105 nations have ratified Paris Agreement – Mezouar
About 105 Parties have now deposited their instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement.
COP22 President, Salaheddine Mezouar, who made the disclosure on Saturday in Marrakech at a press conference held in the company of UNFCC Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa, disclosed that the development constituted an important political signal in the fight against climate change.
The press conference was held to mark the halfway point of COP22 and to take stock on progress made at the Marrakech Climate Change Conference ahead of the High-Level Segment scheduled to take place on November 15, with an opening ceremony in the presence of His Majesty (HM) King Mohammed VI of Morocco, UN SG Ban Ki-moon, scores of Heads of State and Government and participating delegations.
The opening day of the High-Level Segment will include the reading of the “Call of Marrakech”, which is a call to action that is a result of a highly inclusive consultative process among Parties. November 15 will also mark the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1).
Mezouar called on all remaining parties to follow suit as soon as possible in order to keep up the important climate action momentum. Nigeria has said that it will ratify the agreement next week.
At the halfway point of COP22, slated to wrap up on November 18, the COP22 President spoke with a positive tone, saying, “Negotiations are going will and are exemplified by a highly inclusive and consultative process among all Parties.”
He underscored positive actions taken by civil society in the lead up to and during COP22, pointing to the remarkable commitment and engagement of the youth population, who participated in the Conference of Youth (COY12) in Marrakech from November 4 to 6, and who have been highly active in both the Blue and Green Zones during the first week of the COP.
The COP22 President also pointed to the fact that progress is being made on the Paris Agreement rulebook and that important announcements would be made next week regarding capacity building for developing countries. He also underscored the importance of making headway during the UN Climate Conference on the question of climate finance especially as it relates to matching bankable projects with climate funds and mobilising private sector finance to leverage public money.
Following several questions from journalists on the U.S. Presidential election results, the COP22 President answered, “The American peopled are very engaged and committed to the fight against climate change.”
In her remarks, Ms Espinosa thanked Mezouar for his leadership as COP22 President, disclosing: “More than 90 countries have moved from Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to formal Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This transition has happened in record time which confirms the world’s commitment to addressing climate change.”
Substantial climate adaptation fund open to Nigeria, others
A noteable amount of funding has been set aside for Nigeria and other African countries to implement their climate adaptation projects in key areas such as food production, building resilient cities and accelerating renewable energy development.
Known as “Opportunity of the Commons”, the fund which is managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), aims at assisting poor and developing nations to move at the same pace with their developed counterpart in addressing challenges posed by climate change and subsequently ensuring healthy economies.
Chairperson of GEF, Naoko Ishii, said in a presentation on Saturday that the organisation was focusing attention on African countries because of the huge opportunities that abound on the continent.
She spoke during an orientation course for the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) Fellows to the UN climate talks (COP22) holding in Marrakech, Morocco.
“We support partnerships at local, national and regional levels around integrated solutions in areas like energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable cities, land degradation, deforestation, food security and resilience. The newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognise that the health of the global commons is essential for a thriving world. A strong climate agreement backed by action on the ground will help us achieve the SDGs. But, with the underlying drivers of degradation still at play, our efforts must only intensify,” she said.
According to her, part of the criteria for accessing the investment fund include the execution of projects that add value to the lives of greater majority of the masses and the applying organisation should be the aggregate of major stakeholders in the industry from manufacturers to consumers.
On how to access the foundation, Ishii said the GEF works directly with relevant government agencies and prominent bodies in the private sector. The organisation, which was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle the planet’s most pressing environmental problems, is said to have provided $14.6 billion in grants and mobilised an additional $74.6 billion in financing for more than 4,000 projects.
“About two thirds of overall GEF financing can be considered climate related. This funding draws on more than the GEF’s dedicated climate change mitigation and adaptation funding windows to include a range of investments in forests, land and water, all with significant climate benefits. All in all, the GEF will be able to make about $3 billion in climate finance available during 2014-2018 across the entire spectrum of projects and programmes it is providing funding for.”
“The GEF’s recent experiences suggest that deployment of targeted, innovative financial instruments has a significant potential for mobilising private finance. Since GEF-5, a suite of 11 of such projects has mobilised $6.3 million from the private sector for each $1 million from a GEF grant, significantly higher than what typical GEF climate change mitigation projects mobilise. A recent example is the GEF’s provision of $4.5 million as Class A shares to the $150 million AFDB-led Africa Renewable Equity Fund, which targets small scale renewable energy projects across Africa that will enable investments worth approximately $0.5 billion.”
