The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, on Saturday, May 13, 2017 visited Kinshasa, capital of DR Congo, to discuss with national authorities and partners ways to mount a rapid, effective and coherent response in order to stop the ongoing Ebola outbreak.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. Photo credit: pbs.twimg.com
The visit follows notification by the DRC Government of an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Likati health zone, Bas Uele Province, in the northern part of the country bordering Central African Republic. The Likati health zone is around 1400 kilometers from the capital. As of today, 11 suspected cases including three deaths have been reported.
Speaking at the meeting, Dr Moeti said: “I am here to assure the government of DR Congo that in collaboration with the UN system and other partners, we will work together to respond to this outbreak. WHO has already mobilised technical experts to be deployed on the ground and is ready to provide the leadership and technical expertise required to mount a coordinated and effective response. I encourage to public to work with the health authorities and take the necessary preventive measures to protect their health.”
On Wednesday, May 10 2017, a multidisciplinary team led by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and supported by WHO, under the new WHO Emergency Programme, and partners, was deployed to the Likati health zone, Bas Uele Province to conduct an in-depth field investigation. The health zone is situated in the remote, isolated and hard-to-reach northern part of the country, with limited transport and communication networks – factors that all impeded transmission of information about the suspected outbreak. Currently it takes about two to three days to reach the epicentre from Kinshasa.
The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) has been activated to provide additional support if required. Reinforcement of epidemiological surveillance, contact tracing, case management, and community engagement are under way.
“We are grateful to WHO and other partners for the swift support in carrying out investigations that led to the confirmation of this outbreak,” said Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, the Minister of Health of DR Congo. “A strong multi-sectoral response, better coordination, public awareness, community engagement and adequate resources will be critical in our efforts to stop the outbreak,” he added.
The first case occurred on April 22 in a 45-year-old male. He was transported by taxi to hospital and was dead on arrival. The driver also fell ill and later died. A third person who cared for the first case also became ill and has subsequently died. At present, 25 contacts of the second patient who died are being followed. Of the cases and deaths, one has been tested PCR-positive for Ebola.
This is the eighth outbreak of Ebola virus disease since its discovery in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On November 20, 2014, in line with WHO recommendations, the Ministry of Health of DRC and WHO declared the end of the Ebola Virus disease outbreak that started on August 24, 2014 and resulted in a total of 38 laboratory confirmed cases and 28 probable cases including 49 deaths in Boende, Equateur province.
2014: 66 cases of EVD including 49 deaths diagnosed initially in Equateur province (Watsi Kengo, Lokolia, Boende, and Boende Muke)
2012: 62 cases including 34 deaths Orientale Province -Isiro (Bundibugyo virus)
2008-2009: 32 cases including 15 deaths in Kasaï-Occidental (Zaire virus)
2007: 264 cases including 187 deaths in Kasaï-Occidental (Zaire virus)
1995: 317 cases including 245 deaths, in Kikwit, Bandundu Province
1977: one case with one death in Tandala, Equateur Province
1976: 318 cases including 280 deaths in Yambuku – (Zaire virus)
According to the WHO, he full extent of the 2017 outbreak is still not yet clear, adding that extensive investigation and risk assessments are being conducted and the findings will be communicated accordingly. WHO adds that it does not recommend any restriction of travel and trade to DRC based on the currently available information.
Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, Sani Dangote, has lauded the new government policy on tomatoes, saying it will encourage increased local production and self-sufficiency.
The tomatoes scarcity in markets once forced Nigeria to import the item from Cameroon and Ghana. Photo credit: authorityngr.com
Speaking on the heels of the new policy aimed at reducing the N52 billion spent on the annual importation of 150,000 metric tons of tomato concentrate through the neighboring countries into Nigeria, Dangote said the nation has enough arable land to cultivate and meet local demand for tomatoes.
He noted that tomato remains one of the easiest crops to cultivate in all the geopolitical zones, as the nation is blessed with arable land suitable for crop cultivation.
