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Water privatisation isn’t way out, crusaders urge Lagos lawmakers

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Water privatisation isn’t way out, crusaders urge Lagos lawmakers

Civil society, community/faith-based groups, and labour activists numbering over 300 on Wednesday marched on the Lagos State House of Assembly, Secretariat to deliver a petition titled “Privatisation is not solution to Lagos water problem” to the Speaker of the House, Obasa Mudashiru.

The protest march saw activists march through the streets, handing out leaflets and singing solidarity songs
The protest march saw activists march through the streets, handing out leaflets and singing solidarity songs

The protest march, which kicked off at the populated Ikeja Under Bridge, saw activists march through the streets, handing out leaflets and singing solidarity songs as they urged Lagos residents to support the campaign to reject plans by the Lagos State Government to press on with a planned water privatisation.

The petitioners, led by officials the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth International (ERA/FoEN), included key representatives of Public Services International (PSI), the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), Peace and Development Project (PEDEP), as well as community representatives from Agege, Shomolu, Epe, Ikorodu and Ketu.

Participating groups urged the Speaker to join them in affirming the fundamental right to clean water and independent self-governance which Lagos citizens deserve, frowning at decades of the World Bank and the private water industry pushing for the PPP model of water privatisation in Lagos and throughout countries of the Global South.

In the petition, they frowned at the decision of the Speaker to back the PPP plans of the Lagos State Government even after the World Bank pulled back from the plan in December 2015.

Akinbode Oluwafemi of ERA/FoEN said: “We urge the Speaker and the entire members of the House to side with the people rather than with promoters of privatisation who put profits before the right to water which is upheld as a human right by the United Nations.”

Comrade Sani Baba, sub-regional secretary of PSI, stated: “PPP promoters in the water sector advance arguments that are tailored to dousing apprehension of workers towards the initiative but time and again, and global experience shows that workers get laid off and rate hikes follow. The Lagos House of Assembly should reject this initiative because that is the path this PPP arrangement will follow.”

In the same vein, Comrade Abiodun Bakare, the state secretary, AUPCTRE, said that the Lagos state government must of utmost priority ensure adequate funding for the water sector. This administration must also investigate funding that was expended on expansion of water infrastructure by the immediate past Group Managing Director of LSWC.”

At the end of the protest march, the group delivered a petition demanding among others, that the

Speaker use his good office to ensure the lawmakers make laws for the benefit of all Lagos residents and not a few privileged corporations. They urged the House to:

  1. Reject all forms of water privatisation and commodification.
  2. Revise all water sector laws that promotes PPP
  3. Make adequate budgetary allocations to the water sector
  4. Fully uphold the human right to water as an obligation of the government, representing the people.
  5. Integrate broad public participation in developing plans to achieve universal access to clean water.
  6. Reject contracts designed by, involving, or influenced by the IFC, which operates to maximise private profit.
  7. Disclose all IFC and World Bank activity and discussions with Lagos government officials regarding water, including formal and informal advisory roles.
  8. Build the political will to prioritise water for the people, therefore leading to a comprehensive plan that invests in the water infrastructure necessary to provide universal water access, which will create jobs, improve public health, and invigorate the Lagos economy.

The Speaker was personally urged to:

  1. Make a public statement informing his constituents about his commitment to protect Lagos water from PPP water privatisation scheme
  2. Propose and develop a comprehensive plan for achieving universal access to clean water in the state/FoEN

Laura Zuñiga, slain Berta Cáceres’ daughter, demands justice

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Laura Zuñiga, slain Berta Cáceres’ daughter, demands justice

Daughter of slain Honduran Indigenous activist Berta Cáceres joins rally against Trans-Pacific Partnership at the DNC Philadelphia

Laura Zuñiga Cáceres. Photo credit: nodal.am
Laura Zuñiga Cáceres. Photo credit: nodal.am

Laura Zuñiga Cáceres arrived in Philadelphia this weekend on a bus full of multiracial organisers from across the US who have been on the road with the It Takes Roots to Change the System People’s Caravan from Cleveland to Philadelphia, demanding justice for her mother, Berta Cáceres.

