The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that two million adolescents are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and that 82% of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Advocates say anti-HIV/AIDS campaign should be made compulsory in schools.
By Vivienne Irikefe
The National Demographic Health Survey estimates that Nigeria loses about 2,350 children everyday because Nutrition Malnutrition is one of the major causes of these deaths.
The country also loses 145 women of child-bearing age everyday due to pregnancy-related complications.
Malnutrition is one of the major causes of these deaths.
Vivienne Irikefe looks at how nutrition can address the staggering statistics.
Nigeria is yet to have any climate change specific law enacted by the National Assembly (the legislative arm of government) and assented to by the President, the Climate Scorecard has said.
Climate Scorecard, a not-for-profit that operates an interactive site where concerned parties can participate in post-Paris Agreement efforts to reduce emissions in the 25 top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting countries, stated however that the country has adopted several environmental and sectoral policies, strategies, and plans where climate change adaptation could apply. But it adds that, at present, their use in enabling and supporting climate change adaptation is limited.
It points out that, in 2012, the Federal Executive Council adopted a comprehensive strategy policy on climate change: the Nigeria Climate Change Policy Response and Strategy, adding that its overarching objective is to promote low-carbon, high-growth economic development and build a climate-resilient society through the achievement of the following targets:
It notes that, through the policy, Nigeria intends to foster sustainable development by means of national initiatives that strengthen the country’s strategies on climate change preparedness, adaptation and mitigation across all sectors of society including vulnerable groups. But the site stresses that the success or failure of the policy is still too early to determine, given that it has only been recently adopted.
Nonetheless, it adds, a number of studies on climate change vulnerabilities and adaptation strategies have been conducted by civil society groups, academia, faith-based organisations, the private sector, government agencies and international donor organisations, leading to the publication of the National Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action for Climate Change Nigeria in 2011, a document that describes strategies, programmes and measures for 13 important economic and social sectors.
Climate Scorecard believes that even though the policy document did not find official support, the efforts of the aforementioned groups contributed to the adoption of a National Climate Change Policy and Response Strategy by the Federal Executive Council.
According to the site, there have been calls to establish a National Climate Change Commission that would coordinate climate issues nationwide, but bill on setting up the commission is yet to be approved.
In the meantime it discloses, there is the Department of Climate Change, domiciled within the Federal Ministry of Environment, which is responsible for the handling of climate change issues. The Federal Government of Nigeria is also said to have established the National Climate Change Trust Fund and the Environmental Sustainability Group to design and attract financing mechanisms for adaptation initiatives.
“Given its recent adoption, it is yet to be seen if there is need to increase the capacity of the policy to improve reduction of greenhouse gases and what lessons, if any, there are for possible adoption/adaptation by other countries,” the Climate Scorecard concludes.
Besides Nigeria, the top GHG emitting countries include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland and Russia.
Others are: Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States.
Climate Scorecard proposes that each of these countries be responsible for achieving six results listed below:
These results are based on recommendations in the COP21 Agreement (Results 1, 2, 5, and 7) in benchmark standards for the GHG emission targets set by pledges made by the EU (Result 4) and by the Climate Scorecard Project (Results 3 and 6).
The United Nations has designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development. According to the global body, the year is an opportunity to look at how tourism is affected by climate change .How emissions from the sector can be curbed, along with finding ways for the industry to better adapt to the inevitable impacts of rising global average temperatures.
Over one billion international tourists travel the world each year. Tourism provides millions of jobs and is crucial for national and local economies, not least in the developing world.
More than many other industries, tourism relies on a stable climate, and is already being impacted.Also increased incidents of storms and heatwaves, desertification, fresh water loss, rising sea levels that threaten coastal resorts, and diminished snowfall in alpine skiing areas.
The UN’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) estimates that tourism is responsible of about 5% of global CO2 emissions. Accommodation accounts for approximately 20% of emissions from tourism. This involves heating, air-conditioning and the maintenance of bars, restaurants and pools.
The transport sector, including air, car and rail, generates the largest proportion, with 75% of all emissions. Transport can be avoided by choosing the most sustainable form of transport at least for inland travel, which is rail, says the UNWTO.
Tourist and business travelers, along with companies and organisations, can offset the carbon footprint of their trips by plane or car by purchasing UN-certified offsets provided through the UN’s Climate Neutral Now Initiative, discloses the UN.
It adds that Climate Neutral Now is also active in helping entire sub-sectors of the tourism transport industry, such as airports, measure, reduce and offset and their emissions.
