One Acre Foundation, a non-profit agriculture organisation that supplies smallholder farmers with the financing and training they need to increase their incomes and food security, has announced the official opening of its Malawi and Uganda operations. Malawi and Uganda began as pilots in 2013 and 2014 respectively. One Acre Fund now serves 400,000 smallholder farmers – with an estimated two million people in those households – across East and Southern Africa.
Elumuka Margaret,who operates a maize plantation at Busota village in Uganda, is a beneficiary of the programme. Photo credit: Kelvin Owino
“The majority of the world’s poor are hard-working smallholder farmers who can reach their full potential with access to finance, training, and services,” said Andrew Youn, One Acre Fund’s founder and executive director. “I’m thrilled to announce that One Acre Fund is now able to serve smallholder farmers in Malawi and Uganda and we will continue to grow our program until no farmer goes hungry.”
Participating farmers in the One Acre Fund programme receive a complete bundle of agricultural inputs and services on credit, including the delivery of high-quality seeds and fertilizer, training on how to maximise crop yields, and education on how to minimise post-harvest losses. To accommodate clients, One Acre Fund offers a flexible repayment system: Farmers may make payments toward loans in any amount and at any time during the growing season as long as they complete repayment by the season’s end. In 2015, 99 percent of One Acre Fund farmers repaid their loans in full and on time.
One Acre Fund is currently working with 2,600 farmers in the Zomba, Mulanje and Chiradzulu districts of Malawi and 3,700 farmers in the Jinja and Kamuli districts of Uganda. Loan packages vary depending on the size of land registered; farmers may enrol as little as half an acre of land. To be eligible for a loan, farmers are required to submit a small down payment of the total loan, meet regularly with a local One Acre Fund field officer, and attend in-person agricultural trainings.
Founded in 2006 in western Kenya, One Acre Fund works with more than 400,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, and Uganda, and anticipates it will serve one million farmers by 2020.
Regional insecurity and oil industry activities in the Sahara Desert have pushed the Addax – a migratory species of desert-adapted antelope – to the very knife-edge of extinction, according to a recent survey which found only three surviving in the wild.
Saharan Addax antelopes
An extensive survey in March across key Addax habitat identified just three remaining individuals, report experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); two of its Members working in the region – the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) and the NGO Noé, as well as the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
National legislation in Niger fully protects the Addax, meaning hunting and the removal of live Addax for any reason are strictly forbidden. It is also protected under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) because historical habitat extends into neighbouring Chad. Yet the Addax has suffered massive disturbance from oil installations in Niger operated by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and associated encroachment of desert-going lorries and bulldozers.
Moreover, the assignment of military personnel to protect the oil industry means illegal hunting by soldiers has increased poaching levels considerably in its last remaining haven, and Africa’s largest protected area, the Termit & Tin-Toumma National Nature Reserve in eastern Niger.
Dr Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Director of IUCN Global Species Programme says, “We are witnessing in real time the extinction of this iconic and once plentiful species – without immediate intervention, the Addax will lose its battle for survival in the face of illegal, uncontrolled poaching and the loss of its habitat. On behalf of all concerned parties we are recommending a set of emergency measures to help save the Addax from imminent extinction.”
The measures proposed by the experts from the conservation groups* include securing the remaining population of Addax; stopping poaching by soldiers and engaging with CNPC to cooperate on preventing the extinction of the Addax; as well as reinforcing the existing population through the introduction of captive-bred stock.
The increase in poaching also comes against a backdrop of escalating insecurity across the region. The collapse of Libya in 2011 saw an exodus of militia with arms and 4×4 vehicles to neighbouring countries into areas harbouring important wildlife populations. This also fuelled subsequent insurgencies in Mali and northern Nigeria which have added to the instability, and the formerly remote habitats of the Addax have become major crossroads for the illicit trade of wildlife, arms, drugs and migrants.
Dr Thomas Rabeil of the Sahara Conservation Fund says, “Those with commercial interests in the desert could make important contributions to the protection of the Addax by cooperating with the wildlife authorities and by adopting more sensitive practices, becoming stakeholders in the management of protected areas and by sharing sightings of these elusive animals with conservationists.”
The situation for the Addax has deteriorated precipitously since 2010 when an initial round of surveys estimated the population at 200 animals. Since then, conservationists have designed a three-pronged action plan to stabilise the situation by locating the remaining Addax and assessing their status. The plan aims to boost ongoing efforts to build the capacity of Niger’s wildlife service to protect the Addax and manage the Termit & Tin Toumma Reserve in close collaboration with the local population. The third, critical part of the plan is to engage with the Niger authorities and Chinese business interests to bring poaching under control and minimise the impact of oil-related activities, especially on prime Addax habitat.
Arnaud Greth, Chaiman of Noé, says, “Working in coordination with the Ministry of Environment, Noé has focused on reinforcing the capacities of the Management Unit in the Termit & Tin Toumma Protected Area and supporting Niger’s conservation policy to strengthen Addax conservation in the field. But human pressures are increasing faster than we can adapt given the current level of resource support for the Addax and the large distribution range of the Addax in the largest terrestrial protected area in Africa.”
