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Climate Wednesday utilises sport to create plastic pollution awareness

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Climate Wednesday utilises sport to create plastic pollution awareness

A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Climate Wednesday, has embraced sporting activities to raise awareness about the negative effects of plastic waste pollution.

Climate Wednesday
Participants at the event

As part of activities to commemorate the 2018 World Environment Day (June 5) and World Oceans Day (June 8), Climate Wednesday and ICCDI hosted an event tagged: “Sport for Plastic Pollution” on Saturday, June 9, 2018 at the Kids Beach Gardens, Elegushi, Lagos. The event was in line with the United Nations theme for the World Environment Day: “Beat Plastic Pollution”.

The event, according to the organisers, was aimed at using sports to promote awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

The event was attended by representatives of notable organisations such as Arctic Infrastructure, Climate and Sustainable Development Network of Nigeria (CSDevNet), EnviroNews, REES Africa, Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE Africa), Fabe International Foundation (FABE), Galaxy 4 Peace, One Voice Initiative for Women and Children Emancipation (OVIWCE), Swags News, Local Guides and Going Green Initiatives, as well as BudgIT.

Co-founder of Climate Wednesday, Olumide Idowu, in a welcome address, reiterated the need for concerted efforts to beat plastic pollution and how sport, which is universal, can be used to communicate with people to make wiser choices in order to ensure a safer, greener and healthier environment.

Director of Community Engagement, Babatunde Enitan, charged participants to take local actions to reduce plastic pollution and promote environmental sustainability.

Thereafter, representatives of each organisation present gave brief overview of what their organisation is doing to beat plastic pollution, as well as the impacts and future plans they are looking at to take action.

The activity of the day created awareness about the impacts of plastic pollution. The event fostered team work and collaborations as the only way to “Beat Plastic Pollution”.

Each organisation also aims to show that sports can be a driving force towards reducing plastic pollution. The event also shed light on how the global sports community is coming together to raise awareness and inspire action on plastic pollution.

“Our sport activities were really engaging and representatives of each organisation and other individuals took part in games like volleyball and chess. Other activities of the day included general cleaning of the beach and adoption of trees in the Kids Beach Garden to beautify and preserve the environment,” said Idowu, even as he gave the closing remarks and showered encomium on the management of the Kids Beach Garden, “for their great work and cooperation”.

He also took time to specially thank all the organisations that supported and took part in the event.

Communications director, Adekoya Abiodun, gave the vote of thanks and implored participants to take the message of environmental sustainability and beating plastic pollution back to their various communities and other places they are associated with.

The World Environment Day event was supported by organisations like the Arctic Infrastructure, Climate and Sustainable Development Network of Nigeria (CSDevNet) and EnviroNews.

Indonesian hotel sets path towards carbon neutrality

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Indonesian hotel sets path towards carbon neutrality

A beach hotel resort in Bali with a focus on sustainability has become the first company in Indonesia to take the Climate Neutral Now pledge, to measure greenhouse gas emissions, reduce where possible and offset the rest.

Katamama Hotel
The Katamama Hotel façade comprised of antique window shutters salvaged from across the Indonesian archipelago

This pledge is one of many being taken across the globe by organisations, companies, events and individuals to curb greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The hotel’s pledge is part of a general shift towards carbon neutrality and sustainability from the global tourism industry, which is responsible for around 10% of global greenhouse emissions, mainly from travel.

The company has, for example, been able to drastically reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfill and has established industry benchmarks for eliminating waste and promoting recycling in Indonesia, said Ronald Akili, founder of Jakarta-based Potato Head Family, owner and operator of the Katamama Hotel and Potato Head Beach Club.

The company reports that both the hotel and beach club serve local foods responsibly sourced from likeminded farmers and prepared using sustainable methods.

“A climate-neutral mindset is as necessary as impeccable customer service,” said Mr. Akili. “Our mission as a company is to provide good times and do good in the world. Our projects are always done as sustainably as possible because that is what the future needs; we hope to inspire both our local community and our industry peers,” added Mr. Akili.