Kicking off the sustainable tourism this year is the International Tourism Fair in Spain (FITUR), taking place on January 18-22 in Madrid.
The fair comprises a number of events organised by the UNWTO including the official presentation of the International Year on January 18.
Also on January 18 is the 13th Edition of the UNWTO Awards on Innovation and Excellence in Tourism. The awards will commend some of the best examples of sustainable tourism around the world.
In addition to the presentation of the International Year Sustainable Tourism for Development and the awards, more than 20 ministers of tourism from Africa will debate the opportunities that the sector can bring to the continent.
The potential of tourism in the MENA region (the Middle East and North Africa) and how to strengthen the resilience of tourism in the region will be also discussed at the fair by the ministers.
The Nigerian government has been told to reconsider its bitumen exploitation ventures as the mining activity has the tendency to degrade the environment.
This submission formed part of a list of resolutions agreed on by participants at a recent forum in Akure, Ondo State, where the corrosiveness and dirty nature of bitumen extraction was decried.
At a Consultative Forum involving communities in the bitumen belt from Ondo, Edo and Ogun states held last month at the instance of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), government was told to halt any agreements with unknown companies, breaking free from fossils and explore safe and clean renewables that are cheap and community-driven.
They underlined the need for the convening of a national forum of bitumen communities with adequate representation from all communities that fall under the bitumen belt, adding that an institutional structure or agency that the communities can interface or engage with should be put in place.
They also want an updated geo-mapping and conduct of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study in the communities to address the genuine concerns of the communities.
“The Nigerian government should leave the tar in the sand to avoid the crisis in the Niger Delta repeating in the bitumen belt. Before bitumen extraction, there must be a review of the Mining Act 2007 to reflect existing realities and concerns by the local communities. There must be transparency and accountability in the entire bitumen belt,” reads a communique issued at the close of the gathering on December 22, 2016.
The communities, who say that there has been no consultation or formal agreements with them as the Federal Government ploughs deeper into its plans to exploit bitumen within their doorsteps, want the immediate commencement of the process of engaging them in a dialogue so as to create awareness and unity amongst them in their agitation for a better environment.
They likewise clamour for the clean up of Ogoniland as a first step and other communities across the country impacted by fossil fuels, pointing out that, in doing this, the government must ensure the protection of the people and the sustainability of a healthy environment.
The Nigerian bitumen deposit, put at some 42.74 billion metric tons, is said to be the second largest in the world. Discovered in 1900, it covers 120 kilometres costal belts of Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Edo states.
Naturally occurring or crude bitumen is a sticky, tar-like form of petroleum which is so thick and heavy that it must be heated or diluted before it will flow. Bitumen is also mixed with granite to produce asphalt, which is the major product used for road construction.
Deputy Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Akinbode Oluwafemi, explained that the meeting was called to examine new developments in the light of President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to finally start bitumen exploitation and exploration.
In a presentation titled: “Time to Leave Tar in the Sand!”, Oluwafemi explained that despite all the government had said about diversification, the kind of diversification community people want in the energy sector is one that is clean, safe, community-driven and cheap. He noted, however, that bitumen is not any of these things since it is heavy crude and considered dirty energy.
During the deliberations that ensued, participants observed that:
“You teach me, I forget. You show me, I remember. You involved me, I understand.”…Edward O. Wilson, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer prize for Non-fiction(NITP:Healthy and pollution-free environment ).
Readers are reminded that the first part of this article was published in the Monday, January 2, 2017, edition of EnviroNews an online platform for news on the environment, human settlement, climate change, renewable energy, sustainable development, science and technology, water and sanitation etc.
In that article, the central focus was on law and constitutional matters as they affect the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP). We argued then that although there is a subsisting law known as the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law of 1992, that law is in obscurity. It has suffered a serious setback due to the Supreme Court judgment of 2006, which rendered some of the law’s provisions nugatory. As a result, the law was not effectively implemented, as it should be. The three tiers of government in Nigeria (Federal, State, and Local governments) have been lackadaisical about the roles they are expected to play in matters of urban and regional planning at their respective levels.
We expatiated on the way forward to resolve the legal knotty issue, most especially the roles the NITP must play to change the tide. The pivotal role we suggested was that the NITP must, through extensive lobbying, enlist the support of both the House of Representatives and the Senate so that the required amendment to the law is effected with minimal delay. The central and most important provision of the extant Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law of 1992 which the lawmakers ought to consider for an accelerated review or amendment is to make matters of planning a “tripartite participation” by all tiers of government in Nigeria for the good of the country. Such move will be in line with global best practice.