Dr David Mallon, Chair of the IUCN Antelope Specialist Group says, “We are gravely concerned about this unfolding wildlife disaster in the desert. This species is simply unable to cope with the current levels of disturbance and illegal killing. Without urgent coordinated action at all levels we will very soon witness its demise.”
Dr Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Director of IUCN’s Species Programme and Director of its SOS initiative, adds, “We have prioritised funding for emergency intervention with the Addax because of the crisis engulfing it. Unfortunately, it is not the only species in the Sahara and Sahel regions under threat from human disturbance, habitat degradation and hunting: Cheetahs, Dama Gazelles and the Slender-horned gazelle are all hot on the heels of this desert icon.
Dr Bradnee Chambers of CMS adds, “The prospect of losing the Addax from the wild is most disturbing. CMS has long been engaged in efforts to conserve Sahelo-Saharan antelopes in cooperation with others such as the European Commission and the Fonds français pour l’environnement mondial. CMS is therefore calling for the support of the leaders of both Niger and Chad to increase the presence of wildlife rangers in key areas and to use their convening powers to bring all stakeholders- including oil companies- together to adopt meaningful action plans to halt the decline of the Addax and associated species before it is too late.”
In parts of rural China, humans are doing the work bees once did.
Striking new photos show farm workers in Hanyuan county, in China’s Sichuan province, painstakingly applying pollen to flowers by hand.
Hanyuan county is known as the “world’s pear capital.” But pesticide use has led to a drastic reduction in the area’s bee population, threatening the fruit crop. Workers now pollinate fruit trees artificially, carefully transferring pollen from male flowers to female flowers to fertilise them.
For photographer Kevin Frayer, the images of human pollinators tell a story of both loss and human creativity.
“On the one hand it’s a story about the human toll on the environment, while on the other it shows our ability to be more efficient in spite of it all,” Frayer told The Huffington Post.
Bee populations are declining worldwide, according to a February report from the United Nations. Shrinking numbers of bees could result in the loss of “hundreds of billions of dollars” worth of crops every year.
The UN biodiversity report warned that populations of bees, butterflies and other pollinating species could face extinction due to habitat loss, pollution, pesticides and climate change. It noted that animal pollination is responsible for 5 to 8 percent of global agricultural production, meaning declines pose potential risks to the world’s food supply.
But, in some parts of China, hand pollination can actually cost less than renting bees to pollinate crops. Farmers in Hanyuan began pollinating by hand because human labour was cheap, Frayer said. But rising labour costs and declining fruit yields are calling the long-term viability of hand pollination into question.
As bees rush toward extinction, Frayer’s photos might portend a not-so-distant future — one in which human ingenuity must replace what human nearsightedness has wiped out.
“It is entirely possible than in our lifetime this practice could become the norm all over the world,” Frayer said.
A Chinese farmer pollinates a pear tree by hand in Hanyuan County, Sichuan province, China. Photo credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty ImagesChinese farmer He Guolin, 53, holds a stick with chicken feathers used to hand pollinate flowers on a pear tree. Photo credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty ImagesA Chinese farmer displays the pollen used to pollinate pear trees by hand. Photo credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty ImagesChinese farmer He Meixia, 26, pollinates a pear tree by hand. Photo credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty ImagesA Chinese farmer spays pesticide on an apple tree. Heavy pesticide use on fruit trees in the area caused a severe decline in wild bee populations, and trees are now pollinated by hand in order to produce better fruit. Photo credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty ImagesA Chinese farmer climbs in a pear tree as she pollinates the flowers by hand. Photo credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Water scarcity in parts of Lagos State is worsening, even as accusing fingers are being pointed in the direction of road construction works that affect underground water pipes, poor state of public water facilities, and irregular power supply.
There is palpable fear of an epidemic outbreak in Lagos as the state has been hit by water scarcity which is aggravated by the lingering fuel shortage and irregular power supply
The consequences of these have left the masses with bitter experiences, as businesses that require water to operate continue to suffer huge losses.
On a very hot Sunday, like other days and having been sweating for hours and almost becoming unconscious, Mr. Chukwuemeka Ibekwe, a trader at Orile market, sought refuge at a nearby swimming pool on School Road, a popular street on the Orile end of the Lagos-Bagagry Expressway.
However, his expectation of not only cooling off the excess heat in his body but also enjoy the company of hundreds of like minds who trooped there to swim on Sundays was dashed, due to shortage of water such that managers of the centre have been unable to pump water into the pools.
“I came all the way from Ijora Badiya which is many kilometres from here, only to be told that there is no water for us to swim. See how I’m sweating. It is not funny at all. The authorities should do something fast to get people out of this. The suffering is too much,” he says.
At the facility, there are no fewer than five pools, all without water.