Climate Neutral Now offsets – cancelled credits each representing a tonne of CO2 reduced or avoided – come from projects vetted and registered under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism, everything from clean cookstove projects, to wind power projects that displace the use of fossil fuels, to large industrial projects.

Katamama Hotel and Potato Head Beach club has established renewable energy targets for all new and existing properties, which includes use of efficient lighting and electric appliances and the generation of its own potable water.

On a local level, the Katamama hotel has had a focus on sustainability and supported the traditions of its island home since its inception. It was built using 1.8 million bricks, each hand pressed by local artisans and fired using only biomass – a time-consuming technique typically reserved for Bali’s sacred temples.

The painstaking process both fulfilled the artistic vision of Indonesian architect Andra Matin and the company’s mission to rescue this diminishing handicraft, said Mr. Akili.

“We are delighted to have Katamama and Potato Head Beach Club as signatories of the Climate Neutral Now initiative. Their philosophy aligns with our goals of a climate neutral world that has met the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Niclas Svenningsen, Manager of Global Climate Action at UN Climate Change. “We hope they will inspire others to take action to support local and global solutions to climate change, and help deliver on the goals of Paris Climate Change Agreement and the SDGs.”

 

How the Tourist Industry Is Increasingly Moving towards Carbon Neutrality and Sustainability

The International Tourism Partnership (ITP), a global organisation linking the world’s most powerful hotel companies, embraced the Paris Agreement objectives and commissioned climate research in 2017. Its ITP carbon report highlights the hotel sector’s carbon reduction goals of 66% by 2030 and 90% by 2050.

Further, 16 New York hotels have joined mayor Bill de Blasio’s NYC Carbon challenge in a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their buildings by 30 percent or more in the next ten years. Similarly, Hilton recently announced it will reduce carbon emissions by 61% in line with the Paris Agreement and approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative.

AfDB mobilises funds to actualise Côte d’Ivoire pay-as-you-go solar home systems

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AfDB mobilises funds to actualise Côte d’Ivoire pay-as-you-go solar home systems

In very remote rural areas of some African countries, access to electricity for low-income people is still through traditional and outdated systems such as battery-powered flashlights or oil lamps that pollute and are extremely harmful to health.

Solar panel
Solar panel

In response to this urgent need, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a proposal to help Zola EDF Côte d’Ivoire (ZECI), to mobilise a loan in local currency to the tune of CFAF 15.75 billion (approximately € 24 million) arranged by Société Générale de Banque in Côte d’Ivoire (SGBCI) and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Crédit Agricole CIB). The AfDB will provide a partial credit guarantee covering part of the guaranteed loan facility as a catalyst.

NEoT CI, the special purpose vehicle currently being created to mobilise the receivables-backed senior loan, is sponsored by NEoT Offgrid Africa (NOA), an investment platform focused on distributed energy in Africa, managed by NEoT Capital, with Meridiam and EDF as investors. In addition, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation will participate in the financing of ZECI and will monitor environmental and social norms for the duration of the transaction.

The project will pilot a local currency receivables-backed financing structure to allow ZECI – a 50/50 joint venture between Off-Grid Electric (OGE) and EDF – to provide access to approximately 100,000 rural households with pay-as-you-go solar home systems by 2020. This operation would be the first large-scale local currency financing structure using the securitisation technique for the off-grid renewable energy sector in Africa.

ZECI’s business model, which consists of selling solar kits that meet international quality standards, under lease-purchase agreements for a three-year period (creation of predictable receivables payable with mobile money), makes it easier for low-income customers to access clean energy. In addition, it enables financial inclusion, including through the establishment of credit history, as well as access to financing and ownership of assets.

