Experts at a panel discussion on off-grid systems at the 2018 Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) have identified off-grid systems as the way out Africa’s rural electrification challenges.
Off-grid energy: A rural community lighted by solar power
This is coming on the heels of the report that about 40% of new connections required to achieve universal energy access will come from off-grid solutions with 35% being mini-grid solutions and 5% as standalone systems
The panel, which comprised Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for infrastructure, energy, ICT and tourism at the African Union Commission, agreed that off-grid power generation can take place in Africa in various forms starting from the simplest systems consisting of a PV-panel and a battery to high installed power isolated grids.
“With off-grid systems, Africa stands a better chance of leapfrogging other regions of the world in Energiewende (energy transition),” Dr Abou-Zeid said.
Other panellists which included Seleshi Bekele Awulachew, Ethiopian water, irrigation and electricity minister; Mamisoa Rakotoarimanana, executive secretary of the Rural Electrification Agency in Madagascar; as well as Thomas Duveau, Molly Webb, and Eckard Wolf, however cautioned that, for off-grid systems to succeed in Africa, it is essential to have a good regulatory framework that can anticipate and accommodate various implementation structures including business operation models that encourage private sector investment.
It is important, panellists say, for Africa to deploy innovative methods in addressing the persistent challenges in the region’s energy sector.
Acknowledging Africa’s lack of strong institutional capacity as a major drawback of the region’s aspirations for clean energy transition, the energy commissioner declared AU’s readiness to provide member states “with policy solutions including regulations and standards towards an affordable, faster and more beneficial transition across all sectors of our economies.”
“We are committed to a cleaner, more secure and sustainable energy supply. Realizing this would require joint effort with all our partners in coordinating initiatives and sharing best practices to realise decisive and effective steps towards energy transition,” Dr Abou-Zeid added
Peter Altmeier, German energy minister at the dialogue, said: “It is possible to create prosperity, peace and security through Energiewende. Energy transition can provide more opportunities to this end for Africa and other regions of the world.”
African non-state actors were not left out of the global energy meet as they underlined the need for the Berlin dialogue to recognise and apply the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) in their quest to liberate Africa from energy poverty.
The CBDR principle recognises historical differences in the contribution of developed and developing states to global environmental problems as well as differences in their respective economic and technical capacity to tackle these problems.
Augustine B Njamnshi, Coordinator, of the African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access (ACSEA), called on the German government and other developed countries “to draw parallel between those who have the luxury and option of transitioning from fossil-based energy to clean energy and those who do not have access to any form of energy at all and are in urgent need of energy.”
“For Energiewende to succeed in Africa, developed countries must recognise their historic responsibility and prioritise Africa’s needs through innovative financing and technology,” Njamshi added.
The people of Orumba North and Orumba South in Anambra State have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency to the unending erosion disaster in the federal constituency.
Gully erosion in southeast Nigeria
They made the request in Abuja on Friday, April 20, 2018 when the traditional and town union leaders, led by the member representing the federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Rep Ben Nwankwo, visited Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The lawmaker told State House Correspondents after the meeting that the disaster was beyond the capacity of the affected communities and the state to handle.
He said that the disaster required urgent intervention of both the federal government and international agencies.
“We are here on a triple mission; the first is to commend the federal government of Nigeria through the Vice President on their very gargantuan input toward the burial of (late) Dr Alex Ekwueme.
“The second mission is to notify them of the war going on in Orumba North and South between erosion and the people as to who owns the land.
“While there is Boko Haram in the North East there is `erosion Haram’ in the South East particularly in Anambra state.
“The Agulu-Oko-Nanka, down to Umunze is the deepest gully erosion in the country and we have notified the Vice President of this situation; about 100 houses have caved in and hundreds of people rendered homeless.
“They are squatting at various places and we are asking for international intervention especially in the area of survey, risk assessment, mapping and ecological engineering.
“But most importantly, the site in-toto should be declared ecological emergency to give it the attention it rightly deserves so that the international community should be able to come into it, otherwise the next two years there will be more disaster.’’
Nwankwo said that the third plea was to ask the Federal Government to upgrade the two federal institutions in the area to degree-awarding institutions.
