Three African nations being assisted by the European Union (EU) at the recently held UN climate change talks (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco shed light on their Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) status, in the light of the realisation of the Paris Agreement.
Dr Peter Tarfa, Director, Department of Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environment. He says the country needs a robust MRV process because of its huge GHG footprint, as well as its large economy and enormous population
At a side-event organised by the EU titled: “Preparation of African countries for Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) requirements under the Paris Agreement – Showcases and lessons learnt,” Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt showcased their commitment and achievements to developing MRV systems with support from the EU.
The side-event, which advocates for a greater effort to develop holistic and sustainable national MRV systems across African countries, featured discussions and presentations, which the organisers believed would inspire other African countries to launch their domestic MRV system to enable them meet the Paris Agreement requirements.
The Paris Agreement’s backbone is a transparency framework to track how countries are progressing on their commitments. Rules for how this framework will operate are essential for holding Parties accountable and for enhancing understanding among countries.
The Paris Agreement established a universal system of transparency for MRV, with built-in flexibility taking into account countries’ different capacities. This is based on the premise that effective MRV can help countries understand emissions sources and trends, design mitigation strategies, enhance credibility and take other policy actions.
At the side-event, AMCEN president and Minister of Environment of Egypt, Dr. Khaled Fahmy, described MRV as a very important issue in the balance between adaptation and mitigation.
“We are looking forward to a self-sustained MRV system among African countries,” he said, full of optimism during an opening remark.
Amina Mohammed, Nigeria’s Environment Minister, stated: “The political context is vital. There’s need to underscore the historic nature of the Paris Agreement. We are in Morocco today because we want to implement the ambition in Paris. The INDCs were key points in Paris, and the MRV is going to be key in keeping the momentum and keeping us on course and checking that we are not going astray every now and then.”
Hans Bergman, Head of Unit at the EU, said: “The MRV is very important in the UN process, and we consider it very important for countries to have a good MRV for the Paris Agreement. MRV systems can ensure ambitious gap, what we need to do to reach below 2oC objective. Nigeria, Ethiopia are being supported in this regard and we hope that other countries will strive to produce a good MRV.”
During the presentations session, each country spoke on ways being explored to curb emissions via various approaches (such as the NDCs) keeping in mind MRV strategies.
For instance, Sherif Abdul-Raheem, who is Director, Climate Change Department in the Egyptian Ministry of Environment, explored the country’s MRV status, saying that sustainable MRV system is essential for, among others, doing needs assessment.
Nigeria’s Peter Tarfa, Director in the Department of Climate Change of the Federal Ministry of Environment, disclosed that, due to the country’s huge GHG footprint, in the light of the fact that it has a large economy as well as population, “we therefore need a robust MRV process.”
According to him, the country’s MRV system is hinged on issues related to its Vision 20:2020 and National Policy on Climate Change documents.
Gebru Endelow, National Climate Change Negotiator of Ethiopia, gave a detailed account of his country’s climate change policy and programmes, saying that the country would embrace MRV systems in its processes toward implementing its NDC.
The gathering underlined the need to develop common rules, procedures and guidelines to enhance the UNFCCC’s current MRV system. Observers believe these guidelines are key to improving transparency, reporting and environmental integrity, but they must also provide developing countries with the flexibility needed to reflect their different capabilities and national circumstances.
Aggrieved ex-staffers from illnesses of the British America Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) have demanded that the Nigerian government penalise the company for inhuman treatment to workers in its Ibadan factory in Oyo State and compel it to compensate them for the impacts of the health hazards they now contend with.
L-R: Dismissed BATH workers now suffering various illnesses: Winsfon Ofulue, Dasilva Ayodeji, Awe Ayodele, Alabi Adekunle, and Folarin Shamsudeen
Seven of the company’s disengaged staff at a press briefing in Lagos on Tuesday November 23, 2016 said, among others, that they were exposed to raw tobacco leaves, worked in poorly-ventilated environment, suffered various illnesses and unceremoniously discharged from work due to the condition they found themselves.
Some of the ailments they suffer include high blood pressure, posterior and anterior rupture, asthma and chronic sinusitis.
