United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, is in Quito, Ecuador for the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, otherwise known as Habitat III.
On Sunday, on the eve of the opening of the conference, he was special guest at the Second World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments, also known as the World Mayors Assembly.
Mayors of the world’s major cities have called for national governments and international financial institutions to help finance low-carbon and sustainable projects. These reforms are crucial for implementing the New Urban Agenda and meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
The C40 Cities Call for Action on Municipal Infrastructure Finance, details six reforms that if implemented would help create a sustainable and low carbon future for millions of urban citizens:
The Call for Action was launched on Monday (17 October, 2016) at the Habitat III Conference in Quito, by Mayor of Mexico City and C40 Vice Chair, Miguel Ángel Mancera; Mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena; and Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, alongside Mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas; Mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa; Mayor of Caracas, Helen Fernández; and Mayor of Santiago, Claudio Orrego Larraín.
The Call is endorsed by 27 leading international organisations, including the UN Environment Programme (UNEP, WWF, World Resources Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council and Overseas Development Institute.
Financing climate action in cities is a major priority for C40 and will be a key theme of the C40 Mayors Summit 2016, being hosted in Mexico City from November 30th- December 2nd. The Summit will bring together the world’s most influential mayors, representing 650 million citizens to present their common goals for a sustainable future, one year after COP21 in Paris.
The full Call for Action on Municipal Infrastructure Finance can be viewed here.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urged Mayors across the world to “take strong ownership” of a new global agenda for sustainable development in the towns and cities they represent.
Speaking to a gathering of some 400 mayors, representatives of local authorities and urban partner organisations, Mr. Ban made this call in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, on the eve of the official opening of the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, known by the shorthand Habitat III, which aims to re-think the planning and management of towns and cities across the world, through the adoption a the New Urban Agenda.
The Agenda, an action-oriented framework which will set global standards for achievement in sustainable urban development, should be prioritised alongside implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and its 17 Global Goals, or SDGs, agreed by 193 UN Member States just over a year ago in New York, added the Secretary-General.
He pointed Goal 11, which “pledges to make human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” And in that regard, “elected officials, Mayors, Governors and Councillors, are the forefront of the battle for sustainable development,” he said, to a loud applause from delegates to the Second World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments, also known as the World Mayors Assembly.
“In short, your role is growing by the year (…) You are faced with the immediate daily demands of your people: for housing, transport, infrastructure, and basic services.”
The Habitat III conference has been 20 years in the making; the third global summit of its kind, dedicated to housing and sustainable urban development.
By hosting the conference, Quito becomes the first city in the “Global South” to take on the role, and thousands have gathered to the picturesque capital, which straddles the equator. The city, with its historic and picturesque centre, was declared a World Heritage Site by the UN Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) in 1978.
Mayors and the New Urban Agenda
Urban development is seen as an increasingly important priority for the United Nations, as the world urban population is set to nearly double by 2050.
Mr. Ban praised the invaluable role played by mayors and other local government leaders, in devising the New Urban Agenda.
Although national governments must play a strong role in devising legislation and policies to make cities grow sustainably in the future, it was local and regional leaders who would have to “implement these visions on the ground.”
Indeed, he said: “(You) must make the tough decisions on which issues to prioritise – because you have to manage budgets and balance sheets. You are accountable to national governments, and in many cases, to your local voters too (…). Your inputs into the New Urban Agenda were invaluable.”
The development Goals and also the commitment to curb carbon emissions made through the Paris Agreement on climate change last December, would be “under your direct leadership,” he told delegates in the main hall of Quito’s Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana.
“Take strong ownership of this vital agenda. Stand up for the people you represent,” he added.
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria was among numerous organisations and individuals recognised on Monday in Kuwait City, Kuwait for ground-breaking research on tackling childhood malaria and addressing undernourishment through Africa, which both impact the lives of millions of children across the continent.
The Ibadan, Oyo State-based research body bagged the 2016 Al-Sumait Prize for Food Security for its work in improving the yields and nutritional quality of major staple food crops, such as cassava, banana and maize.
The Board of Trustees meeting of the Al-Sumait Prize for African Development also gave the 2016 Al-Sumait Prize for Food Security to The Sweet Potato for Nutrition Team International Potato Centre, Peru, in advancing the contribution of sweet potato to African farmers and households to address Vitamin A deficiency, one of the most pernicious forms of undernourishment.
