Call it the opening shot in a brewing war over scientific integrity in the future Trump administration.

More than 2,300 scientists, including 22 Nobel Prize winners, have issued an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump and the 115th Congress, urging them to “adhere to high standards of scientific integrity and independence in responding to current and emerging public health and environmental health threats.”

The letter underscores the extent to which many scientists, who have worked with the Obama administration to address climate change, pandemics and other major policy issues, are worried about whether Trump and his deputies will slash science funding and overhaul the way several federal agencies operate. While it does not directly refer to President George W. Bush’s eight years in office, many of the signatories spent years fighting the curbs imposed on federal scientists during that time.

Andrew Rosenberg, who directs the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Centre for Science and Democracy and whose group organised the letter, said he and other scientists have become concerned both by comments Trump made over the course of the campaign and some of the people who have been advising him on energy, the environment and public health.

“We need to make sure there’s not political manipulation of the science,” Rosenberg said, adding that part of the challenge he and others face is there is not an obvious point person on the transition team who is communicating with outside constituency groups. “It’s hard to figure out even who to have a conversation with. There doesn’t seem to be much of an opening.”

The list of distinguished signatories, who hail from all 50 states, includes medical scientists, physicists and many climate researchers. The Nobel laureates include Harold Varmus, who headed the National Cancre Institute under President Obama; David Baltimore, the former president of Caltech; and Mario Molina, who helped discover the role of chlorofluorocarbons in depleting the ozone layer. James Hansen, the longtime NASA researcher who had previously denounced George W. Bush’s administration for interfering with his ability to communicate publicly the science of climate change, also signed the letter.

The scientists represent a broad range of disciplines: At least 440 in biology, 350 in ecology, 180 in environmental science, 171 in earth science, 108 in chemistry and 40 in agriculture signed the letter.

In the past, Trump has questioned the connection between human activity and climate change, suggesting that he would seek to withdraw from the accord forged last year in Paris that aims to cut the world’s carbon output over the next decade. In a New York Times interview this month, however, the president-elect said, “I have an open mind to it” and said protecting air quality and “crystal clear” water was crucial.

Several of the men and women who are either advising Trump or are being considered for administration posts have questioned the current trajectory of federal scientific research. In an interview last week with the Guardian, former congressman Robert Walker (R-Pa.) said NASA’s Earth Science division should be defunded because it engages in “politically correct environmental monitoring” and the agency should focus on space instead.

“We see NASA in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Walker said. “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.”

Kathleen Hartnett-White, who used to chair the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and met this week with Trump at his transition headquarters in New York City, said in an interview with The Washington Post in October that she did not consider carbon dioxide a pollutant under the Clean Air Act because it does not pose a threat to public health.

“Carbon dioxide has none of the characteristics of a pollutant that could harm human health,” she said, adding at another point that when it comes to scientific predictions that the world could be on the brink of disastrous climate change, “We’re not standing on a cliff from which we are about to fall off.”

“I think all scientists are extremely concerned about what Trump might do to our scientific infrastructure,” said climate scientist Ken Caldeira, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science who signed the letter. “It takes decades to build up leadership in a scientific area, because you have to train people for many years. It would be very easy in just a couple of years to destroy what has taken many decades to build up.”

Obama – who has repeatedly emphasised the need to adhere to fact-based decision making in recent months, often as he was campaigning against Trump during the election – made a point of highlighting that idea during an Oval Office meeting Wednesday with the American winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes.

Sitting with four of this year’s laureates – two in physics, one in economics and one in chemistry, the president said, “We are incredibly proud of them.”

“And I think it’s just a reminder that one of the things that makes America unique is our ability to attract talent from all around the world, to study at some of our greatest universities, and for us to have very practical, reasoned, fact-based empirical ways to figure out how we can make the world a slightly better place,” Obama added.

The letter released Wednesday echoes a previous one released by the Union of Concerned Scientists that was directed at Bush in 2004. The only difference is that at that time, the Bush administration had governed for some four years and had come under fire for multiple science-related scandals. Here, by contrast, scientists are seeking to prevent them by articulating the principle that government researchers should be able to follow the evidence where it leads, and should be free to communicate their results to the public.

