United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urged Mayors across the world to “take strong ownership” of a new global agenda for sustainable development in the towns and cities they represent.

Speaking to a gathering of some 400 mayors, representatives of local authorities and urban partner organisations, Mr. Ban made this call in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, on the eve of the official opening of the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, known by the shorthand Habitat III, which aims to re-think the planning and management of towns and cities across the world, through the adoption a the New Urban Agenda.

The Agenda, an action-oriented framework which will set global standards for achievement in sustainable urban development, should be prioritised alongside implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and its 17 Global Goals, or SDGs, agreed by 193 UN Member States just over a year ago in New York, added the Secretary-General.

He pointed Goal 11, which “pledges to make human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” And in that regard, “elected officials, Mayors, Governors and Councillors, are the forefront of the battle for sustainable development,” he said, to a loud applause from delegates to the Second World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments, also known as the World Mayors Assembly.

“In short, your role is growing by the year (…) You are faced with the immediate daily demands of your people: for housing, transport, infrastructure, and basic services.”

The Habitat III conference has been 20 years in the making; the third global summit of its kind, dedicated to housing and sustainable urban development.

By hosting the conference, Quito becomes the first city in the “Global South” to take on the role, and thousands have gathered to the picturesque capital, which straddles the equator. The city, with its historic and picturesque centre, was declared a World Heritage Site by the UN Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) in 1978.

Mayors and the New Urban Agenda

Urban development is seen as an increasingly important priority for the United Nations, as the world urban population is set to nearly double by 2050.

Mr. Ban praised the invaluable role played by mayors and other local government leaders, in devising the New Urban Agenda.

Although national governments must play a strong role in devising legislation and policies to make cities grow sustainably in the future, it was local and regional leaders who would have to “implement these visions on the ground.”

Indeed, he said: “(You) must make the tough decisions on which issues to prioritise – because you have to manage budgets and balance sheets. You are accountable to national governments, and in many cases, to your local voters too (…). Your inputs into the New Urban Agenda were invaluable.”

The development Goals and also the commitment to curb carbon emissions made through the Paris Agreement on climate change last December, would be “under your direct leadership,” he told delegates in the main hall of Quito’s Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana.

“Take strong ownership of this vital agenda. Stand up for the people you represent,” he added.

Secretary General of the Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), Mithika Mwenda, is hoping that Donald Trump, the Presidential aspirant on the Republican Party ticket in the United States of America, will lose the election. PACJA is an umbrella network that brings together over 1,000 civil society groups that advocate for climate justice.

According to Mwenda, Trump would derail the progress made so far in the fight against climate change, given his belief that the phenomenon is just but a Chinese Hoax.

“I believe in God, and I pray every day that this man gets defeated, so that all of us can forget about him and concentrate on the fight against climate change,” Mithika told a delegation of journalists and civil society organisations in Addis Ababa, ahead of the sixth Climate Change and Development Conference (CCDA-VI).

Trump has come under heavy criticisms especially from his opponent, Hillary Clinton, for his remarks on twitter. “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” Trump had twitted.

In one of the presidential debates, Trump further said that the issue of climate change is an issue that requires further probing, and that money used to fight the phenomenon should be channeled to other uses.

“There is still much that needs to be investigated in the field of climate change. Perhaps the best use of our limited financial resources should be in dealing with making sure that every person in the world has clean water. Perhaps we should focus on eliminating lingering diseases around the world like malaria,” said the Republican Party nominee.

He continued, “We should focus on efforts to increase food production to keep pace with an ever-growing world population. Perhaps we should be focused on developing energy sources and power production that alleviates the need for dependence on fossil fuels. We must decide on how best to proceed so that we can make lives better, safer and more prosperous.”

Evidence-based studies have shown that climatic conditions have been changing over the years as a result of excess emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are compounds that are able to trap heat in the atmosphere, giving earth warmth that makes life thrive. But when they are over-emitted, they make the earth much warmer than naturally expected, leading to climate change.

The USA is one of the heaviest emitters of these gases, which include carbon dioxide, which is mostly emitted due to industrialisation.

“Science has proven that the climate is changing, and the most affected areas are found in Africa,” said Mithika. “Anyone who denies these scientific evidence based facts does not deserve any position of leadership in this world.” he added.

So far, countries have been negotiating on roadmaps towards the fight against climate change through the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC). Following the 21^st round of negotiations in Paris last year, countries including USA came up with an agreement that details what should be done in order to reduce the emissions, adapt to the prevailing conditions and how to finance those activities.

In the same vein, some Americans have been calling for prosecution of climate deniers who, like Donald Trump, are making people to believe that climate change is a hoax.

“We need politicians to be part of this climate change discourse, and they should be positive thinkers to enable us move forward for the sake of the planet,” said Mithika.

Waste management or waste disposal has been a challenge for the Lagos State Government for decades.

The government has adopted several strategies to manage the whopping 15,000 tonnes of garbage generated daily in the over-crowded city-state that receives immigrants almost on a daily basis from other parts of the country and beyond.

Thorough the responsible agency, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), government had in the past explored several measures such as the use of private sector players (PSP), which are facing stiff competition from the infamous but somewhat preferred cart pushers.

In a bid to achieve better results, LAWMA has also attempted managing waste through characterisation, improved technology and partnering with other nations.

However, only limited success has been achieved. Indeed, health hazards due to the activities of the PSPs, the ageing equipment they deploy, sharp practices by cart pushers, and the sorry state of the waste dump sites have all colluded to put the situation in a state of desperation.

The need for an urgent action to turn around the conditions cannot be over-emphasised.

In fact, there is the need for an elaborate and standardised regulation of the environment of Lagos State, in line with international best practices, while taking cue from locations such as the United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, and New York City in the United States.

