President of the 71st UN General Assembly, Ambassador Peter Thomson, in collaboration with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Ms. Patricia Espinosa, will on Thursday, March 23 2017 convene Member States, the UN System, and stakeholders at United Nations Headquarters in a High-level Event for Action on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Agenda.
President of the 71st UN General Assembly, Ambassador Peter Thomson
This event will advance the following objectives:
Invigorate political momentum on climate change, highlighting its deep linkage to the Sustainable Development Agenda. Emphasis will be placed on concrete solutions for climate and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that yield cross-cutting benefits, especially regarding land-use, energy and the ocean;
Increase common understanding among key actors including Member States, the UN system and non-state stakeholders regarding the urgent need to ramp up ambition and implementation, especially given upcoming 2020 targets and milestones for both climate and SDGs.
At the request of the Office of the President of the General Assembly (OPGA), the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) is facilitating a process to identify two civil society speakers, one social entrepreneur speaker, and stakeholders wishing to attend as observers for the event.
According to the UN, civil society and social entrepreneur speakers are to be identified through the UN-NGLS process for the following three roles:
High-level civil society representative for Panel Discussion on “Stocktaking on Climate – Paris Agreement ratification; Science; Gaps & Opportunities.” This ‘stock-taking’ panel and ensuing dialogue will discuss the status of climate science and of efforts to address it, including ratification and implication of the Paris Agreement as well as climate actions by all stakeholders.
Social entrepreneur for Panel Discussion on “Implementing Solutions – Scaling up implementation of the Paris Agreement and SDGs.” This dialogue will explore cross-cutting dimensions of climate and the Sustainable Development Goals and provide concrete examples where implementing solutions with a multi-sectoral approach has improved social, economic and environmental conditions.
Civil society respondent for Panel Discussion on “2020 as Opportunity – Achieving the 2020 SDG targets and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) ambitions.” This dialogue will explore means to enhance global attention to and support of climate action and the SDGs, in particular as it relates to the issues land-use, energy and/or the ocean, and the human dimensions given the pressing 2020 targets.
According to the UN, travel funding will be available for two of the selected speakers.
The UN-NGLS, it was gathered, will facilitate a stakeholder Selection Committee for the evaluation and short-listing of the civil society and social entrepreneur candidates for the speaking roles, to be presented to OPGA for their consideration. The Committee will ensure regional and gender balance, and diversity of age and expertise in the overall set of candidates. The President of the General Assembly will make the final selection of the speakers for this event.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Thursday, February 23 2017 launched a global campaign to eliminate major sources of marine litter – such as microplastics in cosmetics and the excessive, wasteful usage of single-use plastic – by the year 2022.
A water body littered with plastic and other waste product. Photo credit: Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters
Launched at the Economist World Ocean Summit in Bali, Indonesia, the “#CleanSeas campaign” is urging governments to pass plastic reduction policies; targeting industry to minimise plastic packaging and redesign products; and calling on consumers to change their throwaway habits – before irreversible damage is done to seas.
Erik Solheim, Head of UNEP, said: “It is past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans. Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole, and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables. We’ve stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop.”
Throughout the year, the #CleanSeas campaign will be announcing ambitious measures by countries and businesses to eliminate microplastics from personal care products, ban or tax single-use bags, and dramatically reduce other disposable plastic items.
Ten countries have already joined the campaign with far-reaching pledges to turn the plastic tide. Indonesia has committed to slash its marine litter by a massive 70 per cent by 2025; Uruguay will tax single-use plastic bags later this year and Costa Rica will take measures to dramatically reduce single-use plastic through better waste management and education.
Each year, more than 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the oceans, wreaking havoc on marine wildlife, fisheries and tourism, and costing at least $8 billion in damage to marine ecosystems. Up to 80 per cent of all litter in our oceans is made of plastic.
According to some estimates, at the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish and an estimated 99 per cent of seabirds will have ingested plastic.
Media personality Nadya Hutagalung supports #CleanSeas by calling on the cosmetics industry to stop adding microplastics to their products. As many as 51 trillion microplastic particles – 500 times more than stars in our galaxy – litter our seas, seriously threatening marine wildlife.
Nadya Hutagalung said, “On bathroom shelves around the world sit products that are destroying life in our oceans. Tiny pieces of plastic in our face scrubs and toothpastes, used to make products feel smooth, are washed away in drains to then fill the stomachs of marine animals who confuse it for food. No beauty product is worth destroying the world’s beautiful oceans, not to mention our own human well-being. There are alternatives! So let’s choose what we buy carefully and together, with the combined power of our voice and our wallets, we can urge beauty companies to end their use of microbeads.”
