The Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has selected Howard Bamsey, an experienced Australian climate diplomat, as the Executive Director of the Fund’s Secretariat. The decision was taken by consensus during the Board’s 14th meeting, following an extensive global recruitment process to select a new head of the Secretariat.
Howard Bamsey, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF)
Bamsey succeeds Hela Cheikhrouhou, a Tunisian, who was the Fund’s first Executive Director. She is credited with setting in motion GCF’s first resource mobilisation process and overseeing the establishment of the body’s headquarters in the Republic of Korea.
In between Cheikhrouhou’s stepping down and Bamsey’s selection, Javier Manzanares, GCF’s chief financial officer, was the Executive Director ad interim.
Bamsey, former Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute, has a career spanning decades in international climate change, environment and sustainable development, both in the diplomatic service and academia.
He co-chaired the United Nations “Dialogue on Long-term Cooperative Action on Climate Change” from 2006 to 2007 and served as Australia’s Special Envoy on Climate Change and Deputy Secretary at the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency from 2008 to 2010. He has also served in a variety of senior government and executive positions.
The GCF was established to support low-emissions and climate-resilient development in developing countries in the context of sustainable development and poverty reduction. The Executive Director will lead the Secretariat of the Fund, headquartered in Songdo, Incheon City, Republic of Korea.
On 5 October 2016, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, announced that, on that day, the conditions for the entry into force of the Paris Agreement were met and that it shall enter into force on 4 November 2016.
Moroccan Foreign Minister, Salaheddine Mezouar, who has been designated by Morocco and the African Group to serve as the President of COP22 and CMP12, will also head the CMA1. Photo credit: AFP /Fadel Senna
As a consequence, the 1st Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement (CMA1) will be convened during the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) scheduled to hold in Marrakech, Morocco, from 7 to 18 November 2016.
The session will take place in Bab Ighli, Marrakech, Morocco in conjunction with COP22 and the 12th Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12).
The UNFCCC has unveiled a set questions and answers aimed at shedding some light on legal and procedural issues concerning CMA1 and to assist Parties in their preparations for the session without prejudging their views on these issues.
When will CMA1 take place?
CMA1 will be convened in conjunction with the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) and the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12). The Executive Secretary is consulting the President of COP21/CMP11, as well as the Bureau and the President Designate of COP 22/CMP12/CMA1, on the arrangements for CMA1, including on the precise dates. The secretariat will provide further information to Parties in advance of the Marrakech Conference through formal notification and on the UNFCCC website.
What is the agenda for CMA1?
The Executive Secretary, in collaboration with the President of COP21/CMP11 and the President Designate of COP22/CMP12/CMA1, is currently consulting the Bureau on the provisional agenda. Following the consultations, the Executive Secretary will finalise the provisional agenda in agreement with the President of COP21/CMP11, and make it available to Parties in advance of the Marrakech Conference through a formal notification and on the UNFCCC website as soon as possible.
Is a separate nomination of delegates for CMA1 required?
No separate nomination for delegates is required.
By when should a Party to the Convention deposit its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval of the Paris Agreement to be able to participate at CMA1 as a Party to the Agreement?
To participate in the proceedings of the CMA as a Party to the Agreement, a Party to the Convention should deposit with the Depositary its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession at least 30 days in advance of the relevant CMA meeting. This will ensure that the Paris Agreement enters into force for the Party concerned prior to that meeting (see Article 21, paragraph 3, of the Paris Agreement). By way of example, to participate in a CMA1 meeting on Tuesday, 15 November 2016, the Party to the Convention should deposit its instrument at the latest on Friday, 14 October 2016, with entry into force on Sunday, 13 November 2016.
Also as a further example, to participate in decision-making on the presumed last day of CMA1 in Marrakech, on Friday, 18 November 2016, an instrument of ratification would need to be deposited at the latest on Wednesday, 19 October 2016. Parties to the Convention that deposit their instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession after the relevant deadline may participate and make interventions as observers (see Article 16, paragraph 2, of the Paris Agreement).
