Current national plans to slow down global warming are inadequate and will raise, rather than lower, the likelihood of serious climate impacts, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said Tuesday, October 31, 2017.
Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Photo credit: OECD/Michael Dean
According to UNEP, while signatory countries agreed to limit global warming between 1.5 and two degrees Celcius in the Paris Climate Agreement, national policies to reach that goal would likely heat up the globe by at least three degrees by 2100.
“This is unacceptable,” UNEP chief Erik Solheim said.
The Paris targets are meant to reduce the likelihood that climate change has severe impacts on the health and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.
While CO2 emissions have remained stable in the past two years, weather phenomena have pushed concentrations of this gas in the atmosphere to record levels.
In addition, the output of other greenhouse gases such as methane is still rising.
While UN Environment urged governments to come up with more ambitious policies, it also stressed that cities and industries must do more to reduce the risks of climate change.
The UN said on Monday that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grew at record rate in 2016 to a level not seen for millions of years, potentially fuelling a 20-metre rise in sea levels and adding three degrees Celsius to temperatures.
The Paris Agreement is already under pressure because U.S. President Donald Trump has said he plans to pull the United States out of the deal unless there is a renegotiation more favourable to Washington.
Conservator-General, Nigeria National Parks Service (NPS), Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, says the service has arrested an international trafficker of endangered species of wildlife.
Zakari Yau was arrested in possession of a pair of elephant tusk. Photo credit: planetsave.com
The Conservator-General, who said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, gave the trafficker’s name as Zakari Yau.
Goni said that Yau was arrested at a spot near the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
He said that the service rangers had embarked on aggressive patrols of parks, with the aid of the military and other agencies, to check illegal activities in all the national parks.
“The exercise led to the arrest of Zakari Yau from Cameroon, who was in possession of a pair of elephant tusk, contrary to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora Act (CITES).
“The suspect had since been handed over to the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) for further investigation and prosecution,” he said.
NAN recalls that the NPS said that it had arrested 325 wildlife offenders at seven parks across the country in the first half of 2017.
Goni said that the offenders had since been taken to court, adding that some of them were fined, while compensations were paid to the NPS.
The conservator-general, however, said that in the first half of 2017, more than 5,356 tourists visited national parks across the country.
“The service is making frantic efforts to improve and maintain international global standards and services; we want to give our parks a facelift to attract more tourists, both local and international,” he said.
Goni said that the service had developed a network of national parks that could compete favourably with other national parks in the world.
“To this end, the park service is making efforts to put in place operational management plans for each park and a systems plan for the entire country.
“We want a national park system that meets the hopes and aspirations of Nigerians, and indeed the whole world, in preserving and protecting our natural heritage and the cultural relics that enliven them for generations to come.’’
Besides, Goni said that 1,986 students, who were on industrial attachment, were trained in national parks across the country.
“The national parks are not only for revenue generation but they are also for research and training,’’ he said.
He thanked the Federal Ministry of Environment, the media, military and paramilitary agencies for their support for the service.
The Yobe State Government on Tuesday, October 31, 2017 appealed to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to develop 5,000 hectares (ha) of land it received from the state to establish the proposed grazing reserve.
Herdsmen grazing their cattle
Dr Mustapha Gaidam, the Manager of Yobe Pilot Development Programme, made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu, the capital city.
He said that the Yobe government donated 5,000 ha of land to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to enhance the implementation of its cattle ranch programme.
“The Yobe Government provided Federal Ministry of Agriculture with 2,500 ha of land at Jakusko/Nazari in Jakusko Local Government Area and another 2,500 ha at Gumsa in Nguru for the development of the grazing reserve.
“Yobe State has 28 grazing reserves, out of which 16 have been gazetted,” he said.
Besides, Gaidam said that the state government had demarcated 1,560 kilometres of cattle routes from 2007 to date.
“The state government has also constructed water facilities along the cattle routes to curb cattle encroachment into farmlands in search of water.
“Government has, within the same period of time, vaccinated over six million herds of cattle, goats, sheep and dogs against trans-boundary animal diseases and rabies.
“It has become a deliberate policy of this administration to maintain healthy animals for public consumption.
