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In 25-year plan, UK prioritises climate change, wildlife crime, plastic waste

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In 25-year plan, UK prioritises climate change, wildlife crime, plastic waste

The United Kingdom has released an ambitious 25-year environment plan that will, according to Prime Minister Theresa May, ensure that the present generation leaves the environment in a better state than it found it, and pass on to the next generation a natural environment protected and enhanced for the future.

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, says in a summary that the plan outlines ways to reduce the use of plastics that contribute to pollution, create a new a new Northern Forest, lead the fight against climate change, invest to prevent wildlife crime, and pursue a ban on sales of ivory

Theresa May
Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

It is this Government’s ambition to leave our environment in a better state than we found it. We have made significant progress but there is much more to be done. The 25 Year Environment Plan that we have published today outlines the steps we propose to take to achieve our ambition.

Environment is – at its roots – another word for nature, for the planet that sustains us, the life on earth that inspires wonder and reverence, the places dear to us we wish to protect and preserve. We value those landscapes and coastlines as goods in themselves, places of beauty which nurture and support all forms of wildlife.

Respecting nature’s intrinsic value, and the value of all life, is critical to our mission. For this reason we safeguard cherished landscapes from economic exploitation, protect the welfare of sentient animals and strive to preserve endangered woodland and plant life, not to mention the greening of our urban environments.

But we also draw from the planet all the raw materials we need to live – food, water, air and energy for growth. So protecting and enhancing the environment, as this Plan lays out, is about more than respecting nature. It is critical if the next generation is to flourish, with abundant natural resources to draw on, that we look after our and their inheritance wisely.

We need to replenish depleted soil, plant trees, support wetlands and peatlands, rid seas and rivers of rubbish, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cleanse the air of pollutants, develop cleaner, sustainable energy and protect threatened species and habitats.

Previous Governments, here and in other nations, have made welcome strides and driven environmental improvement. Yet as this 25 Year Plan makes clear, there is much more still to do. We must tread more lightly on our planet, using resources more wisely and radically reducing the waste we generate. Waste is choking our oceans and despoiling our landscapes as well as contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and scarring habitats. The success of the 5p plastic bag charge in reducing the use of carrier bags by 85% shows the difference which government action can make, and demonstrates that protecting our environment is a job for each one of us.

The Plan outlines ways to reduce the use of plastics that contribute to pollution, and broader steps to encourage recycling and the more thoughtful use of resources. Over the lifetime of this Plan, we want to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste.

The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy – the sister document to this Environment Plan – sets out how we will deliver the clean, green growth needed to combat global warming.

We will do what is necessary to adapt to the effects of a changing climate, improving the resilience of our infrastructure, housing and natural environment.

Population growth and economic development will mean more demand for housing and this Government is committed to building many more homes. However, we will ensure that we support development and the environment by embedding the principle that new development should result in net environmental gain – with neglected or degraded land returned to health and habitats for wildlife restored or created.

Most of our land is used, however, for agriculture not housing. The new system of support that we will bring in for farmers – true friends of the earth, who recognise that a care for land is crucial to future rural prosperity – will have environmental enhancement at its heart.

We will support farmers to turn over fields to meadows rich in herbs and wildflowers, plant more trees, restore habitats for endangered species, recover soil fertility and attract wildlife back. We will ensure broader landscapes are transformed by connecting habitats into larger corridors for wildlife, as recommended by Sir John Lawton in his official review.

Our plan for a new Northern Forest, to which we are contributing more than £5 million, will be accompanied by a new review of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Planting more trees provides not just new habitats for wildlife – it also helps reduce carbon dioxide levels and can reduce flood risk.

We will work with nature to protect communities from flooding, slowing rivers and creating and sustaining more wetlands to reduce flood risk and offer valuable habitats.

Beyond our coastlines, we must do more to protect the seas around us and marine wildlife. Leaving the EU means taking back control of the waters around these islands. We will develop a fishing policy that ensures seas return to health and fish stocks are replenished. We will also extend the marine protected areas around our coasts so that these stretches of environmentally precious maritime heritage have the best possible protection.

Internationally, we will lead the fight against climate change, invest to prevent wildlife crime, pursue a ban on sales of ivory, and strengthen partnerships to tackle illegal wildlife trade beyond borders, including investigating the feasibility of an anti-poaching taskforce.

