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One World Award for organic agriculture decorates winners

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One World Award for organic agriculture decorates winners

On the occasion of the Rapunzel Naturkost One World Festival, the five winners of the 5th One World Award (OWA) were presented in a festive gala on Legau in the Allgäu region of Germany on Friday, September 8, 2017 and which attracted nearly 700 guests from all parts of the world.

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Awardees at the Rapunzel Naturkost One World Festival in Legau, Germany

This year, two outstanding projects shared the OWA Grand Prix and the 30,000 Euro prize money: State Prime Minister Shri Pawan Chamling from India who managed to convert the Indian federal state Sikkim together with 65,000 farmers to organic agriculture in only 12 years. The United World Colleges (UWC) from Freiburg/Germany and Pune/India with their social and sustainable educational programs that correspond remarkably well with the OWA goals.

Only within a few years, the OWA appears to have established itself as the most important award of the global organic movement. Joseph Wilhelm, founder and managing director of Rapunzel Naturkost and initiator of the OWA, describes the award in his opening address as an “encourager award that honours people and initiatives that promote fair and equitable globalisation.” The award that is presented by Rapunzel and IFOAM – Organics International is awarded every three years.

The German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr. Gerd Müller, and Joseph Wilhelm presented the awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award that went to the Ethiopian scientist and environmental activist, Dr. Tewolde Berhan and his wife Dr. Sue Edwards who are the first married couple to receive this award for their profound life’s work. The laudatory speech for this honorary award was given by Markus Arbenz, executive director of IFOAM – Organics International.

Short film clips and interviews showed the audience the commitment of the winners. The host of the evening was journalist and book author, Dr. Tanja Busse, who found empathetic words for a moving and emotional award ceremony. The well-known guitar soloist, Walter Abt, performed the background music.

The prize money of 5,000 Euro each and an OWA medal went to Professor Amin Babayev from Azerbaijan, Nasser Abufarha (Canaan Project) from Palestine and Martha-Jean Shamiso Mungwashu from Zimbabwe. Roberto Ugas (World Board IFOAM – Organics International, Peru), Steffen Reese (Naturland Deutschland) and Helmy Abouleish (Sekem, Egypt) gave the laudatory speeches.

The highlight of the gala was the presentation of the OWA Grand Prix to two winners: State Prime Minister Shri Pawan Chamling from India and the representatives of the United World Colleges (UWC) from Freiburg/Germany and Pune/India. Each of the two winners received prize money of 15,000 Euro and an OWA statue created by the Vietnamese-German artist Dao Droste for their outstanding commitment and their extraordinary initiatives. The laudatory speech for the two Grand Prix winners held Right Livelihood Award laureate, Dr. Vandana Shiva, the globally recognised environmental activist and eco-feminist.

The concluding group picture with all the winners and participants was impressive proof how diverse “one world“ can be and what impact the activities of individual people can have, said the organisers.

Joseph Wilhelm and the OWA coordinator Bernward Geier (coordinator and chairman of the OWA jury) were excited about the success of the 5th One World Award and were already looking forward to the nominations from around the world for the next OWA that will be awarded in the year 2020.

Nigerian nominated for prestigious Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa

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Nigerian nominated for prestigious Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa

The fifth annual Tusk Conservation Awards were last week presented for the first time in Africa at a gala ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa and attended by three of the country’s most eminent public figures – Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, former First Lady, Mrs Graça Machel, and former President FW de Klerk – who presented the awards on behalf of Tusk’s Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of Cambridge.

Tusk Awards 2017
Eminent South African public figures such as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, former First Lady, Mrs Graça Machel, and former President FW de Klerk, with awardees at the fifth annual Tusk Conservation Awards in Cape Town

The Tusk Conservation Awards, in partnership with Investec Asset Management, celebrate the extraordinary work of dedicated conservationists from across Africa, whose work and lives might otherwise go unnoticed outside their fields.

Nachamada Geoffrey, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) manager at Yankari Game Reserve in Nigeria, was one of three finalists nominated for the Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa, sponsored by Land Rover.  The judges recognized Nacha’s inspirational work leading ranger teams in Nigeria’s Yankari Game Reserve to halt elephant poaching.

The two other finalists for the award were Serah Munguti from Kenya and Brighton Kumchedwa from Malawi. After much deliberation and heightened excitement the award was finally presented to Brighton Kumchedwa by Nelson Mandela’s widow and former first lady, Mrs Graça Machel.

