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Trump expected to pull U.S. from Paris Agreement

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Trump expected to pull U.S. from Paris Agreement

President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, three officials with knowledge of the decision said, making good on a campaign pledge but severely weakening the landmark 2015 climate change accord that committed nearly every nation to take action to curb the warming of the planet.

donald
Donald Trump, US president

A senior White House official cautioned that the specific language of the president’s expected announcement was still in flux as at morning of Wednesday, May 31, 2017. The official said the withdrawal might be accompanied by legal caveats that will shape the impact of Mr. Trump’s decision.

And Mr. Trump has proved himself willing to shift direction up until the moment of a public announcement. He was set to meet Wednesday afternoon with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has advocated that the United States remain a part of the Paris accords and could continue to lobby the president to change his mind.

Even as reports surfaced about his decision, Mr. Trump posted on Twitter that he would make his intentions known soon.

Still, faced with advisers who pressed hard on both sides of the Paris question, Mr. Trump appears to have decided that a continued United States presence in the accord would harm the economy; hinder job creation in regions like Appalachia and the West, where his most ardent supporters live; and undermine his “America First” message.

Advisers pressing him to remain in the accord could still make their case to the boss. In the past, such appeals have worked. In April, Mr. Trump was set to announce a withdrawal from the Nafta free trade agreement, but at the last minute changed his mind after intense discussions with advisers and calls from the leaders of Canada and Mexico. Last week, a senior administration official said Mr. Trump would use a speech in Brussels to make an explicit endorsement of NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense provision, which states that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all. He didn’t.

The exit of the United States, the world’s largest economy and second-largest greenhouse gas polluter would not dissolve the 195-nation pact, which was legally ratified last year, but it could set off a cascade of events that would have profound effects on the planet. Other countries that reluctantly joined the agreement could now withdraw or soften their commitments to cutting planet-warming pollution.

“The actions of the United States are bound to have a ripple effect in other emerging economies that are just getting serious about climate change, such as India, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton, and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that produces scientific reports designed to inform global policy makers.

Once the fallout settles, he added, “it is now far more likely that we will breach the danger limit of 3.6 degrees.” That is the average atmospheric temperature increase above which a future of extreme conditions is considered irrevocable.

The aim of the Paris agreement was to lower planet-warming emissions enough to avoid that threshold.

“We will see more extreme heat, damaging storms, coastal flooding and risks to food security,” Professor Oppenheimer said. “And that’s not the kind of world we want to live in.”

Foreign policy experts said the move could damage the United States’ credibility and weaken Mr. Trump’s efforts to negotiate issues far beyond climate change, like negotiating trade deals and combating terrorism.

“From a foreign policy perspective, it’s a colossal mistake — an abdication of American leadership” said R. Nicholas Burns, a retired career diplomat and the under secretary of state during the presidency of George W. Bush.

“The success of our foreign policy – in trade, military, any other kind of negotiation – depends on our credibility. I can’t think of anything more destructive to our credibility than this,” he added.

But Mr. Trump’s supporters, particularly coal state Republicans, cheered the move, celebrating it as a fulfillment of a signature campaign promise. Speaking to a crowd of oil rig workers last May, Mr. Trump vowed to “cancel” the agreement, and Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, has pushed the president to withdraw from the accord as part of an economic nationalism that has so far included pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral trade pact, and vowing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Coal miners and coal company executives in states such as Kentucky and West Virginia have pushed for Mr. Trump to reverse all of President Barack Obama’s climate change policies, many of which are aimed at reducing the use of coal, which is seen as the largest contributor to climate change.

In a May 23 letter to Mr. Trump from Attorney General Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia and nine other state attorneys general, Mr. Morrisey wrote, “Withdrawing from the Paris agreement is an important and necessary step toward reversing the harmful energy policies and unlawful overreach of the Obama era.” He added, “The Paris Agreement is a symbol of the Obama administration’s ‘Washington knows best’ approach to governing.”

