President of COP22, Salaheddine Mezouar, has said that the COP in Marrakech next month will be a union of decision and action. He made the submission at a pre-COP meeting of ministers that held recently in Morocco.
Moroccan Foreign Minister and COP22 President, Salaheddine Mezouar. He says the COP will be a union of decision and action. Photo credit: AFP/Fadel Senna
More than 80 ministers from different countries and over 400 politicians and civilians gathered for the pre-COP Ministerial conference, which took place on 18-19 October.
In his opening address, Mr Mezouar, confirmed that COP22 would be a union of decision and action, indicating that the rapid entry into force of the Paris Agreement, while desirable, is not an end in itself, but only a prelude to its practical implementation.
Mr. Mezouar drew attention to three major issues concerning sustainable development: the need to promote access to clean, modern energy sources; the need to develop economically dynamic, resilient, and inclusive cities; and the need to strengthen the resilience and productivity of agriculture.
Moreover, the President of COP22 stressed that the event was based on three major pillars: ratification of the Paris Agreement by as many parties as possible prior to COP22; the swift implementation of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs); and the mobilisation of governments and non-governmental players in order to institutionalise the framework of Global Climate Action.
Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), at the public presentation of Nigeria Labour Congress’ Climate Change Policy in Abuja on Monday (24 October 2016), lauds the group for placing due premium on climate change and seeking ways to contribute to the tackling of the crisis on the factory floors and in the wider political space
Nnimmo Bassey at the public presentation of Nigeria Labour Congress’ Climate Change Policy in Abuja
The climate change phenomenon affects all humanity and the planet. It is a cross-cutting crisis that has deep implications for our way of life and for how and where we work. Climate change is a social, environmental and ecological justice issue. It is also an issue of gender, political and economic domination wherein those that contribute the least to the problem are the most affected and it is the victims that are increasingly showing more ambition towards tackling the crisis. This realisation urges us not to see the demand for system change as a mere slogan but as a key framing of the fundamental path to attaining climate justice.
The big challenge here is that getting involved in pressing for climate action may sometimes appear to go against the grain of the routine labour concerns of wages and job security. Keeping in mind the fact that climate change impacts do not differentiate between workers and non-workers, we cannot overemphasis the fact that labour activism must necessarily go beyond work tenure, wages and privileges. In fact, climate action is a major way that labour unions can retain relevance in a world facing dramatic and unyielding social, climate and environmental change. Labour’s climate change slogan “No jobs on a dead planet” speaks very clearly about the overarching understanding that demands mobilisations for action.
Climate impacts are already with us. And they are intensifying: floods, sea level rise, droughts, desertification, heat waves, water stress and disappearing water bodies, including Lake Chad.
Responses have been mostly on two tracks: adaptation and mitigation. Both require finance and in many cases technology. Climate finance and technology transfer are essential for serious climate action. The demand for these cannot be seen as charity or philanthropy, but on the basis of equity, historical responsibility and as reparation or settlement of climate or ecological debt. This can also be approached on the basis of polluter pays principle. This principle has already kicked in here with regard to the clean-up of Ogoni environment where the funds for the environmental assessment came from the polluter and the clean-up itself will be similarly funded.
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) must be applauded for placing due premium on climate change and seeking ways to contribute to the tackling of the crisis on the factory floors and in the wider political space. At a time when other sectors of the economy are yet to place the needed premium on finding solutions to the challenge, NLC has taken the bold step of coming forward with a Climate Change Policy.
Politicians cannot effectively tackle the climate crisis alone. The environmental and climate movements cannot do it alone. The fusion of forces requires a fresh understanding of solidarity and conjoined interests.
The NLC has shown over the years that its vision for workers includes the place of workers in community of citizens of our nation. Labour has been in the fore front of the struggles for liberties, democracy and sundry rights in our nation. With that pedigree, it would have been tragic if the NLC did not take a bold stand on this major threat that has both local and global manifestations. Labour has the onerous responsibility to make climate change action and clean jobs central collective bargaining planks.