They are the Federal Polytechnic, Oko in Orumba North and the Federal College of Education, Technical, Umunze in Orumba South.
He explained that the request was to ensure that both institutions did not continue to produce manpower that would not be utilised by the industry.
The lawmaker stated that the request was trendy and international, adding that more than 13 countries had such polytechnic universities.
Nwankwo commended the President in the onerous task of fixing Nigeria.
The Rep said that the declaration of the erosion emergency was not essentially a legislative process but one that could be started by the executive.
He said the communities had properly situated it with the executive domain and promised that when the leadership tabled it before the National Assembly, it would receive positive attention.
Nwankwo said that the legislative instrument that would back the request was already before the National Assembly.
The traditional ruler of Oko, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, added that the erosion situation in the region had continued to grow worse with every rain and called for urgent help by the federal government.
“We are pleading and praying and urging the government to do everything possible to start work on it with international help.
“It is beyond the community, beyond the state even beyond the federal government but it can initiate the process of getting outside bodies to assist.
“We are in the great danger of losing the whole communities and beyond; whatever the media can do to help to urge everybody to come to assist and to save our souls we will appreciate it,’’ the monarch said.
Increasing the speed of global renewable energy adoption by at least a factor of six – critical to meeting energy-related emission reduction needs of the Paris Climate Agreement – can limit global temperature rise to two degrees, according to the latest edition of the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) long-term renewable energy outlook.
Director-General, International Renewable Energy Agency, Adnan Z. Amin
At the same time, the report finds that, by 2050, the global economy would grow by one per cent and global welfare, including benefits not captured by GDP, such as health benefits from reduced air pollution and reduced climate impacts, among others, would improve by 15 per cent, compared to the current trajectory.
“Global Energy Transformation: A Roadmap to 2050”, launched on Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, also finds that increasing cumulative energy system investment by 30 per cent to 2050 in favour of renewable energy and energy efficiency, can create over 11 million additional energy-sector jobs, completely offsetting job losses in the fossil fuel industry. Immediate action will also reduce the scale and value of stranded energy-related assets in the future. The roadmap currently anticipates up to USD 11 trillion of stranded energy assets by 2050 – a value that could double if action is further delayed.
“Renewable energy and energy efficiency together form the cornerstone of the world’s solution to energy-related CO2 emissions, and can provide over 90 per cent of the energy-related CO2 emission reductions required to keep global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius,” said IRENA Director General Adnan Z. Amin. “If we are to decarbonise global energy fast enough to avoid the most sever impacts of climate change, renewables must account for at least two-thirds of total energy by 2050.
“Transformation will not only support climate objectives, it will support positive social and economic outcomes all over the world, lifting millions out of energy poverty, increasing energy independence and stimulating sustainable job growth,” continued Mr. Amin. “An opportunity exists to ramp up investment in low-carbon technologies, and shift the global development paradigm from one of scarcity, inequality and competition to one of shared prosperity – in our lifetimes. That is an opportunity we must rally behind by adopting strong policies, mobilising capital and driving innovation across the energy system.”
Current government plans fall short of emission reduction needs. At today’s trajectory, the world would exhaust its energy-related “carbon budget” (CO2) for 2oC in under 20 years, despite continued strong growth in renewable capacity additions. By the end of 2017, global renewable generation capacity increased by 167 GW and reached 2,179 GW worldwide – yearly growth of 8.3 per cent.
However, without an increase in deployment, fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal would continue to dominate the global energy mix by 2050. The roadmap analysis outlines an energy system in which renewables account for up two-thirds of total final energy consumption, and 85 per cent of power generation by 2050 – up from 18 per cent and 25 per cent respectively today.
To achieve this, at least a six-fold acceleration of renewable energy is needed, both through increased electrification of transport and heat, and more direct use of renewables. Electrification, and renewable power are key drivers outlined in the report, with solar and wind capacity leading the energy transformation.
To check the perennial flooding in Ibadan and its environs, the Oyo State Government has commenced the rehabilitation of the Eleyele Dam.