Dangote opined that, prior to the new policy, farmers lose about 50 per cent of their tomato harvest as there are not enough processing plants to buy the fresh produce and turn them into concentrate.
These heavy losses, according to him, discourage the farmers from cultivating more tomatoes.
The new policy, he explained, would encourage farmers to cultivate more tomatoes, earn more money as they sell to processing plants and with decrease in importation of concentrate, the nation saves huge sums in foreign exchange.
For those clamouring for an extension in the time given for the implantation, Dangote said since 2010 the government has been discussing with stakeholders on the need for backward integration in the tomato industry.
He explained that plants for production of tomato paste comes in different sizes ranging from small to medium and large scale, therefore giving producers various options of investment in the industry.
He emphasised that Nigeria, given her resources and abundant arable land, has no business importing tomato concentrate.
He said: “We are working for production of more tomatoes through an out-growers scheme, but this will not feasible if there are no processing plants to take the excess products off the hands of the farmers. This policy is for every stakeholder. The Vice President visited our farms and plants to see things for himself and he was very impressed. Government stance and policy should be commended.”
The new policy is aimed at promoting local production of fresh tomato fruit required for fresh fruit consumption and processing, and also increase local production of tomato concentrate and reduces post-harvest losses. The policy was expected to create at least 60,000 additional jobs in fresh fruits production and processing.
The policy restricts the importation of tomato concentrates to the seaports to address the abuse of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme, stops the importation of tomatoes preserved otherwise by vinegar or acetic acid and increases the tariff on tomato concentrate to 50 per cent with an additional levy of $1,500 per metric ton.
Nigeria imports an average of 150,000 metric tons of tomato concentrate per annum valued at $170 million mostly due to inadequacy in capacity to produce tomato concentrate. Current demand for fresh tomato fruits is estimated at about 2.45 million metric tons per annum while the country produces only about 1.8 million metric tonnes per annum.
Global temperatures could exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above their preindustrial levels within the next 15 years, according to a new scientific study, crossing the first threshold under the Paris climate agreement and placing the world at a potentially dangerous level of climate change.
An image of Earth taken by a NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite. Photo credit: AFP /NASA/HANDOUT)
The report comes as climate agreement participants are watching the United States – where the Trump administration is debating whether to withdraw from the Paris accord – and as scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are working on a special report about the 1.5-degree goal (equivalent to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) and the consequences of overshooting it.
That IPCC’s upcoming special report and the increasing urgency about minimising global warming were one impetus for the study, according to co-author Benjamin Henley, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia. “We are working on a number of scientific avenues to help inform that report,” he told The Washington Post.
The study focuses on a natural planetary system known as the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, or IPO (it’s also sometimes referred to as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation). It’s an alternating pattern of ocean temperatures that shifts periodically between warm and cool phases, helping to drive temperature and weather patterns all over the world.
During cool, or “negative,” phases, tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean tend to be colder, and the global mean temperature is lower. The system is similar to the El Niño/La Niña cycle, the major difference being that phases of the IPO tend to last much longer – sometimes a decade or more. The phenomenon is believed to be a natural form of climate variability unrelated to human-caused climate change, although it does have the potential to influence the progression of global warming.
For most of the 2000s, the IPO has been in a negative phase, and scientists think its cooling effect has helped to slightly offset the effect of climate change, an explanation for the so-called global warming pause in the first part of the 21st century. As multiple studies have pointed out, this temporary slowdown is consistent with the overall long-term warming trend and in no way suggests that human-induced climate change is not occurring. Rather, this natural variation in the global climate helped to slightly blunt those effects.
Many scientists believe that the planet is now transitioning back into a positive, or warm, phase, which could amplify, rather than offset, human-caused climate warming. This means we could reach milestone temperature thresholds faster than we would if the IPO had remained in its negative phase.
That’s the conclusion of the new study, written by Henley and Andrew King of the University of Melbourne. Using model projections of future climate warming under a business-as-usual scenario, they suggest that the Earth could hit the 1.5-degree temperature threshold as early as 2025, while the continuation of the negative phase probably would delay this event until after 2030.
