In order to fully benefit from the potential of abundant renewable energy in South Africa, companies need to step out of their comfort zones and send clear signals to the markets by committing to an ambitious 100 percent renewable energy future.
Penny-Jane Cooke, Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace Africa, says Woolworths is still in the lead with an improved score of six out of 10
This is the resounding message in an updated report “Shopping clean: Retailers and renewable energy – An Update” released this week by Greenpeace Africa which gives an up to date outline of the state of renewable energy investments and commitments by South Africa’s top five retailers (Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Woolworths, Spar and Massmart).
The ‘Renewable Energy Champions’ campaign was first launched by Greenpeace in April this year with the report “Shopping Clean: Retailers and Renewable Energy” and in the report update, Greenpeace takes a look at how the retailers have improved in the intervening six months.
“When comparing the retailers to one another, Woolworths is still in the lead with an improved score of six out of 10. Massmart is close behind Woolworths with a score of five and a half, a significant improvement from their April score. Pick n Pay has also shown a significant improvement and is now engaging with Greenpeace on how they can increase their commitments to renewable energy in the future. Spar and Shoprite are at the bottom of the table with Shoprite scoring the lowest of all five retailers,” said Penny-Jane Cooke, Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace Africa.
During 2016 both Woolworths and Massmart undertook solar PV installations; with Woolworths installing the first phase of their 2MW system at their Midrand distribution centre, and Massmart installing a 520kW and a 430kW system at their Carnival Mall and Woodmead Makro stores respectively. This combined solar PV capacity is sufficient to power 500 – 700 average South African households.
“One of the most significant actions undertaken by Massmart, Woolworths and Pick n Pay this year was their commitment to lobby to remove the barriers to renewable energy. The retailers have agreed to the need for a holistic sector approach that includes financial mechanisms and regulatory frameworks to create an enabling framework for renewable energy going forward, and have agreed to focus on lobbying for this, meanwhile Woolworths alone has taken the important step of committing to a 100 percent renewable energy future,” added Cooke.
At the bottom end of the updated ranking table both Spar and Shoprite are dragging behind their fellow retailers. Spar’s score has stayed the same as they have not made any progress in the renewable energy sector in 2016. Shoprite continues to have the lowest score of three out of ten due to a lack of publicly available information, lack of transparency and unwillingness to engage with Greenpeace on these issues.
“Shoprite’s sustained low score is a clear indication that the retailer is not yet taking renewable energy seriously, neither are they engaging with the Renewable Energy Champions campaign. Greenpeace believes that Shoprite in particular can do much more to show solar some love, and we call on all five of the country’s top retailers to convert their scores from average to ambitious,” Cooke said.
During the course of 2016, Eskom has begun what appears to be a sustained anti renewable energy campaign, which means there is an increased need for other sectors, including the retail sector, to champion and lobby for a renewable energy future in South Africa.
Renewable energy offers a concrete alternative to the current electricity system that is failing all South Africans.
Global wildlife could plunge to a 67 per cent level of decline in just the 50-year period ending this decade as a result of human activities, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2016. The report shows how people are overpowering the planet for the first time in Earth’s history and highlights the changes needed in the way society is fed and fuelled.
The report says global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles have been on the decline
According to the report, global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles have already declined by 58 per cent between 1970 and 2012, the most recent year with available data. This places the world on a trajectory of a potential two-thirds decline within a span of the half-century ending in 2020.
Fortunately, 2020 is also a year of great promise. In that same year, commitments made under the Paris climate deal will kick in, and the first environmental actions under the globe’s new sustainable development plan are due. If implemented, these measures, along with meeting international biodiversity targets set for 2020, can help achieve the reforms needed in the world’s food and energy systems to protect wildlife across the globe.
“Wildlife is disappearing within our lifetimes at an unprecedented rate,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International. “This is not just about the wonderful species we all love; biodiversity forms the foundation of healthy forests, rivers and oceans. Take away species, and these ecosystems will collapse along with the clean air, water, food and climate services that they provide us. We have the tools to fix this problem and we need to start using them now if we are serious about preserving a living planet for our own survival and prosperity.”