Climate Deniers
It is well known that while businesses and corporations have known of the threat of climate change some of them have invested heavily in sowing doubts about the crisis and are in general denial that global warming has anthropogenic roots. Among the major climate deniers are transnational oil companies and it does appear that the main reason for blocking or blunting efforts to tackle the menace has been bids to lock in dependence on fossil fuels and by so doing secure their profit margin while maintaining a short-term vision that does not worry about the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
Climate denial has powerfully impacted climate negotiations and actions. The short history of climate negotiations makes this clear. The major Kyoto Protocol of 1997 placed premium on the foundational justice premise of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR). Informing that principle is the fact that although humans have caused climate change, some nations are far more responsible for the situation than others. That reality led to the creation of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries, with the Annex 1 nations being the rich industrialised and highly polluting nations who have already utilised a huge chunk of the carbon budget. The Kyoto Protocol required that countries agree to binding emissions reduction levels – by which they would do their fair share of emissions cut as determined by science, in order to keep global temperature increases within reasonable limits.
From the 15th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC held in Copenhagen, the world shifted from binding emissions reduction and adopted the voluntary pledge and review system. This was concretised in the much-celebrated Paris Agreement reached at COP21. Now, countries can do literally as they please. It has been seen already that if all the countries, including Nigeria, do all they say they would do as contained in their NDCs, the world would be on track for over 4oC temperature change within the Century. Keeping in mind that Africa experiences higher average temperatures than the global average the levels of temperature increase being foreseen would mean a roasting of Africa.
Climate and the World of Work
Let us look at some of the consequences of climate inaction on the World of Work. First of all, we must all agree that it is workers that are called upon to provide emergency responses when there are natural or manmade catastrophes – whether these are floods, fires or conflicts arising from these and others. It is thus in the worker’s interest for action to be taken to avert such avoidable calamities.
The major driver of global warming is known to be the burning of fossil fuels- oil, gas and coal. In Nigeria, we literally burn raw natural gas through gas flaring. It has been estimated that up to 80-85 percent of known fossil fuels reserve is not burnable if we are to stand a 50 percent chance of keeping to 2 degrees Celsius temperature increase throughout this Century. This has been attested to by several authorities including the International Energy Agency, The World Bank and researchers at University College London. Has this realisation halted the search for and extraction of fossil fuels? No. Rather than stop searching for and exploiting these resources we are witnesses to extreme extraction including by deep sea drilling and hydraulic fracturing or fracking. The challenge facing the industry is that if the use of their products is discontinued they would be left with stranded assets and diminished profits. To keep profits rolling workers must keep drilling even if the planet burns.
Another form of extreme extraction is deep-sea drilling. Deep sea drilling besides yielding resources that should be left below the sea bed, exposes workers to very risky work conditions. Workers literally disappear in accidents such as the Deep Sea Horizon oil spill of 20 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico and the Chevron gas rig explosion of 16 January 2012 in the Funima field off the coast of Kolouama, Bayelsa State.
Fracking is known to heavily contaminate ground water with toxic chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing processes. The process is also said to be triggering earth tremors and earthquakes in some areas.
With sea level rise and freak storms, workers are exposed to hazardous conditions even as drilling rigs and platforms face increasing risks and sometimes get knocked over. Sea level rise is a real threat in Southern Nigeria, just as desertification is in the North. Indeed, Nigeria’s 853km coastline is so low lying that sea level rise and coastal erosion are already causing significant loss of land. We should add here that the industrial installations along our coastline stand at a great risk if climate action is not taken to strengthen and defend our coastline by means including sea walls and restoration of mangrove forests.
Deforestation is another phenomenon that must be stemmed as a way of fighting climate change. Our forests are challenged by illegal logging and by land-use changes, especially of replacing our forests with monoculture plantations. Forest cover is also lost to infrastructural developments. With our forest cover already down to less than 10 percent of what it used to be, the 260km superhighway that is proposed to run from Bakassi to Katsina Ala, ripping through pristine forests, and having 10 km right of way on both sides may well be the last nail to be hammered into the climate coffin in Nigeria. Labour has a duty to speak up on this matter. The infrastructural development would provide some jobs in the short term, but destroying such a huge swathe of pristine rain forest would extinguish existing livelihoods in forest dependent communities, diminish tourist potential of the territory, destroy wildlife habitats and general biodiversity. Significantly, it would mean the destruction of a major carbon sink in the region.
New Thinking, New Jobs
If fossil resources are kept in the ground, would this not lead to massive lay-off of workers around the world? Not likely if we act proactively.
