The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 deposited its instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Francisco Guterres, President of Timor-Leste
The Southeast Asian nation thus becomes the160th country to endorse the global treaty, after Sudan and Zimbabwe on Wednesday, August 2 and Monday, August 7, 2017 respectively deposited their instruments of ratification of the Paris accord.
Occupying half the island of Timor, Timor-Leste is also known as East Timor.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), East Timor’s ratification of the pact will enter into force in a month’s time on Friday, September 15, 2017.
Previously, Haiti, the Netherlands, Venezuela and Serbia ratified the pact respectively on on Monday, July 31; Friday, July 28; Friday, July 21; and Tuesday, July 25, 2017.
Before then, the Republic of Malawi on Thursday, June 29, 2017 likewise endorsed the agreement, ahead of Egypt and Togo, which ratified the climate accord respectively on Thursday, June 29 and Wednesday, June 28 2017.
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.
As a step towards ramping up clean electro-mobility in Europe, Deutsche Post DHL Group and Ford have unveiled new electric vans used for parcel delivery in German cities, with at least 2,500 electric “StreetScooters” to be in service by the end of 2018. The vehicles will be powered by electricity from renewable forms of energy such as solar and wind.
Each electric delivery vehicle could contribute to save around 5 tonnes of CO2
The transport sector is responsible for 23% of carbon dioxide emissions globally, and that percentage is expected to grow unless action is taken. A rapid shift towards electro-mobility is crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and to achieve the central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which is to limit the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius. Such vehicles are also crucial to ensure cleaner air in the world’s towns and cities.
The launch of the new van is part of the GoGreen environmental programme of the Bonn-based Deutsche Post DHL Group, aimed at reducing all logistics-related emissions to zero by the year 2050. And it comes ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn in November, an event at which many examples of clean transport will be showcased.
12,500 Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Saved Every Year
The e-van, called the “StreetScooter WORK XL,” will function with a battery system delivering 30 to 90 kWh of power. 150 pre-production vehicles will already be used for parcel deliveries in Germany by the end of 2017.
“It is the perfect vehicle for parcel deliveries in major cities and large urban areas, and will enable us to cope with the rising parcel volumes in an even more environmentally friendly and quieter manner,” says Jürgen Gerdes, Member of the Board of Management Post – eCommerce – Parcel, at Deutsche Post DHL Group.
Each of these vehicles could contribute to save around 5 tonnes of CO2 and 1,900 liters of diesel fuel each year. With at least 2,500 e-vans in service as planned, this could allow for a total saving of 12,500 tonnes of CO2 and 4.75 million litres of fuel every year.
A Global Movement for Electric Mobility
In Germany and other parts of the world, similar initiatives are under way. Siemens has announced a plan to start an electric truck charging technology through cables on a stretch of German highways. Meanwhile, in the United States, the electric vehicle startup Chanje is set to launch a new series of electric trucks, vans and shuttle buses. And Tesla has begun the roll out of its Model 3 with an extended range and a price tag which makes the vehicle affordable for a large consumer base.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global stock of electric vehicles passed the two million mark in 2016, and this rapid rise has been led by countries including China, the United States, Japan, as well as several European countries.
Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has set foot on the soil of South Sudan’s capital – Juba, with the establishment of its first office outside Nigeria.
Gabriel Ayuen Deng and Nnimmo Bassey in Juba, South Sudan
HOMEF is an environmental / ecological think tank and advocacy organisation with focus on hunger politics, fossil politics and creates spaces for knowledge sharing through Sustainability Academes and diagnostic Community Dialogues. The organisation, according to its promoters, places premium on information sharing through its publications, including through the quarterly magazine, Eco-Instigator.
HOMEF in South Sudan Office cooperates with the Nile Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH) to fulfill HOMEF’s mandate. South Sudan is a strategic location for HOMEF as the country struggles to maintain balance since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. The South Sudan office will spear-head activities to contribute to environmental education and the protection of human, ecological and collective dignity within the country and region.
“Our base is Nigeria, but our focus is Africa,” says Nnimmo Bassey, director of HOMEF. “We believe there must be closer collaborations between civil society groups and countries within our continent. We must go beyond bilateral relations between our countries to close linkages between our peoples.”