The WWF report uses the Living Planet Index, provided by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), to monitor trends in wildlife abundance. This index reports how wildlife populations have changed in size, rather than the specific number of animals that have been lost or gained.
“Human behaviour continues to drive the decline of wildlife populations globally, with particular impact in freshwater habitats. Importantly however, these are declines, they are not yet extinctions – and this should be a wake-up call to marshal efforts to promote the recovery of these populations,” said Professor Ken Norris, Director of Science at ZSL.
Additional evidence of a man-made era The top threats to species identified in the report are directly linked to human activities, including habitat loss, degradation and overexploitation of wildlife.
The report’s findings provide additional evidence that the planet is entering completely unchartered territory in its history in which humanity is shaping changes on the Earth, including a possible sixth mass extinction. Researchers are already calling this period the Anthropocene. Understanding why we are moving into this new epoch enables us to identify solutions for restoring the ecosystems we depend upon.
According to the report, food production to meet the complex demands of an expanding human population is leading the race in the destruction of habitats and overexploitation of wildlife. At present, agriculture occupies about one-third of the Earth’s total land area and accounts for almost 70 per cent of water use.
The Living Planet Report 2016 outlines solutions to reform the way we produce and consume food to help ensure that the world is well-fed in a sustainable way. The report also focuses on the fundamental changes required in the global energy and finance systems to meet the sustainability needs of future generations.
Pushing the planet to its limits Living Planet Report 2016 draws on leading research about the scale and impact of human activity on our planet. One such framework, developed by the Stockholm Resilience Centre in collaboration with partners, demonstrates that humanity has surpassed four out of nine Planetary Boundaries – safe thresholds for critical Earth system processes that maintain life on the planet.
In a special foreword in the report, Planetary Boundaries lead researcher Johan Rockström underlines the need for an urgent transition to a world that works within Earth’s safe operating space.
The report also features research from the Global Footprint Network that shows that while we only have one Earth, humanity is currently using the resources of 1.6 planets to provide the goods and services we use each year.
“No matter how you add it up, the math does not look good. The more we continue to exceed Earth’s limits, the more damage we do to our own future,” said Lambertini. “We are at a decisive moment in time when we can seize the solutions to steer our food, energy and finance systems in a more sustainable direction.”
Charting the way forward
The WWF report demonstrates that we need to rethink how we produce, consume, measure success and value the natural environment.
Adequately protecting the environment alongside economic and social development requires an urgent system change by individuals, businesses and governments to move from a short-sighted approach to a visionary approach that values future generations.
In one example, the report shows how smallholder farmers in Kenya work with local authorities and the food industry to manage the natural resources of Lake Naivasha, the country’s second largest freshwater body, a biodiversity hotspot and a significant contributor to its GDP.
The report also illustrates the positive momentum that is building by highlighting recent global agreements on climate change and sustainable development. In particular, the report recognizes the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as an essential guide to decision-making that can ensure that the environment is valued alongside economic and social interests.
“A strong natural environment is the key to defeating poverty, improving health and developing a just and prosperous future. We have proven that we know what it takes to build a resilient planet for future generations, we just need to act on that knowledge,” Lambertini added.
Living Planet Report 2016: Risk and resilience in a new era is the 11th edition of WWF’s biennial flagship publication. The report tracks over 14,000 vertebrate populations of over 3,700 species from 1970 to 2012.
Attempting a review of “Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative roadmap for public water sector” on Thursday in Lagos during the book’s public presentation, Dr Chido Onumah, who is Coordinator of the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), suggests that, if followed with the appropriate political will, the report can transform the Lagos water system “from a source of disease, conflict and suffering into a model for all the world to emulate”
Lagos is regarded as the fabled city of water yet, says the reviewer, the bulk of the population have no access to it
Favour, 15, and her four siblings live with their parents in a two-room apartment in Bariga, a suburb formerly under Somolu Local Government Area of Lagos State, but now a Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of its own. Like in other places, the taps in the building have gone dry for years, and so is the public tap down the street erected by the government to meet the water needs of the people in the area. So they are forced to buy water from mai ruwa, the ubiquitous water vendors who have become a permanent feature of life serving the needs of the people in virtually every community in the state.