The judges recognized Brighton’s ground-breaking work in Malawi over three decades in tackling one of the major illegal wildlife trade routes in Africa. The winner received a grant of £20,000 and the two runners up each received a grant of £7,500.

Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, who attended the event, commented: “The conservation value of Yankari is now well known throughout Africa, based on this unrivalled wildlife we are developing Yankari as an important site for tourism in the country”.

Andrew Dunn, Director of WCS’s Nigeria Country Programme, said: “We were disappointed that Nacha did not win of course but his nomination is recognition of the significant progress made in Yankari over recent years.  The standard of the finalists was extremely high and I was so proud that Nigeria was represented at this important event.”

Finalist Nachamada Geoffrey, remarked: “I was highly honoured to have been nominated as one of the Tusk finalists.  Although it has been tough and rough, our success at Yankari in stopping elephant poaching is due to the hard work and dedication of the rangers and I am proud to lead them in this important work.”

Two other awards were presented at the ceremony: the Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa was presented to Rian Labuschagne by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said: “We are linked to one another, and here we realize just how much we’re linked with all of nature.  We wish to congratulate you (the finalists) most warmly for making it clear that Africa can be beautiful”.

The Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award jointly honoured the bravery and dedication of two men leading teams risking their lives day and night, on poaching’s front line. Former South African President, FW de Klerk, presented the award to Solomon Chidunuka, based in Zambia’s Northern Province and to Lucky Ndlovu from Kruger National Park, South Africa.

In closing the ceremony, de Klerk said: “It was humbling for all of us to learn about the extraordinary commitment, the bravery and the achievements shown by all tonight’s finalists. Africa, indeed the world, owes them a huge debt of gratitude.

“What we have in Africa is so special. The challenge we face is formidable. We have to ensure that communities living alongside wildlife areas and reserves, as well as the wider population, can derive the very real, tangible benefits that can flow from preserving these increasingly threatened tracts of land and the species that share our planet. We have to make conservation relevant to people and to demonstrate its true value to humanity.

“Let us tonight therefore, renew our commitment to accept this challenge. Let all of us do all that we can to support Tusk and the work of all the conservationists represented tonight in this marquee. Let us take hands and say: ‘What we have in Africa is precious. We will preserve it’.”

Since he could not attend in person, Tusk’s Royal Patron, Prince William addressed the audience via video and outlined the considerable challenges ahead for conservation in Africa. The Prince said: “I worry a great deal that our generation is not meeting our moral obligation to leave this planet in better shape than we inherited it.  Our children and grandchildren will not thank us if we fail in our duty to reverse the decline in so many species.”

Dunn said: “The WCS is the largest and most effective conservation NGO in Africa. Based in Calabar, WCS has been working in Nigeria since 2001, and currently supports the conservation of 5 different sites in Bauchi and Cross River States. WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature.”

Microsoft, GE sign agreement on Irish wind project

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Microsoft, GE sign agreement on Irish wind project

The Microsoft Corp. on Monday, October 9, 2017 announced a new wind energy agreement in Ireland. With the agreement, Microsoft will become one of the first multinational technology companies to support a new wind project in Ireland.

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Renewable energy: Wind turbines in Egypt. Photo credit: CDKN

Microsoft is entering into a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with GE to purchase 100 percent of the wind energy from its new, 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland. The agreement will help support the growing demand for Microsoft Cloud services from Ireland. As part of the deal, Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company, ElectroRoute, which will provide energy trading services to Microsoft.

In addition to producing energy, the project will produce valuable data on energy storage. Each turbine will have an integrated battery; Microsoft and GE will test how these batteries can be used to capture and store excess energy, and then provide it back to the grid as needed. This provides more predictable power to an increasingly green Irish grid, by smoothing out peaks and valleys in wind production. This will better enable intermittent clean power sources like wind energy to be added to the Irish grid. This will be the first deployment of battery integration into wind turbines to store energy in Europe.

“Microsoft is proud to be deepening our long history of investment and partnership in Ireland with this agreement,” said Christian Belady, general manager, Datacenter Strategy at Microsoft. “Our commitment will help bring new, clean energy to the Irish grid, and contains innovative elements that have the potential to grow the capacity, reliability and capability of the grid. This will make it easier to incorporate new clean power sources like wind energy, and that is good for the environment, for Ireland and for our company.”

This PPA builds on Microsoft’s strategic partnership with GE, announced last year. The wind farm will integrate GE’s Digital Wind Farm technology, which makes renewable energy outputs even more reliable. Digital models, built on the Predix platform, ensure energy generation supplied can meet demand forecasted and reduce intermittency concerns.