Although the administration has been debating for months its position on the Paris agreement, the sentiment for leaving the accord ultimately prevailed over the views of Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and close adviser, who had urged the president to keep a seat at the climate negotiating table.

Other countries have vowed to continue to carry out the terms of the Paris agreement, even without the United States.

President Xi Jinping of China, the world’s largest greenhouse gas polluter, has promised that his country would move ahead with steps to curb climate change, regardless of what happens in the United States.

During a telephone call in early May with President Emmanuel Macron of France, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mr. Xi told the newly elected French leader that China and France “should protect the achievements of global governance, including the Paris agreement.”

But the accord’s architects say the absence of the United States will inevitably weaken its chances of being enforced. For example, the United States has played a central role in pushing provisions that require robust and transparent oversight of how emissions are monitored, verified and reported.

Without the United States, there is likely to be far less pressure on major polluting countries and industries to accurately report their emissions. There have been major questions raised about the accuracy of China’s emissions reporting, in particular.

“We need to know: What are your emissions? Where are your emissions?” said Todd D. Stern, the lead climate negotiator during the Obama administration. “There needs to be transparent reporting on countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. If the U.S. is not part of that negotiation, that’s a loss for the world.”

By Michael D. Shear and Coral Davenport (The New York Times)

UN chief urges world to rally behind Paris accord

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UN chief urges world to rally behind Paris accord

Highlighting the seriousness of the impact of climate change on the planet and its inhabitants, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 called for sustained action to meet the global challenge and to ensure a peaceful and sustainable future for all.

António Guterres
UN Secretary-General António Guterres addresses audience at New York University Stern School of Business. Photo credit: UN /Mark Garten

“The effects of climate change are dangerous and they are accelerating,” Secretary-General Guterres told a gathering of students, business leaders and academics at the New York University Stern School of Business.

“It is absolutely essential that the world implements the Paris Agreement (on climate change) – and that we fulfil that duty with increased ambition,” he underscored, recalling the ground-breaking agreement that entered into force last November.

The Agreement calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future, and to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.

It also aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change and calls for scaled up financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity-building framework to support action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries in line with their own national objectives.

 

Science ‘is beyond doubt’

Underlining that science behind climate change “is beyond doubt,” Mr. Guterres said:

“As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put it, ‘Human influence on the climate system is clear. The more we disrupt our climate, the more we risk severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts,’” he said, recalling that global temperatures have been rising, year after year, and that that last year was the hottest on record.

Furthermore, there are fears that the melt of sea ice and glaciers due to rising temperatures will have deep and far reaching impact: droughts and dry spells will last longer, while natural disasters like floods and hurricanes will be even more destructive.

Impacts of these catastrophic events, Mr. Guterres noted, would be felt in all corners of the world and in all sectors of the economy.

Informing of his intention to convene a dedicated climate summit in 2019 to reach the critical first review of implementation of the Paris Agreement, the UN chief called on all, including those who might hold divergent perspectives on climate change, to engage with him on the way forward.

 

Green business is good business

He also pointed to the opportunities that climate action can provide, such as through the creation of jobs and increased economic growth. It is thus, not surprising, that many private corporations, including major oil and gas companies have adopted climate action.

“They know that green business is good business. It is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do,” he highlighted.

 

Five-point action plan

Laying out a five-point action plan to mobilise the world for climate action, the UN chief underscored that he would intensify political engagement with countries to increase efforts to limit temperature rise to well below 2 degree-Celsius and as close as possible to 1.5 degree-Celsius, the first point.

He also said that he would engage more with governments and major actors, including the coal, oil and gas industries, to accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy, and committed stronger support by the entire UN development system to Governments as they strive to meet climate commitments and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially at the country level.

“That is where true change will be achieved,” he said.

The UN chief also said that he will work to with UN Member States mobilize national and international resources for adaptation, resilience, and the implementation of national climate action plans, and called for new and strengthened partnerships, including with the private sector and through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation.