But most of the time the family can’t afford the vendors, so she and her brother, Tomi, 13, would pick up the jerrycans to go search for water for the use of the household before they go to school. To get enough water every morning, they have to do three trips each. And when they return from school, after homework, the other major preoccupation is to go look for water.
Almost on a daily basis, they live with the stress of pounding the streets with adults and early teens like themselves who are routinely roused from sleep before dawn by their parents to go and fetch water, not just for drinking and cooking, but also for other domestic needs for which the commodity is required. This is the depressing spectacle that is common in the coastal city of Lagos, a dreamy landscape of over 21 million residents
Snuggled in the caressing coolness of the lagoon and the Gulf of Guinea, Lagos is the fabled city of water; water everywhere, yet in a disarming twist of cruel irony, its residents, especially low-income earners that form the bulk of the population, have no access to water. Thank God for mai ruwa. What would have happened without the intervention of this itinerant group of resilient economic hustlers whose main source of water supply are the boreholes and water tankers? Of course, this acute water shortage has severe consequences, including compromised sanitation and the impoverishment of Lagosians.
It is this embarrassing dilemma bedeviling the city that the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria seeks to address in its latest audacious report entitled, Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Efficient Water Sector. A tour de force of no mean reckoning, the 56-page report (including references) is at once an eye-opener – a sobering, reflective and penetrating excursion into the stark profile of public water utility in Africa’s most populous city. Thankfully, while it paints an ugly picture of this sector, this document also offers a ray of hope.
The content page has seven sub-headings and kicks off with the executive summary that outlines the aim of the report, which includes charting a pathway out of the Lagos water problem, highlighting the impact and reasons why the current water system is not working, offering blueprints from around the world that would suit the Lagos situation and making concrete proposals that can be exploited in the interim, as well as continuously by the Lagos State government and the Lagos State Water Corporation.
According to the report, Lagos is responsible for more than 60 percent of industrial and commercial activities in Nigeria. The Lagos State Water Supply Master plan estimates daily water demand in the city at 540 million gallons per day (MGD) and production by the Lagos State Water Corporation at 210 MGD. It says, however, that the Corporation’s website lists total production capacity at only 163 MGD. By 2020, water demand is expected to reach 733 GMD.
The report opens a rare insight into the health and economic implications of the Lagos water crisis. It notes that since water and sanitation are crucial factors in public health, the impact of water crisis on public health is grave. “Indeed, it puts the State’s booming population at risk of diseases like cholera, dysentery, diarrhea and salmonellosis, in addition to escalating cases of typhoid and malaria fever,” the report observes gravely.
Quoting Dr. Jide Idris, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, it recalls that in February 2016, 25 children in Otodo Gbame, in Ikate Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the state died after drinking the community’s pathogen-infected water. Unfortunately, many houses are currently serviced by boreholes. The dangers of drinking such water, it says, include long-term exposure to toxins. Also, quoting a 2012 report published in Resources and Environment, the report says some borehole water samples examined in Lagos contained high concentration of the heavy metals lead and cadmium at levels above the World Health Organisation (WHO) maximum acceptable concentration (MAC). It warns that only adequate water treatment could help control heavy metal exposure.
On the economic consequences of water shortage, the report notes that the high cost of sourcing water has made Lagos residents poorer. It notes, “The average family could use up to seven or eight jerrycans daily, which translates to N10,000 to N17,000 monthly in a nation where the middle class average family income is N75,000-N100,000. This high price threatens the availability of water, which improves the quality of life and makes citizens healthier for economic activities and development.”
