For the first time, scientists have pieced together a 1,200-year long record of water availability, rainfall and drought across Europe, North Asia and North America.
Lead author, Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist
The research, published in the journal Nature, is the first time scientists have been able to accurately see how rainfall patterns have changed during the 12th century compared with the last 12 centuries.
The findings show the Northern Hemisphere experienced considerably larger variations in rainfall and drought patterns during the past 12 centuries than in the 12th century. The researchers, from Sweden, Germany and Switzerland, find that climate models overestimate the increase in wet and dry extremes as temperatures increased during the 12th century. The new results, a contribution to the Past Global Changes (PAGES) 2k Network, can help improve how climate models represent future rainfall changes in a warmer world.
A big uncertainty in climate research is what will happen to rainfall and drought when temperatures rise across the globe. This matters for water resources, crop yields and ecological change. The leading authority on the consensus of climate knowledge, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), concludes from climate model simulations that wet areas are likely to get wetter and dry areas drier in a warmer world.
But the first reliable reconstruction of rainfall and drought across the Northern Hemisphere, looking back 1,200 years, challenges the conclusions of these climate models. The results, published in the journal Nature, indicate that the undisputed temperature rise of the twentieth century may not have affected the hydroclimate – rainfall and drought-related climate anomalies – to the same extent as earlier suspected.
Lead author Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, a historian and climate researcher at Stockholm University, said, “Despite strong twentieth century warming, we find that rainfall and drought extremes in the twentieth century have varied within the natural variability we can now see in earlier centuries. Several other centuries in the past 1,200 years show stronger and more widespread extremes and deviations from the average.”
“Climate models strongly overestimate the intensification of wet and dry extremes in the twentieth century,” added Ljungqvist.
The team, working within a major international research initiative examining 2,000 years of climate variability for the Past Global Changes project of Future Earth, used tree-rings, lake sediment, historical data and other types of archives to piece together the new picture of past climate. The researchers found larger land areas with relatively wetter conditions in the ninth to 11th and the 12th centuries, whereas drier conditions than during the 20th century were more widespread between the 12th and 19th centuries.
“The lack of agreement between the reconstruction and the climate models in the 20th century indicates that the models can have limitations in realistically predicting which regions may get wetter and which may get drier in a warmer world. But one reason climate model predictions do not agree well with actual data could also be that 20th century warming may not yet have been strong enough to trigger large-scale hydroclimate changes.”
To investigate the links between temperature and hydroclimate variations, the scientists compared their reconstructed hydroclimate variations with a new temperature reconstruction they also developed. The researchers conclude that only in a few regions is it possible to see clear correlations between changes in temperature and hydroclimate. For instance, drought was most widespread during both the relatively warm 12th century and the relatively cold 15th century.
“The study shows the importance of placing recent hydroclimate changes in a millennium-long perspective,” says Ljungqvist. “Actual measurements of precipitation and drought are too short to tell if the observed changes today fall outside the range of natural variability. Instrumental measurements are also too short to test the ability of state-of-the-art climate models to predict which regions will get drier or wetter with global warming.”
Effective from April 2, Amina J. Mohammed, Nigeria’s Environment Minister, became Chair of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC).
The former Assistant-Secretary General and Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Post-2015 Development Planning, Ms. Mohammed chairs the Steering Committee, while guiding the work of WSSCC’s Geneva-based Secretariat, its operations in 20 countries in Africa and Asia, and its 5,000 members in 150 countries.
Hosted by the United Nations Office of Project Services, WSSCC is the part of the United Nations devoted solely to the sanitation and hygiene needs of the most vulnerable people around the world. Ms. Mohammed has replaced erstwhile Chair, Andrew Cotton, Emeritus Director of the Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC, Loughborough University), and previous Chair, Prof. Anna Tibaijuka, Member of Parliament, Tanzania, and former Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat.
As the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development Planning, Ms. Mohammed worked systematically to ensure the successful adoption by Member States of the Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015. She is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and previously held the position of Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on the Millennium Development Goals, serving three Presidents over a period of six years. In 2005 she was charged with the coordination of the debt relief funds ($1 billion per annum) towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria. From 2002-2005, Ms. Mohammed served as coordinator of the Task Force on Gender and Education for the United Nations Millennium Project.
Ms. Mohammed’s appointment builds upon WSSCC’s tradition of having a Chair with experience serving as a senior official of the United Nations and who is a current or former government official.
Amina J. Mohammed, the new Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) chair takes her seatAddressing a gatheringYou’re welcome…Delivering the maiden speech…Interacting…
The oil price crash hit Nigeria hard. The country’s revenue fell, affecting the funding of critical infrastructure. The Debt Management Office (DMO) has risen to the challenge, issuing bonds to fund such projects in the 2016 budget. Will local investors take a cue from DMO? COLLINS NWEZE writes.
Kemi Adeosun, Finance Minister
For Nigeria, the worst era seems over. That was last January when crude oil price touched nearly $25 per barrel, with little hope that it would rebound. But the black gold has inched up slightly, touching $41 per barrel last March 30. But, there is still a decline on large chunk of government revenues. Low crude oil prices meant that the government must borrow to realise its spending plans.