Further in his remarks, the Secretary-General cautioned that failure to act on combatting climate change would in turn harm the countries themselves for their inaction.

“Those who fail to bet on the green economy will be living in a grey future (but) those who embrace green technologies will set the gold standard for economic leadership in the twenty-first century,” he said.

Buildings must be zero carbon by 2050, says report

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Buildings must be zero carbon by 2050, says report

The building sector, which is responsible for global emissions roughly equivalent to that of China, must operate at “net zero carbon” by 2050 if global warming is to remain under two degrees Celsius, the limit enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

Terri Wills
Terri Wills, CEO of the World Green Building Council

According to a new report by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), there are currently 500 net zero commercial buildings and 2,000 net zero homes around the globe (well under one per cent of all buildings worldwide), requiring a monumental and coordinated effort by businesses, governments and nongovernmental organisations to bring the building sector within striking distance of Paris Agreement targets.

“We need nothing short of a dramatic and ambitious transformation from a world of thousands of net zero buildings, to one of billions if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change,” said Terri Wills, CEO of the World Green Building Council. “Businesses, governments and NGOs hold the key to this transformation, but they must commit to aggressive action. It is possible to create a world in which every single building produces zero carbon emissions, but we must start today.”

The report defines ‘net zero buildings’ as highly energy-efficient buildings which generate or supply the energy they need to operate from renewable sources to achieve net zero carbon emissions, and lays out specific actions that the private sector, governments and NGOs can take to ensure all new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030 and that all existing buildings are renovated to operate at net zero carbon by 2050.

The International Energy Agency estimates that the current global building stock is 223 billion square meters, and will almost double to 415 billion square meters by 2050. According to the Global Alliance for Building and Construction, current renovation rates amount to less than one percent of the existing building stock each year. To achieve universal net zero carbon in the building sector by 2050, renovation rates must increase by 3 per cent every year starting in 2017, and must accelerate for every year of delay.

Net zero buildings not only help in the fight against climate change, but can create jobs, improve energy security, and lower energy costs, adds the report.

The World Green Building Council is working to ensure all buildings operate at net zero carbon emissions by 2050 through its Advancing Net Zero project. Ten Green Building Councils (GBCs) in some of the largest building markets such as India, the U.S. and Brazil, are introducing net zero building certification programmes in their countries. To date, Green Building Councils have collectively certified more than one billion square meters of green building space around the world – 10 times the size of Paris. These certifications have stimulated growth in the green building market.

Net Zero is sponsored by engineering firm Integral Group, international property and infrastructure group Lendlease, and the product manufacturer the ROCKWOOL Group.

Kevin Hydes, CEO at Integral Group, said: “Advancing Net Zero is the fundamental tool to accelerate us from a few zero carbon projects to widespread market adoption in the mainstream. Green Building Councils have a proven methodology and ability for transforming their regional markets around the globe and they must remain at the forefront of positive change and help us all take this next leap.”

Brian Long, Group Head of Sustainability & Safety at Lendlease, said: “As a sustainable developer, we recognise the importance of developing buildings which will benefit the environment for generations to come. Our successful delivery of developments like Barangaroo in Sydney and Elephant Park in London shows that by working in partnership, it is possible to deliver net zero developments which are commercially viable, have lower operating costs and deliver better health impacts.”

Jens Birgersson, CEO at ROCKWOOL Group, said: “Around 30 per cent of global carbon emissions originate from buildings. The potential for savings here is immense. If we are to reach the ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement we must increase the energy efficiency of our homes, offices and public spaces by supporting net zero targets in new build and renovation. I therefore applaud WorldGBC’s new report, which I am sure will help to accelerate momentum in this space.”

International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament: Women have been victims of crises – Sustainability Academy

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International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament: Women have been victims of crises – Sustainability Academy

The Sustainability Academy marking the International Women’s day for Peace and Disarmament was held on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 by the Centre for Conflict and Gender Studies, University of Port Harcourt, in collaboration with Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF).