The exact difference in timing depends on how we define the milestone itself, the researchers point out. We could say we’ve hit the threshold the first year the global mean temperature is 1.5 degrees warmer than it was during the preindustrial era, regardless of how the temperature fluctuates after that point. Or we could say it has happened when the mean temperature meets this point over the course of a five-year period or longer. Or, because global mean temperature tends to wiggle up and down a bit from one year to the next, we could say it’s the point at which we cross the 1.5-degree threshold and never dip below it again.
The scientists explored all but the last scenario in their paper and found that the projected year for crossing the 1.5-degree threshold varied slightly among them. Generally, however, the models suggested it would occur between 2025 and 2029 (most likely around 2026) if the IPO shifts to a positive phase, and around 2031 if it stays in a negative phase. (They were not able to investigate the final scenario, they noted, because it probably will occur much further in the future and the number of IPO phases humans have observed since detailed record-keeping began is not sufficient to inform the model simulations required.)
“The paper emphasises the way that natural climate variations, like the IPO, can interact with the progression of human-caused global warming,”Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told The Washington Post. “Therefore, the timing of when we cross certain thresholds depends on the interplay between these two factors.” Meehl was not involved with the new study but has previously published research on the IPO.
And the 2025 date for hitting the 1.5-degree temperature threshold is looking more and more likely. Multiple studies in the past few years suggest that the transition to a positive IPO phase has begun. Henley said there’s some uncertainty about whether that has happened, but other scientists are more confident. Scientists John Fasullo and Kevin Trenberth, also of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, have published research to this effect, and both told The Post that we have been in a positive phase for several years now.
In fact, Trenberth and Fasullo suggested that the paper’s conclusions have been generally known for some time. They also pointed out that the study has its limitations. Fasullo suggested that the various reasons given for the 1.5-degree temperature threshold are “deficient” for precisely the reason that they’re sensitive to climate variations such as the IPO.
Trenberth said that the 1.5 degrees – as a single, concrete number – is “pretty irrelevant.” He noted that “it is all of the other things going on when that stage is reached that really matter: the heat waves, wildfires, droughts, extreme rainfalls, etc.”
It’s also unclear, for now, how significant the difference between a positive and negative IPO really is in terms of what the planet would look like under either scenario. The timing difference for hitting the 1.5-degree target is only about five years. At the point when a positive IPO would cause us to cross the threshold, the researchers note that the global temperature under a negative IPO would probably be about 0.2 degrees Celsius cooler. Whether there would be a significant difference in the actual climate effects produced under these different mean temperatures is uncertain.
It’s also possible that the business-as-usual scenario used in the study won’t come to pass and that the Paris agreement will indeed drive down global emissions enough to push off 1.5 degrees for a longer period of time. (Overall, the accord lists a goal of staying “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.)
But the paper clearly indicates that the 1.5-degree target is fast approaching. In fact, according to Meehl, the paper underscores a point that many climate scientists have been warning about: that we’re increasingly likely to blow past our climate goals, and soon. And with a potential U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord looming, this scenario is now more likely than ever.
“Given our rapid approach, one way or another, to the 1.5-degree threshold, the most plausible way to reach it at this point looks like we would have to overshoot and attempt to come back down to it afterward with policies that would significantly reduce emissions going forward,” Meehl suggested. Some scientists have proposed technology that would actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus cooling the climate in the future, but that’s a long way from being a practical solution to climate change.
“I guess the important thing is that policymakers should be aware of just how quickly we are approaching 1.5 degrees, and just realising the urgency of reducing emissions,” Henley said. “It’s critical to keep pursuing the 1.5-degree goal.”
Speaking at this year’s Vienna Energy Forum, UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed said that achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal on energy, with its targets on universal access, energy efficiency and renewable energy, is central to both the UN’s global goals, and achieving the central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which is to limit the maximum global average temperature rise to as close as possible to 2 degrees Celsius.