Berta Cáceres, a Lenca woman, was one of the leading organisers for indigenous land rights in Honduras. Internationally recognised for her human rights work, Cáceres won the renowned Goldman Environmental Award in 2015 for her leadership in the campaign to stop one of Central America’s biggest hydropower projects, the Agua Zarca cascade of four giant dams in the Gualcarque River basin. On March 2, 2016, Berta Cáceres’s life was taken from her and those who loved her when armed gunmen stormed into her home and shot her.

“We know very well the impacts that free trade agreements have had on our countries. They give transnational corporations, like the one my mom fought against, the power to protect their profits even if it means passing over the lives of people who defend the water, forest and mother earth from destruction caused by their very own megaprojects,” said Laura.

Honduran prize-winning campaigner Berta Caceres was slain by gunmen on March 3, 2016 weeks after opposing a hydroelectric dam project
Honduran prize-winning campaigner Berta Caceres was slain by gunmen on March 3, 2016 weeks after opposing a hydroelectric dam project

The assassination of Berta Cáceres has become one of the most controversial issues of Secretary Clinton’s campaign because of her support of the military coup in 2009. Organisers on the caravan are calling on Secretary Clinton to take responsibility for the role of the US in supporting the military coup, and to take immediate action to end US military aid to Honduras.

Among the DNC platform committee are House Representatives Keith Ellison (MN), Barbara Lee (CA) and Luis Gutierrez (IL) who are co-sponsors of the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act which calls for an end to US military aid and training to Honduras.

“The case of human rights abuses in Honduras is one of the most critical issues for Clinton to address. Both Clinton and her newly appointed running mate Tim Kaine are deeply aware of human rights abuses in Honduras and we are calling on them to support the bill put forward by Rep. Hank Johnson. As a woman of color involved in international movements for environmental and human rights, I don’t want to see any more lives taken simply for defending their land and communities,” said Helena Wong of the World March of Women.

Tanzania intimidates Maasai landgrab protesters

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Tanzania intimidates Maasai landgrab protesters

Intimidation of land rights defenders in Tanzania must stop, says international human rights organisation Forest Peoples Programme

Maasai men. Photo credit: bbc.co.uk
Maasai men. Photo credit: bbc.co.uk

Since 12 July, 18 Maasai elected officials, teachers, activists and community members who have been defending their lands from large-scale foreign safari companies have been arrested in Ngorongoro district, northern Tanzania. The Tanzanian government alleges that they pose a threat to national security. Another 52 names are allegedly contained on the list held by police for future arrest.

Many of those arrested are reportedly held for more than 10 days without charge, and with no access to legal representation or medical assistance. Four individuals suffered beatings while in custody, it was gathered. A lawyer who attended the police station to defend those arrested was also himself arrested, although later released. Those remaining in custody were charged and released on bail overnight after a national media campaign, and a demonstration by lawyers who boycotted all court activities. A number of individuals targeted for arrest remain in hiding. There are indications that police are still continuing to pursue arrests.

Those arrested have been supporting Maasai land rights in the Ngorongoro district in opposition to government plans to give their lands to large tourism and game-hunting companies. In March 2013, the government declared its intention to grant 1,500 square kilometres from the Maasai’s 4,000 square kilometres’ territory in the Ngorongoro district to Ortello Business Corporation, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) luxury game-hunting company, and Thomson Safari, an American safari company. Around 30,000 indigenous Maasai pastoralists will either be displaced from or lose access to their lands, if the government continues with its plan to sell Maasaian cestral land for tourism.

The government of Tanzania is alleging that the arrested Maasai land defenders have jeopardised national security when they have opposed large-scale threats to their lands, livelihoods and cultures.

Among the people arrested was Maasai representative Samwel Nangiria, who has previously publicly condemned actions to evict Maasai peoples from their lands. In 2009, more than 200 homes were burned and 3,000 Masaai made homeless, and in February 2014, another 100 homes were burned, essentially evicting a further 2,000-3,000 Maasai.

President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, stated on Twitter in November 2014 that that “there has never been, nor will there ever be any plan by the Government of Tanzania to evict the Maasai people from their ancestral land.” However, recent events seem to indicate that government discussions with companies for use of Maasai lands have continued since that date.