Rumuekpe Women
Award to Rumuekpe Women Prayer Warriors

Women play critical roles in peace and conflict resolution at local, national and international levels. At the same time, women have been the unfortunate victims of crises arising from political and environmental wars. The marking of International Day was back grounded by a review of resource conflicts that women and communities contend with. Critical attention was also paid to ways by which the concept of Re-Source Democracy could be used in conflict resolution and especially in urging elimination of the abuse of nature’s gifts to humankind. The day was also used to recognise some women who have been outstanding amazons in conflict resolution.

The event had in attendance the Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Deans of Faculties, researchers, staff and students of the centre, representatives from non-governmental organisations and the Rumuekpe Women Prayer group.

According to the Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, “there is no peace when women are deprived of their right to own and develop lands; when the environment is polluted and livelihoods are destroyed without responsibility and when citizens do not have a say as to what extractive activities are conducted in their communities even though there is no war.

“Re-source democracy helps us to reconnect to nature in a way will bring about elimination of conflicts, community involvement in re-source governance and ensure a sustainable use of re- sources in a manner that is fully in consonance with socio-cultural, religious and ethical dictates.”

Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo, a lawyer and development consultant, spoke on Resource Control, Gender and Peace in the Niger Delta. She underscored the need for a new and urgent approach to resource governance in the region.

She said: “Our ecosystems have become weak and our environment is in a near crisis state. Though there have been several reviews and reforms not much has changed. The region still lacks access to basic amenities despite her possession of enormous resources. Inequitable distribution of wealth has resulted in conflicts and growing incidences of militancy, cultism, crime, violence, hate and unhealthy rivalries.”

According to Nkoyo, “an alternative and more sustainable approach is a nature focussed approach which estimates the proper place of resource exploitation and interprets resources through the prism of communities, species and peoples living in the region who have traditionally seen themselves as supervisors of what they own. Re-source democracy is about stewardship and less about control or regulator rights.”

She called for action not only against central governments but within the region, states, communities, and among groups of people.

Women were encouraged to participate in decisions that determine access to and enjoyment of nature’s resources as well as seeking ways to remove those obstacles erected by the politics of access and power as they are often caught in the cross fire of resource conflicts and are the major victims in impacted communities.

Another speaker at the event, Joy Akate Lale, looked at the relevance of giving equal opportunities to both the male and female children to access quality education.

“Education is a critical element for freeing our society from gender blind resource management and use. Most of the development sectors are still dominated by men but resource ownership from the gender perspective advocates for a situation whereby men and women have equal access to resources, whether tangible or intangible,” she stated.

In his submission, peace activist, Alyn Ware, stated that nuclear weapons play an important role in conflicts around the world and because the conflicts affect both men and women it is important that women are engaged in peace and disarmament initiatives.  The fabrication and use of nuclear weapons pose severe threats to humanity. Cancers, malformation in children, environmental degradation, terrorism, war and poverty are some of the risks associated with nuclear arms.

 

Peace Awards

To highlight the roles played by women in peace building in the Niger Delta, HOMEF singled out two women and a group of women to be honoured for their roles. Those honoured were Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo (general peace efforts), Mrs Joy Akate Lale (for girlchild education) and the Women Prayer Warrior Group (peace building in Rumuekpe community).

Women of Rumuekpe Prayer Warior Group from Emuoha LGA in Rivers State were recognised for the roles they played in conflict resolution in their community between 2006 and 2010.

In the midst of serious violence that wracked Rumuekpe communities, the women mobilised themselves to intervene and ensure peace returned. They held a weekly prayer meeting in the community despite threats from cultists’ activities and went beyond prayers to mediating between warring groups.

In November 2010, they marched half naked to the Rivers State House of Assembly and to the Government House protesting against the activities of some key personalities in the local government in fuelling the crisis in their community.

