A family at leisure on the central route of the Danjiangkou reservoir
The project, which began in April 2018 and is expected to take several decades to complete, is a state-run infrastructure programme to move 44.8 billion cubic metres of fresh water each year from the Yangtze River to China’s arid and industrialised northern territories via three canal systems.
The central system has so far been used to replenish several northern rivers with around 870 million cubic litres to fight water scarcity and environmental deterioration across the region. This route has alleviated water shortage in provinces and cities along its course, ensuring water users receive adequate water supply.
So far, the project has channeled 467 million cubic litres to Henan Province, along with 351 million cubic litres to Hebei Province and 47 million cubic litres to Tianjin Municipality.
Water scarcity has been identified as a problem affecting three rivers including the Baihe, Qinghe and Tuotuo, all of which have drawn supply from the diversion.
“As a major infrastructure project of national strategic importance, [the project] has not only guaranteed water supply in northern China, but also brought about huge ecological benefits,” the report said.
It added that in Henan Province, the project has replenished 18 rivers in 12 cities, including Zhengzhou, Nanyang and Jiaozuo, bringing “greater volumes of water in wetlands and reservoirs and improved water quality in the area”.
Official government figures estimate that the Xushui District grew by around 430,000 square metres since the project began, and that subsequently, the level of groundwater has risen by an average of 0.96 metres. The report concluded that as of 17 June, the central route has reach total inflows of 15 billion cubic metres at a rate of around 384 cubic metres per second.
India will not accept relief assistance from foreign governments for the flood-ravaged state of Kerala, the government has said, following offers of aid from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Rescue operations in Kerala
The decision to decline foreign help drew criticism from the opposition which called for an end to the suffering of the people of the southern state hit by the worst flooding in a century, which has killed hundreds of people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has announced assistance of six billion rupees ($85 million), compared with a request from the state for at least 20 billion rupees.
Modi has promised more aid and his government said late on Wednesday that would come through “domestic efforts”.
“The government of India deeply appreciates offers from several countries, including from foreign governments, to assist in relief and rehabilitation efforts after the tragic floods in Kerala,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
“In line with the existing policy, the government is committed to meeting the requirements for relief and rehabilitation through domestic efforts.”
This week, the United Arab Emirates offered assistance of $100 million while Qatar offered $5 million.
Many people from Kerala live and work in the Gulf.
Torrential rain that began in Kerala on Aug. 8 killed 231 people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes, and washed away roads and bridges, leading to an estimated loss of at least 200 billion rupees ($2.85 billion).
The rain eased over the weekend as the focus of efforts turned to relief and rehabilitation from rescue.
The main opposition Congress party accused Modi of exacerbating the crisis by failing to come through with more aid and creating obstacles to foreign help.
“This decision is quite disappointing to the people of Kerala,” Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy wrote in a public letter to Modi.
“Rules should be such (that they) eradicate the sufferings of the people. If there exist any obstacle against the acceptance of foreign aid, kindly look into the matter seriously and bring suitable modifications.”
The foreign ministry said the government would welcome contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund from foundations, Indians living abroad and from people of Indian origin.
Kerala’s Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said on Twitter the central government should compensate the state for refusing foreign aid.
The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has urged producers to ensure that their process and post-consumption waste are properly managed.
Dr. Lawrence Anukam, Director-General, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency (NESREA)
The Lagos State Coordinator, NESREA, Mr Nosa Aigbedion, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, August 23, 2018 in Lagos that proper disposal would ensure a cleaner and healthier environment.
Aigbedion said that there was need for producers to key into the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme being championed by NESREA.
He said that the EPR approach was a global best practice implemented successfully in several developed and emerging economies to deal with the environmental and health challenges of handling waste.
“The EPR, as a driving instrument, puts the responsibility on the producers to ensure that goods are not just produced, sent to the market, but that the post-consumption waste are also recovered from the public and recycled.
“We are looking at the possibility of a zero-to-landfill environment so that nothing valuable goes to the landfill in the name of waste.
“The EPR is a programme that makes the environment cleaner and healthier for all, which is the vision of the agency,” the coordinator said.
He commended the Nigeria Beverages Alliance (NBA) and the Electrical/Electronic Equipment Alliance for the progress made so far with prospective Producer Responsibility Organisations (PRO) in implementing the EPR programme.
