A group of nations deemed highly disadvantaged in respective countries’ development process has called for fair and ambitious action at the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22), which holds 7-18 November 2016 in Marrakech. The negotiations come after a year of growing international political momentum to address climate change, following the historic adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015.
Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, Chair of the LDC group, which is calling for fair and ambitious action at COP22
The 48-nation group is operating under the umbrella body, the Least Developed Countries (LDC). Chair of LDC, Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, says: “COP22 will be an action and implementation COP. As the world’s poorest countries, the LDC group calls for fair and ambitious action. We must build upon the foundations set in Paris to construct robust rules to support the Agreement’s implementation.”
Noting with concern that full implementation of current pledges by countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions puts the world on track for 3-3.5°C of warming above pre-industrial levels, Mr Mpanu-Mpanu notes, adding: “Science tells us that beyond temperature increases of 1.5°C the future of our planet stands on increasingly thin ice. It is imperative for communities across the world that countries take seriously their goal to pursue efforts to keep temperatures below 1.5°C. We cannot afford to treat this as an aspirational goal. An upwards spiralling of commitments to cut emissions that is both fair and proportionate to challenge rising before us is vital.”
LDCs plan to contribute to these global efforts through the LDC Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiative (REEEI) for Sustainable Development, among other ways.
He stresses: “The upcoming launch of the LDC REEEI in Marrakech demonstrates the continued commitment of the LDC group to real solutions that benefit real people on the ground. The Initiativewill enable LDCs to leapfrog fossil fuel based energy and generate prosperity by bringing modern, clean, resilient energy systems to millions of energy-starved people.”
LDCs are particularly vulnerable to climate change, with hazards including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, increased drought and floods and the spread of tropical diseases threatening health and food security. “As LDCs, we lack the resources and capacity to adequately protect our communities from the devastating impacts of climate change. In Marrakech we seek greater commitment from developed countries to provide financial support, technology and capacity building to enable LDCs to respond to the climate crisis,” says the LDC group chair.
The Marrakech meeting will see entry into force of the Paris Agreement on 4 November. He comments: “The first meeting of the CMA is an important springboard for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. We celebrate newfound global unity to act on climate change. But given the moment of entry into force has arrived earlier than anticipated we must also ensure countries yet to deposit their instruments of ratification are not left behind on the launchpad. We look forward to an inclusive and transparent process in Marrakech that allows all countries to participate as we approach this next hurdle.”
He underlines the necessity of pre-2020 action: “The impacts of climate change are already upon us. Pre-2020 action must be strengthened urgently to provide the thrust needed to propel our economies and policies towards effective, sustainable and ambitious actions.”
The LDC group has already convened in Marrakech for preparatory meetings from 1-2 November, to consolidate LDC positions and strategies ahead of the upcoming negotiations.
Currently, the 48 LDCs comprise around 880 million people, 12 per cent of the world population, which face severe structural impediments to growth. However, the LDCs account for less than 2 per cent of world GDP and around 1 per cent of world trade.
Mozambique has reached an agreement with a private enterprise towards the development of the country’s first large scale solar plant. Scatec Solar and Norfund signed the Power Purchase Agreement securing the sale of solar power over a 25-year period to the state owned utility Electricidade de Mozambique (EDM).
A solar panel being prepared for use. Mozambique is developing it’s first large scale solar plant Photo credit: greenchipstocks.com
The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Maputo on Monday in the presence of the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Børge Brende; the Mozambican Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Mrs Letícia Klemens; as well as Dr Mateus Magala, Chairman & CEO of EDM. The project is the first major solar plant to be built in the country and represents an important first step in realising Mozambique’s ambition to increase renewable power generation in its energy mix.
The 40 MW plant is located close to the city of Mocuba in the Zambézia Province, and is expected to deliver 77,000 MWh per year of much needed electricity to the northern regions of Mozambique. The plant will deliver power to the national grid and produce enough energy to serve about 175 000 households.
In addition to this new 40 MW plant in Mozambique, the company operates 200 MW of solar power plants in South Africa and Rwanda and has new projects under development across Africa, including Mali, Nigeria and Kenya.
A shareholder agreement was also signed between KLP Norfund Investments AS, Scatec Solar and EDM. The required project investment is estimated at $80 million. Scatec Solar (52.5%), KLP Norfund Investments (22.5%) and EDM (25%) will provide equity, while IFC, the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund intend to provide project finance debt. The parties are targeting financial close and solar plant construction start in the first quarter of 2017.
“This is an excellent example of how private public partnerships can deliver renewable energy and support further economic growth in Mozambique. EDM and the government of Mozambique have demonstrated strong leadership in taking this project forward and it paves the way for further investments in renewable energy in the country,” says Scatec Solar CEO, Raymond Carlsen.
“Access to reliable energy is a prerequisite for development. Only 3% of the world’s electricity is generated in Africa, although 15% of the world’s population lives here. Clean energy is a focus investment area for Norfund, and we appreciate being a partner in this first independent solar power producer project in Mozambique together with EDM and Scatec Solar,” says Norfund CEO, Kjell Roland.
The project is the result of a partnership between the governments of Norway and Mozambique. The Norwegian government has provided economic support as well as technical expertise to the energy sector in Mozambique for several years.
The issue of waste management is becoming a thing of worry in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, where wastes pile up and litter junctions, roadsides and road dividers. The practice of dumping waste at these undesignated spots started a few months ago and has continued unabated.
Wastes have piled up and littering junctions, roadsides and road dividers in Makurdi
According to a resident along Iorkyaa Ako Street at the High Level area of the town, Terfa Iortyeer, the practice started when the Benue State Environmental Sanitation Agency (BENSESA) removed litter/waste bins from strategic spots in the metropolis, and directing residents to package wastes in polythene bags which they (officials of BENSESA) promised promised to come and collect them.
However, Mr Iortyeer noted that since the introduction of that new strategy, the Agency failed to come to collect refuse or deliberately chose few places to carry out the waste collection.
Another resident in Makurdi who simply identified himself as Ugba stated that the situation is not palatable, as he uses his car to go and dispose waste at the outskirt of the town, stating that those who do not have the luxury of a car to aid them in disposing their waste have no choice than to dispose it wherever they wanted.