Therefore, the leadership of the NITP should get up, reach out, and get the nation’s lawmakers involved and informed. “If the Institute teaches the lawmakers, they may forget. If it shows them, they may remember. If you really engage and directly involve the lawmakers, they will understand the necessity for the amendment of the imperfect law.” (apologies to Edward O. Wilson whose famous quote at the beginning of this article is adapted). By having more people involved in the cause of the NITP makes the Institute stronger and more visible than hitherto.
The second and concluding part of the article will focus on Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT). How does the NITP use such media to the benefit of its member? How effectively does it reach out to over 3000-stronghold members and the reading public? The ICT issue should be a concern to members who try to access the NITP website for planning information or knowledge acquisition. This writer has severally accessed the NITP website online in search of information, which ordinarily was taken for granted that it should be found on that website; but, surprisingly, it was not found at the online portal.
I will give an illustrative example of such personal experience. My visit to the NITP website late December 2016 in search for a copy of the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law of 1992 in order to download the content of the law, met with a brick wall. Two, I also looked frantically without success on the website for a link that could take me to the knowledge/resource centre to acquaint myself with the available information on the Institute’s library, books, specialty publications, planning magazine/newsletter, applied research and other relevant documents essential for planning development for all categories of membership such as student, corporate, fellow and planning practitioners. The missing was beyond comprehension. It is being brought to the notice of those in charge of ICT at the Institute national secretariat to know about it and contemplate the consequence in advancing planning education in Nigeria.
The creation of a knowledge/resource centre on the portal of NITP should be paramount among the sundry information that the Institute incorporates on its website. It will serve as an avenue where visitors to the site can explore the most comprehensive knowledge in the planning profession either to arouse their interest in the subject matter as beginners or as practitioners who want to keep abreast, informed and strive for innovation. As the saying goes…..knowledge is power.
The NITP needs to sharpen its communication skill. It will facilitate in getting its message about “liveable and sustainable cities in Nigeria” effectively across to the larger audience of the reading public. Firstly, its website must be information prolific and user-friendly such that those seeking any minute information about planning in Nigeria can easily access it. Such accessibility must be open to all end-users either town planning professionals, allied professionals, non-professionals corporate entities.
Secondly, in this age of the internet-of-things, the NITP cannot be passive but active. It must be responsive to the needs of its numerous members in Nigeria and in the Diaspora. Planning career development, job oppourtunities, mentoring, emerging issues, planner profiles, cross-country collaboration, public policy advocacy, planners’ communication guide, consultants online, international planning, specialty divisions are many of the suggested topics that the NITP should curate materials and create portals on its website in order to provide useful information on planning for planners and internet users. There must be accountability and transparency about how the Institute is administered and managed. For example, the details of its annual budget are information that should not be kept in secrecy.
The Institute is also enjoined to be data conscious on the annual dues paid by members, the annual breakdown of the membership strength aggregated into gender and a list of academic institutions that offer diplomas/certificates/degrees in urban planning in Nigeria are all desirable statistics the Institute should have in its repertoire of information. There are other useful data that the Institute should endeavor to generate regularly because, in the planning profession, data is the sine qua non. The NITP which blames others for lack of data for planning must not be caught in the web of its own criticism. It must practice what it preaches and religiously imbibe a culture of data generation. As they say….little things matter.
Thirdly, the NITP should start to expand the horizon of its outreach to the public and showcase what planning has been able to achieve in solving any of the problems plaguing Nigerian cities. The notorious among the problems are traffic congestion, environmental pollution, housing shortage and other inter-related problems caused by unmanaged urbanisation.
What is the possible avenue that can be exploited to achieve this end goal? Let ingenuity come on board by establishing the NITP’s version of National Community Planning Month (NCPM) and National Planning Awards (NPA). For the NCPM, a particular month will be chosen in the year for the celebration by sharing. During the celebration, the planner’s work or programme intervention that makes a town, city or region better will be a showcase to the nation.
The NPA will be used to scout for excellent efforts by individuals or corporate bodies in planning, purposely for recognition and token reward as an incentive. This way, other colleagues/practitioners will be inspired, energised and aspired to be nationally recognised.
The ad hoc approach being currently adopted by the NITP does not make such National Award a yearly diary event. It must be on the annual calendar of events of the Institute, which every member should eagerly look forward to witness or participate as an awardee. When a professional body propagates what it does and rewards excellence in the process, it must have made 360-degree accomplishment in terms of publicity, enlightenment, and public relation.