Andres Isaza, chief commercial officer of GE Renewable Energy, said, “This partnership with Microsoft expands GE’s considerable presence and investment in Ireland, where we already employ over 1,500 people and in particular in the renewable energy sector. Wind is now one of the most competitive sources of electricity on the market today, and we’re excited about the capability to use data generated from these wind turbines, using the Predix platform, to maximize the output and value of this project.”

Microsoft is also acquiring an Irish energy supply license from GE. The supply license will benefit both Microsoft and the Irish power grid, as it allows the company the flexibility to easily grow and invest in renewable energy in Ireland over time. ElectroRoute will act as trading service provider for the supply company.

“ElectroRoute is delighted to work with Microsoft and GE to structure and manage the energy trading activities for the supply company,” said Ronan Doherty, chief executive at ElectroRoute. “The wind energy sector is particularly vibrant in Ireland at the moment, and we are seeing the emergence of an array of new structures and procurement approaches, which I feel will persist and grow into the future.”

This agreement continues Microsoft’s history of supporting sustainability projects in Ireland, including a new forestry initiative announced earlier this year and investments in energy efficiency measures and technologies that have greatly reduced its energy and water footprint.

Once operational, the new wind project will bring Microsoft’s total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects to almost 600 megawatts. In 2016, Microsoft set clean energy commitments to power its datacenters and bring new renewable energy sources online in the communities in which it operates.

Government begins trial of suspected pirates

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Government begins trial of suspected pirates

The trial of suspected pirates who were caught with arms and ammunition resumed on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

Illicit arms importation
The illegally imported firearms on display

They were arrested on a vessel by men of the Nigerian Navy for alleged piracy and dealing in petroleum products without authorisation.

The defendants were accused of violating laws on money laundering and firearms prohibition.

The defendants include the vessel, MT Dejikun, Umarama Ovuiro, Adesola Peter, Collins Harrison, Paul Adeyemi, Adedeji Joshua, Samuel Oluwafemi and Abdulrahman Kabir (also known as Tunde).

According to the prosecution, the defendants, on February 19 last year at the Nigerian coast, conspired to deal in petroleum products from the vessel without lawful authority.

The complaint – Federal Republic of Nigeria – said the defendants, “while committing piracy, did transfer petroleum products from the MT Maximus vessel”.

The prosecution said the suspects were in unlawful possession of an AK49 rifle numbered 9973, as well as an AK56 rifle, numbered 15515.

The accused person were also caught with a single barrel Magnum, numbered 7080; 161 rounds of live 7.62mm ammunition, six empty AK47 cartridges and six cartridges.

The alleged offence violates Sections 3 and 8 and punishable under Section 27 (1) (a) of the Firearms Act of 2004.

The prosecution said the offence of conspiracy, dealing in petroleum products without authority and transferring it to another vessel violate sections 1 (17), 3 (6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act 2004 and Section 15 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011.

The defendants pleaded not guilty and were remanded in prison custody.

At their trial yesterday, prosecuting counsel Mrs E. S. Osiade, a Senior State Counsel at the Federal Ministry of Justice, sought to tender statements made by the defendants after their arrest.

But the defence counsel objected on the basis that the statements were not made voluntarily.

Counsel for Kabir, Mr Jerry Omoregi, said: “My client informed me that the statement is a product of great torture which spanned over a period of two weeks while he was in detention cell of Nigerian Navy Apapa.”

Counsel for Ovuiro, Peter, Harrison, Joshua and Olawufemi, Mr N. C. Onyejiaka, also claimed his clients were forced to made their statements.

“The original statements which they made voluntarily are not here,” he said.

Following the defendants’ claim, Justice Muslim Hassan ordered a trial within trial to determine the statements’ voluntariness.

But, the Navy claimed that the statements were obtained voluntarily after the defendants were duly cautioned.

Testifying in the trial within trial, a Lieutenant Commander, O. J. Adeyemi, said he took the statements and that none of the defendants was forced to write the statements.

“I even bought food and drinks for two of the defendants at different times when they complained they were hungry. They wrote their statements willingly and not under duress,” he said.

Justice Hassan adjourned until November 6 and 7 for continuation of trial within trial.