“When a country, state or society has healthy animals; the animals produce healthy meat and milk and this, in turn, translates into healthy human population,” he said.
Nigeria’s northeast exemplifies a typical extreme case of the country’s version of climate change, reveling in ecological imbalance and accompanied with devastating consequences. It is evident that the northeast grapples with an unprecedented number of “climate induced migrations” courtesy of the multifaceted climate change and its palpable effects; ranging from desertification, drought, flooding and, quite disturbing, the near disappearance of the Lake Chad basin – which all put the region in a dire strait.
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
The utmost source of apprehension is the impending disappearance of Lake Chad, the multipurpose lake and economic backbone of the region used to be characterised with fertile shores for farming, a natural habitat for fishing, a medium for moving freight across the adjacent countries and which constitutes the core source of irrigation in the region – is now shadow of itself and threading the catastrophic path of oblivion.
Russell Bishop, Senior Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute, said: “Between 1963 and 2013, the lake lost 90 percent of its water mass, shrinking from 25,000km2 to 2,500km2”.
In the same vein, more than 30 million lives depend on the lake. And the lake, which was once one of the biggest bodies of water in the world, could disappear entirely by 2030, says the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
As the region grieves the ripple effects of the shrinking lake, drought takes hold of the region – further worsened by desert encroachment which is fast depleting the arable lands and turning them to sand dunes. The livelihoods of the inhabitants in the region which revolve around farming, cattle rearing and fishing are facing existential threats owing to the devastated ecosystems. Suffice to say that the annual outputs of wheat, millet, corn, peanuts, rice, sorghum, tubers among others which are peculiar to the region are first time in history at the lowest ebb.
While the once lively and economically endowed fish market in Baga, Maiduguri remains desolate, attention has shifted to Darak, an affluent fishing settlement lying within Cameroonian territory. All these trigger downward spiral of Nigeria’s GDP. Not surprising, the combined effects of the unfortunate incidences have dwindled economic fortunes and even impaired economic activities of the region bringing it to a halt – thereby forcing exodus of farmers, fishermen and pastoralists to turn to environmental migrants in their quest for greener pastures.
It is now a thriving place for illicit arms and Boko Haram terrorism. Boko Haram terrorists readily gain recruits within the region owing to unemployment precipitated by climate change. It is sympathetic seeing many inhabitants of Nigeria’s northeast losing their families, reeling in poverty, abandoning their properties and fleeing their homes in endlessly seeking fortress in the nearby villages and the neighboring countries of Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
According to Adams Smith International, about two million people were displaced in northern Nigeria as at 2016. Abandonment of properties and displacement profile which keep rising daily are clear indications that “climate migration” is a ticking bomb that urgently need attention.
How it all started
In their research, Coe and Foley of the University of Wisconsin, Madison stated: “Irrigation demands increased four-fold between 1983 and 1994, accounting for 50 percent of the additional decrease in the size of the lake.” Based on the data and the reality of population increase in the region, need do I say that the percentage attributed to irrigation demands increased.
Reduction in the Lake size is attributed to many cogent factors by researchers and environmentalists – the factors comprise physical and evolving climate factors. Part of the factors are: pressure on the lake culminating water diversion, irrigation, over fishing and damming; further compounded with less rainfall which induces drought. All these have facilitated and exacerbated perpetual shrinkage of the Lake Chad basin. As a result, it won’t be out of place to note that the key known tributaries of Lake Chad – which are river Chari and Logone have drastically reduced in sizes and capacities; thereby, making natural replenishment a difficult reality.
Foley said, “The problem is expected to worsen in the coming years as population and irrigation demands continue to increase.”
Such is the precarious situation of the region and the problem in the offing. Some climatologists opine that there is high tendency for the shrinkage to not have occurred had it been the lake was not over stretched by the growing population. The earnest competition for the available scarce resources by the teeming population birthed restiveness, terrorism and territorial clashes.
Efforts so far and long-term solutions
Towards addressing the problem of the drying lake among myriads of other climate problems, Nigeria is a member of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), an intergovernmental organisation that coordinates water usage in the region. And Nigerian government actively participated in the 2015 Paris Climate agreement where an ambitious and feasible Climate Action plan was submitted to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In the universal legally binding agreement, Nigerian government was committed to cutting carbon emissions by 40%, and, most importantly, resuscitation of the shrinking Lake Chad Basin.