Globally recognised brands are also joining the fight. DELL Computers has unveiled a commercial-scale supply chain using plastic which has been fished out of the sea near Haiti. The computer giant will use the recovered ocean plastic in its product packaging.
“DELL is committed to putting technology and expertise to work for a plastic-free ocean,” said Dell’s Vice President for Global Operations Piyush Bhargava. “Our new supply chain brings us one step closer to UN Environment’s vision of Clean Seas by proving that recycled ocean plastic can be commercially re used.”
All these actions will be crucial to stemming the tide of marine litter, says UNEP, adding that, today, the world is producing 20 times more plastic than in the 1960s. Around one third of all plastic is used for packaging.
By 2050, the world’s plastic production will have to grow three to four times to satisfy global demand. A large portion will end up in oceans where it will remain for centuries, adds the UN body.
Actor Adrian Grenier, known for his role in hit TV show and film Entourage, and founder of Lonely Whale Foundation, has joined the #CleanSeas campaign, asking people to re-think their daily choices.
“Whether we choose to use plastic bags at the grocery store or sip through a plastic straw, our seemingly small daily decisions to use plastics are having a dramatic effect on our oceans,” said Adrian Grenier. “We have the power to effect change.
“Today I take this public pledge to do my part to refuse single use plastics, starting with the plastic straw, and also reaffirm my commitment to work with leaders such as Dell to reduce plastic packaging. If we start with one small change and hold each another accountable, I believe that together we can inspire global action for the health of our oceans.”
Major announcements are expected during The Ocean Conference in New York at the UN Headquarters 5 – 9 June, and the December UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya.
Hamish Daud, Indonesian presenter and actor, said: “We hail from one of the most beautiful places on the planet, but our nasty plastic addiction is slowly choking our precious coasts and the marine life we share them with. Join with me to turn the tide on plastic – together we must start saying ‘no’ to unnecessary plastic in our daily lives that is ending up in the sea – decline the plastic shopping bags, reject the straws, replace plastic bottles with filtered water. I stand today with UN Environment to urge governments, industry and consumers to put an end to our dangerous plastic habit.”
Eneida de León, Minister of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment of Uruguay: “Our goal is to discourage the use of plastic bags through regulations, give an alternative for workers in the waste sector, and develop education plans regarding the impact of the use of plastic bags on our environment. These actions are key to achieving sustainable development. Uruguay is committed to moving forward in that direction, and the Clean Seas campaign is certainly a very valuable contribution.”
Edgar Gutiérrez-Espeleta, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica: “Costa Rica recognises the risks and damage caused by the effects of single-use plastic and non-recoverable micro plastics on the marine environment. We strongly favour the engagement of all relevant stakeholders, including civil society, private sector and all citizens to support national and global efforts. Only through a real and active engagement of all of us, with the help of dynamic partnerships, we will be able to effectively combat marine litter.”
Vidar Helgesen, Minister of Climate and the Environment of Norway: “Keeping our seas clean and our marine life safe from plastic is a matter of urgency for Norway. Marine plastic litter is a rapidly increasing threat to marine life, seafood safety and negatively affects the lives of people in coastal areas all around the world. We encourage every country in the world to join the Clean Seas campaign and develop effective measures to avoid single-use plastic ending up in the environment. Our oceans cannot wait any longer.”
Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly said: “The Ocean is the lifeblood of our planet, yet we are poisoning it with millions of tonnes of plastic every year. The time has come to turn the tide on marine litter. As the world’s nations prepare for The Ocean Conference to be held in New York, 5 to 9 June, I urge all of them to join the Clean Seas campaign and make an ambitious pledge to reduce single-use plastic. Be it a tax on plastic bags or a ban on microbeads in cosmetics, each country to do their bit to maintain the integrity of life in the Ocean.”
The Ogun State Government is finalising plans to establish eco-tourism resort in its forest reserve in an apparent bid to enhance forestry resources and create an alternative means of livelihood for the people of the state.
Ogun State Commissioner for Forestry, Chief Kolawole Lawal
Commissioner for Forestry, Kolawole Lawal, who made this known recently in Abeokuta, the state capital, while speaking with journalists after an interactive session with investors at the ministry’s head offices, said the resort centre would be actualised in conjunction with a private firm known as Woodland Cabin Resort.