Presenting the project, AfDB’s Renewable Energy and Financial Sector Development directors –  Ousseynou Nakoulima and Stefan Nalletamby, respectively,  emphasised the viability of the operation, its alignment with the bank’s High 5s, namely “Light up and power Africa” (New Deal on Energy for Africa, especially reaching the target of 75 million households by 2025,”Improving the quality of life for the people of  Africa” and the Flagship  Industrialisation Strategy, which aims to “create liquid and efficient capital markets”, by supporting the development of innovative new financing mechanisms.

Furthermore, Amadou Hott, the bank’s Vice President in charge of Energy, noted that “the financing is in line with the 2016-20 National Development Plan of Côte d’Ivoire, the Strategic Plan for the Energy Sector and the Electricity for All programme initiated by Ivorian authorities to electrify all localities by 2020.”

Board members underscored the relevance of the support, which will complement the Transmission and Distribution Network Strengthening Project (PRETD) in Côte d’Ivoire (approved on November 2, 2016) to fund electricity transmission and distribution networks, ensuring access to clean energy for underserved households.

The provision of clean electricity under the project will have considerable impact on many low-income households in rural areas. It will also improve health outcomes by helping to reduce harmful kerosene lamps. It will improve the socio-economic situation of the target population, especially women. Through the use of mobile payment systems, the project will promote financial inclusion of rural populations. The project also contributes to the development of the financial sector by piloting a receivables-backed financing structure.

Melting of Antarctic ice is hastening, study finds

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Melting of Antarctic ice is hastening, study finds

Antarctica’s ice sheet is melting more rapidly than previously expected, a scientific study published in the scientific research journal Nature has revealed, adding to the sense of urgency to act on climate change and to finalise the rulebook of the Paris Agreement at the end of 2018.

Melting Antarctic ice
Melting Antarctic ice

The study, funded by NASA and the European Space Agency ESA, concludes that losses from the continent have tripled since 2012, with meanwhile 180 billion tonnes of ice pouring into the ocean every year.

Scientists fear that if climate change is not controlled swiftly, the ice sheets in Antarctica could collapse because of climate change, leading to a rise in sea levels which would have disastrous consequences for low-lying cities and communities.

Apart from the flooding of the coastal areas, rising sea levels contaminate freshwater sources, and saltwater interferes with agriculture by stunting crop growth.

 

Time is running out to cut greenhouse gas emissions

The results of the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-Comparison Exercise (IMBIE), that comprised 80 scientists from 42 international organisations, underscores that time is running out and nations must act now to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

Even though the ice sheet would not melt overnight, the rate at which it is melting will contribute to at least six inches (15 centimeters) to sea-level rise by 2100, says the study.

Using 24 satellite surveys of Antarctica, this latest IMBIE is said to be the most complete assessment of Antarctic ice mass changes ever conducted.

“This is the most robust study of the ice mass balance of Antarctica to date,” assessment team co-lead Erik Ivins at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said. “It covers a longer period than our 2012 IMBIE study, has a larger pool of participants, and incorporates refinements in our observing capability and an improved ability to assess uncertainties.”

The team looked at the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet from 1992 to 2017 and found ice losses from Antarctica raised global sea levels by 0.3 inches (7.6 millimeters), with a sharp uptick in ice loss in recent years.

The scientists attributed the threefold increase in ice loss from the continent since 2012 to a combination of increased rates of ice melt in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, and reduced growth of the East Antarctic ice sheet.

Antarctica’s potential contribution to global sea level rise from its land-held ice is almost 7.5 times greater than all other sources of land-held ice in the world combined. The continent stores enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by 190 feet (58 meters), if it were to melt entirely. Knowing how much ice it’s losing is key to understanding the impacts of climate change now and its pace in the future.

IPCC opens registration for review of second draft of methodology report

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IPCC opens registration for review of second draft of methodology report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) disclosed on Monday, June 18, 2018 that registration is now open to review the second order draft of the “2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2019 Refinement)”.

