Funtua Local Government Council in Katsina State, northern Nigeria, on Thursday, April 13, 2017 confirmed the death of six persons and the hospitalisation 24 others as a result of outbreak of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis.
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole
Muibat Abdullahi, the Primary Health Care Coordinator of the Council, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the outbreak started from a Quranic (Almajiri) school at Unguwar Dahiru area of Makera ward in Funtua town.
Abdullahi said authorities were alerted and in response, officials of Medicine San Frontiers (Doctors without Borders) conducted tests on isolated persons’ specimens and diagnosed meningitis type ‘C’, which is different with other cases of meningitis in the country.
Abdullahi said San Frontiers supported them with drugs and other relevant consumables while Katsina state government procured vaccines for immediate immunisation of people around the area.
She said that, so far, 5,535 out of the targeted 8,650 persons had been immunised against the disease, just as the Funtua Comprehensive Health Centre had been converted to an isolation centre due to ongoing rehabilitation of Funtua General Hospital.
The coordinator explained that the council deployed 25 health workers to conduct vaccination in Makera, Dikke and Sabon-Gari wards, as well as some fixed points at places of prevalence.
She added that persons aged 2 to 14 were targeted during exercise, and that Emergency
Response Teams were placed on alert, while Voluntary Community Mobilisation workers embarked on house-to-house mobilisation of people against the disease.
Malam Nuhu Dambo, the Director Water and Sanitation Department of the council, told NAN that environmental health workers also partnered with health officials in educating people on the disease and preventive measures.
Dambo said nine teams of six persons each embarked on awareness campaign in the affected areas and neighbouring communities with Zamfara State.
He added that people were cautioned against sleeping in over-congested places and were told to always ensure adequate ventilation in their rooms.
Malam Abdullahi Bala, the Officer-in-Charge of Funtua Comprehensive Health Care, said only four persons remained on admission in the isolation centre and was responding to treatment, while others had been discharged.
Gambia’s Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajan, Minister of Women Affairs and Overseer – Vice President’s Office, is the New African Woman of the Year.
The awardees with their prizes
The fearless Gambian human rights activist won New African Woman magazine Award at a ceremony that took place in Senegal on Wednesday, April 12, 2017. Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajan is said to be instrumental in galvanising the opposition that eventually beat long-term now exiled leader Yahya Jammeh.
Held at a Gala Dinner at the Terrou-Bi Hotel in Dakar, the Senegalese capital city, the Awards, now in their second edition, recognise, celebrate and honour African women who have made exceptional impact and change in their countries or communities in the past 12 months.
Nigeria’s Amina J. Mohammed – the new United Nations Deputy Secretary – took home the New African Woman in Politics and Public Office award. Prior to her new post, she served as Minister of Environment of Nigeria, after playing key roles in both the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), on how both agendas impact Africa – more so its women.
Winners were selected by a special panel of judges from 68 shortlisted candidates across 12 categories. The Award for Women in Health, Science and Technology went to Namibia’s Dr Helena Ndume – a pioneering ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon, who has, to date, performed over 35,000 sight-restoring surgeries on Namibians, completely free of charge.
Morocco saw serial entrepreneur Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch, take home the New African woman Award in Business. Zimbabwean philathropists and educationist, Tsitsi Masiyiwa, received the New African Woman Award in Education for her work with Higherlife Foundation – a not-for-profit organisation she runs and offers scholarships to orphaned and vulnerable children to give them a better chance in education. Over 250,000 children have benefited from the work of Higherlife Foundation.
The much-talked-about New African Woman on the Rise (The Next Generation) – a category which received the most nominations – went to the Kenyan girls rights activist and UN Women youth advisor, Vivian Onano.
The New African Woman in Civil Society was given to Chief Theresa Kachindamoto, who annulled over 300 child marriages in her village in Malawi, a feat that played an important role in forcing the government to ban child marriages in the country all together.
Other winners were Nigeria’s Joan Okorodudu (New African Woman In The Arts & Culture) for her services to raising the profile of African models and fashion; Mali’s Binta Touré Ndoye (New African Woman – in Finance); Amira Yahyaoui of Tunisia (New African Woman in Media); and the former African Union Commissioner Agriculture and Rural Development Tumusiime Rhoda Peace from Uganda, is the New African Woman in Agriculture, for pushing the importance of food security and adding value chain to African goods while she was at the African Union (AU).
The New African Woman in Sport went to the Senegal’s Fatma Samoura – the world football body’s (FIFA) Secretary General – a position she was appointed to in 2016, becoming the first African woman to hold the post.