A sad looking attendant laments that the water scarcity is adversely affecting their business, and threatening the jobs of nearly 20 employees there.
His word: “See how dry everywhere is. On a good day, about 500 people would come here to swim and buy drinks. We charge N500 person. Multiply this by 500, you see that it is not a small money. But now, for nearly two weeks, we don’t have water. Yet we have heavy bills to pay including NEPA bill, and house rent, not excluding children school fees.”
The poor water situation on School Road street in Apapa and its environs, seem to paint a picture of the difficult times: risk to lives, vulnerability to diseases, threat to job , and other unfavourable conditions that the people have been subjected to. Indeed, these have been the lot of residents in Lagos communities such as Orile-Ignamu, Amukoko, Igando, Ajegunle and FESTAC, among other areas visited.
The water situation appears more severe in Sari Iganmu, where most houses are not connected to the public distribution system. Residents here buy water from commercial borehole facilities.
Following the non-availability of power to pump water, a resident of Iyabo Street narrates: “Most people go to Amukoko, a neighbouring community on the other side of the canal, to buy water cheaply. When they get to the canal, they pay N10 to board a canoe to cross over. After buying water in Amukoko, they pay money again to the canoe operator to drive them back.
“But for those who cannot take such risk, they wait for certain people who bring water in a truck. But they charge very high. A 20-litter jerry can of water costs as much as N70 and to buy enough to take you for one full day; one risks spending N500 a day just on water. Where do we get such money? Most of us here in this Iyabo Street and indeed this whole area are poor. We do menial jobs and hardly save enough to eat let alone send our children to good schools. Please help us tell them to come to aid and fix the water. We are suffering too much.”
On Iyabo Street, residents said why the impact is so much on them is because of the drying up of most wells which readily serves them for washing clothes, cleaning the toilets and even bathing.
In Agbada, Akowonjo area, a restaurant operator, Wisdom Uzo, who uses a lot of water for his business, also describes the water issue as a tough one for residents of the community.
He says: “Getting water is a very tough task here because of the very epileptic power supply. To pump water is difficult for tap water owners, hence they stop pumping. So people go far to get clean water. If you manage to see water, they can sell 50 litres for N20 as against N5 it was sold for when things were a bit normal.”
Ajegunle, a very populous, slum settlement in Lagos, where it is said that vehicles give way to human traffic, has a fair share of the water supply challenge.
A resident, Mr. Oscar okiche, who is a civil servant, discloses: “It is really difficult in Ajegunle and its environs getting tap water. People usually buy from borehole owners, except for those who have well in their compound. Again most people buy bags of sachets water, which has even gone high from N350 to N500 for five and half bags of water, an increment attributed to the continued scarcity of the Dollar, since the nylon used in packing the water is imported. You usually see people carrying containers going to those who have well water to fetch.”
Visits to several other communities such as Itire, Aguda, Abule-Egba to mention but a few, revealed that residents have little or no access to potable water. Not even government -owned hospitals are spared. The result is that many residents, particularly from the northern part of the country, have capitalised on the scarcity to go into trading in water.
Also, many people have resorted to drinking water from open wells with mosquito lavas in them, as well as untreated borehole water that are deemed unsuitable for human consumption, with the risk of accelerating the spread of water-borne diseases like typhoid and cholera.
Statistics show that water-related diseases kill a child every eight seconds, and are responsible for 80 per cent of all illnesses and deaths in the developing world.
Located in the south-western part of the Nigerian and bounded on the north and east by Ogun State, west by the Republic of Benin, and south by the Atlantic Ocean, Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub and the nation’s former federal capital, is said to have the potential to providing enough potable water for its about 25 million inhabitants, being surrounded by water bodies such as the Atlantic Ocean, lagoons and canals, which constitute 22 percent of its 3,577km2 land mass.
But, due to the high pollution level of these water bodies, due partly to ineffective management of wastes like channelling of raw sewage into water bodies, residents are faced with potable water shortage.
Such unsavoury environmental practices have persisted for decades and blamed mainly on the failure of the authorities to properly enforce existing sanitation laws.
The African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) has announced that the sixth edition of its flagship water event, the Africa Water Week, will hold from the 18th to the 22nd of July 2016.
President John Magufuli of Tanzania
The Africa Water Week, which represents a political commitment at the highest level for creating platform to discuss and collectively seek solutions to Africa’s water and sanitation challenges, is organised by the African Minister’s Council on Water (AMCOW) in collaboration with the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission, alongside regional and international partners.
The biennial water conference will be hosted at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre (JNICC) in Dar Es Salam by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, represented by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and over 1,000 participants from governments, regional institutions, international partners, the private sector, the scientific community, civil society and the media from all over the world are expected to attend.
President John Magufuli of Tanzania, Dr Nkosazana Ndlamini Zuma, the AU Chairperson, and over 40 African Water Ministers alongside key international speakers are expected to attend the conference.
