On Saturday, September 8, 2018, people around the world will take part in hundreds of actions under the banner of “Rise for Climate” to highlight increasing climate impacts and the need for real climate leadership.

Persons across five continents will be showcasing community-led solutions to the climate crisis and demanding that political leaders and decision makers step up their climate action ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit taking place on September 12 in San Francisco, California.

The communities most impacted by the fossil fuel industry and climate change will be participating thus:

• In Africa there will be climate summits where local leaders will call for an acceleration of the just transition to fair and equitable energy systems;
• Pacific Island nations will petition their local institutions to commit to 100% renewable energy;
• Affected communities in Thailand will be marching outside the UN climate change conference in Bangkok to ensure negotiators hear the message of the people joining Rise for Climate around the world;
• In Latin America groups will rise to challenge dangerous fossil fuel extraction methods like fracking; and
• In Europe, communities will challenge their local municipalities to ditch dangerous fossil fuels and transition to 100% renewable energy.

So far in 2018, the world has witnessed a range of severe impacts related to climate change including: numerous floods in Kenya, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan and in sub-Saharan Africa, Cape Town became the first major city in the world to suffer and come back from the brink of Day Zero brought on by extreme droughts.

With 19 countries on the African continent going to the polls in a few months, including South Africa, Senegal, Ghana and Benin, Rise for Climate will presumably set the tone for a series of upcoming political moments and challenge decision-makers to act. The reality of the climate crisis should be the pressure that necessitates actions to tackle it.

The launch of the IPCC’s special report on the consequences of global warming surpassing 1.5C degrees should galvanise governments in their efforts to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, while the Climate Vulnerable Forum being held by the governments in-line to suffer the worst consequences of unchecked global warming is a chance to learn from the leadership of those on the frontlines. The Global Climate Action Summit convening non-state actors, and the UN Climate Negotiations bringing governments to the table, are opportunities for decision-makers at all levels to provide deeper commitments and accelerate their responses.

Lerato Ngakane of 350Africa.org said in a statement: “The actions of the Rise for Climate mobilisation will be highly visual, creative and unique with renowned artists located in Brazil, Canada, Samoa, New Zealand, Ukraine, Portugal, Netherlands, Uganda, and Indonesia as well as community groups across the planet taking part to help bridge language, culture and geographic gaps and find the common core to build a groundswell of support for real climate leadership, increase the pressure on national leaders that are falling short of their commitments, and create the right momentum to secure a fast and just transition to an equitable world.”

“Climate impacts are hitting communities right now with heat waves, wildfires, droughts, and flooding making headlines in the last few weeks alone. This September thousands of people around the world are going to draw a line in the sand and say no more to the root cause of these tragedies, no more to fossil fuels. We have all the solutions we need at hand; the time is now to accelerate a just and swift transition to 100% renewable energy for all. Communities all around the world will expressively and artistically demonstrate why it is time for governments to take example from local leaders,” May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org, stated.

“For people of faith and spirit, the choice couldn’t be clearer: mass climate-induced humanitarian and ecological devastation, or an all-we’ve-got commitment to life in the form of 100% renewable energy for all and a just transition for affected workers and communities. We choose life. And, we want our leaders to show us by their commitments that they are making the same choice,” Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith, stressed.

“In exactly one month, people around the world will rise to challenge leaders participating in the Global Climate Action Summit in California and in other key meetings beyond to say 100% renewable energy is what we want, and we want it now because it is good for our health, pockets, securing jobs and robust economies. The age of fossil fuels is closing. It is a dying industry. If renewable energy technology and cost continue on their current path of exponential improvement, a fossil fuel smoke stack will become a relic of the past in no time,” Wael Hmaidan, Executive Director, Climate Action Network, noted.

“This October hundreds of scientists from top institutes will report to our governments, describing exactly how much devastation will be wrought on our communities if they do not take urgent, transformative action to limit global warming to 1.5°C degrees. In the Pacific region, we don’t need scientists to tell us this, in my home country the Philippines we are already managing the horrendous consequences of massive storms like Typhoon Yolanda. It is the imminent threat to our nations and cultures combined with the tenacity of communities in the region that drives us to lead the way in mobilisations like Rise for Climate and show the rest of the world what true climate action looks like,” said Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development.