Do Parties to the Paris Agreement have to submit credentials for CMA1?
Yes. In addition to the instrument of credentials of representatives of Parties to the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol to be submitted for COP22/CMP12, Parties to the Paris Agreement are also required to submit a second instrument of credentials of representatives to CMA1. The credentials should be submitted to the secretariat no later than 24 hours after the opening of the CMA1, in accordance with rule 19 of the draft rules of procedure of the COP applied mutatis mutandis to the CMA. Only Parties to the Agreement with valid credentials will be able to participate in the adoption of decisions at CMA1.
Will Heads of State and Government participate in CMA1?
His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, has invited Heads of State and Government to attend the Marrakech Conference on Tuesday, 15 November 2016, the first day of the high-level segment of the Conference. This will be an occasion to celebrate the entry into force of the Paris Agreement and the convening of CMA1.
Who will be the President of CMA1?
The Paris Agreement specifies that the President of the COP will serve as the President of CMA, provided he/she is from a Party to the Agreement. The President of CMA1 will be H.E. Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, who has been designated by Morocco and the African Group to serve as the President of COP22 and CMP12.
President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, to serve in the African Union (AU) Reform Steering Committee.
Environment Minister, Mrs Amina J. Mohammed, delivering a speech at the High Level Segment of COP21 in Paris, France in December, 2015. She is to to serve in the AU Reform Steering Committee
The committee, headed by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, is tasked with ongoing institutional reforms of the AU Commission and its organs.
The committee, which comprises eminent persons from the continent, will work on part-time basis to produce a report for presentation to the 28th African Union Summit in January 2017.
“A versatile and accomplished development practitioner in the public, private and civil society sectors with over three decades’ experience, Mrs. Mohammed had served as the Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), serving three Presidents over a period of six years,” a statement by presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said.
Until her appointment as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in November 2015, Mrs. Mohammed was the Assistant Secretary/Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on Post-2015 Development Planning.
Environmentalists have said that, in the cause of controlling use of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) in Nigeria, some gaps were identified in the provisions of The National Environment Ozone Layer Protection Regulations of 2009, a promulgation of the Federal Government addressing the use of ODS in the country.
Dr. Lawrence Anukam, Director-General, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency (NESREA).
At a workshop in Abuja on Expert Review of the Draft Amended National Environmental Ozone Layer Protection Regulations (2009) organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Dr. Lawrence Anukam, Director-General, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency (NESREA), identified some of these major gaps to include: the omission of best practices for the safe disposal, guidelines for ODS destruction, andsubstitutes of ODS in the regulations, among others.
These gaps, he said, have hindered effective compliance monitoring and enforcement, as well as deterred the ODS handlers from complying with the provisions of the regulations.
Dr. Anumka said that, as a signatory to the Montreal Protocol under which substances that deplete the ozone layer are addressed, and as the country tends towards the diversification of its economy through industrialisation, Nigeria cannot be a spectator in global trends on environment and climate change.
“Globally, the adverse effects of ODS have increasingly become a critical issue as a result of the several pollutants which attack the ozone layer. Chief among these pollutants is in the class of chemicals notably known as Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) – used as refrigerants and as propellants in spray cans”.
As the ozone layer plays major role in the protection of life on earth by acting as a blanket that prevent harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation of the sun reaching the earth, these pollutants, if not checked, would deplete the ozone layer and usher in more UV rays upon the earth and consequently, exposure to these rays could have serious impacts on human health and the environment.
Dr. Anumka said that it was therefore on that premise that the need to amend the National Environment Ozone Layer Protection Regulations of 2009 became imminent, and that the United Nations, through its agency, UNIDO Nigeria, is partnering with government to develop an effective standard for the safe disposal of the ODS in the country.
He told participants that the outcome of the expert meeting would help in the fulfillment of government’s obligations in the ODS phase-out regime geared towards eliminating the use of critical ODS for the protection of the environment and human health in Nigeria.