We will underpin all this action with a comprehensive set of environmental principles. To ensure strong governance, we will consult on plans to set up a worldleading environmental watchdog, an independent, statutory body, to hold Government to account for upholding environmental standards.We will regularly update this Plan to reflect the changing nature of the environment.

While this 25 Year Environment Plan relates only to areas for which HMG is responsible, we will continue to work with the devolved administrations on our shared goal of protecting our natural heritage.

These actions will, we hope, ensure that this country is recognised as the leading global champion of a greener, healthier, more sustainable future for the next generation.

China sets forestry development goals for 2050

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China sets forestry development goals for 2050

China’s forestry authority has made a plan to boost the domestic forestry industry and increase its forest resources to the world’s average by 2050.

China forestry
Forest in China

The plan unveiled by Zhang Jianlong, chief of State Forestry Administration, at a recent conference, is the latest move taken by government sectors to implement the ruling party’s modernisation blueprint.

At its 19th National Congress in November, China’s ruling party decided to make the country prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by 2050.

Zhang said that, by 2050, China’s forest stock will expand to 26.5 billion cubic meters, and 72 percent of the growth of forestry industry will come from technological advancement.

Although China has seen its forest resources growing fastest in the world in the past five years, Zhang said that forestry remained “a weak link” of China’s modernisation drive.

“Inadequate forestry resources were a significant cause of China’s fragile ecology and the lack of ecological products,” Zhang said.

To improve the situation, the administration has broke down the country’s forestry modernisation goals into different phases.

In the first phase from now (January 2018) until 2020, China’s forest coverage rate is expected to reach 23.04 percent from 21.66 percent, while the volume of forest resources will expand from 15.137 billion cubic meters to 16.5 billion cubic meters.

From 2020 to 2035, the percentage of forest coverage will grow further to 26 percent while forest stock will rise to 21 billion cubic meters.

Over the same period, the greening rate in the rural area will surge from 30 percent to 38 percent. By 2050, the figure will reach 43 percent.

Zhang said that, in 2018, the afforested areas in both cities and counties would be 6.67 million hectares.

The aggregate output of the forestry industry will reach ¥7.5 trillion in 2018 compared with ¥7 trillion in 2017, while the imports and exports of forestry products will rise to $160 billion from $150 billion in 2017, he said.

Damage from natural disasters almost doubled in 2017 compared to 2016

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Damage from natural disasters almost doubled in 2017 compared to 2016

According to German reinsurer Munich RE, natural disasters caused more damage in 2017 than in any the previous five years, with much of the damage caused by extreme weather events linked to climate change, above all severe hurricanes, flooding and fires.

Hurricane Irma
A view of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Sint Maarten Dutch part of Saint Martin island in the Caribbean, Sept. 6, 2017.

Last year, natural disasters caused $330 billion worth of damage, nearly double the figure recorded in 2016 ($175 billion) and the highest in history after 2011 ($354 billion).

Munich Re highlights that storm Harvey in August 2017 alone, which led to torrential rains falling on Texas, caused $85 billion in damage.

Two other hurricanes – Irma, which impacted Florida and Maria in the Caribbean, along with the huge forest fires in California, are also noted by the insurer as being particularly severe in terms of economic damage.

In Asia, the monsoon was unusually intense and caused the death of 2,700 people and $3.5 billion in costs.

In Europe, abnormally low temperatures last April caused $3.6 billion in damage to agriculture, of which only 650 million were covered by insurance.

Some of these disasters “have given us a taste of the future,” said Torsten Jeworrek, chief Reinsurance branch of Munich Re. “Our experts expect to see these events more often,” he added.

Poor people are invariably the most vulnerable to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
Governments, together with many stakeholders, are working to make insurance more accessible and more affordable.

At the 2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP23), in Bonn, Germany, an initiative was launched with the aim of providing insurance to hundreds of millions of vulnerable people by 2020 and to increase the resilience of developing countries against the impacts of climate change.

Why dreadful viral diseases are now upon us

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Why dreadful viral diseases are now upon us

Beautiful, patterned white lines and detailed symbols traced the walls of the room. Inside there, in Gbolaka-Ta village, young Liberian girl Hawa Singbeh almost died from Ebola in 2015 – the same room she was born in. Her brother and sister did not survive this virus.