Labour can play strategic roles in climate change responses, including by activating a global movement of workers that are actively ensuring that their pension funds are invested in climate friendly sectors. Labour can work towards training and retraining for the acquisition of new skills for jobs in the renewable energy sector, greening our infrastructure, retrofitting and other areas of the built environment. The fear of job losses that may arise from a shift from jobs that hurt the climate is, to a large extent, unfounded. The Trade Unions-led One Million Climate Jobs campaign, for example, gives ample reasons to see that we simply need a new mind-set and willingness to invest differently. According to the campaign, Climate jobs are jobs that lead directly to cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases, and so slow down climate change. For instance, workers who build wind farms replace power stations that burn coal or oil. Workers who insulate buildings reduce the oil and gas we burn. Bus drivers reduce the amount of oil we burn in cars.
The campaign also shows that one million climate jobs can be funded from recovered stolen funds and from other monies stashed away in tax havens.
The Green Labour Revolution
We have heard it said that Africa missed the first Green Revolution and so we need a new Green Revolution for the continent. The true revolution that we need is one that builds on our inherent diversity and resilience. In the area of agriculture, labour should be in the forefront of ensuring that our biodiversity is not eroded and that our farmers are not turned into share croppers or mere farm hands in monoculture wastelands. Labour must promote truly climate smart agriculture that is built on agro-ecology and not on genetically engineered crops that depend on toxic chemicals that endanger the health of farm workers and the environment. It is time give birth to a Green Labour Revolution. According to the frontline climate crusader, Naomi Klein, this sort of revolution would not only delink our economic system from the clutches for neoliberalism but would heal the planet in the process.
Dominant political and neo-liberal economic thought holds that through technological development we (humans) can fix whatever we break and destroy. This position is promoted by the rupturing of bonds between humans and Nature; with Nature being seen as an object to be transformed and/or commodified. This thinking has driven extreme extraction and dramatic transformation of Nature that has now thrown up new realities.
The protection of livelihoods will remain a key concern of Labour, but the reality of some workers being adversely affected by climate impacts and policies must necessarily be kept in view through provisions for a just transition to a climate-friendly economy.
Work sectors that must embrace just transitions to a low carbon economy include:
1) Power/energy sector
2) Agriculture
3) Infrastructure and construction
4) Waste management
5) Health
6) Mining
7) Land management
8) Industrialisation
9) Transportation
The launch of the Climate Policy must be followed by massive awareness creation on shop floors and board rooms. The capacity of workers must be enhanced through trainings so that the coming transitions will be beneficial rather than harmful to the workforce. The policy must also be seen as a tool for building bridges and for deep collaboration with citizens, movements and governments.
The solutions to complex problems are often so easy that they are overlooked or simply ignored. Real climate change actions require that
Emissions are cut at source and not offset through the various market mechanisms that can be equated to plea bargains where offenders are let off the hook by making some payments (and carrying on with the harmful activity)
Climate debt must be recognised and paid and this will cover for climate finance
The Rights of Nature is ensured and Nature is not traded as objects of trade, manipulation and transformation.
Consumption and waste is reduced. Promotion of local production and consumption is key
Vigorously promote and pursue climate cooling agro-ecological agriculture as opposed to climate hurting fossil/chemical dependent industrial agriculture.
Disaster occurs when hazards meet with vulnerability or unpreparedness. By launching a climate policy today, the NLC has shown that it will not wait to be taken unawares by climate change impacts. It is now the duty of NLC to encourage all labour organisations to urgently buy into this policy framework or draw up policies especially focussed on their areas of work.
As we said at the outset, government cannot tackle climate challenge on its own. The NDCs submitted to the UNFCCC are largely aspirational and require much commitment and tweaking to make it effectively operational. Labour can provide the push that politicians often need to gain momentum towards actions. This is the time for a much needed Green Labour Revolution and the environmental movement is ready to join forces for this to happen for the good of our peoples and the planet.
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.
Species of the gorillas found only in Nigeria and Cameroon forests are at risk of extinction, as Nigeria’s wildlife is threatened. Photo credit: Christophe Courteau / NPL, via Minden Pictures
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.
“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.”