Aigbedion urged manufacturers who have yet to key into the EPR provisions to do so, saying that it would soon be an instrument of enforcement.
“It is a win-win situation for everyone, as the environment will be cleaner and healthier and informal/formal jobs will be created in the EPR loop,” he said.
The Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) has called for increased awareness creation on the benefits of science to facilitate support for its development and application in the society.
Professor Kalu Mosto Onuoha, 18th president of the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS)
The NAS Administrative Officer (Communications), Ms Mobolaji Dasaolu, made the call in a statement in Lagos on Thursday, August 23, 2018.
She said that such awareness informed the sustenance of the annual NAS Science Media Award established in 2010 to recognise outstanding science reporters.
“The yearly award, now in its 8th edition, seeks to promote excellence in science and science-related journalism.
“This year, the award is bigger and better as a result of collaboration with Vitafoam Nig. Plc.
“The two organisations seek to maximise the benefits of science and increase the awareness of such benefits for increased support for development and application of science.
“Entries are hereby invited for the NAS Science Award for outstanding science reporting for 2017. The award is open to all print and broadcast journalists who published science or science-related stories (health, environment, etc.) in 2017,’’ she said.
According to the official, the prize for each category consists of a plaque, money and gifts.
“Runner-up in each category wins a cash prize and a gift package from Vitafoam.
“The awards will be presented at a science award dinner on Oct. 23,” she said.
Dasaolu said that the award would open to all science journalists in Nigeria in the print and broadcast (television, radio, and online) media.
She said that interested journalists should submit three stories they published or aired from Jan. 1, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2017.
She said that the deadline for submission of entries would be Sept. 14.
“Entries for the print category should consist of a scanned copy of the original story (in PDF format) without any alteration to the content of the story published.
“Applicants should ensure that their PDF documents are clear and sharp,’’ she advised.
The official said that all entries including online journalists’ entries should include a clearly written and hyperlinked URL address.
“Screenshots of websites where stories are published are not accepted.
“TV entries should be uploaded to YouTube (www.youtube.com) and radio pieces to soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com). Applicants should provide the web links to their uploaded stories in the entry form.
“Each applicant is expected to provide a synopsis to the story submitted, 150-word biography and a 200-word piece explaining the motivation for the story on a separate sheet.
“All entries and accompanying documents should be submitted by email to mediaaward@nas.org.ng,” she said.
She advised interested journalists to download entry forms from the academy’s website: www.nas.org.ng.
World leaders, water and development experts, as well as other stakeholders are converging on Stockholm, Sweden, to find new, nature-based solutions to meet escalating global water crisis.
In a statement by Ms. Jens Berggren, Communications Director, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the event would be a wake-up call on the challenges that climate change, economic and population growth, and increasingly unpredictable weather and water patterns impose on global water security.
The 2018 World Water Week will be held from August 26 to 31, under the theme: “Water, Ecosystems and Human Development”, an issue of particular relevance given the past year’s many extreme weather events.
Berggren stated that the event would be a wake-up call on the challenges that climate change, economic and population growth, and increasingly unpredictable weather and water patterns impose on global water security.
“The UN expects that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will suffer from water scarcity, recent weather-related events also underline the critical role ecosystems play for human well-being and existence.
“Nature-based solutions as effective tools for human development will also be a focus of this year’s theme,’’ she said.
She added that no fewer than 3,300 participants from more than 130 countries will be attending the World Water Week, representing governments, private sector, multilateral organisations, civil society and academia.
Speakers at the opening session on Aug. 27 include Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the 2018 Stockholm Water Prize Laureates Professors Mark van Loosdrecht and Bruce Rittmann.
SIWI is an international water institute working to solve global water challenges by improving how water is used and managed.
According to Berggren, group influences decision-makers, facilitates dialogue and builds knowledge in water issues, thereby contributing to a just, prosperous and sustainable future for all.
SIWI organises what is believed to be the world’s most important annual water and development meeting, the World Water Week, and it awards the Stockholm Water Prize and Stockholm Junior Water Prize.
The World Water Week brings together more than 3,500 participants from more than 130 countries representing governments, private sector, multilateral organisations, civil society and academia to shape joint solutions to global water challenges.