In 2005, Nigeria struck a deal with Paris Club lenders to write off over half of the country’s $30 billion debt. Since then, the government’s debt has crept back up, but it remains relatively low as a percentage of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Oil revenues from oil have dropped, and the only way to fund over N1.84 trillion deficits in the N6.06 trillion 2016 budget is through the issuance of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Bonds as being done by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The DMO, last month, sold N100 billion FGN bonds through three bond offerings: re-openings of 15.54 per cent FGN February 2020, three-year, 11 month-bond; 12.50 per cent FGN January 2026 nine-year, 10-month bond and a new 20-year bond, 12.4 per cent FGN March 2036. The stop rates were 11.334 per cent; 12.090 per cent and 12.4 per cent.
The DMO Director-General, Dr Abraham Nwankwo, explained that a bond is a loan and the investor or holder of the bond is the lender.
“When you purchase a bond, you are lending money to a government, local government council, state government, federal agency or a corporation, known as the issuer. The government uses it to fund budget deficit, for instance, or to build roads, electric power stations, finance factories, among others. When you purchase a bond, in return the issuer promises to pay you a specified rate of interest during the life of the bond and to repay the face value of the bond (the principal) when it ‘matures’,” he explained.
The debt office said when investors buy FGN bonds, they are lending funds to the federal government for a specified period of time.
“The FGN bond is considered as the safest of all the investments because it is backed by the ‘full faith and credit’ of the government. They have no default risk, meaning that it is virtually certain your interest and principal will be paid as and when due. The income you earn is exempted from state and local taxes,” it said.
It added that the government-sponsored enterprise bonds help support project relevant to public policies, such as helping certain groups, such as farmers, homeowners, students, etc to raise money for financing specific projects. These bonds do not carry the full-faith and-credit of the government. The investors are likely to hold them in high regard because they have been issued by a government agency.
However, corporate bonds are debt obligation issued by private or public corporations. The corporations use the funds for building facilities, purchase of equipment to expand the business, among others. “When investors purchase corporate bond, the corporation promises to return your money, or principal at maturity date, but they are being paid interest semi – annually,” he said.
He continued: “FGN bond fosters economic development by promoting the use of long-term funds for long-term investment in the economy. It serves as an efficient way of mobilising domestic financial resources for productive investment in a non-inflationary manner. It also allows self-reliance of the country by reducing over reliance on short-term borrowing from the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) & commercial banks while providing a basic infrastructure for the development of the financial system and the overall economy,” the DMO said.
Analysts and economists have continued to speak on the impact of buying FGN Bonds on the economy. Currencies Analyst, Ecobank Nigeria, Olakunle Ezun, said there is need for Nigerians to key into the government bond for infrastructure project by investing heavily in local bonds. He explained that the DMO works closely with the Federal Government to manage the national debts, adding that the government is regarded as the issuers of the bonds, while the buyers are seen as investors.
Ezun told The Nation that the FGN Bonds have the full credit of the Federal Government, and that the bond issuance option is far better than printing money to meet developmental needs of government. “It is not advisable for government to print money to meet developmental needs. And it is advisable that the citizens invest in FGN bonds, which are safe, profitable and deepens the local bond market,” he said.
For him, although funds from the domestic bond market are more expensive than the international bond market, investing in the local bond market is in the best interest of the economy.
The FGN Bonds, he added, help the government funds its deficits in a non-inflationary manner while providing benchmark yield-curve for pricing other securities/bonds. It also engenders rational management of government’s fiscal and monetary operations.
Chief Executive Officer, Nextnomics Advisory, Dr Temitope Oshikoya, said the government needs to borrow N900 billion through local bond issuance to fund the budget. He said the DMO would be involved in the exercise, adding that the practice where banks end up buying up the bonds instead of lending their deposits to customers is not the best for the economy.
“It will be good to have more people invest in the local bond market. Banks are expected to lend to the private sector instead of investing so much in the local bonds,” he said.
Oshikoya explained that FGN Bonds serve as risk-free investment with tax-free income. The bonds provide relatively high and stable returns while the principal element (collected at maturity) can be used as collateral for securing credit facilities from banks. Also, bond holders, who want cash, can trade the bonds on the floor of Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) for immediate cash before maturity even as it qualifies as liquid assets for banks from two years to maturity.
He said if the debts are well spent, they help to boost liquidity in the economy and investment in key sectors, such as Agriculture, Mining among others.
2016 Budget
A large part of the budget focuses on funding infrastructure, which entails the provision of tangible assets such as housing, power (electricity), transport, education, communication and technology, on which other intangibles can be built on. It also seeks to protect the poor with a social safety net including scholarships and food provision in schools.
The budget has revenue projection of about N3.86 trillion, with oil related revenues expected to contribute about N820 billion or 21 per cent, while tax collection and public expenditure reforms in Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) will account for the rest.
The budget is clearly consistent and is part of the three-year Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). It seeks to stir Nigeria off the path of oil dependence. It hopes to achieve this through a focus on non-oil revenues by broadening the tax base and improving the effectiveness of our revenue collecting agencies. However, the renewed drive to boost non-oil revenues may not be sufficient to cover the gap from low oil revenues.
The budget has a deficit financing that requires an additional N1.84 trillion for capital expenditure, which must be funded through borrowing from local and international markets through the supervision of the debt office.
Nwankwo said Nigeria’s low debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio means the country can borrow more to fund budget, infrastructure and other essential projects that will stimulate the economy and create jobs for the citizenry.
The DMO is expected to source the additional N1.84 trillion for capital expenditure, N984 billion of which will come from local investors and N900 billion from international investors.
