Algeria and Uruguay have deposited their instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Both nations made the deposition on Friday, 21 October 2016.
Costa Rican, Christiana Figueres (right), was head of the UNFCCC when Parties adopted the Paris Climate Change Agreement last December in Paris, France. This year at the COP22 at Marrakech in Morocco, Mexican Patricia Espinosa, the new UNFCCC head, will oversee the COP22, CMP12 and CMA1. Ahead of the 2016 COP, Uruguay and Algeria are the 82nd and 83rd nations respectively to ratify the global climate pact
It brings the number of Parties that have ratified the Paris Agreement at 83 States – Uruguay was 82nd while Algeria was 83rd – out of 197 Parties to the Convention.
On 5 October 2016, the threshold for entry into force of the Paris Agreement was achieved. The Paris Agreement will enter into force on 4 November 2016. The first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1) will take place in Marrakech in conjunction with COP22 (22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC) and CMP12 (12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol).
According to the UNFCCC, only Parties to the Agreement with valid credentials will be able to participate in the adoption of decisions at CMA1.
At the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21), held last December in Paris, France, the Parties adopted the Paris Climate Change Agreement under the UNFCCC.
The Agreement was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 at a high-level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary General in New York. At that ceremony, 174 States and the European Union signed the agreement and 15 States also deposited their instruments of ratification.
The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake take ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.
The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.
President Muhammadu Buhari promised in New York that Nigeria would deposit its instruments of ratification with the UN before COP22 scheduled to hold in Marrakech, Morocco in November.
At two separate forums held recently – a presentation at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Oviedo in Spain, and an acceptance speech delivered while receiving the 2016 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation at a ceremony presided by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain – Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa, described the Paris Agreement as a powerful signal of hope for a world where conflicts, humanitarian crisis and pessimism about economic prospects persist. She also lists the features of the climate pact. Excerpts:
Patricia Espinosa after her lecture at the University of Oviedo in Spain
Your majesties King Felipe and Queen Letizia, today is a special day that invites us to pause and reflect about the present and the future. And my reflection today about the Paris Agreement, the path towards its adoption and the next steps, bring me hope.
Indeed, the Paris Agreement is our gift of hope. If I may, today I would like to share this gift with Her Highness the Princess of Asturias, Doña Leonor, who will soon celebrate her 11th birthday, and with all the children of the world. Today, we have in our hands the tools to work together and build not only a better future, but also a safe and sustainable present for our children and the children of all.
The Paris Agreement is a powerful signal of hope for a world where conflicts, humanitarian crisis and pessimism about economic prospects persist. The spirit of solidarity and political will to preserve our planet has continued this year.
Indeed, last week in Kigali, governments agreed to phase down HFCs, the powerful greenhouse gasses used for refrigeration and air conditioning. And just some days before, an international agreement to reduce emissions from international aviation was reached.
And of course, the ratification of the Paris Agreement in a record-breaking time allows its entry into force before the climate change conference in Marrakech in November.
The Paris Agreement is truly an agenda to transform our model of growth and development. Today, I would like to share with you some reflections about the importance of this agreement for all people in the world.
I would like to underline three characteristics of Paris Agreement.
The first one is the long-term goal in the agreement. In Paris, governments committed to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, and as close to 1.5 degrees C as possible. They also included a goal of climate neutrality in the middle of the century. This means by that time, human emissions – from electricity generation, from transportation, from manufacturing, from agriculture, and from deforestation and our management of natural resources – can be absorbed by nature.
The difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees of warming may seem an insignificant goal considering that we experience much larger temperature variations every day. But when applied at a planetary scale, the impacts from a half a degree of warming are very significant.
From increased heat waves and sea level rise to reduced water availability and crop yield, every half a degree of warming implies much more devastating impacts and natural catastrophes than those we already face. In fact, the difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees may be the existence of some small island states.
For example, this temperature rise would cause the loss of two thirds of habitable land in the Seychelles. Also, limiting atmospheric warming as close as possible to 1.5 degrees would reduce negative impacts on 44 low-lying islands and coastal countries. In Spain, two degrees of warming would imply long droughts and longer heat waves, both phenomena would impact public health, food security and the economy.