It is no secret that having a professionally upgraded website is a magnet to drawing contemporary readers. Effort must be made to have the website well designed, user-friendly and properly maintained to contain a lot of data in order to draw the most traffic. This would require the expertise of a highly rated website developer, not an amateur.
Additionally, in this digital information age, the Institute must take advantage of what is known in ICT parlance as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Modern SEO as a device is the best way the Institute can better promote its website online. Even if the website is information-studded but if it has limited traffic, its purpose will be defeated and useless. It is the application of the SEO that could make a huge difference. SEO utilises “embedded links and keywords to get higher ratings on search engines.” By getting higher in the rankings on search engines the Institute will be more visible to the relevant readers or online information seekers.
A few of the thought-provoking ideas suggested here are suitable and practicable agenda for the NITP in 2017 fiscal year. They are relevant and important in the scale of priority. The Institute should be “evangelical” in its approach to public enlightenment, civic engagement, collaboration with the lawmakers and government officials and to whoever cares to listen. Concluded.
By Tpl.Yacoob Abiodun (Planning Advocate, wrote from Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos)
A call has gone to the international conservation community to protect the Sepintun forest, a haven for Sumatran elephants, which are critically endangered as their forest home is being destroyed.
Some of the last Sumatran elephants are said to roam the forest of Sepintun – a habitat that is being trashed for oil palm, pulp and rubber plantations, and one which conservationists insist urgently needs to be protected from the threat of industrial plantations.
The Sumatran elephant (or Elephas maximus sumatrensis) is one of three recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to the Indonesia island of Sumatra. It is a sub-species of the Asian elephant which includes the Indian elephant, the Sumatran elephant, the Sri-Lanka elephant and the Borneo elephant.
The Sumatran elephant is now said to be extremely rare, with estimates in 2,000 putting Sumatran elephant numbers at just over 2,000 individuals. However, the Sumatran elephant population has severely declined as they have reportedly lost more than 80% of their natural habitat to deforestation for palm oil plantations.
Reinhard Behrend of Rainforest Rescue says: “The owners of the plantations on their former habitat consider the elephants to be vermin. Yet there are still forests where the elephants can live: one of them is the forest of Sepintun in Jambi province. This last fragment of primary forest is home to a small herd of female elephants and their calves. They still follow their ancient trails, many of which now lead through plantations.
“While the elephants themselves are protected, companies and authorities are denying that they exist and want to clear their forest for a plantation. That would spell the end of the critically endangered herd.”
Feri Irawan of Marhoni states: “No more than 150 elephants currently live in all of Jambi province. They are critically endangered by the oil palm, pulp and rubber plantations and coal mines that are eating away at their habitat. All but 1,500 hectares of Sepintun’s forests are gone.
“However, as far as companies and the authorities are concerned, the elephants do not exist: Only by denying that elephants still live in the region will they be able to clear the forest of Sepintun for plantations.”
The Federal Government should urgently take steps to develop the Gashaka-Gumti National Park (GGNP) in Taraba State into a tourism site to avoid the reserve being turned into a hideout for terrorists, the state governor, Darius Ishaku, has warned.
The governor said the GGNP, gazetted from two game reserves in 1991, should never be allowed to go the way of Sambisa Forest, where Boko Haram terrorists are believed to be holding out. The GGNP is Nigeria’s largest national park and one of the largest parks in West Africa.
The park, which is managed by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), covers a large expanse of land traversing Taraba and Adamawa states. Gashaka-Gumti National Park was created by a Federal Decree in 1991 by the merging of Gashaka Game Reserve with Gumti Game Reserve.
Ishaku, in a statement issued on his behalf by Mr Emmanuel Bello, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Affairs, in Jalingo, the state capital, said the Nigerian government must ask itself some pertinent questions which has to do with Sambisa following its capture.
“After the capture of Sambisa Forest, one of the things the Federal Government must ask itself is how that forest became a breeding ground for the type of atrocity that reportedly went on there. Ordinarily, Sambisa should have been a paradise on earth with its potential for tourism and scientific researches. Today, the name, Sambisa, may forever be associated with negativity. I call on the Federal Government to be proactive about tourism,” the governor was quoted as saying in the statement
The governor also called on the Federal Government, following the capture of Sambisa by Nigerian troops, to concentrate its efforts on developing tourism potential of other forest reserves so that they are not allowed to become another hideout for criminals.
The statement reads, “We may never know, but if that Sambisa forest was put to good use, who knows, maybe we would have been spared all the horrors. Please, let this not become the fate of another potential paradise called Gashaka-Gumti.”
The governor noted that, on its part, it was doing its best to develop the park and called on the Federal Government to shift its focus to harnessing the tourism potential of the park and those of others and thus develop tourism.