Chief Lawal said the tourism resort, which would be located in the Omo Forest Reserve, Area J4 in Ijebu-East Local Government Area of the state, would, when completed, serve as a means of livelihood for the people in the area, forestall the propensity for indiscriminate tree felling and curb illegal exploitation of forest resources.
He added that, apart from rejuvenating the depleted forest reserves, the project would also boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as well provide job opportunities for the teeming youths of the state.
“The resort which would be a collaboration involving the state government and the investor, will no doubt help develop our forest reserve, provide jobs for our people and increase government revenue generation base; but we must adhere to Ogun standards which is the world best practices,” he said.
Speaking on the partnership, Chief Lawal affirmed that the state government would make the required land available while the investor would provide other resources needed for the actualisation of the project.
Speaking on behalf of the firm, Abiola Adesanya noted that natural endowment, serene environment and adequate security put in place by the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration informed the decision to site the project in the state.
He noted that the state has all that it takes in terms of potentials and availability of resources to situate the resort centre here, saying that his firm would go ahead in establishing the resort and it would not regret doing so.
“The availability of natural resources such as green vegetation, birds, animals and over 200 species of trees that the state is endowed with made it possible for the establishment of the eco-tourism resort in the state,” Mr Adesanya added.
Patricia Espinosa, who last year took the helm as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was in the United Kingdom last week to speak with businesses, NGOs and Nick Hurd, the UK climate change minister, on how to sustain and increase momentum on climate action.
Previously a Mexican diplomat and minister, Espinosa is tasked with the challenge of steering the international climate negotiations through the finer details of the Paris Agreement over the next few years, as policymakers work out how best to address topics, such as loss and damage, climate finance, and the creation of a fair “rulebook” to help assess individual country’s pledges.
Carbon Brief spoke with Espinosa on the sidelines of an event organised by the Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE on Thursday, February 23 2017.
Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UNFCCC
On what happens to the UNFCCC process if the US does renegade on its current commitments and pulls out of the Paris Agreement, as promised by Donald Trump on the campaign trail last year:
Well, when we look at the consequences of a possible change in the US position in the climate change process, of course we would hope that they would keep their commitments, they would keep their active participation. The US is an important partner for the institution.
At the same time, we also have to realise and fully take account of the fact that the Paris Agreement is an agreement that has been signed and ratified as of today by 132 countries, which means it’s really a very robust commitment in the international community. So the negotiations will continue, the commitments will continue: not only the fact that the agreement is in force, but also countries have come forward reaffirming their commitments and their willingness to really comply with them. So I would not say that there is not going to be an impact, but, at the same time, I do want to stress that the agreement is in force and will remain an obligation for the great majority of the international community.
(This) has been presented as a very high priority by quite a number of countries. There is a process going on, so there will be a meeting of the executive committee in March where they will look at the ways of putting forward an action plan or a work programme, in order to develop the action plan, according to the decisions that were taken in Marrakech.
On whether the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C aspirational goal is feasible, and how the upcoming International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on this topic (due in 2018) can help policymakers:
First of all I would say that, of course, we need to wait and hear what the IPCC report says. I think this process has also a lot of weight because it has been really based on scientific evidence and the role of the IPCC is very important, and this is why the COP has asked the IPCC to come forward with this report by 2018.
But at the same time I think what we need to stress is that there has been a pace of transformation that in many areas of the economy, in different regions of the world, that was not seen as feasible only a few years ago. So I think that this is where we are trying to concentrate, to promote as much of this transformational developments and as much action at the national level in the communities as possible.
Of course, in order to reach the 1.5C goal we need to have an increase in the ambitions that countries have put forward, we have to report also very important breakthroughs in terms of technology, we need to be able to mobilise financing that can allow countries to trigger some of the processes that could lead them into increasing their commitments.
On whether Brexit poses any risk to the UNFCCC negotiations:
The UK has a very clear legislation, and it’s a national legislation, so in that sense I think that the commitments and every indication that we have had from the British government makes it really clear that the commitments remains, that this agenda will continue to go forward. Tomorrow I’m going to meet (UK climate change) minister (Nick) Hurd and we have a very good and close relationship, so I would say that, yes, no doubt the negotiations will be complex and difficult, but the fact that the UK has this legislation that clearly puts the process that it will follow in order to fulfil commitments under Paris is really very good news.
Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Amina J. Mohammed, in Abuja on Friday, February 24 2017 handed over the reigns of office to the Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, to resume duty as the United Nations Deputy Secretary General.