“The 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement are mutually reinforcing and inseparable. And it is why Member States have overwhelmingly endorsed both. Implementing the 2030 Agenda and addressing climate change must go hand-in-hand,” she said.
The UN Deputy Secretary General also warned that time is running out, and that climate change impacts, driven by globally rising temperatures, are accelerating. Because of this, the Paris Agreement needs to be rapidly implemented and clean energy scaled up:
“Droughts, floods, high heat, extreme weather, and rising seas are displacing people as never before and putting lives and livelihoods in jeopardy. And there is a real humanitarian cost, climate impacts have already incurred huge expense for business owners and the insurance industry. No country or sector is immune,” she said. Excerpts:
Amina Mohammed
I was with many of you for the journey that led to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Together, these two ground-breaking agreements are a transformative vision for a better world – universal, inclusive and integrated, an agenda for shared prosperity, peace and partnership on a healthy planet.
But realising that vision means we must address climate change as a matter of utmost urgency.
And we know that climate change is a scientific fact. There is no longer any doubt.
It is a real and present threat to peace and prosperity around the globe.
Droughts, floods, high heat, extreme weather, and rising seas are displacing people as never before and putting lives and livelihoods in jeopardy.
And there is a real humanitarian cost; climate impacts have already incurred huge expense for business owners and the insurance industry.
No country or sector is immune.
That is why 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement are mutually reinforcing and inseparable.
And it is why Member States have overwhelmingly endorsed both.
Implementing the 2030 Agenda and addressing climate change must go hand-in-hand.
Fighting poverty and combatting climate change are the same fight.
If we commit to action, we can fulfil the Paris climate goals and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and deliver prosperity and security for billions of people.
But we must act quickly and decisively, before the window of opportunity closes.
At the heart of these two agendas lies energy.
A transformative approach to energy makes all our Sustainable Development Goals possible, from reducing poverty to delivering clean water; from powering innovation and industry to providing light for children to learn; from delivering essential health services to empowering women and youth; from addressing food security to mitigating climate change.
That is why the 2030 Agenda has established the first ever universal goal on energy, SDG7: to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”
Achieving SDG 7 on energy, with its targets on universal access, energy efficiency and renewable energy, will open a new world of opportunity for billions of people.
It will lay the foundation for the eradication of poverty, for climate action and for a sustainable world.
Simply put, without progress on SDG7, it will be impossible to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.
Today, nearly one in every seven people lacks access to electricity.
More than three billion people rely on wood, charcoal, animal and crop waste or other solid fuels to cook their food and heat their homes.
That’s 40 per cent of all our people.
Indoor air pollution kills some four million people a year; most of them are women and children inhaling toxic smoke.
While there has been good progress in improving rates of electrification in recent years, the burden of energy poverty is still heavy in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Energy production is also responsible for 35 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions, while energy use in transport and industry accounts for another 35 per cent.
So, transitioning to sustainable energy systems that meet every one’s needs, that leave no one behind, and that do so cleanly, reliably and affordably – is essential for sustainable development and the real solution to climate change.
The good news is that much is already happening to transform our energy economy.
Smart entrepreneurs are facilitating new business models, mobilising investment and deploying innovative technologies to expand access to modern energy in developing countries.
Smart governments are shifting public policy to embrace renewable energy as part of their energy mix and to drive energy efficiency.
In the United States, solar energy already employs more Americans in the power sector than oil, gas, and coal combined.
China aims to increase its renewable energy by about 40 per cent by 2020.
India’s solar capacity is expected to double next year.
Saudi Arabia plans to install 700 megawatts of solar and wind power.
It’s a great start.
Globally, over a half of the investment in the power sector is now made in renewable energy.
And more than eight million people already work in the renewable energy industry.
In all regions, governments and businesses are increasingly investing in clean energy.
Countries, cities, companies and communities that are leading the way do so because it makes sense and it matters to the bottom line.