In a report titled: ‘Budget 2016: Changed budget, Changed people, Changed leaders’, Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismark Rewane, said the spending and revenue estimate is based on the Keynesian model of counter-cyclical spending to stimulate growth.
Rewane said significant spending on infrastructure and security would complement reforms in agriculture and solid minerals.
Infrastructure needs
The Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD) report for 2011 estimated that Nigeria requires sustained spending of $14.2 billion per annum over the next decade in order to address the infrastructure challenge.
The above scenario, clearly shows that as a result of the huge funding requirement for present and future infrastructural development and its attendant impact on survival and growth of businesses in Nigeria, traditional funding methods can no longer suffice as the traditional fund providers, various levels of government, do not have such resources at their disposal. Therefore, debts may simply be the solution to bridging the infrastructure funding gap.
Bond issuance option
The DMO captures the benefits of using debts to fund projects more succinctly. “If you want to build a railway line from Lagos to Aba, there are two options. Firstly, you can save the money for 10 years, before starting the project. The second option is to borrow and build the railway, and within 10 years, generate enough revenue to offset the debt,” DMO’s head, Policy Strategy and Risk Management, Joe Ugolala said.
The second option, according to him, is more plausible as it captures the inherent benefits of borrowing to build infrastructure that is in the interest of the economy. He explained that for one to borrow, there must be that inherent capacity to repay, whether the debt came from internal or external sources.
He explained that the Federal Government has the capacity to borrow from outside to fund the budget, and support specific projects including infrastructure. He said there was so much demand for infrastructure because of its immense benefits to the economy.
Speaking on external and domestic borrowing guidelines for the federal and state governments and their agencies, he explained that the National Assembly has a role to play in government’s borrowing plan.
Firstly, the National Assembly is to approve the borrowing programme for every succeeding year and approval of overall limits, for the amounts of consolidated debts of the Federal, State and Local Governments, to be set by the President on the advice of the Minister.
Other borrowing guidelines
The National Assembly is expected to grant prior authorisation in the appropriation or other Act or Law for the purpose for which the borrowing is to be utilised. “The Federal Government may borrow from the capital market, subject to National Assembly’s approval. Government at all tiers shall only borrow for capital expenditure and human development on concessional terms,” the debt guidelines said.
Any government of its agencies can only obtain external loans through the Federal Government and such loans must be supported by Federal Government guarantee. “No state, local government or federal agency shall, on its own, borrow externally. State governments and their agencies wishing to obtain external loans shall obtain Federal Government’s approval-in-principle, from the Federal Ministry of Finance,” it said.
However, the borrowing proposal must be submitted to the Federal Ministry of Finance and the DMO for consideration, and must state the purpose for which the borrowing is intended and its link to the development agenda of the government.
It must also state the cost-benefit analysis showing the economic and social benefits to which the intended borrowing is to be applied; cash-flow statements of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to ascertain their viability and sustainability. There must also be copies of the state’s Executive Council’s approval and the resolution of the State House of Assembly.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SSAP-SDGs), Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, has stated that the Federal Government is reviewing Nigeria’s implementation of the just concluded Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in a bid to ensure a proper, accelerated and efficient implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire
Princess Orelope-Adefulire, who stated this recently in Abuja at a forum on the Implementation of SDGs in Nigeria, added that her office is also taking steps to come up with an achievable work plan to domesticate and adopt the SDGs into Nigeria’s national development plans as well as identifying Nigeria’s key areas for priority attention.
“This retreat on the Implementation of the SDGs in Nigeria is therefore very timely as the forum also offers us a unique opportunity to examine what has worked and what has not worked well and proceed to develop common strategy for the domestication, mainstreaming and implementation of the SDGs into our National Planning process,” the SSAP noted.
The presidential aide re-iterated that Nigeria has made appreciable progress in the implementation of the MDGs, particularly in the area of Universal Primary Enrolment, achieving gender parity in Education, reducing the spread of HIV and AIDs, reducing maternal death, and halving the percentage of people living in absolute hunger for which the country received recognition from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). She also noted that the implementation of incentive based interventions such as the Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) has been key.
She however maintained that “despite this appreciative progress, some of the MDGs targets were not met due to challenges in the areas of poverty, insecurity, social inequality and youth unemployment. A situation she blamed on Nigeria’s late commencement of the MDGs implementation.
While highlighting the disproportionate successes recorded in the implementation of the MDGs across states, local governments and geo-political zones, Princess Orelope-Adefulire noted that the implementation of the MDGs in many states of the federation was hampered by factors such as poor funding, low participation, ownership and sustainability.
Against this backdrop, she concluded that the implementation of the MDGs in Nigeria and indeed the rest of Africa remains one unfinished business that needs to be rolled over to the SDGs.
She said: “As we kick-start the implementations of the SDGs, therefore we should re-examine and institutionalise some best practices as we all know that SDGs are aspirational, integrated, transformative, actionable and universal, targeting both developed and developing countries. The MDGs helped in improving the economic and social conditions in several nations of the world, particularly in Africa. However, the glitch in the MDGs was that, it focused majorly on the government of each nation.
“This time, the SDGs challenge both the government, private organisations and institutions, civil society and individuals to participate in making the world a better place. It is expected that collaborative efforts geared towards a similar agenda by all the bodies will have a greater impact to the society.”
In laying foundation for the effective implementation of the SDGs, the SSAP-SDGs stated that her office would be creating public awareness on the role of all stakeholders, highlighting the gaps in select sectors and propose sustainable strategies and models that can be adopted with emphasis on the role of the private sector. They will also identify priority issues and develop an actionable framework for implementation of the reforms in the select sectors, she added.