Some of the ex-staffers are: Dasilva Ayodeji, Winston Ofulue, Awe Ayodele and Alabi Adekunle. Others are Folarin Shasudeen, Makinde Timothy, and Jokanola Folarin.
At the press briefing which had “BATN stop anti-labour practices in Nigeria!” as its theme, BATN ex-staff, Folarin Shamsudeen, explained that, due to the poor conditions of the tobacco company’s factory in Ibadan, he was exposed to tobacco harms that led to chronic sinusitis, high blood pressure and ingrown nail toe. He lamented that the company disengaged him when the situation degenerated.
Dasilva Ayodeji revealed that he could no longer work well due to the pressure of the work and had to depend on clutches to move.
The workers asked the Nigerian government to stand up for the workers’ rights just like the governments of other nations that had closed down tobacco firms did, adding that the Nigerian government should enforce laws that prohibit anti-labour practices by industries operating in the country.
Earlier, Dr. Akin Adebiyi, coordinator, National Tobacco Control Resource Group (NTCRG), said the press briefing was aimed at creating a platform for the workers to tell the world how working for BATN had obliterated their lives and how the company has failed to take responsibility for ill-health arising from exposure to tobacco dust and poor work conditions.
Adebiyi said that, statutorily, the worker should not be made to find out by himself the hazards to which he has been exposed to at his own expense. “It is the responsibility of the company to inform the staff what hazards they are exposed to. If BATN did not do this as these workers have explained, it is a failure on their part and they must take responsibility for it,” he stated.
In the same vein, Akinbode Oluwafemi, deputy executive director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said that the BATN infractions in Africa have continued to mount.
He explained that, in 2015, it was BATN complicity in the Ugandan bribery scandal which the BBC aired and Philip Morris International illicit cigarette imports into Nigeria between September 2015 and March 2016.
Oluwafemi noted that the ex-BATN staffers are real victims of the tobacco industry as, according to him, “they had believed BATN publicity stunt on how its factory in Ibadan would add to the local economy through so-called employment generation. But, alas! They are today victims of an industry that not only markets a lethal product, but also ensures those that it engages for work do not leave its employ in one piece.”
The Nigerian civil war shattered the lives, hopes and aspiration of millions of people, especially those from the Igbo tribe in South Eastern geopolitical zone of the country.
Mazi Simon Obong, a centenarian
But a good number of the war victims have been able to pick together the pieces of their lives, working exceeding hard to attain a great height of achievement.
One of them is Mazi Simon Obong from the remote town of Arochukwu, in Abia State, who is reputed for producing six university graduates, most of who are now gainfully employed.
The centenarian, now bed-ridden due to old age, achieved the feat when a greater percentage of people in his town of sojourn could not even send their children to high school, and never even bothered to educate the female children.
In-spite of this, the great grandfather, says he is hugely unfulfilled.
His greatest regret is the Nigerian Civil War, which drove him and his kindred out to the Cross River State rainforest, known then for its rich biodiversity, offering inhabitants wide range of fauna and flora for food, and providing perfect atmosphere for the thriving of agriculture and green growth.
“My children are capable of taking care of me. I eat whatever that I want to eat, but life is not about eating and drinking. It is about the things you could achieved with your God given talents and strength,” Obong who said he is a few years short of 100 remarked in a chat.
His wife had named their first dog after the war, “Ihe aha merem”, an Igbo phrase when translated means: “What the war did to me”.
The two and half year-old civil war in Nigeria which reportedly claimed the lives of between 500,000 and two million Biafran civilians who died mostly from starvation, had great impact on Arochukwu who, like others lived in parts of Cross River State after fleeing their homes, leaving behind their life’s earnings including houses, money, wares and farms.
Most of the survived war victims had reportedly scattered in different farming based remote villages in South East Nigeria, involving in hard labour to be able to earn a living and train their children.
When told to react to the plan by the Cross River State government to construct a 6 lane super highway passing through the state’s rain forest to link northern Nigeria, Mazi Obong who was recently decorated by the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia Diocese with the greatest award to a laity, said although he no longer have anything to do with Cross River State, the road project would have dangerous impact on the rich rainforest.
