The residents of Makoko Community have appealed to the Lagos State Government to assist in clearing clogged canals that has led to flooding in the area.
Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State. Photo credit: ecomium.org
They said that the drainage and canal had not been cleared by the government since 2012, leading to flooding during rainy season.
According to them, the situation has brought untold hardship, hindered their businesses as wee as movement in the community.
Sheik Salaudeen Idowu, Patron, Community Development Association (CDA), Makoko, said that the plight of the residents was exacerbated by increasing waste that had not been collected for over one month by LAWMA’s Private Sectors Participants (PSP) operators.
“When the government did not heed the appeal made over the years to clear the canal, we recently contributed about N80,000 for evacuating waste from the blocked drains and canal.
“However, the waste is just littering the area and some have found their way back into the canal because PSP did not come to collect them. Presently, most residents are patronising cart pushers to dispose their waste,” he said.
He alleged that the government was contributing to the problem of the community through sand filling of buildings and inaction to enforce demolition of buildings on canal pathway.
The 76-year-old community leader lamented, “We are suffering. Some parts of the area have been secluded because of the flood.
“Recently, a pregnant woman was in labour, the car could not get to her because her house was submerged with water.
“We improvised by using a wheelbarrow to carry her from the house and while they were wading through the flooded street, rushing to the hospital, she fell into the water.
“Also, whenever I need to leave my house, my children usually strap me on their back because I cannot wade through the water with the wound on my leg. We live in fear whenever it rains because the water level of the flooded streets increases.”
The flooded streets are: Falodun Street, Oluwatoyin Street, Olaide Street, Emmanuel Adan Street, Church Street, Igbehinadun Street and Makoko Road.
He urged the government to construct an improved canal within the community to reduce the occurrence of flooding.
Makoko community was established in the 18th century as a fishing village, eventually evolved into a community with about 500,000 estimated population under the Yaba Local Council Development Area (LCDA).
After crime, flooding has been identified as the next concern of most residents of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital city.
Flooding at Agege in Lagos a couple of years ago. According to the CCaR-Lagos, flooding in Lagos is a city-wide phenomenon
According to the Coastal Cities at Risk (CCaR-Lagos), a project being undertaken by the International Research Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change (IRIACC), flooding in Lagos is a city-wide phenomenon that is neither restricted to a particular part of the state nor economic status of the residents.
This disclosure was made recently in Lagos during a Project Dissemination Meeting with stakeholders on the outcome of CCaR, a five-year programme that seeks to strengthen the capacity of four coastal megacities of Lagos, Bangkok, Manila and Vancouver to effectively respond to climate change and its impacts. Lead by the University of Ibadan, Ibadan in Oyo State, the research programme commenced in 2011.
It said that climate change and city growth have resulted in an increase in the frequency and spatial extent of flooding in Lagos.
The research shows that, apart from the acknowledged social and economic impacts associated with flooding, there are also physical and mental health impacts on residents.
According to the research, during flood events, affected individuals and household are subjected to several stress factors such as economic and property losses, relocating displaced people to a safe area, rebuilding of damaged buildings or walls and recovery of salvageable items.
Consequently, outcome would be loss of inner peace, insomnia, depression, discouragement and feeling of being neglected by government authorities.
It noted that, as a result of the annual flooding in affected localities, many live in perpetual fear of future flood events and the possible outbreak of an epidemic.
The research noted that the health consequences of repeated flooding could be far-reaching and difficult to cope with particularly among the urban poor.
Dr Ibidun Adelekan, lead researcher of the project, said that the recent outbreak of Cholera disease in some parts of the state could be as as a result of polluted water resulting from flooding that preceeded the disease outbreak.
“The disease was attributed to eating of contaminated ‘Abacha’, a local food. But we cannot rule out polluted water which is an aftermath of flooding,” Adelekan said.
She said that immediate attention should be directed to create community-oriented environmental pollution control and attention geared towards addressing the burden of diseases and long term mental health impacts on flood affected population.
The research also proposed the need for a comprehensive review of legislations relating to Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) storage and collection at the household level with a view to strengthening, harmonising and aligning them to the objectives of Integrated Waste Management (IWM) models.
