The Netherlands announced on Monday, 06 February 2017 that it will work with Japan and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to establish a Global Centre of Excellence to help countries, institutions and businesses to adapt to a warming climate, which is increasing the frequency of natural disasters and causing economic disruptions.
Dutch Minister for the Environment, Sharon Dijksma. The Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation is a joint initiative of The Netherlands, Japan and UNEP
The Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation will bring together international partners, including leading knowledge institutes, businesses, NGOs, local and national governments, international organisations and financial institutions.
The Dutch Minister for the Environment, Sharon Dijksma, says: “Many around the world are hit hard by global warming. The ground-breaking Paris Climate Change Agreement puts climate change adaptation on par with mitigation.
“Failure of dealing adequately with climate change will increase a multitude of risks such as natural disasters, social and economic disruptions and increasing political tensions. Many people are looking for good practices and guidance with regard to climate change adaptation. I am convinced the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation can help addressing these challenges.”
“Even with the Paris Agreement on climate change, our planet is heading for a global warming of around 3°C,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, deputy chief of UN Environment.
“Our survival depends on learning to live on a hotter planet with more extreme weather, erratic rainfall and rising sea levels. This Centre is a welcome step, but other countries need to follow this example and urgently invest in climate adaptation.”
By signing the Paris Climate agreement countries have made climate change adaptation a top global priority and the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation, a joint initiative of The Netherlands, Japan and UN Environment is an important step to deliver on that commitment.
The Centre will support countries around the world to effectively adapt to climate change. It will collect lessons from recently executed projects and use those to develop guidance to accelerate climate adaptation. The resulting pool of global knowledge and know-how to understand what works and what doesn’t will be used to support countries, communities and companies to successfully integrate climate adaptation into their investment decisions. In that way, every new road, every construction, every crop field becomes an opportunity to become more resilient.
China’s installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity more than doubled last year, turning the country into the world’s biggest producer of solar energy by capacity, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Saturday, February 4, 2017.
Solar panels. China more than doubled its capacity in 2016
Installed PV capacity rose to 77.42 gigawatts at the end of 2016, with the addition of 34.54 gigawatts over the course of the year, data from the energy agency showed.
Shandong, Xinjiang, Henan were among the provinces that saw the most capacity increase, while Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia had the greatest overall capacity at the end of last year, according to the data.
China will add more than 110 gigawatts of capacity in the 2016-2020 period, according to the NEA’s solar power development plan.
Solar plants generated 66.2 billion kilowatt-hours of power last year, accounting for 1 percent of China’s total power generation, the NEA said.
The country aims to boost the mix of non-fossil fuel generated power to 20 percent by 2030 from 11 percent today.
China plans to plough 2.5 trillion yuan ($364 billion) into renewable power generation by 2020.
The Federal Government has been told not to approve the final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted to it last month by the Cross River State Government in respect of the proposed superhighway.
Ekuri people kicking against the super highway project that threatens hectares of forests
According to a group of women and girls of Etara, Eyeyeng, Edondon, Okokori, Old Ekuri and New Ekuri, Iko Esai and Owai communities in Etung, Obubra and Akamkpa Local Government Areas in the state, under the aegis of the Wanel-aedon Development Association, approval for the EIA should not be granted because, besides threatening their source of livelihood, lands earmarked for the project were unfairly taken from them by the authorities.
In a petition written to President Muhammadu Buhari, the women urged Mr President to direct Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State to de-revoke all their lands, settlements, farmlands and forests, as well as re-route the superhighway out of the forests so as to “conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services for the wellbeing of humanity”.
In a petition titled: “Our opposition to the revocation of our lands for a superhighway” and signed by nearly a thousand persons, the group likewise wants President Buhari to “protect our rights as minorities to our ancestral lands and direct Governor Ayade to pay adequate compensation for our property, farms, sacred sites and forests destroyed during clearance of the superhighway that went without prior evaluation of the above and in the absence an EIA.”
They peaded: “Help us to protect our means of daily livelihoods, food security and support and support us to conserve the forest to protect endangered species and their habitats in consonant with the Endangered Species Laws that you assented to on 30th December 2016. Help us in our resolve to conserve the forest, a practice we are customarily used to for several centuries to reduce the release of carbon dioxide, improve carbon sequestration and lessen climate change in line with the Paris Agreement which Nigeria endorsed.”