“Although I have not visited Cross River State since we left it as a result of the war, and may not know how the place is now, I am sure the project if executed would deplete the fortune of the rich rain forests. The forests used to flourish with assorted types of land and sea animals for food, such as periwinkle, crustacean, snail and other shell foods. Then, very early in the morning, our women would go to the forest to pick shell organisms and they returned with large quantities of them, which were sold to earn good living. Virgin forests supported the thriving of wild organisms, and after rain, you see large numbers of the organisms especially snails crawling about on the ground, trees and leaves.
“In terms of agriculture, many of us had large plantations of cocoa, plantain and other highly economical crops, in addition to yam farms. But with this development, I believe the forests would change from what they used to be, and would not be conducive for the thriving of the economical plants and animals,” he explained.
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State had insisted that there was no going back on plan to construct the super highway, saying measures have been put in place to cushion the environmental impact of the project, through an aggressive tree planting initiatives and preventing slum communities from emerging along the super highway corridor.
“The Cross River super highway is taking down less than 18,000 trees. Interestingly, the state has an aggressive plan to plant 500 million trees in this place and over a million have been planted already.
“I am taking the Atlantic coast closer to northern Nigeria, so that they can also have a direct access to the water front,” he told journalists during the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, Morocco.
But the fear of Mazi Obong and others who feel concerned is that, the new trees being planted to cushion the effect of cutting part of the rain forest would not provide the kind of ambience as the natural vegetation, needed for the thriving of wild plants and animals.
The state government’s plan to construct the super highway on 35 metres corridor across 261 kilometers, has been graced by protests in which over 253,000 signatories were reportedly collected from 185 affected forest dependent communities and environment advocates.
Nigeria suffers serious depletion of its wildlife reserve, with most of the remaining exotic organisms, especially the critically endangered gorilla, found in Cross River State that holds nearly 70 percent of the country’s rainforest.
“The Cross River gorilla is classified endangered and the most threatened ape in Africa. Hunted almost to extinction, fewer than 300 Cross River gorillas survive in small mountainous area at the headwaters of the River straddling the border between Nigeria and Cameroon,” says a document.
Analyst feel the super highway may put further stress on the already critically endangered wild organisms in the Cross River State rainforest.
A World Bank top official has called on the government in Nigeria and others globally to reform their financial sectors to make it easier to lend to renewable energy development over fossil fuel.
John Roome, the World Bank Director on Climate Change
John Roome, who is the bank’s Director on Climate Change, made the call during a chat with Fellows of the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) to the just concluded United Nations climate change conference (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco.
He argued that discouraging lending for fossil fuel projects over renewable energy would help nations speedily implement their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
“Financial sectors could be reformed in order to make it easier for private banks to lend for renewable energy and to discourage them from lending to fossil fuel. That kind of measure would be effective I driving the renewable energy initiatives and end emission,” Roome said.
The NDCs are the pledges by countries on how they will cut greenhouse gas emission and for adaptation to the devastating impacts posed by climate change, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement of limiting earth’s temperature at 1.5 degrees centigrade, the minimum for people to be confortable on earth.
The World Bank director, who stated that as part of his bank’s action plan after last year’s UNFCCC COP21 in Paris, France, it resolved to lend only to renewable energy projects and adaptation programmes that have direct positive impact on the masses. He also called on nations to align their NDCs implementation with their overall development efforts, as the two go hand in hand.
In view of this, he said he was impressed with Nigeria’s NDC’s implementing plan which the President Mohammadu Buhari told the African Union Commission that it was mainstreamed into the country’s sustainable development efforts.
“From the World Bank perspective, after Paris we produced a Climate Action Plan that talked about how we were to implement our pledge to increase the share of climate benefits from 21 of our portfolio to 28 of our portfolio. With this, our objective is trying to reach $29 billion a year by 2020.
“One of the key underlining promises of that action plan was that we cannot separate climate action from development action. For us, it is clear, there is no way you can meet either the development goals for poverty alleviation and also address climate change simultaneously.