Ibrahim Jibril taking over the reigns of office from Amina MohammedAmina Mohammed (middle) with Usman Jibril and Dr Bukar Hassan (right), Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of EnvironmentPrayers…Usman Jibril makes a statement
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has submitted the Reviewed and Updated National Implementation Plan (NIP) for the Stockholm Convention on the elimination of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) to the Federal Government.
L-R: Minister of State for Environment, Mallam Ibrahim Usman; UN Deputy Secretary General and Nigeria’s outgoing Minister of Environment, Amina. J. Mohammed; Representative of UNIDO Regional Office, Nigeria, Chuma Ezedinma; Environment Expert, UNIDO Regional Office, Nigeria, Yomi Banjo; and UNIDO Project Assistant, Lilian Ozomah, during the presentation of the Reviewed and Updated National Implementation Plan for Stockholm Convention on POPs, in Abuja
The Stockholm Convention is an international treaty developed to protect human health and the environment from Persistent Organic Pollutants. The Treaty was adopted in 2001, but came into force in 2004, which Nigerian ratified the same year, thereby becoming a member of the Conference of Parties (COP). It aims at eliminating or restricting the production and use of all POPs, transition to safer alternatives and cleaning up old stockpiles among other things.
Speaking during presentation of the NIP in Abuja, the United Nations Deputy Secretary General and Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Environment, Amina. J. Mohammed, commended UNIDO for working together with Global Environmental Environment Facility (GEF) and other stakeholders to produce the NIP, noting that the Plan would enable Nigeria access international technical support and meet her obligations under the obligation, while integrating POPs management into the country’s national development plans.
She said, “I am most delighted and appreciative of UNIDO’s continuous support and for a job well done. The Updated NIP being unveiled today is a product of inclusive stakeholders’ participation and serves as the renegotiated and reinforced National Policy Framework for addressing priority POP issues in Nigeria, in line with her obligations under the treaty. With the Reviewed and Updated NIP, Nigeria will now focus on short, medium and long term strategies for developing programmes and partnerships on POPs management aimed at safeguarding human health and the environment.
In his remarks, the Representative of UNIDO Regional Office in Nigeria, Dr. Chuma Ezedinma, said the presentation of the Updated and Reviewed NIP to the Federal Government of Nigeria marked another milestone in the history of Nigeria-UNIDO collaboration for building a sustainable environment for its people, industries and the global community.
Ezedinma said, “I want to commend the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Environment and the team within the Ministry who worked tirelessly with UNIDO to ensure the success of this Plan for Nigeria, We hereby reaffirm UNIDO’s commitment towards working closely with the Government of Nigeria. In respect of this, UNIDO will continue to support the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Environment to promote sustainable activities for our environment as we match towards inclusive and sustainable industrial development.
“UNIDO is currently in partnership with 48 countries, assisting them in Reviewing and Updating their NIP, developing and implementing projects. We are working with the Federal Ministry of Environment in the areas of protecting the ozone layer, Minamata Convention on Mercury, National Policy development and dialogue, development of bio-pesticides as a response to the EU ban on some food exportation, water stewardship and management, mining, resource efficiency and cleaner production and other areas of environmental sustainability and development.”
As a party to the Stockholm Convention, it is an obligation for the country to develop Enabling Activities of NIPs for enablement to identify and develop structures for implementation of programmes towards the Convention requirements. In April 2009, with UNIDO’s assistance, Nigeria submitted its National Implementation Plan to the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention. In 2014, UNIDO again began collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment to review and update Nigeria’s National Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention.
Nigeria finalised her first NIP in 2009, with support from GEF and UNIDO. This led the groundwork for developing and implementing priority projects, regulatory reforms and other initiatives targeted at achieving a POPs-free environment. POPs are a group of hazardous chemicals of global concern with wide occurrences as industrial raw materials in consumer goods, waste electrical electronic equipment (WEEE), pesticides or unintentional emissions
Long rage dispersion of POPs constitutes a great threat to human and environmental sustainability, irrespective of international borders, national sovereignty, gender or social class. Documented burdens of human exposures to POPs include cancer, congenital defects, dysfunction of immune and reproductive systems and shortened lactation in nursing mothers among other hazards.
Greenpeace ship – “My Esperanza” – has docked at the port of Praia in Cape Verde. For 11 weeks, the Esperanza will sail the waters of six West Africa States – Cape Verde, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal – to raise awareness on the state of fisheries through political events, public engagement and consultations with the West-African science community.