In his address, UNIDO Country Representative and Regional Director for ECOWAS, Dr. Chuma Ezedimma, said the United Nations remained committed to the promotion of an inclusive and sustainable industrialisation in developing countries and economies in transition.
Dr. Ezedimma explained that as nations across the world are evolving with measures to protect the environment, and as a partner on Montreal Protocol, it is important for Nigeria to reflect in its laws, disposal of ODS waste, and equally important for the country to begin the adoption and implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) initiative in order to ensure that manufacturers take responsibility for the entire life circle of their products which should apply to refrigeration, air-conditioning and insulation products.
With that in hand he said, Nigeria would be sure to boost energy conservation and eventually the sustainability of the environment.
“Disposal of unwanted ODS has already been initiated in Nigeria through the Demonstration Project for Disposal of Ozone Depleting Substances which began implementation in November, 2013 after the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol approved some funding for the country with the objective of aggregating and disposing 84MT of CFC-12, already identified with companies and chillers. This is to promote a model to manage ODS in Africa and also showcase how ODS disposal can promote other environmental and climate change issues, like energy efficiency, and carbon market co-financing,” he concluded.
The government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has assured the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) of its continued support towards strengthening the organisation in its quest to superintend the effective and efficient management of the continent’s water resources.
Ethiopian Minister for Water, Irrigation and Energy, Motuma Mekassa
Ethiopian Minister for Water, Irrigation and Energy, Motuma Mekassa, disclosed this in his office on Tuesday in Addis Ababa while receiving AMCOW’s new Executive Secretary, Dr. Canisius Kanangire.
Mekassa stated: “AMCOW’s unique role and relevance in the equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for poverty alleviation and socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment in Africa cannot be overemphasised hence the need for all member-states to jointly support the organisation through the facilitation of easy access to data and timely remittance of all country obligations.”
The Ethiopian Water Minister further commended the diligence of the AMCOW Secretariat, its Donors and Partners for their respective contributions towards the operationalisation of the African Water and Sanitation Agenda as enshrined in the 2008 Sharm El-Sheikh Commitment on Water and Sanitation; and the 2015 N’gor Declaration on Sanitation and Hygiene which, according to him, “is boosting the capacity of our Regional Economic Communities and Member States to improve Water and Sanitation Sector particularly the Monitoring and Reporting System in Africa.”
AMCOW Executive Secretary, Dr. Canisius Kanangire, thanked his host for the show of support and warm hospitality accorded him and his team by the government and people of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia during the training workshop organised for stakeholders and African member-states on the web-based monitoring and reporting framework for the water and sanitation sector which held in Addis Ababa recently.
Dr. Kanangire further enjoined the Ethiopian government to deploy its weight as a founding member of AMCOW in engendering the support and cooperation of other member-states in the aggregated efforts at translating the vision of the Africa we want and the Africa Water vision 2025 into tangible reality.
The Sixth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-VI), the continent’s premier climate change conference, will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 18-20 October, bringing together diverse stakeholders to understand the implications, nuances, challenges and opportunities of implementing the Paris Agreement.
James Murombedzi, Africa Climate Policy Centre, Officer-in-Charge
The main theme of the CCDA-VI, organised under the auspices of the Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) programme, will be “The Paris Agreement on climate change: What next for Africa?”
The Paris Agreement on climate change, set to come into effect before the end of the year, aims to limit the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue more ambitious efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in this century.
Implementation of the Paris 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.
Reviewing the Paris Agreement allows for a contextual analysis of what was at stake for Africa and what the Agreement offers, prior to COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco 7-18 November 2016, thereby contributing to strategic orientation for African countries in moving forward with the implementation of the Agreement.
The basis of the Paris Agreement is the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by all parties in the lead up to COP21 as their national contributions to limiting global greenhouse gas emissions. INDCs became Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) subsequent to COP21.
James Murombedzi, Africa Climate Policy Centre, Officer-in-Charge, says: “The Paris Agreement heralds bold steps towards decarbonising the global economy and reducing dependency on fossil fuels. However, there are contentious nuances of the agreement that must be unpacked in the context of Africa’s development priorities, particularly in regard to the means of implementation which were binding provisions of the Kyoto Protocol and currently only non-binding decisions in the Paris Agreement.”
