Nigeria’s wildlife reserve is facing threat of depletion due to continued illegal hunting and smuggling, thus denying the country huge revenue in tourism, as well as putting exotic flora and fauna at risk of extinction.

Lamenting the extent of damage on Nigeria’s wildlife, the Lagos Office of the Federal Ministry of Environment said in a recent publication: “The booming illegal trade in wildlife products is eroding the earth’s precious biodiversity, robbing us of our natural heritage and pushing whole species towards extinction, as well as undermining economies, fueling organised crime and feeding corruption and insecurity across the globe.”

Poachers with sophisticated weapons are said to have managed to enter protected areas and sanctuaries, killing even endangered animals like the African wild dogs, cheetah, giraffe, and antelopes.

Also threatened are the Cross River gorilla, the drill, and a number of smaller guenons that are found only in Nigeria and Cameroon forests.

No fewer than 100,000 elephants are believed to have been killed by poachers within the African continent in the last three years and many of them in Nigeria.

The use of wildlife body parts in making expensive fashion materials and accessories, such as jewelries, shoes, belts, bracelets, bags and others, is one major reason for the large wildlife trade, which is considered the fourth most lucrative global crime after drugs, human and arms, with annual trade value of between $5 billion and $20 billion, based on the publication by the Nigeria Ministry of Environment.

To check this ugly trend in Nigeria, experts say, the masses should not only guard their forests and government protected areas in their communities against poachers, but also go a step further by rejecting fashion accessories that are made of body parts of wild plants and animals.

Director Forestry Department of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr. Elizabeth Ekhibewele, who regretted that visits to important wildlife spots revealed extensive depletion of wild animals, which she said signaled a great loss to the government and the communities. According to her, such parks and sanctuaries used to flourish with assorted exotic organisms such as zebra, elephants, and gorillas.

“We visited a wildlife park and I wept. It was virtually empty. Poachers go to the bush, they kill all animals. They kill pregnant elephants, kill young elephants. They go to the bush, they kill any mammal. They are not thinking of the future. As far as they are concerned, it is the money,” she lamented.

Stressing that illegal wild life traffickers succeed because they have collaborators in the affected communities, Dr. Ekhibewele further explained that the Nigerian government is not completely banning trade on wildlife, but wants it to be done in a sustainable manner that benefits everybody.

“We are not saying that wildlife should not be traded on at all, we say let it be done in a sustainable manner. Wild life trade must be managed; it must be governed. When the trade is legal, it must follow the procedure. Even in your house, if you want to sell something, you don’t sell everything. You select the good ones and leave the rest. That is also applicable to wildlife. Otherwise you just wake up one day and observe that the organisms have all gone into extinction.

“The forests and its wild animals and plants do not belong to us. We inherited them. We should also not destroy them to benefit our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. That is the awareness we are creating.”

Pride in the choice of fashion fabrics and accessories especially by among young and averagely aged women, is pointed as a setback to the fight against illegal trade in endangered species.

These women as well as some fashionable men can go to any length to ensure their outfits outshine those of others at occasions.

To achieve their aim, they go for very expensive necklaces like those made of ivory from elephant, as well as shoes and others that are made of the scales of crocodiles and other wild animals.

A young woman, Mary Williams, who works in a government establishment, parades an animal skinned bag, worth over N500,000.

She said, “I just like looking good. Some of these things, I buy them abroad. They cost a fortune in Nigerian shops, if at all you will see them. Though it is expensive, you just need it to compliment your status.”

However, given the hardship in the country, most of the “big ladies”, reportedly go for fashion materials and accessories, made from refined animal materials.

“Original leathers are very expensive, so most women go for bags and shoes that are made of refined animal skins and parts. But, if there is money, I personally would go for the original leather. But I just make do with what is available,” remarked Mrs. Ifeyinwa Ojiego, a Lagos resident.

A campaigner on wildlife protection, said that young people, especially ladies, should begin to overlook bags, belt, shoes and others, that are made of wildlife skins and scales, to discourage the producers of such accessories.