This is in keeping with the decision of the AMCOW Governing Council to institutionalise AWW as a way of building momentum on achieving the Africa Water Vision 2025. This equally represents AMCOW’s belief that effective and efficient management of water resources leads to the provision of adequate and equitable access to safe water and sanitation as well as makes a critical contribution to Africa’s progress towards sustainable growth and development.
The Africa Water Week series began in Tunis, Tunisia in 2008. Since then, the conference has been held in Midrand, South Africa in 2009; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2010; Cairo, Egypt in 2012; and Dakar, Senegal in 2014 featuring an assemblage of international and regional organisations and the scientific community, as well as exhibitors from various sectors engaged in the sustainable management of Africa’s water resources and delivery of safe water and improved sanitation.
Achieving the SDGs on Water Security and Sanitation
With the theme “achieving the SDGs on Water Security and Sanitation,” the 6th Africa Water Week (AWW-6) aspires to lay the building blocks for Africa to achieve the SDG 6 as well as other inter-linking SDGs connected with water resources management and improved sanitation service delivery.
It also represents the quest in the continent to place emphasis on matching commitments and plans with concrete actions with impact on the ground. It highlights Africa’s undaunted focus to achieving the Agenda 2063, the continent’s global strategy to optimise use of Africa’s resources for the overall benefit of all.
The four sub-themes of the AWW-6 revolve round achieving universal and equitable access to water and sanitation for all, and ensuring sustainable water resources management and climate resilience. Others are strengthening productive wastewater management and improved water quality improving policy, financing and monitoring.
Part of the desired outcome for the conference is the adoption of a roadmap for developing a comprehensive action plan for Africa aimed at translating high-level commitments including N’gor Declaration on Water Security and Sanitation into implementation at country, sub-regional and continental levels.
Largest civil disobedience in the history of environmental movement materialises as campaigners commence actions to Break Free from fossil fuels
Fossil fuel divestment campaign
Starting Tuesday, a global wave of peaceful direct actions lasting for 12 days will take place across six continents targeting the world’s most dangerous fossil fuel projects, under the banner of “Break Free.”
2015 was the hottest year ever recorded and the impacts of climate change are already hitting communities around the world. From rising sea levels to extreme storms, the need to act on climate change has never been more urgent. Added to that, the fossil fuel industry faces an unprecedented crisis — from collapsing prices, massive divestments, a new global climate deal, and an ever-growing movement calling for change. The time has never been better for a just transition to a clean energy system.
To harness the moment, activists and concerned citizens committed to addressing climate change – from international groups to local communities to individual citizens – will unite to ensure that strong pressure is maintained to force energy providers, as well as local and national governments, to implement the policies and additional investments needed to completely break free from fossil fuels.
People worldwide are providing the much needed leadership by intensifying actions through peaceful civil disobedience on a global scale as so much remains to be done in order to lessen the effects of the climate crisis. This includes demanding governments move past the commitments made as part of the Paris agreement signed last month.
In order to address the current climate crisis and keep global warming below 1.5C, fossil fuel projects need to be shelved and existing infrastructure needs to be replaced now that renewable energy is more affordable and widespread than ever before. The only way to achieve this is by keeping coal, oil and gas in the ground and accelerating the shift to 100% renewable energy. During Break Free people worldwide are rising up to make sure this is the case.
Actions taking place between 3-15 May include:
Australia: On 8 May some 600+ people will gather at the largest coal port in the world, in Newcastle. They will demonstrate their resolve to make the climate a key issue in the coming election and show their determination to continue resisting coal no matter who is in the Prime Minister’s chair.
Brazil: Actions will be taking place at 3 locations across the country. Between 5-15 May there will be a rural fair in Maringa, which will include a big rally on 6 May, calling for a ban on fracking. On 7 May in Toledo there will be a mass anti-fracking action with thousands of people attending. And on 14 May there will be a march and mass civil disobedience targeting a coal power plant in Pecem, Ceará.
Canada: On 14 May hundreds of people will take action on the land and the water in Vancouver to oppose the proposed Kinder Morgan Transmountain tar sands pipeline, surrounding the Westridge Marine terminal.
Ecuador: An action is being organised on 14 May by Yasunidos bringing people together from around the country with a call to keep the oil in ground and protect the Yasuni National Park.
Germany: During the weekend of 13-15 May a few thousand activists are expected to come to Lusatia where they will engage in civil disobedience to stop the digging in one of Europe’s biggest open-pit lignite mines, which the Swedish company Vattenfall has put up for sale. The action will show any future buyer that all coal development will face resistance, and demonstrate the movement’s commitment against fossil fuel corporations.
Indonesia: There will be a mass action of thousands of people at the Presidential palace in Jakarta on 11 May. The action will include participants from many of the communities leading resistance to coal projects from around the country. The mobilisation will target President Joko Widodo demanding he revise his ambitious 35,000 Megawatt energy plan by moving away from coal and embracing renewable energy. A few days later there will be one or more actions at the site of coal infrastructure projects.