On Tuesday, August 15 2017, HOMEF and NIEH co-hosted a public workshop in Juba on Water Pollution and the Quality of Life. The workshop dissected the centrality of potable water and sanitation in Nigeria and South Sudan, with special focus on the negative impact on these by oil extraction. The occasion was also used to present the African edition of the book.
HOMEF’s South Sudan office is headed by Gabriel Ayuen Deng.
The US National Park Service, on the orders of President Donald Trump, on Wednesday, August 16, 2017 rescinded an Obama-era policy that allowed individual parks to ban bottled water sales on their grounds as a way to fight litter.
Disposal of waste plastic bottles. Photo credit: Al Goldis / Associated Press
Environmental organisations believed that the controversial 2011 policy that encouraged parks to eliminate the sale of bottled water would help reduce litter. But the park service announcement of the change said it would “expand hydration options for recreationalists, hikers, and other visitors to national parks.”
Two dozen national parks had adopted the policy, or were in the process of doing so. They include Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Zion National Park and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The ban was part of President Obama’s Green Parks Plan to promote the use of tap water and refillable bottles on federal lands, reduce waste and curb carbon emissions.
To keep visitors hydrated, the Park Service has installed new fresh drinking water stations.
Trump’s decision comes just three weeks after the Senate confirmed David Bernhardt as deputy interior secretary. Bernhardt is a former lobbyist with a law firm that has represented water bottlers in the United States. Bernhardt’s confirmation was opposed by some senators because his work on behalf of corporate interests contradicts Interior Department regulations to promote clean air and water.
Earlier, the National Park Service said the ban was based on “the 50 billion plastic water bottles” disposed of by Americans each year and the “approximately 20 billion barrels of oil” required during production generating greenhouse gases. Disposable plastic bottles make up 20% of the Grand Canyon’s waste stream and 30% of the park’s recyclables.
But given the choice, people will choose reusable bottles whenever they can. For example, Zion National Park reports that its sale of reusable bottles increased 78 percent once it banned bottled-water sales.
The Earth Day Network, a not-for-profit group, has expressed concern over the development, going by a recent campaign aimed at impressing it upon President Trump that US National Parks should be free of single use plastic water bottles.
The group states: “Plastic waste is choking our planet and creating a global health crisis. In 2015, the world created 448 million tons of plastic – more than twice as much as made in 1998. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 metric tons of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.
“Approximately 91% of plastic made before 2015 has not been recycled. Our landfills are overflowing with plastic waste, and our recycling centers are overburdened and underequipped to properly repurpose the plastics being recycled. As these systems fail, more and more plastic waste ends up in the streets, rivers, beaches, and eventually the oceans, causing untold harm to plant and animal life the world over.”
Participants at a two-day Nutrition Workshop for Local Government Actors organised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Synergos for the State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA) programme in Benue State have advocated for an all-inclusive agriculture practice that will support nutrition.
Participants at the Nutrition Workshop
Speaking on the first day of the workshop on Friday, August 18, 2017 at the Conference Hall of Trust Resort, Makurdi, Synergos Benue Team Lead, Mr Michael Agon, maintained that agriculture can not effectively serve the society without nutrition as the two are tied together.
“What we need to stop malnutrition is nutrition sensitive agriculture,” he noted.
Mr Agon stressed that Synergos is determined to midwife Agriculture, Nutrition and Gender Policies in their three intervention States of Benue, Kogi and Kaduna to encourage nutrition practice and stop malnutrition in order to facilitate growth and development of the Nigerian child.
In her presentation, a Consultant, Mrs Yetunde Adeseluka-Oladejo, from Food Basket Foundation International, called on stakeholders in Benue, which is termed the “Food Basket State” to address issues of malnutrition, stunted growth, underweight and overweight in children by utilising the variety of food available.
According to her, strategies to improve on nutrition such as encouraging exposure of babies to the breast in the first 30 minutes of birth and exclusive breast feeding in the first six months as well as as sensitising, informing and involving all stakeholders would go a long way in improving nutrition.