By Chinyere Obia

Action to save vultures will protect human health, say experts

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Action to save vultures will protect human health, say experts

A multinational plan to thwart the sudden and severe decline in vultures across Africa, Asia and Europe will be presented at a major summit on migratory species this month.

vultures
Vultures fighting over an animal carcass

Experts estimate the majority of African-Eurasian Vultures are critically endangered and at “very high risk” of extinction in the wild, mainly due to poisoning. Unless effective conservation measures are implemented, there is a significant likelihood that several of these species will become extinct in the near future, they say.

The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), which spearheaded the Action Plan, says a “step change” in conservation is required: “It needs to be led by Governments and supported by all who have a vested interest, including many who have so far not recognised the importance of vultures,” said Bradnee Chambers, Executive Secretary of CMS.

“Vultures are nature’s garbage collectors and therefore provide critical services by cleaning up carcasses and other organic waste in the environment. Without them, we are looking at an increase in the spread of diseases in both wild and domestic animals, which means very real risks to human health.”

The “Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures” aims to rapidly halt current population declines in 15 species across most of the combined landmasses of Africa and Eurasia. It recommends 124 actions for countries to take to restore numbers by 2029.

“When we meet in the Philippines at COP12 (next month) it is incumbent on all range states to take the threat seriously. Vultures are important to humans and we ignore their desperate plight at our peril,” Dr Chambers added.

The Action Plan includes developing guidelines, targeted research and monitoring, policy and legislative changes, education and awareness, and conservation initiatives. It covers the Bearded Vulture; Egyptian Vulture; Red-headed Vulture; White-headed Vulture; Hooded Vulture; Himalayan Griffon; White-rumped Vulture; White-backed Vulture; Indian Vulture; Slender-billed Vulture; Cape Vulture; Rüppell’s Vulture; Griffon Vulture; Cinereous Vulture; and Lappet-faced Vulture.

According to the CMS-led team of authors, vulture populations in Africa, Asia and Europe – with the exception of Western Europe – are in serious decline. They cite intentional and unintentional poisoning as the main cause.

“The precipitous population decline of three species in India and elsewhere in South Asia during the 1990s was due primarily to secondary poisoning by the veterinary drug diclofenac. In Africa, the threat of indirect and intentional poisoning has accelerated in recent years, and the immense scale and impact has only recently been exposed,” they say.

“Poisoning, particularly in Africa, is being driven by conflicts between humans and carnivores. Vultures feed off carcasses laced with poison, which are intended to kill predators threatening people’s livestock. Poachers also actively target vultures to prevent them from exposing their activities to wardens by soaring above illegally killed game. And they fall victim to the increasing demand for vulture parts in witchcraft.”

Other threats include habitat loss and degradation, decreasing food availability, fragmentation of remaining populations, human disturbance, collisions with wind turbines and power lines, and electrocution on electricity infrastructure.

Formation of coal almost turned Earth into snowball, says study

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Formation of coal almost turned Earth into snowball, says study

While burning coal today causes Earth to overheat, about 300 million years ago the formation of that same coal brought our planet close to global glaciation. For the first time, scientists show the massive effect in a study published in the renowned Proceedings of the US Academy of Sciences.

Georg Feulner
Georg Feulner

When trees in vast forests died during a time called the Carboniferous and the Permian, the carbon dioxide (CO2) they took up from the atmosphere while growing got buried; the plants’ debris over time formed most of the coal that today is used as fossil fuel. Consequently, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere sank drastically and Earth cooled down to a degree it narrowly escaped what scientists call a “snowball state”.

“It is quite an irony that forming the coal that today is a major factor for dangerous global warming once almost lead to global glaciation,” says author Georg Feulner from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “However, this illustrates the enormous dimension of the coal issue. The amount of CO2 stored in Earth’s coal reserves was once big enough to push our climate out of balance. When released by burning the coal, the CO2 is again destabilising the Earth system.”

The study examines the sensitivity of the climate in a specific period of Earth’s deep past by using a large ensemble of computer simulations. While some of the changes in temperature at that time can clearly be attributed to how our planet’s axis was tilted and the way it circled the sun, the study reveals the substantial influence of CO2 concentrations. Estimates based on ancient soils and fossil leaves show that they fluctuated widely and at some point sank to about 100 parts CO2 per million parts of all gases in the atmosphere, and possibly even lower. The model simulations now reveal that global glaciation occurs below 40 parts per million.

 

Burning that same coal dangerously raises greenhouse gas concentration in our atmosphere

Today, CO2 levels in the atmosphere have reached more than 400 parts per million. Carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas: the Sun warms Earth’s surface, but most of the heat radiated by the surface escapes into space; CO2 and other greenhouse gases hinder part of this heat from escaping, hence warming the planet.