Participants at the Validation Workshop on the National Policy on the Environment
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.
Latest advancement in science and technology. A report, “Global Lead Paint Report”, released this week by the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN), found that many decorative paints sold in over 40 low- and middle-income countries where studies have been conducted contained dangerous levels of lead, sometimes in direct violation of national regulation.
Dr. Sara Brosché, IPEN’s Global Lead Paint Elimination Campaign Manager
“The health impacts of lead exposure on young children’s brains are lifelong, irreversible and untreatable,” said Leslie Adogame, Executive Director, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development – SRADev Nigeria. “We are limiting our children and our nation’s future intellectual development even though safe and effective alternatives are already in use and widely available in Nigeria. We must reduce this critical source of lead exposure to young children.”
“Continued use of lead paint is a primary source of childhood lead exposure,” said Dr. Sara Brosché, IPEN’s Global Lead Paint Elimination Campaign Manager. “Children – especially those under six years of age – ingest or inhale lead through exposure to dust or soil contaminated with lead-based paint and normal hand-to-mouth behavior or when they chew on toys, household furniture or other articles painted with lead paint. Governments should set mandatory limits on lead in paint, but paint companies do not need to wait for regulation; they can and should act now.”
In a statement prepared for this year’s ILPPWA, Dr Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health for the World Health Organistion (WHO) said: “Exposure to lead poses a significant hazard to human health, especially for children. . .There is no need to add lead to paint – safer alternative chemicals can be used. The best way to ensure the availability of lead-safe paint is for countries to put in place laws, regulations or mandatory standards that prohibit the manufacture, import, export, sale or use of lead paint.”
A study of new household paints sold in Lagos carried out in 2009 by SRADev Nigeria in collaboration with IPEN, found that many paints contained lead. All the 30 paint samples found lead in all 30 paint samples tested, which included 23 enamel paints and seven plastic paints. All samples had lead concentrations higher than the permitted lead levels for paints (that is far beyond the recommended limit of 90 ppm).
Out of the 10 developing countries from where paint samples were collected and analysed for total lead contents, Nigeria paints showed highest percentage of samples containing more than 90 ppm of lead followed by Tanzania, Mexico, South Africa, Belarus, Senegal and values more than 600 ppm were even found (100% of the samples). SRADev Nigeria in a recent study in August-September 2016 sampled another 60 paints in Lagos under the UNEP IPEN led Africa Lead Paint Elimination Project and will be releasing the report shortly.
Despite this alarming situation, Nigeria has no official standard or legally enforceable limit for lead in paint till date, disclosed Adogame, adding that the public is at the mercy of paint manufacturers whereas, the Nigerian paint market is the gate way to West African paint industry.
He pointed out that, in May 2009, at the 2nd International Conference on Chemicals Management, Nigeria was among over 100 countries that endorsed a Global Partnership to Eliminate Lead from Paint. Most highly industrial countries adopted laws or regulations to control the lead content of decorative paints – the paints used on the interiors and exteriors of homes, schools, and other child-occupied facilities – beginning in the 1970s and 1980s. The strictest standard, 90 parts per million (ppm) total lead content in decorative paint, is common in many countries, including the Philippines, Nepal and the United States of America.
The WHO calls lead paint “a major flashpoint” for children’s potential lead poisoning and says that “since the phase-out of leaded petrol, lead paint is one of the largest sources of exposure to lead in children.” Children are exposed to lead, when painted surfaces deteriorate over time and contaminate household dust and soils. Children, ages 0-6, engaging in normal hand-to-mouth behaviors are most at risk of damage to their intelligence and mental development from exposure to lead dust and soil.
When children are exposed to lead, it tends to decrease their performance in school and their lifelong productivity as part of the national labor force. A recent study investigated the economic impact of childhood lead exposure on national economies and estimated a total cumulative loss of $977 billion international dollars per year for all low- and middle-income countries. The estimated economic loss in Africa is $134.7 or 4.03% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Paint manufacturers, paint industry trade associations and paint ingredient vendors in Nigeria should take voluntary action immediately to eliminate lead from all paints, with decorative and other paints used in and around homes and schools as a priority,” said Leslie Adogame. Ethical manufacturers need not wait for government controls before they act. National, regional and international paint industry trade associations should send clear and strong signals to their members that now is the time to end all manufacture and sale of lead paints.