The New African Woman Awards was followed by a Forum on Thursday, April 13 under the theme “Changing The Game”.
The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has disclosed that, as it moves into its second decade of operations, it is partnering with four new global partners who will help support its vision.
Daniel Juhn, Senior Director, Integrated Assessment and Planning Programme at Conservation International
In a statement made available to EnviroNews on Thursday, April 13 2017, GEO listed the new partner organisations to include: Conservation International (CI), Earthmind, Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“Each organisation has now joined GEO as a Participating Organisation, taking the total number to 110 working internationally to advocate, engage and deliver on open EO data,” the GEO disclosed in the statement, which adds that the body has been working for more than a decade to open access to Earth observation data and information, and increase awareness around their socioeconomic value.
Similarly, the GEO community has been building a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) that links Earth observation resources worldwide across multiple Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs), which range from Biodiversity and Ecosystem Sustainability, Disaster Resilience, Energy and Mineral Resources Management, Food Security, Infrastructure and Transportation Management to Public Health Surveillance, Sustainable Urban Development and Water Resources Management.
The SBAs serve as lenses through which the Member governments and Participating Organisations (POs) that constitute GEO may focus their contributions to GEOSS, with a goal to make the open EO data resources available for informed decision-making.
“CI empowers societies across the globe to sustainably care for nature through science and partnerships. We are excited to join the GEO community, which has long recognised the power of collaboration in leveraging earth observation to benefit humanity,” said Daniel Juhn, Senior Director, Integrated Assessment and Planning Programme at Conservation International. “Though we face obstacles to achieve the SDGs, we are at a critical juncture where the science of valuing ecosystems, and understanding the full services nature provides to people expands our knowledge and options. We hope this partnership exemplifies bringing together that science, the right policies, necessary collaboration, and advanced technologies to generate the solutions we need to tackle global sustainability challenges.”
“Earthmind supports positive efforts by private, public and non-profit stakeholders to conserve and responsibly manage nature. As one of our main programmes is to recognise conservation in the areas where people live and work, we are most honoured and indeed excited to join the GEO community. In so doing, we hope to further encourage voluntary efforts to observe how we managing our planet in order to take better care for it,” said Francis Vorhies, Founder and Executive Director of Earthmind.
“GEO, its Members and the broad new set of tools provided by geodata constitute a fantastic step forward in the quest to help farmers from all corners of the world improve their yields and Governments to improve their policies to further stimulate agriculture in their respective countries. This is why GODAN is very glad to become part of GEO and to count the GEO partnership among the GODAN network. We believe that this collaboration will be most fruitful for all parties involved,” said André Laperrière, Executive Director of the GODAN Secretariat.
“UNICEF has learned through experience that problems that go unmeasured often go unsolved,” said Toby Wicks, Data Strategist at UNICEF. “We will work with the GEO community to link the needs of the world’s most vulnerable populations to a rapidly expanding set of data informed solutions, including GEOSS. This partnership signals an effort to build a world in which a near real-time understanding of risks and global challenges, particularly water resources management and disaster resilience, allows us to work harder and faster, for children.”
The key engagement priorities for GEO in the coming years involve using open Earth observations to respond to a number of global policy issues. The priorities are tied to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These new partnerships will complement existing ones and also help deliver in line with the GEO engagement priorities.
The GEO is a partnership of governments and organisations creating a future wherein decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations. GEO Member governments include 104 nations and the European Commission, and 110 Participating Organisations comprised of international bodies making use of or with a mandate in Earth observations.
Flight turbulence could increase significantly under climate change, a study warns, potentially upping the risk of injury – or at least flight anxiety – for future airline passengers. Furthermore, fuel and maintenance costs for carriers could rise.
A commercial jetliner in flight
An increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations could cause changes in the jet stream over the North Atlantic flight corridor, leading to a spike in air turbulence, the research conducted by atmospheric scientist Paul Williams of the University of Reading, suggests.
By the middle of the century, with no effort to reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, the volume of airspace experiencing light turbulence would increase by about 59 percent.
Airspace experiencing severe turbulence could increase by anywhere from 36 percent to 188 percent, the study found.
“We’re particularly interested in severe turbulence, because that’s the kind of turbulence that’s strong enough to hospitalise people,” Williams told The Washington Post.
Forecasting algorithms can help pilots anticipate and avoid turbulent patches. But the research does suggest that future fliers could be in for a bumpier ride.