The Eleyele Dam is designed to mitigate flood in Ibadan
Speaking at the flagging off of the rehabilitation initiative on Friday, April 20, 2018, Gov. Abiola Ajimobi said the exercise would help prevent dam failure and overflow as well as loss of lives and property.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Eleyele Dam, which has a total length of 244 meters, was constructed on the Ona River at Eleyele in I942.
NAN also reports that the rehabilitation work aimed at enhancing domestic water supply and flood control is expected to be completed in 24 months.
The initiative, a World Bank Assisted Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP), is being handled by CGC-CHNE Joint Venture and TRACTEBEL ENGIE.
Ajimobi, represented by Mr Isaac Ishola, the State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, recalled that the emergent Ajimobi administration had been confronted with the challenge of flooding on assuming office in 2011.
“Our administration on assumption of office in 2011 was first confronted with a devastating flood event on Aug. 26 of the same year.
“The unfortunate incident ravaged many parts of Ibadan, consuming hundreds of human lives and several million worth of property.
“The dam had earlier been threatened by two major floods in 1963 and 1980.
“The implication is that, one of the two functional valves of the dam which was to help flood control during high flow period had been compromised,” he said.
He said government would not relent in ensuring the dam was put in good shape to prevent future occurrence.
The governor stated that the benefits accruable from a rehabilitated and modernised Eleyele dam were enormous, noting that it would contain flooding and boost the supply of treated water to Ibadan.
Ajimobi called on the contractors to ensure quality and timely delivery to make the facility a reference point.
“Our government has continued to enjoy untainted support from the World Bank in this far-reaching mandate of improving the state’s capacity to effectively manage flood risk in the city of Ibadan,’’ he said.
Mr Abimbola Adekanmbi, the State Commissioner for Finance and Budget, said that the major thrust of the work was the modernisation of a historical hydrological edifice to make it more functionally efficient in serving the people.
Adekanmbi, who is also the Chairman, IUFMP Steering Committee, assured the governor that they would ensure qualitative and timely delivery of the rehabilitation work.
Fan Xiaojing, representative of CGC-CHNE Joint Venture, assured that the contractors would ensure timely delivery of quality project to government.
NAN reports that the ceremony was attended by representatives of the World Bank as well as members of the State Executive Council and host community.
African Renaissance and Diaspora Network (ARDN) is set to lead a high-level delegation of political, business and media leaders on study tour to popularise the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in West Africa.
Dr. Djibril Diallo
Dr Djibril Diallo, the Chief Executive Officer of the group, made this known in a statement on Friday, April 20, 2018.
He noted that the delegation would be in Senegal and Gambia from April 22 to April 28.
He stated that the mission was supported by Ford Foundation, InterContinental Hotels Group and Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
He added that the mission was part of ARDN’s “Pathway to Solutions” initiative aimed at
popularising the UN SDGs.
The CEO noted that “ARDN is committed to working with stakeholders to achieve the 17 development goals by 2030.
“The goals are critical to ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.”
Diallo stated that the mission was also an important education campaign, adding that the goal of the tour was to use education as entry point in achieving other SDGs.
He stressed that the mission was collaborating with the office of the UN Deputy Secretary-General, the UN Senior Africans Group, and Sustainable Development Solutions Network at Columbia University, U.S.
The high level delegation comprised of the CEO of ARDN, Joe Davidson, Founder, National Association of Black Journalists U.S.A. and a columnist with The Washington Post.
Other delegates include Cloves Campbell, publisher of Arizona Informant and former chairman of National Newspaper Publishers Association; Mayor Eugene Grant of Seat Pleasant, Maryland; Dr Gloria Herndon, CEO, GB Global Group among others.
Diallo disclosed that the delegation will meet with educators, journalists, civil society and senior government officials in Senegal and The Gambia.
He added that the delegation would participate in field visits to various projects supported by the UN and other agencies.
Diallo, former Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of ARDN on March 25.
“The international project — Pathway to Solutions — has its genesis in the collective hope and vision of the office of UN Deputy-Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, and ARDN,’’ he said.
The President, Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE), Nigerian Chapter, Sen. Bukar Ibrahim, said ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss were part of reasons for recurrent farmers-herders clash in Nigeria.
Herdsmen
He made this known at the second stakeholders meeting of GLOBE-United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)-Global Environment Facility (GEF) Natural Capital Legislation Project on Friday, April 20, 2018 in Abuja.