Women form an integral part of the population and their input cannot be neglected in matters of resource governance, of peace and crisis management. They must continue to reject the culture of silence and confront actions that seek to delegitimise both their voice and contributions. The call for re-source democracy was seen as a vital bridge to connect the people to nature in ways that can sustain both the present and future generations.

By Joyce Ebebeinwe (Project Officer, HOMEF)

Digitisation of Kenyan farmer payments helps tackle poverty

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Digitisation of Kenyan farmer payments helps tackle poverty

A new case study by the United Nations-based Better Than Cash Alliance shows how agriculture non-profit organisation, One Acre Fund, in partnership with Citi Inclusive Finance, successfully digitised loan repayments for farmers in Kenya. This move, it was gathered, significantly boosted transparency and efficiency, driving economic opportunity and financial inclusion for thousands of smallholder farmers and their families.

Kenya farmer
A Kenyan smallholder farmer

One Acre Fund, supported by Citi, enabled farmers to easily make loan repayments via mobile money instead of cash, reducing the uncertainty, inefficiency, insecurity and high costs previously caused by cash transactions.

One Acre Fund can now reach more farmers with greater reliability, and staff can spend almost half as much time collecting payments in cash, using that extra time to help farmers increase their incomes through training and educational programmes. With One Acre Fund’s package of services, including training and inputs like seed and fertiliser, the average farmer participating in the programme earned nearly 50 percent more than peer farmers who do not participate.

Study findings include:

  • Increased participant satisfaction due to transparency and convenience.
  • Eighty-five percent decreased instances of repayment fraud.
  • Reduced processing time for each repayment from 12-16 days to 2-4 days; farmers now know immediately when their payment is received, eliminating the worry about whether it arrived.
  • Eighty percent decrease in repayment processing costs.
  • Forty-six percent of time reduced for staff working on collections, allowing for more time helping farmers improve agricultural practices.
  • Women farmers benefited especially, feeling safer about payment deliveries.

“Mobile repayments have allowed us to increase our efficiency and provide better service to farmers,” said Mike Warmington, the Director of Microfinance Partnerships at One Acre Fund. “We’re excited to be working at the forefront of this technology in the smallholder agriculture lending sector. In our experience, farmers were empowered to thrive in these communities. Clients receive immediate confirmation of payments as they happen, enabling them to better manage their businesses and family finances.”

“Citi’s footprint, track record in inclusive finance and transaction banking capabilities enable us to provide global support to leading social enterprises like One Acre Fund,” said Bob Annibale, Global Director, Citi Inclusive Finance. “Among other benefits, digitisation enables efficiency and security, and drives innovative and inclusive business models. Citi is proud to play a part in enabling One Acre Fund and other organisations like them to improve the livelihoods of farming communities.”

One Acre Fund is said to typify the benefits and impact that digital payments and inclusive digital financial infrastructure, as developed in Kenya, can bring to agricultural value chains, contributing to a more sustainable and productive agriculture sector, a cornerstone of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). These learnings, say officials, can easily translate to poor farming communities in other countries and One Acre Fund is working on plans to expand in Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia in the future.

“For companies and nonprofit organisations who want to work in rural Africa, this success story is a must-read,” said Oswell Kahonde, Africa Regional Lead at the Better Than Cash Alliance. “Digital payments are essential to building sustainable business models and creating long-term impact. By enabling smallholder farmers to make and receive payments digitally, we are creating transparency and accountability which translates to numerous benefits and empowers people to take control of their finances.”

World No Tobacco Day: CSOs highlight tobacco threats

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World No Tobacco Day: CSOs highlight tobacco threats

A cross-section of civil society and public health groups have urged the Nigerian government to ensure regulations for implementation of the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act are put in place to save the nation from tobacco deaths.