Dr Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho
Dr Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, WHO Assistant Director General for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases. Photo credit: media.globalcitizen.org

The most complex and widespread Ebola virus disease outbreak in history occurred in six West Africa nations, from 2013 to 2016. Ebola, which spreads by contact with body fluids of infected humans and handling or eating infected primates, is a violent haemorrhagic fever that leads to internal and external bleeding and organ failure.

Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) tells us that the “Ebola epidemic claimed the lives of more than 11,300 people and infected over 28,500” in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea. Under a rapid-containment scenario, West Africa’s estimated GDP lost to Ebola by 2015 was $1.6 billion. In Sierra Leone alone, federal authorities said the impact resulted in an economic deflation by 30 percent.

Ebola is not the end of reality. There are other dreadful viruses that are now increasingly upon us, especially in West Africa. Lassa fever, Meningitis, and Monkeypox are sad viral examples. Decades after their respective index cases in this tropical region, virus diseases are now remerging in epidemic proportions.

For example, Nigeria last year experienced deadly outbreaks of Lassa fever, meningitis, and Monkeypox. Monkeypox is a rare disease that largely resolves itself (no specific treatment or vaccine available), and has milder symptoms in humans similar to those previously manifested in smallpox patients. In 1971, there were two Monkeypox cases in Nigeria. And only a single case was recorded seven years after. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, in October 2017, confirmed a total of 94 cases from eleven states and the Federal Capital Territory.

When one goes far beyond superficial observation on how these increasing viruses are spread and their season of occurrence, real associations between rising global temperatures, human-animal proximity, and public health effect can be documented.

In a 2015 research paper published in Science and co-authored by 18 leading scientists and stakeholders, Johan Rockström reveals that humanity has sprinted past four out of nine “planetary boundaries” – crucial limits for keeping earth stable and hospitable. People are forcing earth into uncertain and dangerous territory – driving up global temperatures, clear-cutting original forests, dumping fertilisers into rivers and oceans and forcing animals, plants and other organisms towards extinction. Rockström, who had the idea of planetary boundaries back in 2007, is executive director at the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Today’s numbers on the state of the planet shows that carbon dioxide (an important greenhouse gas that causes climate change) levels are unsafe at 400 parts per million and climbing, 16 percent of biodiversity has been lost around the world, and instead of conserving at least 75 percent of forests, only 62 percent are left due to deforestation and other land use changes.

Will Steffen, the paper’s lead author, believes that crossing the boundaries of climate change and the health of the planet’s ecosystems is troubling since doing so “can shove the earth into completely different states”. Steffen is also the executive director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University.

My experience during the first Online Youth Exchange of Care About Climate and the China Youth Climate Action Network helped put the impact of climate change on public health and biodiversity in context. It was a one-year international capacity building programme and, like other participants, I had to give a webinar. Mine was on climate change and its intersection with viral diseases in West Africa. Here is what I learnt while prepping.

We have an underreported climate crises in parts of West Africa: areas off the Abidjan harbour experience high soil erosion rates and loss of mangrove swamps; resulting surface floods from heavy rainfalls and rising sea levels are disrupting the lives of waterfront dwellers in Lagos islands; neighbouring settlements of the Ivorian western, land boarders with Liberia and Guinea are now seeing changes in ecosystems; and the availability and quality of Sierra Leone’s extensive water resources is significantly challenged as a result of shortages, intense sediment loads, and temperature-driven microorganism reproduction cycles and algal growth, thus, providing more conducive breeding grounds for disease vectors – up to 80 percent of the country’s rural population obtains its water from these sources.

Often in this massive region, deforestation is on the rise, warming events are enduring, and vegetative covers are changing. The number of young people is getting bigger and bigger and so takes this climate crisis downhill. Yet, there is no concerted, scientific research effort to evaluate and understand the impacts of this crisis on ecosystems and human systems, particularly habitats fragmentation and public health.

Perhaps, public health is the most unevaluated human face of climate change. And compelled by warming and instability, our climate is playing a tremendous part in perpetuating the global emergence, resurgence and spread of infectious diseases.

Most infectious diseases have three components: a pathogen, a host, and a transmission environment. Some viruses are pathogens since they are examples of disease-producing agents. Host refers to living animal or plant that supports and nourishes disease pathogens, while transmission environment involves the indirect and direct distribution or spread route of disease.