“For the young ladies who want to be Miss Nigeria, Miss Universe and others, you don’t have to wear leathers of crocodile skin before you are beautiful and important. The Nigerian fabrics like the Ankara look very astonishing and can be designed into different styles, good enough for the best occasion in the world.”

The campaigner stated that the time has come for all to start acting to protect wildlife, not just by making speeches at workshops and seminars.

Her words: “It is time to take the right decision. Not just to say no illegal wild life trade only by speech but taking little action.

“For the children, there are basic actions that you can take. Start as little as caring for the environment where you are. If they bring the kind of bush meat that is on the verge of extinction, reject it. For the regulatory bodies, they have the mandate to work and push so that there is no longer illegal trafficking of wild life.”

Many others believe that it is high time that Nigerian masses showed greater commitment in their support towards protecting the country’s wildlife reserve.

They said this support is needed now more than ever before that the country has launched a new national re-orientation campaign called “Change begins with me” which, among other things, enjoins every Nigerian to show utmost patriotism to his or her fatherland, to check criminality, corruption and build the economy.

The patronage of fashion materials that are made from skins of goats, cows and other domestic animals, is required from the masses to accelerate growth of the manufacturing sector and at the same time protect endangered animals.

According to the chairman, Nigeria Tanners Council, NTC Alhaji Lawan Sule Garo, Nigeria has among the highest quality hides and skin in the world, especially, the skin-red leather made from goats. He said all that is needed is government support to take the industry to the next level.

“There is a need for government to encourage both local and foreign investors to establish manufacturing companies that would be readily available to use processed leather to produce high quality goods such as shoes, bags and belts, which are imported from Europe and North America.

“We have reached the peak in manufacturing top leather. We can compete with developed countries. What we need now is go to the next level, and that is production of shoes, belts, bags and other products using leather as raw material. Tannery industry remains one of the oldest industries in Nigeria and has continued to generate employment for old and young, particularly, in the north-west part of Nigeria. Currently, Kano State has about 20 functional tannery firms, the largest and most efficient industry, with over 25,000 employed.”

Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Segun Awolowo, who also called for government support to fully develop the country’s leather industry, had announced that Nigeria exports hide and skin worth $800 million annually.

“Even with its touted climb in the economy’s ladder as Nigeria’s second foreign exchange earner, the leather industry still faces enormous challenge. There is the need for the Federal Government to inject adequate resources to stabilise the sector as well provide an enabling environment for manufacturers and investors in the industry to thrive,” he said.

Though majority of Nigeria’s hides and skins tend to come from cow and goat, wild animals and plants are reportedly being killed for their skins and they include crocodile, buffalo, elephant and zebra, all prohibited by the Convention for International Trade on Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), that the country is signatory to.

Attitudinal change towards embracing locally-made goods and services should be adopted. Skins from goats which are sustainable should be promoted, through grants to farmers and to investors to build world-class tannery and leather industries.

By Innocent Onoh

“As we strive to validate the draft Policy, we must ensure that all existing sub-sectoral policies are subsumed into the new National Environmental Policy. This way, the environmental sector will be driven by a single policy which the sub-sectors will develop their strategies from the new Policy.”

Those were words of advice by Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, to a gathering of stakeholders last Thursday in Abuja while formally opening a two-day Validation Workshop on the National Policy on the Environment (NPE).

As Nigeria sets out to review the 17-year-old NPE, the minister justified the move, saying that many emerging environmental issues have now become the main challenges at global, regional and national levels. He singled out climate change as one of the most important of these evolving topics.

He listed services that take cognisance of these issues and will enable Nigeria to follow the path of sustainable development to include:

• Remediation of environmental pollution, such as Ogoniland clean-up
• Revitalisation of the Lake Chad water resources to bring the basin back to life for humsn survival and conflict reduction
• Controlling soil erosion in the south-eastern parts of the country through the implementation of NewMap
• Afforestation
• Development of renewable energy initiative including the Jatroha initiative.

His words: “The challenges of environmental management for sustainable development in the country requires all stakeholders coming to work together in partnesrships to tackle these problems. All hands must therefore be on deck to promote the mainstreaming of environmental sustainability in our socio-economic development process.”