Kiyoto Tanabe and Eduardo Calvo Buendia
Co-Chairs of the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), Kiyoto Tanabe and Eduardo Calvo Buendia

The “2019 Refinement” is an update to the guidelines or methodologies that countries use to estimate their anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases. The IPCC says the refinement of its previous guidelines published in 2006 is necessary to provide an updated and sound scientific basis for supporting the preparation and continuous improvement of national greenhouse gas inventories.

IPCC reports go through multiple stages of review to ensure an objective and comprehensive assessment of the latest science. The first draft is reviewed by experts, the second draft by governments and experts and the final draft by governments only. The second draft of methodology report is reviewed alongside a first draft of the Overview Chapter.

The Co-Chairs of the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), Kiyoto Tanabe and Eduardo Calvo Buendia, stressed the importance of the review in the IPCC process. Therefore they invite governments and experts from all over the world to comment on the accuracy and completeness of the draft’s scientific information as well as its overall balance.

The preparation of the methodology report is managed by two Co-Chairs, coming from a developed and a developing country, and supported by an international staff known as Technical Support Unit.

The government and expert review will start on July 2, 2018 for a 10-week period, ending September 9. Review Editors will make sure that all comments submitted are afforded appropriate consideration by the authors of the report. All comments together with responses by the authors will be published along with the report when it is finalised, according to the IPCC.

Bayelsa community laments pollution from oil spill by Shell

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Bayelsa community laments pollution from oil spill by Shell

Residents of Agoro Community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Monday, June 18, 2018 berated what they consider a poor and slow response to an oil spill from Shell’s oilfield in the area.

Oil spill pollution
A water body in the Niger Delta polluted by crude oil

They appealed to the Federal and Bayelsa State governments to come to their aid over the spill incident and compel Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to be alive to its responsibility in spill response.

The community alleged that, several weeks after the spill that destroyed and polluted their farmlands and waterways early in May 2018, Shell had yet to commence clean-up in the impacted areas.

Secretary of Agoro Community Development Committee, Justin Gbagbiri, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview that they were still counting the losses incurred as a result of the incident.

“The river supports our fishing vocation, and it is one of our major sources of drinking. If we want to cook we use water from the river.

“But since the crude oil polluted our river, we can no longer use water from the river anymore, we have been in distress.

“We cannot use it to bath anymore, just as we cannot use it to clean up after using the toilet.

“So, the spill has affected most of our activities here. Fishing which is our major occupation has been adversely affected, as we cannot go to the river again to fish as we used to.

“What the company has done so far is that they have come around to do some recovery of spilled crude oil but no other major thing has been done. They have not even sent us relief materials.

“What they said was that, it is when the ruptured spots have been brought out and cause of spill identified, they would know if Shell will take responsibility.

“Shell also said they would do the needful only if the cause of spill is identified as equipment failure and not third party interference.

“So, we are waiting for them to come and expose the pipe for observation but nothing has been done to that effect.’’ he said.

The community alleged that SPDC is deliberately delaying the Joint Investigation (JIV) which would ascertain the cause of the oil leak.

Reacting to the development, Dr Alice Aje, Manager, Stakeholder Relations at SPDC, said the oil firm was responding to the spill incident and sought the understanding of the community.

“We regret the spill because it has adversely affected our operations and business, we have shut operations and stopped the spill and we are in talks with our relevant stakeholders.

“It is our responsibility to clean up the spill and if it was found to be case by equipment failure, we shall pay compensation to those affected, that is our process,” Aje said.

She described the spill as “regrettable and unfortunate”, adding that efforts were underway to convene a joint investigative visit with community representatives to probe the cause of the spill.

Bayelsa deputy gov flays Shell over oil spills

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Bayelsa deputy gov flays Shell over oil spills

Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, retired Rear Admiral John Jonah, on Monday, June 18, 2018 criticised Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) over  the frequent spills on  oilfields in the state.

Rear Admiral John Jonah
Retired Rear Admiral John Jonah

He spoke at one of the spill sites at Agoro community in Ekeremor Local Government Area following the leak of the SPDC River Ramos pipeline.