“And the climate action that you need to take on climate change, for example in solar renewable and putting in place climate smart agriculture are the same kind of action that you take to give the people access to electricity, water, tackling hunger and other necessities.
“So they are completely intertwined”.
He also said Nigeria is included among priority countries as the World Bank works to increase financial support to poor and fragile nations, warning that part of the criteria to accessing the fund would be to deploy it to climate related projects.
His words: “We are going to ask for more money and the objective is to try and increase the size of our fund by 50% so that we can have more money for poor countries, in particular the most fragile countries, especially in northern Nigeria. And some of the commitments that we have made when we get that money are that, we will focus on climate activities. So from our side, if we get supports from our donors, we will be able to step up our climate support.”
The World Bank official however observed that, considering the huge fund required to address climate change in line with Paris climate Agreement, the funds from the bank would not be enough, thus the need for private sector supports.
Again Roome lauded Nigeria for its plan to locally raise N20 billion with a Sovereign Green Bond, which it plans to launch in the first quarter of next year, to enable it start implementing its NDC.
“If you look at the total amount of money that is available in Nigeria, you compare it to the total need. It is not going to be enough. So, moving to the issue of green bond is an effective climate fund strategy. It is showing that national expenditure in Nigeria is used as effectively as possible. So that is a climate smart move,” he said.
While observing that this year’s COP was a huge success, Roome called on nations to be even more committed in their actions towards the Paris Agreement, adding that the world was running out of time due to the large scale devastation that may come if the necessary measures were not taken to immediately address climate change.
“The Paris Climate Agreement came into force faster than any international agreement. And we have seen progress this year. Countries are submitting their NDCs. But we have to know that the NDCs won’t take us anywhere near 2 degrees centigrade, even if they are all implemented. With the sense of urgency, there is no room for complacency. We should focus on action and implementation as well. That is the theme of this COP.
“This year’s cop, we went into big negotiations. The central activity almost shifted to side events, discussions and technical discussions. My sense is that the quality of technical discussions and engagements at this cop is even higher that it was in Paris. There were much more detailed conversations, much more material conversations. We saw people moving away from why it should be something to what are we going to do in future? I am very optimistic. I think the Moroccans did a very good job in putting everybody together for a fruitful deliberation.”
With 184 Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) under development, and only 19 having secured (partial) funding, a large gap remains at NAMA implementation level.
The NAMA status report
This is one of the findings of the Annual NAMA Status Report 2016 by Ecofys and the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), which was launched during the recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco.
Now that the historic Paris Agreement has entered into force, the two current themes for climate change mitigation are increasing ambition and moving toward implementation of countries’ climate action plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs.) Although the Paris Agreement does not explicitly mention NAMAs, it requests Parties to implement mitigation actions to achieve their overall mitigation objectives, as articulated in their NDCs. NAMAs can meet the needs of the Paris Agreement as implementing vehicles for NDCs, especially since they are designed to align with national development targets and low emission strategies, and provide the right level of transparency.
This 2016 Annual NAMA Status Report takes stock of how far NAMAs have come, looks back on the early beginnings of the NAMA concept, where we are now in terms of development, implementation and finance, and attempts a glance at the future of NAMAs in a new climate regime.
With a view to the many NAMAs that are still looking for financing, the report captures the experience and expectations of representatives of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank related to NAMA financing.
Three common themes emerge from the contributions:
The aforementioned financiers are generally open to financing NAMAs if certain funding requirements are met.
Financiers offer support to countries to transform their NAMA proposals into fundable proposals that meet the respective funding requirements.
The most important financiers’ funding requirement is country ownership. However, it is not sufficient if a national sector ministry or agency drives the NAMA development and approaches the respective financiers with a funding request; the communication channel chosen to convey such a request is crucial.
The report concludes that the concept behind NAMAs still holds great value and that NAMAs can continue to play an important role in reaching common climate goals.
As the Mexican tourist city of Cancun gets set to host delegates to the 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD/COP 13) next month, the Arab Republic of Egypt is hoping to host the 14th edition of the global biodiversity talks.