Similarly, the Board awarded the 2015 Al-Sumait Prize for Health to Professor Kevin Marsh, from the University of Oxford and African Academy of Sciences, Kenya, for his sustained efforts to control and eradicate malaria, which impacts the health of tens of millions of African children.
Al-Sumait’s Board is chaired by H.E. Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Other board members include Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Dr. Donald Kaberuka, former President of the African Development Bank; Dr. Kwaku Aning, former Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency; Mr. Abdulatif Alhamad, Director General and Chairman of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development; and Mr Tareq Al-Mutawa, Executive Member of the Board of Public Gathering Charity Committee.
Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin, Director General of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), which administers the awards, said the Board of Trustees was proud to award the prizes to all three recipients who have made major contributions to improving the lives of millions of people throughout Africa.
“We are deeply humbled by the efforts demonstrated by Al-Sumait prize laureates in the pursuit of scientific discoveries to meet the challenges of disease, nutrition, food production and climate change,” he said. He added all the laureates were in the frontline of Africa’s challenges, yet have succeeded despite limited resources.
Al-Sumait Prizes honour individuals or institutions who help advance economic and social development, human resources development and infrastructure in Africa through their sustained research and or innovative projects that result in major impact on the lives and welfare of the people of Africa especially the poor and underprivileged. The awards were instigated on the initiative of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah, the Amir of the State of Kuwait.
With each award worth one million dollars and a gold medal, Al-Sumait awards are administered by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and a Board of Trustees who oversee the selection of the recipients. The awards acknowledge the work of the late Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sumait, a Kuwaiti doctor who dedicated his life to addressing the development challenges confronting Africa and established the Direct Aid humanitarian organisation.
The winning laureates will receive their awards from the Amir of the State of Kuwait and the President of Equatorial Guinea during a ceremony at the Fourth Arab African Summit in Equatorial Guinea on November 22, 2016.
“Each of the winners represent innovative, exciting initiatives being done to address the challenges facing Africa,” said Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin.
Global partnership organisation proposes protected status for area of the Atlantic identified as vital for marine biodiversity
BirdLife International has presented a proposal to create a new Marine Protected Area (MPA) under OSPAR, the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic. If accepted by OSPAR, the MPA will be the first of its kind to be identified using seabird data as the principle data source, and will fill an important gap in the global network of protected areas.
BirdLife International worked in collaboration with marine scientists around the Atlantic, with additional guidance from NABU (Nature & Biodiversity Conservation Union; BirdLife Partner in Germany), to identify the proposed MPA, named Evlanov Seamount and Basin High Seas. If accepted, this site, which falls outside the jurisdiction of any country, will offer protection to one the most important sites for seabirds in the high seas of the North Atlantic.
OSPAR is the mechanism by which 15 governments and the European Union cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North Atlantic. The 15 governments are: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
The aim of the Evlanov Seamount and Basin High Seas MPA is to protect an area of the North Atlantic that is not only vital for many seabird species, but also for other marine megafauna such as tunas, sharks, whales and sea-turtles, by maintaining the natural richness and resilience of this pelagic ecosystem.
In a reaction, Bruna Campos, EU Marine and Fisheries Policy Officer, said: “This is an important milestone in marine environment protection, we are happy to cooperate with OSPAR to make it a reality in the near future.”
Marguerite Tarzia, European Marine Conservation Officer, noted: “Thanks to extensive research and collaboration with marine scientists working with Atlantic seabirds and other groups across the region we have made this proposal a reality.”
Ana Carneiro, Marine Technical Officer at BirdLife International, noted: “We estimate that more than two million seabirds use the area every year, including some long distance migrants such as the Arctic Tern and the threatened Atlantic Puffin.”
The proposed MPA will now be examined by OSPAR.
Based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom, BirdLife International is a global partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources.
Secretary General of the Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), Mithika Mwenda, is hoping that Donald Trump, the Presidential aspirant on the Republican Party ticket in the United States of America, will lose the election. PACJA is an umbrella network that brings together over 1,000 civil society groups that advocate for climate justice.
According to Mwenda, Trump would derail the progress made so far in the fight against climate change, given his belief that the phenomenon is just but a Chinese Hoax.
“I believe in God, and I pray every day that this man gets defeated, so that all of us can forget about him and concentrate on the fight against climate change,” Mithika told a delegation of journalists and civil society organisations in Addis Ababa, ahead of the sixth Climate Change and Development Conference (CCDA-VI).