A 2002 study published in Science shows that temperature can influence the reproduction and development of pathogens. According to Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Centre for Health and the Global Environment scholar at Harvard University, “all pathogenic viruses…and parasites are temperature sensitive.” For example, coinciding with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, global temperature in the months of May had anomalies from 2014 up to 2017. Put simply by Goddard Institute for Space Studies at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), each May in these years were the top 3 hottest in 137 years of modern, global temperature record–keeping.

The biggest misconception about climate change is that everything everywhere gets warmer. However, it is necessary to know that temperature change over land and water may or may not restrict the development and distribution of viral diseases. This depends on their distinctive temperature thresholds.

Furthermore, extreme positive shifts in rainfall amount – often driven by climate change –  plays a quiet role in the development of select disease pathogens, as continuous, heavy rain may mix sediments in water and land upwards, leading to the accumulation of fecal microorganisms at surface levels.

Human-animal proximity and close interaction are also likely to support the development, survival, and redistribution of infectious diseases. In this case, intermittent connections of these diseases with wildlife, extreme weather events, and meteorological hazards are seen.

Jungles and deep, unexplored areas are sometimes the natural reservoirs of an infectious disease or the habitat of host animals. People are pushed to these areas from their original homes; as a result of droughts, famines, heatwaves, and floods; for survival and in pursuit of favourable living conditions. When we migrate to these areas, we deforest to commercially farm cash crops, site manufacturing industries, construct roads, and so on. We alter the habitats of reservoirs and hosts. During hazards, for example, rodents that hosts Lassa virus may enter homes to look for food and transmit it to humans, leading to Lassa fever cases. In peri-urban populations of low-income countries, the risk factors for Swamp fever include flooding of open gutters and streets.

“Rising global temperatures would have a catastrophic effect on human health and patterns of infections will change”, Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Environment, Usman Jubril, says.

But we can lessen the extent of this foreseen, catastrophic effect.

Through academic research and science-based methods to meaningfully understand the impacts of climate change (including extreme weather events and meteorological hazards) on public health, especially viral diseases; investing more in surveillance, monitoring and early warning systems; practising open information and experience sharing; and building the capacities of vulnerable populations via campaigns and outreaches, we can help deliver a healthier and sustainable tomorrow for Hawa Singbeh. For everyone.

By Oghenechovwen Oghenekevwe (Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria; @ChovwenKevwe)

Countries give voice to indigenous peoples through new platform

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Countries give voice to indigenous peoples through new platform

During the UN climate negotiations in Bonn last November (COP23), country representatives worked in close collaboration with indigenous peoples to turn the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples platform established at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21) into reality.

Dayak Bahau community
Indigenous people of Dayak Bahau community in the Upper Mahakam in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

According the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Indigenous and traditional knowledge represents a “major resource for adapting to climate change,” particularly because indigenous peoples care for around 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. Besides, local communities and indigenous peoples bear the brunt of climate change impacts and have demonstrated a wide range of ways to engage with the United Nations’ climate process in recent years.

Addressing Indigenous leaders during COP23 in Bonn, the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change Patricia Espinosa said: “Indigenous people must be part of the solution to climate change. This is because you have the traditional knowledge of your ancestors. The important value of that knowledge simply cannot – and must not – be understated. You are also essential in finding solutions today and in the future. The Paris Climate Change Agreement recognises this. It recognises your role in building a world that is resilient in the face of climate impacts.”

The platform will help share the valuable knowledge of local communities and indigenous peoples to fight against climate change and its impacts, and ensure their views are heard in the climate negotiation process. It will also enable fuller and more effective exchanges of knowledge between governments and indigenous peoples and local communities, by strengthening the knowledge, technologies, practices and efforts of local communities and indigenous peoples related to addressing and responding to climate change, as well as facilitating the exchange of experiences and enhancing engagement of indigenous peoples and local communities in the UNFCCC process.

Juan Jintiach, representing indigenous communities in the Amazon, described the negotiations to launch the platform as, “a way to protect forests and tackle climate change,” and “a victory for indigenous peoples.”