In another presentation, Asher Minns, Head of Communications, Europe Futurearth Research for Global Sustainability, said the total Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by nations required has so far fallen short of meeting the Paris Agreement target as the pledges could only reduce earth warming to about 3 degrees centigrade, as against the 1.5 degrees centigrade proposed by the treaty as minimum temperature to still sustain life on earth. Minns said the way forward was for all nations to aggressively pursue the building of more resilient environment of decarbonisation.
Fifteen EJN fellows from developing countries were trained on the effective coverage of the COP22 in Morocco. A team of EJN staff, led by James Fahn (who heads the EJN), coordinated the orientation training.
By Innocent Onoh
Nigeria well represented at tobacco COP7, say delegates
Despite initial hiccups, the Nigerian delegation to the Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7) to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) that ended on Saturday in New Delhi, India have expressed satisfaction with the country’s outing.
The delegates, who were in India from November 7-12 2016, had officials from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Ministry of Finance, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and a civil society representative.
Head of Delegation, Professor Christiana Ukoli, who is chair, National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC), said that the treaty talks were tough but had been very successful in advancing strong mechanisms for implementation of the WHO-FCTC in-country.
“The Nigerian delegation recognised the fact that we represent not only the millions of people who suffer from tobacco-related illnesses but also those the industry targets to conscript into smoking. We have represented Nigeria well and look forward to strengthening the global battle to roll back the tobacco menace,” Ukoli said.
Akinbode Oluwafemi, deputy executive director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), who was also member of the team, said that the Afro region took very strong positions that all nations including Nigeria will implement back home. Nigeria will forge ahead among the committee of nations that have signed, ratified and domesticated the WHO-FCTC, he added.
Oluwafemi said, “We anticipate that the tobacco industry will continue to be a clog in the wheel of progress by trying to infiltrate the talks but we were determined to move along stronger just like every other African party that attended the talks. We expect that, in subsequent meetings, Nigeria will as usual present a strong and united front for strong and effective tobacco regulation in our country.”
Mrs. Elsie Ofili of the Tobacco Products Control Desk, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said: “The Nigerian team remained focused on the issues throughout the talks. The SON looks forward to implementing its roles to ensure Nigeria’s standards are in sync with the recommendations of the FCTC.”
The meeting in New Delhi had about 180 Parties in attendance. Parties took some of the most authoritative steps since the treaty’s adoption as countries advanced Article 19 – a provision to hold the tobacco industry civilly and criminally liable for its abuses. Litigation against tobacco corporations will compel the industry to pay for the healthcare costs it has caused to countries around the world.
Nigeria passed the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and is currently at the stage of developing regulations for its effective regulation.
FAO, World Bank, AfDB pledge support for ocean economies
A special Oceans Action Event at the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech (COP22) has brought together over 400 high-level participants from around the world to advance oceans and climate change issues and to pledge concrete actions in support of the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal number 14, which is to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.
The global ocean is fundamental to sustaining life on Earth. It is a major carbon sink; it absorbs heat, and produces half the oxygen we breathe. It sustains the lives and livelihoods of the coastal and island communities who call it home, and who rely on its bounty to meet their nutritional needs.
The important role oceans play was recognised at the 43rd Session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Nairobi, Kenya earlier this year, which decided to prepare a special, scientific report on climate change and the oceans.
But while oceans are key to mitigating climate change, a warming planet also places them, and the services they provide, at great risk. Climate variability and change, habitat degradation and ocean acidification all pose additional risks to the conservation and sustainable use of our oceans, and to the well-being of dependent coastal and island communities.
At Saturday’s event in Marrakech, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) announced the African Package for Climate-Resilient Ocean Economies. This ambitious package of technical and financial assistance will support ocean economies in Africa, and build greater resilience of coastal areas to climate change, tailoring approaches based on the countries’ specific priorities and objectives. The initiative will mobilise $500-900 million and implement programmes linked to climate change adaptation and mitigation over the period 2017-2020.