Lagos and New York City, for instance, are two mega cities that mean the same in terms of entertainment, commerce and global trends. While Lagos has a population of 21 million with an estimated population density of 13,405/sq.km, New York City has a population of 23 million with a population density of 10,833/sq.km.

In fact, while New York with its huge population has been able to successfully handle the massive amount of waste generated daily, Lagos, on the other hand, is struggling with storage, collection and disposal of her waste.

New York has about 120 landfills sites while Lagos has only six landfills, with only three of the six functioning. This is grossly inadequate for the Lagos metroplois, considering that she generates approximately the same amount of waste as New York does, even so, a huge percentage of this is solid waste.

Asides struggling with disposal of the enormous amount of waste generated daily, Lagos has not been able to effectively collect her waste. This is exemplified as waste littering roadsides, waste being disposed into drainages, and overflowing public bins, among several others. There is a huge gap in collection and the PSP operators obviously struggle with the huge amount of waste they have to collect.

New York has successfully been able to collect her waste through several methods including government-regulated commercial waste systems in which they have over 250 commercial waste haulers, as well as dispose effectively through recycling methods and landfills. In that part of the world, waste is wealth. In Nigeria, and Lagos to be precise, waste is a curse rather than a blessing – its simply a disaster waiting to happen.

It has been shown that only 60% of the daily waste collected in New York go to the landfills compared to about 95% in Lagos.

Lagos must, as a matter of urgency, start recycling as an alternative to landfilling. It has been seen that the heavy reliance on landfills has brought about environmental pollution and several health hazards to residents around the sites as seen in the Olusosun landfill, which today remains the largest landfill site in the country.

The Olusosun dump site is nothing but as a disaster waiting to happen and the need for a quick action from government is long overdue. The dump site at Isolo also requires an urgent intervention from the authorities.

There is likewise the need to allow for a coordinated and effective private sector participation in the management of the environment, as well as the provision for an organised judicial framework for the administration of environmental laws in Lagos State in other to make this happen.

Similarly, there is the need to explore newer methods of collection to help effectively handle the waste generated. Other collection agencies need to be employed as it is obvious that the PSP operators alone can’t handle the massive amount of waste.

The Akinwunmi Ambode administration should tackle this hydra-headed problem without minding whose ox is gored. The speed and enthusiasm with which the present administration tackled the Light-up Lagos initiative should be deployed to combat this age long problem that has now grown to become a monster.

The recent clean up exrcice embarked upon in highbrow areas of lagos like Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikoyi should be extended to the waste management sector.

Government must, as a matter of urgency, seek help from those who have managed waste in mega cities around the world, while bearing in mind the nation’s – and the state’s – peculiar solid waste generation status.

By Adebayo Samuel (Ojota, Lagos-based environmental rights activist; shamueldebayo2080@gmail.com) 

Reducing emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the Kigali Amendment can prevent up to 0.5°C of global warming, while continuing to protect the ozone layer. Similarly, HFCs consumption to be reduced in 2019 in developed countries and frozen in 2024 and 2028 in developing countries

Nearly 200 countries struck a landmark deal on Saturday in Kigali, Rwanda to reduce the emissions of powerful greenhouse gases, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), in a move that could prevent up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by the end of this century.

The amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer endorsed in the Rwandan capital city is believed to be the single largest contribution the world has made towards keeping the global temperature rise “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, a target agreed at the Paris climate conference last year.

“Last year in Paris, we promised to keep the world safe from the worst effects of climate change. Today, we are following through on that promise,” said United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) chief, Erik Solheim.

“This is about much more than the ozone layer and HFCs. It is a clear statement by all world leaders that the green transformation started in Paris is irreversible and unstoppable. It shows the best investments are those in clean, efficient technologies.”

Commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances, HFCs are currently the world’s fastest growing greenhouse gases, their emissions increasing by up to 10 per cent each year. They are also one of the most powerful, trapping thousands of times more heat in the Earth’s atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2).

“The faster we act, the lower the financial costs will be, and the lighter the environmental burden on our children,” said President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.

“That begins with a clear signal that change is coming and it is coming soon. In due course, new innovations and products will allow us to phase out HFCs even faster, and at lower cost.”

The rapid growth of HFCs in recent years has been driven by a growing demand for cooling, particularly in developing countries with a fast-expanding middle class and hot climates. The Kigali amendment provides for exemptions for countries with high ambient temperatures to phase down HFCs at a slower pace.

“It is not often you get a chance to have a 0.5-degree centigrade reduction by taking one single step together as countries – each doing different things perhaps at different times, but getting the job done,” said US Secretary of State John Kerry.

“If we continue to remember the high stakes for every country on Earth, the global transition to a clean energy economy is going to accelerate.”

Phase down schedule

Following seven years of negotiations, the 197 Montreal Protocol parties reached a compromise, under which developed countries will start to phase down HFCs by 2019. Developing countries will follow with a freeze of HFCs consumption levels in 2024, with some countries freezing consumption in 2028.

By the late 2040s, all countries are expected to consume no more than 15-20 per cent of their respective baselines.

Financing and alternatives to HFCs

Countries also agreed to provide adequate financing for HFCs reduction, the cost of which is estimated at billions of dollars globally. The exact amount of additional funding will be agreed at the next Meeting of the Parties in Montreal, in 2017. Grants for research and development of affordable alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons will be the most immediate priority.

Alternatives to HFCs currently being explored include substances that do not deplete the ozone layer and have a smaller impact on the climate, such as ammonia or carbon dioxide. Super-efficient, cost effective cooling technologies are also being developed, which can help protect the climate both through reducing HFCs emissions and by using less energy.

The Kigali Amendment comes only days after two other climate action milestones: sealing the international deal to curb emissions from aviation and achieving the critical mass of ratifications for the Paris climate accord to enter into force.