It makes sense in terms of health and well-being through cleaner air, safer communities and less volatile weather.
It makes sense in terms of competitiveness with cleaner cities attracting new businesses and providing more jobs and better livelihoods.
And it makes sense in terms of security, with nations and communities gaining access to abundant, clean power for the long-term future.
However, there is still much to do.
Globally, energy efficiency improvement could account for 40 per cent of the emissions reduction we need to see.
Yet we are far off the pace of improvement we need.
This is a critical issue for energy intensive economies, but also for the less developed where heavy fuel oil and diesel are a drain on the public purse.
For years, fossil fuel-based energy systems, transport systems and energy intensive industries have played a critical role in developing the world we live in.
But we know that now they are also creating the conditions that can do or undo all our progress.
Therefore the true cost of these fuels has to be reflected in the economy.
We need to price carbon as the pollutant that it is.
Many countries are coming to this conclusion.
We need to end harmful fossil fuel subsidies.
And we need to continue to innovate in financing for cleaner growth.
The Energy Transitions Commission has estimated that the incremental cost to secure an energy transition that gives everyone opportunity is between $300 and 600 billion a year.
This may seem a lot, but in terms of total annual investment capital this is neither large nor beyond our collective capacity.
Green bonds are starting to be a mainstream instrument – the market reached over $200 billion this year alone.
But, at the current pace of progress, we still won’t achieve SDG7 by 2030.
We need to re-double our efforts.
We need your leadership and commitment to capacity building, innovation, technology transfer and partnerships – genuine partnerships that will scale up our efforts.
Moving forward, we have a number of opportunities.
Nationally Determined Contributions can harness clean energy solutions to drive progress towards the Paris Agreement. I saw that first hand as Minister of Environment, when we implemented the first Green Bond.
The UN High Level Political Forum in 2018 provides an important opportunity to undertake the first in-depth review of SDG7 and catalyse bold action.
Voluntary Nation Reviews of the 2030 Agenda including the SDGs provide critical inputs.
Regional and global cooperation will also be crucial in furthering alignment, coherence and coordination.
At the UN, we intend to strengthen leadership for policy coherence and coordination, including through UN-Energy, in support of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris agreement. The leadership of Rachel Kyte is exemplary.
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide peace, prosperity, opportunity and dignity for all on a healthy planet.
We cannot afford to fail. Not for our children and not for their children.
I look forward to sharing the concrete, bold ideas and action from all of you.
Together we have the opportunity to bring about transformative change.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed the death of one person in the latest outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DPR).
An Ebola patient receiving treatment
The Congo Ministry of Health notified the WHO of nine suspected cases of Ebola in the Aketi territory, in the north-eastern province of Bas-Uele, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.
Three people with the hemorrhagic fever have died, but only one death has been confirmed as resulting from the Zaire strain of Ebola.
Officials suspect that the two other deaths were also caused by the highly infectious virus, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids.
Symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain and hemorrhaging can begin two to 21 days after exposure.
The Zaire strain of the virus is one of the most lethal. A 2007 outbreak of this strain in Congo had a fatality rate of 74%, claiming 200 lives.
There is no approved vaccine to prevent the virus, and there is no approved treatment or cure.
In 2014, more than 11,300 people were killed in the worst-ever outbreak of the virus in West Africa, most of them in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
The Federal Government confirmed 198 Ebola cases in Nigeria as at August 2014 following the death of a Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, who flew in for a conference, and that of a Nigerian medical doctor, Stella Adadevoh, who attended to him.
This is the eighth epidemic of Ebola that Congo has faced.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Ghana has suspended trials of GMO cotton in the country after US Company Monsanto withdrew funding.
The GM Bt Cotton failed in Burkina Faso, with farmers making claims from Monsanto
Monsanto, the world’s leading Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) seeds producer, is facing challenges in Burkina Faso after that country rejected GMO cotton and began a phased withdrawal of the novel products. Farmers have now returned to growing conventional seeds.