New Zealand: Between the 4-15 of May hundreds of people around NZ will take action to shut down the operations of one of New Zealand’s biggest investors and lenders to the fossil fuel industry, ANZ bank. There will be blockades, disruptive actions, and culture jamming from North to South.
Nigeria: In the Niger Delta actions will be held in three iconic locations to show what happens when the oil goes dry, and the community is left with the pollution and none of the wealth. An action at Ogoni land will demand an urgent clean-up of decades old oil spills and underscore how it is possible for citizens to resist the power of the oil corporations, and keep their oil in the ground where it belongs. Another action will be on the Atlantic coast, where Exxon’s offshore wells frequently leak, impact fisheries and harm coastline communities’ livelihoods.
Philippines: On 4 May anti-coal activists from all over the Philippines will converge in a climate march that aims to mobilize 10,000 people in Batangas City, where JG Summit Holdings aims to put up a 600-Megawatt coal fired power plant that is set to occupy a 20-hectare site in Barangay Pinamucan Ibaba, Batangas City. The people will be demanding the cancellation of the coal plant in Batangas as well as all 27 other proposed plants in the Philippines.
South Africa: Two actions will take place each with hundreds of people highlighting the local impacts of coal and climate change. The first on 12 May will see people gathering in Emalahleni, one of the most polluted towns in the world, to speak out on the effects of climate change. The second on 14 May is focused on the Gupta residence in Saxonwold, Johannesburg.
Turkey: Community leaders will head a mass action in Aliağa on 15 May at a coal waste site to call for a stop to 4 fossil fuel plant projects in the surrounding area. This action will unite several fights against individual coal plants into a unified stance against the current Turkish government’s plan to dramatically expand the use of coal in the country.
UK: The Reclaim the Power network will unite hundreds of people on 3 May at the UK’s largest opencast coal mine – Ffos-y-fran, near Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. The action will take place just a few days before the Welsh Assembly elections on 5 May. The Welsh Assembly voted for a moratorium on opencast coal mining last April, but this has yet to become legally binding.
US: Across the US activists will target six key areas of fossil fuel development between 12-15 May. Including the new tar sands pipelines in the Midwest with an action near Chicago; fracking in the Mountain West with an event outside Denver; ‘bomb trains’ carrying fracked oil and gas to a port in Albany, NY; Shell and Tesoro’s devastating refinery pollution north of Seattle; action around offshore drilling in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts taking place in Washington, DC; and dangerous oil and gas drilling in Los Angeles.
According to campaigners, the programme intends to eliminate the power and pollution of the fossil fuel industry.
May Boeve, Executive Director 350.org: “By backing campaigns and mass actions aimed at stopping the world’s most dangerous fossil-fuel projects – from coal plants in Turkey and the Philippines, to mines in Germany and Australia, to fracking in Brazil and oil wells in Nigeria – Break Free hopes to eliminate the power and pollution of the fossil-fuel industry, and propel the world toward a sustainable future.”
Bill McKibben, co-founder 350.org: “There’s never been a bigger, more concerted wave of actions against the plans of the fossil fuel industry to overheat our earth–and for the just, fair, and sustainable world we can now envision. In the hottest year on record, we’re determined to turn up the political heat on the planet’s worst polluters.”
Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International: “Communities on the front lines of climate change aren’t waiting for governments to act. They are taking bold action, and the world needs to listen. The Paris Agreement was only possible because millions of people spent years fighting for climate justice. Now that governments have committed to action, we must make sure they follow the science and deliver on their words. The only way to survive climate change is through a rapid just transition to 100% renewable energy, keeping oil, coal and gas in the ground.”
Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) and Co-Coordinator of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice: “Communities all over the Philippines are demanding that the government cancel all plans, permits and construction efforts for new coal power plants and coal mines in the Philippines, and to take decisive steps towards the phase out of existing ones. We need to take major steps in order to break free from fossil fuels and all harmful sources energy. A complete transition to renewable energy is not only possible, but urgent.”
Nnimmo Bassey, Nigerian activist from the Health of Mother Earth Foundation: “Breaking free from fossil fuels is a vote for life and for the planet. The Paris Agreement signed by world leaders ignored the fact that burning fossil fuels is the major culprit in global warming. In these actions the peoples of the world will insist that we must come clean of the fossil fuels addiction. In Nigeria we will in addition raise our voices to demand a clean-up of the extreme pollution caused by oil companies operating in the Niger Delta.”
Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Lubicon Cree First Nation, Greenpeace Canada Climate & Energy Campaigner and 350.org Board member: “We are currently at a crossroads in humanity where we must choose either to continue down a destructive path of extracting fossil fuels or transition to sustainable ways of living. What we need is ambitious renewable energy projects, not more tar sands pipelines. These pipelines don’t have the support of local communities and the Indigenous nations they will impact. If we continue to build fossil fuel infrastructure, we are breaking our promise to do our part in Canada to stem a global climate crisis that is already being felt by communities all over the planet.”