The paper builds on a 2013 study in the journal Nature Climate Change by Williams and colleague Manoj Joshi of the University of East Anglia, which found an increase in moderate-to-severe turbulence in the North Atlantic as a result of climate change.
The study did not investigate the effects on lighter or more severe degrees of turbulence. In the new paper, Williams expanded the study to light turbulence, and more severe conditions.
Light turbulence typically comes with only minor discomfort for passengers, perhaps an increase in nausea or anxiety. Severe turbulence has been known to cause injuries and even hospitalisations.
Williams focused on an area in the North Atlantic known for heavy air traffic, particularly between Europe and North America, and limited his simulations to winter, when turbulence is known to be at its highest.
He examined 21 different wind-related characteristics known to be indicators of air turbulence levels, including wind speed and changes in air flow direction.
The study found an increase in turbulence across the spectrum. Light turbulence was projected to increase by an average of 59 percent, light-to-moderate by 75 percent, moderate by 94 percent, moderate-to-severe by 127 percent and severe by 149 percent, although there’s substantial uncertainty associated with the more severe categories.
Williams stressed that severe turbulence would remain rare – even with the increase. But even an increase in light turbulence can cause greater wear and tear on planes or force pilots to use extra fuel redirecting their flight paths to avoid rough patches.
The increase in air turbulence may apply only to the North Atlantic, researchers not involved in the study said.
“Regional variations of this increase may be quite uncertain, particularly in the higher latitudes where other aspects of circulation change that are less well understood and more model-dependent may dominate,” said Isla Simpson, a scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, in an emailed comment to The Post.
Kristopher Karnauskas, an atmospheric and oceanic sciences expert at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the behavior of the jet stream over the Pacific may respond differently to climate change.
The study builds on an area of climate science that increasingly suggests rising global temperatures can cause changes in atmospheric airflow, including shifts in major air currents known as jet streams.
Because the equator is the warmest part of the planet, and warm air takes up more space than cold air, the atmosphere tends to be thicker around the centre of Earth than at the poles. As a result, there’s a kind of downhill atmospheric slope from the equator to the poles over which air flows. While this is happening, Earth is constantly spinning, pushing airflow eastward. In the North Atlantic, the result is a jet stream – a meandering, wavy current flowing around the planet from west to east.
As the planet grows hotter, however, warming air near the surface could bring about changes in the atmospheric slope between equator and poles. Models such as the one used in Williams’s new paper have suggested that the jet stream could become stronger as a result, bringing about an increase in the types of wind patterns that lead to increased air turbulence.
Some research has already begun to detect changes in large-scale atmospheric currents. Other scientists have suggested that rapid warming in the Arctic is actually causing the jet stream to weaken.
There remains considerable uncertainty about how airflow near Earth’s surface might change in the future, Simpson said. But she said scientists are becoming more confident about the changes “that we expect to happen higher up, near the altitude where planes fly.”
Examining these issues can lead to a better understanding of the effects of climate change on aviation, Karnauskas said.
“I think it’s been decades that all of the attention has been on the impact of such industries like aviation on climate, but this is something that’s flipping it around and looking at the impact of climate on aviation,” he said. “If we can really understand the two-way street that we’re dealing with, that’s really going to help us understand ultimately how the climate will change in the future as a coupled system between the people and the atmosphere.”
The world’s countries will face tough choices if they want to achieve several different targets for sustainability, such as reducing their fossil fuel footprints and conserving water, at once.
Brett Bryan, Professor at Deakin University in Melbourne
That is the conclusion of a new study that explored the different options that Australia has for meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a set of 17 goals that almost 200 nations have signed on to work toward by 2030. The study examined how Australia could meet these goals through changes to its farmlands and livestock ranges. And, researchers discovered, chasing after multiple targets for sustainability can be a precarious affair: In some cases, making progress on one goal, such as storing large volumes of carbon dioxide in biomass and soils, means working against others, such as reducing water use.
To get to the bottom of those trade-offs, the researchers considered a series of possible futures for Australia’s land sector, which includes large swathes of wheat fields and cattle pastures. Based on their calculations, the country met two sustainability goals simultaneously in about one quarter of those pathways and met three goals in only 10% of the options.
The team published its findings on Thursday, April 13, 2017 in Nature. The results suggest that individual sectors of society, like agriculture, can’t achieve sustainability on their own – this complex pursuit requires buy-in from all parts of a nation, from cities to the energy industry.