The trials being undertaken by CSIR scientists form part of regulatory requirements before the GMO cotton can be commercialised in Ghana. The development means there will be no GMO cotton for farmers to make use of anytime soon.
Work on the project froze in 2016 but a researcher at the Savaanah Agric Research Institute (SARI) of the CSIR and Principal Investigator on the project, Dr. Emmanuel Chamba, tells Joy News it’s now been officially suspended.
“After two years of the on-station confined field trials, the next step was to go to the farmers’ field. After which we will be thinking of commercial release. Unfortunately, because of the situation in Burkina Faso, Monsanto pulled out.
“And because Monsanto was funding the programme, they suspended it in Ghana also,” Dr. Chamba explained.
The GMO cotton, known as Bt cotton, has been engineered to naturally resist attacks by the bollworm insect and other pests. The trials began in 2012. It was supposed to last for about six years before the GMO cotton can get to the market.
The trials had proved promising as fewer pesticides were used on GMO cotton fields in the Northern Region, compared to conventionally-produced ones. Whilst cotton farmers have to spray fields up to six times within the cotton plant’s life cycle for conventional varieties, only two cycles of spray was needed on the GMO fields as the seeds had inbuilt resistance to the pests.
Dr. Chamba says farmers are worried they will not get the benefit of growing GMO seeds for a long time to come. “At the moment, we are going back to the conventional variety where they have to be spraying (pesticides) several times.
“Nobody wants to spray so many times. But because we have not concluded the experiment, farmers cannot grow that variety,” Dr. Chamba lamented.
Dr. Chamba, however, says they are not giving up. They are looking for fresh donor support to resume the trials in Ghana for the benefit of farmers. “If we can get money from any other place to finish the trial, we will welcome it and finish the trials,” he stated.
GMO cotton was made available to farmers in Burkina Faso in 2010 and, by 2013, 70 percent of all cotton grown in that country was GMO. But concerns arose that fibre produced from the GMO cotton was low compared to the conventional.
The cotton fibre resulting from GMO cotton reportedly had shorter length. But in the textiles industry, the length of the fibre is crucial because the longer ones allow for several spinning rounds thereby producing better quality textiles.
The shorter fibre resulting from GMO cotton drew protests from cotton companies in Burkina Faso, resulting in a decision in 2015 for a phased withdrawal of the GMO variety. The cotton companies accused Monsanto of deceit and made a formal request demanding 100 million US Dollars in compensation.
Edwin Baffuor of Food Sovereignty Ghana believes this is a lesson for Ghana not to adopt the technology. “The Burkina case shows clearly that some of the expected outcomes as promised the farmers won’t be realised. And this is part of the red flag that we have been raising for a while now. And it can’t be closer to home than this. The outcomes of GMOs are unknown in the long term,” he told Gakpo in an interview.
Food Sovereignty Ghana is not the first organisation to raise this red flag. Associate Professor at the Department of International Development Studies at Dalhousie University in Canada, Prof. Matthew A. Shnurr who has done extensive research on the impact of GMO crops on African economies, issued a similar caution in the past.
“These problems with poor quality lint resulted from the introgression of the Bt trait into the local variety. If Ghana is planning on replicating this same process, they might risk producing similar results,” he said.
“I am skeptical that GM cotton or maize will offer benefits to small-scale African farmers,” he added.
But Plant Breeder with Burkina Faso’s National Research Institute Dr. Edgar Traore insists the technology did not fail his people. He says work is ongoing to correct the errors that resulted in the poor fibre quality and get the GMO cotton back on the market.
“The technology is good, but the technology met a technical problem that has a solution. So even [members of] the association which was behind the decision to go back to commercial, they are still waiting for better varieties with longer fibre so they can go back to GMOs,” he told Gakpo.
Countries can achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by prioritising investments and policies that bolster positive relationships across the goals, says a new report released today by the International Council for Science (ICSU). The report examines the interactions between the SDGs – a universal set of goals to guide international development to 2030 – and applies a quantitative scale to determine the extent to which they reinforce or conflict with each other.