Ibrahim, who is also Chairman, Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, said over-extraction of forest and mineral resources was a common problem for African countries and most visibly, Nigeria.
According to him, the development has resulted in violent responses by herdsmen and farmers in some states of Nigeria among other challenges, and must be tackled.
“The global conversation on policy and legislative responses to address deforestation and forest degradation as well as the net depletion of natural resources and loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, is well articulated.
“However, the proposed responses to these issues often require a fundamental re-direction of existing economic and social development models to a more sustainable path.
“This requires robust political ownership and steering at national level through a multi-stakeholder engagement strategy.
“The parliamentary powers of national legislators in budgeting and law-making towards the advancement of environmental governance are also paramount.
“Equally, delivery on commitments under international environmental laws makes the integration of environmental governance into development and economic decision-making paramount,’’ he said.
On poor parliamentary response to tackling environmental challenges in Nigeria and other African countries, the lawmaker said it was due largely to limited technical knowledge and limited data on natural resources, ecosystem processes, among others.
Ibrahim assured that GLOBE-UNEP-GEF Natural Capital Legislation project would foster sustainable solution to the challenges and called for a holistic approach to solving the problems.
In his remarks, GEF Task Officer of UNEP, Mr Ersin Esen, assured that the project would contribute to achieving sustainable development goals in all partner-countries.
Esen said that part of the objectives of the project was to enable legislators evolve laws that would help tackle environmental problems in various countries.
“The legislators’ role in this project from our past experiences is very important towards achieving environmental goals.
“The parliaments enable a diverse number of issues on environmental issues by providing a representative of voices of the locals and bringing the diverse local voices to the regional and global stage.
“The parliaments play critical role in turning the challenges into manageable and solvable problems. The parliaments also provide us with the needed legislation to overcome the various challenges,’’ he said.
He charged legislators on oversight functions, saying that there was a need to take oversight seriously to ensure that agencies charged with environmental matters were held accountable.
GLOBE is a non-party parliamentary organisation that supports legislators through national chapters to develop and advance laws in support of sustainable development, including climate change, natural capital accounting and forests.
The organisation has established chapters in over 60 parliaments across the globe.
The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) said it had identified 240,560 out-of-school children in three Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Zamfara State.
Displaced children in a camp in Nigeria. Photo credit: Yahoo News
The affected LGAs are Bukkuyum, Maradun and Zurmi
The Chief of UNICEF in charge of Sokoto Field office, Mohameden Fall, disclosed this on Friday, April 20, 2018 in Zurmi at the launching of cash transfer disbursement to parents of affected children under the UNICEF’s Educate A Child (EAC) project.
He said the number was derived from the household mapping and listing of out-of-school children conducted in 2016 through the state Universal Basic Education Board when the number of out-of-school children was identified in the three LGAs.
“In Bukkuyum, a total of 93,849 out-of-school children were identified with 41,134 males while 52,715 were females.
“In Maradun 63,943 were identified with 28,963 males and 34,980 females while Zurmi has a total of 82,768 children with 38,286 males and 82,768 females,” he said.
Fall also noted that the EAC project was bring funded by Qatar Foundation as personal initiative of Sheikh Nasser of Qatar and implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara state governments.
According to him, the overall aim of the EAC was to extend the access to quality of basic education for 501, 749 out-of-school children across the four states by 2020.
“We are targeting to reach out 10,347 in the first phase in Zamfara State, considering the alarming number of out-of-school children in the state.
“We are calling on the state government to extend this programme to other local government areas,” he said.
The project was initiated to assist households in sending their children and keeping them in school, in the benefiting communities who will receive an unconditional cash transfer of N8,000 per child that falls between six and 11 years for the period of two years.
“Cash transfer is one of the seven strategic interventions under the EAC to enable the government of the target states and UNICEF to reach more out-of-school children,” he said.
He thanked the state government for the recent award of N1billion contract for school renovation and the release of over N1 billion UBE counterpart funding on UNICEF intervention.
In his remark, the state Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji thanked the UNICEF and Qatar Foundation for initiating the project.