Dr. Khaled Fahmy, the Egyptian Minister of Environment and President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)
At the recently concluded 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC/COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco, Egyptian officials told everyone that cared to listen that the country was the best destination for the biennial conference.
Indeed, Egypt is hoping to be the next African nation to host the CBD/COP, second to Kenya that hosted the event in May 2000.
To date, the COP to the CBD has held 12 ordinary meetings outside Montreal and one extraordinary meeting in Montreal, the seat of the COP’s secretariat.
Compared to only one meeting hosted by the African Group (Kenya in 2000), five meetings of the COP were held in Asia and Pacific region (and COP15 will be held in China in 2020), four meetings were held in Latin America and the Caribbean (including COP13 that will be held in Mexico in December 2016), and two meetings were held in Western Europe.
“The African Group hosted very few other global environmental conventions meetings compared to other regional groups,” stated Dr. Khaled Fahmy, the Egyptian Minister of Environment and President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), adding that, during the CBD/COP12 in South Korea last year, Egypt expressed its interest to host the CBD/COP14, which also entails the Nineth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, as well as the Third Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).
According to him, besides the Arab League, Egypt’s request to host the CBD/COP14 was endorsed by the Sixth Special Session of AMCEN last April. He pointed out that, if actualised, this will be the first CBD/COP held in the Arab region.
He expressed hope that the country’s offer to host the COP14 in Sharm El-Sheikh will be supported by Parties to the CBD when the venue is decided at the COP13 in Mexico next month.
He insisted that meetings of the COP should be held on the basis of regional rotation, adding that Egypt has the necessary capacities to fulfil the logistical, technical and financial requirements for hosting the COP.
His words: “An initial budget of approximately $7.5 million has been approved by the Government for preparation for hosting COP14. If Egypt is selected to host Cop14, the Government is committed to allocate the additional funds required on the basis of the Host Government Agreement.
“Egypt is uniquely positioned midway between Africa and Asia, with long coasts of the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Red sea in the east. The country is the home of a wide variety of ecosystems and terrestrial and aquatic lifeforms that contributes to its economy, supports human wellbeing and provides regulating and supporting services.
“Egypt contributed significantly to the negotiations that led to the adoption of the biodiversity convention and its two protocols on biodiversity and ABS. The country was also among the few countries selected to carry out country-level needs assessments to support the development of National Biodiversity Frameworks in the participating countries, and undertake a global programme on awareness building on issues arising from the UNEP International Technical Guidelines for Safety in Biotechnology adopted in Egypt.”
Biological diversity (or biodiversity) forms the foundation of life on earth, but scientists are worried by the fact that it is disappearing from the face of human activity. The losses are said to be due to a range of pressures driven by socio-economic drivers, including climate change.
In response to these concerns, governments negotiated the CBD to promote suatainable development thereby reducing biodiversity loss. The CBD is one of the three Rio Conventions (together with climate change and desertification conventions). It entered into force on December 29, 1993 and it has 196 Parties which constitute the Conference of the Parties (CBD/COP).
Several months after it opened an eight-lane road last July, Eko Atlantic City has unveiled its first completed residential building, tagged: the Eko Pearl Towers.
An impression of the Eko Pearl Towers
Eko Pearl Towers is a set of high-rise buildings, privately owned and developed by the Eko Pearl Construction Company. The development, which is situated about 500 meters away from the financial centre of Lagos on Eko Atlantic City, consists of five high rise residential towers, each topped with deluxe penthouse types, two and three bedroom luxurious apartments with a view of the Lagos coastline. Following the unveiling of the first tower, the Black Pearl, the second, tagged the Champagne Pearl, is scheduled to be completed in 2017.
The Eko Pearl Towers will range from 24 to 33 floors; comprising four apartments per floor, two apartments on the royal penthouse floors, a technical floor, terrace floor, a ground floor and a basement floor. Facilities at the new residential building include a pool, tennis court, squash court, fitness centre, meeting rooms, lounges and leisure areas suitable for families and professionals.