Angola, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon have renewed their commitment to revitalise the Mayombe Forest Transboundary Initiative. The Mayombe forest forms the southern-western margin of the Congo Basin’s tropical rainforest. It is shared between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Angola, Congo and Gabon.
The Mayombe Forest Transboundary Initiative stretches across Angola, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon
The Mayombe forest has the largest distribution of a large variety of unique flora and fauna, including species of global importance such as the central chimpanzee, the western lowland gorilla, the forest elephant and many other species part of the Guineo-Congolian regional centre of endemism.
Despite its ecological importance, the southern part of Mayombe forest has been subjected to decades of intensive degradation, through the unsustainable use of natural resources. Communities around the forest rely on subsistence farming, small-scale husbandry, logging, poaching and fishing for their livelihood. The forest gets very little protection, which results in long-standing transboundary issues.
It’s against this backdrop that Angola, Congo, DR Congo and Gabon have agreed to cooperate to resolve these issues. The renewed commitment calls for the engagement of all stakeholders to discuss the way forward in the sustainable management and rehabilitation of the ecosystem’s integrity and biodiversity.
Since 2008, UN Environment and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have assisted Angola, Congo, and DR Congo to come up with a cooperation agreement for the management of the Mayombe forest transboundary ecosystem. This effort culminated in the development and approval of a transboundary management plan in 2013. Due to the lack of progress in the implementation of the plan, UN Environment brought together the parties involved during the 22nd United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in 2016 in Marrakesh (Morocco), to discuss the revitalisation of the initiative.
Pursuant to the recommendations of this first meeting, the four countries met again at the Global Environment Facility Council meeting held in Vietnam in July 2018 and agreed to:
officially admit Gabon to the Initiative
grant observer status to the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC)
task UN Environment with the revision of the current Memorandum of Understanding which will allow the admittance of Gabon and COMIFAC
allocate part of their Global Environment Facility STAR allocation towards the sustainable management of the Mayombe Forest Initiative
launch the revitalization of the initiative with the admission of Gabon in February 2019
According to the Head of UN Environment, Mr. Erik Solheim, this is a huge positive step.
Expressing his full satisfaction for this achievement, Mr. Jacques Denis TSANGA, President of the African Ministerial Conference of the Environment, Minister of Water and Forests in charge of Environment and Sustainable Development of Gabon, and Chair of the committee of Ministers on the Mayombe Forest Initiative, stated: “The desire to preserve a healthy environment for future generations is worthy. We have the responsibility to do so collectively and with the political will affirmed with our partners. At a moment when the Congo Basin has the same attention as the Amazon, we can only appreciate the convening power of UN Environment, which has managed to move us efficiently towards this huge step.”
On behalf of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dr. Amy Ambatobe Nyongolo, Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, added: “The Democratic Republic of Congo welcomes the work of the Committee of Ministers on the Mayombe Forest Transboundary Initiative, which took place in Niang, Vietnam. The results, achieved in such a short time, would not have been possible without the dynamism and persistence of UN Environment. We are grateful and count on your continued support.”
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has approved four more experimental treatments against the deadly Ebola virus, the health ministry said, as it races to contain an outbreak in its violence-torn east.
Oly Ilunga, the Congolese Minister of Health
Health authorities on Aug. 11, 2018 started administering the U.S.-developed mAb114 treatment to Ebola patients, the first time such a treatment had been used against an active outbreak.
The DRC health ministry said in a daily bulletin that the 10 patients who received mAb114 since Aug. 11 have experienced a “positive evolution”, but the outbreak has continued to grow.
The four additional treatments approved by Congo’s ethics committee are Remdesivir, made by Israel’s Gilead Sciences; ZMapp, an intravenous treatment made by San Diego’s Mapp Pharmaceutical; Japanese drug Favipiravir; and one referred to as “Regn3450 – 3471 – 3479”.
Remdesivir was administered to its first patient in the town of Beni on Tuesday, who is doing well,
the ministry said in its bulletin.
The ministry said six new cases and four new deaths have been confirmed from the haemmorhagic fever, which causes vomiting and severe diarrhea.
That brings the total number of deaths to 59 and confirmed cases to 75 since July.