In that regard, Nigeria has contributed about $5 million out of about $15 million required to carry out comprehensive and holistic feasibility study on recharging the lake, thereby leading to a forecast that about $15 billion to $20 billion would be required to recharge the lake.
Conflicting speculations emerged of a recent that the lake would be recharged from the Congo River to the River Chari; which discharges into Lake Chad. While Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the lake recharging would possibly be from the Rangin River – located in Central Africa. However, what is certain is the assiduous commitment to recharge the lake from the nearby rivers – with quantifiable capacities.
Sadly, due to paucity of funds in raising about $20 billion within the members of LCBC, the lake recharging project slated to begin in 2017 is currently crawling and dispels hope of any tangible achievement as the year is about to end – since no significant recharging work is ongoing.
Also, Nigeria championed formulation of Great Green Wall Project geared towards creating green shelter belt (about 10,000 km long from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east and 15 km in width) in combating drought and resisting the vast encroachment of Sahara desert into Sahel and Sudan climate regions. The motive behind this commendable initiative is the set target of turning the Sahara and the Sahel regions to agricultural hubs by 2050.
No doubt, the gigantic Great Green Wall project will neutralise ecological imbalances, provide job and food for the teeming population in the Northeast thereby, easing pressure on the Lake Chad basin — if implemented.
According to The Guardian, National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW) is embarking on planting of 1.6 million assorted seedlings to cover 129.3 kilometres of the shelterbelt in seven Nigerian Northern states. And out of N1.05 billion approved to carry out this ambitious project in 2017 budget allocation, only N200 million was released to NAGGW. Currently, the project is as well at a standstill.
Barack Obama once affirmed how the drying Lake Chad is a major factor in the migration of Africans to the west and laid premium emphasis on the urgent need to revive the lake towards forestalling exacerbation of climate migration in Africa.
Concerned climate justice advocates wonder why these ambitious projects promising of bringing succour to the region could be crawling. The scenario portrays good policy crafting but poor attitudinal disposition towards implementation of plans by Nigerian government. It won’t be out place to infer that Nigeria indeed has good intentions engraved on paper in combating the multifaceted climate challenges but there is a wide apprehension that the projects are dead on arrival. As it becomes evident that the government mulls over the ambitious projects and exhibits lack of political will in bringing them to reality.
It is quite sadden that nobody could envisage how long or how soon the climate challenges in the region will end. The helpless and vulnerable populations in the Northeast Nigeria are left to bask in the untoward consequences of climate change. And this is a brewing humanitarian crisis that could rattle African regions — if not proactively tackled.
By Odewale Abayomi Joseph (Climate advocate and ICFJ Migration and Climate Fellow; @ODEWALEAbayomi)
No matter your job, you need standards to ensure that you are working to meet your objectives. Unfortunately, where education and schools are concerned, these standards sometimes do not exist. Or, more often, they are not enforced. Schools are decidedly sub-standard in some places, with those in sub-Saharan Africa facing particularly strong challenges. Many teachers are not sufficiently prepared in the region, classrooms are often overcrowded, infrastructure is crumbling and learning is suffering.
Schools are decidedly sub-standard in some places, with those in sub-Saharan Africa facing particularly strong challenges
More than one in four young people cannot read in sub-Saharan Africa today, while by some other recent estimate nine in 10 children do not acquire minimum reading skills. Standards are slipping where they could be applied, which is putting our global education goal at risk.
Even though the number of children not in school globally has stagnated between 2008 and 2015, this doesn’t mean that the number going to school is stagnating too. During the same period, 30 million more children enrolled in primary school in sub-Saharan Africa alone – that’s more than all the children enrolled in primary school in the United States. Is it any wonder that standards are slipping?
Depending on what side of the fence you sit, the diversification of education providers, often in the form of low-fee private schools, can be a blessing or a curse. Many of these schools sprouted in densely populated slums, including in Kibera, Kenya, where governments did not wish to set foot. They attracted families aspiring to improve the education of their children. But oftentimes these schools have not lived up to expectations.
