Nigeria is desirous of eradicating the use of polythene bags for recyclable paper bags and in the process generate wealth from waste, Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, has said.

The minister said on Wednesday, August 8, 2017 in Abuja in his opening remarks at the 10th Global Environment Facility (GEF) National Steering Committee Meeting that it is the dream of the government to committedly upscale issues of the environment, including thematic areas such as climate change, biodiversity, ecosystems and ecology preservation, desertification, water, as well as forest and land management.

Used for containing and transporting goods such as foods and produce, polythene or plastic bag is a type of container made of thin, flexible, plastic film or textile. Plastic bags are considered a menace because, besides being non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle, some escape the garbage collection process and end up in streams, which then lead them to end up in the open ocean.

“We have taken as a matter of seriousness issues of environmental sanitation, while it is our dream to eradicate use of polythene bags for retention of drinking water to recyclable paper bags that can further be transformed to generate wealth from its wastes, soonest,” Jibril stated.

Apparently reading the riot act, he added: “It is high time for us to get it right once and for all to avoid future environmental disasters that are grievous than those that we have experienced as well as ensure that we put a stop to environmental disasters that have bedevilled our rural and urban communities.”

The minister underscored the need for the nation to engage its National Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “so as to translate them to the attainment of the Green Economy and Sustainable Development”.

Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr Shehu Ahmed, disclosed that the meeting’s objectives are to evaluate progress made by implementing agencies, partners and stakeholders in ensuring that GEF-6 Projects in the country, which commenced July 2014, are developed and implemented in line with national priority, and to ensure proper articulation of projects towards GEF-7 Cycle.

According to him, almost all the projects under the new Cycle have been endorsed and that it is expected that the project documents (PIF) should have been transferred to the GEF secretariat to facilitate commencement of implementation.

Making a case for a National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP), Prof. Olukayode Oladipo of the University of Lagos, Akoka, stated that besides defining environmental priority actions that can constrain national development if left unchecked, the NEAP will help to identify the environmental challenges and needs of the country and propose strategic interventions to be put in place to address them.

“NEAP recognises the need to address the issues and challenges of national environment within a holistic framework that if properly implemented would ensure sustainable development in the country,” Prof. Oladipo noted, adding that NEAP would likewise assist government to:

• Identify, prioritise and possibly quantify national environmental problems;
• Provide a state-of-knowledge overview of the environmental conditions in the country;
• Propose solutions to identified priority environmental problems in the form of programmes and projects, studies, issues and actions, strategies and activities, institutional and legislative reform, funding requirements and human resources capacity building needs;
• Establish a clear indication of government’s priority areas with respect to the environment so as to guide and give proper orientation to donor intervention in this field.

In a presentation, Mr Oladipo Osibo of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) highlighted to some GEF projects being undertaken in conjunction with the UNDP.

While the “Niger Delta Biodiversity Project”, a GEF-5 project, is approaching end-of-life, GEF-6 initiatives like “De-risking Sustainable Off-grid Lighting Solutions in Nigeria”, “Sustainable Fuelwood Management in Nigeria” and “Third National Communication to the UNFCCC” are ongoing.

Under chemicals management, added Osibo, the “Sound Management & Disposal of PCBs” is at the project design stage, and is scheduled for submission in November 2017.

“Another GEF project on Pesticide Management has been technically cleared but still pending final approval,” he said, adding that the “Small Grants Programme (SGP)” is aimed at “supporting community environmental initiatives and livelihood enhancement.”

GEF Desk Officer, Mr. Festus Eguoje, said that the objective of the meeting is to provide a platform for issues in the implementation of the GEF-6 Cycle approved projects and harmonise experiences to build upon the country programmes for the GEF-7 Cycle proposals.

The people of Belema/Offoin-Ama in Kula Kingdom in the restive Nigerian Niger Delta region took over the Belema Flow Station in the early hours of Friday, August 11, 2017. The take-over was done during a protest demanding SPDC to leave the facility.

According to the protesters, SPDC has been operating the Belema Flow Station for over 37 years and yet there is no visible development in the host community. They claim they lack: portable water, good roads, health facilities, scholarships and employment, among others.

The protesters, in their hundreds, stormed the crude oil flow station owned by Shell, demanding jobs and infrastructure development.

According to Reuters, the protesters complained they did not benefit from oil production in their area, a common refrain in the impoverished swampland that produces most of Nigeria’s oil. They also demanded an end to oil pollution in the area.

Soldiers and security guards did not disperse the crowd as they entered the Belema Flow Station in Rivers State, which feeds oil into Shell’s Bonny export terminal.

Shell had no immediate comment, and it was not immediately clear whether there was an impact on oil production.

While Bonny Light crude oil is currently under force majeure due to the closure of the Trans Niger Pipeline, exports continue via another export line.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd operated Joint Venture (SPDC JV) has said its commitment to the welfare of host communities in the Niger Delta remains unshaken, even as it decried the illegal occupation of Belema Flow Station and Gas Plant on Friday, August 11, 2017 by some persons.

SPDC has informed the authorities of the illegal occupation and said in a statement on Friday that it is working towards resuming safe operations there.

The people of Belema/Offoin-Ama in Kula kingdom took over the Belema Flow Station in the early hours of Friday. The take-over was done during a protest demanding SPDC to leave the facility.

According to the protesters, SPDC has been operating the Belema Flow Station for over 37 years and yet there is no visible development in the host community. They claim they lack: portable water, good roads, health facilities, scholarships and employment, among others.

But Shell has debunked allegations of neglect of communities in Kula kingdom and Belema in Rivers State, saying that it had implemented a Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) in the area that led to a wide variety of social investment projects, including university scholarships awards.