“We really have to be smart about this,” says Brett Bryan, formerly of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia and now a Professor at Deakin University in Melbourne. “If we want to achieve multiple aspects of sustainability, then we need a new kind of science where we take an integrated and detailed look across the whole of the environment and economy. We need to work out across that spectrum how we can actually achieve multiple sustainability targets.”
This research contributes to the work of the Global Land Programme, a global research project of Future Earth.
The Sustainable Development Goals don’t lack in ambition, according to the study. These goals, part of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, cover many aspects of sustainability. They include “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” (Goal 2) and “Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss” (Goal 15).
But the goals are vague and don’t spell out how the world can realistically meet them, says Bryan, the joint-lead author of the new study. That means that the hard work, coming up with concrete paths for achieving all 17 goals at once, is left to individual nations. In the new study, he and his colleague Lei Gao of CSIRO in Adelaide, Australia, decided to probe what sort of options might be open to Australia.
To do that, the pair turned to a massive computer simulation, or model, called Land-Use and Trade-Offs (LUTO). LUTO considers a number of factors that could shape Australia’s landscape in the coming decades. “These might be changing climate policies or crop prices,” Bryan says. “We then characterised how patterns of land use might change based on human behaviour – what people do and where on the land.”
In other words, under a certain scenario, would wheat fields fueled by irrigation expand in southern Australia, or would people convert croplands into forests? Today, the country’s agricultural lands spread over about 85 million hectares. Farmers, in turn, produced around $34 billion in crops, meat and other exports in 2015. In all, the researchers tallied 648 possible futures for this part of Australia and looked at how they stacked up against the aspirations of the Sustainable Development Goals.
They found that, by 2030, achieving many different goals in Australia’s land sector would be a difficult task. Achieving five goals at once only happened in six, or less than 1%, of the possible futures. In part, that’s because sustainable development comes with a lot of surprises. “If you improve one thing in the land system by changing land use or land management, you could worsen others,” Bryan says. “There are all these trade-offs.”
He gives the example of storing carbon dioxide: If farmers shifted to growing trees instead of crops, that would up the amount of carbon dioxide that plants pull out of the air and put into the ground, a phenomenon called carbon sequestration. But it would also stress the country’s water reserves. Forests, Bryan explains, need more water to flourish than wheat fields.
Other goals, however, seemed to go together well. They included simultaneously achieving targets around growing adequate amounts of food, conserving water and producing biofuels. Australia met this trifecta in 6.5% of possible futures – a relatively high success rate.
The results show why nations shouldn’t rush into sustainable development without a plan – one that considers the various clashes that could exist in the future. Bryan adds that it’s critical for parts of society, such as agricultural lands, to focus on achieving a few priorities in sustainability, rather than try to tackle all goals at once. In the case of the land sector, that may include slowing the loss of the country’s natural habitats, a goal that few other areas of Australian society can make progress on.
“In the land sector, we need to address those things that are critical for the land sector to do: producing food and reversing land degradation” Bryan says. “While land can help with the other goals, we really need to leave things like carbon sequestration and energy production other sectors of the economy. Other parts of Australia need to do some heavy lifting, too.”
According to scientists, protecting peat from forest fires and restoring degraded peatlands are complex processes that require solid science
Land clearing on peatland, Indonesia. Photo credit: Ryan Woo/CIFOR
Experts from the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Research, Development and Innovation Agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (FOERDIA) in an event held in Bogor, Indonesia, on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 shared their knowledge related to the management of peatlands and forest fires.
Both research institutions analysed the effectiveness of policies and implementation following the fire and haze event in 2015. Looking forward, CIFOR and FOERDIA discussed how to advance science that supports policy for peatland protection and restoration in Indonesia.
In particular, they debated how to monitor progress on peatland restoration; how to reconcile the differing figures and maps for peatlands; and how to measure the effectiveness of existing regulations, such as presidential decree PP 57/2016 on sustainable peat management.
The multiple dimensions of peatlands protection and restoration are part of the areas of research of CIFOR and FOERDIA. Both institutions have collaborated since 1997 and will continue to work together to connect research with policymaking and implementation in a way that triggers action.
Bringing peatlands to the fore
This discussion comes ahead of the second Partners Meeting of the Global Peatlands Initiative meeting and the Global Landscapes Forum: Peatlands Matter event. These two global events related to peatlands will take place in Indonesia in May.
Peatlands are important carbon sinks and stocks, estimated to hold more than 600 Gt of carbon. When drained, they are especially susceptible to fires. At the same time, millions of farmers derive their livelihoods from unsustainable agricultural practices on these lands.