“The decisions we make now will define our ability to secure a more prosperous future and keep warming to levels that will avoid catastrophic climate change impacts. It will take everyone doing everything to change climate change. That’s why we are joining local leaders, frontline communities, and individuals and calling on our political leaders to step up and lead the momentum for strong climate action. The voice of ordinary people matters and can make a difference,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF’s global climate and energy programme leader.

People of Umon Island, a small riverine community on the coast of Cross River, have been cut off from civilisation for 200 years. Located in Biase local government area of the state, this village has never tasted electricity and all the sweetness it brings:

Villagers have no safe drinking water as inhabitants drink directly from the murky water drawn from the large river surrounding them. There is also no functional primary health centre. The only one found was under lock and key. The primary and secondary school on the Island had no light to power computers, charge phone batteries, switch on the fans and power some laboratory apparatus. Thus, most students attend boarding school at Calabar, the state capital.

Let there be light

But, today, there is light. And where there is light, there is joy, progress, economic development, less crime and improved qualiy of life. They owe their thanks to the German government which, through its arm of international cooperation, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit), introduced the solar mini-grid idea to bring electricity to the village. In this village, the implementing partner is the Community Research and Development Centre – which introduced the solar 50 kilowatts mini-grid system in March 2018.

The GIZ, in a bid to bring economic development, promote the use of renewable energy and reduce reliance of the national grid system, signed a memorandum of understanding with five states namely Ogun, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto and Cross River to provide solar with the aim of promoting economic development in such communities which could have otherwise never seen the light of day.

How it works

Abrahma Asuquo, the field electrical engineer managing the project at Umon Island, showed EnviroNews the solar system, which is housed in a room containing 48 batteries, with each carrying two volts and six battery inverters to generate 50 kilowatts. Also, outside the CREDC office, there are 18 photovoltaic cells (solar panels) which receive sunlight. The sunlight is converted to direct current that passes through the grid.

The power stored in the grid is ultimately fed into homes that are connected. The executive director of CREDC, Etiosa Uyigue, said if the government can adopt such models, it would reduce reliance on the national grid system, which is now not meeting the country’s electricity demand.

A census conducted by CREDC found that there are about 200 homes in the community and a sister community. Uyigue said letters were sent to the homes heads to sign an end-user agreement before their homes can be connected to the grid.

Meeting country’s power needs

“What we are trying to show the government by this project is that if we have pockets of small, small, power generation like this in communities, we will not need to depend on the national grid alone, Uyigue said.

Though the country’s transmission capacity has increased from 5000 MW to 7000 MW, it is still besieged with problems of weak transmission lines, obsolete cables and poor management. If national grid should collapse, the whole country will be plunged in darkness. The minigrid can only generate 50 kilowatts which is equivalent to 0.05 megawatts, a fraction of the country’s power generation capacity of 7000megawatts. According to him, the project, which costs N80 million is small, but it is achievable and sustainable, it is meeting the needs of communities which may never get connected.

“Our recommendation to the government is to decentralise the national grid. We are not relying on the national grid. This and with the private sector participation, we will do the maintenance. Let the government have the political will to even begin going to the communities,” he says.

At the time of visit, this reporter who slept in the village for two days observed that there was light for about 18 hours at a stretch every day.

“It could be more consistent, but we have a little hitch in the solar system, which is being fixed,” Asuquo, who took this reporter around, says. Community members told this reporter that their businesses are moving.

James Akpan, who sells soft drink on the Island, says, “I can sell my drink now. Before no one wants to buy it because it is not cold, but now, it is moving well.”

It was concluded that the project has improved the quality of lives of up to 5,000 inhabitants of the island, whose preoccupation are fishing, farming, boat construction, retailing and petty trading.

Climate change implication

According to environmentalists, renewable energy is the way to go to reduce the effect of climate change. It is free, clean energy from the sun, which does involve cutting down trees or burning of fossil fuels. By adopting this, the country is not only meeting its power demand and promoting economic development, it is also leaving zero carbon footprint and contributing to the reduction of the global climate change.

By Romemel Akodu