The platform has three core functions to support its objectives:

  • Knowledge: the platform should promote the exchange of experience and best practices aiming at applying, strengthening, protecting and preserving traditional knowledge, knowledge of indigenous peoples, and local knowledge systems as well as technologies, practices and efforts of local communities and indigenous peoples related to addressing and responding to climate change, taking into account the free, prior and informed consent of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices;
  • Capacity for engagement: the platform should build the capacities of indigenous peoples and local communities to enable their engagement in the UNFCCC process. The platform should also build the capacities of Parties and other relevant stakeholders to engage with the platform and with local communities and indigenous peoples, including in the context of the implementation of the Paris Agreement and other climate change related processes;
  • Climate change policies and actions: the platform should facilitate the integration of diverse knowledge systems, practices and innovations in designing and implementing international and national actions, programmes and policies in a manner that respects and promotes the rights and interests of local communities and indigenous peoples. The platform should facilitate stronger and more ambitious climate action by indigenous peoples and local communities that could contribute to the achievement of the nationally determined contributions of the Parties concerned.

 

Platform Needs Full Participation of Indigenous Peoples to Work

Clare Shakya of the International Institute for Environment and Development also supported the development, but added a caveat, saying: “This is an important step forward but only if it really does mean that indigenous and local communities are listened to and their knowledge recognised.”

The UN’s top climate change official Patricia Espinosa agreed: “We need your voice to understand how this platform best serves the needs of indigenous communities. Furthermore, we need your knowledge to build bridges between indigenous communities and other groups acting on climate change,” she said.

For that purpose, the decision taken at the UN Climate Change Conference COP23 in Bonn recommended that the platform takes into account four principles put forth by indigenous peoples in its future activities:

Full and effective participation of indigenous peoples;

  • Equal status of indigenous peoples and country representatives, including in leadership roles;
  • Self-selection of indigenous peoples representatives in accordance with indigenous peoples’ own procedures; and
  • Adequate funding from the UNFCCC secretariat and voluntary contributions to enable the platform functions.

During the next climate negotiations in April-May 2018, country representatives will discuss modalities to make the platform fully functional. A multi-stakeholder workshop for local communities, indigenous peoples, country representatives and other relevant organisations to discuss the implementation of the three core functions will be the first activity of the platform.

By inviting indigenous peoples organisations to contribute to the climate negotiations, governments underscored their desire for collaborative and constructive engagement with indigenous peoples and local communities. While more work needs to be done in 2018 on refining the modalities of the platform, the progress on the local communities and indigenous peoples platform drew a lot of positive attention at COP23, with six country representatives as well as indigenous peoples representatives expressing their support to the platform at closing plenaries.

For example, Ms. Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, co-chair of Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus expressed “gratitude to all Parties for their support for this platform,” noting that “it is a positive starting point” and Mr Fremout Geert, representing the European Union was “pleased with the progress on this item – in particular agreeing to the purpose and functions.” Lastly, Ricardo Ulate, representing Costa Rica was “happy with the platform being operationalised, with a roadmap for (its) development.”

Nigeria, UNESCO to hold Lake Chad conference in February

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Nigeria, UNESCO to hold Lake Chad conference in February

The Federal Ministry of Water Resources says it will host a global forum on sustainable solutions to save the drought-ravaged Lake Chad between Feb. 26 and Feb. 28 in Abuja.

lake chad
Scientists say the Lake Chad, that borders Nigeria and some other countries, has shrunken by 95 percent over the past 50 years. They have also linked the Boko Haram insurgency to the lake’s situation. Photo credit: AP/Christophe Ena

Dr Musa Ibrahim, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said this in a statement in Abuja on Friday, January 12, 2018.

He said that the theme of the conference was “Saving the Lake Chad to revitalise the Basin’s Ecosystem for Sustainable Livelihood, Security and Development’’.

He said that the ministry would hold the conference, in collaboration with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).

According to him, the objective of the conference is to create global awareness on the socio-economic and environmental challenges arising from the shrinkage of the lake.

He said that the forum would be an opportunity to deliberate on the effect of the lake’s desiccation on people’s livelihoods and security, with a view to developing a comprehensive programme and action plan to address it.

Musa added that the conference would also inform stakeholders on the consensus of opinion on the different solutions to restore the lake.

He said that the solutions included the Inter-Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) project, which was aimed at transferring water from Ubangi River in the Democratic Republic of Congo into the Chad basin.

He said that there was a need to gather political and financial support for the overall restoration of the Chad basin.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lake Chad is about eight per cent of the size of Africa and the lake is shared by Algeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Nigeria, Niger and Sudan.