The Kingdom of Morocco announced its Blue Belt Initiative aimed at building the resilience of coastal communities and promoting sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in keeping with SDG14 expectations. Focus areas will include integrated coastal monitoring systems, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture throughout the entire value chain. Solutions for adaptation and contributions to curbing greenhouse gas are proposed as part of a priority roadmap for implementation. The initiative is supported by an investment plan and capacity building programme of $60 million over the period 2017-2020, building on the Blue Growth initiative launched at COP 21 in Paris.
COP22 Ocean Action partners released the Strategic Action Roadmap on Oceans and Climate: 2016 to 2021, which provides a vision for action regarding oceans and climate in the next five years, addressing six ocean and climate issue areas: the central role of oceans in regulating climate, mitigation, adaptation, displacement, financing, and capacity development.
“These ambitious programmes aimed at strengthening the resilience of African coastal communities are critical to meeting the challenges and opportunities of climate change – especially for vulnerable Small Island Development States,” according to Maria Helena Semedo, FAO’s Deputy Director-General for Natural Resources. “African coastal communities are some of the most affected by climate change. FAO is fully engaged and ready to be at the heart of these significant developments to work alongside countries and communities to reduce their vulnerabilities, build their resilience, and maximize opportunities emerging from climate change.”
“The World Bank is pleased to be a part of the international mobilisation of financing in response to the Mauritius Communiqué. The package presented today could make a significant contribution to meeting the adaptation needs of African countries as they develop their ocean economies. We plan to ramp up our own concessional financing in this area and look forward to working with our partners to increase the effectiveness of overall development assistance,” said Laura Tuck, World Bank Group Vice President for Sustainable Development.
Dr. Biliana Cicin-Sain, Global Ocean Forum, noted: “The Global Strategic Action Initiative on Oceans and Climate (involving Parties, IGOs, NGOs, academic institutions, private sector groups, and local authorities from all world regions) will implement actions identified in the Roadmap to safeguard the health of the oceans and the wellbeing of coastal and island populations, reporting on progress at the yearly COPs.”
The full day of discussions addressed numerous challenges faced by oceans under climate change scenarios. Sessions addressed challenges to food security and resilience, adaptation challenges and solutions, country mitigation efforts, access to finance and capacity building, and science solutions to moving forward to achieve SDG 14.
COP7: Nations adopt landmark tobacco control decisions
After one week of heated negotiations and intrigues, governments representing over 90 percent of the world’s population who attended Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7) to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO- FCTC) that ended on Saturday in New Delhi, India adopted policies that will protect public health over the narrow interests of the tobacco industry.
These include tools to hold Big Tobacco legally liable for the harms of its products, recover healthcare costs, facilitate access to justice for victims of tobacco-related disease, and safeguard public health policymaking from the industry at the national level.
Governments unanimously adopted the suite of public health measures over the objections of the tobacco industry. Throughout the negotiations to the treaty, formally the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the industry tried to undermine the talks via government delegations, industry front groups, lobbying, and other means. Despite these tactics, governments adopted decisions, like advancements on legal liability that could provide precedent for holding other industries accountable for the environmental and public health harms they cause.
“The tobacco industry is the single largest barrier to tobacco control policies globally – and these negotiations were no exception,” said John Stewart, deputy campaigns director at Corporate Accountability International. “We applaud the delegates that stood up to the industry and rejected their rhetoric. It is thanks to them that governments have now adopted some of the strongest measures yet to protect millions of people’s lives.”
At the negotiations which held 7-12 November 2016, governments agreed to expand the expertise and case studies available to file legal and civil suits against Big Tobacco. The decision, which advances Article 19 of the global tobacco treaty, opens the door for governments to sue the industry and recoup millions of dollars for the health care costs associated with tobacco use. It could also provide precedents for people to pursue legal liability for other industries that affect public health and the environment, like the fossil fuel industry. To date, a handful of countries have utilised the principles contained in Article 19. For instance, Canadian smokers recently won a $15 billion payout from the industry, after an historic 17-year legal suit.
“At these negotiations, governments said ‘enough is enough’ when it comes to tobacco industry interference in their public health policies,” said Philip Jakpor, Nigeria spokesperson of Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT). “Together, they advanced policies that will push Big Tobacco out of the way, and let public officials do their jobs: saving people’s lives.”