“Twelve years ago, the Republican president was . . . very crude in the way they dealt with science,” said Lewis Branscomb, a physicist at the University of California at San Diego and another of the statement signatories. “They very often had political people in the government rewriting reports that scientists in the government had written. That sort of thing happened.”

“And now we’re looking at the kinds of people that Trump is appointing, and we have no good reason to be optimistic about what they’re going to do,” Branscomb said. “We don’t know of course, and we’re not saying they’re going to do anything wrong. We’re simply telling them what we think is going to be important, and hope that they pay attention when they select the senior people in the various agencies that are dealing in science.”

If not, the science community will be watching, the letter cautions.

“We will continue to champion efforts that strengthen the role of science in policymaking and stand ready to hold accountable any who might seek to undermine it,” it concludes.

By Juliet Eilperin and Chris Mooney (The Washington Post)

Germany in Berlin on Thursday December 1 2016 took over the presidency of the G20 leading economies, a platform Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to use to safeguard multilateral cooperation under threat following Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory.

The nation outlined its mission for 2017 under the overarching motto of “Shaping an Interconnected World”. Environmentalists have however urged a Germany-led G20 to mobilise action on climate change for a stronger and safer world.

In a swift reaction to the development, Climate Action Network (CAN), a global network of over 1,200 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), called on the German Presidency to use the G20 platform to mobilise international cooperation and action on climate change.

“Decisive action on climate change is vital to strengthening global stability, and for sustainable development, two pillars of the 2017 G20 agenda. The G20 countries account for approximately 80 percent of global emissions. They have a responsibility to lead on several actions to ensure that climate change does not further endanger global stability,” the CAN submitted in a statement issued on Thursday.

It adds that, by making climate-risk disclosure mandatory, the G20 can ensure that new investment in infrastructure is climate-resilient and low carbon. This, it notes, is vital to avoid the serious risk of stranded assets that threaten financial stability and economic growth.

CAN went further: “Inefficient fossil fuel subsidies skew markets in favour of energy sources that are not environmentally sustainable and which fail to deliver long-term energy security.
G20 governments must unlock the potential of renewable energy sources that are now cost-competitive in many parts of the world. They must further commit to halt fossil-fuel based development and infrastructure investments. Green finance will be an essential enabling element in the necessary global energy transition to 100% renewable energy.

“Mitigating and adapting to climate change will be key to global security, as the scale and frequency of extreme weather events threaten vulnerable communities and exacerbate the scarcity of natural resources.

“In 2015, all G20 governments adopted the Paris Agreement and the Agenda 2030 – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). During COP 22 in Marrakech last month, 48 of the most vulnerable countries committed to transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Now the world’s largest economies must ensure that their economic decisions are compatible with the commitments they made in Paris, and in line with the direction in which the global economy is moving.

“Developing mid-century strategies for sustainable development and decarbonisation is a key step in ensuring stable and resilient national economies. Such long-term planning will send clear signals to the private sector, and help build a framework for investments in line with development goals and those of the Paris Agreement.

“Germany, at the helm of the G20 must reaffirm commitments to avoid irreversible climate change. It must, through its G20 leadership, work to ensure a progressive outcome on global climate action.”

Members of CAN also individually reacted to the start of the German G20 Presidency.

Alex Doukas, Senior Campaigner, Oil Change International, said: “Climate science tells us that the responsible thing to do is to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure now. Germany should push the G20 in this direction, and at the very least, should advance the 2009 G20 promise to end fossil fuel subsidies. We can’t afford to build new fossil fuel infrastructure, and we certainly can’t afford to waste even one more cent of public money on it.”

Wendel Trio, Director, Climate Action Network Europe: “As the G20 Presidency enters Europe for the next 12 months, Germany and the whole European Union should get behind an ambitious work plan that moves the world’s largest economies further away from fossil fuels and closer towards being fully renewables based and energy efficient. Germany together with the rest of the EU now have the opportunity to solidify their alleged climate leadership. This includes phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, increasing near-term climate action and getting down to business with the EU’s long-term decarbonisation strategy.”