Congo, whose heavily forested interior makes its a natural home for Ebola, is at the forefront of a global campaign to combat the virus, which killed more than 11,000 people when it swept through West Africa from 2013 to 2016.
The Central African country has experienced ten Ebola outbreaks since the virus was discovered in northern Congo in 1976, more than twice as many as any other country and 33 people died in a flare-up in the northwest that ended last month.
In addition, a vaccine manufactured by Merck, which proved effective against the earlier outbreak in
northwestern Congo, has been administered to 1,693 health workers and contacts of Ebola patients.
Insecurity in Congo’s eastern borderlands with Uganda has continued to complicate the response, with some contacts of Ebola patients located in so-called “red-zones”, which are off limits to emergency responders due to militia activity.
Instead, local health workers in those areas are monitoring the contacts and no Ebola cases have
yet been confirmed there.
Uganda has opened two Ebola treatment units in the border districts with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said.
Yonas Woldemariam, WHO Representative in Uganda
Yonas Woldemariam, WHO Representative in Uganda, told Xinhua that the two treatment units have been established in the western border districts of Kasese and Bundibugyo to respond to any deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever alert case or outbreak.
He said the units are fully equipped and ready to manage any Ebola case in the east African country.
“Ebola Treatment Units are where patients can get the best care possible – with access to rehydration methods and protection from infecting their family and community,” said Woldemariam.
Although there is no confirmed Ebola case in Uganda, the country remains on high alert following an outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in neighbouring DRC.
A WHO situation report dated Aug. 20 said of the 59 deaths from the hemorrhagic fever in the DRC, 32 were confirmed and 27 were probable.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can cause a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalised pain and in many cases internal and external bleeding.
Mortality rates of Ebola fever, according to WHO, are high, with the human case fatality rate ranging from 50 per cent to 89 per cent, depending on viral sub-type.
Be it heavy downpours or super-hot spells, summer weather becomes more persistent in North America, Europe and parts of Asia. When those conditions stall for several days or weeks, they can turn into extremes: heatwaves resulting in droughts, health risks and wildfires; or relentless rainfall resulting in floods.
Firefighters work to put out raging flames in California. Photo credit: Ventura County Fire Department
A team of scientists now presents the first comprehensive review of research on summer weather stalling focusing on the influence of the disproportionally strong warming of the Arctic as caused by greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.
Evidence is mounting, they show, that we likely meddle with circulation patterns high up in the sky. These are affecting, in turn, regional and local weather patterns – with sometimes disastrous effects on the ground. This has been the case with the 2016 wildfire in Canada, another team of scientists show in a second study.
“Giant airstreams encircle our globe in the upper troposphere – we call them planetary waves,” explains Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and co-author of the second paper. “Now evidence is mounting that humanity is messing with these enormous winds. Fueled by human-made greenhouse-gas emissions, global warming is probably distorting the natural patterns.”
Usually the waves, conveying chains of high- and low-pressure domains, travel eastwards between the equator and the North Pole. “Yet when they get trapped due to a subtle resonance mechanism,” says Schellnhuber, “they slow down so the weather in a given region gets stuck. Rains can grow into floods, sunny days into heat waves, and tinder-dry conditions into wildfires.”
Investigating the Arctic Factor and connecting the dots
“While it might not sound so bad to have more prolonged sunny episodes in summer, this is in fact a major climate risk,” says Dim Coumou from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, lead-author of the review paper and co-author of the wildfire case study. “We have rising temperatures due to human-caused global warming which intensifies heat waves and heavy rainfall, and on top of that we could get dynamical changes that make weather extremes even stronger – this is quite worrying.”
This summer is an impressive example of how stalling weather can impact societies: persistent hot and dry conditions in Western Europe, Russia and parts of the US threaten cereal yields in these breadbaskets.
Tons of studies have appeared on this topic in recent years, sometimes with seemingly conflicting results. For the paper now published in Nature Communications, an international team of scientists set out to review the existing research and tried to connect the dots, with a focus on the Arctic factor. Under global warming, the Arctic warms more than the rest of the Northern hemisphere. This reduces the temperature difference between the North Pole and the equator, yet this very difference is a main driving force for the airstreams.