What the newest Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, “Accountability in education: meeting our commitments”, shows us is that governments must establish standards and regulations that lay down the law for all education providers, public and private. If they do not, negative practices quickly take hold.
At present, governments may not have standards in place even for public schools. We found that there are no regulations on class sizes in primary school in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali and Togo. This is a major challenge for teachers and a big contributor to low learning outcomes. Less than half of low and middle income countries reviewed by the World Bank had established standards for early childhood education – and even fewer monitored and enforced those regulations.
When governments relinquish control of education to private providers, it is equally if not more important that standards be in place to regulate them. By 2021, it is expected that one in four primary school age pupils in sub-Saharan Africa will be in private schools, up from 13.5% in 2015. If these schools’ way of working does not meet the aspirations of our global education goal, SDG 4, it is highly unlikely we will achieve it.
The reality, we found, is that regulations are not being created or streamlined to adjust to the fast rate with which education systems are expanding. The very first step of accrediting schools in the first place is often cumbersome, prone to corruption, and therefore slow, leaving many operating without meeting even minimum safety and infrastructure standards. In 2010/11, for example, only 26% of private schools in Lagos had been approved by the Ministry of Education. In Kenya and Uganda, some private schools were operating without qualified teachers and with inadequate infrastructure before regulations were put in place and courts shut them down.
An education system is not the work of just one person or body. An education system of good quality is a shared responsibility between multiple actors, governments, teachers, schools, parents and the private sector. But governments need to set the example, and introduce clear regulations that lead towards the global education goal. They are the missing link for restoring trust in the education system.
By Dr. Manos Antoninis (Director of the Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO)
Recently, some residents of Anagada, a suburb of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, near Zuba, Gwagwalada Area Council, expressed concern about how tree felling has compromised the beauty of some communities in the area.
The Abuja city gate
In separate interviews, they noted that although the community has increased in its size of population due to the regular electricity supply, tree felling and housing development have affected decent living.
For instance, Alhaji Alhassan Musa, the Village Head and Gadachi of Anagada, said some people deforested some areas because of farming activities and housing development.
Musa cited cases in which farmers had to cut down some trees in the village because they wanted to clear land for farming purposes.
“If farmers don’t cut down some trees, farm produce such as cassava and corns will not grow well according to them, while some people deforested because they wanted to build houses.
“Before, I can count number of houses in this community, but now due to regular electricity supply, many people come from neighbouring villages to acquire land to build houses.’’
The village head said the residents experienced heat due to felling of trees that had been providing protection against heat and other natural disasters.
He said further that farmers used the felled trees to empower their wives by engaging in firewood selling, not minding that the Gwagwalada Area Council had taken serious action on tree fellers.
“Area Council Task Force arrests anybody found cutting trees and does not allow anybody to do charcoal business,’’ he said.
But Mrs Halimat Nuhu, a firewood seller in the village, said she remained in firewood selling because her husband used tractors to convey the firewood from his farms to house to enable her to sell.
Nuhu, who said her family survived on farming and firewood business, said they used the money realised from the business to feed and send their children to schools.
Mr Shuaibu Bako, a farmer and hunter in Anagada Village, said the number of hunters had also reduced drastically due to farming and housing development in the village.
“When we were younger, we only came out beside our village and killed bush meats we wanted.
“We don’t have more stress to kill animals for food, but now, due to the population we have, it has been until we go up to 20 kilometres before you kill animals,’’
He said the population of the hunters in the village before now higher than what they had now due to deforestation.
Musa, who said hunters survived by hunting activities, said they got away from the village because there were no more animals within the village,’’ he said.
Similarly, Dr Taiwo Audu, a lecturer in Civil Engineering Department, University of Abuja, said felling of trees had led to rise in temperature in Gwagwalada and its environs.
“The environmental temperature is on the increase this day due to the depletion of ozone layer, industrial air pollution, deforestation activities, mechanisation of agriculture and construction activities.
“The displacement of animal habitat is caused by tree felling especially animals that leave on trees; there is also increase in noise pollution caused during falling of trees that leads to animals’ migration.