To better articulate the specific objectives and capture the implications of implementing the Paris Agreement for inclusive and sustainable development in Africa, the conference will be organised under the following sub-themes:
Unpacking the Paris Agreement and emerging challenges and opportunities for Africa;
Integration of the Paris Agreement into Africa’s development agenda and other global governance frameworks;
Linking African initiatives to the implementation of the Paris Agreement;
Emerging challenges from climate change.
CCDA-VI is expected to be attended by policymakers and researchers, young people, civil society organisations, negotiators and the private sector. The CCDA-VI will facilitate and enrich the sharing of lessons, key research findings, outreach and policy uptake, as well as stimulate investments.
Grassroots leaders from oil and energy-impacted communities across the country will on Wednesday gather at the Houston offices of Energy Transfer Partners for a prayer action in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and thousands of water defenders mobilising against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
US President Barack Obama
In one of the largest environmental justice mobilisations in history, Standing Rock water defenders have drawn together more than 5,000 people representing over 280 Indigenous Nations and Tribes and forced a federal injunction against one of the largest oil pipeline projects in North America. Energy Transfer Partners has drawn national attention for driving both the Dakota Access Pipeline and the equally controversial Trans Pecos Pipeline, that has also violated the rights of Indigenous Peoples in West Texas, and poses significant threat to the water and land for many communities in Texas.
The Trans Pecos & the Comanche Trail Pipelines are being constructed to transport huge amounts of natural gas through the pristine Big Bend region under the sacred Rio Grande & into Mexico. Energy-impacted communities from Richmond CA, Chicago, Kentucky, Arizona, the Gulf Coast, New York, New Jersey, and national environmental organisations are all aligning with local organisers in Texas to oppose both the Trans Pecos Pipeline and Dakota Access Pipeline and call for a Just Transition to renewable energy alternatives.
Yvette Arellano, T.E.J.A.S. says: “Clean water is a basic human right that should be afforded to everyone. No treaty, law or structure should have to reinforce a necessity, yet we understand that we live in a world driven by corporate greed that sacrifices sacred lands, vulnerable populations and people of color.
“I am humbled by the solidarity and courage grassroots, big greens and supporting organisations from all over the country are demonstrating to face Energy Transfer Partners at their doorstep in the house of the largest petrochemical complex of the nation. Together we press forward, rise and demand a clean world for future generations in our struggle to survive.”
Juan Mancias, Tribal Chairman, Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas: “It gives me great pleasure to see the networking that has arisen from finally deprogramming from forced and coerced corporate dependency on oil; to recognise the importance of Native Original People of Texas (NOPOT) as the intricate thread in holding accountable the oil super PACs for the destruction of humanity through the pollution of the four elements of life: Water, Air, Earth, and Fire. Please join us in this walk of sending our voices for Mother Earth. We call on the criminal Kelsey Warren and Energy Transfer Partners to stop the cycle of Genocide of NOPOT and Texas Tribal Ancestors by ending the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Trans Pecos Pipeline and the Comanche Trail Pipeline. AH’E YA’T PAYESE’L. Water is life!!”
Kim Wasserman, Little Village Environmental Justice Organisation (LVEJO), Chicago: “From Chicago to Houston we stand with all of our communities impacted by the oil and gas industry in fighting back. It took us twelve years to shut down the two coal plant in Chicago and we commit to fighting until our communities have justice. While these companies think they have only money and stocks to lose we have to remind them it’s our lives and world at stake.”
Jess Grady-Benson, Divestment Student Network: “The fossil fuel industry and their financiers have desecrated our land and communities for decades, deeming communities of color and poor communities sacrificial in their conquest for profit. Today they threaten our collective futures from the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in ND to the Trans Pecos Pipeline in Texas. Yet, our universities remain invested in this violent industry. We stand with the Water Protectors and support the calls for divestment from Energy Transfer Partners and the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Divestment Student Network stands with Standing Rock for the protection of life, dignity, and self-determination.”