It urged the government to control indiscriminate waste by integrating cart pushers into the collection systems.
The recommendation, according to the research, is based on findings that 29.2 per cent of surveyed respondents still patronise cart pushers, despite being ban.
It urged the government to formulate an inclusive and broad-based policy that has the potentials of raising the stakes for all stakeholders in the management of flood, adding that focus should be centered on flood management not crisis management.
According to the research, improving the consciousness and readiness of all stakeholders to comply strictly with rules and regulations guiding urban development is the greatest safeguard against flooding.
Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo, a climatologist, emphasised the need for synergy between all the relevant agencies in addressing the issue of climate change challenges in Lagos.
“Ministry of Environment should realise that they do not have total control of the situation. There should be collaboration and cooperation between interministerial agencies; from health, environment, waste control to physical planning on efficient and effective flood control management,” Oladipo said.
Ahead of the full implementation of the Ogoni clean-up, the apex mass-based organisation of the Ogoni people, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), has commenced the process of generating a comprehensive database of graduates, contractors and artisans in Ogoniland.
President of MOSOP, Comrade Legborsi Saro Pyagbara
President of MOSOP, Comrade Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, made this known on Monday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the end of an engagement with representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The MOSOP President noted that the process of compiling a database of Ogoni professionals, graduates, skilled and unskilled personnel was necessary to assess Ogoni’s human capacity and the level of training required for the engagement of the Ogoni people for the clean-up exercise.
“As part of our preparations, we will launch a database of Ogoni graduates and contractors so we can have a good understanding of our capacity as a people ahead of the full implementation of the clean-up exercise,” he said. “We also need data on artisans, all skilled and unskilled personnel so that we can competently determine our training requirements.”
Pyagbara hinted that the full implementation of the clean-up exercise is expected to be accompanied with sustainable livelihood programmes like job creation, entrepreneurship development, training and massive infrastructural development.
In June 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the process to clean-up Ogoniland. This was followed by the inauguration of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) – the implementation framework set up by the Federal Government for the clean-up of Ogoniland and other impacted communities in the Niger Delta region.
The Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India, has become the first carbon neutral airport in Asia-Pacific. Similarly, the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas, USA, has been named North America’s first carbon neutral airport.
The Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas, USA
The two airports were recently named along with France’s Nice Cote d’Azur Airport, located southwest of Nice, as being carbon neutral, bringing the total number of airports in that category to 170.
While the Indira Gandhi International Airport serves as the primary civilian aviation hub for the National Capital Region of Delhi, the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartered near the airport.
An impression of the Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India
The disclosure was made at the 39th International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Assembly that held last week in Montreal, Canada, where stakeholders agreed on a Global Market Based Measure to address international airline emissions. As is customary, Airports Council International released the annual results for the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme covering the period June 2015 to June 2016, to report on how the global airport industry is delivering on its commitment to lower its own CO2 emissions, made in 2007.
Now in its seventh year, the global programme certifies airports at four different levels of accreditation covering all stages of carbon management (Mapping, Reduction, Optimisation and Neutrality). It is independently administered, institutionally-endorsed and has already won praise from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), ICAO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Commission (EC).
Announcing the annual results, Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World, commented: “It’s been an incredible year for Airport Carbon Accreditation, with applications to the programme still increasing and new developments such as the important partnership with the UNFCCC and its Climate Neutral Now initiative signed at the COP21 climate negotiations. In terms of results, in the past year, accredited airports succeeded in collectively reducing the CO2 emissions under their direct control by 206,090 tonnes of CO2 – enough energy to power over 86,000 households for a year.”
She added: “The momentum keeps building. As of this week, we now have 170 airports in the programme and over 36% of global air passenger traffic – well over two billion passengers – now travel through airports certified at one of the four levels of the programme. I also particularly want to congratulate the latest airports to become carbon neutral – Nice Cote d’Azur Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport – North America’s first carbon neutral airport – and Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport – the first carbon neutral airport in Asia-Pacific.