Christoph Bals, Policy Director, Germanwatch: “As the world’s largest emitters and strongest economies, the G20 have a responsibility to act on climate change. The Paris Agreement has set a globally agreed framework for responding to the climate crisis, but we can only achieve the Paris objectives if the G20 now acts decisively on implementation. We welcome the emphasis the German presidency has announced to put on this issue. We expect chancellor Merkel to make it very clear that climate change has to be a priority, also vis-a-vis the incoming U.S. administration. All G20 countries need to agree to develop their mid-century decarbonisation plans by 2018.”

A National Gas Policy that will enhance quick adoption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a choice fuel for cooking in the country is in the pipeline, the Federal Government has said.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, who made the disclosure in Abuja on Monday, November 28 2016, during this year’s edition of the Nigeria Clean Cooking Forum, said the move was in furtherance of the government’s efforts to promote clean cooking. The Federal Ministry of Environment, in partnership with the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, organised the event.

In line with this, the Executive Vice Chairperson, Techno Oil Ltd., Mrs. Nkechi Obi, disclosed that the company would soon launch an ultra-modern cylinder production plant to make LPG more affordable and accessible. In addition, a coastal LPG terminal of 15000MT will be commissioned by next year, she added.

Mr. Dayo Adeshina, president, NLPG Association, underscored the need to tackle the challenges of affordability, availability, accessibility and acceptability in the rolling out of LPG on a mass scale.

While LPG is regarded as the most desired clean fuel for cooking, the consensus however is that, for years to come, poor communities all over Nigeria will depend on bio mass (firewood, briquettes).

Minister for Environment, Amina Mohammed, pointed out that internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees suffer the most energy poverty in Nigeria. She added that, in order to facilitate the displaced communities’ return home or to settle down where they wish to, providing access to energy will be a key element among the range of enabling measures.

According to her, climate change presents a growing challenge to both men and women. Its negative effects are likely to hit the poorest people in the rural parts of Nigeria which women constitute a major part of, she adds, saying: “This is even more urgent particularly in rural areas where resources are scarce and the ability to cope is lower than in the urban areas.”

Chairperson, Steering Committee of the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Christine K, submits: “Typical camps for the IDPs are characterised by lack of opportunities for employment and meaningful livelihood. This contributes to youth restiveness and tension. Adopting alternative fuels and energy technologies can create jobs for IDPS, especially women and youths. The use of clean and efficient cookstoves also reduces the risks of physical and sexual attacks faced by IDP women.”

President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, who was represented by Senator Philip Aduda, the Senate Minority Whip, pledged the willingness and readiness of the National Assembly to support and pass laws that will promote clean cooking in the country. He also committed to the provision of a strong value chain for efficient and clean cookstoves and fuels that will be in line with the “Made in Nigeria” campaign.

“The Senate will work with the Federal Ministry of Environment to ensure the provision of budgetary allocations for the clean cookstoves sector in Nigeria in the 2017 budget,” Dr Saraki promised.

Managing Director of Shell, Osagie Osunbor, represented by Igo Weli, General Manager, External Relations, remarked that “Shell is doing a lot in the clean cookstoves sector by partnering with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in ensuring that cleaner and safer fuels are available in the country”. He emphasised the need for a strong collaboration with the executive and legislative arms of government to deliver clean cooking energy in the country.

British High Commissioner, Paul Arkwright, commended the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and the Federal Ministry of Environment for the initiative and re-emphasised the need to find appropriate solutions that works for Nigerian in terms of affordability and financing, among others.

Coordinator, Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Ewah Eleri, who was represented by Precious Onuvae, noted that cooking which should ordinarily be enjoyed by cooks has turned out to be a killer in Nigerian homes and institutions. She called on relevant Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to take leadership in developing policies to support the production and adoption of clean cookstoves in the country. One of such policies could be the establishment of single digit interest rate facility to strengthen local production of clean cookstoves in the country.

Director of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Dr. Kayode Fagbemi, expressed the hope that IDP camps and IDP communities will have access to clean cooking facility.

Ms. Folake Salawu of ICEED, on her part, presented the success story from Adamawa State, where women and youth are being trained in the production and use of clean cookstoves in an IDP settlement.