The women said that they are also opposing the proposed project because the governor excluded them from all decision-making processes “because we are regarded as ‘back-benchers’, good-to-be-seen-and-not-to-be-heard and, at best, ‘surbodinates’ in power and development.”
They added: “Our rights as indigenous women and girls has been systematically excluded from the process of governance hence this inhuman revocation for a superhighway; our free, prior and informed consent has not been sought and even throughout the EIAs (twice) for our meaningful participation.
“We, as underpriviledged and minority populations, depend on farming and forest gathering activities for daily sustenance. The revocation of all our lands is a repression and socio-economic marginalisation against us by the government of Cross River State as well as an abuse of our social and economic rights protected under the constitution of Nigeria, ECOWAS, AU and international laws.
“We recognise the sancity of our citizenship rights, mobility rights to own property, the right to work and the right to food, but the revocation of all our farmlands and forests – two critical resource base that alow our rightd and economic liberty – is a threat or failure for us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has said that it will partner with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to enthrone transparency and accountability in the operations of the agency.
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio, gave the assessment in his presentation to the Retreat of the Commission held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Mr. Adio noted that the NDDC and NEITI were set up with similar mandates targeted at addressing the syndrome of resource curse, a situation where countries like Nigeria blessed with abundant natural resources find their larger population living in abject poverty as a result of over-dependence on the natural resource and mismanagement of revenues accruing from the resource.
He lamented that, over the years, public perception of NDDC was more of an agency with huge revenue resources but with little impact on the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.
The Executive Secretary, who was represented by NEITI’s Director, Communications, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, urged the new team at the NDDC to carry out a corruption risk assessment that will enable the agency develop a framework to strengthen its operations.
The NEITI Reports presented to the Commission’s Retreat disclosed that a total of $1.98 billion was remitted to the NDDC between 2007 and 2014.
This was in addition to the sum of N594 billion paid to the Commission in local currency during the same period.
The breakdown of the remittances show that NDDC received N594 billion from 2007 to 2011 while $559 million was paid to the Commission in 2012.
NEITI Report findings also show that, in 2013, the NDDC received $563 million while in 2014, the sum of $865 million was remitted to the Commission.
NEITI also told the NDDC Management Retreat that, from its Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement Audit Report covering 2007-2011, the sum of N7.4 billion allocated to member states of the Commission for grass root development projects in the respective states could not be accounted for while 22 of such projects valued at N1.19 billion were duplicated.
The NEITI Executive Secretary urged the new Board and Management of the NDDC to carry out an independent project implementation audit, commit to good corporate governance and the principles of the global extractive industries transparency initiative.
Managing Director of the NDDC, Nsima Ekere, welcomed the emerging partnership between NEITI and the NDDC and pledged to use the NEITI Reports as major tools to enthrone accountability and corporate governance.
He gave the assurance that the NDDC under the new Board and management would fully embrace the principles of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to reverse the resource curse syndrome in the Niger Delta, through efficient resource utilisation, corporate governance and project delivery.
The West African, French-speaking country of Togo and the Central Europe, German-speaking Liechtenstein are the latest countries to endorse the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, president of Togo
While the Government of Liechtenstein on 1 February 2017, deposited its instrument of accession, the Togolese Government two days later followed suit on 3 February 2017, thereby bringing to 38 the total number of future Parties to the Minamata Convention.
Costa Rica on 19 January, 2017 became the 36th Future Party to the Minamata Convention when it deposited its instrument of accession to that effect.
A minimum of 50 nations are required to ratify the Minamata Convention to make it legally binding.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global treaty aimed at protecting human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury, was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) in Geneva, Switzerland on Saturday, 19 January 2013 – some four years ago.
Nigeria is one of the 128 signatories to the global treaty, but she is yet to ratify it. There are indications that Nigeria will soon ratify the global treaty, as the Ministry of Environment will next week in Lagos convene a national workshop for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for the Minamata Convention Initial Assessment (MIA) of the Minamata Convention.
Ratification by Nigeria automatically makes her a Party to the Convention with the duty to domesticate its content.
The signing of the Convention would enable Nigeria to:
Develop a National Implementation Strategy (NIS)/Action Plan to holistically address challenges relating to the reduction and elimination of Mercury;
Undertake a comprehensive inventory as a basis to develop and implement a more robust Mercury preventive programme which will include the identification and location, contaminated sites and extent of contamination, storage, handling and disposal to ensure that mercury related activities do not result in further damage to health and the environment;
Enhance national capacities with respect to human resources development and institutional strengthening, towards addressing concerns about the long-term effects of Mercury on both human health and the environment and also to ensure the effective domestication of the instrument that will be implementable at national level;
Sensitise the populace and policy makers on the hazards of mercury;
Develop and implement Mercury Release Minimisation Projects; and,
Control mercury supply and trade.