ICSU Executive Director, Heide Hackmann
The report, entitled “A Guide to SDG interactions: from Science to Implementation”, offers a blueprint to help countries implement and achieve the 17 goals and the 169 targets that sit underneath them. The ICSU report is a first-of-its-kind attempt to quantify SDG synergies and conflicts. ICSU, leading a consortium of 22 scientists, applied a seven-point scale ranging from +3, which applies when one goal or target is very reinforcing of others, to -3, which applies when goals and targets fundamentally conflict with each other.
The SDGs, which were adopted by the international community in 2015, cover a diverse range of issues including gender equity, sustainable cities, access to clean water, and good governance. The aim is for all countries to achieve the goals and their targets by 2030 and set the world on a path towards sustainable development.
“This report demonstrates the unique role that science can and must play in the implementation of the SDGs. We combined the rigor of scientific thinking with the in-depth expertise of scientists from diverse fields like agronomy, oceanography, and epidemiology. The result was an independent analysis that can help policymakers and others engage with the goals and define their own priorities,” said ICSU Executive Director Heide Hackmann.
The report found that most goals were synergistic but not equally so. For example, one of the strongest relationships was that ensuring access to modern energy for all would go a long way toward combatting climate change and decreasing death and illness from pollution – all aspects of different SDGs. Another positive connection exists between growing the economy and improving health and well-being. Economic growth allows government to increase spending on healthcare, but only if they practice good governance and smart decision-making.
The scale also highlighted where there are conflicts and tradeoffs between SDGs. One major conflict is that achieving food for all could impact efforts to conserve and restore ecosystems. Efforts to end hunger and achieve food security could involve agricultural practices that limit the availability of clean water and renewable energy. Increased agricultural production, if not sustainable, can also result in deforestation and land degradation, jeopardising long-term food security. A careful balance is needed between initiatives to achieve these goals.
“This report provides a concrete entry point and tool to engage with the complex web of SDGs, and make them a reality. For the first time, policymakers will be able to look at the goals as a comprehensive set and understand how they reinforce each other, and where there are tensions. Leaders can use this information to minimise tradeoffs, prioritize investments, and make coherent policies. Scientists have a major role to play in piecing the available evidence together to support that process,” said Anne-Sophie Stevance, lead coordinator of the report.
The process of researching and compiling the report had its own revealing outcomes. “We brought together very different scientists to create a common way of talking about and scaling the SDGs. They didn’t always agree – there were many heated discussions – but they did it. Achieving the SDGs requires that we all follow this example, break down siloes, and work together,” added Stevance.
The report is being launched at the Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations in New York (15-16 May). This is the second edition of a multi-stakeholder event that brings together the scientific, technology, civil society and business communities with a common interest in making the SDGs a reality. The SDGs, which were adopted by the international community in 2015, cover a diverse range of issues including gender equity, sustainable cities, access to clean water, and good governance. It is a big, unwieldly, ambitious agenda that – if it is successfully implemented – could set the world on a course toward inclusive, sustainable development.
The report includes a set of recommendations for future efforts to apply the seven-point scale in countries around the world. The recommendations include identifying the interactions between and among the 17 SDGs in each country, and mapping who can do what to achieve the goals – and where there are capacity gaps. The report further calls for creating mechanisms to increase cross-sector coordination, and monitoring and evaluating progress in the lead-up to 2030.
Do you believe in the adage that the stone that the builder rejects makes the cornerstone of the house?
Michy Batshuayi
This saying appeared to play itself out on Friday when Chelsea’s reject Michy Batshuayi scored the winning goal against West Bromwich Albion to give the London team the Premier League title. The title was won with eight minutes left as substitute Batshuayi ended a scrappy passage of play by steering a finish high past WBA goalkeeper Ben Foster.
Batshuayi’s left footed shot from close range to the centre of the goal, assisted by Cesar Azpilicueta, came in the 82th minute. Which means Chelsea won its sixth top-flight title, making it the first club to win the English top-flight title on a Friday, since Arsenal at Anfield in 1989.