“These recent accreditations highlight that carbon neutrality is no longer just a goal shared by airports worldwide – with 26 such airports now in the programme, it is becoming a tangible reality. The constant efforts of airports to move up the levels in the programme is one of the reasons for the success of Airport Carbon Accreditation.”
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, commented: ‘’COP21 was about engaging governments at the highest level, but effective climate action must also be significantly supported by a progressive private sector – sustainability is everyone’s responsibility. What Airport Carbon Accreditation has achieved over the past seven years is both surprising and inspiring. By charting a clear path airport operators are acting across a range of measures, from mapping their CO2 emissions, reducing them and engaging others, up to becoming carbon neutral too – there is much that other industries can learn from this and even emulate.”
The annual results of Year 7 (2015-2016) of Airport Carbon Accreditation are available here.
Leftist city government in Oslo, the capital of Norway, last Wednesday issued its first “climate budget”, aiming to halve greenhouse gas emission within four years in one of the world’s most radical experiments to slow global warming.
A driver leaves a free car park reserved for electric vehicles in Oslo, Norway. Photo credit: REUTERS/Alister Doyle/File
The budget, setting out annual goals to choke off emissions from cars, homes and businesses in the Norwegian capital, adds to a scheme announced last year to ban private cars from the city center.
“We’ll count carbon dioxide the same way as we count money,” Vice Mayor Robert Steen told Reuters of the targets for halving emissions by 2020.
Left-wing parties, led by Steen’s Labour Party, won a majority in the city council in 2015 for a four-year term and have set about using wide powers to re-design the capital of a nation run by a right-wing government.
Under Wednesday’s plan, Oslo will raise tolls for cars to enter the city, cut parking spaces, phase out fossil-fuel heating in homes and offices by 2020, shift the bus fleet to renewable energy and build ever more bicycle lanes.
Seth Schultz, of the C40 Cities organisation in New York which groups 86 cities working to address climate change, said he did not know of such a radical plan by any other major city.
“Integrating carbon into the financial budget is new,” he said. More and more cities, from Buenos Aires to Beijing, are laying out plans to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.
The Oslo council agreed earlier this year to halve emissions from Oslo to 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2020 from 1.2 million in 1990, and even more steeply from current levels around 1.4 million. It also aims for net zero emissions by 2030.
Wednesday’s climate budget outlines how. Even if the plan falls short, Steen said it will be worth the effort to highlight the risks of climate change such as heatwaves and rising seas.
Glen Peters, of the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo, said the projected cuts would be unprecedented. “It will be a stretch,” he said.
No country had cut emissions by more than about five percent a year, a rate achieved by France when it shifted to nuclear power from fossil fuels in the 1970s, he said.
Governments in rich countries project it will take decades to halve national emissions, which are a larger task that a city faces.
Parts of Oslo’s plan also depend on funds from the national government. Oslo has been experimenting with capturing carbon from an incinerator burning municipal waste, but a full-scale project might cost 2 billion Norwegian crowns ($246 million).
“When we can find solutions in Oslo maybe we can help other cities,” Vice Mayor Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, of the Green Party, told Reuters.
Nigeria may have taken yet another vital step towards rounding up its REDD+ Readiness Plan (and graduating to the Implementation Phase) as stakeholders reviewed – in the bid to validate – two separate documents related to forest monitoring and emissions referencing.
Participants at the validation workshop that, among others, reviewed the draft FRELs/FRLs, which aims to establish a reference point from which actual emissions are compared
Similarly, Cross River State, which is hosting the site of the nation’s flagship UN-REDD Programme project site, announced that Governor Ben Ayade has signed the Carbon Emissions Bill into law.
On Thursday and Friday (September 29-30) last week in Abuja, the federal capital city, stakeholders and technical experts embarked on the final review of draft documents of both the National Forest Monitoring System Action Plan (NFMS AP) and the National Forest Reference Emission Level/Forest Emission Levels (FRELs/FRLs) put together after harmonisation of comments by participants at the NFMS AP and FREL/FRL workshops held in April and May 2016 respectively.