Nations that have ratified the Convention include: Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Chad, China, Costa Rica, Djibouti, Ecuador, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Gayana, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lesotho Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Mali and Mauritania.
Others are Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Switzerland, Togo, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay and Zambia.
Major highlights of the Minamata Convention include a ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones, the phase out and phase down of mercury use in a number of products and processes, control measures on emissions to air and on releases to land and water, and the regulation of the informal sector of artisanal and small-scale gold mining. The Convention also addresses interim storage of mercury and its disposal once it becomes waste, sites contaminated by mercury as well as health issues.
Consultants preparing Nigeria’s First Biennial Update Report (BUR) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have been asked to work more closely together in other to produce a quality report and meet the deadline for its submission.
Dr Peter Tarfa, Director, Department of Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environment. Nigeria is in the process of developing its First Biennial Update Report (BUR)
At a daylong forum in Abuja on Friday, January 3, 2017 titled: “Stakeholders workshop on the progress so far made on development of Nigeria’s First Biennial Update Report (BUR)”, participants also suggested that the Department of Climate Change (DCC) of the Federal Ministry of Environment should appoint a consultant to harmonise the three reports being produced by the three consultants, as there may be points of disagreement along the line.
Participants further suggested that there should be more physical meetings involving the consultants – who appear to be based in different cities in the federation – to ensure synergy in the course of their endeavour.
The consultants are: Triple “E” Systems (writing on “National Green House Gas Inventory”), E & Y (“Mitigation Analysis”) and Millcon & Millcon (“Domestic Measurement, Reporting and Verification System”).
The BUR is being prepared, taking into account the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission level of sectors of the economy, such as energy, oil and gas, transportation and agricultural sectors, among others. It is undertaken in order to improve transparency during the process of tracking mitigation progress of national GHG emission of countries who are parties to the Convention (UNFCCC), thereby reinforcing ambition at a global level and providing the information basis for planning and implementing mitigation action.
At the workshop, consultants presented respective progress made on the thematic area they are working on, even as stakeholders identified gaps and made comments and contributions towards enriching the document, taking into account data and information from respective organisation.
While the BUR project manager, James Okeuhie, did an overview as well as summary of progress on the country’s flagship BUR, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Dr Bukar Hassan, disclosed that the scope of the BUR covers information on natural circumstances, institutional arrangements, Greenhouse Gas Inventory Reports (NIR), information on mitigation actions and their effects – methodologies and assumptions, constraints and gaps, and related financial, technical capacity needs, information on the levels of support received for BURs preparation and submission, information on domestic measurement and reporting and verification.
“We are grateful for the selfless service and immeasurable support of our development partner, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for their commitment towards the partnership, especially the preparation of this report,” he said.
Dr Jare Adejuwon, former head of the DCC, in a presentation titled: Essentials of Biennial Update Reports (BURs), traced the genesis of the BUR, saying that it was adopted in 2010 at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico for the purpose of enhancing reporting of mitigation actions, their effects and support received in the National Communication.
“In 2011 at COP17 in South-Africa, Non-Annex1 Parties under the UNFCCC adopted the guidelines for BUR and the submission of BURs every two years was decided. The COP decided that non-Annex I Parties, consistent with their capabilities and the level of support provided for reporting, should submit their first BUR by December 2014,” added Adejuwon, who is presently chief executive officer at the Abuja-based Digital Environmental Management System.
According to him, Nigeria was granted approval and financial support by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to develop its BUR, even as the Local Project Appraisal Committee (LPAC), which is a subcommittee of the National Coordinating Technical Committee on the preparation of National Communication, was constituted in 2015 for the preparation of the BUR.
Prior to last week’s workshop, a meeting of the Local Project Appraisal Committee (LPAC) was held on April 9 2015, followed by a project initiation workshop on October 5, 2015. On August 18-19 2016, a Technical Inception Workshop was held to bring together the inter-ministerial committee, NGOs, academia, state representatives and the selected consultants for the BUR thematic sectors.