Ahmina Maxey, The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA): “The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives stands in solidarity with the indigenous freedom fighters and allies from Standing Rock to West Texas. Our “dig, burn, dump” economy has entrenched us in an unsustainable system that we must move away from.”
Everette R. H. Thompson, 350.org.: “There is no way to build these pipelines that will be safe or in ‘the public interest,’ as fossil fuel companies would like you to believe. Both the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Trans-Pecos Pipeline are dirty, large-scale fossil fuel projects that will put money in the pockets of high-paid executives while exploiting black and brown communities, releasing an enormous amount of greenhouse gasses and limiting our ability to leave a healthy world behind for generations to come. We need to end this cycle by keeping fossil fuels in the ground and putting resources towards the just transition to a 100% renewable energy economy.”
Jayeesha Dutta, Radical Arts and Healing Collective, New Orleans: We stand in deep solidarity with our Indigenous brothers and sisters banded together to resist the Dakota Access Pipeline. Our fights are quite literally one: the Gulf South is where that Bakken crude oil will eventually end up for refining and transportation. We are already on the frontline of environmental disasters, like the BP oil catastrophe, which we are still recovering from. It is time to put an end to extractive energy production, and the exploitation of our land and labor that comes along with that.”
Researcher Andrew Mude and colleagues also receive USAID Award for Scientific Excellence; Both awards honour innovative use of satellite tech and community outreach to develop livestock insurance for vulnerable herding communities in Horn of Afric.
Cattle rearing in Kenya. Both awards honour innovative use of satellite tech and community outreach to develop livestock insurance for vulnerable herding communities
Dr. Andrew Mude, an economist and principal scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), will be presented with the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application this evening for his work leading an innovative livestock insurance programme that employs satellite data to help protect livestock herding communities in the Horn of Africa from the devastating effects of drought.
The accolade, named to honor the legendary crop scientist and Nobel Prize Winner, was presented to Mude by Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin at a special ceremony that included hundreds of agriculture experts from around the world attending the 2016 World Food Prize symposium in Iowa. The Rockefeller Foundation provides the endowment for the award, which includes $10,000 for the winner.
“Borlaug’s footprint and legacy are immense and it’s humbling to be honored in association with him,” Mude said. “When the World Food Prize committee selected me, I think they were celebrating a scientist who aims to emulate Borlaug’s relentless commitment to following through on his research to ensure it makes an impact in communities still struggling to achieve food security.”
At a separate event in Des Moines, Mude and colleagues from the University of California (UC), Davis and Cornell University received the Award for Scientific Excellence from the Board for International Food and Agriculture Development (BIFAD), which is part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The award recognises significant achievements originating from work performed through USAID’s Feed the Future Innovations Labs, which has provided support for the livestock insurance project since its inception via the BASIS Assets and Market Access Innovation Lab team now based at UC Davis.
“More than a decade of research into the conditions that contribute to poverty among pastoralist communities produced a strong set of solutions that Andrew and the rest of the BASIS team skillfully implemented in the field,” said Michael Carter, professor of agricultural and resource economics at the UC Davis. “It’s exactly the kind of work Borlaug envisioned when he urged agriculture researchers to take their solutions directly to farmers and food producers, particularly in places whether they face a daily struggle to survive.”
Mixing technology and innovation with grassroots outreach
A Kenyan native who received his Ph.D. from Cornell University, 39-year-old Mude leads a project called Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI), which is greatly reducing the vulnerability of East Africa’s livestock herding families to recurring droughts.
“With today’s changing climate, and the increasing frequency of droughts, weather-based insurance has become a critical tool in building the resilience of some of the world’s most vulnerable populations,” said Mamadou Biteye, Managing Director of The Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office. “By utilising the most current technology, Dr. Mude’s innovation is helping livestock herders protect their livelihoods. We can provide herders with no better form of food security than by empowering them to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change.”