Anouska Perram, a human rights lawyer at Forest Peoples Programme, said: “It is clear that illegal tactics – including prolonged detention with charge, physical violence and refusing access to legal and medical support – are being used to intimidate the Maasai opposing government plans for their lands. Many of the people whose lands could be affected have also been warned to stay silent on the issue. It has not escaped our notice that these events have occurred at a time when discussions are occurring about the sale of land to the Ortello Business Corporation.”

Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), in a statement, called for the immediate halt of arrests, the cessation of all intimidation tactics against Maasai and their supporters, and for all charges to be dropped against those Maasai already arrested (and now released on bail).

Those arrested were listed by the FFP to include:

  • Clinton Kairungi – Teacher at Ololosokwan secondary school
  • SupukDaniel – Teacher at Olemaoi secondary school
  • SamwelNangiria – Director of Ngorongoro NGO Network
  • Joshua Makko – Chairman of Mondorus village
  • Mathew Olietman – Former MP of Ngorongoro district
  • Parkios – Chairman of Soisambu village
  • John Toroge – Traditional leader of Soisambu
  • Shilinde – Lawyer from Legal and Human Rights Centre (who went to the police station to represent the arrested)
  • Lilian – Wife of detainee Samwel Nangiria
  • Yanick Ndoinyo – Elected Councillor for Ololosokwan Village
  • Hon. Ndima (Tina) Timan – Elected Special Seat Councillor for Chadema

Another eight community members are said to have also been arrested.

Americans, global warming, God and ‘end times’

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Americans, global warming, God and ‘end times’

For a significant number of Americans, the reality, causes and meaning of global warming are interpreted through the lens of their religious beliefs.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry holds his granddaughter Isabel Dobbs-Higginson as he signs the Paris Agreement on climate change, Friday, April 22, 2016
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry holds his granddaughter Isabel Dobbs-Higginson as he signs the Paris Agreement on climate change, Friday, April 22, 2016

Some reject the evidence that humans are causing global warming because they believe God controls the climate.

Others believe that global warming is evidence that the world will be ending soon, and that we don’t need to worry about global warming in light of the approaching apocalypse.

These much were revealed courtesy of a recent national survey conducted in March by the George Mason University’s Centre for Climate Change Communication, Fairfax, Virginia in the US.

“At times it seems like the world is awash with apocalyptic and doomsday visions – from teen novels to Presidential campaigns to climate change itself. There are many different types of apocalyptic ideas within and across societies, which we cannot possibly do justice to here,” say the researchers who, in the course of the study, explored a few of these themes in relation to the issue of global warming.

Some highlights of the study were identified to include:

  • 16% of Americans believe that “God controls the climate, therefore humans can’t be causing global warming.” This perspective is particularly strong among Tea Party members (37%), evangelicals and born-again Christians (30%), and Donald Trump supporters (28%).
  • 14% of Americans say that “Global warming is a sign of the end times.” This belief is particularly strong among evangelicals and born-again Christians (24%), adults who have not completed high school (23%), and biblical literalists – who believe the Earth was created in six days, as described in the Bible, and who do not believe humans evolved from earlier species (20%).
  • 11% of Americans say “The end times are coming, therefore we don’t need to worry about global warming.” This belief is particularly strong among evangelicals and born-again Christians (26%), Tea Party members (20%), adults who have not completed high school (18%), and people who do not believe humans evolved from earlier species (18%).
  • 9% of Americans think “The apocalypse will happen in your lifetime.” This belief is particularly strong among adults who have not completed high school (20%), evangelicals and born-again Christians (19%), adults with an annual household income of less than $30,000 (15%), people who often watch Fox News (15%), and Hispanics (15%).

According to the researchers, financial self-interest and political ideology have long been understood as motivations leading some people and political leaders to oppose climate action.

“These results suggest that apocalyptic religious beliefs may also play a role in the American response to climate change, at least for some people. Much more research should be done on this topic,” they added.

Niger Delta: What can go wrong has gone wrong

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Niger Delta: What can go wrong has gone wrong

Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), says on Tuesday at a forum in Nchia-Eleme, Ogoni, that cleaning up the polluted Ogoniland is not akin to fighting a losing battle

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A polluted river in the Niger Delta region

Environmental monitoring is often carried out to ensure that standards are maintained to ensure environmental and human health. In other words, we monitor to ensure that nothing goes wrong, and so that we detect when anything goes wrong. That is the standard idea of environmental monitoring.