Antonio Conte is the fourth Italian Manager to win English top-flight title after Ancelotti, Roberto Mancini and Claudio Ranieri.
Batshuayi has been a misfit for much of this season, but whatever the future holds for the 23-year-old Belgian, he will always have a goal that won the title to his name.
Before this game, he had only figured only 24 times, played for 579 minutes and scored five goals – his sixth makes it a mark in Chelsea history.
Batshuayi had a complex problem with Conte at training grounds. His main problem was that he just didn’t seem to be following Conte’s instructions for his position, that he kept making the same mistakes.
They could see his obvious talent, but couldn’t see any progress. They just couldn’t see him giving the side what they wanted.
The truth was it didn’t look like Conte fancied him at all that much. The Italian would often seek to play Eden Hazard or Pedro ahead of Batshuayi, and eight of those appearances lasted less than four minutes.
After the Friday’s Premier League title match, Manager Antonio Conte thanked all. “I think this achievement is a great one for my players. I have to say thanks for their attitudes, work rate, their patience and commitment for this season,” he said.
“They gave me everything, while Batshuayi paid me a lot, with his change which was great,” concluded Conte.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports has released a list of committee members for elections into the National Sports Federations.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung
According to a statement, each Federation would have a chairman and three committee members during the elections.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, said members of the electoral committees were carefully chosen, based on merit and experience, following wide consultations from the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC).
According to the statement, the Athletics Federation will be chaired by Kalami Mohammed, and his members, Tony Uhrobo and Bamidele Elijah.
Table Tennis has Mr Afis Mohammed as Chairman, with Mr Oge Okeke and Melange Nkwo as members.
The Basketball Federation has as its Chairman Brig Gen Yakubu Ndam (rtd), while Boxing has Moda Shishi. The Cricket Federation has Barnabas Ejiogu.
Mr Chris Ogbgo will be Chairman Tennis Federation, while Victor Ogbene is for the Taekwondo Federation.
Meanwhile, Dalung has reaffirmed that the National Sports Festival will hold this year.
Cross Rivers State opted to host the annual event, after the last edition in Lagos State, but has failed to fulfill its promise.
Dalung regretted the constant postponement of the festival and has promised that a new state would be assigned to host the event.
The Sports Minister also challenged state governments to initiate state sports festivals to fish out talents for Nigeria in future competitions.
Dalung promised that arrangement for the National Sports Festival would begin after the elections into the Sports Federations.
Nigeria’s growing recognition in football has continued following the election of the immediate past chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, as a member of the highly respected FIFA Ethics Committee.
The election was rectified by the Congress of FIFA at it’s 67th Congress in Manama, Bahrain.
Justice Ayotunde became the only African in the FIFA Ethics Committee.
Only last Monday, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick, who was elected as member CAF Executive Committee in March, was also appointed into the influential Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions.
He also became the first Nigerian to be appointed as President of the Organising Committee for the African Cup of Nations.
No fewer than 18 developed countries and 10 developing countries will present their actions to date to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will highlight key achievements and challenges on the road of implementation of these actions.
Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UNFCCC
In a fifth session of the so-called “multilateral assessment”, Belarus, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain and the United States of America will present progress towards achieving their 2020 quantified economy-wide reductions targets.
The multilateral assessment will take place on Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13, 2017.
In a third session of the “facilitative sharing of views”, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mauritania, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Thailand, Uruguay will present updates on the status of their greenhouse gas emissions and removals, as well as on their actions to reduce emissions.
Importantly, developing countries have the opportunity to highlight their support needs for the implementation of their actions and also have the opportunity to inform as to the support received through both North-South and South-South cooperation.
The facilitative sharing of views will take place on Monday, May 15.
Both processes give countries the opportunity to showcase their progress in implementing mitigation actions. Fully interactive, developed and developing countries engage in an open interaction with other countries on their national GHG inventories, mitigation actions.