A key feature of the programme is its use of satellite data gathered every 10 days by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and then processed by NASA to create a “vegetation index” that allows Mude and his colleagues to track the density of vegetation available to pastoralists in the Horn of Africa. Payouts are made to policy holders when the index shows that forage availability has declined below an agreed threshold. That’s a signal that rains have failed and drought – responsible for 75 percent of livestock deaths in the region – is at hand.
Before the innovative IBLI approach was implemented, African herders had no access to livestock insurance to protect their most valuable assets, whose losses can lead to a lifetime of poverty. Yet it was highly impractical and costly for insurance claim adjusters to travel through the vast rangelands of East Africa to confirm dead animals and pay claims. The satellite data provides a solution to that problem, its measurement of forage serving as a proxy for conditions on the ground that could imperil livestock.
“This is a much-deserved recognition that does more than just honor Andrew; it also makes a powerful statement about the importance of livestock to the food security of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people,” said ILRI Director General Jimmy Smith. “For a billion people in the world today, their livestock are their most valuable asset – an irreplaceable source of food, income and labor – and protecting them, as Andrew and his colleagues are doing, should be a high priority.”
Since launching IBLI in 2008, Mude and his team have engaged local herders and leaders in building and delivering education programs – employing videos, innovative games, cartoons, radio broadcasts and most recently mobile learning applications – to increase understanding of the principles and coverage of the insurance product. These learning tools help teach basic concepts of livestock insurance, like the fact that premiums must be paid even if grazing conditions stay healthy and no payout occurs.
“Our engagement with the community has resulted in a number of important insights leading to continued improvement of the IBLI product and the efficiency of service-delivery. For example, where payouts were previously made to replace dead livestock, they are now made when rains fail and drought appears imminent, giving herders the means to purchase feed, medicine or other inputs that will help their animals survive the drought. This is proving more effective at providing a safety net for herding households than making payouts to help replace dead animals,” explained Mude.
From a pilot project to a country-wide initiative
Since 2010, when IBLI began offering insurance contracts in one county in Kenya, it has expanded across Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia; 11,750 herders in Northern Kenya (Marsabit, Isiolo, Wajir, Garissa and Mandera counties) and 3,905 herders in Southern Ethiopia have purchased IBLI insurance contracts. Since 2011, more than $200,000 in payouts – $159,000 in Kenya and $50,000 in Ethiopia – have been triggered by poor herding conditions.
The results from the project are encouraging. For example, evidence from the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa found that households insured with IBLI were less likely to sell off livestock or reduce meals as a coping strategy. Overall, insured households are more likely to invest in veterinary services, generate greater milk productivity and their childhood nutrition is better than non-insured households.
Governments have taken notice and are now adopting the model and partnering with the IBLI team. The Kenyan Government is now providing IBLI coverage to 9,000 households through the Kenya Livestock Insurance Programme (KLIP) and expects to cover 80,000 to 100,000 households by 2019. Most recently, in late August 2016, KLIP made indemnity payments to a few hundred herders in Kenya’s huge and arid northern county of Wajir, which has suffered prolonged drought.
And in Ethiopia, a government pilot project spearheaded by Mude’s team is working to expand its insurance programme, while the World Food Programme (WFP) is making IBLI-type insurance a key pillar of its food security strategy in Ethiopia’s pastoralist lowlands. Other governments and development agencies are seeking help in testing IBLI-type policies across West Africa’s Sahel and in the drylands of southern Africa.
“We have the satellite technology needed to monitor grazing conditions in the remotest of regions,” Mude said. “We should be using it to ensure that Africa’s remote livestock herders have access to the basic insurance farmers around the world take for granted. We draw inspiration from Borlaug’s lifelong commitment to ensure his research makes a difference. Together with many partners and the herders themselves – and only together – we’re determined to find new ways to help millions of people continue to practice the oldest form of sustainable food production the world has ever seen.”
The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has procured polio vaccines to vaccinate over 41 million children against polio to contain the recent outbreak of the disease in north-east Nigeria.