Faced with such high human and economic cost as a result of water crisis, it is pertinent to examine how Lagos found itself in this awkward position. For starters, the report observes that the root of Lagos water crisis is not traceable to a single cause, but to a number of causes which includes, first and foremost, the fact that for decades expansion of the public water system has not corresponded with the rapid growth of the metropolis.
Other reasons include ageing and insufficient water infrastructure, decades of policies that did not work, failure to ensure meaningful public participation, poor labour practices, regulatory failures, and, of course, inadequate budget allocation. For example, though the governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, described the State’s 2016 budget as the “people’s budget,” it falls short on water, with only N17.6billion or 2.7 percent for the State’s Water Corporation. In spite of this, the report notes that with the right financial and social policies, Lagos can fund the water structure required to ensure all Lagosians have affordable access to safe water.
If there’s one significant achievement of this report it is the fact that it brings to the fore the problem of access to water as a human rights issue. It clearly underscores this notion through interviews with a cross section of Lagos residents which show that the public desires a system that sustains their right to water and allows the people to participate in making decisions about their water needs.
However, to fulfil the human right to water, the report says governments must ensure water is available, physically accessible, affordable, safe, and acceptable in odour, colour and other qualities. The concept of water privatisation being canvassed in some quarters is unanimously rejected by all individuals and groups featured in the interviews.
The report examines public water successes, citing examples and models from around the world which Lagos could draw from if it is committed to re-inventing its public water system. It reminds those who are angling for the privatisation of water that the most prominent examples of efficiency are located in the public sector, not the private sector. “For example, public operator Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) increased coverage from 20% to 90% in less than 20 years,” the report says.
Pointing the way forward for Lagos, the report offers Governor Ambode and the State House of Assembly a set of policy guidelines which, if followed with the appropriate political will, could transform the Lagos water system “from a source of disease, conflict and suffering into a model for all the world to emulate.”
Well-researched and brilliantly rendered, ERA/FoEN has through this report once again demonstrated its legendary capacity to intervene and proffer solutions in critical areas of life, especially as it affects the environment. Unlike the Lagos water, the language of this report is accessible, and is made more captivating by graphic illustrations that accentuate as much as the word the quality of the entire package.
This is not a document that should be left to gather dust on the shelves of public libraries (where they exist) or government offices. It is a report that state governors across the country should permanently hold on to if they are serious about solving the water crisis in their states.
Perhaps as a way of driving home the importance of water, it is just as fitting that the authors summoned the immortal words of Leonardo Da Vinci to wrap up this excellent report: “Water is the driving force of all nature.”
The title of the review is paraphrased from lines in the poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Deputy Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), says at the public presentation of “Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Public Water Sector” in Lagos on Thursday that the time is nigh to put an end to the Lagos water crisis
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Deputy Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), says it is time to put an end to the Lagos water crisis
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria is excited that, within a very short time, the campaign: “This is Lagos: Our Water, Our Right Campaign” has rallied local communities, labour unions, rights activists, anti-corruption crusaders, social justice and religious leaders within and outside Lagos to call for public investments, transparency, accountability, and democratic public control in the management of the Lagos public water system.
Access to affordable, clean water remains a huge problem in Lagos. Currently, less than 10 per cent of Lagos’ 21 million population is connected to pipe-borne water. Daily water demand in the city is put at 540 million gallons per day while the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC) claims it produces 210 MDG. The LSWC is hampered by ageing infrastructure. The water treatment plants are in disrepair while the entire water trunks are old and obsolete. The LSWC had over the years suffered bad management, corruption and poor funding. How did we get here? How Are we going to get out?
The water crisis in Lagos is further compounded by the approach and strategies now being adopted by the Lagos government. The Lagos State Water Supply Master Plan only promotes one false option and one roadmap only: privatisation or, better still, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). PPP, a model that has failed woefully in several cities across the world, is being promoted by the World Bank and other financial institutions. Communities that have gone down that path are struggling to reverse the course, and hundreds have abandoned PPPs after trying them – they sometimes generate profit, but low-income people can’t drink profit.
