths.
Today, an African woman faces a 1 in 31 chance of dying from complications due to pregnancy or childbirth, compared to 1 in 4,300 in the developed world. More than half of maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa are directly or indirectly attributed to infectious causes such as HIV, malaria, sepsis and sexually transmitted diseases. Infections and complications related to preterm births account for 88% of newborn deaths.
“Too many African women are still dying during child birth unnecessarily,” said Tom Kariuki, AESA Director, adding: “We are harnessing Africa’s best talent to transform maternal health and save lives of mothers and their children.”
Institut Pasteur is supporting two innovators selected from IP institutes in Africa. The partnership with Institut Pasteur seeks to promote intra-African collaboration and promote the sharing of skills and ideas within grand challenges projects.
“GC Africa builds local and global partnerships for innovations that maximise impact on health outcomes in Africa,” said Evelyn Gitau, Grand Challenges Africa Programme Manager.
The eight innovators, whose backgrounds range from academia to community work, are drawn from African universities, government laboratories, research institutions and non-profit organisations.
Five of the innovators are from Kenya, including Galgallo Adi, a community worker in Marsabit, who is developing solar-powered bracelets to monitor the health of pregnant women in the pastoral Samburu community.
“The Grand Challenges Africa scheme is providing African innovators with much needed resources to find home grown solutions for the health challenges facing our people”, says Adi. “Women are the cornerstone of society, ensuring their families’ nutritional and economic needs are met. We shouldn’t be losing any of them during child birth, which is why such a scheme aimed at improving maternal health is key.”
The innovators are:
Jesse Gitaka, a lecturer at Mount Kenya University
Dahabo Adi Galgallo, Innovator, Marsabit County, Kenya
Angela Koech Etyang, Physician Scientist, Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health and Instructor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aga Khan University – Nairobi
Eric Ogola, Epidemiologist, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science & Technology and PhD Student, University of Nairobi
Christine Musyimi, Head of Research Ethics and Scientific Publications Office, Africa Mental Health Foundation
Niaina Rakotosamimanana, Head of the Mycobacteria Unit, Pasteur Institute of Madagascar
Diawo Diallo, Medical Entomologist, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal
Muriel Vray, Epidemiologist, Institut Pasteur of Dakar, Senegal
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday, September 28, 2017 struck out a motion exparte seeking a substituted service on Senator Dino Melaye by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Senator Dino Melaye
The motion, which was earlier withdrawn by INEC before it was struck out by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, appears to be a setback on several efforts at enforcing a court order on the Senator.
Justice Dimgba struck out the motion following an oral application by INEC’s counsel Yunus Ustas Usman (SAN), to withdraw the motion.
The judge further directed all applications relating to the petition for the recall of the Senator to be henceforth resolved at the Court of Appeal.
Justice Dimgba had, in his September 11 judgment, gave INEC the go-ahead to continue with the process of recall after dismissing Melaye’s suit seeking to stop the move by INEC.
But the Judge had equally ordered INEC to forward a copy of the said petition it received from Melaye’s constituency, signatories to the petition as well as the full list of petitioners to Senator Melaye for verification.
However, efforts by the electoral body to serve the court’s order on the Senator had proved abortive as he was alleged to have been evading service.
Consequently, INEC in an application dated September 15, approached the court for an order of substituted service on him. And when the matter came up yesterday, Melaye’s counsel, Nkem Okoro, who held brief for Mike Ozekhome (SAN), urged the court to divest itself of jurisdiction in all applications relating to the matter on the grounds that appeal has been entered at the Court of Appeal.
Okoro argued that it would amount to judicial impertinent for the judge to continue with any application relating to the issue.
In his response, counsel to INEC – Usman, who claimed he had just been served with the record of the appeal, argued that ordinarily, the judge should hands off from any application relating to the matter if it was an ordinary cases.
According to him, since the issue of referendum was election-related, the court could not be restrained.
In an attempt to resolve the issue, Justice Dimgba asked, if in view of the final judgment the court delivered on September 11, wherein the matter was disposed of on merit, it still has powers to entertain any application on the same matter, and if besides the exparte motions of the plaintiff, there were no other means available for the plaintiff to enforce the court order of September 11.
It was at this point that counsel to INEC applied to withdraw the exparte motion and file the necessary application.
He said: “I concede to the point made by my Lord and I want to withdraw the motion exparte dated September 15, 2017.”
Justice Dimgba consequently struck out the exparte motion at no cost to the parties following its withdrawal by INEC’s counsel.
“In the face of uncleared evidences of the record of appeal, it is better that all applications relating to the matter be resolved at the Appeal Court,” the judge stated.