Naomi Klein, award winning journalist/author: “The global climate justice movement is rising fast. But so are the oceans. So are global temperatures. This is a race against time. Our movement is stronger than ever, but to beat the odds, we have to grow stronger.”
Wael Hmaidan, Director of Climate Action Network: “People power in our cities, in our villages and on the frontlines of climate change have brought us to a point where we have a global climate deal – but we do not stop now, we need more action and faster. Civil society is set to rise up again, to fight for our societies to break free from fossil fuels, to propel them even faster towards a just future powered by 100% renewable energy.”
Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lipa in the Philippines: “Fossil fuel plants cause extreme harm to local communities and ecosystems, they are also a danger to the country and the whole planet since they are a major contributor to climate change. It is immoral to burden future generations with the cost of mistaken energy choices made today. It is time to end the age of fossil fuels.”
Violent conflicts have become so pervasive in Nigeria that one could be excused to say that they threaten to become the new normal. Some years ago, no one could imagine that a Nigerian, child or adult, would become a suicide bomber. That thinking was loudly put to rest by the activities of Boko Haram, the group that erected and foisted a bomb-culture on our nation. Today, the horrendous conflicts between farmers and pastoralists must not be allowed to become another normal.
Armed Fulani herdsmen
Conflicts in the oil fields, including third party interferences, oil thefts and acts of sabotage led to youths of the Niger Delta being labelled as restive whenever they made demands for ecological or social justice. That adjective gave the oil companies some cover over the poor handling and policing of their pipelines, equipment and other facilities. And then to add cream to the cake, it has become normal for oil companies to scream sabotage at the slightest hint of accidents in the oil fields.
Tango in Bonga
The only time a company like Shell did not plead sabotage was when they had the Bonga offshore spill of 20 December 2011. That spill occurred when the top-ranking oil company pumped thousands of barrels of crude oil into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State, instead of pumping it into a waiting vessel. By their admission, they pumped 40,000 barrels of oil into the sea before they knew something was amiss. That speaks volumes of the high standards they maintain in their operations! It may have taken long in coming, but we must applaud the Federal Government of Nigeria for finally instituting a suit against Shell for the damage done to the environment and on our people.
Grazing Times
An intriguing cycle of violence that has become worrisome is that of the so-called herdsmen wielding AK47s, brutally attacking, killing, kidnaping and raping citizens in their paths. The atrocious level of killings and destruction has led some to call these livestock blood cattle. Government action cannot be delayed on this matter.
While it is left to our security agencies to say if these attackers are truly herdsmen or a new band of terrorists, the issue of a Grazing Bill before the National Assembly has added more cause for concern to many Nigerians.
For those who may not know, the Grazing Bill seeks to acquire swaths of land across Nigeria, dispossess individuals and communities of their lands. The bill bars land owners from having access to these lands, territories and resources. Trespass by owners of the land could lead to terms of imprisonment and other penalties. The Bill is a perfection of move to legalise land grabbing and internal colonisation using the obnoxious Land Use Act as a cover. It is interesting that the Bill has now been said not to be on the tables of the National Assembly. Phantom or not, the Bill remains a source for concern. Despite the denial of the existence of any Grazing Bill, we read that there are versions of private members Grazing Bills in the House of Representatives and that one is expected from the executive arm.
Meat, Hunger and Climate Change
While many have linked the herdsmen to the Fulani ethnic nationality, it is clear that owners of the cattle that have become the lightening rod of the peculiar violence rocking the nation in recent days may actually range beyond the Fulani. One interpretation could be that what we are experiencing may be the manifestation of a primitive use of power by a blood-thirsty wealthy class using the poor as canon fodder against other poor and helpless citizens.
If this mayhem is not nipped it threatens to set the nation ablaze. In a situation of rising suspicions, there is need to build bridges between our peoples, build a vanguard of the oppressed against the forces of division and annihilation and ensure that the poor among us are not used as foot soldiers in a proxy war they have no business fighting.
The rich owners of the cattle should set up ranches to support their enterprises. If the nomadic lifestyle is a way of life that cannot be compromised, the range of the movements should nevertheless be controlled. We hear much about value-addition as a way of building our agricultural industrial sector. Is it not time to move meat rather than cattle across the nation?
The world’s appetite for meat is having global impacts on the rate of deforestation and on global warming. Indeed, much of the food grown in the world today go to feeding animals rather than humans, thus entrenching hunger and malnutrition.
With so much blood shed so that cattle may roam roughshod over the land, it does make sense for us to rethink our meat production and consumption patterns.
By Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of mother Earth Foundation – HOMEF)
Former Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa has been nominated to be the new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), helping to bolster a 2015 Paris Agreement to shift the world economy from fossil fuels, officials said on Tuesday.
Patricia Espinosa
Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican who is stepping down in July after a six-year term as head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, wrote in a Tweet that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had nominated Espinosa to succeed her.
The Bonn-based Secretariat said the appointment needs to be approved by an 11-member U.N. bureau, whose members represent groups of governments worldwide and is now led by French Environment Minister Segolene Royal.