In his presentation, United Nations representative, Ojiji Odhiambo, stated that the foundation of the SDGs is based on six pillars such as People, Prosperity, Planet, Justice, Partnership and Dignity in a world that is guided by existing obligations under the international law and respect for human rights. He said Nigeria would work on its prioritised items according to the needs of each state of the federation.
The programme was jointly organised by Department for International Development (DFID) and Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President (SDGs).
The current instability and unpredictability of the world water cycle is here to stay, making society’s adaptation to new risks a vital necessity when formulating development policies, a UN water expert has warned.
Robert Sandford
Robert Sandford, the EPCOR Chair for Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), says long-term water cycle stability “won’t return in the lifetime of anyone alive today.”
“What we haven’t understood until now is the extent to which the fundamental stability of our political structures and global economy are predicated on relative stability and predictability of the water cycle – that is, how much water becomes available in what part of the year. As a result of these new water-climate patterns, political stability and the stability of economies in most regions of the world are now at risk.”
Ontario Lieutenant-Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a former Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, and UN Under Secretary-General David Malone, Rector of UN University, are among several speakers joining Sandford in Ottawa Tuesday April 5 at UNU-INWEH’s day-long 20th anniversary public seminar, “Water: The Nexus of Sustainable Development and Climate Change.”
The seminar will focus on national policy changes needed worldwide to achieve global water security – a pre-requisite for reaching the new global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed upon by world leaders in September 2015.
“Water is the most precious and increasingly scarce resource of many developing countries, including several of the largest among them,” says Dr. Malone. “Their growing populations can’t do without it, indeed need more of it all the time, while climate change has made supply even more unpredictable and unreliable than in the past. The issue of water supply and quality is existential for much of the developing world, and touches on most of the Sustainable Development Goals agreed last year at the UN.”
Commented Ms. Dowdeswell: “Canada has contributed an impressive number of ideas and individuals to the resolution of global environmental challenges. UNU-INWEH continues to mobilize thought leaders to turn ideals and agreements into action. Our common vulnerability must be met with courage and boldness.”
“Our research,” adds Zafar Adeel, Director of UNU-INWEH, “shows that achieving the water-related SDGs represents an expeditious and cost effective way to arrive at sustainable development and societies that are resilient to climate change impacts.”
Blown the fuse?
“Rising mean temperatures have begun to change a vast array of visible and invisible parameters that define the very foundation of the world as we know it,” says Sandford.
“For generations, global water cycle stationarity has allowed us to confidently predict and manage the effects of weather and climate on our energy systems, cities and food systems. Engineers and others working in construction and development planning also rely on this predictability to define infrastructure safety standards.”
“Its loss – and the consequences of extreme droughts and floods that result – require us to anticipate profound adjustments to the way we do business over the coming decades, and to make adaptation central to global policy making. This new focus on adaptation will transform policy, political, economic and social systems.”
“It is a very real fear among experts,” Sandford says, “that we have blown the natural systems fuse that controls planetary land and sea-surface temperatures – that we are now likely passing over an invisible threshold into a new global hydro-climatic state. In other words, climate change may have already gotten away on us.”
Human migration associated in part with climate change is one of the major shifts already underway, with enormous political, economic and social implications.
By one estimate, for example, 3.5 million middle class citizens have left drought stricken California since 1993, in part because of water restrictions and increasing property damage due to wildfires. They are being replaced by large numbers of Latin American citizens, themselves fleeing a range of challenges.
“Yet we are witnessing only the tip of the iceberg,” says Sandford.
The water/food/energy/climate change nexus
Sandford, also senior water advisor to the Interaction Council, an association of over 30 former world leaders chaired by former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, says water, food, energy and climate “form a nexus – a change in any one part of the nexus affects all the others and compounds the effects.”
“Our ability to feed growing populations, reduce poverty and sustain prosperity will depend on a greater realisation and appreciation of the important interconnected nexus formed by water, climate, food and energy – managing them as a whole, not as separate elements unrelated to one another.”
Adds Sandford, “We now have to start thinking the unthinkable: that extreme events might reverse development, even here in North America. In fact, climate related de-development is already happening in Canada; we just don’t see it that way yet.”
Figures from the Insurance Bureau of Canada, for example, show the costs of storm-related disaster relief averaged $36 million dollars annually in the 1970s but now amount to over $1 billion a year.
These numbers partly reflect aging infrastructure across the country, says Sandford, but they also reveal more frequent and intense flood events. In many cases, infrastructure is sound but not designed to handle the new intensity of storms.
The projected lengthening of the growing season will allow northern expansion of warm weather crops, as long as soil and water conditions are suitable and supporting infrastructure can be developed economically.
On the other hand, climate change is affecting regions from which Canada imports its foods, meaning the country must increase local production to compensate and achieve future food security.
At higher altitudes, such as in the Canadian Rockies, the glaciers that provide critical flows in summer months are expected largely to disappear before the end of the century. Winter snowfall will be replaced gradually by rains flowing through reservoirs in spring, leaving much less water for the critical food-producing summer months. Conflicts will arise between those who wish to retain water flows in rivers streams for food fish and those who wish to exploit flows to irrigate crops.