Our campaign against water privatisation is hinged on well-documented concerns that privatisation or PPPs in the water sector would lead to violations of human right to water and deny citizens universal access to safe drinking water. There are also concerns that the whole privatisation process including an Advisory Agreement with the World Bank were conducted in secret, without ensuring active, free and meaningful citizens’ participation. There is also the worry about job losses, high tariffs and the possibility of social unrest if water privatisation is forced on the people.
Consistently, we have voiced our opposition to PPPs because they have failed elsewhere and will fail here. At our rallies or through our petitions and even in-person meetings with government officials, we have rejected all forms of commodification of water and called for a more democratic model to address the crisis. After all, shouldn’t our leaders be pro-people? Our government is for the people, by the people – our water system must also be managed for the people, by the people.
We have continued to urge the Lagos government to:
Reject all forms of water privatisation and commodification.
Revise all water sector laws that promotes PPP.
Show political leadership by making adequate budgetary allocations to the water sector.
Fully uphold the human right to water as an obligation of the government, representing the people.
Integrate broad public participation in developing plans to achieve universal access to clean water.
Develop genuine worker-management cooperation to allow water sector employees to share concerns without fear of retaliation, and improve our water infrastructure together.
Reject contracts designed by, involving, or influenced by the IFC, which operates to maximise private profit.
Disclose all IFC and World Bank activities and discussions with Lagos government officials regarding water, including formal and informal advisory roles.
Build the political will to prioritise water for the people, therefore leading to a comprehensive plan that invests in the water infrastructure necessary to provide universal water access, which will create jobs, improve public health, and invigorate the Lagos economy.
The Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Water Sector
We have however, made it clear that we will assist the government in developing real solutions that truly address people’s access to water from the prism of human rights. We have also said that those solutions cannot be found in corporate management of public goods, but in collective investment in water infrastructure and democratic decision-making that priorities the human right to water above profits. Today, we are presenting in the form of a book that alternative roadmap to the failed roadmap being promoted by the Word bank and corporations, and their friends in high places here in Nigeria.
Today, we have moved from mere advocacy to providing real, practical and sustainable solutions. We will still be in the streets until this crisis is addressed, but now we are also ready to work with our leaders to move forward together. The “Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Water Sector” is the alternative roadmap to the Lagos Water Strategy which has the sole aim of promoting water privatisation. The book reviews the impact and reasons for the failure of the current water system, and provides models from around the world for adaptation to the Lagos context. It makes specific recommendations that can be implemented by the Lagos State Government and Lagos State Water Corporation over the short and long-term.
We want to plead with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode himself to personally pick this book and digest the information therein. In the book, he will discover the real workable roadmap to a functional democratically- governed water system in Lagos. We look forward to supporting a new, pro-people water master plan.
Our sincere thanks go to members of the Community Water Parliaments in Bagadry, Ikorodu, Epe, Agege and Ketu, among others. We also want to thank the labour unions AUPCTRE, NLC and our CSO friends like CLO, CDHR, CACOL, and WASHNET. The story of the Lagos anti-water privatisation movement is that of partnership and collaboration, both at local and international levels and as such our thanks goes to Corporate Accountability International, Transnational Institute, Public Service International, PSI Research Unit (PSIRU) for the support and the hard work that gave birth to the book we are presenting here today. We also want to thank 23 members of the United States Congressional Black Caucus and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Water for their solidarity and actions.
A coalition of civil society, labour unions and grassroots mobilisers on Thursday in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State, formally presented to the public a book titled: “Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Water Sector”, which they describe as the solution to challenges bordering access to water in Lagos.
The activists describe the book as a direct response to the state government’s claim that there is no solution outside privatisation
“Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Water Sector” is being promoted as a workable solution and in apparent opposition to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) water privatisation endeavour, which the state government appears to have endorsed. The Our Water Our Right Coalition, which presented the book, has since 2014 petitioned the state government and mobilised residents to take to the streets to resist the PPP initiative.