According to him, development will not be meaningful if it increases the nation’s vulnerability to environmental impacts.

His words: “If a nation’s environmental foundations are depleted, its economy may decline, its social fabric may deteriorate, and its political structure may even be affected. Today, environmental degradation has become a significant source of economic loss and stress in the lives of Nigerians.

“The major challenge is to improve our approach to the management of the environment by adopting sustainable concepts to increase productivity and livelihoods. It is also imperative that we institutionalise and strengthen capabilities for sustainable environmenta governance in order to contribute to the achievement of economic development, security and poverty reduction in a sustainable manner.”

Pa Lamin Beyai, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Nigeria Country Director, described the NPE as a guide to action in regulatory reform, programmes, and projects for environmental conservation, reviews and enactment of legislation, at the Federal, State, and Local Government levels.

In a goodwill message, he stated: “We live in a complex environment, which is a life supporting system for human survival. While a properly managed environment can be geared towards productive requirements, a poorly managed one could easily threaten human survival.

“So far, the known drivers of environmental degradation are population growth, inappropriate technology and consumption choices, and poverty. Other drivers include lack of clarity or enforcement of rights of access, and use of environmental resources. This policy becomes handy in filling that gap.

“The newly launched SDGs neatly fuses human development and sustainable development. As we go through the validation meeting today, let us pay particular attention to the various sections of the policy that would enable us achieve our desired goals. I have no doubt that, together we can promote and build a sustainable and healthy environment for our existence.”

The 57-page document features nine chapters, and these include: Introduction; Situation Analysis; Goals, Objectives and Guiding Principles; Conservation and Management of Natural Resources; Waste and Environmental Pollution; Emerging Issues; Cross-sectoral Issues; Policy Implementation; and Implementation Strategies and Actions.

The Women Assembly brought together grassroot women, gender champions, representatives from civil society, academia, international organisations and UN agencies to discuss the empowerment of women, gender equality and the New Urban Agenda.

The daylong event that held a week ago at Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador was organised by the Huairou Commission in collaboration with UN Women and UN-Habitat and addressed opportunities for empowerment of women and increased gender equality through the New Urban Agenda. As the only male speaker during the day, Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, encouraged the participants to implement the New Urban Agenda around the world: “We have still not achieved true gender equality on any front, in any city. We still have work to do.

Jan Peterson, Chair of Huairou Commission, emphasised: “Women’s Rights are about implementation on the ground, in our cities.”

Linking the New Urban Agenda with the Agenda 2030, Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, brought attention to the inclusion of transformative change regarding gender relations, sexual and reproductive rights and the elimination of violence against women as important issues in the New Urban Agenda. Now the implementation must make sure no one is left behind.

In the afternoon, nine breakout sessions discussed diverse issues such as safer cities, land and property rights, resilience and climate change, post conflict and migration, rural-urban linkages, political participation, economic empowerment and urban planning. Some of the recommendations from the participants include:

• Women and girls are essential agents of change to create safe cities free of violence against women and girls.
• The right to adequate housing should be incorporated into national laws.
• Advocacy for equal rights of women and men in land and housing ownership.
• Promotion of women’s rights to the city.
• Decentralisation with local participation that include women.
• Women are key in building back a better society after conflict and to avoid resurfacing of conflict.

Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat, assured the participants in the Women Assembly that UN-Habitat is committed to work for increased gender equality and encouraged everyone to look towards the future. What change do we want to see in the next 20 years, before Habitat IV?

She stated: “Teamwork and leadership are needed to implement the New Urban Agenda as a people led process to achieve change.”

Ana Falu, co-chair of the Advisory Group on Gender Issues to UN-Habitat, encourage the participants to continue during Habitat III to engender the New Urban Agenda.

Towards the closing of the event, Pamela Ransom, a participant, exclaimed: “I have never seen such a diverse group of powerful women together in one room as in this Women’s Assembly!”

Algeria and Uruguay have deposited their instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Both nations made the deposition on Friday, 21 October 2016.