The event will involve holding a public outreach to paints makers and sellers/marketers in Mushin, Lagos on the dangers lead use in paint pose to children and pregnant women especially and the available alternatives. The event will also intimate them on the findings of about 60 paints samples recently analysed from the Lagos markets and government’s upcoming regulation and certification on the dangers of lead in paint towards 2020 phase out target.
The Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), a pioneering coalition of companies from across the global shipping industry, has set out what it believes are the required immediate actions for creating a framework to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping.
Ian Petty, General Manager, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative
The announcement comes ahead of the landmark Marine Environmental Committee Meeting (MEPC 70, 24th – 28th October), where the SSI believes that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and all organisations and member states represented at MEPC must demonstrate a commitment to the Paris Agreement’s objective of keeping global warming below two degrees. This can be achieved by adopting a detailed IMO roadmap for establishing shipping’s ‘fair share’ of global emission reductions to be decided on at MEPC 70.
IMO’s “fair share” discussions should lead to the swift establishment of reduction targets, titled “Intended IMO Determined Contributions”, which should be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to align IMO’s work with that of the UNFCCC. Defining shipping’s “fair share” of CO2 reductions must be balanced between the required ambition to deliver on the Paris Agreement, and the need to be equitable and affordable for the industry, as well as enforceable on a global basis to ensure change.
The SSI also believes that the baseline for setting emissions reduction targets should be founded upon data from the IMO’s third Greenhouse Gas (GHG) study (2014), and not linked to ongoing data collection and analysis from a global Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) scheme, which will only delay the urgent action that is required.
“Decarbonisation of the global economy is under way. We are now at a crossroads for the shipping industry where it must choose to embark on an accelerated innovation pathway to ensure its long-term relevance as the backbone of global commerce,” said Ian Petty, General Manager, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative.
“The industry cannot achieve this alone through enhanced efficiency. It needs help from legislators to create a level global playing field, which will help incentivise the much-needed innovation in the industry. A minimum requirement at the forthcoming MEPC 70 meeting is to adopt a process to define shipping’s fair share of CO2 emissions reductions.”
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.
Participants at the Women Assembly in Quito
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!”
The International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) last week in Quito became the latest of 46 partners to endorse the “Guiding Principles for City Climate Action Planning”, launched by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and partners at the 2015 Paris Climate Summit (COP-21).
ISOCARP members with copies of the publication in Quito
On 17 October 2016, UN-Habitat, ISOCARP and other endorsing partners launched the Spanish translation of the Guiding Principles at a networking event held at the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) that held at the Ecuadorian capital city.
The Guiding Principles, developed through a robust and open multi-stakeholder process, evaluates typical steps in the city-level climate action planning process in accordance with a proposed set of globally applicable principles. The session saw interventions from the Deputy Governor of Jakarta, Indonesia, the World Bank, ISOCARP, Cities Footprint Project, San Diego State University, UN-Habitat, and was moderated by Yunus Arikan of ICLEI.
Since the launch of the Guiding Principles, UN-Habitat and its partners have applied the Guiding Principles to climate planning process in Vilankulo, Mozambique, Glasgow, Scotland, Rajkot and India. These assessments have provided encouraging results for the initiative, also yielding positive reception from these cities. The initiative has provided useful recommendations to help the cities both improve their planning process and plan document.
It is the objective of UN-Habitat and its partners to increase the sample of city-level assessments using the Guiding Principles, as well as in Latin America. Therefore, the launch of the Spanish translation in Quito, according to the UN-Habitat, is very timely.
“This Initiative hopes to both develop a network of promising practice around the Guiding Principles and a minimum standard that city climate action plans should meet,” the body stated.
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.
Costa Rican, Christiana Figueres (right), was head of the UNFCCC when Parties adopted the Paris Climate Change Agreement last December in Paris, France. This year at the COP22 at Marrakech in Morocco, Mexican Patricia Espinosa, the new UNFCCC head, will oversee the COP22, CMP12 and CMA1. Ahead of the 2016 COP, Uruguay and Algeria are the 82nd and 83rd nations respectively to ratify the global climate pact
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:
Patricia Espinosa after her lecture at the University of Oviedo in Spain
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 11th 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.