In the case of the Niger Delta, the matter is not about what may go wrong; the situation is that everything that can go wrong has already gone wrong. What do you do when what can go wrong has gone wrong? Are we preparing to fight a losing battle? No.

We are gathered in a community whose ground water was found to have an 8 cm layer of refined petroleum products floating on it. We are gathered in the territory where the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found the water our people drink to be polluted with benzene, a known carcinogen, at a level 900 times above World Health Organisation’s standard. We are gathered here to say that our present must be detoxified and our future must not be poisoned.

Things have gone wrong. Yes. The environment is so polluted that the Niger Delta has gained the unsavoury reputation of being one of the most polluted places on earth. We are saddled with historical, current and continuing oil spills, gas flares and toxic dumps. We have the task of monitoring to ensure that the tide of despoliation is halted. This requires physical observation. It also requires social engineering.

Physical observation can be easy when you have the right tools and the right knowledge. It is doable when you know what you are looking out for and how dangerous these could be. In essence, you are spotting the blight and at the same time keeping safe. This is one of the objectives of our monitoring training. We are also training to monitor the process of environmental remediation of Ogoni and the wider Niger Delta environment.

When the clean-up eventually begins in earnest, we want to be sure that milestones are known and that progress is measured against these milestones. We will keep our sights on national and environmental standards and insist that these are adhered to. We want to be sure that when the environmental is said to have been cleaned that it has been cleaned indeed. This is a key objective of our monitoring training.

The social engineering aspect of our training is not physical but is extremely important. It has to do with our mind-set. We have to agree that a clean environment should stay clean. We have to agree that a cleaned up environment stays clean. We have to agree that a clean environment is intrinsically more valuable that receiving cash pay-outs while remaining stuck in the mire. Staying clean is not only good for humans, it is good for other species. And many species have been decimated already and it take some lifetimes for them to recover.

We must all agree that pollution should not be come from the actions and inactions of any of the stakeholders in the Niger Delta – not the oil companies, not the contractors and not the citizens. Our mind-set must be one that accepts that a polluted environment is a threat to our health and wellbeing as well as those of future generations. This mind-set understands that a clean environment is a living environment and supports life, promotes health, peace and dignity.

That is what monitoring means to us. We are the eco-defenders determined to ensure that enough of pollution is indeed enough and now is the time to clean up and stay clean. Each training is a seed sown for a harvest of a future of hope, a future that thinks beyond today. That is the basis of our commitment. That is the basis of our call to everyone to look beyond today and even beyond tomorrow.

Promising prospects for solar, wind energy

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Promising prospects for solar, wind energy

The Paris Climate Change Agreement set the course for the world to shift to a sustainable energy future, placing renewables at the cutting edge of the necessary transformation of the energy sector.

Wind energy: Offshore wind turbines. Photo credit: offshorewind.biz
Wind energy: Offshore wind turbines. Photo credit: offshorewind.biz

The costs and benefits of transitioning to a clean energy future have been the subject of much debate. New analysis from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) highlights the recent, sometimes rapid cost reductions for solar and wind power technologies, thus showing the solid business case for renewable power generation in an increasing number of markets.

IRENA’s cost-analysis report ‘The Power to Change: Solar and Wind Cost Reduction Potential to 2025’ contains the good news that technology innovations, increased competition and pressure on supply chains will continue reducing the costs of solar and wind power and could see the cost of electricity for these technologies fall by between a quarter and around two-thirds by 2025.

This latest analysis comes on the heels of IRENA’s Innovation Week (IIW) on “The Age of Renewable Power,” held from 10 to 13 May 2016 in Bonn, Germany, which provided a global platform for thought leaders, technical experts and policy makers to share their vision on transitioning to a low-carbon future.

During the event, which was attended by 238 participants from 41 countries, IRENA mapped out current innovation for the power sector, and explored the complex relationship among different kinds of innovation and how they depend on policy.