The hydrologic changes will also affect electricity generation by hydro dams and energy production might be reduced in mid to late summer, the very time when power demands for air-conditioning and for pumping both surface and groundwater are at their highest.
World policy options
Sustainable Development Goal 6 relates specifically to water: Achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable water and sanitation, and improve water quality by reducing pollution, halving the portion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse.”
“Timing is critical. We must act urgently to implement the SDGs,” says Adeel, noting that the Paris Agreement in December 2015 starts to provide necessary policy tools and financial resources.
“If we don’t regain momentum in achieving water goals,” says Adeel, “we face stalled or even reversed development, more people in poverty and greater national insecurity with the potential to create more international tension and conflict.”
Among a large suite of policy options relevant worldwide:
End subsidies that produce cheap fossil fuels and provide low-cost water, leading to enhanced conservation
Regulations for the oil and gas industry, some form of financial levy on carbon emissions, and further development of carbon capture and sequestration technology
Reduce food waste (estimated at up to 50% in Canada), which squanders huge volumes of water and energy used to produce it in the first place
Astute soil conservation, which worldwide could sequester billions of tons of carbon out of the atmosphere into Earth’s soils, reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations by an estimated 3 ppm each year
Review floodplains and the security of buildings in them
Accelerate the restoration of natural wetlands
Build a better bridge between science and public policy
India, along with 100 other nations, will ratify the Paris “COP 21 Global Climate Agreement” in New York on April 22, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said in Mumbai on Saturday.
Indian Environment Minister, Prakash Javadekar
“The COP 21 agreement would be ratified at a high level signing ceremony to be convened at the UN Headquarters in New York on April 22,” Javadekar said at a symposium at the University of Mumbai.
“All countries have decided to walk the green path as per their common but differentiated responsibilities. India was always perceived to be a naysayer and negative in its approach and took a corner seat in most of the international conferences. But in Paris, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the concept of climate justice driving home the message of sustainable development,” Javadekar said at the symposium titled “COP 21 Building Synergies, Shaping Actions”.
Saying that climate change was a reality with 1-degree rise in temperature caused by 150 years of uncontrolled carbon emission by the developed countries, Javadekar said India was responsible for only three percent the global carbon emission. Thirty percent of the cumulative contribution was that of the United States, 50 percent by Europe, Canada and other developed world and 10 percent by China.
“Though India is not part of the problem, it wants to be part of the solution. Our commitment is reflected in every programme being pursued by the government,” he said.
Describing the Paris Agreement as a victory of multilateralism and the one which helped correct the image perception of India, the minister said: “If the developed world followed India’s example and levied higher taxes on coal, billions of dollars would accrue to pursue clean energy programmes.”
The minister also said that the proposed Compensatory Afforestation Funds Bill 2015, would unlock Rs. 40,000 crore of funds for the ‘Green India’ initiative. The fund would be released during the resumed Budget session.
Union Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, on the occasion said that India has launched the world’s largest renewable energy programme by scaling up the target for solar energy by pushing ahead the 20,000 megawatts of solar electricity generation to 1,00,000 megawatts by 2022.
Goyal also lamented ‘lack of commitment’ of the developed world in fulfilling their obligations.
“India’s green energy programmes will be carried out whether we receive support of the western world or not”.
The 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 21 was held in December 2015 in Paris where 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal. The agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2-degree Celsius. The agreement is due to enter into force in 2020.
Bothered by the incessant collapse of buildings in the bustling city of Lagos in Nigeria, town planner and planning advocate, Yacoob Abiodun, who resides in Parkview Estate in Ikoyi, explores the challenges facing physical planning and urban development in the state, and proffers a solution
Rescue workers at a building collapse site
March 8, 2016 is a date most residents of Lagos cannot forget in a hurry. They woke up to the sad news of the collapse of a five-storey building under construction on Kusenla Road, Ikate-Elegushi in Lekki Phase I area of Lagos Mega City, which caused the death of 34 people and over 100 others severely wounded. Lekki Gardens was identified as the developer of the building.
Reports from the dailies sequel to the unfortunate incident attributed varying degree of causes responsible for the collapse of the building which, inter alia, include: over building (from three to five floors) by the developer contrary to the building plan initially approved for the company by the Lagos State Planning Permit Authority, lack of proper supervision by officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), hasty development of the building without recourse to laid down construction procedure, inexperience workers and recalcitrant developer who would not comply with extant planning laws of Lagos State.
In a nutshell, we have a situation of criminal neglect of responsibility by State officials who should have nipped the disaster in the bud and prevent it from occurring, having realised that the developer was not law-compliant. The next culprits are the officials of Lekki Gardens who acted above the law to the detriment of the lives of 34 innocent people who died at the site of the collapsed building. Another system failure is the neglect of enforcing the law as and when it is absolutely necessary.
Without mincing words, the causes of frequent building collapse are many and are interwoven. Meaning: you cannot address one and leave the other unaddressed. It is therefore in the best interest of the Lagos State Government (LASG) to approach the issue of building collapse with an open mind (my emphasis). The government should listen to the numerous suggestions from a gamut of professionals in the built environment (builders, architects, town planners, structural engineers, environmentalists and allied professionals) to guide its final decision on how to curb the menace. As they say, two heads are better than one, while nobody has a monopoly of knowledge. The array of commentaries in the dailies after the incident lends credence to this school of thought.
This article will focus on physical planning aspect which could be partially responsible for building collapse often caused by human error, neglect of responsibility or corruption. We shall also probe into the issues of urban development in the Lagos Mega City region, which require fine- tuning as part of effort to curb incessant building collapse in the state.