On-going developments by other clients in Eko Atlantic City include the Azuri Peninsula, the Eko Energy Estate and Alpha 1.
The Marina district is a residential and commercial hub in Eko Atlantic City. A pedestrian promenade encircles the Marina offering inspiring views in every direction, from the ocean-going yachts to the notable architecture.
Speaking on the development, the Vice Chairman, South Energyx Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Ronald Chagoury Jr., said the completion and unveiling of the Eko Pearl Towers marked a significant milestone for the Eko Atlantic project. “We are very excited to see the city come to life, with the first set of residents moving into the city and we look forward to the completion of other landmark projects within the city,” he said.
Eko Atlantic City is expected to provide homes to about 450,000 residents, and 300,000 commuters. It is a planned mixed-use city located on reclaimed land adjacent to Victoria Island in Lagos. The project began in 2003 as, according to the developers, a permanent solution to protect Bar Beach in Victoria Island from the effects of severe coastal erosion, and to safeguard Victoria Island from the threat of flooding.
Pan-African housing financer, Shelter Afrique, has unveiled its plans for Ivory Coast and francophone West Africa. Shelter Afrique officially signed a host country agreement with the Ivorian government in Abidjan on Thursday November 10, 2016. The agreement will see Shelter Afrique begin operations for francophone west and central Africa from their Abidjan base.
Managing Director of Shelter Afrique Mr. James Mugerwa
Speaking at the signing ceremony which was attended by senior management of the financier and the Minster of Foreign Affairs for Ivory Coast, the Managing Director of Shelter Afrique Mr. James Mugerwa, commended the Ivorian government for always being a willing partner, noting that Shelter Afrique had successfully hosted its Annual General Meeting in Abidjan in 2014.
He added that it was not incidental that Shelter Afrique chose Abidjan as its location.
He said: “Over the last two years, we have drafted and entered into a new strategy cycle for the years 2015-2020, a strategy that rests largely on three key pillars, re-consolidation; growth & diversification and social impact & market relevance. One of key activities is setting up regional offices and getting closer to the market.
“Our choice of Ivory Coast is a reflection of the central role this country and market plays in our strategy, and is our acknowledgment of the burgeoning economic strides the government has made. It is also an acknowledgment of the good relations and cooperation that we have enjoyed and continue to enjoy with the government.”
Shelter Afrique’s choice to locate its francophone business in Abidjan coincides with recent IMF reports that pin the West African nation as the fastest growing in Africa. This growth which was spurred on by a return to political stability following a period of conflict, an uptick in infrastructure spending and a burgeoning middle-class is making the country a prime location for investment.
The housing financier also revealed plans to open another regional office in Lusaka, Zambia bringing the total to three outposts, and also mentioned a plan to launch the regional office at a later time.
Speaking on behalf of the government, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Abdallah Albert Toikeusse Mabri, assured Shelter Afrique of continued government support and encouraged them to begin to view Ivory Coast as an extension of their corporate presence. Citing the return of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the minister relayed the government’s confidence that Shelter Afrique would find Abidjan a suitable base for its operations in the wider West and Central African region.
It is anticipated that the Abidjan office will serve Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Congo DRC, and Guinea Conakry.
Shelter Afrique is said to be the only pan-African finance institution that exclusively supports the development of the housing and real estate sector in Africa. A partnership of 44 African governments, the AfDB and the Africa Reinsurance Company, Shelter Afrique builds strategic partnerships and offers a host of products and related services to support the efficient delivery of affordable housing and commercial real estate.
Implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement received a welcome boost during the UN climate change talks (COP22) that held recently in Marrakech, Morocco with the launch of a new fund to help build mutual trust and confidence among countries.
GEF CEO and Chairperson, Naoko Ishii
The Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT), a new trust fund hosted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), was declared “open for business” by GEF CEO and Chairperson, Naoko Ishii, at the global summit.
“Increasing transparency and enhancing countries’ capacity for monitoring and evaluation are lynchpins for the Paris Agreement,” Ishii said. “The CBIT will allow us to see early action on the ground, and help countries scale up their efforts to deliver their national climate plans or NDCs.”