“There are many studies now, and they point to a number of factors that could contribute to increased airstream stalling in the mid-latitudes – besides Arctic warming, there’s also the possibility of climate-change-induced shifting of the storm tracks, as well as changes in the tropical monsoons,” says Simon Wang from Utah State University in the US, a co-author of the review paper.
“Under global warming, the Indian summer monsoon rainfall will likely intensify and this will also influence the global airstreams and might ultimately contribute to more stalling weather patterns. All of these mechanisms do not work in isolation but interact,” says Wang. “There is strong evidence that winds associated with summer weather systems are weakening and this can interact with so-called amplified quasi-stationary waves. These combined effects point towards more persistent weather patterns, and hence more extreme weather.”
The case of the Canadian wildfire disaster
The wildfire in Canada’s Alberta region in 2016 is one stark example for the potentially disastrous impact of planetary-waves slow-down and the resulting summer-weather stalling. In a study now published in Scientific Reports, the other research team shows that indeed the blaze has been preceded by the trapping of a specific kind of airstreams in the region. In combination with a very strong El-Nino event this favored unusually dry and high-temperature conditions on the ground, entailing an increased fire hazard here.
It took two months before the officials eventually could declare the fire to be under control. This is said to be the costliest disaster in Canadian history with total damages reaching 4.7 billion Canadian Dollars.
“Clearly, the planetary wave pattern wasn’t the only cause for the fire – yet it was an additional important factor triggering a deplorable disaster,” says Vladimir Petoukhov from PIK, lead-author of the case study. “In fact, our analysis reveals that beyond that single event, actually from the 1980s on, planetary waves were a significant factor for wildfire risks in the region. Since it is possible to detect the wave patterns with a relatively long lead-time of ten days, we hope that our findings can help forest managers and fire forecasters in the future.”
A phenomenon that sounds funny but isn’t: “extreme extremes”
“Computer simulations generally support the observations and our theoretical understanding of the processes, so this seems pretty robust,” concludes Coumou. “However, the observed changes are typically more pronounced than those seen in climate models.”
So, either the simulations are too conservative, or the observed changes are strongly influenced by natural variability.
“Our review aims at identifying knowledge gaps and ways forward for future research,” says Coumou. “So, there’s still a lot to do, including machine learning and the use of big data. While we do not have certainty, all in all the state of research indicates that changes in airstreams can, together with other factors, lead to a phenomenon that sounds funny but isn’t: extreme extremes.”
The Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, and staff members remembered former Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday, August 22, 2018, describing him as a leader who put people at the centre of the UN work.
Kofi Annan
During a wreath-laying ceremony in New York, Guterres led staff members in paying respects to Annan, whom they described as the embodiment of the intergovernmental organisation that worked to improve the lives of men and women worldwide.
Kofi Annan died on Saturday at the age of 80 in Bern, Switzerland.
Annan, a mild-mannered diplomat from Ghana, rose through the UN system to become its seventh leader in January 1997, serving two consecutive five-year terms till December 2006.
“Kofi Annan’s years in office were an exciting time. He put forward new ideas. He brought new people into the United Nations family. He spoke passionately about our mission and role.
“He created a renewed sense of possibility both inside and outside our organisation about what the UN could do and be for the world’s people.
“His most defining features were his humanity and solidarity with those in need.
“He put people at the centre of the work of the United Nations and was able to turn compassion into action across the UN system,’’ Guterres said.
He listed some of the actions Annan took to include uniting world leaders to agree global targets on poverty and child mortality – linchpins of the landmark Millennium Development Goals.
“The former UN chief also joined with civil society and the healthcare injury to save lives from HIV and AIDS.
“As his successor noted, Annan also did not shy away from addressing challenging issues.
“Annan faced up to the grave errors made by the United Nations in the 1990s – in its response to the Rwanda genocide and the Srebrenica killings – by shining a light inside the UN.
“The reports he commissioned aimed to make sure such terrible mistakes are never repeated and set the international community on a new course in its response to mass atrocities,” Guterres said.
Guterres stated that the passing of his predecessor was “a personal loss’’ for many who worked in the UN system.
While the UN flag outside headquarters was flown at half-mast for three days following the announcement of Annan’s death, staff members have been filling a book of condolences with expressions of sympathy to his wife, Nane, and family.
Many UN personnel also have been sharing their memories of a man who they described as “wise yet humble, courteous and charming’’.