It explained that the Rivers State Government initiated a mediation process for the resolution of the disagreements in the community, which had resulted in the creation of the Kula Project Implementation and Monitoring Committee (PIMC) in 2012. The PIMC, it was gathered, served as an interim platform for the delivery of social investment initiatives and programmes worth N263 million in the Soku-San Berth Project. These projects are said to be separate from the GMoU projects initiated by communities using funds provided by the SPDC JV.

A GMoU was eventually signed in 2014 for the Kula Cluster but has not been implemented because of continuing intra-community disagreements. As at 2015, there were a total of 11 court cases involving different groups with SPDC as a co-defendant in all of them.

“Sadly, these legal suits and disputes have rendered it impossible to implement more planned development projects in the affected communities,” said SPDC’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli, while commenting on the allegations of neglect. “Notwithstanding that SPDC has divested its equity in OML 24, which covers most of the communities in Kula and Belema, the SPDC JV has continued to implement agreed Social Investment programmes such as scholarship and entrepreneurship schemes for the communities there.”

Despite the challenging environment, the SPDC JV said that it set aside over N600 million for a five-year period beginning 2014 for development initiatives at Kula and the satellite communities of Belema, Offoinama and Boro. SPDC JV said it also invested over N352 million in the improvement of school infrastructure, sanitation and health outreach programmes, construction of walkway for the community and electricity supply in Kula Kingdom in the past 10 years.

“The host communities of OML 25, including Belema and Offionama, have continued to benefit from contract awards, employment of unskilled labour and our social investment programmes, including yearly award of regular and special scholarships to eligible candidates from the area. With the divestment of its interest in OML 24, SPDC relinquished operatorship of the facilities in that field,” disclosed SPDC.

It adds: “SPDC’s social investment activities focus on community and enterprise development, education, health, access-to-energy, road safety and since 2016. Collectively, Nigeria has the second largest concentration of social investment spending in the Shell Group.

“The SPDC JV partners have contributed $29 billion to the economic growth of Nigeria between 2012 and 2016. SPDC JV is currently supporting the various GMoU Cluster Development Boards and mentoring NGOs to deploy a total of N7 billion for development projects of host communities’ choice in the Niger Delta under the GMoU programme.”

A new State of the Climate report has confirmed that 2016 surpassed 2015 as the warmest year in 137 years of record keeping.

Last year’s record heat resulted from the combined influence of long-term global warming and a strong El Niño early in the year. The report found that the major indicators of climate change continued to reflect trends consistent with a warming planet. Several markers such as land and ocean temperatures, sea level, and greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere broke records set just one year prior.

These key findings and others are available from the State of the Climate in 2016 report released online on Thursday, August 10, 2017 by the American Meteorological Society (AMS).

The 27th annual issuance of the report, led by NOAA National Centres for Environmental Information, is based on contributions from nearly 500 scientists from more than 60 countries around the world and reflects tens of thousands of measurements from multiple independent datasets. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space.

The report’s climate indicators show patterns, changes, and trends of the global climate system. Examples of the indicators include various types of greenhouse gases; temperatures throughout the atmosphere, ocean, and land; cloud cover; sea level; ocean salinity; sea ice extent; and snow cover.

Report highlights include indications of a warming planet, and listed to include:

• Greenhouse gases highest on record
• Global surface temperature highest on record
• Global lower tropospheric temperature highest on record
• Sea surface temperatures highest on record
• Global upper ocean heat content near-record high
• Global sea level highest on record
• Extremes observed in the water cycle and precipitation
• The arctic continued to warm, sea ice extent remained low
• Antarctic sees record low sea ice extent
• Global ice and snow cover decline
• Tropical cyclones were well above average overall

The State of the Climate in 2016 is the 27th edition in a peer-reviewed series published annually as a special supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The journal makes the full report openly available online.

The official commemorative event to celebrate the International Youth Day for 2017 held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Friday, August 11, 2017. The theme of International Youth Day 2017 is “Youth Building Peace.”

The International Youth Day is commemorated every year on August 12.

Since the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2250 in 2015, there is growing recognition that, as agents of change, young people are critical actors in conflict prevention and sustaining peace. International Youth Day 2017, according to the UN’s Division for Social Policy and Development Youth, is dedicated to celebrating young people’s contributions to conflict prevention and transformation as well as inclusion, social justice, and sustainable peace.

The current generation of youth are said to be the largest in history and young people often comprise the majority in countries marked by armed conflict or unrest, therefore considering the needs and aspirations of youth in matters of peace and security is a demographic imperative.

Another Security Council Resolution, Resolution 2282 (2016) recognises that the scale and challenges of sustaining peace requires partnerships between stakeholders, including youth organisations. It also reaffirms the important role youth can play in deterring and resolving conflicts, and are key constituents in ensuring the success of both peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development committed to fostering peaceful and inclusive societies and affirmed that “(s)ustainable development cannot be realised without peace and security”. Goal 16 aims to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. The World Programme of Action for Youth, which provides a policy framework and practical guidelines to improve the situation of young people, also encourages “(p)romoting (the) active involvement of youth in maintaining peace and security”.

Young people’s inclusion in the peace and security agenda and in society more broadly, is key to building and sustaining peace. The process of social inclusion for youth, including participation in decision-making as well as access to quality education, health care and basic services promotes their role as active contributors to society and affords young people with opportunities to reach their potential and achieve their goals.

When youth are excluded from political, economic and social spheres and processes, it can be a risk factor for violence and violent forms of conflict. Therefore, identifying and addressing the social exclusion of young people is a precondition for sustaining peace.