Ishii said she was “very happy that GEF was able to respond quickly to the request from Paris COP21 to establish the CBIT” and noted that a number of donors have already lined up to support the initiative. It is “equally important”, she said, that we have already received requests for support from developing countries, “which reflects the importance that many countries attach to this issue.”
Eleven donors have pledged more than $50 million to the CBIT, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Walloon Region (Belgium).
At the same time, the first set of projects has been approved by the GEF for implementation in Costa Rica, Kenya, and South Africa. Also, a global co-ordination platform that will share lessons learned and engage with partners to help deliver more country projects.
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: “This is yet another positive and progressive initiative launched here in Marrakesh that underlines the way donor countries are raising support for the climate action aspirations of developing ones”.
“Confidence and cooperation are going be key to the success of the Paris Climate Change Agreement – now and over the years and decades to come. This initiative supports these twin aims as the world looks to build a climate secure future,” she added.
Transparency is the foundation of the Paris agreement’s “ambition mechanism”, a unique way that allows countries to ratchet up their ambition. Regular global stock-takes evaluate whether the world is on track to limit warming to 2 or 1.5 degrees; countries can then submit more and more ambitious national climate plans (NDCs).
Many developing countries lack the capacity to effectively monitor and report their progress vis-à-vis national greenhouse gas emission reduction, and track progress made in their NDC implementation. They may also face challenges in getting credible information on adaptation and resilience to cope with the effects of climate change.
To help developing countries in their efforts to build institutional and technical capacity for enhanced transparency, Parties requested the GEF at COP 21 to support the establishment and operation of a Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT).
The CBIT Trust Fund is now operational, and the first set of projects has been approved for implementation.
Costa Rica’s project will enhance capacity for the nationwide climate actions inventory and further develop an MRV methodology framework. The efforts in Costa Rica are seen as models that may be shared with others in the region.
Kenya aims to strengthen national institutions for transparency-related activities. The project also seeks to enhance methodological frameworks for estimating land based emissions, which account for over 70% of Kenya’s greenhouse gas emissions and thus is a priority.
South Africa seeks to enhance capacity building and implementation of its National Climate System, through coordination with academic institutions to address capacity needs.
UK based Shell is facing fresh environmental claims in the London High Court from two Nigerian communities who have suffered following repeated large scale oil spills from the energy giant’s pipelines in the Niger Delta
Ibuu Creek polluted by an oil spill, in Okwuzi Community in Rivers State. Shell is facing fresh environmental claims in the London High Court from two Nigerian communities. Photo credit: Dandy Mgbenwa
The High Court in London, UK began to hear arguments during a four-day hearing that started on Monay, 21st November 2016 on whether the English Courts can hear two legal claims on behalf of over 40,000 Nigerians against Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) and its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC), for extensive environmental damage caused by oil pollution to two separate communities in the Niger Delta.
The first claim is being brought on behalf of 2,335 individuals from the Bille Kingdom of Nigeria who are mostly fishermen who claim their environment has been devastated by oil spills over the past five years.
The second claim is brought on behalf of the Ogale Community in Ogoniland which consists of roughly 40,000 people. The community has been subjected to repeated oil spills from Shell’s pipelines over a number of years which have still not been cleaned up.
The appalling levels of pollution the Ogale community was carefully documented by the United Nations Environment Programme in their 2011 report.
In March 2016, the Technology and Construction Court agreed that the two legal cases could proceed to the next stage through the London High Court, where the parent company, Royal Dutch Shell plc, is based.
Lawyers for the Nigerians communities argue that Royal Dutch Shell, who has its headquarters in the UK, controls and directs it’s Nigerian subsidiary and should ensure that its operations do not systematically pollute the environment.
Both Royal Dutch Shell and Shell Nigeria argue that the cases should be heard in Nigeria and not in the English Courts.
The two separate legal actions are being brought by law firm Leigh Day who represented the Bodo Community against Shell in an unprecedented environmental claim resulting in Shell agreeing to pay compensation package of £55 million to the Community and 15,600 Nigerian fishermen whose livelihoods had been destroyed by Shell’s oil pollution. However, hundreds of Niger Delta communities remain blighted by oil pollution.