According to the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), the book is presented as a direct response to the state government’s claim that there is no solution outside privatisation for the 21 million residents of Lagos, most of whom, says the group, depend on unwholesome sources of water “due to the corruption, lack of transparency and accountability and decay in infrastructure managed by the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC).”
The book is a joint effort by ERA/FoEN, Corporate Accountability International, Public Services International (PSI), Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) and Transnational Institute (TNI).
“Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for Water Sector” faults the approach of the state government to solving the water emergency, especially the focus of maximisation of profits to the detriment of the human rights perspectives of access to water.
Philip Jakpor, the ERA/FoEN spokesperson, adds: “The book faults the Lagos State Water Masterplan which it says will lead to violations of the human right to water and deny citizens universal access to safe drinking water. The book also pokes the Advisory Agreement between the state and the World Bank which were allegedly conducted in secret, without the active participation of citizens of Lagos and warned of likely unrest if water privatisation is forced on the people.
“It amplifies the Our Water Our Right Coalition belief that PPP is a myth and false solution to the Lagos water crisis. It urges the Lagos State government to build the political will to prioritise water for the people and sustainably invest in the water infrastructure to ensure universal access, create jobs, improve public health and ultimately reinvigorate the Lagos economy.
“Some recommendations put forward are Public-Public-Partnerships (PuPs) and the institution of a water trust. Recommendations put forward can be implemented by the Lagos State Government and Lagos State Water Corporation over the short and long-term to ensure a functional democratically- governed water system in Lagos.”
The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has said it will evolve a stand-alone flood insurance to mitigate economic losses incurred during flood incidents in the country.
Flooding in Makurdi. Photo credit: Sahara Reporters
Mr Soji Oni, Chairman, Fire Offices Committee (FOC) of the association, made the disclosure recently in Lagos.
Oni noted that the policy was necessitated by the increasing number of flood victims, economic loss and the constrained sustainable development caused by flood incidents within the country.
According to him, the insurance industry paid billions of naira as compensation to policyholders during the 2009 and 2012 flood incidents.
“Prior 2009, flood was not a threat to us but we have discovered now that what we ignored in the past has become a major threat to us in the country.
“Now, megacities and communities are at risk; we have massive damage done by flood to properties, increased economic loss and a whole lot of displaced people.
“As an industry, we are trying to align with global best practices where flood insurance is a stand-alone policy and given more consideration now that it threatens us.
“When it becomes a stand-alone policy, it becomes mandatory, gains more public awareness and reduces risk of the policy holders,” Oni said.
According to him, the Governing Council of the association is working assiduously to fast-track the policy in a bid to effectively discharge its obligation of protecting against risk hazards.
“When disaster occurs in Nigeria, the victims usually look up to the government, philanthropist and their relatives for help.
“Most people are burdened by relocation or cost of rebuilding their properties but with this policy, you have something to fall upon even as a tenant,” he said.
Oni said that the initiative would strengthen and equip the industry to provide cover that could reduce impact of environmental risk on the citizens. He emphasised that the insurance payouts would also accelerate economic recovery while reducing reliance of flood victims on limited government’s disaster aid.
Presently, flood is covered under Fire and Special Peril insurance in Nigeria.
A climatologist, Prof. Emmanuel Olukayode Oladipo, has said that political will is critical in sustaining Ogoniland clean-up amid the economic recession of the country.
Prof. Emmanuel Olukayode Oladipo
Prof. Oladipo noted that the economic situation might slow the project but should not derail government’s commitment to restoring the ecosystem and creating a sustainable livelihood beyond oil for the community.
The Federal Government on June 2, at Bodo, Rivers State, inaugurated a $1 billion clean-up and restoration programme of Ogoniland. The project is expected to last for 20 years. The first five years would address remediation while the subsequent years would restore the ecosystems of the area.
The exercise is a response to recommendations made by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports, 2011.
Prof. Oladipo, who also serves as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) consultant, noted that commitment to the exercise would integrate peace into the Niger Delta region.
“Government is trying to get support from all sources, recession may slow it down but should not derail it.