The second characteristic that makes the Paris Agreement extraordinary is its universality. For the first time, all countries recognize their responsibility in fighting climate change. Without any doubt, the Paris Agreement sets obligations for developed and developing countries that must be fulfilled, and all of them without any exception recognize they must make efforts in this fight.
This was clear through the 190 plans that countries submitted before Paris, containing their intended contributions per their capacities and the challenges they face at the national level.
This means that today, in every corner of this planet, a commitment exists to reduce and avoid carbon emissions. This signifies a promise of hope for a future environment that allows stable growth for all.
Just months after submitting their initial contributions, some countries have even reviewing them to reinforce their goals. Numerous examples prove that climate action is not in contradiction with economic growth. On the contrary, many actions against climate change help achieve economic and social growth.
The third amazing characteristic of the Paris Agreement is its recognition of the role non-State actors have in the necessary, deep transformation – private sector, subnational and local governments, artists, scientists and many civil society groups and, in the end, each person.
It is a document negotiated and adopted by governments, but governments alone can’t fulfil the commitments it includes.
Increasing numbers of cities are moving to cleaner energy, reporting their emissions and investing in resilient infrastructure. Businesses are turning to efficient operations, sustainable supply chains and low-emission products. Investors are more and more looking to renewable energy, green bonds and assets that report their climate footprint to ensure stable, long-term returns.
I invite everyone to go to our NAZCA online climate action zone that documents this amazing dynamic of climate mobilisation.
This dynamic seeks to improve people’s wellbeing. Building resilient communities will protect lives, improve health, contribute to food security and fight poverty. In the end, it provides stability.
The Paris Agreement together with the Sustainable Development Goals also adopted last year are the pillars of a new model for development where climate and sustainability considerations are cornerstones that protect our common house and create opportunities for all.
The Paris Agreement is more than an agreement among States, it is an agenda for transforming the future of our planet and for future generations. Every person must be part of this great transformation.
Today, I invite you to examine your lives and your futures. And I ask you to determine how you can help accelerate this transformation.
By acting on climate change today, we will protect the progress our parents achieved. We will secure a better future for ourselves and we will transform growth and development for the good of generations to come. We must find the way of transforming our communities’ ways of life and making our consumer choices more climate friendly.
Together, we can be the force for good we see so clearly in the transformative Paris Agreement.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand agreed the outlines of two new reports that will help governments implement the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
The Panel approved the outlines of Global Warming of 1.5ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty, to be delivered in 2018, and the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, to be finalised in 2019.
The decision on the outlines, or tables of contents, which had been drafted by scoping meetings in August, clears the way for the IPCC to launch the call for nominations for authors for both reports at the beginning of November.
The special report on 1.5ºC was requested by governments at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris in December 2015, which set a target of limiting global warming to well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to hold it to 1.5ºC.
“The IPCC worked in a positive spirit of cooperation to build on the scientific expertise from the scoping meeting while highlighting policymakers’ priorities. This agreement on the outline means the IPCC can start work on a scientific assessment for policymakers of what warming of 1.5ºC would mean and how we could get there,” said IPCC Vice-Chair Thelma Krug, who chaired the scientific steering committee for the scoping meeting that drafted the outline.
The 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines will be prepared by the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories to provide governments with updated knowledge on how to estimate the level of their greenhouse gas emissions and removals – critical information for tracking progress on meeting the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement goals.
“This refinement of inventory guidelines will greatly help governments improve their estimates of national emissions and removals of greenhouse gases,” said Task Force Co-Chair Kiyoto Tanabe.
The agreed outlines, subject to final edits, are available on the IPCC website.
The decisions were taken at the 44th Session of the IPCC, held at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok on 17-20 October 2016. The full agenda and documents can be found here.
The Pre-COP Ministerial Meeting in Marrakech came to a close on Thursday after two days of closed-door plenary sessions on final preparations for the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22), the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12), and the 1st Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1) to take place in Marrakech, November 7 to 18.
Delegates at the ministerial meeting
Chaired by Salahdeddine Mezouar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco and COP22 President; Segolene Royal, Minister of Environment of France and COP21 President; and Patricia Espinosa, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, the Pre-COP assembled delegations from more than 70 countries to achieve a common understanding of the state of negotiations ahead of COP22. The main areas of discussion covered the early entry into force of the Paris Agreement scheduled for November 4 and the holding of the first meeting of the Parties to the Agreement (CMA1) on November 15 during COP22. The joint high-level segment of the COP, CMP and CMA would be convened immediately after the CMA1 opening, where all Parties will make their national statements.