The Third World, a musical group made up of adventurous Jamaica nationals, was on a musical tour of Lagos circa mid-1980s and, upon completion of the tour, the group waxed a record titled “Lagos Jump.” The lyric was in praise of the maximum enjoyment the group had in Lagos especially the warm disposition of Lagosians for clubbing and night scrawling….euphemism for having a “good time.” The record became a chartbuster in the western world especially in the United States of America. Pronto…the city of Lagos started to have an influx of fun loving tourists from all corners of the globe purposely to have a feel of the good time and hospitality that made the city popular in the early 1980s. Put in plainer delivery, Lagos became a global tourist attraction.
The new-look Tinubu Square on the Lagos Island, Lagos
Lagos’ glorious years and allure for tourists were immense. The city had numerous hotspots/nightclubs in entertainment such as Kakadu, Caban Bamboo, Ariya, Miliki Spot, Paradiso, Faze 2, Koriko Bar, Palace Landing, and a long list of high grade restaurants such as Cathy, Phoenician and notable hotels such as Bristol Hotel, Federal Palace, Mainland Hotel, Ritz Hotel, Airport Hotel and Eko Hotel; including the Lagos Bar Beach which was a crowd puller for both foreign and local tourists and picnickers.
Central Lagos has a well-defined Central Business District (CBD). Linear arranged textiles shops, flourishing traditional markets, office complexes, organised retail stores such as the Kingsway, UTC, Challaram, Kwallaram, Esquire, Flower Shop, Bijou, Domino, Bata and Leonards shoe retailers and a high concentration of foreign airline offices along Martins Street. The Broad Street was a tourist delight coupled with Tinubu Square which was home to many tourist attractions. The most famous among which was the public water fountain donated to Nigeria in 1960 by the Lebanese community to mark the country’s independence. The mega water fountain was the cynosure of public eyes and a “must-see” for first-time visitors to Lagos.
The same superlative story could be told of the network of good roads with pedestrian walkways, the well-lit streets, and landscaping of public spaces. There were trees planted along the Marina with pockets of flower gardens. Municipal buses were ubiquitous with cheap fares. The buses operated late into the night, traversing the nooks and crannies of Lagos metropolis during the period under review. Seldom was there any report of an armed robbery, while such thing as street urchins was an anathema. People move freely both in the day and night without the fear of being molested. Security of city dwellers was guaranteed.
Trading activities were booming and the city council government was responsive and accountable. It provided uninterrupted social amenities.“Keep Lagos Clean” was the slogan adopted by the municipal government to discourage environmental abuse by the city residents. Frequently played as jingles on local radio stations, the mantra reminded Lagosians of their civic responsibilities in keeping their environment clean and not to indulge in the bad habit of throwing litters in the open. Public toilets were built in strategic locations in the city and the facilities were regularly maintained by attendants employed by the city council. Defecation in the open public was uncommon and a punishable offence when caught in the act. The city maintained a very reasonable level of public hygiene.
All of the above factors combined put Lagos in good stead and laid a good foundation for tourism to flourish in the city including cross-border trading from Senegal to the far corner of the Cameroon. This period of grace and buoyancy lasted for a couple of years and the Lagos State government reaped a bountiful harvest in revenue generation both from tourism and the boom of the urban economy of the sixties to the eighties.
The decline of tourism in Lagos was attributed to urbcide. The death of tourism in the city was caused by maladministration, unmanaged urbanisation, planlessness and neglect by its residents. The rot started in the early nineties when the city experienced very rapid population growth beyond the management capacity of the municipal government. Massive internal migration from the rural hinterlands all over Nigeria and external migration from other West African countries accounted for a higher percentage of the spike in population increase. Gradually, things started falling apart. The streets became congested with vehicles causing daily traffic hold-up. The provision of basic services was no more regular. The public water taps suddenly went dry.
Security became a problem while social miscreants derisively called “area boys” appeared on the scene and started harassing innocent citizens walking on the streets of Lagos soliciting for money. Many of the street urchins took to armed robbery and injected fear into those who normally go out at night for club entertainment or social party. Consequently, nightlife died a natural death because there was a drastic reduction of clientele at the various fun spots and night clubs. Businesses were losing money and folding up in trickles. The reversal of fortunes of the city, its notorious traffic, and insecurity was all it took to trigger the rapid decline in the tourism industry, most especially among the hotels and other hospitality ventures. The popular water fountain at Tinubu Square was a victim of the decline. It stopped functioning. The beautiful surrounding was abused and turned into refuse dump causing an embarrassing environmental challenge to the municipal government and a bad image for the city.