Periscope on physical planning in Lagos
To all discerning minds, especially among the professionals in the built environment, particularly Town Planners, one can rightly critique that physical planning in Lagos has many deviations from established standard in terms of planning rules and regulations, compliance and enforcement of extant laws, promotion of urban aesthetics, conducive land use, zoning, proper monitoring and ethical rectitude among those who have the remit for urban planning.
Causes of (avoidable) urban development problems in Lagos
Arising from the above observation about the deviations from what ought to be done and not done properly in accordance with planning best practices; urban development scene in Lagos has continued to be plagued with numerous problems, the most noticeable of which are listed for the sake of emphasis:
Incompatible land uses where offices are located in residential areas, industry next door to a school, a church sharing the same premise with a residential building and other planning oddities too numerous to mention due to space constraint.
Man-made traffic problems where commercial buildings banks, fast-food joints and event centres are located in ever-busy arterial roads without minimal standard of required parking space.
Unsustainable increase in housing density creating problem of air circulation due to lack of minimum space prescribed by physical planning regulations. In some instances, houses are built like pack of sardines.
Institutional inefficiency and lack of constant monitoring of on-going development/construction activities in the Lagos Mega City region as evidenced in the collapsed building at Lekki Phase I earlier referred to.
Ridiculous building plan approval at variance of extant approval order for certain localities (Parkview Estate is a classic example. Too many planning violations abound in that estate).
Lawless developers who would not comply with development regulations and ready to cut corners thereby endangering the lives of the citizenry as witnessed in the recent building collapse at Lekki Phase I last March.
Flagrant violations of operative Lagos Model City Plans in such districts as Victoria-Island/Ikoyi, Apapa, Agege/Ifakoijaiye).
Non-existence of an Urban and Regional Planning Tribunal required by extant LASG physical planning law, where cases of planning violations/disputes can be petitioned and adjudicated by an Independent jury.
Feeble citizens’ participation in plan formulation and the processes leading to it.
Under-staffed and not-well-equipped Physical Planning District Offices for effective performance of routine supervision and monitoring of developmental activities within assigned local planning district(s).
Paucity of useful information online for public use from the websites of all government institutions responsible for physical planning, environment, building control and allied matters.
Arbitrary conversion of building without the necessary permit from planning authority for change of use.
The way forward
If all the lapses identified above are to be rectified, the LASG must have the political will to do certain things that government had been repeatedly advised to do over the years in order to improve physical planning, urban development; and to drastically reduce the incidences of building collapse in the state. To buttress this point, the issue came to the fore after the building collapse at Lekki. In the Tribune edition of Tuesday, March 29, Mrs Kehinde George, who is the first female Town Planner in Nigeria and a seasoned planning practitioner, remarked as follows: “The government shares part of the blame because it has not implemented some of the earlier recommendations made by experts on building collapse.”
Her view was corroborated in the same newspaper report by the ex-president of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mr Bode Adediji, who argued that “the government must be dedicated to put an end to it (cases of building collapse). “Since we have been recording such incidents, no one has been made to face the law so as to serve as deterrent to others.”
The views of other experts who spoke on the same subject matter were also in tandem. In other words, they are saying that government needs to be assertive, take the bull by the horn and protect the citizenry. Government cannot be doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.
Kudos to Governor Ambode
Since the sad incident of building collapse at Lekki under reference, Governor Ambode took some initiatives for which he must be commended. The Governor sacked the General Manager of Lagos Sate Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and three other key officials for negligence of duty and set up a Committee to advise government on how to improve the efficiency of LASBCA in accordance with its statutory responsibilities. Governor Ambode let it be known that there is a new sheriff in town and that it won’t be business as usual. This writer is in total agreement with the governor, but wishes to draw his attention to the following list of quick fixes which Governor Ambode would need to take immediate actions.
Actions the Lagos State Government must urgently take
Constitute the Urban and Regional Planning tribunal as specified in the relevant provision of the state physical planning law. The failure in setting up the Tribunal since the law was enacted in 2010 is an unnecessary bureaucracy.
Equip the various District Offices with necessary tools to facilitate better job performance of field officials (operational vehicles, modern office equipment, base maps, faster mode of communication etc.)
Recruit more professionals in the various fields (town planners, structural engineers, builders, environmentalists, etc) to do the job of physical/environmental planning and supervision especially at the outpost offices which are closer to the delineated Local Planning Areas (LPAs). Lagos is an extraordinary large and densely populated planning region. The current staff strength is far inadequate to effectively police the entire region, planning wise.
Occasionally organise Town Hall meetings on planning and urban development as a platform for citizen participation and sundry stakeholders’ involvement in the planning process.
Establish Citizen Planning Academies (CPAs) designed as community education programmes, which will facilitate and support understanding of planning and planning policy between the local government and its citizens.
Conduct regular in-service training for government officials to update their knowledge about emerging/best practices in urban planning.
Restructure all government MDAs for effective service delivery, eradicate duplication of statutory functions and encourage inter- agency collaboration among ministries/departments/agencies/authorities.
Direct the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development to be proactive, publish quick read planning fact sheets/brochures/resources for public information and consumption. Access to planning information by the public should be unfettered both online and through direct contact with the designated offices of the Lagos State Government. The public must have easy access to government regulations in order not to run afoul of the laws.