The bureau has no record of challenging nominations by the Secretary-General, diplomats say, even though some had expected that the job would shift from Latin America.
Espinosa, aged 57 and who works as Mexico’s ambassador to Germany, won high marks for presiding at annual U.N. climate negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, in 2010 when she was foreign minister.
Delegates gave her a standing ovation after she brokered a deal to get negotiations on limiting global warming back on track after the failure of a fractious 2009 summit in Copenhagen.
Those 195-nation talks culminated in December 2015 with a deal at a Paris summit to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2100, shifting to cleaner energies such as wind and solar power.
The job of the new U.N. climate chief will be to oversee and strengthen that agreement.
The United Nations says the Paris deal, built from voluntary national limits on greenhouse gas emissions, is too weak to achieve a goal of limiting a rise in temperatures blamed for stoking more droughts, floods, heat waves and rising sea levels.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, arrives in Nigeria this week on a two-day official mission in furtherance of the long-standing partnership between UNODC and Nigeria in the areas of anti-corruption, terrorism prevention; drug control with a balanced health-focused approach; strengthened criminal justice sector and the rule of law in Nigeria and the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) sub-region as a whole.
Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Mr. Fedotov will hold high-level meetings with top government officials and strategic ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) of the government of Nigeria as well as with the president of ECOWAS.
Nigeria and UNODC enjoy cordial relationship since almost three decades. Nigeria has ratified the three UN Conventions on Drugs, 15 out of the 19 international legal instruments on terrorism, in addition to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which are all UN Conventions that are under the global mandate of UNODC. UNODC works with some 50 government partners in Nigeria, at the federal and state levels as well as with civil society organisations in the implementation of the Conventions.
Nigeria is one of UNODC’s priority countries, with a large and comprehensive portfolio in the areas of anti-corruption, the response to drugs and related organised crime, justice sector reform, anti-human trafficking/migrant smuggling and counter terrorism. The programme is funded by the European Union in the amount of about $100 million and constitutes UNODC’s largest technical assistance portfolio in Africa and the third world wide. Other international partners of UNODC in Nigeria are Germany, Japan and Switzerland.
Among the major landmark technical support UNODC has provided in Nigeria is the support to the development, drafting and reviewing of new laws. These include the recently enacted Administration of Justice Act; Extradition Act (Modification) Order, 2014; as well as new legislation against human trafficking and migrant smuggling, in line with the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its protocols. Presently, UNODC is also assisting Nigeria’s efforts in updating its piracy/maritime crimes law and in reinforcing the criminal justice response to these crimes.
The first meeting of the new Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI-1) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) opened on Monday in Montreal, Canada, focusing on increasing efforts related to strengthening the review process and enhance on-the-ground implementation at global, national, subnational and local levels.
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
The meeting, being held from 2-6 May 2016 at the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organisation in Montreal, is expected to adopt numerous recommendations for consideration by Parties to the Convention at their 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13), set to take place in December this year in Cancun, Mexico.
Among other things, it will review progress made in implementing the Convention and its Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, consider strategic actions to enhance national implementation, particularly through mainstreaming within and across sectors, and also consider the implications of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, and of other relevant international processes, for the future work of the Convention. The meeting will also consider the topic of how to increase cooperation and synergies with other biodiversity-related conventions. The meeting is expected to propose guidelines for the sixth national reports, the main means of reporting on progress. The meeting will also consider efforts to support implementation, such as capacity building and technical and scientific cooperation and progress on resource mobilisation. Finally, the meeting will consider the future modus operandi for the SBI, including possible mechanisms to assist Parties in reviewing progress on implementation.
The Conference of the Parties, at its twelfth meeting, established the Subsidiary Body on Implementation to replace the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Review of Implementation of the Convention. Discussions and negotiations at SBI-1 will primarily centre on four main core areas:
Review of progress in implementation
Parties will review progress towards the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the achievement of its Aichi Biodiversity Targets at the national level. Several Parties have formulated targets related to the Aichi Targets, but many need to match their level of ambition and scope to be commensurate to the Aichi Targets in order to ensure that the aggregate effect of national targets is sufficient to attain the corresponding Aichi Biodiversity Targets at global level. While encouraging progress has been made in meeting some elements of most Aichi Biodiversity Targets, this progress will not be sufficient to achieve the targets by 2020 unless urgent and effective action is taken to enhance implementation.
Parties will also review progress made towards Aichi Biodiversity Target 16 (By 2015, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation is in force and operational, consistent with national legislation). While the first element of Target 16 has been met and significant efforts are being made to implement the Nagoya Protocol, further progress is needed to make the Nagoya Protocol operational in line with the second part of this Aichi Target.
The SBI is also “to review the information gathered and analysed by the Executive Secretary with a view to contributing to the third assessment and review of the Protocol and the mid-term evaluation of the Strategic Plan for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety for the period 2011-2020”. Its findings and recommendations will then be sent to the COP-MOP for its consideration.