“Although it is not healthy for the environment and not right for residents to dump refuse indiscriminately on the streets as it causes air pollution and could cause an epidemic, what else can they do?” he demands.
When contacted to speak on the matter, the General Manager of BENSESA, Simon Chile, states that they have enforced the Benue State Sanitation Law and will arrest anyone dumping waste indiscriminately.
Debunking the claim that they are choosy on where to collect waste, Mr Chile maintained that the agency has been covering the whole town and not a select part. He adds that they removed most of the public waste bins due to health hazards posed by the dumping of medical waste by hospitals at spots meant for domestic waste.
“We have still maintained some waste bins at enclosed spaces where they cannot be tampered with by the secret dumping of medical waste,” he adds.
He stressed that they are resolute in going round houses in the metropolis for monitoring and disposing waste neatly packed in polythene disposal bags.
Also speaking on proper waste delivery, Dr. Oje Echikwonye of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital called on the citizenry to imbibe a culture of keeping their environment clean and properly disposing waste.
According to her, having a clean environment prevents the spread of diseases, injuries and enhances the aesthetic value of the environment.
To this end, she called on the residents of Makurdi to partner with BENSESA in ensuring that they live healthier in a clean environment.
The trail of waste littering the town stretches from Naka Road through High Level from Iorchia Ayu Road up to Wurukum Roundabout and other areas.
To this end, the government needs to quickly adopt new strategies to manage the increasing waste generated in Makurdi in order to curtail the many ills the indiscriminate disposal of waste is causing to the residents, among others.
It is expected that through BENSESA and Private Sector Players (PSP), better results at managing waste disposal through provision of dump sites, a harmonised revenue generation disposal system, and improved technological waste handling and management can be achieved.
The earlier the waste disposal system’s sorry state is addressed, the sooner the probability that success will be achieved in curtailing health hazards ocassioned by the humongous churn out of solid waste without adequate waste disposal equipment and lack of official dump sites.
In the face of contemporary times and new technologies, there is an urgent need for the government and the private sector to collaborate in a partnership that would help reposition Benue’s waste management system to conform with international best practices.
Waste management is a big business and income earner and it goes without saying that, as Makurdi metropolis keeps developing with new layouts springing up constantly, the economic activities and livelihood activities along side population increases with attendant increment in waste generation. With the foregone, if systematic and deliberate new approaches to waste management are explored, the town and, indeed, the whole of the state can conveniently manage her waste instead of struggling with its storage, collection and disposal.
Commercial waste management, regulated by government, would greatly aid in a situation where the State Government cannot wholly invest in collecting, and effectively disposing waste via recycling as dump sites/landfills as the case may be, is even now discouraged as it is known to create environmental pollution and other health hazards to those resident around the area.
There is also every need to sustain the tempo recently adopted by the Senior Special Assistant to the Benue State Governor on Public Utilities, Environment and Sanitation in the clean up of the town drainage channels as another way of doing away with littered waste.
It is unacceptable that Makurdi has no designated official waste dump site not to talk of landfill. There is need to have at least four dump sites for Makurdi or it will be grossly inadequate. So to say, a dump site ought to be sited along Makurdi-Lafia Road, Makurdi-Gboko Road, Makurdi-Otukpo Road and Makurdi-Naka Road to attend to the ever growing population of the cosmopolitan town.
Part of the ineffective collection of waste is due to the lack of viable dump sites which will continue to lead to indiscriminate dumping of waste by roadsides, drainage channels and also overflowing public waste bins/litters.
Summarily, in addressing waste management problems in Makurdi and beyond, the Benue State Government must jack-up her political will and commitment in waste management, re-sensitise the public on proper waste disposal practices to change their behaviour, conveniently manage waste management from collection and point to final disposal point, introduce recycling of waste and create market for the products from the recycling will go a long way in solving the problem of waste management in the state.
As the hottest year on record draws to a close, countries will gather in the historic Moroccan city of Marrakech from the 7th to 18th of November for the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Under a new Executive Secretary (Mexican, Patricia Espinosa), negotiators will attempt to chart the way forwards towards meeting the objectives of the Convention and implementing the Paris Agreement.
Patricia Espinosa will convene are first COP in Marrakech as Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC
The Paris Agreement passed the threshold for entry into force earlier than anticipated after being ratified by 55 countries representing 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions on October 4th, meaning that the Agreement will enter into force on 4th November and the Marrakech meeting will also host the first Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1).
Since the Paris Summit, delegates have met all together only once in Bonn where they launched a new working group (the APA), agreed its agenda and shared initial views on the way forward. Due to the rapid ratification process the APA and other bodies have not finalised decisions to present to the COP and CMA. The main substantive issues and challenges facing governments in Marrakech therefore remain largely unchanged.
Increasing ambition
A critical issue in Marrakech is how the world will achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal pursuing efforts to stay under 1.5°C warming, and the 2016 “facilitative dialogue” could potentially see fiery exchanges between countries over how to ramp up ambition and financial support in the pre-2020 window. With recognition that the 2°C goal does not provide a safe guardrail, with studies under way by the IPCC on the 1.5°C target, and with a narrow window to avoid missing the 1.5°C target altogether countries will have to increase their efforts to reduce emissions under the pre-2020 period of the Kyoto Protocol as well as turn their post-2020 Paris pledges into concrete actions. If not, civil society groups worry they may be tempted to turn to untested “negative emissions technologies” such as bio energy with carbon-capture and storage (BECCS) to avoid warming of up to 3.5°C – a plan which is unlikely to work at scale and likely would conflict with food security and environmental integrity and place a furtherunfair burden on vulnerable countries
due to its huge demand for land.
Sharing the effort fairly
The Marrakech meeting’s focus on pre-2020 action is also reflected in a new report “Setting the Path to 1.5°C“, to be launched by a diverse coalition of civil society groups who made a splash last year in Paris with their analysis of countries’ post-2020 pledges, which highlighted how developing countries are as a whole much closer to taking on their fair share of the collective effort than the developed countries. South Africa’s Ambassador Diseko brought the findings of that report into the negotiating sessions of the Paris Agreement, after previously likening imbalance in the negotiations to apartheid – similar dramas could ensue in Marrakech if countries perceive the principle of equity is being undermined.