The fire and haze event in Indonesia in 2015, which produced 15% of the world’s carbon emissions that year over several weeks, was said to have caused billions of dollars in economic losses and created a public health crisis, bringing these conflicting issues to the forefront of global attention.
The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja has said that its indigenous cardiac surgery team performed its first open-heart surgery on a 22-year-old patient, Kehinde Soyinka.
The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja
LASUTH’s Chief Medical Director, Dr. Adewale Oke, made the disclosure at a news conference in Lagos on Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
Dr. Oke said: “The essence of this conference is to show that we have developed the capacity and we are able now with our team to conduct safe, cost-effective cardiac surgery in LASUTH.
“This is one of the dreams of the Lagos State Government which wants to limit medical tourism to its barest minimum.
“We have improved our skills so that we can accommodate this and cut down the cost of these surgeries.”
Oke said the surgery cost N2.5 million in LASUTH.
He said: “We have looked at our books and we are thinking that a minimum amount of about N2.5 million will adequately cover the cost of surgery and admission.
“Of course, follow up will depend on what the patient needs from time to time or the degree and the kind of surgery.
“If you do it here in Nigeria, you are at home, you are likely to heal better among relations and in a friendly environment and above all, the cost will be driven to the barest minimum.”
Oke said the burden of structural heart disease requiring surgical intervention was on the rise in the country.
He added that the hospital would continue to deploy frontline technology to tackle congenital heart disease.
He said: “We hope to do our best to bring respite to this kind of patients through proper and careful use of both human and material resources at our disposal.”
The chief medical director said that the hospital had in the past carried out cardiac surgeries through medical missions.
Oke said: “The first open-heart surgery was carried out in 2004 and has carried out about 54 surgeries since then till date.
“We were able to conduct those surgeries through the use of medical missions, bringing in surgeons from abroad to assist us and build capacity.”
Also, the team lead Cardiac Surgeon, Dr Bode Falase, said that the way forward was to create the awareness that open-heart surgery was available locally.
Dr. Falase said: “The success story and real progress is that we now have the cardiac team available locally to meet the needs of patients who require surgery.
“Let us build on this success; we need to do more surgeries locally and at a lower cost.
“The main challenges in performing surgeries have already been addressed by the hospital; we cannot have surgeries in a vacuum.
“We need the right facilities, we must have a good intensive care, consistent power, blood bank; so all these facilities are in place.
“The human resources and material resources are available.”
Another member of the team, a Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Folashade Daniels, said that fund was a huge challenge for most patients who required surgery.
Daniels said: “We need the support of the government and the public to ensure that these surgeries are carried out locally.
“This will enable more people to get the treatment they need and do not have to go too far to get it done.”
The patient, Soyinka, who expressed gratitude to the hospital management, said that she was very fit and healthy.
Soyinka said: “I am grateful that the doctors stood by me throughout the surgery; I never thought I would be able to afford the surgery.
“But, at a lower cost at the hospital and with support from my husband, I am able to get the surgery done.”
Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 approved the ratification of the Minamata Convention for the control of mercury poisoning.
Flashback: Participants at the Seventh Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Mercury (INC7) held in the Dead Sea Area in Jordan, March 10 to 15, 2016
Minister of State for the Environment, Ibrahim Jibril, while briefing State House correspondents, said the ratification followed the memo submitted to the council by his ministry.
Jibril said: “There are so many gains to this. By signing and ratifying this convention, Nigeria will be in a position to benefit technically from funds that may be made available to the international community.
“We will also benefit from training on issues that are related to Mercury poisoning. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Mines and Solid Minerals Development, there will be an inter-ministerial committee to work out the modalities on how to access this funding from international donors.”
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.
Jibril said it could cause heart, kidney, respiratory and memory diseases as well as affect unborn children. He also said that about 40 countries, including 18 African countries, had ratified the convention as at today.
The minister also said that the issue of the Green Bond was on course, adding that since it was intended to be a Sovereign Green Bond, it would go through the national budget.
According to him, the ministry is working in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office in respect of the process.
He said: “We have got the CBN to open an account for the proceeds but since it is sovereign, the National Assembly has to pass the budget first before we can do the launch; that is what is holding it a little.
“There are three projects that will benefit from the green bond if it is issued.”
He said one of the projects was the renewable energy that would make solar power available to citizens.
The minister said the other project was the 100 FCT commuter buses projects that aim to reduce emissions from cars plying between Kubwa and Suleja corridor to mitigate climate change.
He mentioned the afforestation programme as the third project that would involve relevant agencies in part of the financing.