Polio immunisation. Photo credit: Ruth McDowall for Rotary International
UNICEF, in a statement on Tuesday, said that the immunisation would spread across the Lake Chad Basin area as fleeing populations conflict are on the move within the sub-region, raising concerns that the virus could spread across borders.
It said that about 39,000 health workers have been deployed across Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to deliver polio vaccines in areas at high-risk for the virus during five rounds of coordinated vaccination campaigns across five countries.
UNICEF said that it is procuring the vaccines and engaging the public through mass media and grassroots mobilisation.
“The re-emergence of polio after two years with no recorded cases is a huge concern in an area that’s already in crisis,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “The scale of our response reflects the urgency: we must not allow polio to spread.”
The statement said that the ongoing conflict has now displaced 2.6 million people, devastated provision of healthcare and left more than four million people in north-east Nigeria facing crisis and emergency food security levels.
It said that, in the three worst-hit Nigerian states, 400,000 children would suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year.
Polio vaccination teams in parts of Borno State are conducting simultaneous malnutrition screening to identify cases of severe acute malnutrition in children under five and refer malnourished children to treatment programmes. Findings from the first rounds of outreach screening have confirmed high rates of severe acute malnutrition.
“Children are dying and more young lives will be lost unless we scale up our response,” said Fontaine. “Through the polio vaccination drive, we can protect more children from the virus while also reaching children in need with treatment for malnutrition.”
“The third round of the current polio campaign runs from 15-18 October with additional rounds scheduled in November and December. The immunisation campaign is being delivered by national governments, with support from UNICEF, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The coordinated efforts between the polio vaccination campaigns and childhood nutrition screenings are part of UNICEF’s scaled-up response to the crisis. However, UNICEF’s response remains hampered by continued insecurity, especially in areas of Borno state in Nigeria, and by a lack of funding.
Of the $158 million needed for UNICEF’s emergency response in the region, only $50.4 million has so far been received.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world body for assessing the science related to climate change, will present its findings with a focus on Thailand and Southeast Asia at an outreach event in Bangkok, Thailand on 14-15 October.
Dr Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the IPCC. The IPCC will present its findings with a focus on Thailand and Southeast Asia. Photo credit: www.unccd.int
It will also present its work programme for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) cycle at the event hosted by Thailand’s Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP).
IPCC experts will address a media workshop and a press conference at 1.00 pm on Friday, 14 October, at the Hotel Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square, as part of the two-day outreach event, attended by policymakers, practitioners, scientists, civil society representatives and media from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The event will be opened by Dr Raweewan Bhuridej, Secretary General, ONEP, and Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the IPCC.
“For the new AR6 cycle we aim to enhance further the involvement of experts from developing countries and improve the range of expertise involved. This event will provide a great opportunity to reach out to the various stakeholders in Thailand and encourage them to contribute to the work of the IPCC,” said Sokona.
Scientists will also present the latest IPCC report, the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), completed in 2014, which was a crucial input to the Paris Climate Change Agreement reached in December 2015. AR5 found the world has the means to limit global warming and build a more prosperous and sustainable future, but pathways to limit warming to 2ºC relative to pre-industrial levels would require substantial emissions reductions over the next few decades.
“Continued high emissions would increase the risks for Southeast Asia, exposing the region to impacts including flooding, food shortages, and extreme weather events affecting human health, security and poverty,” said Joy Pereira, Vice-Chair of Working Group II of the IPCC, which deals with impacts and adaptation to climate change. “A range of options exists to limit the adverse effects, including through adaptation to the changing climate. Local decision-makers will hear from the IPCC scientists how to tackle the challenges and create new opportunities based on the best available science,” said Pereira, one of the speakers.
Other speakers include Working Group III Co-Chair Priyadarshi R. Shukla, Working Group I ViceChair Edvin Aldrian, AR5 author Shobhakar Dhakal and representatives of the Thailand Research Fund and Chulalongkorn University.
The outreach event precedes a session of the IPCC in in Bangkok on 17-20 October 2016, which among other issues will consider the outline of the Special Report on impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, and a new IPCC Methodology Report.