Dealing with climate reality
In Marrakech, countries will discuss the 2016 review of the “loss and damage” mechanism-which develops policy frameworks to help communities deal with a variety of climate change impacts-with developing countries laying down a moral imperative for developed countries to provide the necessary finance. Though 135 million people are at risk of displacement due to land degradation and tens of millions risk being impoverished as their livelihoods are threatened, climate change institutions which would help-like the loss and damage mechanism and its newly established displacement task force-remain under-resourced and funding for adaptation remains inadequate. Anticipating climate change to exacerbate displacement around the world, civil society groups meeting in Marrakech will mount a call for governments to address the gaps in legal protection for “climate migrants.”
Supporting the energy transformation
In Marrakech governments will launch ambitious new efforts such as the Least Developed Country Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiative, and the Global Programme for Renewable Energy and Energy Access Transformation, building on and expanding the progress made by the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, which has so far attracted $10 billion in pledges. If the negotiations on implementing the Paris Agreement hit a roadblock, initiatives such as these can offer some good news given their potential for both reducing emissions and improving energy access for the world’s poor-provided the pledges materialise into new projects.
Finance roadmap to 2020
A major conflict among countries is likely to arise in Morocco over finance after developed conutries released a “roadmap” to the $100 billion per year which they have committed to find by 2020.Developing countries and civil society groups have already severely criticised the roadmap for “double counting” existing aid flows and exaggerating of the rate at which public money can leverage private funds. Concerns about the new “roadmap” include that it provides no scope for increased financing from developed countries and multilateral financial institutions over the pledges made in Paris. With the costs of developing countries’ Paris pledges expected to exceed $4 trillion, these criticisms will have to be addressed if countries are to implement the Agreement successfully.
The way forward
There are likely to be “process fights” as countries meet in various formations over the two weeks. The APA will meet as a single “contact group” three times, with informal talks on each substantive agenda item running in two parallel sessions. Meanwhile discussions under the subsidiary bodies will happen at the same time. The first CMA will open on November 15th with many ministers and some Heads of State expected to attend.
Many countries are concerned that the CMA should not be the body to decide on its own rules-as only 87 of 197 countries have ratified the Paris Agreement, and are therefore not able to actively participate in the CMA. If these concerns are not allayed then difficulties will arise.
The question of who can and can’t take part in talks about how to implement the Paris Agreement also has the potential to create further frictions after the May session in Bonn saw civil society groups call for the UNFCCC to “kick out big polluters” due to their conflict of interest, resulting in a heated debate between countries.
Although it will not match the high-drama of Paris, the Marrakech meeting will nevertheless see some challenging questions raised over how to fairly increase pre-2020 ambition, as well as how to ensure the $100 billion is really flowing to developing countries for projects that cut emissions and that help communities deal with climate change impacts.
The Nigerian healthcare delivery system is a source of concern to all and sundry because of the needless deaths of compatriots and the capital flight that the health sector has come to represent in our time.
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole. The Nigerian healthcare delivery system has been described a source of concern
While the wealthy routinely fly out of the country to seek medical expertise, the middle class struggle to access the few private healthcare centres in the country and the poor are left at the mercy of poorly managed healthcare centers manned by poorly committed, ill motivated healthcare workers of all types or quacks.
Overtime, Nigerians have depended on the Healthcare professionals to proffer solutions to the various challenges plaguing our healthcare delivery system but unfortunately, the health sector has become atomistic and is perpetually at war with itself and thus have almost abandoned their core mandate of attending to the healthcare needs our nation. Most often, rather than seek reengineering of the system, they are at war over personal emoluments.
I believe that the time is ripe for non-clinicians to help find alternative solutions as the consumers of the healthcare provider’s product – wellness. It is more so as this issue affects the general well-being of our citizens regardless of our status or other endowments
Most often, workers down tool in this sector for their own need and comfort, recourse to improving the system is only used as rhetoric to mask their original claims. It is therefore important that we put a call to government to look closely at our healthcare delivery system and address the issues squarely. The personal emoluments of the healthcare providers are crucial but improvement can only be obtained from a holistic review and implementation.
The Healthcare sector of our economy is meant to service the society and ensure that the populace, as much as possible, is in the state of health to effectively drive the engine of national development. What we find today is a healthcare system which rather than service the nation is preying on its citizens and pauperising our national economy either consciously or unconsciously.
The Current Health Architecture
Nigeria being a three tier state, constitutionally charges each tier with a specific level of responsibility in the health sector. The Local Authorities are responsible for the primary healthcare which ought to be the management of local dispensaries, environment sanitation/protection and routine immunisation, etc.
The State Governments are supposed to be responsible for secondary healthcare system i.e. the General Hospitals, Health Centres and similar healthcare delivery systems while the Federal Government is expected to concentrate its efforts on the tertiary and apex referral institutions such as the National Hospital, the Specialist/Teaching Hospitals and the interventionist Federal Medical Centres.
The reality on ground today however, is that the local authority delivery systems are non-existent. The dispensaries and Health Centers managed by the Native Authorities in the sixties and Local Authorities in the seventies are non-functional.
In other words, the first level of healthcare provision and prevention of diseases has been rendered non-existent. The implication of this is that all the patients that could have been attended to at this level either move to the next level (the secondary level) or seek self-medication or relies on quacks.
The Federal Government intervened to correct this anomaly by establishing the Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) to handle immunisation and other primary healthcare needs. This agency which is only an interventional Agency has stabilised itself thus giving cold comfort to Local Authorities to abdicate their constitutional responsibilities.
Recent newspaper reports indicate that only 2,500 of 30,000 Primary Healthcare Centres nationwide are functional. Thus diseases that could have been arrested or prevented at that level are left to fester sometimes metamorphosing into an epidemic on national dimensions.
Furthermore, the NPHCDA is funded by the Federal Government from its own share of the Federal Revenue Allocation. This unsustainable arrangement is what the country is currently operating and has even been further expanded to include support for some traditional birth attendants and midwives nationwide.