Organised by the Nigeria REDD+ Programme, UN-REDD Programme, Cross River State Government and Federal Ministry of Environment, the forum not only set out to validate and adopt the draft NFMS AP as the operational document for the implementation of NFMS in the country, but also validate and adopt the draft sub-national FREL as the roadmap to benchmark and assess REDD+ implementation in Cross River State.
Essentially, the NFMS AP provides the standard activities that should be carried out to ensure the establishment and implementation of a robust and transparent NFMS, according to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Decision 4/15 on “Methodological guidance to REDD+ Strategy.
The FRELs/FRLs, on the other hand, are important tools for judging the effectiveness or the impact of REDD+ activities and policies on forest carbon emissions in line with the Decision 12/COP.17 of the UNFCCC. It aims to establish a reference point from which actual emissions are compared without which country emissions reductions cannot be demonstrated or proven.
The Cross River State Commissioner for Climate Change & Forestry, Dr Alice Olok Ekwu, disclosed during the forum that the new Carbon Emissions Law empowers the Ministry of Climate Change & Forestry to come up with carbon tax. She added that, when the law becomes fully operational, the ministry would impose taxes on companies, vehicles, and indeed everyone engaged in generating emissions.
She said: “We have a monitoring lab in the ministry that we will use to assess emission levels and determine the level of taxation. Any person or organisation that wants to be assessed must come to us. We are in the best position to carry out this assessment. We will not be able to impose taxes until we are able to determine how to do the assessment. The first thing was to get a law in place, which has been done.”
Recently, two separate validation workshops held in Abuja, and Calabar, the capital city of Cross River State. While the Abuja forum entailed a national authentication of the draft REDD+ document, the Calabar workshop focused essentially on state-related issues, endorsing the Integrated Analyses for the pilot REDD+ programme for Cross River.
Following the corroboration of the study analyses (national framework as well as state), Cross River State will embark on the development of a REDD+ strategy that will both inform the national strategy and serve as model for other states, particularly Ondo and Nassarawa states, which have been named as new programme sites.
The strategy comprises policy reforms, investment priorities, and a related REDD+ implementation framework, with due monitoring and safeguard systems, as called for under the UNFCCC. The strategy also intends to enhance the value of standing forests and to incentivise sustainable forest management through a multi-stakeholder approach and a green development perspective.
REDD+, which stands for Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, is a global initiative designed to pay groups or countries for protecting their forests and reducing emissions of greenhouse gas pollutants, especially carbon dioxide (CO₂).
India on Sunday, 2 October 2016 deposited its instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
This is coming as Mali, Ukraine and the Federated States of Micronesia all recently deposited their instruments of ratification of the global pact with the UN body.
It brings the number of Parties that have ratified the Paris Agreement at 62 States, accounting in total for 51.89% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions, as calculated under the official list that Parties provided under the Paris Agreement.
There are presently 191 signatories to the Paris Agreement, with Nigeria endorsing the climate pact recently in New York.
At the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21), held last December in Paris, France, the Parties adopted the Paris Climate Change Agreement under the UNFCCC.
The Agreement was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 at a high-level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary General in New York. At that ceremony, 174 States and the European Union signed the agreement and 15 States also deposited their instruments of ratification.
The Agreement shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary.
President Muhammadu Buhari promised in New York that Nigeria would deposited its instruments of ratification with the UN before the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the UNFCCC scheduled to hold in Marrakech, Morocco in November.
It has been a tale of woes as floods takeover Egbema communities in River State, even as community leaders blame Nigerian Agip Oil Company for being responsible for the catastrophe.
A flooded home in Egbema community, River State
The flood has so far displaced more than 1,000 persons and properties worth millions of Naira destroyed.
Alexander Uba, a community leader and a former Youth President, remarks: “This disaster is man made.” Uba leads this reporter to a small road leading to one of the many oil wells operated by Nigerian Agip oil Company Limited, stops abruptly and says: “This place I am standing is the access road to Location 19; this is the place causing the whole problem of Aggah flooding; lift the blockage and I tell you the truth that as soon as this blockage is lifted the flooding problem would be solved.”