World_Tobacco_Day_ERA
L-R: Dr. Akin Adebiyi of the Nigeria Tobacco Control Research Group (NTCRG), Sub-Regional Coordinator West Africa Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) Hilda Ochefu, and deputy executive director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) Akinbode Oluwafemi, during the press briefing on the non-implementation of the National Tobacco Act (NTC) 2015

The groups – Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), National Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), National Tobacco Control Research Group (NTCRG) and the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK) – made the demand on the occasion of the 2017 World No Tobacco Day celebration, which had “Tobacco – a threat to development” as its theme.

Hilda Ochefu, the sub-regional coordinator, West Africa of CTFK, explained the link between tobacco and poverty, noting that the World Health Organisation (WHO) specifically tied the attainment of the Strategic Development Goals 2030 to tobacco control policies as tobacco is now viewed as a threat to everyone.

Deputy Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Akinbode Oluwafemi, in his intervention, explained that, aside from the renewed onslaught on Nigerian youth through very attractive and flavored cigarettes, tobacco industry front groups such as the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA) have continued to spin lies to discredit tobacco control and public health advocates.

Oluwafemi said that the IPPA was behind the attempts to discredit members of the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC) which is an advisory body to the health minister on how to implement the NTC Act, even as he revealed that the Board of IPPA is peopled by individuals with remote links to the tobacco industry.

He alerted that even as the WHO targets driving its health agenda through the SDGs, the tobacco industry has also perfected a plan of driving a wedge into the system to undermine it with alleged membership of British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) in the private sector support group of the SDGs.

Dr. Akin Adebiyi capped the discussions by warning on the health impacts of smoking which include heart diseases, lung diseases, various cancers and sure death.

Some of the demands of the groups are:

  • Immediate commencement of the implementation of sections of the NTC Act that do not require regulations such as smoke-free public places, restriction on underage access and ban of sale in single sticks, among others
  • The Nigerian government, particularly the Ministry of Health remain unintimidated as it works on resolutions for the effective implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act. In deed the Regulation coming at this time will be a gift to Nigerians and particularly the youths that have been deliberately targeted by tobacco corporations as replacement smokers
  • The Ministry of Health hasten investigation of the controversial recommendations of some members of the Nigerian delegation to the Conference of Parties meeting held in India in November 2016. The delegates from the Ministry of Justice and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria are of particular interest in the said controversy
  • Removal of British America Tobacco from the SDG private sector support group.

Senate passes NFF adoption bill

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Senate passes NFF adoption bill

The Senate has passed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Bill seeking to legalise the country’s football governing body.

Amanju Pinnick
NFF President, Amanju Pinnick

This followed the adoption of the report of the NFF establishment bill 2017 by the Senate Committee on Sports and Youth Development.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Obinna Ubah, stated that it had become necessary to repeal the extant laws guiding football in the country.

He also added that the bill has no financial implication, because it is only seeking a change in the name of the football body, in other to achieve better results.

Meanwhile, the NFF have announced that 19 players are now in camp including Manchester City wonder boy Kelechi Ihenacho, ahead a friendly against the Hawks of Togo on Thursday.

The Super Eagles has not lost to Togo since they were defeated 5-2 in the semi-final stage of the CEDAO Cup on December 16, 1983.

Eighteen players trained today and Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi was part of the team.

Manchester United most successful team in England

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Manchester United most successful team in England

José Mourinho is now walking tall amongst fellow managers in the English Premier League.

José-Mourinho
José Mourinho

His team, Manchester United, is the most successful team in England, after picking up two trophies during the 2016/17 season.

Mourinho’s side has triumphed in the League Cup and the Europa League, during an otherwise disappointing campaign, taking Manchester United’s tally of major trophies to 41.

These two successes propel the Red Devils past rival Liverpool as the most successful team in English football, but there are some other serious surprises when it comes to bulging trophies cabinets across the country.

For picking up a ticket to play in the Champions League next season, through the Europa win, Manchester United players are expected to earn a bonus of £100,000 each.

This qualification has retained their Adidas 10-year deal worth £750 million, despite finishing sixth in the English Premier League.