With the clamour for increased revenue allocation to the State Government, funding for this Agency may be one of the casualties of a reduction in the Federal Government spending whenever revenue review takes place. The implication of this on primary healthcare delivery is scary.
The State Governments are expected to be saddled with the efficient running of the Secondary healthcare facilities such as General Hospitals, health centres etc. Surprisingly due to gross dereliction of responsibility, many General Hospitals in the State are ill equipped, ill-staffed and ill maintained.
Sometime ago, a State in the middle belt of Nigeria shut down ALL its General Hospitals supposedly for renovation for almost three years. The whole state had to depend on the only Federal Medical Centre in the State Capital for its healthcare delivery – This necessitated the Federal Centre embarking on outreaches to the three Senatorial districts at huge costs to the Federal Government.
The hardship experienced by the citizens of that poor state is better imagined. Our political system does not sanction leaders for mismanagement of this nature and thus encourages maladministration underpinned by arrogance. There should be a way to sanction leaders at state levels who display this type of nonchalance to the welfare of their own people.
The Federal Government has largely borne the burden of servicing the healthcare delivery system of the country. From providing primary care and environmental sanitation in the Local Council Areas to servicing the Secondary level care of the State by building Federal Medical Centers in the States. The consequential effect of this is that Federal funds which should only have been spent on tertiary level care in the Federal and Teaching Hospital is dissipated and inadequate to procure and properly maintain the apex level clinical equipment in these tertiary level hospitals.
There is no doubt that given modern equipment, coupled with right maintenance, our hospitals at the Tertiary level possess the human capital and skills required to handle most referrals adequately. However, a situation where the first two levels of healthcare delivery system have collapsed and the third tier is left to handle the entire system results not only in overload and abuse of facilities; it is coupled with fatigue of the healthcare staff.
Working on a very high patient/health worker ratio is dangerous and not only lowers the efficiency of the professional but constitutes an emotional drain them on them resulting sometimes in rude encounters with patients.
Current Administrative Set-Up
The current system has the Chief Medical Director (CMD) or Medical Director (MD) who is usually a medical doctor as the Chief Executive of the hospital. The administration department is usually headed by a Director of Administration who is expected to be a professional in Hospital Administration/Management but most often they are graduates of the Social Sciences.
The doctors are organised under the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), the Nurses under the Head of Nursing and other professionals under their respective most senior officers. However, only the CMAC representing the doctors, HOD nursing for the nurses and the director of Administration are officially members of Top Management Chaired by the CMD.
This arrangement has encouraged the emergence of various unions to champion the course of other professional groupings in the hospital. The doctors who are usually head the hospitals, rather than take lead in harmonising the interest of every worker in the healthcare system as organisational leaders, responded by founding strong and powerful professional groupings which acts similar to unions to advance their own interest and only sometimes do they struggle to advance the course of the healthcare delivery system.
This development led to the loss of confidence by the other professionals in the ability of the doctors to protect their interest as leaders in the healthcare industry. This, in my understanding, is the major reason for the tumultuous relationship in the health sector which constantly erupts and paralyses healthcare delivery in Nigerian public institutions.
Several attempts by government to address the health sectors’ demands have serially failed because the human capital (manpower) in the sector are not prepared for a harmonious coexistence. Curiously, private hospitals hardly record strikes. It is therefore necessary to identify the root causes of strikes in the public sector health institutions.
Some Root Causes of Persistent Crisis in Health Sector
The perennial work stoppages in the health sector are caused by various issues which are of diverse nature. Some of them are connected while others are not.
A few of such are as follows: –
Structure: the structure of management in the hospital is largely colonial (pre-independence) and has not evolved to take care of the increase in intellectual attainment by other specialties in the health sector. The doctor used to be administratively and intellectually superior to all other actors in the health sector but not anymore. With the increase in opportunities for higher education and research, some hitherto subordinate health sector professional groupings have advanced intellectually and do not feel intellectually subordinate to doctor schoolmates anymore. The issue to be addressed however is if that superior knowledge is necessary for the performance of their roles in the hospital setting.
Capacity: Management and administrative ability is acquired through a deliberate system of teaching, learning and experience occasioned by a course of learning. The training of doctors makes light of general management in its curriculum content but yet they graduate to head the hospital system, a top management position. Every hospital is similar to a small multidisciplinary company with various inputs processed by different experts and applied to the patients with the expected output of providing healthcare to the patients. Most often this deficiency of doctors in management, especially crisis management and labour relations are the root causes of some strikes in our hospitals.
Unionism: There are so many unions in the health sector. Most of them antagonistic to each other. Some are not registered unions but professional associations yet the system tolerates their existence without legal backing to the detriment of orderly conduct in the hospitals. Due to this antagonism, each group seeks to protect its turf and advance only its interest, at such, delivery of healthcare to the patient has been the constant casualty. If our healthcare professionals will co-operate with one another and focus on the patient, the little resources available to the sector will achieve much more than we are currently experiencing.
Education system: Some of the crises we experience in the sector are engineered by the type of training these professionals obtain from their institutions. Rivalry of the profession need to be addressed by definite curriculum arrangement that promotes the unity of the various specialties and their interdependency in favour of the patient in the hospital.
Corruption: Largely, control of resources and loose accountability for resources in the hospital is one of the causes of crisis. A patient is desperate to get well and will not be bothered about what happens to the payment made at that point. Poor accountability and the control of loose monies flowing around various units of the hospital is always a cause of friction.
Inadequate Supervision: Due to the multiplicity of unions and associations, supervision is hampered. Ordinary disciplinary issues are misinterpreted as victimisation. Command and control suffers due to inability to enforce rules and regulations by superiors.
Incompetence: When appointment to management/administrative positions are made based on entry level qualifications and specialty, regardless of experience and further trainings, the best may not be favored. While entry qualification and specialty are basic, it must be appreciated that further training and experience are required in order to function effectively in a top management position.
Lack of Commitment: The medical professional from history is highly honoured. People who give care to and manage human life are not only expected to be intelligent, but highly compassionate. The educational pathway and training is rigorous. Somehow, in our country, the management of this sector has resulted in these usually focused set of professionals being distracted by the allure of lucre to deviate from the established norms to the detriment of their professional calling and sometimes their oath. Sometimes, this is due to the pressures visited upon them by an uncaring system. Perhaps, there is a need to filter the type of entrants into the medical field and also put in place a robust compensation system henceforth. Healthcare professionals should not be constantly struggling to be compensated in a society that has values and appreciates their contributions.