The eight countries have an estimated population of 373.6 million, with 12 per cent of the estimated population living around the Lake Chad in 2013.

The people living in the basin depend on the lake for water supply as well as farming, fishing and livestock production.

However, the LCBC website says that a review of the hydrology of the Lake Chad Basin shows that in the wet years (years before 1973), water inflow into the basin averaged between 30km3 and 40km3 per annum.

The website says that in the dry years (years after 1974), water inflow averaged between 20km3 and 21km3 per annum, while the lowest inflow – 16km3 – was recorded in 1984.

By Tosin Kolade

600 people trapped on train during massive winter storm in Japan

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600 people trapped on train during massive winter storm in Japan

Witnesses said no fewer than 600 passengers were trapped aboard a train overnight in a Sea of Japan coastal area as a massive winter storm dumped heavy snow in the region, local media reported on Friday, January 12, 2018.

snow storm train
A train caught in snow storm

“One person was taken to hospital and four were rescued as they felt unwell on the four-car train stranded between Tokoji and Obiori stations in Niigata prefecture since Thursday.

“The operator provided food and some beverage for the passengers early Friday.’’.

The operator JR East said that the train bound for Nagaoka from Niigata is equipped with restrooms with its heating and interior lights working properly.

“It is not certain when the train service can be resumed though snow removal is under way,’’ the operator said.

The storm brought much snow to many parts of Japan as weather authorities warned of blizzard conditions, traffic disruption and risk of avalanches.

Buhari to Gani Adams: Use your position as Aare Ona Kakanfo for national unity

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Buhari to Gani Adams: Use your position as Aare Ona Kakanfo for national unity

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the Aare Ona Kakanfo-designate, Otunba Gani Adams, to use the office into which he is about to step for national unity.

Gani-Adams
Gani Adams. Photo credit: nigerianmonitor.com

Adams will be installed on Saturday, January 13, 2018 as the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, at Durbar Stadium, Oyo town, Oyo State.

The admonition of the President to Otunba Adams, the Founder of the Oodua Progressive Union, which is spread across 79 countries, was contained in a statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina.

Adesina said Buhari warmly congratulates Adams, the National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, on his investiture as the 15th Aare Ona Kakanfo on Saturday.

He then charged the new Generalissimo of Yorubaland to use the position to pursue worthy goals of security, peace and national unity.

So also did the President commend Oba Adeyemi on the appointment of a new Aare Ona Kakanfo, who, he said, will assist him in the arduous task of leading the illustrious Yoruba people.

President Buhari urged the new Aare Ona Kakanfo “to bring quintessential courage, wisdom and astuteness to bear on his new office, for a more secured life for the weak, vulnerable and voiceless in the country”.

President Buhari prayed that the almighty God will grant the Aare Ona Kakanfo a favourable reign.

Anti-open grazing law stays, says Ortom as Benue lays slain indigenes to rest

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Anti-open grazing law stays, says Ortom as Benue lays slain indigenes to rest

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has said that if the 2nd January 2, 2018 killings of dozens of people in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of the state by suspected Fulani herdsmen was meant to intimidate the state government to repeal the Anti-Open Grazing Law 2017, the murderers had failed.

Benue-anti-grazing-law
Governor Ortom signs anti-grazing bill into law as Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Terkimbi Ikyange, lends a hand

Ortom stated this on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) Square in Makurdi, the state capital, while delivering a speech in a service to mark the mass burial of the 73 slain victims of the Fulani herdsmen invasion.

The governor, who said that the law must be implemented to the letter, emphasised that ranching was the best global practice in the 21st century, even as he maintained that the state would not accept cattle colonies on its land as advocated by the Federal Government.

He urged the government to arrest the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association because they had at several forums made incitive statements against the state, and that the recent killings were a pointer to the fact that they had executed their genocidal threats.

Further blaming the wanton killings of Benue indigenes on the absolute silence of the government and security agencies who were meant to protect them, he lamented that if the authorities had heeded to the reports he gave it concerning the threats of attacks which the Cattle Breeders Association had issued in resisting the implementation of the law, the killings would have been averted.

Also speaking, the Catholic Bishop of Gboko Diocese, William Avenya, who reiterated that cattle colonies were not acceptable by the Benue people, said that there was not enough land even for farming which is the predominant occupation of the people as such, only ranching is the solution.