Key outcomes of the daylong forum were listed to include:

• Launch a behavioural change/awareness campaign for clean and efficient cookstoves in the country;
• Set up training centres for local production of efficient biomass cookstoves in each geopolitical zones;
• Encourage clean cooking in government owned facilities like prisons, government boarding secondary schools and IDP camps, among others; and,
• Establish gas refill stations in all senatorial districts; exempt VAT for LPGs and reduce import duty on clean cookstoves parts to make it more affordable among others.

Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, in a closing remark, stated: “The huge participation shows the importance of the forum. This is the beginning of greater things to come. The Ministry will continue to support and partner with the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to actualise the resolutions of this great event.”

The forum brought together over 150 participants including policymakers, private sector leaders, foundations, research institutions, development partners, women groups and civil society stakeholders to reposition Nigeria’s strategy for clean cooking.

Observers believe Nigerians suffer a “silent” energy crisis – poor access to clean cooking energy. Over 20 million households and about 122 million Nigerians are said to depend on primarily wood as a source of fuel for cooking, this is despite the abundance of modern cooking energy sources including natural gas.

According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report on use of fuelwood, traditional use of firewood is estimated to cause 95,000 deaths annually in Nigeria. After malaria and HIV/AIDS, it is said to be the nation’s third highest killer of mostly women and children.

Ms Salawu said: “The traditional cooking method is expensive, burning up to 90% more wood than is necessary and costing poor families money that could be put to better use on education, health and nutrition. Even though the country is one of the world’s largest exporters of LPG, most Nigerian households rely on firewood for cooking.

“The cooking energy poverty is felt most among persons who are affected by internal and external crisis such as refugees and internally displaced persons. In North East Nigeria, persons displaced by the Boko Haram crisis are facing severe challenges in meeting their basic needs including access to cooking energy and fuels. Fetching of firewood around camps and host communities lead to conflicts and increase the chances of gender-based violence against women. Both boys and girls spend time that could be used for education in fetching wood for family cooking.”

There are fears that the Irhue Rainforest in Uhunmwode Local Government Area in Edo State, Nigeria, is under severe threat, no thanks to the activities of a multinational agro-allied firm.

Residents and indigenes of Orhua, Oke, Umokpe and other villages of the Irhue Clan in Uhunmwode are having sleepless night over the fact that their God-given rich and diverse lowland rainforest is being forcefully taken over by the firm to establish a single-crop oil palm plantation, apparently against public-interest.

It was gathered that the Edo State Government, the sole trustee on all lands in the state, faulted as illegal the land acquisition made by Okomu Plc, the firm at the centre of the controversy. Government thus revoked and returned the land to the Clan, and reportedly warned Okomu Company to vacate and stop planting on the vast land area. But, alas, the firm allegedly disobeyed the directive and bulldozed, along with farm crops, priceless endangered species and important land forms.

In a recent petition by the The Okpamakhin Initiative / Coalition for Protection of the Environment (COPE), villagers accused the firm of using “a divide and rule” strategy to get erring squatters on the land against original owners of the Clan and land, “in the belief that the aboriginal Irhue people are too poor to defend their inheritance and rights”.

Tony Erha, an environmentalist, who heads COPE, accused Dr. Graham Hefer, a South African immigrant to Nigeria and the company’s boss, of masterminding his company’s refusal to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study, which the Federal Ministry of Environment had mandated the firm to carry out even before commencing the project. Erha alleged that Okomu Company midwifed “a belated and deceitful” EIA draft report, more than two and half years after it had been “doing great destruction to the land and the people.”

“If the Clan was left to resort to self-help, against unwarranted and incessant harassment with security men and direct aggression from the rampaging Okomu Company, Irhue Clan would have for long become another Niger Delta community that is crisis-ridden! Okomu Plc continues to drive them to the wall!” reads the petition.

The petition further reads: “Trouble began for the innocent Irhue Clan in February, 2014, when Okomu Plc, guarded by armed men in uniform, started bulldozing on the over 16,000 hectares (ha) of rich rainforest land, which it unduly bought from the Iyayi Group of Companies. Similarly, some years ago, Okomu Company and Dr. Hefer had illegally purchased over 15,000 ha of high forest land around the Okomu National Park, from the same Iyayi Group, which it bulldozed to extend its plantation, despite intense protests from conservationists and well-meaning public. Today, Edo State Government has also revoked this land, which destruction has greatly endangered the National Park – a globally acclaimed park and one of the last (few) protected lowland rainforest enclaves in the world.