Important partners participating in the meeting, bringing unique technical knowledge to the table, included energy companies ABB and E.ON, the German metrology institute (PTB), Siemens, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the European patent office (EPO), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the German aerospace centre (DLR).

The fact that the IRENA Innovation Week (IIW) took place back-to-back with the UN Bonn Climate Change Conference allowed climate experts to engage in a key energy discussion, and the findings of IIW 2016 were subsequently put to good use in informing the climate discussions. IIW 2016 findings were also presented during the UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee (TEC) sessions.

The message that emerged from the discussions is that the technology to push a global renewable energy transformation in the next two decades is already here, but more innovation is needed in policy formulation and business models.

African restoration commitments push Bonn Challenge beyond 100m hectares

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African restoration commitments push Bonn Challenge beyond 100m hectares

Ministers from Guinea, the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana have voiced their commitments to restore 11.5 million hectares of degraded forests at a high-level roundtable in Kigali, Rwanda.

IUCN’s Director General Inger Andersen. Photo credit: pinterest.com
IUCN’s Director General Inger Andersen. Photo credit: pinterest.com

The “Africa High-Level Bonn Challenge Roundtable” was convened by the Government of Rwanda, the East African Community (EAC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to build regional cooperation on the Bonn Challenge – a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.

The pledges comprise two million hectares from the Republic of Guinea, 3.5 million hectares from the Central African Republic, five million hectares from Côte d’Ivoire, and an additional one million hectares from Ghana, who had already committed one million hectares. The Republic of Congo also reaffirmed its commitment to restore two million hectares. These new pledges bring the total amount of land committed by countries, companies and organisations for restoration under the Bonn Challenge to over 107 million hectares.

“We recognise the importance of the engagement of the international community for the implementation of the Bonn Challenge in our country,” says Christine Sagno, Minister of Environment, Water Resources and Forestry, Guinea. “Forest landscape restoration will help us achieve our international commitments, particularly to the UNFCCC, the UNCCD and the CBD.”

Along with the Republic of Congo, other national governments in Africa had earlier pledged their support for the Bonn Challenge, totalling 55.3 million hectares for the region. This includes Burundi (two million hectares), Democratic Republic of Congo (8 million hectares), Ethiopia (15 million hectares), Kenya (5.1 million hectares), Niger (3.2 million hectares), Rwanda (two million hectares), Uganda (2.5 million hectares), Liberia (one million hectares), Madagascar (one million hectares) and Mozambique (one million hectares).

“The beauty of the forest landscape restoration approach lies in the immense benefits that flow from these revitalised lands,” says Inger Andersen, IUCN Director General. “We are focussed on a transition to sustainable land use through climate-smart agriculture, agroforestry and silvopasture. IUCN will continue to support countries throughout Africa in this process.”

In addition to contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals, efforts to restore forests contribute to the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Zero Net Land Degradation goal. The roundtable played a key role in highlighting the multiple benefits of forest landscape restoration (FLR) and its potential to help countries tackle poverty, improve food and energy security, and mitigate climate change.

“Côte d’Ivoire recognises that through forest landscape restoration it is possible to reduce the negative effects of climate change in the country while creating opportunities to improve livelihoods from rural communities,” says Zana Inzan Ouattara, Assistant Specialist on REDD+, Côte d’Ivoire.

“The Central African Republic recognises the importance of forest landscape restoration for carbon sequestration, conservation of biodiversity and restoration of degraded forests,” says Vincent Kongo, Director of Cabinet, Central African Republic. “Expertise from IUCN is welcomed through the IUCN FLR Hub in Rwanda.”

Rwanda’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA) and the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety provided support for this event. The roundtable was held in conjunction with a technical workshop on FLR research hosted by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Driven by political will and regional institutions, a host of high-level processes are emerging to support the Bonn Challenge and FLR. Ministers from Latin America met in El Salvador in August 2015 and are meeting in Panama in August 2016, and an Asia Pacific meeting is slated for February 2017 in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Importantly, multi-country initiatives such as The Restoration Initiative (TRI), supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and led by IUCN in partnership with UNEP and FAO, are catalysing implementation and creating avenues for collaboration.