In a related development, Borussia Dortmund has sacked its cup-winning coach, Thomas Tuchel.

The 43-year-old, who succeeded Jurgen Klopp at Signal Iduna Park, only led his team to the German Cup glory last weekend.

But his tenure has been cut abruptly short after reports of a strained relationship with the club’s board.

Tuchel’s compensation package could cost Dortmund around £2.5 million. He won 69 of his 107 matches in charge, finishing second behind Bayern Munich in his first term and third season, after talking on the top job in July 2015.

Sugar plantation threatens habitat of chimpanzees in Uganda reserve

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Sugar plantation threatens habitat of chimpanzees in Uganda reserve

The habitat of 500 chimpanzees in Uganda’s Bugoma Forest Reserve is said to be in danger. Conservationists and local residents are fighting to stop a company that has begun clearing trees in the protected area for a sugar plantation.

chimpanzees-uganda
The 500 chimpanzees in Uganda’s Bugoma Forest Reserve are under threat

A not-for-profit group, Rainforest Rescue, has taken up a campaign to sensitise the people, while urging President Yoweri Museveni to keep land out of the hands of doubtful investors and protect the forests instead.

Uganda was long considered the “Pearl of Africa”. Yet, in recent decades, the country has lost one of its greatest treasures: its forests. It is believed that, 25 years ago, half of the country was still covered by forest – now it is only 11 percent of it left. Enviromentalists fear that it will be gone within 10 years – and with it, the habitat of the country’s 5,000 remaining chimpanzees.

Not even protected areas are safe from wholesale deforestation, often for oil palm and sugar plantations, say conservationists. In August 2016, for example, the Bunyoro Kingdom leased an area of 8,000 hectares within the Bugoma Forest Reserve to Hoima Sugar Limited for 99 years. Observers fear that this could lead to the destruction of one-fifth of the protected area. The kingdom had been granted a title to the land by the government only days earlier, it was gathered.

Shortly thereafter, workers cleared a trail several kilometers long into the reserve. According to a newspaper report, journalists documenting the clearing were threatened by workers armed with machetes, bows and arrows.

“They know they are doing illegalities and that is why they are moving with arrows to harm whoever tries to interfere,” said forest supervisor, Robert Busiku.

While legal action by the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) prompted the revocation of Hoima Sugar’s concession, the forest is not yet safe, sources say.

“The local people need all the support they can get to preserve the forest that is central to their lives for future generations,” says Joan Akiiza of NAPE.

A letter addressed to Mr. President reads:

To: The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni

Dear Mr. President,

A sugar plantation is threatening Bugoma Forest Reserve. Hoima Sugar Limited had begun clearing the land after obtaining a 99-year lease by dubious means.

Conservationists and local residents are fighting to preserve the forest. The villages depend on the forest with regard to food, medicinal plants, water and the occurrence of wild animals.

Bugoma Forest Reserve is home to around 500 endangered chimpanzees. 23 mammal, 225 bird and 260 tree species are known to occur in the protected area. The destruction of the habitat would lead to the extinction and displacement of species in the region.

We call on you to keep investors such as Hoima Sugar Limited out of Uganda’s precious forest habitat.

Please protect Uganda’s last remaining forests.

Yours faithfully,

Realignment of Superhighway still a conjecture – Bassey

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Realignment of Superhighway still a conjecture – Bassey

In his welcome words on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at the Community Diagnostic Dialogue at Akpabuyo in Cross River State, Nnimmo Bassey, Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), revisited the state’s controversial Superhighway project, saying that the new routing of the proposed realignment of the Superhighway is still an estimation as, according to him, the revised map is not in the public view. The Dialogue had “Building Resilience for Resistance” as its theme

Nnimmo Bassey
Nnimmo Bassey: Superhighway realignment is still a conjecture

Cross River State is generally seen as a green state, with some of the last tracts of pristine rain forests – some of which have been preserved through community forest management efforts. Some of us believe that what the state needs is an economy creatively built on her bio-economic endowment. Such an approach would release the creative potentials of the citizens in an inclusive manner with inbuilt resilience. The rich soils and biodiversity of the state have however become a compelling pull for plantation or monoculture developers. Their incursions have put pressure on the local communities, especially the forest dependent ones. The incursions also have grave implications for national and global efforts to tackle global warming.