Birnin-Magaji said that the project was complementing the state government policy of promoting pupils enrollment and enhancement of basic education in the state.
He said the state government was ready to continue to partner with the UNICEF and other development partners to improve quality education in the state.
“The state government is committed to enhance teaching and learning in the state, from 2011 to date, we have renovated over 4,000 classrooms to reduce congestion of pupils.
“We trained over 8,000 teachers and established 50 ICT centers across the primary and junior secondary schools in the state.
“These efforts have increased our enrollment drive from 283,000 in 2012 to 600,000 as of now”, he said.
Birnin-Magaji said the plan was one the ways to recruit more teachers and implement N18,000 minimum wage for primary and junior secondary school teachers in the state.
Earlier, the state SUBEB Chairman, Murtala Jangebe, Commended the State Government and UNICEF for the project, saying that it would increase the pupils’ enrolment in the state.
Jangebe said 3,449 children have been selected from the 14 communities to benefit from the assistance of N8,000 under the project per term, per child.
“We are disbursing N27 million as first phase to beneficiaries from Alawa, Kadage, and Doka communities from the three LGAs of Bukkuyum, Maradun and Zurmi respectively.
”In each of the selected LGA, one community was chosen for the flag-off as first phase and we are going to continue with the remaining 11 communities,” he said.
In line with its new project focused on boosting the quantity and quality of environmental coverage in Asia and the Pacific region, the US-based Earth Journalism Network (EJN) is expanding into more areas across the territory.
James Fahn, Executive Director of the Earth Journalism Network (EJN)
Supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), EJN is scaling up with the addition of five new staff members onto its team. They include:
Imelda V. Abaño (Content Coordinator for the Philippines and Pacific)
Stefano Wrobleski (GeoJournalism Consultant and a data journalist at InfoAmazonia)
Geoffrey Smith (Content Coordinator for Fiji and the Pacific)
Surachart (Tob) Somma (Information Officer)
Ben Kedoga (Content Coordinator for Papua New Guinea and the Pacific)
Similarly, the organisation has unveiled fresh grant opportunities in the bid to boost environment reporting.
For instance, the Bay of Bengal Organisational Grants are available to support the creation, growth, and capacity building of media and other development or educational organisations in the region, that aim to improve the quantity and quality of information about climate change, and access to this information by groups such as women and youth that are most vulnerable to its impacts.
Also, the EJN is inviting journalists to apply to report in 2018 from both the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco and the UN Climate Negotiations in Katowice, Poland in December. The body says that, due to ongoing technical issues with its registration form, application has been moved to an external server and extended the deadline May 4, 2018 at 5pm EDT.
The EJN Asia-Pacific project had earlier announced two competitive grant opportunities in the beginning of the year and received a total of 77 applications for media grants and 79 for story grants with good representation across the region. Selection of grantees has however been completed.
In March 2018, the EJN Asia-Pacific held its first Training of Trainers/Managers in the coastal region of Rayong, Thailand. The five-day training, discloses the EJN, brought together 24 leaders of environmental journalist networks in the region, journalists and project team members to discuss the needs and challenges faced by environmental journalists, the main environmental threats in different countries and sub-regions, and the priorities for the project.
James Fahn, Executive Director of EJN, says: “Sunday, April 22, 2018 is Earth day and, as we reflect on global challenges like climate change, the value of accurate, thoughtful, and local environmental coverage is clear. Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) works with thousands of journalists worldwide to support this kind of reporting.”
Global leaders from across the spheres of energy, foreign policy, trade, development and business have been announced as members of the newly formed Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation.
A panel discussion session at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2018
The Commission was launched in January 2018 during the Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and its work is supported by the governments of Germany, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.
Leading the Commission as Chair is the former President of Iceland, Olafur Grimsson. Members of the Commission include prominent government and business leaders from the United States, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany, Brazil and Russia and other countries.
The line-up was announced on the second day of the annual Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD), hosted by the German Federal Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economy and Energy.
The Commission will meet for the first time during the BETD to establish a roadmap towards the development of an authoritative report to be released during IRENA’s next Assembly taking place in Abu Dhabi, in January.