“We should definitely keep CO2 levels in the atmosphere below 450 parts per million to keep our climate stable, and ideally much lower than that. Raising the amount of greenhouse gases beyond that limit means pushing ourselves out of the safe operating space of Earth,” says Feulner. “Earth’s past teaches us that periods of rapid warming were often associated with mass extinction events. This shows that a stable climate is something to appreciate and protect.”

Funding state courts by governors is unconstitutional, lawyer says

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Funding state courts by governors is unconstitutional, lawyer says

A constitutional lawyer and author, Chief Sebastine Hon (SAN), has declared that the funding of State High Courts, Sharia Courts of Appeal and Customary Courts of Appeal by state governments are clearly unconstitutional.

Sebastine Hon (SAN)
Chief Sebastine Hon (SAN)

According to him, such funding exposes those courts to undue manipulation and near-asphyxiation by state governors, thereby compromising the rule of law and due process.

He, therefore, called on the National Judiciary Council (NJC) to collect and collate all capital and recurrent expenditures of courts from their various heads, make a consolidated budget and present it to the Budget Office for inclusion in the yet to be submitted 2018 Federal budget.

In a statement he signed, he insisted that, by section 6(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, judicial powers of the Federation are to be exercised by “the courts to which this section relates, being courts established for the Federation”.

He said: “The phrase ‘to which this section relates’ becomes consummated when we look at subsection (5) of that same section – which has listed the mentioned ‘Federal’ courts, including the State High Courts, the Sharia Courts of Appeal and the Customary Courts of Appeal of the various States. This then means that these courts are Federal Courts, established by the Constitution to operate at the State level.

“To cement this fact, section 84(1) and (4) of the same Constitution has placed payment of remuneration, salaries and allowances of all Judicial Officers manning superior courts of record in Nigeria, including the Courts hereby discussed, on the doorsteps of the Federal Government. If these Courts were mere State Courts, the States would have been saddled with the responsibility of paying the salaries and emoluments of the Judicial Officers manning them.”

The Courts, he said, are not State Courts and maintained that State Governments have no constitutional duty or power to provide for them in their annual budgets.

According to him, section 81(1) of the Constitution, mandates the President of Nigeria not to lie before the National Assembly in each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditure of the Federation for the next financial year.

By Chinyere Obia

Subpoenaed Oyo AG, director present documents in Ladoja’s trail

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Subpoenaed Oyo AG, director present documents in Ladoja’s trail

The Attorney General (AG) of Oyo state, Oluwaseun Abimbola, and the Director of Investment, the Ministry of Finance, Yinka Fatoki, who were subpoenaed by Justice Muhammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, have appeared before the court to present vital documents in relation to the ongoing criminal trial of a former governor of the state, Chief Rasheedi Ladoja.

Rashidi Ladoja
Chief Rashidi Ladoja

The documents presented were photocopies of checks from Zenith Bank Plc, and bond documents from Fountain Security Limited, among others. Ladoja and his former Commissioner for Finance, Waheed Akanbi, are being tried for unlawful conversion of N4.7 billion belonging to the Oyo State Government to theirs.

Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, counsel for Akanbi, had asked the court at the last proceeding to summon the officials to tender some documents as exhibits.

So, upon the presentation of the documents by Mr. Fatoki, the defense lawyer, sought to tender same as evidence in defense of his client, a move which was objected to by lawyer to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Oluwafemi Olabisi.

Olabisi said: “I have no objection to the first 12 documents but starting from Zenith Bank checks to the last page, I have series of objections. The next few pages are photocopies of managers’ checks. They have no relevant to this case.”

The prosecutor also said some of the certified documents were not properly signed and dated hence failed to abide by the necessary authorities guiding certification of documents.

“My lord,” he said, “the remaining part has to do with Fountain Security Limited. It is taken that Fountain Security is a private company that has no nexus with the subpoenaed person that has brought these documents. The document was not addressed to Oyo state government or even the 2nd defendant in this matter.”

He went further: “I also wish to point your lordship to what looks like an insertion on the face of the document. The handwriting at the left corner of the document, I urged this honourable court to discountenance the hand written insertion on the document.”

He therefore urged the court to discountenance the “irrelevant” documents attached to the bundle.

Olumide-Fusika opposed the submission of prosecuting counsel, stating that prosecution cannot dismantle the bundle of documents as presented because he is neither a staff of Oyo state government nor that of Fountain Security Limited.