“The increase in environmental temperature creates discomfort to animals and the cattle the shepherd.
“Tree felling leads to shortage of food available to animal which forces them to migrate from region of food scarcity to that of food availability, distorting the ecosystem’’ he observed.
Alhaji Mustapha Adamu, Chairman, Gwagwalada Area Council, confirmed that the council had a task force that enforced environmental regulations as part of measures to check tree fellers’ activities and other environmental hazards.
According to him, the council is collaborating with trees planting companies and other relevant stakeholders to replace the felled trees.
In his opinion, Mr Dennis Ugwuja, the Executive Director, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Initiative, a non-governmental organisation, said “due to poverty and other economic factors, more people in the rural areas engage in the business of tree felling.
“Charcoal business has become the booming business of the day. The worrisome aspect of this is that the tree fellers make little or no effort to plant new trees.
“It is common knowledge that our environment is our heritage which we are entrusted to optimally protect, preserve and conserve, especially the original flora and fauna species.’’’
Ugwuja, therefore, called for immediate actions and regulations as well as stringent measures to check indiscriminate tree felling and hunting in the country.
Yet, the National Bureau of Statistics observes that it is worrisome that 26.8 per cent households cooked with firewood in urban areas while 71.0 per cent households used firewood to cook in rural areas of the country.
The World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Survey on Agriculture General Household Survey Panel 2015/2016 in which the report is published – is produced by the bureau in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the World Bank.
The statistics also states that 4.6 per cent households cooked with charcoal in urban areas while 4.7 per cent households used charcoal to cook in the rural areas, while 59.2 per cent households used kerosene in the urban areas and 20.2 per cent households cooked with kerosene in the rural areas.
The statistics notes further that 8.4 per cent households cooked with gas in urban areas while 3.5 per cent households used gas to cook in the rural areas of the country.
However, Mr Adetolu Osakuade, the Acting Director of Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment, said Nigeria had 1,213 forests reserves.
Osakuade said forestation in Nigeria had reduced drastically as a result of development and factors that led some forests reserves to be deforested.
“From 10 per cent at independence, we are running down to five per cent which United Nations Food Agricultural Organisation, by its own recommendations and standards for sustainable development, recommended 25 per cent for every country.
“Governments have been doing so much but the new thinking is more of creating awareness and engagement of users, takers and those that have been benefiting in the forest to have reorientation to plough back for what they have taken.’’
“You know that the forest reserve is static; it is only 10 per cent of the country’s land mark that is under forest reserve.
“So, if we must achieve 25 per cent forests cover that means we must go outside the forest reserves,’’ he said.
He, nonetheless, stressed the need for governments and other stakeholders to go and acquire agricultural land, park land and bush fallow land to achieve 25 per cent forests cover.
Russia and Nigeria on Monday, October 30, 2017 signed an agreement on construction and operation of a nuclear power plant as well as a multipurpose nuclear research centre in Nigeria, Russia’s Rosatom state nuclear corporation said.
A nuclear facility in India. Photo credit: Julie Jacobson/AP
The agreement, as well as a “road map” on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear technologies, were signed on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting on the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi.
“The feasibility studies for the Nuclear Power Plant project and the Research Centre construction will include site screening.
“Others are the determination of key parameters of implementation, including; capacity, equipment lists, time frames and stages of implementation, as well as financing schemes,” Rosatom said in a statement.
NAN reports that on May 31, 2016, Nigeria signed another MoU, with the government of Russian Federation, on cooperation in construction of centre for nuclear science and technology in the country
The MOU, was signed between representatives of the two countries, Mr Sergey Kirienko, Director Russian Rosatom State Corporation and Dr Erepano Osaisai, Chairman/Chief Executive, Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, was part of the high points of Nigeria’s participation in the ongoing 2016 ATOM Expo, in Moscow, Russia.
International Forum, ATOM EXPO is the largest exhibition and business venue for meetings and negotiations of the world leaders in nuclear energy.
Immediately after signing the MOU, Dr Osaisai said that Nigeria’s intention to acquire nuclear technology followed the realisation that nuclear energy contributes quite a chunk of global electricity.
He noted that Nigeria, with its huge population, could not afford to miss out in the current trend.