The presence of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco, the UN Secretary-General and Heads of State and Government on that occasion will amplify the historic significance of the moment.
In addition, participants addressed the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the development of its rulebook, finance for climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries including a $100-billion-dollar-per-year roadmap proposal made by donor countries for climate finance by 2020, the issue of Loss and Damage as per the Warsaw Mechanism, capacity-building initiatives such as the Paris Committee on Capacity Building, the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency and the NDC Partnership to strengthen and help countries implement their Nationally Determined Contributions(NFCs) to the global response to climate change. COP22 will include the Marrakech Call to Action, to be made during the high-level segment featuring Heads of State and Government on November 15.
The plenary sessions were rounded out by a discussion on the Global Climate Action Agenda led by the Moroccan and French High-Level Climate Champions, Hakima El Haite and Laurence Tubiana.
A series of thematic days (agriculture & food security, cities, energy, forests, business, oceans, transport, water, gender) focusing on accelerating and mobilising climate action by non-state Party actors including businesses, cities, sub-national governments and NGOs, will be held during COP22 with Gender Day on November 15, the Women’s Leader Summit, November 16 and the High-Level event on November 17 featuring the presentation of the Global Climate Action Agenda report. The Moroccan Presidency intends to take stock during the conference with civil society and chart a common climate agenda.
Participants at the Pre-COP Ministerial meeting will return to the Ochre City in less than three weeks for COP22, November 7 to 18.
The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, known as Habitat III, was on Thursday wrapped up in Quito, Ecuador, with delegations adopting a new framework that will set the world on a course towards sustainable urban development by rethinking how cities are planned, managed and inhabited.
Joan Clos, the Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). The UN conference agreed new urban development agenda creating sustainable, equitable cities for all. Photo credit: UN-Habitat/Julius Mwelu
“We have analysed and discussed the challenges that our cities are facing and have (agreed) on a common roadmap for the 20 years to come,” Joan Clos, the Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), told the closing plenary of the conference, which has drawn around 36,000 people from 167 different countries to the lush equatorial capital of Quito for the past six days.
He said that the action-oriented outcome document, known as the New Urban Agenda, enshrined now in the “Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All,” should be seen as an extension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed by 193 Member States of the UN in September 2015.
The UN-Habitat Programme Manager in Nigeria, Mallam Kabir Yari, in Quito
That Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognised the power of cities and towns, which will constitute up to 70 per cent of the world population by 2050, to be the engine for sustainable growth in the future.
Habitat III, major conference on the future of the world’s cities and towns, brought together mayors, local and regional authorities, civil society and community groups, and urban planners. Mayors said the conference advanced the participation of local authorities in the global effort to achieve the SDGs.
Dennis Codere, Mayor of Montreal, said: “We know that without the involvement of cities and local governments, the world will not be able to address the global challenges of our times.
‘New Urban Agenda’ for green, clean, inclusive cities
“The New Urban Agenda is an ambitious agenda which aims at paving the way towards making cities and human settlements more inclusive,” said Mr. Clos, who also served as the Secretary-General of the Conference, adding that it would ensure “everyone can benefit from urbanisation, paying particular attention to those in those in vulnerable situations.”
The Agenda stresses that tackling air pollution in cities is good both for people’s health and for the planet and through it, leaders have committed to increase their use of renewable energy, provide better and greener public transport, and sustainably manage their natural resources. The Agenda’s ‘shared vision’ aims to create conditions for communities and policy makers to create that are engines of sustained and inclusive economic growth, social and cultural development, and environmental protection.
Among the key provisions are a call for equal opportunities for all; an end to discrimination; cleaner cities; strengthening resilience and reducing carbon emissions; fully respecting the rights of migrants and refugees regardless of their status; improving connectivity and green initiatives, and promoting “safe accessible and green public spaces.”
Above all, he said, it was a “commitment that we will all together take the responsibility of one another and the direction of the development of our common urbanising world.”