Many prospective tourists did not want to come again to a city with so many bad tales and negative publicity and fewer places of attractions to visit and relax. Lagos gradually lost its allure of tourist destination city on the African continent. Eventually, that was the end of the road for “active tourism” as a foreign exchange earner for Lagos and by extension Nigeria.
The above exposition and reminiscences are to cast back the minds of readers old enough to know about Lagos of yester-years and to essentially acquaint the younger ones about the city’s past glory. And that Lagos, (Eko wenjele) a local parlance used to depict merriment in the city was an Eldorado in its heydays.
It is innovation that enlivens the city. A CNN TV documentary titled Why Cities Matter pointed out that “the heart of urban (planning) innovation is a desire to improve the quality of life and economic opportunities for the people living in cities.” In line with this statement, city governments all over the world are in stiff competition to promote the uniqueness of their cities to outsiders in order to have a larger slice of the “tourism pie.” This is where innovation becomes crucial. It starts from creative ideas to excel in public transportation such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and glass tube bus shelters which made the city of Curitiba in Brazil very popular worldwide. The tube-shaped bus shelter made of glass material was introduced as public furniture out of innovation and it was the tool used in drawing tourists to that city till date. The bullet trains in Tokyo, Japan put that city in the limelight of world tourism as far back as half a century ago.The Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States is a hub of ICT and global technology companies, which attracts millions of tourists to the area annually. Some cities use creative/historical landmarks, monuments, and cultural heritage as charms to promote tourism. Others cities build state-of-the-art conference centres for business exhibitions, and sophisticated sporting arena to attract global sporting events such the World Cup, the Olympic and World Tennis competitions.
In the league of cities that use art, amusement parks, architecture as attractions to promote tourism is Chicago famously known as the Windy City. It is popular for its distinct theater district, the grandiose Millennium Park, Navy Pier, and a spectacular sculpture named The Bean. It has a dominant long stretch of shopping corridor known as the Magnificent Mile which tourists flock in millions for shopping. For beach lovers, Chicago has a 25-mile long sandy beach abutting Lake Michigan one of the five Great Lakes of North America. The beach is combined with a park for relaxation and a trail route for cycling and walking to facilitate daily exercise. There are cosmopolitan cities with rich cultures which they have used to their advantage to promote tourism. New York City is better known as the capital city of the world. The megacity is the most visited urban centre by foreign tourists coming to the United States. It is home to an endless list of interesting places, which are irresistible to tourists from all corners of the globe.
What this affirms is that a city cannot climb higher on the “tourism ladder” or command high visibility if it has nothing to showcase, nothing to attract and nothing that would create experiences and reminiscences for tourists about the city. We now dovetail this expose on the impact of the new face of Tinubu Square.
The Lagos State Government is staging a come back to boost tourism. The current administration is mindful of the potentials of tourism in creating employment and its high-yield revenue capability. It is against this background that the wholesale renovation of the once derelict; but historically important Tinubu Square is a good reason for Lagosians to give Governor Akinwunmi Amode a standing ovation. The Lagos State Government has come to the realisation that without making valiant efforts to develop and sell its niche tourism areas and bring specific innovation into the fold, it would be a dent on the status and recognition of Lagos as a megacity. The city can never appear on the radar of world tourism.
The plan to revamp Tinubu Square and the actual completion of the project followed by its commission on Friday, January 27, 2017, was a “big plus” for the reputation of the current administration in Lagos State. The Tinubu Arcade has a rich history as a melting point for the indigenous Lagosians, the Brazilian descendants and the British colonialists dating back to the 1800s. From written account, Tinubu Square’s towering importance was because of its antecedence as the economic heartbeat of Lagos harbouring a collection of government buildings, an elaborate terminus for public transportation, and unique architectural edifices owned by wealthy local merchants and business tycoons among whom was an amazon popularly and affectionately called Madam Efunporoye Tinubu after whom the square was appropriately named. For reason of limited space, this writer cannot adequately profile her life and times in this piece.
The attraction of Tinubu Square reached a peak when a giant water fountain was constructed at the centre of the square to mark Nigeria’s independence in 1960. Instantly, the landmark became a mecca for visitors. On a daily basis, mammoth crowd visited the site eager to have a glimpse of the artistic man-made waterfall. The Square remained a leading tourist spot until the eighties and thereafter its popularity began to pale into oblivion due to lack of maintenance and official neglect.