Inadequate Tools for Measuring Output: Most government hospitals have no tools for measuring the work output of their staff. A lot of latitude is given to individual staff to work as expected, but this is largely abused. Thus we have a lot of divided loyalty and double dealing.
Lack of patriotism: A survey of the persistent crisis in the healthcare sector indicate that quite a high number of them could be resolved through negotiations without the attendant loss of time and inconveniences suffered during total hospital shut downs. The easy recourse to strikes does not portray a patriotic commitment on the part of the unions while the government officials must only make commitments which they are sure that the government can meet in a timely manner.
Lack of Incentive for Hard work: The system of administration of a public hospital is based on civil service rules and regulations. Considering the delicate nature of performance and commitment required in healthcare, the lack of incentive for hard work is a disincentive. All negotiated emoluments are of general application and thus there is no incentive for hard work.
Lack of Sanctions for Poor Unprofessional Conduct: Sanctions for unprofessional conduct or misconduct is farfetched and often times are a slap on the wrist. Most often, the culprit is let off after the hue and cry has subsided.
Favoritism and group Interest Overriding Professionalism and national Interest: Most unions in the health sectors are concerned only about the welfare of their members regardless of the healthcare team or even the patient. Most activists are always those who have challenge in exhibiting proficiency in their calling, thus the diligent and hardworking professionals are blackmailed into silence or even exiting the service.
Predatory Business Class: The business class that services the health sector do not project the interest of the patient but rather are concerned most often about the maximisation of profit only. This results in equipment being dumped on the hospital without serviceability and sustainability arrangements. Sometimes, some equipment is brought into the country without going through the manufacturers authorised channels and is thus stripped of the warrantees necessary for routine upgrades. Although a national Standard and approved equipment policy for public hospitals exists, lack of periodic reviews in the light of emerging technology has made the policy obsolete and is enforced more in the breach. Hospitals procure all manner of equipment from various sources regardless of their in-house capacity to maintain them. Thus, these hospitals are littered with broken down unserviceable equipment which are sometimes the cause of unrest by the workers.
Lack of policy on the interdependency of the Healthcare Sector and the Healthcare Sector products manufacturers: The Healthcare sector is unmindful of the relation between the care providers and manufacturers of their inputs for care giving. When hospitals shutdown, it is not only the patients that suffer, the drug and medicament suppliers/manufactures are also affected and consequently the economy loses both in manpower availability and the contribution of the health sector to the GDP.
No enforcement of local content policy in drug administration: Enforcement of local content will limit corruption in drug procurement and challenge indigenous manufacturers. Importation should be for only products which in-country manufacturing capacity does not exist.
Inadequate appreciation of the nexus between the nation’s healthcare system, unemployment and GDP: The healthcare worker sees the hospital patient as an end in itself. They are most times oblivious to the fact that in a society, we are all interdependent and mismanagement of any area affects the entire system. Long delays in accessing healthcare and getting well denies the economy of the inputs of the patient in the national economy.
Lack of a clear definition of the powers and roles of the Federal Ministers, State Commissioners, Local Government Supervisor/Councilors in the healthcare system. The new national health act used to be operationalised in order for benefits in this area to be assessed.
Overdependence on the states and local governments on the federal Governmentfor the provision of healthcare services. Federal government should surcharge these tiers for interventions carried out on their behalf.
Lack of a Co-Ordinated Healthcare Architecture for the Country: All the three arms are supposedly building healthcare facilities most often duplicating same facilities in an uncoordinated manner. The triangular approach to healthcare provision will be more functional coordinated nationally.
Lack of Attention to Biomedical Engineering: – The healthcare sector is largely dependent on human capital and efficient equipment for the provision of services. However, the training of manpower to ensure sustainability and the maintenance management of hospital equipment is not given adequate attention. While huge sums are expended on the procurement of technologically advanced new medical equipment, the in-house hospital manpower that should ensure the sustainability of such acquired Hi-tech equipment are not trained and are ill-equipped for their roles thus limiting the economic lifespan of such expensive equipment.
Lack of Project Management Expertise in the Hospitals: – Most public health institutions routinely embark on projects to expand, renovate or re-equip. The successful prosecution of these projects require project management competency. However, due to the specialised nature of training of the healthcare professionals, they are deficient in this area. Some of the abandoned projects in the hospitals are traceable to their deficiency in project management.
It is not possible to catalogue all the reasons for work stoppages in our public health sector; however, these few are instructive in seeking solutions to the downward trend in our healthcare delivery system.
If the exodus of our compatriots for medical care to India, Egypt, South Africa, UK, USA, Germany etc. with the attendant loss of forex is to be stemmed a major restructuring of the nation’s healthcare Architecture must take place (In fact, the current economic situation in our country has made the review of our healthcare delivery system more imperative as the cost of seeking alternatives outside the shores of this country is now prohibitive even for the rich!).
Ordinarily medical tourism ought to be the pre-requisite of the affluent but contemporary experience has shown that neglecting to seek medical attention outside the shores of this country could mean pronouncing a death sentence on yourself.
Under the current economic climate, the government has no choice than to revamp the health system while tackling the economy and infrastructural challenges. Some of these changes do not require funds but a revision of strategy.
Nigeria healthcare professionals are among the best in the world and would deliver given the right atmosphere. The right atmosphere should among others include a review of the organogram of the healthcare institutions, adjustment of the management pattern of the hospital and expansion of the clinical training program of doctors to include salient management concepts and equipping for managing a multidisciplinary enterprise such as a hospital.
The policy that allows for medical personnel in public services to run parallel hospitals whilst still in public service needs a rethink. This policy has done more harm than good to the healthcare delivery system in this country. The initiators probably meant well and needed to address certain nagging issues at the time it was granted. The implementation has been abused and the ordinary citizen are helpless as diversion of patients, absenteeism and extortion has taken over this policy no matter how well intentioned it was at conception.