He also admitted that the project would come with a huge cost but added that the cost of not having clean energy and adequate electricity would be higher for those who failed to join the fray. Osaisai said: “Nuclear acquisition has come to stay. It is well known that it contributes quite a chunk of global electricity.
“Although Nigeria does have other sources of energy, but this is about a balanced and diversified energy basket. Nuclear happens to be the one we considered.
“The preference is because it is environmentally friendly and leads to a better conservation of other resources.”
Nigeria was first in Africa to establish a research reactor when, in 2004, it enabled a Chinese-origin research reactor at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
The country is also reportedly seeking collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency to develop plans for up to 4,000 MW of nuclear capacity by 2027.
Chimpanzees – which share some 99 per cent of their DNA with us – are in trouble, despite national protection efforts across Africa, says the world-renowned conservationist Ian Redmond.
Chimpanzees. Photo credit: wired.com
“Although our zoological next of kin with the widest distribution of any ape apart from ourselves, they are an endangered species. Most are declining in number – victims of habitat loss and poaching – and have been extirpated in at least three, possibly five other countries,” he said.
Redmond, Ambassador to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), who made the submission in the Philippines while participating in the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the CMS, which held in Manila from October 23 to 27, 2017, agreed to list chimpanzees on both its Appendices to offer them much-needed trans-border protection.
“Long-term research sites in several countries have revealed that chimpanzee communities utilise territories from 7 km2 to 32 km2 in forests and up to 65 km2 in savannah habitat, and that the males often defend their territory by going on a boundary patrol. They also appear able to hold a mental map of their local area, and be able to predict when fruit trees come into season.
“Consider then, the matrix of chimpanzee territories that stretches across what is left of Africa’s forest belt, then superimpose the political map of national boundaries. In a few places, where political borders follow rivers or mountain ranges, the human territories might match those of chimpanzees, but mostly the lines we draw through contiguous forest result in chimpanzees moving back and forth across national boundaries. And this can have consequences if the level of protection is different on either side.”
It is for this reason that chimpanzees, although not normally considered migratory, are in critical need of joined-up conservation measures – and where the CMS can step in, Redmond said. “Listing on the Appendices of CMS does not just mean adding the species’ name on a piece of paper. It provides stronger legal protection and a framework for collaborative action ranging from joint anti-poacher patrols to higher penalties when wildlife criminals end up in court.”
It is illegal to hunt chimpanzees in all the 21 Range States, and by definition hunting them is poaching whether inside or outside a protected area. Despite the efforts of law enforcement agencies and the support of many donor countries, NGOs and IGOs, hunting still presents a serious threat and is responsible for many of the reported declines – in some countries.
Conversion of forest into farmland, the growth of extractive industries, an increase in major transportation infrastructure – regarded as key to Africa’s development – are all cited by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as impacting the chimpanzee’s habitat. They also suffer from a range of tropical diseases, further threatening the species.
Humans benefit from chimpanzees in many ways: People want to see them in the wild and ecotourism provides much-needed income for local communities. Apes are also among the most important seed dispersal agents in African forests.
“Given the importance of forests for climate stability, protecting them is in our own interest – we need to ensure the next generation of trees,” Redmond concluded.
Global efforts to combat tuberculosis (TB) have saved an estimated 53 million lives since 2000 and reduced the TB mortality rate by 37%, according to the “Global TB Report 2017”, released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday, October 30, 2017.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Photo credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
Despite these achievements, the latest picture is said to be grim. TB remains the top infectious killer in 2016. TB is also the main cause of deaths related to antimicrobial resistance and the leading killer of people with HIV. Progress in most countries is stalling and is not fast enough to reach global targets or close persistent gaps in TB care and prevention.
“While the world has committed to ending the TB epidemic by 2030, actions and investments don’t match the political rhetoric. We need a dynamic, global, multisectoral approach,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “The good news is that we finally have two great opportunities to move forward: the first WHO Global Ministerial Conference to End TB in Moscow in 2017, followed by the first UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on TB in 2018. These will build momentum, get different sectors engaged, and accelerate our efforts to make TB history.”