“This Commission represents a truly formidable body of global leaders who will bring rigour, critical thinking, and a broad range of perspectives to the table as we analyse the potential effects of a renewables-based energy system on national and global politics,” said Commission Chair, Olafur Grimsson.
“As a result, this Commission’s work will be a robust assessment of the evolving geopolitics of energy as we move towards the post-carbon era.”
The Commissioners will bring professional perspectives from nations across the world and will reflect insights from traditional energy exporters, and net energy importers alike.
Countries at various stages of renewable energy exploration and development are also represented in the Commission’s membership. The Commission will be supported by an expert panel of renowned academics.
“The shift to renewable energy is proving to be one of the most positively transformational trends of our age. Renewables offer a cost-effective pathway to poverty reduction, increased energy access and economic growth whilst reducing energy-related emissions,” said Adnan Z. Amin.
“As we move towards a more decarbonised, decentralised and digitalised energy system, and scale-up renewables in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, countries need to better understand the nature of the evolving geopolitical landscape, so as to ensure prosperity and peace,” he added.
Deputy Director-General for Energy and Climate Policy and Export Control at the German Federal Foreign office, Peter Fischer, described the commission as a development capable of accelerating the global energy transition.
Energiewende (Energy transition), according to Fischer, “will affect global politics as energy can be used as a means of power and coercion in international relations. This reinforces the need to build capacity and strengthen global systems through a framework such as this commission,” says Fischer.
Some of the members of the commission include Khalid M. Al-Sulaiman, former Vice President for Renewable Energy at King Abdullah City for Atomic & Renewable Energy, Saudi Arabia, Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of IRENA, Anatoly Chubais, former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, and Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Others include Joschka Fischer, former Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Germany, Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Carlos Lopes, former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Bill Richardson, Former US Secretary of Energy, Maria van der Hoeven, former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, and Peter Fsicher, the Deputy Director-General for Energy and Climate Policy and Export Control at the German Federal Foreign office.
Only a land-based species could have called this planet Earth, since more than 70% of it is covered by sea. All life originated on the oceans and still depends on them. They regulate the climate, absorb much of the carbon that humanity emits, and produce the main source of protein for over three billion people. The ecosystem goods and services they provide are estimated to be worth $12 trillion.
GEF CEO and Chairperson, Naoko Ishii
Yet increasingly they are under threat. 90% of the world’s fisheries are either fully or over-exploited. Eight million tons of plastics enter the sea each year, reaching the most remote parts of the oceans and contaminating a quarter of all seafood. 80% of the wastewater collected worldwide is discharged without treatment, damaging health and biodiversity and creating “dead zones” in which animal life suffocates.
Toxic pollutants build up in the waters: toxic algal blooms flourish as a result of nutrient-rich waste. Carbon emissions melt sea ice and acidify seawater. Habitat loss takes a heavy toll. And the degradation has been getting worse.
“Recognising the critical need for global action to ensure the sustainability of our oceans, the GEF has provided tremendous support to ocean governance,” says Naoko Ishii, GEF CEO and Chairperson. “GEF initiatives have enhanced global and regional cooperation and led to improved ecosystem health, services and human wellbeing through stronger governance at regional, national and local levels. These projects apply an integrated cross sectoral approach while engaging the private sector, non-governmental organisations and multilateral institutions.”
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has been working for decades to turn this tide of destruction. Now, with its support, 124 countries are working together to safeguard our coasts and oceans.
Fourteen of them, for example, work together in Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), which this year celebrates its 25th Anniversary. It started as a GEF-funded project, but has since evolved into a regional intergovernmental mechanism, including all the countries of Southeast Asia, together with China, Japan and both North and South Korea, and encompassing some seven million square kilometres of shared sea, bordered by some 235,000 km of coastline. Eleven of them have signed up to a shared strategy – the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia.
“PEMSEA’s mission is to foster and sustain health and resilience in oceans, coasts and economies throughout the seas of East Asia” says Ryan Whisnant, its Director of Strategic Initiatives. “It works very closely with the governments of the region, but the work really happens on the ground at local sites, in what is a set of integrated coastal management (ICM) sites across the region”
ICM, he explains, “recognises the fact that you can’t look at any one sector”, focusing, for example, just on pollution, sustainable fisheries or sustainable tourism – “but that there are relationships and interlinkages among all of them”. Similarly, he goes on, it involves all stakeholders – including local governments, businesses, community organisations and NGOs – working together to “build the capacity to manage healthy coastal areas”.