Another victim, Mrs Celine Assuah, who is a middle-aged woman, fears that this will not “turn into another nightmare as the case of 2012 during the Great Flood.” Some of her cooking utensils can be seen floating in her flooded kitchen, while she is busy arranging some other properties she intends to take to a dry house, somewhere in the community. “Why can’t government do something about this flood?” she demands.
“This flood has swept away our livelihood,” cries Ike Albert, a farmer. The flood has swept away hundreds of thousands of hectares of cassava farms, yams, cocoyam and vegetables, he tells EnviroNews. For now, people may not feel the impact of the flood so much because they are yet harvesting the food meant for next year, he explains. “But there will be hunger in this land next year because we are now eating our tomorrow today,” he warns. From one home to another, this reporter sees heaps of cassava, most of them premature, but which the owner has apparently been forced to harvest because of the flood, thus confirming the predictions of Mr. Albert.
Like a wild bull let loose in the market place, this flood has destroyed everything in its part, not spearing places of worship. At the Christian Pentecostal Mission in Aggah along New Idea Road, the Shepherd, Pastor Michael Daniel, is seen in a pensive mood as he recalls the events of the past weeks.
He tells EnviroNews that, at a point, the church had to beg people to give them their private house as an alternative place of worship. “But now it is not possible because the owner of that premises has rented out the place,” he says sadly. Most painful to him, he adds, was “a particular day my Church Sunday service was stopped midway because of flood water”.
When this reporter asked him what his church has done to solve this problem, he replies: “The church has done a lot of sand filling here, but that could not solve the problem.” Daniel therefore calls on government to do everything possible to stop the flooding and to send relief materials to help displaced persons.
At the Deeper Life Bible Church, the story remains the same, though the church was locked but the water outside was above the knee level. The Pastor could not be reached for his comment but one of the church members, Mrs. Victoria Elechi, was on hand to respond to our questions. Mrs. Elechi fears that the church may have to relocate. They actually did, “joining” a sister church at a safer part of the town. She says: “Agip should remove the blockage at Ode ogwgwu to save us from this suffering.”
When EnviroNews visited the Cherubim and Seraphim Church located along Mgbede road in Okwuzi in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State, the church was deserted as the whole premises was a sea of water. The hitherto ever-busy church with over 150 members, which also houses some members who come for spiritual healing, is now like a ghost town. The silence is deafening. The same fate has befallen numerous churches in Mgbede and other neighbouring communities.
While speaking to EnviroNews, a community leader from Mgbede, Comrade Chris Edeh, wondered why such a massive flood has not attracted any attention from the media. “Why is this massive flooding not in the news?” he asks. “If this kind of flooding is happening in big cities such as Port Harcourt or Abuja it would make headline news every day.”
Another community leader, Ethelbert Ihedike, who is the Community Development Committee (CDC) chairman of Aggah who spoke to our reporter, says, “This flooding has always been a problem to Aggah as long as I can remember. Every year, we call on Agip to come and do something about it. We have sent delegations to the company; we have also made our problems known to relevant government agencies in Rivers State all to no avail.”
In neighbouring Okwuzi community, the New Life Jesus Ministry has been sacked from its site. In fact, the church has been forced to relocate to a smaller building which it vacated some years ago. So far some members have resorted to prayers for God’s intervention, according to one Sister Grace Ibe.
Flood has also taken over the Odili Estate in Okwuzi, which houses some mobile and regular Policemen.
Officials at the Public Affairs Department of Nigerian Agip at OB/OB Gas Plant, Omoku declined to respond to enquiries by EnviroNews over allegations of the firm’s alleged culpability regarding the flooding.
The last two days of September 2016 in Abuja featured a gathering of stakeholders who attempted a final review of draft documents of both the National Forest Monitoring System Action Plan (NFMS AP) and the National Forest Reference Emission Level/Forest Emission Levels (FRELs/FRLs).
Organised by the Nigeria REDD+ Programme, UN-REDD Programme, Cross River State Government and Federal Ministry of Environment, the forum set out to validate and adopt the documents as the roadmap to benchmark and assess REDD+ implementation in Cross River State, which is hosting the nation’s flagship REDD+ project site.