The agenda does not bind Member States or city governments to specific targets or goals, but is rather a “shared vision” that set standards for transforming urban areas into safer, resilient and more sustainable places, based on better planning and development.
In signing onto the declaration, UN Member States are committing to action over the next 20 years, to improve all areas of urban life through the Quito Implementation Plan, in support of the outcomes of Habitat III and the New Urban Agenda.
Mr. Clos reminded the world gathering of national leaders; Mayors, civil society representatives; non-governmental organisations (NGOs), urban development experts, and other stakeholders that “we must act for these commitments.”
In an interview with the UN News Service to mark the end of Habitat III, Mr. Clos said the hard work of making the New Urban Agenda a reality needs to begin immediately. “If we don’t implement, it’s going to be useless,” he stressed.
The conference had helped establish “who needs to do what. This is the real question (…) What the conference is saying is there’s a need to walk back to the fundamentals of urbanisation,” he added.
“I encourage national, sub-national and local governments to use the New Urban Agenda as a key instrument for planning and policy development for sustainable urbanisation,” he said, in his remarks during the closing plenary, adding that national reports were already being sent to the Habitat III Secretariat, prepared by governments, “some of which have been delivered to us at this conference.”
The Quito Declaration lays out steps for action, and for government accountability to try and ensure that the New Urban Agenda becomes a reality.
An “evidence-based and independent assessment” of UN-Habitat is due to take place next year under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General, and a two-day High Level Meeting of the General Assembly is being convened by assembly President, Peter Thomson, to discuss effective implementation.
The New Urban Agenda has failed to capture the urgency needed to meet the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to cities, said scientists on the final day of the United Nations Habitat III summit in Quito, Ecuador, which attracted over 40,000 people.
From left to right: Owen Gaffney, Anne-Hélène Prieur-Richard and Timon McPhearson speak at a press briefing on the last day of the Habitat III summit in Quito, Ecuador. Credit: UN Photo
“There are one billion poor, many of who live in the one million slums and informal settlements existing in 100,000 cities. The planet has already moved beyond critical planetary boundaries related to climate, biodiversity, land use and fertiliser use. Yet, urgency is entirely absent in the New Urban Agenda,” said Timon McPhearson, professor of urban ecology at the New School in New York at a press conference on the final day of the summit.
“What is abundantly clear is that the SDGs and the Paris Agreement on climate will be won or lost in cities. We have just 14 years to make historic progress on these agreements,” he added.
“I am disappointed that Habitat III did not deliver a clear actionable roadmap for its implementation linked to the SDGs,” McPhearson said.
Multiple intersecting challenges affect cities. Coastal populations make up 40% of the global population. Climate change is already driving increases in extreme events including coastal flooding, storm surges and tropical storms, the scientists warned. Informal settlements are particularly at high risk as they are often in the most low-lying areas. Additionally, the temperature of cities is predicted to increase at a faster rate than global climate predictions, creating increased challenges for managing heat and protecting populations from negative impacts of heat waves.
“When you combine these pressures with urbanization, population increases and more, the only way to achieve 140 of the SDG targets and, therefore, the NUA is through massive and rapid transformation at the level of cities and urban regions,” he said.
Anne-Hélène Prieur-Richard, Future Earth’s Global Hub Director based in Montreal, emphasised the links to the SDGs: “We need a road map aligned with the on-going SDGs implementation. The research community is ready to provide the support. But the lack of a science-policy-practice interface for implementing the NUA is disappointing, and there remains a pressing need to create a process for bringing scientific and other types of knowledge into an implementation plan.”
“Here in Quito we’ve launched a major international initiative – the Future Earth Urban Knowledge Action Network – to catalyse stakeholder-engaged research for urban sustainability and transformation,” she added.
The researchers announced a major international scientific conference in 2018 to explore urban vulnerability and solutions. The announcement is linked to a decision taken in Bangkok at the 44th plenary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to sponsor such a conference coordinated by the Cities Alliance, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, Future Earth, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), UN-Habitat, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and co-sponsored by the IPCC.
The Media Initiative Against Human trafficking and Women Rights Abuse (MIAHWRA) has stated that much work still needs to be done in ending female circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FGM), in Nigeria. Research and investigations by the organisation’s production crew reveals that many parents in the country are still very much in support of damaging the reproductive health of girls and women.