Governor Amode walks his talk. The comprehensive and sophisticated transformation of Tinubu Square by the present administration was an indication of good governance. There are widespread nostalgic feelings among Lagosians about the new development of the historic public space and economically, it has reopened new opportunity to promote tourism in Lagos. Its past popularity as an iconic landmark has been revived and the positive effects are already being felt in so many ways. The Arcade was adorned with colourful neon and bright electric lights thereby enhancing the security of the hood at night unlike in the past when it was possible for night marauders to lurk in the dark and terrorise innocent people walking on the road sidewalks. Some schools have started bringing their wards to the site for excursion and those who read or heard about the facelift have started visiting the site to confirm the report, savour the beautiful ambience and take pictures to keep as mementos.
The erection of the statues of Madam Tinubu and that of the legendary and visually impaired street entertainer drummer Kokoro has important values to those who want to know about these two historic personalities. The miniature botanical garden replete with different species of flowers was a well-conceived idea. It could serve as a scenic background for photography, and very soon the crowd of local visitors and external tourists would begin to troupe to Tinubu Square at the rate of intensity similar to what obtained 40 years ago. That would herald a new dawn and revival of tourism in the megacity.
Kalikasan PNE, a member organisation of the Yes to Life, No to Mining (YLNM) network, is calling on the Philippine Department for Environment and Natural Resources to close 21 and suspend five large-scale mines as part of a major effort to tackle predatory extractivism in the Philippines. The mining companies should pay for the damage they have caused, says Kalikasan.
Environment Secretary of The Philippines, Gina Lopez
Environmental activist group, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE), praised the breaking announcement of Environment Secretary, Gina Lopez, ordering the closure of 21 large-scale mining operations and the suspension of an additional five more mines.
“This is a significant victory for the long-standing people’s struggles against destructive large-scale mining and a job well done for Sec. Lopez. We urge all relevant government agencies to immediately enforce the closure and suspension of all 26 mining companies, as the affected communities have been clamouring to expedite this since the announcement of the mining audit’s initial results last September,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan PNE.
Sec. Lopez’s announcement was the culmination of the DENR’s mining audit covering all 40 operating large-scale mines in the Philippines. Initial results announced by Sec. Lopez back in September 2016 showed that there are 10 mines upheld for suspension and some 20 more recommended for suspension.
“Sec. Lopez should compel all the erring mining companies to compensate for the full rehabilitation of the degraded watersheds, agricultural lands, and other ecosystems. The compensation should unconditionally go to the DENR’s plan to engage communities in an ‘area development approach’ in restoring and redeveloping the sites that will be vacated by the mines,” said Bautista.
The large-scale mines ordered for closure include: BenguetCorp Nickel Mines Incorporated, Eramen Minerals Incorporated, LNL Archipelago Minerals Incorporated, Zambales Diversified Metals Corporation, Mt Sinai Mining Exploration and Development Corporation, Emir Minerals Corporation, Techiron Mineral Resources Incorporated, AAMPHIL Natural Resources Exploration, Krominco, Incorporated, Oriental Vision Mining Philippines Corporation, Libjo Mining Corporation, Adnama Mining Resources, Incorporated, Platinum Group Metals Corporation, Claver Mineral Development Corporation, Hinatuan Mining Corporation, Sinosteel PH, Wellex Mining, Oriental Synergy, CTP Construction and Mining, Carrascal Nickel and Marcventures.
Meanwhile, the five mines suspended were: OceanaGold Phils Incorporated, Lepanto Consolidated, Citinickel Mines and Development, Berong Nickel Corporation and Ore Asia Mining and Development.
“All affected communities hosting these mines up for closure or suspension must remain vigilant as we expect resistance from the mining companies and the bureaucrats in their fold. Sec. Lopez should strengthen her cooperation with grassroots communities and social movements in working towards the closure of all these erring mines,” added Bautista.
There was upheaval in September 2002 when tens of Nigerian factory workers died in a fire accident that swept through the factory wing of the West Africa Rubber Products Limited (WARP) in Ikorodu area of Lagos. The fire licked the factory and the neighboring Super Engineering Limited, both of which are owned by a Shanghai and Hong Kong conglomerate.
A tobacco factory worker
By the time the last smoke from the factory was put out, about 100 young Nigerians were burnt beyond recognition. That incident shocked the country when the details were made public.