So far, he adds, “PEMSEA has been some part of securing that more than 17% of the entire region’s coastline managed under some form of ICM, making it highly likely that the contracting countries will reach the agreed target of 25% of the coast of the East Asian Region being under ICM by 2021”
Nancy Bermas, PEMSEA’s Senior Country Programme Manager, tells, for example, how it works with universities, the private sector and national and local government in the Philippines, in implementing the sustainable development of the province of Bataan, on Manila Bay as a long-term local ICM framework. Victor Ubaldo, the province’s ICM Programme Director, describes how its government, has co-operated with official national agencies, businesses and “peoples organisations” to replant mangroves.
Ronnie Baldera and Benito Villaneuva, mangrove caretakers, testify that this has reduced the impact of waves on the shore. And Jun Hernandez, a fishers’ community organiser, adds that restoring mangroves, together with building artificial reefs and implementing the ICM programme as a whole, has increased fish populations.
Much of it began, says Jose Enrique Garcia, a Congressman and former mayor of Balanga, the province’s capital, with a ‘coastal clean-up day’, which “jump-started our determination to come up with a feasible, practical, sustainable coastal programme for the city.” This resulted, for example, in an area that was going to be developed as a beach resort, instead being preserved as a wetland park rich in mangroves and birds.
He continues: “People now recognise Balanga as a place where sustainable industry, such as our dried fish processing, now thrives. If you look at the commercial side, we have grown by more than 100% over the past few years, but that is complemented by the growth also of our environmental protection activities.”
Meanwhile, “all the other municipalities in the province of Bataan have come up with their own programmes to help the environment, most especially in the clean-up of Manila Bay.”
In yet another development, the GEF was instrumental in setting up the pioneering Meloy Fund for Sustainable Community Fisheries, which provides debt and equity financing for businesses that have a positive impact on coastal fisheries in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Its first beneficiary is Meliomar, a sustainable Filipino seafood producer, which gets supplies from about 900 fishers in small-scale communities. With Meloy’s funds, says Christian Schmidradner, it’s General Manager, “we will be able to reach out to two thousand fishermen and improve their lives”.
Manuel Bueno Vera, Senior Director of Rare – the global conservation organisation that owns the Meloy Fund – says that Meliomar is important because it has “shown the way” to other companies that “you can build a good business” out of sustainable production. “It is helping to show how the private sector can be part of a solution that will essentially have a watershed impact on these coastal fisheries”.
The Fund, he adds, “seeks to generate financial returns for its investors and environmental and social returns as well.” and would not exist but for the GEF’s support. “Essentially the GEF was the first organisation to really believe in the concept of providing private sector financing to small scale fisheries, to step forward and really support the Meloy Fund. I think it has been particularly visionary, innovative and creative in its approach.”
On the world stage, meanwhile, the GEF last year endorsed a $2 million project – with UN Environment, Ocean Conservancy and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – to build a global alliance across the entire plastic value chain.
The New Plastic Economy Initiative – which includes major companies that produce, process and use plastics, as well as governments – aims to “build momentum towards a plastics system that works”, including seeking out solutions to managing waste and setting up a joint investment fund in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation region.
“The diversity of the GEF investment portfolio in the marine and ocean space is a testament to fact that transforming current ocean management practices will only be impactful if we pull on our collective strengths and vision to succeed,” says Christian Severin, GEF International Waters Focal Area Coordinator. “This unique mix of ingenuity from local entrepreneurs, coupled with national and regional policies and ministerial endorsed action-oriented frameworks, lays the foundation for the long-term processes needed for triggering sustainable management of the shared ocean and marine resources and ecosystem services”.
And the GEF will continue to promote the Blue Economy, which identifies the oceans as areas for sustainable development, including through tourism, fisheries and aquaculture, extractive industries, renewable energy production, coastal development and marine transport. It will fund collective management of coastal and marine systems, and implementation of the full range of integrated ocean policies, legal and institutional reforms.