“Irhue Clan and the fast increasing local and external population of land users, solely depend on the land for timber, water-supply and traditional worship centres. The high biodiversity of priceless flora, fauna and natural forms, had always been earmarked as extension of the Okomu National Park, by global conservation experts and institutions. From the proposed Okomu palm plantation, dangerous chemicals and effluence are being emptied into their environment and only sources of water, with deadly health consequences to the Irhue locals.

“With this impunity, are Okomu Plc and Dr. Hefer above the Law of the Land? Okomu plantation is Illegal and Must Not Stand on Irhue Clan! Degraded part of the Forest Reserve should be regenerated with trees, for the original purpose it is meant!”

In commemoration of the World AIDS Day on Thursday, December 1, 2016, WaterAid has restated that safe water, improved sanitation and good hygiene (WASH) are essential for ensuring that people living with HIV (PLHIV) live healthy and productive lives.

According to the UK-based international organisation, easy access to safe and sufficient water and sanitation is indispensable for people living with HIV and AIDS and for the provision of home-based care to AIDS patients.

The group adds that safe drinking water is necessary for taking medicines, while nearby latrines make life more tolerable for weak patients. It notes that water is also needed for bathing patients, washing soiled clothing and linen, keeping the house environment and latrine clean in order to reduce the risk of opportunistic infections. Safe and adequate water and sanitation provision increases the dignity of both patients and caregivers, it further stresses.

WaterAid Nigeria, in a statement issued on Wednesday, November 30, submits: “People living with HIV are more susceptible to WASH-related illnesses such as typhoid and skin diseases. People living with HIV are also six times more likely to acquire a diarrhoeal disease with 90% of people living with HIV experiencing diarrhoea at least once. In addition, babies born to mothers living with HIV are three times more likely to have diarrhoea.

“People living with HIV need 2 ½ times the amount of water than someone not living with the virus, and also need improved hygiene and sanitation to help prevent opportunistic infections by keeping the environment of the house and toilet clean. An adequate supply of water is essential for home-based care of PLHIV. Diarrhoea and other opportunistic infections also lead to depleted energy levels, resulting in the need for close and easily accessible toilet facilities and water for handwashing.”

WaterAid Nigeria’s Communication and Campaigns Manager, Oluseyi Abdulmalik, was quoted in the statement as saying: “Without sufficient clean water, sanitation and proper hygiene, people living with HIV will be more ill more often, and less able to live healthy and productive lives. At WaterAid, we advocate for the integration of water, sanitation and hygiene into HIV services and the fight against AIDS. Interventions around universal health coverage must include environmental factors such as water, basic toilets and good hygiene promotion within households. For people living with HIV, this would help to prevent opportunistic infections and enable healthier, more productive lives.”

In the statement, which Abdulmalik endorsed, WaterAid stresses: “Today is World AIDS Day and, at WaterAid, we believe that water, sanitation and hygiene are critical to both disease prevention and care.

“While our focus as on organisation is on Sustainable Development Goal 6 and on everyone everywhere having access to safe water and sanitation, on World AIDS Day we are also reflecting on Goal 3 (health and wellbeing) and in particular on the target of ending the global AIDS epidemic by 2030.

“This means full access to health services for all, delivered with dignity and respect. It also means adolescent girls, women, boys and men having access to appropriate HIV and sexual and reproductive health information and services, and it means every child being born free from HIV by 2030. WaterAid’s global advocacy priority, our Healthy Start campaign also focuses on the good health of babies and of their mothers.

“Today reminds us that the Sustainable Development Goals are interconnected and that the eradication of extreme poverty depends on all 17 global goals. This is why one of our strategic aims focuses on integration – working together across sectors and across goals. Clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene practice are crucial in helping us all to stay healthy, minimising the risk of infection and for the taking of retroviral drugs. Nigeria carries the second heaviest burden of HIV in Africa and the highest in West Africa.”

According to Abdulmalik, WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, adding that the international organisation works in 37 countries across Africa, Asia, Central America and the Pacific Region to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world’s poorest communities.