Jonah urged SPDC to conduct an integrity test on its pipelines in the Niger Delta region, saying many of them were laid a long time ago and may have suffered from corrosion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the leak resulted in discharge of crude oil into the river, affecting  Agoro community and others in the council area.

The deputy governor also criticised SPDC for the delay in carrying out remediation activities and provision of relief materials to the people in the impacted communities since the incident happened a month ago.

Jonah urged the oil major to expeditiously convene the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to ascertain the cause of the spillage.

The deputy governor equally advised SPDC to ensure that all the relevant parties must be involved in the JIV in accordance with international best practices.

He commended the people of Agoro for their patience and for maintaining peace.

Mr Charles Ebulu, a representative of SPDC, however, said that the oil firm was doing all that was necessary to contain further spread of the spilled crude.

Ebulu, who led the deputy governor round the spillage sites, pleaded for understanding from all stakeholders.

He gave an assurance that the issues raised by the deputy governor would be communicated to the appropriate quarters for necessary action.

In his remarks, the Amananaowei of Agoro, Ibamua Ojukonsin, said it took SPDC two weeks to respond after the incident was reported on May 17.

He regretted the delay by SPDC in taking action to contain the spill, adding that the community was yet to receive any form of assistance from the oil firm.

The monarch  also decried the recourse of  SPDC  to always promptly effecting  repairs on  pipelines  in order to resume production  without ameliorating  the sufferings  of residents in  impacted communities.

By Nathan Nwakamma

Shell urges contractors to prioritise safety

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Shell urges contractors to prioritise safety

Vice President of Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN) and Gabon, Peter Costello, has charged contractors working for and with Shell Companies in Nigeria to prioritise safety and be relentless in discussing the challenges and dilemmas. He noted that Shell is poised to help improve safety performance throughout the energy industry.

Peter-Costello
Peter Costello

“Safety is our top priority. Everyone who works for us, or with us, has an important part to play in making SCiN a safer place to work. We cannot succeed in isolation and we must share the challenges by building strong partnerships to further improve our safety culture,” Costello said at the 7th edition of annual SPDC JV Contractor CEO Safety Leadership Conference held in Lagos last week.

He added: “We expect our staff and contractors to comply with safety rules and regulations relevant to their work; to intervene to prevent unsafe conditions; and to respect fellow workers and the communities in which we work.”

In his remarks, Managing Director of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, described the annual event as an opportunity to share learnings and ensure alignment, common ground and shared commitments on Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) in Shell’s joint operations.

“We cannot be too careful with safety issues. Through engagement, we ensure that the right competence is in place and we create opportunities for our staff and contract staff to speak openly about dilemmas. The collaboration must be continually strengthened so as to make Shell a safety model in the Nigerian oil and gas industry,” Okunbor said, adding that the SPDC, “more than ever before, is committed to delivering energy responsibly and safely, with total prevention of harm to our employees, contractors, local communities and the environment.”

While setting the conference scene, General Manager, Safety and Environment of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Chidube Nnene-Anochie, said the two-day conference was informed by SCiN’s mission to constantly work in partnership with contractors, regulators, industry trade associations and professional bodies to share Shell’s global safety experience, standards and knowledge.

She said the conference had over the years helped to increase safety awareness among contractors working for SCiN particularly in the areas of safety hazards that are peculiar to oil exploration and production activities.

Highpoint of the conference was the presentation of the 2018 SCiN Safety Leadership Awards to contractors who have distinguished themselves as safety champions in the areas of personal, process and transport safety, among others.

The conference was attended by SCiN including the Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), Mr. Bayo Ojulari; Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Gas, Mr. Ed Ubong; and the CEOs and representatives of over 83 contractor companies.

Consumers, private sector critical in fighting droughts, land degradation

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Consumers, private sector critical in fighting droughts, land degradation

More than 3.2 billion people, or two in every five people, are impacted by land degradation today and up to 143 million people could move within their countries by 2050 to escape water scarcity and falling crop productivity due to the slow onset impacts of climate change.