“Maybe, instead of providing half a billion yearly, it may not be able to provide more than 250 million dollars every year towards it. It may delay the time of completion but once the political will is there, ideally, it should be completed.
“It may mean we have just limited money from our annual budget that can go to it, but at least we continue to do it. Once people see even if it’s one acres of land that is cleared every year and they see the commitment, they will relax.
“But if we abandon it because we say there’s economic recession, then we are going to add more trouble to the ongoing trouble in the Niger-Delta region. Government’s will should be high to ensure that Ogoniland issue is properly addressed.
“The exercise cannot be finished in one administration; the continuity is critical. When Buhari Administration goes, whichever one takes over should see Ogoniland Cleaning as priority and do what is supposed to do, then we should have no problem,” Prof. Oladipo said.
Ogoniland is home to some 20 million people and 40 different ethnic groups; its floodplain makes up 7.5 per cent of Nigeria’s total land mass.
Oil exploration and production, mainstay of the economy for decades, has severely damaged the ecosystem of the Niger Delta, contaminated the environment while affecting fishing and agriculture practice that constitutes community livelihood.
The Mexican Alliance for Biodiversity and Business, with the aim of promoting the protection, conservation and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems, was launched last week (17 October 2016) in Mexico City.
Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources for Mexico, Rafael Pacchiano Alamán,
Comprised of 15 institutions and 12 companies, the Mexican Alliance for Biodiversity and Business seeks to generate constructive dialogue between conservation organisations, cooperation agencies, institutions and businesses to develop investment mechanisms and projects to protect natural resources and ecosystems, not only as an altruistic action, but as an integral element of the business strategy of businesses.
“I am very pleased that Mexico has established its national business and biodiversity initiative, thereby demonstrating its support for the ongoing work under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to strengthen the engagement of business,” said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, CBD Executive Secretary. “The involvement of the business sector is crucial to achieving the objectives of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.”
Attending the launch on behalf of the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources for Mexico, Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, the Undersecretary of Development and Environmental Regulation, Cuauhtémoc Ochoa Fernández, praised the commitment of Mexico’s private sector in contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of the country’s natural capital.
Members of the Mexican Alliance for Biodiversity and Business emphasise that biodiversity is the foundation of life on Earth, and therefore sustains economic activity and human welfare, and that conserving and sustainably using genetic resources, species and ecosystems is essential for the long-term prosperity and viability of society and business.
Mexico is hosting the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Cancun between 2 and 17 December 2016 and, as a parallel event, the 2016 Business and Biodiversity Forum will take place on 2 to 3 December 2016. In line with the theme of the UN Biodiversity Conference – the integration of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the plans, programmes and sectoral and intersectoral policies with emphasis on agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism sectors – the Business and Biodiversity Forum will highlight the importance of mainstreaming biodiversity across sectors for the achievement of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011- 2020, its Aichi Biodiversity Targets, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Mexican Alliance for Biodiversity and Business will actively participate in the Business and Biodiversity Forum. It is also expected to join the Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity established by Parties to the CBD, which allows for the sharing of information and best practices amongst the various member initiatives as well as their constituent organisations.
The creation of the Global Partnership is said to be a concrete signal by Parties to the Convention of their growing understanding that business needs to play a critical role in addressing the global challenge of biodiversity loss.
Delhi, India will host the 2016 FCTC COP7, where countries will advance a provision to hold the tobacco industry civilly and criminally liable for alleged abuses
At the conference, countries will advance a provision to hold the tobacco industry civilly and criminally liable for alleged abuses. In the wake of revelations this year about British American Tobacco (BAT)’s alleged bribery, governments will also advance policies to exclude the industry from public health policymaking at the international and national levels.
Litigation against Big Tobacco has compelled the industry to pay for the healthcare costs it has caused to countries around the world. The successful litigation against the tobacco industry in the U.S., via the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), secured the recovery of $206 billion in health care costs and transformed public health by banning advertising to kids and exposing industry lies, it was gathered.