There is an urgent need to review and allocate specific responsibility in patient management as it concerns the Consultant, Doctors, Residents, NYSC Doctors, Nurses and Midwives. The manpower input of these professional ought to be thoroughly monitored in order for it to achieve the desired objective. Whereas the payrolls of the hospitals are loaded with these experts, the actual delivery of services leaves much to be desired.
Drugs availability is an age old challenge in the system. With the number of pharmaceutical manufacturers in Nigeria and the NHIS support, there is no reason why baseline medication should not be available at affordable prices for the populace throughout the country.
The pharmaceutical drug distribution system both in the public and private sector needs to be re-organised by the government and made efficient. Government should take the lead in this direction.
Drugs and medicaments donated by multinational agencies need to be monitored and directed to the areas of need when they still have adequate shelve life. The role of Government Agencies in the Ports on donated drugs leaves a lot to be desired. The Government Agencies at the nations Ports should co-operate with the health authorities to ensure that donated and even imported medical equipment and drugs do not waste away at the ports when those in need of their applications are dying in droves.
The following areas require urgent attention:
Government should define the structure of the nation’s healthcare Architecture possibly through a constitutional amendment. Healthcare responsibilities should be clearly defined between the three tiers of government. And each tier should be encouraged to perform its role. When support is lent by other tiers, it must be as an intervention and temporary. Each tier should be encouraged to play their constitutional roles
The National Health Insurance Scheme should be expanded and made to function as a health insurance body for the entire populace. The experience gathered since inception is now enough for them to deploy nationally.
Government should decentralise control of healthcare facilities. The federal ministry of health should be concerned with enforcement of regulatory control and providing enabling environment for investment in the Health Sector.
Healthcare procurement is specialist procurement. Government hospital must not procure medical equipment without adequate sustainability arrangement. In this wise, biomedical engineers and technicians should be employed and deployed to the hospital to arrest the constant breakdown of equipment.
Some equipment must not be owned by the hospitals or government at all. Such equipment of high capital value should be obtained on a public, private partnership (PPP) arrangement with the manufacturers. Nigerian patient population is huge enough to generate a fast and good return on investment. Government resources should only be spent to ensure that the vulnerable are not left out due to financial incapacity.
Local entrepreneurs should be encouraged to produce local medical equipment beginning with basic ones which might not require high technology. We can adapt and manufacture some of the medical equipment being imported now at fractions of the current cost.
The training curriculum of healthcare professionals should be reviewed to equip them with a good knowledge of their interdependency and co-existence in the hospital setting.
Every hospital should define its manning levels and the requisite qualification to function at the various levels in the hospital organogram. Over qualified personnel should be encouraged to seek professional expression elsewhere. The universities and research institutions are available to accommodate such brilliant minds. They must not remain in the hospitals where they are underutilised and redundant
Finally, the health sector is definitely not the only one needing a thorough analysis and re-organisation but it is the most potent in terms of its adverse survival index on the populace. If we must survive and exit this recession, the working class must be healthy enough to be productive and grow the economy.
I do hope that those who are in the position to act will consider all or part of this discussion as a contribution to our quest for national transformation.
All hands must be on deck if we must navigate and turn around the economy of our country for good.
Long live Nigeria! Long live the healthcare sector!
By Samson A. Opaluwah (Former Director in the Federal Ministry of Health and, The National Hospital, Abuja)
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has published a detailed assessment of the implications of using climate geoengineering to limit global warming. Approaches considered include the large-scale removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, as assumed in nearly all climate models that limit the increase in mean global temperature to below 2°C.
CBD Executive Secretary, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias
“A rapid transition to a low-carbon economy is the priority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and in turn reduce the adverse impacts of climate change, including impacts on biodiversity,” said CBD Executive Secretary, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, in the foreword of the new report.
“However, given the current atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, their long atmospheric residence times and the relatively limited action to date to reduce future emissions, the use of geoengineering techniques has been suggested and is being explored as a potential additional means to limit the magnitude of climate change.”
The report, CBD Technical Series 84: Update on climate geoengineering in relation to the Convention on Biological Diversity: Potential impacts and regulatory framework, was prepared with support from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Twenty-seven key messages are presented, relating to the effectiveness, potential impacts, and current governance mechanisms for both greenhouse gas removal (‘negative emissions’) and sunlight reflection methods (‘solar radiation management’), with focus on possible environmental consequences.
“Mitigation and geoengineering are often considered as two very different policy responses to climate change, with the first being desirable and the second undesirable,” said Phillip Williamson (NERC and the University of East Anglia), the report’s lead author. “Yet definitions overlap, and both would now seem necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, entering into force in early November.”
A key requirement of the Agreement is to balance the global sources and removals of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century, with implicit need for active extraction of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Most of the low emission scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assume a major expansion of bioenergy linked to carbon capture and storage. The CBD report concludes that the feasibility, effectiveness and impacts of that method, and other carbon removal techniques, are highly uncertain, and that their potential consequences for biodiversity warrant further scientific attention.
The regulatory framework for geoengineering is reviewed in the report by Ralph Bodle (Ecologic Institute, Berlin). As noted previously by the CBD, the report emphasised the need for science-based, global, transparent and effective governance for geoengineering, particularly for activities with potential to cause significant adverse transboundary effects, and those deployed in areas beyond national jurisdiction and in the atmosphere.
The Federal Republic of Germany, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is providing funding support for two workshops on Climate Risk Insurance and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment – for the transition to a green economy in Nigeria. These forums are being facilitated by a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation, the Community Conservation and Development Initiatives (CCDI).
Flooded parts of Lokoja in Kogi State in 2012. One of the forums explored how far banks and insurance companies can include into their corporate strategies environmental sustainability commitments, responsibilities and initiatives that can contribute to climate resilience
In 2015, CCDI organised a project under the Environmental Governance Programme of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Nigeria, Finance for Climate Resilience. The project was to generate knowledge on suitable financial tools to be used by the insurance and finance industry to ensure environmentally responsible investments by the private sector and to disseminate information to targeted stakeholders. The aims and objectives included finding out how far banks and insurance companies can include into their corporate strategies environmental sustainability commitments, responsibilities and initiatives that can contribute to climate resilience. A research analysis of sustainability initiatives available to guide the Nigerian financial sector was undertaken along with other activities with the insurance and banking sector.