High global burden of disease and death in 2016
In 2016, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide, 10% of which were people living with HIV. Seven countries accounted for 64% of the total burden, with India bearing the brunt, followed by Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and South Africa. An estimated 1.7 million people died from TB, including nearly 400 000 people who were co-infected with HIV. This is a drop by 4% compared to 2015.
Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat. WHO estimates that there were 600 000 new cases with resistance to rifampicin – the most effective first-line drug, of which 490 000 had MDR-TB. Almost half of these cases were in India, China and the Russian Federation.
“The sheer numbers of deaths and suffering speak for themselves – we are not accelerating fast enough,” said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Global TB Programme. “Prompt action towards universal health coverage and social protection, as well as breakthroughs in research and innovations – will be critical to enable access to patient-centered care of the highest standards for all, especially the poorest, most disadvantaged people everywhere.”
Persistent gaps in care and financing
Tackling the epidemic requires action to close gaps in care and financing. It also requires progress in a particular subset of high TB burden countries (1).
Underreporting and underdiagnosis of TB cases continues to be a challenge, especially in countries with large unregulated private sectors and weak health systems. Of the estimated 10.4 million new cases, only 6.3 million were detected and officially notified in 2016, leaving a gap of 4.1 million. India, Indonesia and Nigeria accounted for almost half of this global gap.
Only one in five MDR-TB cases were started on treatment. India and China accounted for 39% of the global gap. Treatment success remains low, at 54% globally.
Of the almost half a million reported cases of HIV-associated TB, 15% were not on antiretroviral therapy (ART) as recommended by WHO. Most of the gaps related to HIV-associated TB were in the WHO African Region.
TB preventive treatment is expanding in two priority risk groups – people living with HIV and children under five years. However, most people eligible for TB preventive treatment are not accessing it.
For TB care and prevention, investments in low- and middle-income countries fall almost $2.3 billion short of the $9.2 billion needed in 2017. In addition, at least an extra $1.2 billion per year is required to accelerate the development of new vaccines, diagnostics, and medicines.
“Shortfalls in TB funding are one of the main reasons why progress is not fast enough to be on track to reach the end TB targets,” said Dr Katherine Floyd, Coordinator of WHO’s Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at the Global TB Programme. “We have a double challenge. More domestic funding is needed in middle-income countries, and more international donor support is needed to support low-income countries”.
Political commitment and multisectoral action
Ending the TB epidemic requires action beyond the health sector to address the risk factors and determinants of the disease. For the first time the Global TB Reportpresents results from a new multisectoral monitoring framework that identifies linkages with the TB epidemic across seven Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Analysis of the latest status of the indicators for the 30 high TB burden countries show that most will be challenged to reach SDG targets.
In order to increase multisectoral action, plans to galvanise all sectors and secure attention at the highest levels have resulted in the WHO Global Ministerial Conference on Ending TB in the Sustainable Development Era, in Moscow, November 16 to 17, 2017. This will be followed by the very first UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on TB in 2018, which will seek commitment from heads of state.
The Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Kjemprud Jens-Petter, says Nigeria imports fishery products worth $125 million (N45 billion) from his country annually.
Kjemprud Jens-Petter
Jens-Petter told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday, October 30, 2017 that the fishery imports from Norway included stock fish, mackerel and salmon.
“Annually, Norwegian fish exports to Nigeria stand at $125 million and these include
stock fish, pelagic fish, mainly mackerel and salmon.
“We are interested in expanding our market access and consider the upper market salmon to have further potential.
“Ideally we believe it would be possible to double our exports considering the huge Nigerian market and the current recovery of the Nigerian economy,’’ he said.
He said that the Nigerian-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce (NNCC) was working with his embassy to attract Norwegian investment and cooperation for the development of Nigeria’s fishery industry.
The Norwegian envoy said that his home government, through its organisation, Innovation Norway, was prepared to support and share technical expertise with Nigerian fishing companies in boosting local fish production.
He said that the Norwegian government was also interested in the development and exportation of Nigerian seafood to Norway.
Jens-Petter said that NNCC and Norwegian fish exporters and aquaculture companies have exchanged visits on how Nigeria could also achieve bumper fish production locally.