Also speaking, Mr Orngu Africa, also from Food Basket Foundation International, while making a presentation titled “Opportunities in Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture”, charged stakeholders to be proactive and tap the nutritional viability of foods as agriculture.
He reiterated that nutrition is intricately connected to agriculture and that, when tapped, will value chain strengthening and empowerment.
In another presentation by Mr Donald Aorkwagh titled “Home Organic Garden,” the speaker charged Benue people to practice home organic gardening to reduce hunger and even encourage nutrition in response poor communities through sustainable agriculture.
“Households have ignored setting up home gardens to address food insufficiency, address nutritional gaps in households and increase access to income generating options in agriculture where as, choosing organic gardening even takes off many diseases threats such as cancer,” he added.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) on Thursday, August 17, 2017 expanded its impact in the Asian region with an agreement strengthening its shared strategic approach to tackle climate change with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
ADB General Counsel Christopher Stephens (right) and Acting GCF General Counsel Raul Herrera, along with ADB officials, during the signing of the Accreditation Master Agreement in Manila
The two organisations have signed an Accreditation Master Agreement (AMA), a prerequisite for all GCF Accredited Entities in order to implement GCF-approved projects. ADB was accredited to GCF in March 2015.
“The Accreditation Master Agreement between the GCF and ADB will open the way to deeper collaboration between our institutions,” said ADB General Counsel Christopher Stephens. “Working together with the GCF, we will build a robust pipeline of climate projects that support the development and climate objectives of our developing member countries.”
GCF registered the ADB as one of its Accredited Entities, which propose and implement GCF-approved climate projects, in March 2015.
Acting GCF General Counsel Raul Herrera said the AMA signing represents a significant step for GCF as the Asian region is the linchpin to a successful global response to climate change.
“As the dynamo of global economic growth, with Asia Pacific continuing to record the world’s strongest growth, this region has a key role to play in tackling climate change,” said Mr Herrera. “The vital importance of Asia in meeting the climate challenge, along with GCF’s mandate to pursue transformative low-emission and climate-resilient development across the planet, means a shared strategic approach between GCF and ADB in this area is essential.”
GCF also commended ADB for highlighting in its own study how sensitive the Asia and Pacific region is to climate change. “A Region at Risk: The Human Dimensions of Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific,” an ADB report released in July, indicates climate change could diminish the major achievements made during the past few decades in lifting large numbers of people living in the region out of poverty.
GCF’s current portfolio of 43 approved projects include two proposed by ADB – a renewable energy project in the Cook Islands and a water supply project in Fiji.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. The bank plans to double its annual climate financing to $6 billion by 2020, and increase spending to about 30 percent of its overall operations by the end of this decade.
GCF was set up in 2010 by the 194 countries which are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation.
The Joint Association of Persons Living with Disabilities (JONAPID) in Lagos has said that as long as disabled people continue to shun reproductive health services available at hospitals, the country can’t have significant improvements in its current health indicators.
Ms. Ejiro Okotie and Mr. Ayoola Efunkoya, Editor at Voice of Nigeria, bearing their minds at the MediaTraining. Photo credit: JAAIDS
This submission was made at a recent media training in Lagos organised by Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) and the Nigeria Association for the Blind.
“Persons with disabilities (PWD) seldom use public healthcare facilities,” says Ms. Olayide Akanni, executive director of JAAIDS. “From a focussed group discussion we conducted amongst this group, we find stigmatisation, lack of privacy and confidentiality, disability insensitivity attitudes of health workers, continue to push this group out of the hospitals to self-medication and herbal homes.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are 25 million disabled people in Nigeria. A global estimate shows that there is a growing vulnerability amongst this group to HIV infection. Contrary to popular myths, PWDs are as sexually active as their non-disabled peers, yet they are less likely to receive information about safe sex, and to have access to prevention methods. This group are also most likely prone to sexual abuse, exploitation and rape. Thus if they remain excluded, the rise in HIV amongst this group will ruin the overall success of AIDS control in Nigeria and other sustainable development goals, experts warn.