“For years, the tobacco industry has intimidated countries with threats of legal suits for their common-sense public health laws,” said Hellen Neima, tobacco control advocate from Uganda. “At these negotiations, governments set the stage for the kinds of legal challenges that have the potential to bankrupt the tobacco industry in the years to come.”
Governments also advanced policies to protect public health policymaking from the tobacco industry. The decision, which advances the backbone of the global tobacco treaty known as Article 5.3, will establish a centralised knowledge hub for research and expertise on Big Tobacco’s attempts to water-down policies related to tobacco control. It directly addresses the industry’s long history of interference in public health. For instance, last year, a British American Tobacco whistleblower revealed that the corporation had bribed an FCTC official to represent its interests at negotiations for the Illicit Trade Protocol.
Other outcomes of the COP included:
- Ensuring that the FCTC Secretariat joins the UN treaty on Business and Human Rights as an observer;
- Advancements to the Illicit Trade Protocol and protections against the industry’s use of trade and investment partnerships to undermine public health laws; and,
- Identifying and advancing means to strengthen implementation of the treaty at the national level.
How Africa’s agriculture sector can benefit from climate finance, by NEPAD
The African Union Commission’s implementing Agency, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), has said that strong political will is a key ingredient to pushing the continent’s agriculture agenda at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiating table.
In line with Africa’s theme at COP 22, “Africa in Action”, NEPAD Director of Programmes, Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, said high level political engagements would be required to support the negotiating team to achieve Africa’s major objective of pushing agricultural adaptation in the main agenda of the COP processes and be able to access climate financing.
“Strong political will is required to push agriculture to the top of Africa’s agenda at the negotiating table,” she said during a side event at COP 22. “Agriculture’s role to African countries’ implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions has to be well articulated at the highest level and let it benefit from climate finance; because without money, nothing will move.”
While Agriculture does not have a strong presence in the Paris Agreement, 98% of African countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) have an agricultural adaptation component.
The discussions over the years have centred on treating agriculture as a mitigation component, but the continent, whose majority population derives livelihoods from agriculture and other natural resource-based industries, sees agriculture as a key adaptation driver in the face of climate change.
“The potential for Africa’s agriculture is high because there is still a lot of room for innovation and new technologies to be employed – all it requires is some policy coherence in all national strategies and money to support the largely agriculture-driven NDCs as we have seen from the analysis which we did,” said Mark Frik of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
One key component which has been a topic of debate in agriculture is the involvement of youths. The accusation is that young people, who are the majority in Africa, are not interested in engaging in agriculture. One of the reasons cited is lack of financial capital in a sector which is largely rainfall-driven in Africa.
But Nkiruka Naemego, member of the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC), urged stakeholders to seek for solutions to the identified challenges that are keeping youths from agriculture, regarded as the continent’s lifeblood for economic transformation.
“AYICC has published a book showcasing youths’ involvement in agriculture and also tabulates their concerns on issues such as climate finance which is key to Africa’s agricultural adaptation,” said Nkiruka, even as she highlighted the need to engage and support youth participation in climate smart agricultural systems.
And this was a key question that NEPAD’s Fotabong brought to the attention of the discussion, and wants addressed at the highest level. “A research by the Norwegians in Zambia showed that conservation farming has raised the production profile of the smallholder farmers, but why is not becoming business as usual?” asked Fotabong rhetorically by answering herself that the challenge is finance.
However, the answer could lie in the work of the Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance spearheaded by NEPAD targeting to reach 25 million African farm households by 2025.
Courtesy: PAMACC News Agency
Climate resilience: Africa urged to prioritise water resource management
Africa’s vulnerability to climate change as well as its water woes came to the fore once again at the ongoing Marrakech climate talks which entered its fifth day on Saturday.
According to reports, climate change could lead to economic cost of $40 billion per year, equivalent to 2.7% of GDP in Africa by 2025 just as Africa’s immediate adaptation needs are in the excess of $1-2 billion per year while climate change investments required are in the region of $12-28 billion per year.
Experts at the side event which centred on water resource management as a cornerstone for building climate resilience, reckoned that nearly all impacts of climate change in Africa appear in water-related phenomena such as droughts, floods and sea level rise.