By Hindi Livinus, Yola
Gashaka-Gumti National Park is located in a mountainous region of North-east Nigeria adjacent to the international border with Cameroon, and immediately to the North of the Mambilla plateau. No roads cross this remote region and only a few lonely footpaths wind through the forested mountains towards Cameroon. Visitors to the park are able to enjoy lush forests, wide sweeping grasslands, cool highland plateaus, rugged moody mountains, abundant wildlife, and fascinating ethnic cultures, all combined within a single protected area.
There are few other places in the world that contain such spectacular scenery and such diverse wildlife. The hidden corner of West Africa that is Gashaka-Gumti National Park is surely one of the continent’s best kept secrets.
Gashaka-Gumti National Park, the largest park in Nigeria, covers 6,731 sq km of wilderness. The park’s name is derived from two of the region’s oldest and most historic settlements: Gashaka village in Taraba State, and Gumti village in Adamawa State. Gashaka-Gumti National Park was created by Federal Decree in 1991 by the merging of Gashaka Game Reserve with Gumti Game Reserve. In this guidebook we will use the term Gashaka sector to indicate the Southern half of the park, and the term Gumti sector to indicate the Northern half.
The Northern, Gumti sector of the park is relatively flat and covered with woodlands and grasslands, whilst the Southern, Gashaka sector is more mountainous and contains vast expanses of rainforest as well as areas of woodlands and montane grassland. This rugged terrain is characterised by steep, thickly forested slopes, deep plunging valleys, precipitous escarpments and swiftly flowing rivers. Altitude ranges from 450 metres above sea level in the wild savannah plains of the Northern sector, to the peaks and pinnacles of Gangirwal in the Southern park sector, which at a staggering 2,400 metres above sea level, represents Nigeria’s highest mountain.
It is the sheer variety of different habitats within Gashaka-Gumti National Park that makes the area so uniquely rich in wildlife. In fact the park is actually an intricate mosaic of montane grasslands, savannah woodlands, swamps, lakes, mighty rivers, dark lowland rainforests, and luxuriant, montane rainforests strewn with ferns and orchids. Each habitat supports its own distinctive community of plants and animals.
Rainforests provide a haven for animals such as the Giant forest hog, leopard, Yellow-backed duiker, Golden cat, and many different primate species including chimpanzees. Woodland savannahs are home to buffalo, lion, elephant, and Wild dog, as well as various antelopes such as waterbuck, Roan antelope, kob, hartebeest and the world’s largest antelope, the Giant eland. The mountains of the park harbour populations of the rare Adamawa mountain reedbuck, in addition to Black-and-white colobus monkey, baboon, warthog, oribi, and klipspringer. Whilst its largest unspoilt rivers contain hippos, crocodiles, otters and a wide variety of fishes. The park is officially labelled as one of Africa’s “Important Bird Areas” – and with more than 500 species found here, this is certainly no exaggeration. Visiting bird watchers constantly add new species to the list. An additional abundance of creatures such as butterflies, flowers and trees, makes this park a naturalists’ paradise, unrivalled anywhere for diversity.
By Andrew Dunn
If current trends continue and the world fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nearly all of the world’s coral reefs will suffer severe bleaching – the gravest threat to one of the Earth’s most important ecosystems – on annual basis, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has said Climate Change.
The finding is part of a study funded by UNEP and partners, which reviewed new climate change projections to predict which corals will be affected first and at what rate. The report is published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.
When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to bleach, or turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching.
Researchers found that the reefs in Taiwan and the Turks and Caicos archipelago will be among the first to experience annual bleaching, followed by reefs off the coast of Bahrain, in Chile and in French Polynesia.
Calling the predictions “a treasure trove” for environmentalists, the head of UNEP, Erik Solheim, said the projects allow conservationists and governments to prioritise the protection reef protection.
“The projections show us where we still have time to act before it’s too late,” Mr. Solheim said.
On average, the reefs will start to undergo annual bleaching starting in 2014, according to the study. Without the required minimum of five years to regenerate, the annual occurrences will have a deadly effect on the corals and disrupt the ecosystems which they support.
However, if Governments act on emission reduction pledges made in the Paris Agreement, which calls on countries to combat climate change and limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius, the corals would have another 11 years to adapt to the warming seas.
Between 2014 and 2016, the world witnessed the longest global bleaching event recorded. Among the casualties was the Great Barrier Reef, with 90 per cent of it bleached and 20 per cent of the reef’s coral killed.