“For counsel to say that one document is relevant and the other is not relevant amounts to testifying. I do not understand the objection. He does not work for Oyo state neither does he know their records. They have produced what they have in their records as ordered by this court on 6 of October 2017,” Akanbi’s counsel opposed.

He also urged the court to discountenance the objection of the counsel for prosecution.

However, having listened to the argument of both counsel, the presiding judge ruled that there is prima facie evidence that the documents are relevant to the case. He therefore admitted the document as evidence, adding that the documents would be taken as a single bundle.

Consequently, he adjourned the matter till October 20 for continuation of trial.

Ladoja and Akanbi are facing an eight count charge bordering on money laundering and unlawful conversion of funds belonging to the Oyo State Government to their own.

In one of the counts, Ladoja and Akanbi were accused of converting a sum of N1,932,940,032.48, belonging to Oyo State Government for personal use.

The EFCC claimed that they retained the money sometime in 2007, despite their knowledge that it was proceed of a criminal conduct.

In another instance, Ladoja was accused of removing the sum of £600,000 from the state coffers in 2007 and sent it to Bimpe Ladoja, who was at the time in London.

The ex-governor was also accused of converting the sum of N42m, belonging to the state, to his own and subsequently used it to purchase an armored Land Cruiser jeep.

He was also accused of converting a sum of N728,600,000 and another N77,850,000 at separate times in 2007 to his own.

The commission claimed that Ladoja transferred the N77, 850,000 to one Bistrum Investments, which he nominated to help him purchase a property named Quarter 361, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The EFCC told the court that Ladoja and Akanbi acted contrary to sections 17(a) and18 (1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004 and were liable to be punished under sections 14(1), 16(a) (b) and 18(2) of the same Act.

High-level commission on noncommunicable diseases to be established

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High-level commission on noncommunicable diseases to be established

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Monday, October 9, 2017 the establishment of a new High-level global Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). The announcement came at the 64th Session of WHO’s Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean being held in Islamabad, Pakistan from October 9 to 12.

Dr Sania Nishtar
Dr Sania Nishtar, a prominent global advocate for action against NCDs, will chair the High-level global Commission

The commission’s aim is to identify innovative ways to curb the world’s biggest causes of death and extend life expectancy for millions of people. The commission will support ongoing political efforts to accelerate action on cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and respiratory disease, as well as reducing suffering from mental health issues and the impacts of violence and injuries.

The High-level global Commission will be chaired by Dr Sania Nishtar, a prominent global advocate for action against NCDs, former Federal Minister of the government of Pakistan and civil society leader. Dr Nishtar has also previously served as co-chair of the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity.

According to the WHO, NCDs kill approximately 40 million people globally each year, accounting for 70% of all deaths. It adds that about 15 million of those deaths are in people between the ages of 30 and 69. Low- and middle-income countries are particularly affected by NCDs with more than 80% of all deaths from NCDs occurring in these countries. Violence and injuries take an overwhelming toll on young people, particularly boys.

In 2015, world leaders committed to reduce premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recent WHO reports indicate that the world will struggle to meet that target.

“We urgently need new approaches and action on a dramatically different scale if we are to stop people dying unnecessarily from noncommunicable diseases,” said Dr Tedros.

“I am committed to engaging the very best people in the world to address our health challenges,” he added. “So, I am especially pleased that Dr Nishtar has agreed to lead this commission. I know she will bring impressive knowledge, credibility, and commitment to this effort.”

Later this month, ministers and other health leaders from around the world will review progress in Montevideo, Uruguay at the WHO Global Conference on Noncommunicable Diseases, co-hosted by WHO and the President of Uruguay. Governments and other stakeholders will meet again at the third United Nations High-level meeting on NCDs in 2018.

Switzerland ratifies Paris Agreement

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Switzerland ratifies Paris Agreement

The Swiss Confederation on Friday, October 6, 2017 deposited its instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, making the federal republic the 168th Party to the global treaty.

Doris Leuthard
Doris Leuthard, President of Switzerland

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Switzerland’s ratification will come into force on November 5, 2017.

Previously, the Czech Republic (167th), Dominican Republic (166th) and Cape Verde (165th) had deposited their instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Before the duo, Myanmar (161st), Bhutan (162nd), Ecuador (163rd) and Liechenstien (164th) had also ratified the treaty.

The Paris Agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016, 30 days after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary.

The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention (UNFCCC) and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.

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