Desertification
Desertification

To avoid these threats, Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), has called on consumers and the private sector to join governments to save healthy land. She added that lack of preparedness for future droughts in particular, could lead to massive social and political upheavals.

“Everything we produce and consume has a land footprint. A bicycle requires 3.4 square metres of land. Ten square meters of land are used to produce a laptop. Producing one kilogramme of beef takes 22 square metres,“ but few people give thought to these daily processes “because the losses are not visible – or at least not accounted for – in the products we consume,” Barbut stated.

“We are all decision-makers because in our daily lives, our choices have consequences. Our small decisions transform the world,” she stressed, and called on consumers to make choices that reward land users whose practices protect the land from degradation.

Barbut, who heads the international agreement that deals with desertification, land degradation and drought effects, also warned that it is dangerous to reduce the true value of healthy land to its economic value alone.

She made the remarks in observance of the World Day to Combat Desertification on Sunday, June 17, 2018. The global observance event took place in Quito, Ecuador.

Ecuador, it was gathered, promotes a bio-economy among its agriculturalists in order to diffuse sustainable land management technologies, which maintain the land’s productivity.

The country is also pursuing the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving land degradation neutrality, which means avoiding, reducing and reversing land degradation to ensure the amount of healthy land it had in 2015 is the same in 2030, and stays stable thereafter.

Barbut also underlined the need to “go beyond conscious consumerism” to engage the private sector and governments in better land uses because “the real value of the land is not just economic.”

“Land is worth so much more than the economic value we attach to it. It defines our way of life and our culture – whether we live in the city or the villages. It purifies the water we drink.  It feeds us.  It surrounds us with beauty. But, we cannot meet the needs and wants of a growing population if the amount of healthy and productive land continues to decline so dramatically,” Barbut said.

Tarsicio Granizo, Minister of Environment, Ecuador, said: “Desertification is a matter that not only has to do with the environment, but also with food sovereignty and with protection of the agricultural soil.”

The Global Land Outlook  (The GLO) of 2017 states that 45% of the food consumed globally comes from the world’s dryland areas, and that falling productivity, food shortages and water scarcity in these regions is creating insecurity. The GLO warns that about 20% more productive land was degraded from 1983 to 2013, and that Africa and Asia face the greatest threats, going forward.

“We must do far more to recognise the immense value of healthy and productive land in strengthening the resilience of the world’s poorest communities, which are facing more drought and other slow-onset climate disasters,” said António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, in marking the Day.

Five of the eight slow onset events identified by the Climate Change Convention as potential future sources of huge losses and damage are manifestations of declining land productivity. These are desertification, salinization, land and forest degradation, biodiversity loss and rising temperatures. Globally, about two billion hectares of land are degraded. Most of it can be restored back to health.

“Science has given us the knowledge and tools we need for managing land to build resilience to drought and the impacts of climate change. Governments and the communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on the land can take steps now to prepare for future drought,” Guterres said.

The sustainable land management technologies needed to minimise and reverse many of these effects exist, but the policy instruments and investments to promote their spread are non-existent. As a result, some of the most land-dependent communities are exposed to the growing powerful and adverse weather effects, such as recurrent droughts, unpredictable rainfall and disappearing ground water sources.

Barbut highlighted three critical actions that consumers and the private sector can take to encourage land users and governments to save healthy land from further degradation and to recover nearly barren lands.

First, changing consumer behavior and unsustainable production patterns. Second, adopting more efficient land use planning. Third, creating mechanisms like the LDN Fund that will motivate the private sector to invest in land restoration.

“The public needs to be empowered.  If they know that the choices they make every day can make a difference in terms of how the land is used – whether it is abused or nurtured – I am sure they will choose and consume more wisely,” she said.