Female circumcision has been criminalised by the Federal Government of Nigeria
According to MIAHWRA, it has carried out FGM research in parts of Nigeria and discovered the gruesome form of abuse against females is not only alive and well in the country but that fathers and mothers are often in full support of it.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says FGM includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. MIAHWRA’s findings reveal girls as young as 13 years and women as old as in their 30s are still being subjected to this abuse. The latter group, in some parts of the country, are compulsorily circumcised by their intended husbands and would-be-in-laws to ensure faithfulness in marriage. In some parts of the Niger-Delta, circumcision is part of the bridal items a man is made to pay for when paying his wife’s dowry.
Though FGM has been criminalised by the Federal Government, some parents – many of whom are aware of the criminality of the act – have called on the government to make circumcision of girls “a must” in the country. They have claimed it will stop females from being “promiscuous” and the married ones “will stay in their marriages”.
MIAHWRA’s findings also reveal that there are many parents who claim not to know what FGM is. Some of them have said medical doctors have told them not to do it but they don’t know what FGM is and why the doctors “commanded” them not to do it. Some fathers allege carrying out “bloodless circumcision” on their daughters by massaging the girls’ clitoris with their fingers while they are still babies.
Declaring the nonprofit’s Girls Are Precious project open, Ms. Tobore Ovuorie, Executive Director of MIAHWRA, said in a statement: “It was alarming hearing many of the parents we interviewed saying they are fully in support of girls being circumcised. This led to our returning to the field for further investigations and making a very short newsreel from our findings.
“The mindset of parents out there is so worrisome. Project #GAP is of the essence and End Female Genital Mutilation – #EndFGM – is a baby under our Girls Are Precious Project.”
According to Ms. Ovuorie, Project GAP seeks to bring to the fore various anti-girl child and women issues and proffer solutions. It seeks to reinforce the truth and fact that Girls Are Precious, thus, must not be abused in any way and must be given their place of importance in the Nigerian and African society.
Dr. Daniel Adjekpemevor, Consultant Gynecologist and Medical Director of Esiri Specialist Hospital, Ikorodu, Lagos, has described female circumcision as “barbaric”, and has dire consequences for women even during childbirth. According to him, due to the mutilation of the vagina, when a baby is to be delivered naturally, it leads to greater tears, while the woman could come down with VVF and could lose her womb. He said there have been cases of women who lost their wombs due to the rupture which affected other organs.
“We all need to put an end to female genital mutilation. Besides the various health implications, girls have same rights as boys. The latter isn’t more important nor greater than the former. Women have same sexual rights as men, so we need to stop damaging girls and women now. It is possible to achieve it in this generation” Ms. Ovuorie stated.
MIAHWRA is a Lagos-based non-profit, non-denominational and non-partisan organisation whose principles of intervention and philosophy are oriented by a human rights and gender based perspective. It centres its efforts on combating the trafficking of individuals and abuse of women from a human rights and gender-based approach.
The 15th Session of the Committee of the Review of Implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CRIC 15) concluded its three-day meeting on Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya, with the adoption of an outcome that would ramp up global efforts to curb desertification and drought.
In northern Nigeria, farming is among efforts meant to curb desertification and drought
Two issues were deemed particularly important for CRIC 15.
First, the elaboration of a strong strategy for implementation from 2018-2030. The current strategy expires in 2018. Parties agreed that the 2008-2018 strategic objectives are still relevant and should be retained. But they differed on the reporting procedures and the weight that should be given to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 15.3, on land degradation neutrality. These changes would also affect the mandate of the CRIC itself.
Land degradation neutrality refers to the condition where a country maintains or enhances the health and productivity of its land resources. Through SDG target 15.3, all countries committed to strive to become land degradation neutral by 2030.
The CRIC 15 outcome document on the proposed strategy provides the Intergovernmental Working Group (IWG) with a clear idea of the issues that must be resolved before the Conference of the Parties meets in 2017, and the weaknesses of that need to be corrected.
The IWG is a small group of regional representatives that was chosen last year by the countries to draft the strategy, and is staying on in Nairobi for a further two days, to revise the text based on the CRIC 15 outcomes.