It brings the number of Parties that have ratified the Paris Agreement at 83 States – Uruguay was 82nd while Algeria was 83rd – out of 197 Parties to the Convention.

On 5 October 2016, the threshold for entry into force of the Paris Agreement was achieved. The Paris Agreement will enter into force on 4 November 2016. The first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1) will take place in Marrakech in conjunction with COP22 (22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC) and CMP12 (12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol).

According to the UNFCCC, only Parties to the Agreement with valid credentials will be able to participate in the adoption of decisions at CMA1.

At the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21), held last December in Paris, France, the Parties adopted the Paris Climate Change Agreement under the UNFCCC.

The Agreement was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 at a high-level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary General in New York. At that ceremony, 174 States and the European Union signed the agreement and 15 States also deposited their instruments of ratification.

The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake take ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.

To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.

President Muhammadu Buhari promised in New York that Nigeria would deposit its instruments of ratification with the UN before COP22 scheduled to hold in Marrakech, Morocco in November.

At two separate forums held recently – a presentation at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Oviedo in Spain, and an acceptance speech delivered while receiving the 2016 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation at a ceremony presided by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain – Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa, described the Paris Agreement as a powerful signal of hope for a world where conflicts, humanitarian crisis and pessimism about economic prospects persist. She also lists the features of the climate pact. Excerpts:

Your majesties King Felipe and Queen Letizia, today is a special day that invites us to pause and reflect about the present and the future. And my reflection today about the Paris Agreement, the path towards its adoption and the next steps, bring me hope.

Indeed, the Paris Agreement is our gift of hope. If I may, today I would like to share this gift with Her Highness the Princess of Asturias, Doña Leonor, who will soon celebrate her 11^th birthday, and with all the children of the world. Today, we have in our hands the tools to work together and build not only a better future, but also a safe and sustainable present for our children and the children of all.

The Paris Agreement is a powerful signal of hope for a world where conflicts, humanitarian crisis and pessimism about economic prospects persist. The spirit of solidarity and political will to preserve our planet has continued this year.

Indeed, last week in Kigali, governments agreed to phase down HFCs, the powerful greenhouse gasses used for refrigeration and air conditioning. And just some days before, an international agreement to reduce emissions from international aviation was reached.

And of course, the ratification of the Paris Agreement in a record-breaking time allows its entry into force before the climate change conference in Marrakech in November.

The Paris Agreement is truly an agenda to transform our model of growth and development. Today, I would like to share with you some reflections about the importance of this agreement for all people in the world.

I would like to underline three characteristics of Paris Agreement.

The first one is the long-term goal in the agreement. In Paris, governments committed to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, and as close to 1.5 degrees C as possible. They also included a goal of climate neutrality in the middle of the century. This means by that time, human emissions – from electricity generation, from transportation, from manufacturing, from agriculture, and from deforestation and our management of natural resources – can be absorbed by nature.

The difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees of warming may seem an insignificant goal considering that we experience much larger temperature variations every day. But when applied at a planetary scale, the impacts from a half a degree of warming are very significant.

From increased heat waves and sea level rise to reduced water availability and crop yield, every half a degree of warming implies much more devastating impacts and natural catastrophes than those we already face. In fact, the difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees may be the existence of some small island states.

For example, this temperature rise would cause the loss of two thirds of habitable land in the Seychelles. Also, limiting atmospheric warming as close as possible to 1.5 degrees would reduce negative impacts on 44 low-lying islands and coastal countries. In Spain, two degrees of warming would imply long droughts and longer heat waves, both phenomena would impact public health, food security and the economy.

The second characteristic that makes the Paris Agreement extraordinary is its universality. For the first time, all countries recognize their responsibility in fighting climate change. Without any doubt, the Paris Agreement sets obligations for developed and developing countries that must be fulfilled, and all of them without any exception recognize they must make efforts in this fight.

This was clear through the 190 plans that countries submitted before Paris, containing their intended contributions per their capacities and the challenges they face at the national level.

This means that today, in every corner of this planet, a commitment exists to reduce and avoid carbon emissions. This signifies a promise of hope for a future environment that allows stable growth for all.