Sharing her experience at the training, Ms. Folasade Salimonu, a producer at the Lagos Television and a member of JONAPID, says: “My friend is blind and married. She has had three unplanned pregnancies because the family planning method she chose failed. The day she went to the hospital, the nurses were commenting on how pathetic for a blind woman to incur more problems for herself by getting pregnant! At her neighbourhood too, she had been called shameless for getting pregnant despite her condition (in her matrimonial home). So she stopped antenatal visit to the hospital and continued in a traditional medicine home!”
Ms. Ejiro Okotie, a member of the National Association of the Blind, says, “That a person is living with a disability does not mean he/she is sexually disabled.”
Quoting the Universal Declaration of Sexual Rights, she adds: “The14th World Congress of Sexology (Hong Kong, 1999), adopted 11 sexual rights which includes the right to sexual freedom, privacy, equity, pleasure among others.
Article 5 on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities summarises that such persons enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.
In her submission, Ms. Akanni states: “We see that they need to be enlightened on Sexual Virility/Libido; Management of Sexually Transmitted Infections.
“A blind man may not know how to wear a condom properly and thus prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. He is stigmatised when he walks to a shop to ask for one. A blind person may not be able to read the instruction on the body of a medicine because most drugs in Nigeria are not written in braille. A deaf/dumb woman may not know how to express her need for a family planning commodity to an overworked nurse, who is already touchy because she has loads of able-bodied patients to attend to.
“These are real barriers hindering PWDs’ ability to increase their uptake of such devices, thus the Lagos State Government can’t meet our needs,” Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, secretary of JONAPID, Lagos Branch, laments.
A related study assessing disability-sensitivity and inclusiveness in Lagos hospitals reveals that only the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) provides sign language interpreters for deaf patients and a few social workers to assist other PWDs with mobility and visual disabilities. It also provides minimal accommodation for persons with disabilities.
The others – over 30 General Hospitals in the state and Primary Health Centres – totally exclude this group.
They thus recommend that educating PWDs on their rights is a way forward. A second most important factor entails including in academic curriculum for all health workers, a training on disability sensitivity. At hospitals, special sections should be designated for PWDs and also place professional interpreters.
“Enabling structures should be put in place to assist PWDs in different capacities (e.g. building ramps for persons on wheelchairs . Attention should be given to Braille descriptions on drugs,” Ms. Layide adds.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has invited 101 experts from 41 countries to begin work on the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) as Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors. The Special Report outline was agreed in March 2017and the report is scheduled to be finalised in September 2019.
The IPCC received a total of 569 nominations from 57-member countries. The selection process for Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors was conducted by members of the IPCC Working Group I and II Bureaus and led by the Co-Chairs.
“This Special Report is unique in IPCC history and reflects the increasing awareness of how important and at the same time how fragile the ocean is as a life-sustaining unit of our planet,” said Hans Pörtner, Co-Chair, IPCC Working Group II. “The ocean offers many services to ecosystems and humankind, from climate regulation to food supply. At the same time, ocean-cryosphere-atmosphere interactions will shape sea-level rise as a major challenge to human civilisation.” Working Group II assesses climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.
Debra Roberts, Working Group II Co-Chair, added: “As an IPCC Special Report focused on two Earth systems which together cover the majority of the planet’s surface and which affect the majority of the global population, a diverse and skilled author team is critical in ensuring a report of the highest policy relevance.”
“The IPCC looks forward to working with experts from around the world on this important topic that impacts billions of people, from the high mountains and polar regions to the coasts,” said IPCC Vice-Chair, Ko Barrett, who chaired the scientific steering committee for the scoping meeting that drafted the outline of the Special Report.
Of the selected experts, 86 are Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors who have the collective responsibility for the contents their assigned chapters in the report. Fifteen of the experts are Review Editors who will ensure that all substantive comments during the review stages are given appropriate consideration by the Authors. 36% of the selected experts come from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and 64% are from developed countries. 74% of the selected are new to the the IPCC process. 31% of them are women and 69% men.