The second important issue CRIC 15 dealt with is an ongoing exercise where countries are setting their voluntary national targets on land degradation neutrality. At the start of CRIC 15, more than 100 countries had committed to set a national target, exceeding the ambition for at least 60 countries to do so within the first year of the adoption of the SDGs.
Some parties have expressed concern that the focus on land degradation neutrality could turn the limelight away from other issues mandated under the Convention, such as drought, drylands populations or building the capacity of developing countries to combat desertification and drought.
Monique Barbut, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), reassured delegates that would not be the case.
“We are making progress on drought. The Africa Drought Conference hosted by Namibia in August 2016 was, I believe, a turning point. We will present you with options for a decision at COP next year. As requested by Parties, I am also driving forward a new agenda to enhance capacity for implementation at country level,” she said.
CRIC 15 delegates commended the commitment by countries to set voluntary national targets on land degradation neutrality and requested for UNCCD support to monitor, evaluate and report on these efforts. They also requested the UNCCD’s guidance on the methodologies to be used in the exercise, and to mobilise the participation of other relevant stakeholders, such as the private sector.
CRIC 15 also considered the issues of the financing of the activities mandated under the Convention, gathering and sharing of information and the lessons learned, and the mandate of the CRIC.
Regarding the outcomes of CRIC 15, Ms Barbut said: “We will have a bold exciting COP (Conference of the Parties) where the adoption of a revised strategy will be complemented with decisions on drought, sand and dust storms and capacity building, among others.”
CRIC 15 took place from 18-20 October at the United Nations Office in Nairobi. The Committee brings together governmental experts knowledgeable in land degradation and drought issues to prepare the ground for the decisions that are taken by the Conference when it meets.
The next UNCCD Conference of the Parties will meet in Fall 2017, in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China.
The 2016 African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting (ACCER) Awards were feted in a ceremony held on the sidelines of the sixth conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-VI) that ended on Thursday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Atayi Babs Opaluwah of Nigeria. One of the ACCER Award winners
The award ceremony, which was graced by key representatives from UN bodies, African group of Negotiators, IUCN, media fraternity, government and civil society, saw 13 journalists from across Africa awarded because of their outstanding reporting on climate change and environmental issues.
In his opening remarks James Murombedzi, Officer in Charge, African Climate Policy Centre said: “While many journalists and editors may be interested in covering climate change issues, competition for space with other topical issues such as politics combined with unwillingness of the commercial-oriented media owners makes up a huge obstacle. Therefore, the ACCER Awards is a great initiative aimed at improving the African Narrative on Climate Change which is key in ensuring that Climate Change is given the human face about vulnerabilities faced by the African people.”
Mithika Mwenda, the Secretary General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), stressed its efforts in telling the African narrative on climate change, saying: “PACJA will continue to play a catalytic role in nurturing innovative ideas necessary for the transformative society as we desire to effectively confront the main challenges of 21st century. These complex challenges, such as climate change, will require collaboration from various stakeholders to defeat. And that is the spirit the ACCER Awards exemplifies.”
In a keynote address, Dr. Justus Kabyemera of the African Development Bank (AfDB) laid emphasis on improving journalists reporting on climate change issues, noting: “It is important to devise strategies to bring journalists and media practitioners to the forefront, not as reporters, but as key partners and players in the ensuing engagements.
“We appreciate PACJA for initiating a very innovative award scheme, ACCER Awards, which will indeed improve the African Narrative on Climate Change.”
Other speakers who spoke during the Awards Ceremony include: Ms. Catherine Mungai of the Climate Change and Food Security Programme; Ms. Jennifer Mohamed-Katerere, the IUCN Africa Counsellor; and Dr. Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, of the NEPAD, who stressed the need to simplify climate change information to enhance awareness among communities and help develop concrete interventions in addressing climate change in Africa.
In the Print Media English category, Andrew Mambondiyani (Zimbabwe) was announced the winner with Mugerwa (Uganda) as the first runners up and Atayi Babs Opaluwah (Nigeria).
In the Print Media French category, AddehMidadji Daniel (Togo) was announced the winner and Madafime Didier Hubert (Benin) as the first runners up.
In the Electronic Media English, TV English category, Mercy Adundo (Kenya) was announced the winner and Aaron YanchoKaah (Cameroon) as the first runners up.