On the Ogoni clean up, Jibril said that after setting up a governance structure, a project director was appointed. He added that a meeting of the governing board and the trustees would be held by the end of April to approve roadmap for operations.
Representatives of 11 technical and financial partners of the Abidjan Convention met on Saturday, April 1, 2017 in Abidjan with a view to arriving at an enhanced awareness and coordination of their respective actions, sharing experiences and lessons learned and, eventually, putting together a roadmap for their collaboration.
They decided to draw up a proposed matrix and timetable for their activities with the Convention, to be filled in by the participating organisations, along with a calendar of their meetings.
The meeting came on the heels of the 12th Conference of Parties (COP12) to the Abidjan Convention, held from March 27 to 31, 2017. Issues discussed included the possibility for the secretariat of the Convention to provide technical support to the Technical Assistance in the Management of West African Coastal Areas (WACA) programme, more commonly known as the WACA Programme.
Financed by the World Bank, the WACA Programme covers eight West African countries and the April 1 meeting discussed its extension to other countries through the development of a regional action plan.
Collaboration on transborder waters
Other prospects for collaboration on existing or upcoming projects were also explored by the Convention’s partners. In this regard, Grid-Arendal, a Norwegian foundation, the MAVA Foundation, a private Swiss Institution, and the WABiCC Project, financed by the US Agency for International Development, are thinking of collaborating on a project on trans-border waterways in Africa.
WABiCC, which is aimed at helping coastal communities in West Africa to strengthen their resilience to climate change and at protecting and preserving biodiversity, provides support to the Abidjan Convention Secretariat, including in the fight against invasive species and wildlife trafficking.
The creation and management of protected marine areas is the area in which the Regional Network of Protected Marine Areas, RAMPAO, WABiCC, Birdlife International and Grid-Arendal hope to work together. The drawing up of an additional protocol to the Abidjan Convention on protected marine areas was also proposed at the meeting. Collaboration in this regard would link the Convention secretariat and the Regional Programme for the Conservation of the Coastal and Marine Area in West Africa.
The regional programme is a joint initiative of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Wildlife Fund, Wetlands International and the International Foundation of the Arguin Bank in partnership with the Sub-regional Fisheries Commission.
Protection of endangered aquatic species
For its part, the U.S. Africa Command, USAFRICOM, and the Abidjan Convention plan on collaborating on the protection and conservation of endangered aquatic species. The two institutions have already been collaborating over the past five years on environmental security.
Portsmouth University in the United Kingdom, which has been working on assessing the value of ecosystems and the Sargasso weed, is thinking of contributing to a project to evaluate ecosystem services in the Abidjan Convention area, while the Economic Development Bank of Central Africa, BDEAC, could help the Convention with regard to mobilising resources and financing activities.
Also represented at the encounter was the Mano River Union, an inter-state organisation that brings together Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and which constitutes the world’s third most important ecosystem
The State Programme Coordinator IFAD/VCDP Benue State, Emmanuel Igbaukum, has made a case for harmonising and relocating dry season farmers in Iye-Uvir in Guma Local Government of the state to a central point to be served by the Ake Lake to enhance cost effectiveness and productivity.
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom
Mr Igbaukum, who made this known in a chat with news men shortly after a visit to the Dooshima Hemba MPCS Pilot Rice Irrigation Scheme at Iye Uvir on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 to access the success stories of the programme, lamented that the farmers spend about 10 to 15 litres of fuel to pump water weekly for the rice farm, making it less cost effective.
He noted that harmonising and utilising the Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority’s infrastructure, as it is done in the sister agency in Niger State where only N500 is spent by rice irrigation farmers to water their rice per hectare for a season, the cost of production in Iye Uvir and other irrigation farms in Benue will be improved.
According to Mr Igbaukum, the FGN/IFAD Value Chain Development Programme has already contracted a consultant to draw up a survey for dredging a canal for Ake Lake to enhance the harmonising of the farm spread which is over 4,000 hectares.
He opined that, with an enabling environment created for them by government and with their farmers more willing to embrace irrigation farming, even without available dams, they expect that IFAD will provide infrastructure before the end of 2017 but mostly with government’s support.
Earlier, a member of the Dooshima Hemba Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Mrs Ladi Ngbea, narrated that dry season rice farming is good because one is in control of water.
“Impact of irrigation farming on our livelihood is great as it has really improved our farmers livelihood. As we sell, we get money to put back recurrently and farming is a business so we are no longer stopping farming but farm all year long,” she stated.