Strategic actions to enhance implementation
Parties will review strategic actions to enhance implementation, with a focus on the mainstreaming of biodiversity within and across sectors. The concept of “mainstreaming” biodiversity includes the integration of biodiversity considerations into “cross-sectoral plans, programmes and policies”, such as national planning and development processes, financial policies and budgetary processes, land-use planning, and marine spatial planning, and in sector-specific plans, such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining, energy, tourism, transport and others. Mainstreaming biodiversity considerations across these sectors are essential in ensuring not only the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity but also the continued vitality of these sectors.
A decision taken by COP 12 called for COP 13 to focus discussions on mainstreaming in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors. These three issues were taken up in last week’s meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice. A fourth sector, tourism, will be addressed by the SBI. All four sectors are expected to be discussed in Cancun.
The SBI will also consider strategic actions for “cross-sectoral” mainstreaming. This includes legislation, policies and economic instruments and other policy tools as well as institutional and governance processes that seek to ensure the consideration of biodiversity in decisions and actions that could impact it. Examples include perverse subsidies, ecosystem accounting, and environmental safeguards. It will also consider the role of key actors, such as the business sector and subnational governments, in contributing to implementation of the Convention and the Strategic Plan 2011-2020.
Strengthening support for implementation
The SBI will review issues related to capacity building, technical and scientific cooperation and technology transfer; resource mobilisation, the financial mechanism of the Convention, cooperation with other conventions, international organisations and initiatives, and how to enhance synergies among biodiversity related conventions.
With regard to financial resources, the Strategic Plan states that the strategy for resource mobilisation including the proposed concrete initiatives, targets and indicators to be developed, and processes for developing innovative mechanisms, provides a roadmap for achieving the effective implementation of Article 20 of the Convention (where developed countries undertake to provide “new and additional financial resources to enable developing country Parties to meet the agreed full incremental costs” of implementing the obligations of the Convention), in order to provide adequate, predictable and timely new and additional financial resources, in support of the implementation of the Strategic Plan.
Regarding the financial mechanism, the meeting will, for the first time ever, have a preliminary draft report, made available by the Council of the Global Environment Facility, for its consideration. This includes the draft report of a full assessment of the funds needed for the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols for the seventh replenishment period of the Global Environment Facility.
In order to catalyse support for implementation in a more coherent manner, the three items related to capacity-building, scientific and technical cooperation and the clearing house mechanism have been interlinked in a single document which includes as an addendum draft short-term action plan for capacity building prepared by the CBD Secretariat. This action plan focuses on various activities, tools, mechanisms and processes for strengthening countries’ institutional and human resources capabilities while technical and scientific cooperation links two or more countries to pursue their individual or collective goals through cooperative exchanges of scientific knowledge, skills, resources and technical know-how.
Operations of the Convention and its Protocols: Improving the efficiency of structures and processes
The SBI will consider the impacts and effectiveness of existing processes under the Convention and identify ways and means that increase efficiencies, including an integrated approach to the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols.
The SBI will also develop guidelines for national reports, as well as possible mechanisms to strengthen review of progress in implementation.
Under the Convention, the focus of review for the coming years will be on progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan. This requires, as reflected in existing mandates provided by the Conference of the Parties, the review of national targets, plans and actions, as well as their outcomes.
Parties will also review issues related to synergies and cooperation. Paragraph 89 of the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+ 20), encouraged Parties to multilateral environmental agreements to consider further measures to promote policy coherence at all relevant levels, improve efficiency, reduce unnecessary overlap and duplication, and enhance coordination and cooperation among the multilateral environmental agreements.
Consequently, the SBI will discuss options for Parties of the various biodiversity-related conventions (Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the International Plant Protection Convention, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, and the World Heritage Convention) to enhance synergies and improve efficiency among them. Specifically, the meeting will consider options for action on eight broad thematic issue areas: The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and national biodiversity strategies and action plans; Institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms; Information and knowledge management; National reporting, monitoring and indicators; Communication and awareness-raising; Science-policy interface; Capacity-building and; Resource mobilisation and utilisation.
The meeting also includes a couple of dialogue sessions. These will be held at the plenary level to provide
Parties with the opportunity to share their experiences in implementing the different objectives of the Convention and receive inputs and suggestions from others.
Over the last five years, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity has catalysed concerted action, in particular under the Convention and other biodiversity-related conventions, but also the wider United Nations system, the NGO community, academia, and increasingly the business sector. There is no question that progress has been made in implementing the Strategic Plan and achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Still, the mid-term review of progress by the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD, on the basis of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and the fifth national reports, concluded that while significant progress has been made towards meeting some components of most of the Aichi Targets, the full achievement of all the targets will not be met in 2020 without urgent action to scale up implementation.
With five years left to implement the Strategic Plan, it will be critically important for Parties to significantly increase their efforts. The first meeting of the SBI can help prepare the ground towards achieving the Plan’s 2050 Vision, that, “by 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people”.