Trump has come under heavy criticisms especially from his opponent, Hillary Clinton, for his remarks on twitter. “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” Trump had twitted.
In one of the presidential debates, Trump further said that the issue of climate change is an issue that requires further probing, and that money used to fight the phenomenon should be channeled to other uses.
“There is still much that needs to be investigated in the field of climate change. Perhaps the best use of our limited financial resources should be in dealing with making sure that every person in the world has clean water. Perhaps we should focus on eliminating lingering diseases around the world like malaria,” said the Republican Party nominee.
He continued, “We should focus on efforts to increase food production to keep pace with an ever-growing world population. Perhaps we should be focused on developing energy sources and power production that alleviates the need for dependence on fossil fuels. We must decide on how best to proceed so that we can make lives better, safer and more prosperous.”
Evidence-based studies have shown that climatic conditions have been changing over the years as a result of excess emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are compounds that are able to trap heat in the atmosphere, giving earth warmth that makes life thrive. But when they are over-emitted, they make the earth much warmer than naturally expected, leading to climate change.
The USA is one of the heaviest emitters of these gases, which include carbon dioxide, which is mostly emitted due to industrialisation.
“Science has proven that the climate is changing, and the most affected areas are found in Africa,” said Mithika. “Anyone who denies these scientific evidence based facts does not deserve any position of leadership in this world.” he added.
So far, countries have been negotiating on roadmaps towards the fight against climate change through the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC). Following the 21st round of negotiations in Paris last year, countries including USA came up with an agreement that details what should be done in order to reduce the emissions, adapt to the prevailing conditions and how to finance those activities.
In the same vein, some Americans have been calling for prosecution of climate deniers who, like Donald Trump, are making people to believe that climate change is a hoax.
“We need politicians to be part of this climate change discourse, and they should be positive thinkers to enable us move forward for the sake of the planet,” said Mithika.
The Africa Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has urged African countries that are yet to ratify the Paris Agreement to consider revising their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
Speaking at a civil society workshop on the eve of the sixth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-VI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ACPC Officer in Charge, James Murombedzi, said an analysis of most INDCs has revealed a number of discrepancies which countries must revisit before they submit their instruments of ratification.
“The unprecedented momentum for ratification of the Paris Agreement present an urgent opportunity for African countries to revise their INDCs with a view to addressing the noted discrepancies and strengthening their ambition levels where appropriate,” says Murombedzi.
The Paris Agreement is set to enter into legal force on 4th November, 2016 after the 55% GHG threshold was reached in terms of ratification. Of the 81 Parties that have ratified the agreement so far, 15 are from Africa, representing just about 1% of global emissions.
The call by the ACPC head comes in the realisation that the basis of the Paris Agreement is the INDCs submitted by all parties in the lead up to COP21 as their national contributions to limiting global greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, once a party ratifies the Paris Agreement, its coming into force means that the Agreement and all its provisions – including NDCs – becomes legally binding to that Party.
“The analysis by ACPC determined that most African NDCs are vague in their mitigation and adaptation ambitions,” says ACPC’s Solomon Nkem, adding: “They have failed to provide cost estimates, sources of funding, pledging emission cuts even when they do not have national GHGs emission records/inventories, while others committed cuts that exceed their current level of emissions.”
Nkem was however quick to point out that ACPC sympathises with African countries as most of them “outsourced the preparation of their INDCs.”
In view of the above, ACPC wants to use the CCDA VI as a platform to clarify these issues and help African countries make informed decisions regarding the implications of implementing the Paris Agreement in its current form, hence the theme: “The Paris Agreement on climate change: What next for Africa?”
Implementation of the Agreement has significant implications for Africa as the continent that will be most severely impacted by the adverse impacts of weather variability and climate change. The continent is already experiencing climate-induced impacts, such as frequent and prolonged droughts and floods, as well as environmental degradation that make livelihoods difficult for rural and urban communities. Increasing migration on the continent is both triggered and amplified by climate change.
And this is a point that Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), does not want Africa to lose focus on. “We, in Africa particularly, are concerned with the most important action – adaptation to climate change,” said Mwenda, pointing out that the continent should not lose focus of the most important aspects because “it’s time for Africa to now contextualise the Paris Agreement and what it means for the continent’s development prospects and aspirations.”