More Bonn Challenge pledges are expected to be announced at the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 taking place in Hawaiʻi from 1 to 10 September.

What race to end malnutrition requires, by WaterAid

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What race to end malnutrition requires, by WaterAid

The race to end malnutrition requires clean water, good sanitation and good hygiene, WaterAid said in a statement on Tuesday, calling for action as world leaders meet in Rio to open the Olympic Games. WaterAid’s new report, “Caught Short”, looks at stunting from malnutrition around the world and the links to low rates of access to clean water and good sanitation.

Dr. Michael Ojo, WaterAid Nigeria’s Country Representative
Dr. Michael Ojo, WaterAid Nigeria’s Country Representative

Currently 159 million children in the world are stunted as a result of malnutrition, their cognitive and physical growth damaged irreversibly by their inability to obtain and absorb the nutrients they need. Some 50% of malnutrition is linked to infections, worm infestations and diarrhoeal illnesses caused by dirty water, poor sanitation and a lack of hygiene including handwashing with soap.

Nigeria ranks second in the world for having the greatest number of children under five suffering from stunted growth – 10.3 million, or 33% of children under five. About 31% of the population in Nigeria do not have access to clean water and 71% do not have access to decent sanitation.

WaterAid Nigeria’s Country Director, Dr. Michael Ojo, said: “The evidence is clear: children’s health and future potential are compromised when they have no choice but to grow up without clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene practices. Even if children survive their dangerous early years, repeated bouts of diarrhoea early in life are likely to leave them stunted, leaving Nigeria, and Africa as a whole, deprived of a new generation of great leaders, thinkers and athletes. World leaders have promised to end malnutrition and deliver water and sanitation to everyone, everywhere by 2030. They must keep their promises – one cannot be met without the other.”

World leaders and prominent current and former Olympians will meet at the Second High Level Summit on Nutrition on 4 August ahead of the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to bring attention to the importance of good nutrition. The Nutrition for Growth Summit is the biggest global event between now and 2020 to address the devastating burden of undernutrition and it is set to evaluate progress that has been made in addressing undernutrition since 2013 and build on those commitments with the necessary financial support in order to ensure the ambition of the SDGs to end malnutrition in all its forms can be realised.

WaterAid supporter, Zambian athlete and Olympic medallist Samuel Matete said: “In my work promoting sport among children, the difference between children who have clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene at home, and those who don’t, is very clear. What is most upsetting is that typhoid, cholera and malnutrition are preventable, and we have the tools to do this. Water is life, and sanitation is dignity, and we must deliver these to everyone, even the world’s poorest, as part of the race to end malnutrition.”

Universal capital fuelling African property markets

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Universal capital fuelling African property markets

Despite Africa’s slowdown, property developers and private equity funds continue to pour investment into the continent, but with more focused strategies, industry practitioners have said.

The Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa will host the conference
The Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa will host the conference

“Over $1,2 billion has been raised and allocated to real estate investment in Africa over the past year and we expect this trend to continue,” said Kfir Rusin, General Manager of the upcoming Africa Property Investment Summit.

Commenting on the global capital flows making their mark on African real estate, Peter Welborn, chairman of Knight Franks’ Africa business said: “The underlying investment theme across sub-Saharan Africa, over the next decade will undoubtedly be driven by substantial allocations of equity, into JV’s with successful local partners. Both the west African retail sector as well as the southern and east Africa logistics sectors will be high on the hit list of international capital.”

The last year has seen Actis, RMB Westport, Novare, Phatisa and Growthpoint successfully raising capital from global funds such as GIC Singapore, Grosvenor (USA), The IFC, CDC Group (UK) among other international funds.

The Africa Property Investment (API) Summit is the leading African focused real estate forum, which brings together influential property players from around the continent. The API Summit offers developers and investors access to new development strategies, a chance to showcase projects and meet with new sources of capital across sub-Saharan Africa.  The summit is the perfect opportunity to leverage off the expertise and knowledge of key industry players.

“This year’s summit will feature various discussions on innovative strategies and collaboration, as well as showcasing new real estate opportunities and projects across Africa. Whilst uncertainty remains, we believe that African property is still poised for growth, albeit at a lower but more sustainable level,” says Rusin.