The study was not able to identify any green insurance products being offered by Nigerian companies. Sub-Saharan Africa has a small share of the global insurance market but huge potentials and wide ranging opportunities for positive impacts exist.
The Bali Action Plan, which was agreed by Parties to the UNFCCC in Bali, Indonesia, in 2007 as the basis for developing a new international agreement on climate change, states that adaptation requires consideration of “risk management and risk reduction strategies, including risk sharing and transfer mechanisms such as insurance”, as well as “disaster reduction strategies”.
Climate Risk Insurance
At this workshop on Climate Risk Insurance, held at the Westwood Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday, 29th September, 2016, His Excellency, Ingo Herbert, German Consul-General in Lagos in his opening remarks, cited the good relations between Nigeria and Germany, and the willingness of his government to facilitate knowledge sharing in the area of climate change and ancillary sustainable development. The lead paper On Climate Risk Insurance – Experiences from other countries and their application to Nigeria, was presented by Thomas Wiechers, an economist from the German International Development Agency, GIZ, in Eschborn, a city near the financial metropolis of Frankfurt-am-Main.
Contextually, some key considerations and questions emerged as areas of focused discussion at this first workshop on Climate Risk Insurance, after the presentations. For instance, if the nature of climate-induced risks and hazards in Nigeria, is primarily from hydro-meteorological hazards as stated in the presentation by Joseph Alozie, Director, Climate, at the Nigeria Meteorological Services (NIMET) in Abuja, the organisation bears nationwide responsibility for their authentication through early warning systems, research and documentation of scales in vulnerability and societal resilience to current weather patterns and variations, and to longer term projected climate change impacts.
The audience queried the nature of collaboration achieved by the different government agencies in Nigeria, such as NIMET, the environment and agriculture ministries, and their affiliated research institutes, as well as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and further how much they worked and exchanged information with the insurance and business sectors, farmers, forestry departments, environmental managers, and other related multiple stakeholders. Precisely, what forms of cohesion are envisaged in Nigeria between the public and private sectors in risk reduction and climate insurance, including the sharing of information? What international assistance and partnerships are expected in the process?
How can insurance-related mechanisms contribute to the fortification of resilience, particularly of low income groups to absorb loss and recover from disaster impacts in Nigeria? Who can get insured against climate-induced, environmental hazards? Specifically, which risk-transfer tools are compatible with Nigeria’s ecology, social geography and economy configuration? India practices a weather-based crop insurance scheme to protect farmers against drought.
What roles will be played by environmental and urban planning, climate and agricultural policy (federal and state governments), financial investments, education, engagement of the media and art, to raise awareness, individual behaviour and attitudes in the reduction of ecological footprint and disaster risks?
In addition, what specific role, if any, does climate risk insurance play in the transition to a green economy?
In consideration of environmental ethics and corporate social responsibility, how does the Nigerian insurance industry see itself, considering that insurance is first and foremost a pure business: the more premium payments from clients attracted, the better? At the same time insurers want to minimise their risks of having to pay for the damages, and therefore will logically advocate at national and international level for an increased climate change adaptation and mitigation. Some risks from climate change may also be so high that the premium is not affordable (e.g. flood victims in Louisiana, USA where most of the houses had not been insured because of the huge insurance premium).
Will insurance help Nigeria reduce climate-induced risks? It appeared that this was not a question to be answered in one sentence, apart from assurances from the presenters that once the linkages between the management of ecological systems, agricultural and industrial expansion, and the intensification of infrastructure construction, demography, climate change vulnerability, insurance and poverty levels were recognised, expertise, knowledge and skills would grow in the country.
In Nigeria, the development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries sits within a system affected both by climate and the political economy, mostly because the farming system is rain-fed. A priority could be finding ways to develop climate information to improve farming practices. Nigeria can build up its resilience from early warning systems, but equally through development of better crop varieties adaptable to extreme climate variability.
Unclear remained the roles played by regulatory bodies in climate risk insurance, and why in Nigeria the most vulnerable are the least insurable?
Environmental and Social Impact Assessment
The second workshop supported by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs is on Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) in Nigeria. This event holds on the 1st November, 2016. Since becoming a sovereign nation in 1960, Nigeria has acceded to a series of multilateral environmental agreements, with little local commitment to translating conference paper-work and signatures into practicalities on the ground at home. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Nigeria had the highest rate of deforestation in the world in 2005. The country is presently among the lowest power generation countries in the world, and surprisingly far lower than many African countries, despite a status as one of the world’s largest oil producers.
In addition to ecologic and economic factors, the health indicators for Nigeria, scripted in National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP) 2010-2015, are among the worst in the world. Nigeria shoulders 10% of the global disease burden. The life expectancy at birth is 47 years (National Demographic and Health Survey, NDHS). There are large variations of infant and child mortality across population sub-groups. In addition to impacts on our natural resource base, Nigerians may experience increased exposure to infectious diseases and water- and food-borne illness, according to the then Minister of Environment (December 2011), Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia, within the National Plan of Action on Climate Change for Nigeria (NASPA-CCN) 2012.
President Buhari’s signing of the Paris Agreement recently, on 22nd September, 2016, and his declaration that the impacts of climate change would be reversed in Nigeria, suggest that the nation’s economic growth must henceforth be driven by a suite of policies and governance mechanisms targeted at reducing carbon and ecological footprints. In principle, a low carbon economy appears to be desirable, but how exactly will Nigeria go about it, particularly as a comprehensive government blueprint of sequential plans of action on the subject is still non-existent? This perspective makes it difficult to re-invigorate international commitments on multilateral environmental and climate change agreements at the national level.
Are Nigerian businesses and their supportive banks, for example, committed to any forms of corporate environmental and social responsibilities? Do financial houses demand transparent and impeccable environmental and social impact assessments prior to making loans and other forms of financial support available to those construction companies clearing forests, draining wetlands and dredging coastal marine ecosystems? Green economies need green forests. Who will clean up the lagoon at Lagos? The diffuse themes of this workshop are therefore coalesced and encapsulated in the simple question: How will environmental and social impact assessments, and ancillary land use regulations in Nigeria deliver the climate compatible development of a green economy? It raises wide but fundamental questions of baseline and situation analysis, innovations, projections and needs assessments; what has been, and what should be; diagnostic guidance and prognostic philosophy.