A recent 17-year court case in Canada has similarly awarded smokers $15.6 billion CAD, in what is believed to be the largest class-action lawsuit in Canada to date.
“Litigation is one of the most powerful strategies in forcing the tobacco industry to pay for the staggering costs it incurs on society,” said Cloe Franko, senior international organiser with the Challenge Big Tobacco campaign at Corporate Accountability International. “The outcomes of this year’s Conference of the Parties are poised to mark a turning point for public health.”
The tools Parties will promote at this year’s conference will especially help low- and middle-income countries, where the majority of the world’s smokers now live, but whose GDPs are often dwarfed by Big Tobacco’s revenues – making going head-to-head with the industry in the courts a dubious prospect.
“Nigeria and other developing nations targeted by Big Tobacco for marketing of their lethal products now have the opportunity to support the adoption of mechanisms to hold the industry accountable for the harms caused by tobacco,” said Philip Jakpor, Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) Nigeria spokesperson. “Standing for the adoption of provisions that advance criminal liability on Big Tobacco is the right step for delegates from the African region owing to widespread bribery allegations levelled against British America Tobacco (BAT), which has in no small measure slowed the implementation of life-saving legislations.”
In addition to advancing tools to hold the tobacco industry civilly and criminally liable, Parties will also close loopholes the tobacco industry has exploited to participate in treaty meetings. The policy stems from a broader treaty directive called Article 5.3 thatprevents industry interference in the halls of government.
The global tobacco treaty entered into force in 2005. To date, 179 countries and the European Union have become Parties to the treaty. It is believied to contain the world’s most effective tobacco control and corporate accountability measures – estimated to save more than 200 million lives by 2050 if fully implemented.
During the Pre-COP22 session held last week in Marrakech, Morocco, as a prelude to the next UN Climate Change Conference that will take place in that country in November, the Independent Association of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC in Spanish), presented its positions in favour of the operationalisation of the Paris Agreement.
Segolene Royal, Minister of Environment of France and COP21 President, was at the Pre-COP22 session where AILAC presented its positions in favour of the operationalisation of the Paris Agreement. Photo credit: zimblo.com
The AILAC is a group of eight countries that share interests and positions on climate change, namely: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru.
Its main objective is to generate coordinated, ambitious positions and contribute to the balance in the multilateral negotiations on climate change with a coherent vision for sustainable development that is responsible to the environment and future generations.
At the pre-COP forum, around 70 countries welcomed the early entry into force of the Paris Agreement next November 4th and the celebration of the first Conference of the Parties to the Convention serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CM1) on November 15th.
The Pre-COP was chaired by Salahdeddine Mezouar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco and COP22 President; as well as Segolene Royal, Minister of Environment of France and COP21 President. Patricia Espinosa, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, also participated in the meeting.
Participants addressed the road map for climate finance led by Australia and the United Kingdom to meeting the collective goal of mobilising $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020. The Roadmap sets out the range of actions developed countries will take to meet it, through a combination of public and private finance. AILAC praised the efforts shown by Australia and the United Kingdom in advancing the roadmap to the $100 billion as a positive signal of commitment to the Paris Agreement.
Specific deliverables for Marrakech relate to capacity-building initiatives such as the Paris Committee on Capacity Building and the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency, and to help countries implement their Nationally Determined Contributions to the global response to climate change.
For AILAC it is of utmost relevance to ensure that during the Conferences in Marrakech the delicate balance of the spirit of the Paris Agreement is maintained and progress is reached in the following areas of deliverables: definitions and overarching guidance for initiating the operationalisation of the Agreement, including clear times and mandates for the strengthening of NDCs with regards to the Global Stocktake or collective progress towards achieving Paris Agreement Goals; progress on the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency and the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage; and Pre-2020 Action.
In this sense, for AILAC is relevant the effective development of an inclusive CMA1 that decides on a clear timeline for its upcoming work and sending a straight message to the world in terms of the commitment of the Parties of the Convention and of the Agreement to their implementation and achievement of their long-term goals.