The effects of the currency and liquidity crises have been sharply felt across the continent but most notably in the larger oil driven commodity exporting countries. This has resulted in a shift towards economic diversification and countries in the East African region providing more economic stability than others. Although there has been a slowdown across Africa, one of the continents’ largest funds remain optimistic. Bronwyn Corbett, CEO of Mara Delta says, “The company remains bullish under the African growth story. We have built extensive IP into our target countries and see tremendous growth in these markets that we are levering to build an Africa powerhouse real estate fund. Focus is on the strength of the counter party and mitigation of risks to build a quality portfolio and deliver substantial returns to shareholders.”

“We can already confirm over 500 delegates from over 30 different countries. We have noticed substantial growth in delegate numbers, with a 30% increase in attendance and a large international contingent compared to previous years.  We see real estate and related industries as an important contributor to GDP in Africa and therefore we expect this trend to continue in future years,” concluded Rusin.

The two-day conference will be held from 18-19 August 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg and will feature speakers from Broll, CBRE, Mara Delta, Knight Frank, Old Mutual, STANLIB, Standard Bank, Novare, RMB Westport, JLL, CDC Group, ALN, ITL, Growthpoint, UPDC, Britam, Fusion Capital, and Heriot Properties.

Key sessions at the API Summit will include: The Role of global capital in Africa , Africa’s Retail reality check, Logistics & Industrial sector making its mark as well as focused discussions on countries such as Rwanda, Ivory Coast and Tanzania.

High hopes for HFCs phasedown as Vienna talks close

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High hopes for HFCs phasedown as Vienna talks close

Civil society organisations have welcome the progress made at the international negotiations for phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which ended on a high at the weekend in Vienna, Austria, where countries reaffirmed their commitments and sent what looked like a strong signal that climate action is a priority following the signing of the Paris Agreement.

In Vienna, countries committed to do everything they can to get HFCs phase down amendment in 2016. Photo credit: Gina McCarthy/Twitter
In Vienna, countries committed to do everything they can to get HFCs phase down amendment in 2016. Photo credit: Gina McCarthy/Twitter

An agreement to amend the Montreal Protocol to cut potent heat-trapping chemicals used in refrigerants, air-conditioners and insulants has been nearly seven years in the making and now seems highly likely to be settled this year.

Following these latest round of negotiations, a deal will likely be struck when the Parties to the Montreal Protocol meet in October in Kigali, Rwanda. Observers believe that It may be the most important climate action of the year and demonstrate a united front towards fighting climate change just weeks before countries meet in Morocco in November for COP 22.

“An agreement this year to phasedown future consumption and production of HFCs would be a huge climate victory. China is working constructively with the US, Latin America, Europe, and other parties to reach a deal that will provide a clear timetable for transitioning to climate-friendly alternatives and strengthen finance for developing countries’ transitions,” said Alvin Lin, China Climate and Energy Policy Director, NRDC China.

Expectations from Vienna were high as negotiators drafted the language of the agreement and worked on resolving details pertaining to additional funding to assist developing countries stay on track with their HFC commitments, calculating baselines, and determining timelines and schedules to freeze HFCs.

“It’s been great to see countries across the board show increasing flexibility to resolve some of the difficult issues. Specifically, progress has been made on agreeing an early freeze date for ending the use of HFCs, a baseline from which to start the phasedown and potential national reduction targets,” said Benson Ireri, Senior Advocacy and Policy Officer, Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture, Africa Division, Christian Aid.

While Climate Action Network commends the progress in Vienna and little now seems to stands in the way to Kigali, the group stressed that it is imperative that countries stay focused on an ambitious agreement by working constructively to fill the gaps that remain and not losing sight of the fact that phasing down HFCs, the fastest growing greenhouse gases, could help avoid 0.5C warming by 2100.

“Though countries are ready to sign an agreement to phasedown HFCs this year, the proposals on the table are not ambitious enough. Countries need to agree on an ambitious phasedown schedule
that will allow rapid reduction in HFC use in developed countries and enable developing countries to leapfrog to safer, energy efficient alternatives. This is the only way the Montreal Protocol can meaningfully contribute to reducing global warming,” said Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Centre for Science and Environment, India.

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