In the Electronic Media, Radio English category, Diana Wanyonyi was announced the winner and Ngala Killian Chimtom (Cameroon) as the first runners up.
In the Electronic Media French, TV French, ZainaKereKere (Democratic Republic of Congo) was announced the winner. In the Electronic Media, Radio French category, SuyKahofi (Ivory Coast) was announced the winner and Fousseni SAIBOU (Togo) as the second runners up.
The Judges noted that few entries were received in the Photojournalism category and therefore stressed the need for journalists to improve their reporting in this category. Nicodemus Kioko Kivandi (Kenya) was announced the only winner under this category.
Andrew Mambondiyani (Zimbabwe) was celebrated as the Overall winner with a story titled: “Summer, a season of suffering in Mozambique’s Beira.” As part of the award package, he was awarded $1,000 and will be supported to participate in the upcoming 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) scheduled to take place on 7th-18th November, 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco.
All the winners, as well as first and second runners up in the various categories up will be trained for six months under The ACCER Awards Finalists Academy (TAAFA) as part of the enhancing their capacity on climate change and environmental issues to facilitate their reporting.
ACCER Awards is a PACJA initiative aimed catalysing African media coverage on climate change and environment. It was initiated in response to creating awareness on climate change and environmental conservation by way of rewarding exemplary Environmental Journalists in Africa. The goal and inherent intention of ACCER is not only to reshape the African narrative as espoused in climate change and environment debates, but also to build a new culture of and consciousness on how we utilise biological resources in the environment and reduce carbon footprint.
Former Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Prof Godwin Patrick Olu Obasi, has been described as Africa’s gift to the world of climate science. This was made know by experts at the Inaugural Prof. Godwin Olu Patrick Obasi Memorial Lecture which held recently on the side-lines of the sixth conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa that held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Former Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Prof Godwin Patrick Olu Obasi
In a lead presentation on the life and times of the icon of meteorology, Prof. Laban Ogallo of the IGAD-UNDP Disaster Risk Reduction Project in Kenya recalled that Prof. Obasi was active in promoting global solutions to environmental issues, with special attention to the atmosphere, fresh water and the oceans.
“He was at the forefront in drawing the world’s attention to the issue of climate change, notably in convening the second World Climate Conference, held in Geneva in 1990,” Prof Ogallo said.
According to Prof Ogallo, Obasi played an important role in the negotiations leading to the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the World Climate Research Programme, the Global Climate Observing System and the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal Protocol.
The panel of discussants at the memorial lecture which comprised Dr. Buruhani Nyenzi of the Southern Development Community-Climate Services Centre, South Africa; Dr. Ernest Afiesimama of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Geneva; and Dr. Degefu Workneh of the Ethiopian Meteorological Society, lauded Prof. Obasi’s outstanding contributions to the science of ozone depletion.
Dr. Nyenzi recalled that it was Prof Obasi, together with the then Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Dr. Tolba, who initiated the negotiations on the Vienna Convention and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and contributed to the establishment of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
“Prof. Obasi gave his strong support to the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and exercised a key leadership role together with Dr. Tolba, in the establishment of the WMO/UNEP Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He took the lead role in the organization of the Second World Climate Conference and in the establishment of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS),” Dr. Workneh added.
For those who had the privilege of working with Professor Obasi, Dr. Afiesimama averred that “the memories of this great man who dedicated his whole life to meteorological sciences will forever be cherished.” Afiesimama further added that Prof Obasi was “a man of honour who was afraid of nothing – except God, as Prof. Obasi himself used to say.”
Professor Godwin Olu Patrick Obasi, a Nigerian, was the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for five four-year terms (1984-2003). Within the WMO scope of competence, he has made major contributions to the implementation of the Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol.
Professor Obasi served the Nigerian Government in several capacities including that of an Adviser to the Federal Government of Nigeria in meteorological research and training. From 1967 to 1976, he was Professor of Meteorology, Chairman of the Department of Meteorology and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. In 1978, he joined the WMO Secretariat as the Director of the Education and Training Department.
Before his death on the 3rd of March 2007 at age 74, Professor Obasi published over 150 scientific and technical papers and delivered hundreds of scientific and policy-related lectures to several high-level meetings, including at ministerial and Heads of State and Government levels.