Just months after submitting their initial contributions, some countries have even reviewing them to reinforce their goals. Numerous examples prove that climate action is not in contradiction with economic growth. On the contrary, many actions against climate change help achieve economic and social growth.

The third amazing characteristic of the Paris Agreement is its recognition of the role non-State actors have in the necessary, deep transformation – private sector, subnational and local governments, artists, scientists and many civil society groups and, in the end, each person.

It is a document negotiated and adopted by governments, but governments alone can’t fulfil the commitments it includes.

Increasing numbers of cities are moving to cleaner energy, reporting their emissions and investing in resilient infrastructure. Businesses are turning to efficient operations, sustainable supply chains and low-emission products. Investors are more and more looking to renewable energy, green bonds and assets that report their climate footprint to ensure stable, long-term returns.

I invite everyone to go to our NAZCA online climate action zone that documents this amazing dynamic of climate mobilisation.

This dynamic seeks to improve people’s wellbeing. Building resilient communities will protect lives, improve health, contribute to food security and fight poverty. In the end, it provides stability.

The Paris Agreement together with the Sustainable Development Goals also adopted last year are the pillars of a new model for development where climate and sustainability considerations are cornerstones that protect our common house and create opportunities for all.

The Paris Agreement is more than an agreement among States, it is an agenda for transforming the future of our planet and for future generations. Every person must be part of this great transformation.

Today, I invite you to examine your lives and your futures. And I ask you to determine how you can help accelerate this transformation.

By acting on climate change today, we will protect the progress our parents achieved. We will secure a better future for ourselves and we will transform growth and development for the good of generations to come. We must find the way of transforming our communities’ ways of life and making our consumer choices more climate friendly.

Together, we can be the force for good we see so clearly in the transformative Paris Agreement.

The Pre-COP Ministerial Meeting in Marrakech came to a close on Thursday after two days of closed-door plenary sessions on final preparations for the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22), the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12), and the 1st Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1) to take place in Marrakech, November 7 to 18.

Chaired by Salahdeddine Mezouar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco and COP22 President; Segolene Royal, Minister of Environment of France and COP21 President; and Patricia Espinosa, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, the Pre-COP assembled delegations from more than 70 countries to achieve a common understanding of the state of negotiations ahead of COP22. The main areas of discussion covered the early entry into force of the Paris Agreement scheduled for November 4 and the holding of the first meeting of the Parties to the Agreement (CMA1) on November 15 during COP22.  The joint high-level segment of the COP, CMP and CMA would be convened immediately after the CMA1 opening, where all Parties will make their national statements.

The presence of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco, the UN Secretary-General and Heads of State and Government on that occasion will amplify the historic significance of the moment.

In addition, participants addressed the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the development of its rulebook, finance for climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries including a $100-billion-dollar-per-year roadmap proposal made by donor countries for climate finance by 2020, the issue of Loss and Damage as per the Warsaw Mechanism, capacity-building initiatives such as the Paris Committee on Capacity Building, the Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency and the NDC Partnership to strengthen and help countries implement their Nationally Determined Contributions(NFCs) to the global response to climate change. COP22 will include the Marrakech Call to Action, to be made during the high-level segment featuring Heads of State and Government on November 15.

The plenary sessions were rounded out by a discussion on the Global Climate Action Agenda led by the Moroccan and French High-Level Climate Champions, Hakima El Haite and Laurence Tubiana.

A series of thematic days (agriculture & food security, cities, energy, forests, business, oceans, transport, water, gender) focusing on accelerating and mobilising climate action by non-state Party actors including businesses, cities, sub-national governments and NGOs, will be held during COP22 with Gender Day on November 15, the Women’s Leader Summit, November 16 and the High-Level event on November 17 featuring the presentation of the Global Climate Action Agenda report.  The Moroccan Presidency intends to take stock during the conference with civil society and chart a common climate agenda.

Participants at the Pre-COP Ministerial meeting will return to the Ochre City in less than three weeks for COP22, November 7 to 18.