Sri Lanka can meet its current and future electricity demand by judicial use of renewable energy by 2050, according to a joint study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Of the projected 34,000 MW, 15,000 MW will be wind energy . Photo credit: theenergycollective.com
The report, titled “Assessment of Sri Lanka’s Power Sector – 100 percent Electricity Generation through Renewable Energy by 2050”, notes that by 2050, the country’s installed electricity generation capacity needs will increase from the current 3,700 megawatts (MW) to about 34,000 MW. Of this, 15,000 MW will be wind energy and about 16,000 MW will be solar energy. Balance capacity is expected to be met by hydro and biomass based power plants. Further to addition of renewable electricity generating sources, the study has identified need to introduce electricity storage solution which should provide instantaneous power of 3,600 MW and energy storage capacity of 15,000 MWh. This will ensure stability of the electricity grid.
The assessment indicates that the substitution of imported fossil fuel with renewable energy till the year 2050 provides direct monetary benefits and will reduce Sri Lanka’s fuel import bill by about $18 billion cumulatively. The report also identifies the need for structural changes in the retail tariffs of Sri Lanka to warrant financial sustainability of its operations.
The report estimates that in order to transition to 100% electricity generation by renewable energy, Sri Lanka will need investment of $50 billion. Further, it emphasises the need to develop the ancillary services market in light of these changes in the generation system.
One year on from the Paris Agreement of December 2015, 43 members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, including Sri Lanka, adopted at the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakesh highly ambitious voluntary goals to produce 100% of their electricity through renewables by 2050.
“ADB has expressed its continuous support to low-carbon development of Sri Lanka,” said Priyantha Wijayatunga, Director, South Asia Energy Division. “Recent proposals including a rooftop solar program and a large-scale wind power project demonstrate ADB’s commitment in this regard. This assessment report can serve as a comprehensive example for future utilities globally on how decentralised clean energy services can be governed.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Alexandra Soezer, Climate Change Technical Advisor of UNDP noted, “UNDP continues to be a pioneering ‘development’ institute. Knowledge products like these are giving valuable inputs to attaining Sustainable Development Goal 7 on ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’. We will continue to expand our activities in this field and pave the way for a better tomorrow.”
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB is celebrating 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2016, ADB assistance totaled $31.7 billion, including $14 billion in cofinancing.
UNDP works in nearly 170 countries and territories, helping countries eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and achieve sustainable development. UNDP works to integrate issues of climate, disaster risk and energy at the country level, and focuses on building resilience and ensuring that development remains risk-informed and sustainable. We are working in partnership with governments, private sector and civil society to address the challenges of climate change and remain the largest service provider in the UN system on climate change adaptation and mitigation. Our work on climate finance aims to help countries achieve the simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion, by catalysing environmental finance for sustainable development.
A vacation judge, Abdulaziz Anka, of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday, August 17, 2017 ordered the permanent forfeiture of various illegally imported goods valued at N50,151,606 to the Federal Government.
The Federal High Court in Lagos
He made the order following an ex parte application brought by the Nigeria Customs Service Board.
The goods, including bales of fairly used clothes, shoes, bags, bed sheets, porcelain plates, 7,163 bags of foreign parboiled rice, and 147 jerry cans of vegetable oil, were said to have been intercepted between April and June, 2017.
Others were seven vehicles, which values were, however, not stated.
According to the agency’s Assistant Legal Adviser Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Ikeja, Shehu Bodinga, the owners refused to show up after the goods were intercepted.
In the application, the lawyer told the judge that there was an urgent need to order the forfeiture of the goods because some of them were perishable.
The Customs, according to him, had been ordered by The Presidency to distribute some of the seized items to victims of the Boko Haram insurgency living in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in the North-East.
In a 15-paragraph affidavit, Bodinga said the goods were imported in breach of Section 46(c) of the Customs and Management Act.
In some cases, he added, the importers and their privies attempted to evade duty on the goods or law prohibited the items they brought into the country.
He said: “Apart from acts of fraudulent evasion of duty, some of the defaulters brought in outright unlawful and prohibited items, which are so classified by the Customs laws and regulations.
“I verily believe that because of the severity of the punishment and sanction attached to the offences, the defaulters, along with their collaborators, have refused and or failed to come forward to claim the goods from the Nigeria Customs Service, thereby, abandoning same and same seized.
“In order to prevent complete deterioration of the said goods and total loss of revenue to the Nigeria Customs Service, the board now intends to sell the goods either by way of auction, allocation or by any other procedure.”