The Panel of Inquiry set up by the Lagos State Government to investigate the incident learnt that, as a company policy, once the foreign nationals in the factory are inside, the doors are not locked. But once the foreigners step out, they lock the Nigerian workers inside and go away with the keys. On the day of the incident on September 16, 2002, it took police intervention to stop local residents from lynching the owners when they stormed the premises. The locals accused them of locking the staff in the factory and thus causing their deaths.
No doubt, Nigerians are not new to happenings like the one above. Across the length and breadth of the country, factory hands are made to face harrowing work conditions, abuses and deaths in some cases, from ruthless employers whose only interests lie in making profits even at the cost of human life.
More than a decade and half after, the situation has not changed. Ex-workers of a leading tobacco firm in Ibadan are now in the news with details of how they now carry in their bodies the indelible marks of the hazards they were exposed to while working for the tobacco firm. At a press conference last year in Lagos, they alleged poor working conditions and that they suffer debilitating illnesses even after they were laid off unceremoniously.
Some of them who say they worked for as long as 12 years and were employed in good health condition claim that, after few years of work, they now have ailments such as chronic sinusitis, chronic high blood pressure, and ingrown, among others.
They alleged working with obsolete machines and that they were made to use their nostrils to perceive tobacco leaves. Natural tobacco is known to have upwards of 40 known or probable carcinogens. Experts say tobacco leaves still have those heart-stopping qualities causing higher blood pressure, higher risk of artery clotting and stroke. The most damning allegation was that whenever they were ill and needed medicare the tobacco firm sent them to hospitals they patronised and continued to change hospitals to avoid the detection of the illnesses they were coming down with.
One of them who wrote the tobacco firm through his lawyer to compensate him on the basis of his ailment, said “They wrote back that I had a pre-existing sickness before I joined the company”, even when it is a known fact that the said company subjects its intending employees to rigorous medical tests before employing them. These allegations are weighty.
For the under-informed, the Nigerian Labour Laws says an employer is obligated to provide safe system of work for employees. Under the Factories Act, employers/owners or occupiers of a factory are “to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees within the factory. Thus, it is the duty of the employer to ensure that the provisions of the Factories Act relating to cleanliness, overcrowding, ventilation, lighting, drainage and sanitary conveniences are complied with. Furthermore, the Act makes it the duty of the employer to provide a safe means of access and safe place of employment. Sections 47 and 48 of the Act also make it mandatory for factory workers to be provided with protective clothing and appliances, where they are employed in any process involving excessive exposure to wet or to injurious or offensive substance.
In view of the above, the Ministry of Labour must step in to verify the claims of the workers and ensure they get justice. The fundamental question about the premium placed on human lives by the Nigerian government comes to the fore as it is government’s duty to ensure that maximum safety standards are complied with in the workplace. In the case at hand, if the company fingered in this abuse is found wanting it must face the full weight of the law. Hospitals that may also have colluded with the said company to doctor medical reports must also get the axe of the Nigerian Medical Council. Nigerians are known to face harsh work conditions owning to migration to supposed lands of yore. Such situations must not be allowed here. A stitch in time will save thousands of our factory workers.
By Ogunjimi Michael (Public affairs analyst; Abeokuta, Ogun State)
Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa, has said that the assignment of Fiji’s presidency of the 23rd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to UNFCCC highlights the importance of addressing the vulnerability small island states.
Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UNFCCC
Espinosa, who made the remarks at the close of a three-day Planning Meeting for COP23 on Wednesday, February 1 2017 in Suva, said Fiji’s taking on the role was a big move and a positive signal to the international community.
“I am actually very grateful to Fiji for having taken this big responsibility and its good news for the international community,” she said.
According to her, it was appropriate for Fiji to take up the role as it was among those other small islands that are greatly affected by climate change.
“We are very impressed wth the way Fiji is preparing for the presidency and the fact that the Prime Minister (Voreqe Bainimarama) himself decided to take up the task of presiding over the conference is very important,” Espinosa stated, adding that Fiji had the full support of the UNFCCC secretariat to perform its duties.
She disclosed that they were entering into a new way of actualising the conference and that they had already held various specific meetings to prepare for COP23, which is scheduled to hold November 2017.
Her words: “I think there is a lot of willingness and the leadership is very important to have the team organised. There is assurance that we are in the right track with the preparations.”