L-R: Philip Bankole, Director, Department of Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment; Dr Alice Ekwu, Cross River State Commissioner of Climate Change & Forestry; Prof. Augustine Ogogo, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Calabar; and Takon Daniel Etta, Special Adviser to the Governor of Cross River State on Climate ChangeL-R: Okibe Richards, Communications Development Officer, Nigeria UN-REDD+ Programme, Federal Ministry of Environment; Dr Victor Fodeke, Alternate Member, UNFCCC Committee on Kyoto Protocol (Enforcement Branch); and Sir Thomas Fameso, retired Director, Department of Forestry, Federal Ministry of EnvironmentL-R: Dr John Fonweban, FAO Regional Technical Advisor for REDD+ in Nigeria; Prof Shadrach Akindele, Dean, School of Agric. & Agric. Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure; and Dr Francis Akinsanmi; Department of Forest Resources Management, University of IlorinDr Edu Effiom, State Coordinator, Nigeria REDD+ Programme, Cross River State (left) with Dr Francis Akinsanmi, former coordinator, Nigeria Environmental Management Project, FORMECUL-R: Rose Ekpor, MRV Team Leader, Nigeria UN-REDD+ Programme; Bridget Nkor, Head, GIS/Forest Monitoring Unit, Cross River State Ministry of Climate Change & Forestry; and Harwa Umar, Gender Focal Person, Nigeria UN-REDD+ ProgrammeA cross-section of participants at the workshop
The Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), on Thursday published the latest in its series of regional reports on the state of renewable energy. The East African Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status Report reveals that the off-grid market is firmly established in the region and is helping to meet energy access needs.
The East African region has recorded a surge in renewable energy investment
In 2015, the region saw $139.8 million of capital raised by off-grid solar companies, representing approximately 50% of all off-grid investment made worldwide ($276 million).
This result was driven by several factors. First and foremost a rapid decline in global prices for PV equipment. In addition, favourable government policies and innovative business models contributed to the region’s spectacular market growth.
The mini/micro-grid sector also attracted significant investment. The cooking sector was boosted with a $4 million investment to establish a cookstove manufacturing facility in Kenya with an additional $800,000 to expand activities elsewhere in the region.
In the on-grid market, renewable electricity made up 65% of the EAC region’s total installed, grid-connected power generating capacity in 2015. This is significantly higher than other parts of sub-Saharan Africa where currently it stands at 28.6% and 23.5% in the ECOWAS and SADC regions respectively.
While trends are generally positive, the report highlights several challenges that remain to be addressed if the region governments are to ensure energy security and meet energy access needs.
These include: paying greater attention to the cooking and heating sector; focusing on making the use of biomass more sustainable; diversifying the renewable mix in the grid; and supporting regional integration in the power sector. Further, there is far less policy focus on transport and, particularly, heating and cooling, so these sectors are progressing much more slowly.
Christine Lins, Executive Secretary of REN21, said, “Renewables are uniquely positioned to provide needed energy services in a sustainable manner – more rapidly and generally at lower cost than fossil fuels. The EAC has a vast potential of, among other renewable energy sources, hydropower, geothermal, and solar photovoltaic (PV), which had been exploited only marginally so far.”
“Regional integration is central to rapid growth, addressing the existing challenges of energy poverty and climate change in the EAC region,” notes Pradeep Monga, Director of Energy, UNIDO. “With this belief, UNIDO is working with regional and national partners to promote regional policies and markets for wider dissemination of clean and efficient energy technologies and services that are key in supporting economic growth and jobs creation in the region. The EAC Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Report provides a comprehensive overview of the status of renewable energy and energy efficiency policies and markets by drawing on information from national and regional sources and networks, which is critical to unlocking the region’s potential and investment opportunities.”
The report covers the Republics of Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Uganda. It was released at the 3rd International Off-grid Renewable Energy Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
The EAC Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status Report is part of a report series that details the renewable energy and energy efficiency developments of a particular region. Their production also supports regional data collection processes and informed decision making. Data are provided by a network of over 50 contributors, researchers, and authors from all over a particular region.