In a landmark decision for both the environment and human health, 1 January 2020 has been set as the implementation date for a significant reduction in the sulphur content of the fuel oil used by ships.
The IMO, during the 70th session of its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting in London, agreed to implement a global sulphur cap of 0.50% m/m (mass/mass) in 2020.
The decision to implement a global sulphur cap of 0.50% m/m (mass/mass) in 2020 was taken by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the regulatory authority for international shipping, during its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), meeting for its 70th session in London.
It represents a significant cut from the 3.5% m/m global limit currently in place and demonstrates a clear commitment by IMO to ensuring shipping meets its environmental obligations.
IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim welcomed the decision which he said reflected the organisation’s determination to ensure that international shipping remains the most environmentally sound mode of transport.
“The reductions in sulphur oxide emissions resulting from the lower global sulphur cap are expected to have a significant beneficial impact on the environment and on human health, particularly that of people living in port cities and coastal communities, beyond the existing emission control areas,” Mr. Lim said.
Further work to ensure effective implementation of the 2020 global sulphur cap will continue in the Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR).
Regulations governing sulphur oxide emissions from ships are included in Annex VI to the International Convention for the prevention of Pollution from ships (MARPOL Convention). Annex VI sets progressive stricter regulations in order to control emissions from ships, including sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrous oxides (NOx) – which present major risks to both the environment and human health.
The date of 2020 was agreed in amendments adopted in 2008. When those amendments were adopted, it was also agreed that a review should be undertaken by 2018 in order to assess whether sufficient compliant fuel oil would be available to meet the 2020 date. If not, the date could be deferred to 2025. That review was completed in 2016 and submitted to MEPC 70. The review concluded that sufficient compliant fuel oil would be available to meet the fuel oil requirements.
Under the new global cap, ships will have to use fuel oil on board with a sulphur content of no more than 0.50% m/m, against the current limit of 3.50%, which has been in effect since 1 January 2012. The interpretation of “fuel oil used on board” includes use in main and auxiliary engines and boilers. Exemptions are provided for situations involving the safety of the ship or saving life at sea, or if a ship or its equipment is damaged.
Ships can meet the requirement by using low-sulphur compliant fuel oil. An increasing number of ships are also using gas as a fuel as when ignited it leads to negligible sulphur oxide emissions. This has been recognised in the development by IMO of the International Code for Ships using Gases and other Low Flashpoint Fuels (the IGF Code), which was adopted in 2015. Another alternative fuel is methanol which is being used on some short sea services.
Ships may also meet the SOx emission requirements by using approved equivalent methods, such as exhaust gas cleaning systems or “scrubbers”, which “clean” the emissions before they are released into the atmosphere. In this case, the equivalent arrangement must be approved by the ship’s Administration (the flag State).
The new global cap will not change the limits in SOx Emission Control Areas (ECAS) established by IMO, which since 1 January 2015 has been 0.10% m/m. The ECAs established under MARPOL Annex VI for SOx are: the Baltic Sea area; the North Sea area; the North American area (covering designated coastal areas off the United States and Canada); and the United States Caribbean Sea area (around Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands).
Twenty-four countries and the European Union agreed on Friday to create the world’s largest marine park in the Antarctic Ocean, covering a massive 1.55 million square km (600,000 square miles) of ocean.
Antarctic Ocean
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, meeting in Hobart, Australia, said the Ross Sea marine park would be protected from commercial fishing for 35 years.
The Ross Sea is seen as one of the world’s most ecologically important oceans.
The sanctuary will cover more than 12 percent of the Southern Ocean, which is home to more than 10,000 species including most of the world’s penguins, whales, seabirds, colossal squid and Antarctic tooth fish.
Fishing will be banned completely in 1.1 million square km (425,000 square miles) of the Ross Sea, while areas designated as research zones will allow for some fishing for krill and sawfish.
Scientists and activists described the agreement as a historic milestone in global efforts to protect marine diversity.
“The Ross Sea Region MPA will safeguard one of the last unspoiled ocean wilderness areas on the planet – home to unparalleled marine biodiversity and thriving communities of penguins, seals, whales, seabirds, and fish,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement, referring to the marine park authority.
Scientists said the marine park would also allow a greater understanding of the impact of climate change.
Russia agreed to the proposal, after blocking conservation proposals on five previous occasions.
The 25-member commission, which includes Russia, China, the United States and the European Union, requires unanimous support for decisions.
“They all have diverse economic, political interests and to get them all to align – especially in the context of there are divergent economic interests – is quite a challenge,” Evan Bloom, director at the U.S. Department of State and leader of the U.S. delegation, told Reuters.
Ahead of the International Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade scheduled to hold next month in Vietnam, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has commenced a campaign against the poaching of the rhinoceros, an animal species characterised by its large size, herbivorous diet and thick protective skin.
The West African black rhino. The WWF wants to show the Vietnamese government the world cares about rhinos
Often abbreviated to rhino, it is believed that nearly 1,400 were slaughtered across Africa last year. However, Vietnam is regarded as the world’s largest market for rhino horns. In most cases, poachers kill rhinos and cut off their horns for illegal wildlife trade.
By weight, rhino horns cost as much as gold on the black market.
WWF is seeking signatories to a petition, which the group says over 100,000 supporters have already signed. WWF will present the entreaty to the Vietnamese government to “show we won’t stand for illegal rhino horn trade.”
Sara Thomas, the WWF Manager, Online Advocacy, says: “The rhino-poaching crisis erupted in 2006 when a rumour began circulating in Vietnam that rhino horn cures cancer. It doesn’t. From there, it quickly became even more in demand as a status symbol when rhino horn began to be gifted to show wealth and power.
She adds that poaching of rhinos in Africa continues unabated, despite intense efforts by many African governments to combat it.
“World Wildlife Fund officials from around the globe will be in Vietnam in November, when the country hosts the critical International Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade. We want to show the Vietnamese government the world cares about rhinos.”