Acknowledging that climate change is already adding extra burden to Africa’s existing challenges with regards to the risks and cost of water, the panel of experts which included Water Ministers from Morocco and Uganda, and water professionals from the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) underscored the need for Africa to mainstream water into climate resilience building initiatives, support more effective and efficient use of water, and build capacity to attract predictable and fast-tracked financing mechanisms.
The Moroccan Water Minister, Charafat Afailal, believes that water is a key factor in human development. “Water is not only a problem but it is part of the solution,” she said.
According to the host minister, only integrated and sustainable water management can help Africa meet the challenges related to water availability, extreme weather events and uncertainty about the resource.
She further recommended that water be recognised as the “first victim” of climate change and to deepen an action agenda for water.
Maria Goretti Kitutu, Ugandan Minister of State for Water, declared her country’s support for the “Water for Africa” initiative which was launched recently at the COP.
Driven by the Moroccan government with the support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Water for Africa initiative aspires to render justice to the continent through the adoption of a specific action plan that will mobilise different international political, financial and institutional partners to improve water and sanitation services and management for those most affected by climate change.
Kitutu pledged the support of Uganda for the initiative while calling on other African member states to follow suit and rededicate themselves to implementing several of such commitments that dot the continent’s landscape.
Guang Z. Chen, Senior Director, Water Global Practice at the World Group and GWP’s Alex Similabwi, highlighted the imperatives of integrated water resource management in Africa’s march towards climate resilience. According to Chen, Africa as the least urbanised region in the world cannot get on the urbanisation train without the efficient management and utilisation of its abundant water resources.
U.S. reinforces Africa power commitment with $11m
The government of the United States of America has reinforced its focal commitment to achieving the lofty objectives of the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) with an additional funding of $11 million.
At a signing ceremony which held on Saturday within the precincts of the U.S. Centre Pavilion at the ongoing 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakech, Morocco, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Power Africa initiative provided a second tranche of funding of $11 million towards fulfilling its overall commitment of $20 million to the African Development Bank-led Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa.
Saluting the U.S. government’s commitment to SEFA, Amadou Hott, AfDB’s Vice President, Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, remarked that the second tranche would expand the important work already underway in components 1 and 3 of SEFA that support project preparation and enabling environment reforms.
“This demonstration of donor coordination through pooled resources serves as a model and signals to the international community our joint level of commitment to these crucial goals of generation and access,” Hott says.
The AfDB Vice President who has vast experience in structuring finance for power and energy projects with a passion for solving Africa’s power and energy need especially in renewable energy and balanced energy mix, likened the signing ceremony as a boost for the bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa, which is aimed at helping the continent to achieve universal electricity access by 2025 with a strong focus on encouraging clean and renewable energy solutions.
Andrew M. Herscowitz of Power Africa, who moderated the event and signed on behalf of the US government, expressed satisfaction with the SEFA-driven mechanisms which have succeeded in increasing access to small and medium-scale renewable energy generation and energy efficiency as well as providing project preparation grants to attain bankability status.
According to Herscowitz, “Power Africa has already injected a first payment of $5 million into SEFA which directly supports the AfDB’s New Deal on Energy for Africa that ensures universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global mix.”
Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa for the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Lida Fitts; Chris Hornor, Founder and CEO, PowerHive; and Kevin Connolly of the Affordable Access Initiatives, who participated at the signing ceremony, lauded the U.S. government-led partnership with SEFA, which aims to add 30,000 MW of cleaner and more efficient generation capacity.
Fitts added that an addition of 60 million new home and business connections would unlock the energy sector potential through policy reforms and removal of barriers that impede sustainable energy development in sub-Saharan Africa.
While Power Africa offers renewable energy developers the combined resources of 12 U.S. government agencies, the World Bank Group, the AfDB, the Governments of Canada, the EU, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as partner African governments and more than 120 private sector partners, the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) is a multi-donor effort developed with an initial pledge between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Denmark in 2011.
Subsequently, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy pledged further contributions, bringing the total fund capitalisation to an equivalent of $95 million by the end of 2015. SEFA promotes African ownership, inclusiveness and a comprehensive approach to implementation in the 44 African countries that have joined the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.
It provides guidance to African governments and energy stakeholders, delivers technical assistance, fosters networking and communication, and contributes towards finance mobilisation. The SEFA goals are developed through a multi-stakeholder process that brings together government actors, development partners, private sector and civil society.