By Eden Habtamu Shibeshi
Waste management or waste disposal has been a challenge for the Lagos State Government for decades.
The government has adopted several strategies to manage the whopping 15,000 tonnes of garbage generated daily in the over-crowded city-state that receives immigrants almost on a daily basis from other parts of the country and beyond.
Thorough the responsible agency, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), government had in the past explored several measures such as the use of private sector players (PSP), which are facing stiff competition from the infamous but somewhat preferred cart pushers.
In a bid to achieve better results, LAWMA has also attempted managing waste through characterisation, improved technology and partnering with other nations.
However, only limited success has been achieved. Indeed, health hazards due to the activities of the PSPs, the ageing equipment they deploy, sharp practices by cart pushers, and the sorry state of the waste dump sites have all colluded to put the situation in a state of desperation.
The need for an urgent action to turn around the conditions cannot be over-emphasised.
In fact, there is the need for an elaborate and standardised regulation of the environment of Lagos State, in line with international best practices, while taking cue from locations such as the United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, and New York City in the United States.
Lagos and New York City, for instance, are two mega cities that mean the same in terms of entertainment, commerce and global trends. While Lagos has a population of 21 million with an estimated population density of 13,405/sq.km, New York City has a population of 23 million with a population density of 10,833/sq.km.
In fact, while New York with its huge population has been able to successfully handle the massive amount of waste generated daily, Lagos, on the other hand, is struggling with storage, collection and disposal of her waste.
New York has about 120 landfills sites while Lagos has only six landfills, with only three of the six functioning. This is grossly inadequate for the Lagos metroplois, considering that she generates approximately the same amount of waste as New York does, even so, a huge percentage of this is solid waste.
Asides struggling with disposal of the enormous amount of waste generated daily, Lagos has not been able to effectively collect her waste. This is exemplified as waste littering roadsides, waste being disposed into drainages, and overflowing public bins, among several others. There is a huge gap in collection and the PSP operators obviously struggle with the huge amount of waste they have to collect.
New York has successfully been able to collect her waste through several methods including government-regulated commercial waste systems in which they have over 250 commercial waste haulers, as well as dispose effectively through recycling methods and landfills. In that part of the world, waste is wealth. In Nigeria, and Lagos to be precise, waste is a curse rather than a blessing – its simply a disaster waiting to happen.
It has been shown that only 60% of the daily waste collected in New York go to the landfills compared to about 95% in Lagos.
Lagos must, as a matter of urgency, start recycling as an alternative to landfilling. It has been seen that the heavy reliance on landfills has brought about environmental pollution and several health hazards to residents around the sites as seen in the Olusosun landfill, which today remains the largest landfill site in the country.
The Olusosun dump site is nothing but as a disaster waiting to happen and the need for a quick action from government is long overdue. The dump site at Isolo also requires an urgent intervention from the authorities.
There is likewise the need to allow for a coordinated and effective private sector participation in the management of the environment, as well as the provision for an organised judicial framework for the administration of environmental laws in Lagos State in other to make this happen.
Similarly, there is the need to explore newer methods of collection to help effectively handle the waste generated. Other collection agencies need to be employed as it is obvious that the PSP operators alone can’t handle the massive amount of waste.
The Akinwunmi Ambode administration should tackle this hydra-headed problem without minding whose ox is gored. The speed and enthusiasm with which the present administration tackled the Light-up Lagos initiative should be deployed to combat this age long problem that has now grown to become a monster.
The recent clean up exrcice embarked upon in highbrow areas of lagos like Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikoyi should be extended to the waste management sector.
Government must, as a matter of urgency, seek help from those who have managed waste in mega cities around the world, while bearing in mind the nation’s – and the state’s – peculiar solid waste generation status.
By Adebayo Samuel (Ojota, Lagos-based environmental rights activist; shamueldebayo2080@gmail.com)
Scores of spectacular, rare and sometimes baffling unknown species were encountered on this year’s first-ever voyages to new deep ocean areas by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Curiously, a considerable number of them adorned the purple colour.
These include several purple animals such as:
It was gathered that, beyond being spectacularly photogenic, such animals help scientists better understand the web of life that sustains all species, including humans.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has disclosed in a recent study that Nigeria is the world’s 2nd biggest emitter of methane in the wasterwater sector.
In an illustration, the body lists the top five methane emitters in the wastewater sector to include: China, Nigeria, Mexico, India, and the U.S.