Stressing further, Bishop Avenya, while blaming the wanton killings of Benue indigenes on the silence of the Federal Government, decried the non-presence of government in the state ranging from impassable federal roads, and infrastructural deficit, among others.

On his part, the UN Country Coordinator, Nigeria, Martins Okey Ejidike, while commiserating with the people of the state on their loss, stated that it is their collective loss and called for restraint on all parties.

Ejidike, while adding that the dead victims have been denied the fundamental right to life, urged the government to fulfil its obligations and bring the perpetrators to book to seek redress for the victims.

“We urge an enlightened approach to this matter that takes into account human rights, and we pray God to grant eternal rest to the lost lives and this impunity to end in Benue State as well as elsewhere in Nigeria,” he added.

Also speaking, the Chairman Benue State Council of Chiefs, Tor Tiv the V, HRM Prof. James Ayatse, lamented that the killings may very well be pointers of ethnic cleansing as claimed in many quarters.

The Tor Tiv, who said the killings have united Benue people who are bent on agenda of peace, agenda of liberty and freedom from their oppressors, called on goverment to arise and put an end to the wickedness and impunity perpetrated by the suspected Fulani herdsmen.

Speaking separately, Former Military Governor, Katsina State, Gen. Lawrence Onoja (Rtd), and Sen. Joseph Waku reiterated that the killings in Benue was a conspiracy against the indigenes, and that they cannot take it any longer.

“We have had enough of the senseless killings. Enough is enough.One of the survivors, Mr Akaater Azera, said that the Fulani herdsmen came in the night while they were asleep and started shooting sporadically and when his wife came out, they shot her dead.

He added that when he came out of his house he started running and they ran after him and macheted him on the mouth and leg but he survived.

By Damian Daga

Group wants green bond proceeds used to fund renewable energy projects in rural communities

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Group wants green bond proceeds used to fund renewable energy projects in rural communities

Power for All, an international organisation canvassing for electricity supply in Nigeria, has advocated use of green bond proceeds to fund renewable energy projects to increase access to energy for rural communities.

Off-grid lighting Africa
Off-grid lighting / renewable energy project in a rural community in Africa. Photo credit: unep.org

Ify Malo, director of the organisation, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja Thursday, January 11, 2018.

President Muhammadu Buhari had announced,while presenting the 2018 Budget estimates, that government would launch the first African Sovereign green bond in December 2017.

The bond is being issued following Nigeria’s endorsement of the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2016, designed to strengthen global response to threat of climate change.

The N10.69 billion green bond offer, whose proceeds will be used to finance projects in the 2017 Appropriation Act, has been certified as green because of the positive effects on the environment.

Among the projects to be financed with the proceeds of the bond are the renewable energy micro utilities and afforestation programmes.

But Malo said: “While the breakdown of how the expected bond to be raised will be spent is yet to be known, we will advocate that it is used to fund renewable energy projects that will increase access to energy for rural areas.”

She said proceeds from the bond could be used to increase the amount of funding available to the Rural Electrification Fund which would fund projects such as mini-grids construction.

She said the proceeds could also be used to increase funding for the Energising Economies programme of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) targeted at providing constant energy to economic clusters, using renewable energy-powered mini-grids.

According to her, a portion of the fund can be used to give low-interest loans to renewable energy entrepreneurs through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through a specific fund.

This, she said, would help to address the challenge of access to funding that is prevalent in the renewable energy sector.

Malo said channeling the funds for the development of renewable energy production through REA, a development fund with the CBN, and through programmes such as those of the REA, would ensure adequate and effective utilisation of the bond proceeds.

She explained that making the details of projects being funded and the modalities for accessing funds open and transparent would make it easier to ensure the proper utilisation of the funds.

Malo said the allocation of 30 per cent of the 2018 budget to power sector is very commendable.

She said: “It shows that the government is not only aware of the infrastructure challenges facing the country, but is also serious in making efforts to solve the hitches.

“While we are yet to see a detailed breakdown of the proposed budget, we hope that projects that will accelerate the development of decentralised renewable energy will receive adequate funding.

“This is very critical to deepen infrastructure, particularly in rural areas that form the bulk of un-electrified areas in Nigeria. This will help to further unlock the economy in such areas.”

By Kingsley Okoye

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