Implore the MPP & UD to be IT-compliant and regularly update its website with useful planning information and downloadable. The present information on the website is very scanty. No downloadable. It should be regularly updated.
Strict enforcement of planning laws should be total. It should not be selective, arbitrary, punitive or arrant display of executive high handedness or recklessness.
District officers must be held responsible for any planning gaffe/negligence within their areas of operation and where found culpable for aiding and abetting any violation; such official(s) must be sanctioned and reported to the disciplinary committee of his/her professional association for appropriate punishment.
Proper land use planning
In conclusion, proper land use planning practice is sine qua none to harmonious urban living, promotion of aesthetics and tool for controlling urban decay. In practice, the Lagos Mega City Region is an unfortunate victim of improper land use practice thereby creating a nebulous and irritating urban landscape and housing overcrowding. Government must promote better land uses through the instrumentality of zoning in line with global best practices, to befit the status of Lagos as a Mega City and to showcase appealing attractions for local and international tourism.
Every culture has its own traditions surrounding the birth of a child. While we celebrate newborn girls by sending pink dresses and dolls, in the village of Piplantri in Rajasthan, India, they celebrate by planting 111 trees.
Over the course of the past six years, a quarter of a million trees have been planted in Piplantri
That’s right, every time a little girl is born in Piplantri, 111 trees are planted in her honor!
In most Indian villages, the birth of a daughter was historically considered a burden for a family. Rural villages operate on the dowry system which contributes to the high cost of marriage for households with daughters. As a result, daughters were often regarded as lesser than their male counterparts and many were married before they reached the age of 18; few received a proper education.
Violence against women derived from these attitudes is still a heated topic in India. The documentary “India’s Daughters,” was recently banned due to its upfront portrayal of rape and abuse in the country.
In juxtaposition, the tradition of planting trees to welcome the birth of female children in Piplantri seems to completely reject these historical constraints, fostering hope that attitudes towards women can change.
This amazing custom was started by former village leader Shyam Sundar Paliwal to honor his daughter who passed away when she was young. Although Paliwal no longer serves as the village’s leader, the tradition has continued nonetheless.
When a girl is born, village members band together to raise a sort of “trust” for the girl. The parents contribute one-third of the sum of 31,000 Rupees, equivalent to $500, and the money is set aside as a 20-year fund for the girl. This ensures that she will never be considered a financial burden for her parents.
In return for this trust, the parents sign a legal affidavit that states that the daughter will only be married after she reaches the age of 18 and has received a proper education. The affidavit states that the 111 trees must be taken care of as well.
It’s a clever little catch, but the practice of planting trees in conjunction with the birth of a child actually works to ensure that the local environment will be able to support the ever growing population.
Not only does this tradition foster a deep appreciation for females in the village, but it also instils a remarkable sense of environmental stewardship.
Gehrilal Balai, a father who planted 111 saplings last year, told Hindustan Times that he felt the same happiness in looking after the saplings as lulling his daughter to sleep.
The trees become a symbol for the baby girl and the villagers work just as hard to protect the trees from termites, by planting aloe vera, as they do the girls from all the hardships of life.
Seeing the intimate connection between the social health and environmental health of the village, Paliwal’s tradition has created a truly sustainable future for community members.
Over the course of the past six years, a quarter of a million trees have been planted in Piplantri. Villagers credit the harmony that this tradition has brought to their community with the dramatic drop in crime. Not to mention their renewed adoration of little girls.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has commended Thursday’s Joint Presidential Statement on climate change by the leaders of the People’s Republic of China and the United States announcing that both countries will sign the Paris Agreement at a special ceremony at the United Nations on 22 April, the first day the Agreement is open for signature.
President Barack Obama of the US (right) and President Xi Jinping of China
He further welcomed the announcement that both countries commit to taking steps in their respective countries to join the Agreement as early as possible this year, while urging other countries to do so as well so that the Paris Agreement can enter into force as early as possible.
According to the UN Secretary-General, he is encouraged by the commitment of the world’s two largest emitters to work for successful outcomes this year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the Montreal Protocol, the International Civil Aviation Organisation Assembly, and at the upcoming G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, China.
According to the UN, the 22 April Signature Ceremony will build on the strong political momentum from Paris for urgent global action on climate change by all countries which, it adds, is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and creating a more prosperous, equitable and liveable future for all people.
UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon at COP21. Photo credit: ibtimes.co.uk
The U.S.-China Joint Presidential Statement on Climate Change reads thus:
Over the past three years, climate change has become a pillar of the U.S.-China bilateral relationship. Both countries have taken strong measures at home to build green, low-carbon and climate-resilient economies, helping galvanise global action to combat climate change and culminating in the Paris Agreement reached last December. With their joint announcement of ambitious climate actions in November 2014, President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping sought to lead by example, and by the time the Paris conference opened a year later, some 186 countries had put forward their own climate actions. In September 2015, the two leaders laid out a common vision for the Paris outcome during President Xi’s State Visit to Washington and also announced major domestic policy measures and cooperative initiatives to combat climate change, as well as significant progress on climate finance. In Paris, the United States and China, working together and with others, played a critical role in crafting a historic, ambitious global climate change agreement.
Today, the two Presidents announce another significant step in their joint climate efforts. The United States and China will sign the Paris Agreement on April 22nd and take their respective domestic steps in order to join the Agreement as early as possible this year. They encourage other Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to do the same, with a view to bringing the Paris Agreement into force as early as possible. The Presidents further express their commitment to work together and with others to promote the full implementation of the Paris Agreement to win the fight against the climate threat.