The suggestion that plantations are forests has been rejected by our peoples who insist that forests are biodiversity hotspots and that there can be no mono-cultures without the destruction of biodiversity. Biodiversity erosion degrades the resilience of communities at many levels – ecological, spiritual, economic, social and cultural. Biodiversity destruction can come from many actions including land use changes arising from conversion of forests into plantations as well as from infrastructural projects.

The controversies surrounding the Superhighway project idea have been consistently on rather basic premises. While some ask to know what would be exported at the Sea Port where the highway is to begin, others ask to know if the imported goods would terminate at Katsina Ala or where else they would go and how. These questions skirt the issue of the prime reasons offered for the Superhighway project – the urgent need to open up the state to investors and for development. The clouds over the project have been sustained by the lack of adequate public consultations on the routing of the highway, its necessity, its finance and viability and the trade-offs with regard to the massive community displacements and biodiversity destruction that would accompany it.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like GREENCODE and Peace Point Action (PPA) have proposed that a railway system would be more cost effective in conveying goods from the seaport to the hinterland, besides having less impact on the environment.

These concerns have led communities and other citizens to demand a transparent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. That process has been unexpectedly tortuous for the Cross River State Government (CRSG) because consultants engaged to help prepare the documents could not know, as pointed out by Rainforest Resource and Development Centre (RRDC), that there are no Chinese alligators, blue monkeys or even dams that would be found on the proposed Superhighway route. The versions so far seen appear to be cut-and-paste documents with scant relevance to the localities to be traversed by the Superhighway.

The CRSG has struggled to listen to public complaints and has reversed itself on the astonishing move it had made to grab 10km on either side of the proposed superhighway in order to create what had been described as a “development corridor”. That land uptake would have grabbed 25 percent of the landmass of the state and displaced up to 180 communities in the process.

Secondly, the CRSG is said to have realigned the superhighway so that it doesn’t traverse forest reserves. The problem with this is that the route still falls within the fringes of forest buffer zones, the threats of illegal logging and opportunistic poaching remains very high.

Unfortunately, the CRSG has not been able to build the confidence of the public on the gains that the changes could have brought. This situation arises from the fact that while renouncing its initial edict to grab 10km on either side of the Superhighway, as well as sending out signals that the routing has been reconsidered, there have been threats and ultimatums made to the effect that the CRSG would proceed with the project even if the requirements of the law are not met; that they would consider revoking the ownership of the Cross River National Park.

Moreover, the new routing of the proposed realignment of the Superhighway is still a conjecture as the revised map is not in the public view. The only maps that are accessible are those produced by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). This speaks volumes about the preparedness of the state for the prosecution of this project in a way that addresses the concerns of the people and the unassailable need to protect our ecological heritage.

Today, we are gathered here in Akpabuyo for a diagnostic Community Dialogue on the state of the local environment. We will examine issues including threats to our biodiversity and livelihoods. We will also examine what steps can be taken to preserve and enhance local livelihoods especially under the canopy of our reconnecting with nature, discussing re-source democracy and examining how to promote positive changes in the communities while minimising those with negative impacts. The purpose of our engagement today is to facilitate a process of distilling existing knowledge and bringing out action points that would build an ecologically engaged, resilient and proactive citizenry.

Our series of dialogues cover many ecological zones and have been supported by hosting communities, SGP-GEF of the United Nations Development Programme, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and Grassroots International. We thank leaders of Akpabuyo Community for making our dialogue today possible. We are also grateful to all the civil society groups and the media that are with us on this ecological journey.

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