My Esperanza, the Greenpeace ship
The ship tour, named “The West Africa tour of hope”, will provide an opportunity to make these countries’ voice on protecting their own sea and marine resources heard internationally.
“By bringing the ship to West Africa, Greenpeace seeks once again to reiterate its ultimate commitment in working with local communities and governments in addressing issues of overfishing and illegal fishing that have plagued the region for decades,” says the Greenpeace Africa Executive Director, Njeri Kabeberi.
The West African waters are among the richest in the world. Millions of people and local communities depend on them to survive. However, the population in West Africa is growing and the fish stocks are declining as a result of fishing, climate change, pollution and destruction of critical habitats.
This situation is exacerbated by the lack of efficient fisheries management in the region, illegal, unregulated and undeclared fishing activities (IUU fishing) and the weakness of surveillance systems in most of the countries.
“Overfishing and illegal fishing in West African waters is a threat to food security, fish stocks and a healthy ocean. It is critical that the collaboration between states be reinforced to support a regional approach to better management of fisheries in West Africa,” says Ibrahima Cissé, Greenpeace Africa Senior Oceans Campaign Manager.
In the last 15 years, Greenpeace has documented and exposed how distant water fleets and illegal vessels have moved their fleets to West Africa after overexploiting fish stocks in their own waters. Chinese, Russian and European fleets are among the most prominent in West Africa waters.
Their activities have and continue to compromise the food security and livelihoods of coastal communities who largely depend on artisanal fishing. More recently, the rapid growth of artisanal and industrial fishery without regulation or planning of their capacity has added to the problem.
“West African states will have to work together and act with a unified voice to safeguard their waters. A sustainable common management of resources, especially the small pelagic is a first step to guarantee fish stock for present and future generations,” added Dr Cissé.
In the next two months, My Esperanza will work closely with local authorities to increase the sense of urgency required to deal with the current unsustainable approach to fisheries management and call for a strong regional fisheries management system.
The Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Bonn, Germany on Thursday, February 23 2017 adopted what looks like an exhaustive package of standards and procedures which seek to improve the use of the mechanism in the future.
id Frank Wolke, newly elected Chair of the CDM Executive Board
Under the CDM, projects in developing countries earn a saleable credit for each tonne of greenhouse gas they reduce or avoid. The incentive has led to the registration of more than 8,000 projects and programmes in 111 countries and the issuance of more than 1.8 billion Certified Emission Reductions (CERs).
This is the end of a complex process which lasted about two years, whereby the Board revised the existing CDM regulations with a view to streamlining and simplifying them for both single project activities and Programme of activities under the CDM, in two distinct sets.
“In today’s context of rising climate action, the adoption today by the Board of the revised standards and project cycle procedure of the CDM was a necessary step so as to simplify both access to and the use of the mechanism. Streamlining the rules increases the transparency of the process, and will benefit all project developers, looking at single project activities or Programme of activities, which now also benefit from dedicated standards. Besides, the mechanism has been identified by some governments as a mitigation tool in their national climate plans, and I am sure that this simplification measure will be beneficial for them too,” said Frank Wolke, newly elected Chair of the Executive Board.
Among the many issues discussed in the course of the week, the Board also agreed to take two steps to further promote the use of the CDM for voluntary purposes through the cancellation of Certified Emission Reduction units (CERs). Board members decided to revise and upgrade the online voluntary cancellation platform to improve its user-friendliness, and to make it available in French and Spanish to benefit a larger public. Moreover, the Board chose to engage with the tourism industry, in light of its role to play in ensuring the sustainability of an ever more mobile world.
About this decision, Mr. Wolke said: “The tourism sector could use our voluntary cancellation platform as one of the tools that can help ensuring sustainability in their activities, may it be through booking hotels or air travel. This decision comes as the United Nations made 2017 the year of sustainable tourism, and that proves once more our commitment to support a more sustainable world and a better future.”
In its quest to simplify the CDM, the Executive Board also worked on revising the accreditation procedure. The revised procedure provides, among other things, a greater flexibility in terms of payment of accreditation fees.
Finally, the Board recognised the common core duties shared by two of its working groups, one focused on large-scale methodologies and the other on small-scale ones. After due consideration, it was agreed to merge these two groups so as to increase both the efficiency of resources and expertise. This merge will be effective as of September 2017.
The meeting also saw the adoption of the Board’s workplan for 2017, as well as those of its panels and working groups. The Board also elected Chair and Vice-Chairs of the panels and working groups. Earlier, at the start of the meeting, the Board had elected Frank Wolke as its Chair and Arthur Rolle as its Vice Chair.