The Presidents recognise that the Paris Agreement marks a global commitment to tackling climate change and a strong signal of the need for a swift transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient economies. In this regard, the Presidents are also committed to working bilaterally and with other countries to achieve successful outcomes this year in related multilateral fora, including on an HFC amendment under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway and on a global market-based measure for addressing greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation at the International Civil Aviation Organisation Assembly. To accelerate clean energy innovation and deployment, they will work together to implement the goals of the Mission Innovation initiative announced at the Paris conference and carry forward the work of the Clean Energy Ministerial. They support a successful G-20 Summit in Hangzhou this year, including strong climate and clean energy outcomes, and call on the G-20 countries to engage constructively in international cooperation on energy and climate change. And they will continue to deepen and broaden bilateral cooperation through the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group, the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Centre, and other efforts.
Finally, the Presidents commit to taking concrete steps to implement the commitments they made in their September 2015 Joint Statement to use public resources to finance and encourage the transition toward low carbon technologies as a priority. Since the Joint Statement, the United States led an effort in the OECD to successfully adopt the first-ever set of multilateral standards for support of coal-fired power plants using export credit, and China has been strengthening its green and low-carbon policies and regulations with a view to strictly controlling public investment flowing into projects with high pollution and carbon emissions both domestically and internationally.
The joint efforts by China and the United States on climate change will serve as an enduring legacy of the partnership between our two countries.
Health and environment experts want governments at all levels to allocate more resources to help cushion the effect of extreme weather condition in the country predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET).
Extreme weather: Windstorm destroys a home in a Lagos neighbourhood
NIMET had recently in its annual rainfall prediction told Nigerians to get ready for more hot days, warm nights and heat waves this year.
The experts believe that the hot weather is likely to accelerate devastating health challenges in different parts of the country, and could only be managed if proper planning is on ground.
According to Dr Tunde Segun, a public health practitioner, if the hot weather comes as predicted, there would be an acceleration of heat relates diseases including meningitis, with children and pregnant women among those that will be mostly affected.
“Exposure to extreme heat can cause illness and even death for some people,” he disclosed.
While urging the authorities to get ready to manage disease epidemic, Dr Segun advised Nigerians to ensure proper ventilation of their homes, among other measures, in order to cope with the situation.
“We need to keep our body temperature in the range of 35.5 to 37.5°C as this protects our vital organs and allows the body to function normally. Adaptive behaviour, such as staying under the shade, indoors in air-conditioned places and using fans to circulate the air, would be helpful,” he added.
To environmentalists, the prediction of more hot days, warm nights and heat waves has only confirmed the widely held impression that climate change is real, adding that inhabitants of Mother Earth are in “serious trouble” if urgent steps are not taken to address the impending disaster.
The prediction by NIMET is noteworthy, what with the global average air temperature hitting one degree hotter than it was at the start of the 20th Century.
Nigeria is particularly said to be among the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate variation, as the nation experiences issues such as desertification in the North, flooding and coastal erosion in the South, gully erosion in the South East, as well as loss of biodiversity and intense heat.
Environmentalists say the launching of an aggressive tree planting initiative and preservation of existing forest reserves remains the most sustainable ways of controlling extreme weather conditions, including the hot weather that was predicted by NIMET, as the trees absorb the excess carbon that constitute high percent of greenhouse gasses that cause warming.
Reacting, the Director-General, Chartered Institute of Environmental & Public Health Management of Nigeria, said that all hands must be on deck to take care of the environment, otherwise the human race faces the threat of being eliminated from the face of the Earth.
His words: “Man is now an endangered species and, in some 50 years’ time, environmental scientists have warned that if we do not do something now, tomorrow will be too late.
“The world is changing gradually. If you look at the Antarctica, in those days it used to be very cold and the ice would spread. But these days global warming has caused the ice to melt, thus inducing sea level rise and flooding.
“Greenhouse gases from faulty cars, refrigerators, air conditioners and others have destroyed the ozone layer. The sun is now able to penetrate the earth and in the process living things are dying, deserts are increasing. The tidal waves of the ocean are becoming more ferocious”.
He noted that climate change would worsen diseases such as malaria and cholera, and that the onus lies on the government to plan ahead to avert it.
“It is an incontestable fact that the whole world is facing a barrage of environmental challenges, more than ever before. These challenges range from pollution, waste management, erosion, deforestation, desertification and, most importantly, climate change. According to a report by the Unites Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), climate change could worsen existing inequalities among the 2.3 billion children across the world. Consequently, more children would be exposed to malaria, cholera and other variety of heat related illnesses.”
An environmentalist, Professor Oladipo Olukayode, who noted that the kind of hot weather predicted by NIMET usually causes meningitis and other heat-related diseases in Northern Nigeria, maintained that the weather across the country remains normal, unless the hotness continued till next month.
“Normally, after the hammatan the months of March and April are usually very hot. That is the major cause of meningitis in the Northern part of the country. But if it exceeds March and April, then we are in trouble,” said Prof Oladipo.
According to NIMET, due to the long persistence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the current warming would continue beyond 2100, even when the emission of greenhouse gases are reduced.
NIMET had advised the country to adopt adaptation strategies and engage in climate resilient practices to cope with the unsavoury developments associated with extreme weather.