“Governments must create incentives that can encourage the private sector to see that sustainable management of the land and the restoration of degraded land is the socially responsible thing to do. The UNCCD is ready to help initiatives that can restore degraded land at scale,” she said.

She called on countries to formulate the targets to be achieved by 2030, which signals that “a country has a systematic plan to ensure sufficient high quality land is available in the long-term to meet the demand for essentials like food and water.”

Minister Granizo said: “The Government of Ecuador is proud to host, for the first time in Latin America, the celebration of this international day, which was attended by prominent authorities of the Convention to Combat Desertification.”

World Day to Combat Desertification is observed every year on June 17 to raise awareness about the status of the land resources, especially at country level, and to mobilise required actions.

UN enhances Ofada rice production with solar energy

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UN enhances Ofada rice production with solar energy

Ofada rice, the popular delicacy, may get to dining tables at even cheaper prices, thanks to an initiative aimed at enhancing its production via solar energy.

Ofada Rice Agro-processing Mill
Ofada Rice Agro-processing Mill in Ogun State

Courtesy of a collaboration involving the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Nigeria Country Office and the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), off-grid solar powered commercial agro-processing is transforming the rice processing industry.

A three-month construction period that ended April 2018 saw the installation of solar energy systems and equipment such as pre-cleaner, per boiler, dryer, miller and de-stoner to boost the processing of Ofada rice in Moloko Asipa, an agrarian community in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

The project has reportedly increased the production capacity of the mill, which hitherto ran on diesel. Besides reducing production cost, the scheme has created employment opportunity especially among the youth in the community. A borehole was also constructed to supply water to the community at no cost.

Chief Executive Officer of Ofada Rice Agro-processing Mills Limited, operator of the facility, Mr. Ayodele Adenekan, said that since the solar plant was completed in April, all the equipment have been working round the clock on solar power.

He disclosed that, prior to the realisation of the project, the mill spent from N18,000 to N20,000 every month on diesel depending on the volume of rice to be processed. He added however that all that stopped since the project was completed.

“It has greatly increased our production, I now produce more at less cost,” he added.

Adenekan said the gesture has also led to job creation for youth in the community who have been engaged in the Ofada rice processing. He attributed this to the fact that the equipment installed doubled the capacity of what existed in the mill before.

He disclosed the equipment installed had also help to enhance the quality of Ofada rice processed at the mill. He commended the UNDP/ECN for bringing such an initiative to the community.

Asked on the next line of action after the UNDP/ECN gesture, Adenekan said he is now looking at how to export Ofada rice because of the high demand by Nigerians in the diaspora who cherish the delicacy.

Corroborating him, Mrs. Janet Adegboye who processes her rice harvest in the mill, commended the initiators of the project, saying processing her rice has become easy with the completion of the project.

“We are very happy with what UNDP/ECN has done for us,” she stressed.

Baale-General of Moloko Asipa, Mr. Nureni Kolawole Adesina, commended UNDP and ECN for the equipment installed that has made rice processing faster and cheaper. He said the facility has also provided employment opportunities for youth in the community who have been engaged in the mill.

He also expressed appreciation for the borehole provided for the community which, he stated, has eased water shortage challenges in the community.

“Water has been scarce in the community before now, we used to go long distances to fetch water to the palace, but this has stopped. It has been a blessing to the community and we are happy about it.”

The Nigerian rice sector has experienced some remarkable developments and growth in recent years. Both rice production and consumption in Nigeria have vastly increased. With rice now being a structural component of the Nigerian diet and rice imports making up an important share of Nigerian agricultural imports, there is considerable political interest in increasing the consumption of local rice.

One of the major constraints that have affected the development of Nigerian rice sector is the inability of the local rice to match the quality of imports. While majority of the mills (85%) are powered with fuel engines, 10% are using electric engines and four mills (5%) have invested in both types. Operators recognise that it is cheaper to run electric-powered mills than fuel-powered equipment but the erratic supply of electricity jeopardises the workshop operations.

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