Once again, stakeholders appear to have brought to the fore, critical issues and concerns of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the Nigerian Biosafety Management Act 2015.
GMO rice. The activists want the Nigerian Biosafety Management Act 2015 reviewed and GMO permits issued withdrawn
At a daylong gathering in Benin City, Edo State on Wednesday, February 22 2017, participants brainstormed on what they perceive as “the increased aggressive push of the biotechnology companies in partnership with their local actors in Nigeria to ensure favourable legislations as a step towards unleashing their products and commodities on Nigerians”.
The event held at the instance of the Nigerian Bar Association (Benin Branch), Health of Mother Earth Foundation and Green Alliance of Nigeria.
At the conclusion of deliberations, participants came up with a set of deliberations christened the “Benin City Declaration” wherein they lamented that the Nigerian government, in passing the Nigerian Biosafety Act 2015 into law, did not take into account the concerns of local farmers and critical stakeholders, contrary to the provisions of the African Union’s Model Law on Biosafety and the Cartagena Protocol.
They insisted that the Act, in its current form, lacks the legal safeguards to protect Nigerians’s food culture, environment, ecosystems and human health.
“There are several fault-lines in the permissive National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) Act requiring that the entire Act be urgently reviewed and the GMO permits issued withdrawn,” the participants concluded, adding that “the constitution of the Board of NBMA makes the agency open to conflict of interests as already seen in the case of a board member (National Bioetechnology Development Agency) teaming up with commercial interests to apply for and receive permits to introduce GMOs into Nigeria”.
While alleging that “those institutions that are created to protect our environment and biosafety are actually hand-in-gloves with corporations that are trying to flood our country with exotic and risky products and merchandise”, the activists insisted that NBMA “did not take into account the objections and critical concerns submitted to its agency by key NGOs supported by over 100 groups, bothering on health, environmental, socio-economic, technical and administrative concerns before issuing permits to Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited on behalf of Monsanto Company, based in St-Louis, Missouri, USA, for commercial release and placing on market of genetically modified cotton and for the confined field trial of two maize events”.
Other resolutions under the Benin City Declaration were listed to include:
There is inadequate information and awareness on food sovereignty issues in the media thus shutting out critical stakeholders, deepening public ignorance and inhibiting contributions to solutions.
Governments have been largely complacent about the covert activities of the biotechnology industry to undermine food sovereignty in Nigeria.
There is need for a local and national paradigm-shift towards food sovereignty based on local contextual considerations, promotion of small-scale farmers, pastoralists and fisher-folk which have defined indigenous agriculture based on human rights and sustainable natural resource use.
The mythical benefits of GMOs have ben debunked by many experts. For instance a report issued by over 400 scientists and development practitioners from developed and developing countries, under the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), concluded that small scale farmers should be supported as modern biotechnology would have very limited contribution to the feeding of the world in the foreseeable future.
Production of GMOs is a threat to our biosafety; poses great threat to human and environment health and severely impedes the attainment of sustainable agriculture, food sovereignty/security.
Promoters of GMO and their allies have deliberately ignored the importance and the peculiarities of Nigerian culture, environment and agriculture in their aggressive attempts to impose their products and merchandise on Nigeria. Rather than promoting agroecology, which works in harmony with nature, they have become tied to the apron-strings of speculators and neo-colonial powers whose objective is to exploit, subjugate and destroy food production systems in Nigeria while promoting monoculture and use of toxic agro-chemicals.
Benin City Declaration was endorsed by Ede Asenoguan (Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Benin Branch), Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation) and Chima Williams (President, Green Alliance of Nigeria).
The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has said that its Director-General / CEO, Dr. Rufus Ebegba, is not a member of the National Inter-Religious Council (NIREC).
Director-General of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba
The agency disclosed in a statement on Friday, February 24 2017 that a media report listing its Dr. Ebegba as a member of the NIREC was untrue.
The statement reads: “The Agency wishes to state that Dr. Rufus Ebegba is not a member of the council nor does he sit on any of its committees.
“Dr. Ebegba was only invited by NIREC committee on GMOs to a workshop, where he highlighted the level of Nigeria’s biosafety preparedness and the role of NBMA in the regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Nigeria.
“At the said workshop, which was held in Abuja, August 2016, he was emphatic that the NBMA was ready and will not compromise safety in the deployment of GMOs in Nigeria. He further stated that the NBMA is well equipped and will ensure that the deployment of GMOs does not cause harm to humans and the environment.”