Daniel Leader, partner in the International Group Claims team at Leigh Day, said: “Oil spills from Shell’s oil pipelines have blighted the lives of the thousands of Nigerians who live in Ogale and Bille. It is scandalous that five years after the UNEP Report Shell is yet to clean up its own oil in either Ogale or Bille.
“It is clear to the Claimants that Royal Dutch Shell is ultimately responsible for failing to ensure that its’ Nigerian subsidiary operates without causing environmental devastation. It is time for Shell to clean up their act in Nigeria. At the moment these communities have no choice – they have to take them to court to get them to act.”
Background
Ogale Community and the UNEP Report
Ogale is located in the Nchia administrative region of Eleme LGA, Rivers State in Nigeria and has an estimated population of over 40,000. The people of Ogale have traditionally been either crop farmers or fishermen who rely on Ogale’s tributaries and waterways as fishing areas.
However, Ogale has been subjected to repeated oil spillages across much of the community since at least 1989. At one spill site at Okuluebu, it is estimated that there were 87,500 barrels of oil remaining at the site when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) conducted investigations in 2010.
The Ogale Pipelines and Infrastructure are said to be several decades old and in a poor state of repair making the area vulnerable to oil spills which have caused, and continue to cause, long-term contamination of the land, swamps, groundwater and waterways in the Community.
In 2011, UNEP published an Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland which included extensive testing of the Ogale Community. The UNEP Report found that oil spills in Ogoniland happen “with alarming regularity” and that “it is a fair assumption that most members of the current Ogoniland community have lived with chronic oil pollution throughout their lives”.
UNEP’s testing of Ogale reported serious contamination of agricultural land and waterways in the community as well as its groundwater, exposing Ogale’s inhabitants to potential health risks. Groundwater oil contamination in Ogale was found to be 1,000 times higher than levels permitted under Nigerian law and water in the community was found to be unfit for human consumption.
UNEP’s recommendations included:
Emergency measures to provide adequate sources of drinking water to impacted households;
Immediate steps to prevent existing contaminated sites from causing further pollution and;
A substantial programme of clean up and decontamination of impacted sites.
At the time, Shell stated it accepted the findings and the recommendations of the UNEP Report. However, five years later, Shell appears to have failed to comply with the recommendations of the UNEP Report and to clean up the sites polluted by their own oil.
The Ogale Community continues to live with chronic levels of land and water pollution. In November 2015, Amnesty International published a report entitled “Clean It Up”, following field research in Ogale and other communities.
It concludes that Shell has failed to clean up damage caused by oil spills in Ogale in line with the recommendations of the UNEP report.
Amnesty also found that Shell had also failed to clean up three other sites which were the subject of the UNEP report. The mommunity reports that the oil contamination continues to impact on their farming and fishing has all but ended in the community.
Residents report that while a drinking water system has been installed by the Government, the provision of water is patchy and it does not extend to all polluted areas, despite the UNEP report identifying the lack of clean drinking water in Ogale as being an urgent problem.
Despite repeated requests from the leaders of Ogale, Shell is said to have refused to meet with them to try agreeing a clean-up and compensation programme. The community members are now claiming for compensation and seeking to get Shell to clean up the damage caused by their oil.
HRH Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi, the Paramount Ruler of Ogale, said: “Shell has polluted our land and our streams and drinking wells for years. Even when the UNEP report suggested that something urgent should be done, Shell did not even come to see our community or to talk to us. No-one is listening to us, no-one cares. We hope at last this case will force Shell clean up at long last.”
Bille Community
Bille is located in the Degema Local Government Area (LGA) in River State, Nigeria. Populated by nearly 13,000 residents, it is comprised of a number of island towns and fishing settlements that are surrounded entirely by water.
Residents of Bille have traditionally relied on fishing to sustain their way of life, however, following the devastation caused by the spills emanating from an oil pipeline known as the “Nembe Creek 30” Trunkline (NCTL) their livelihood has been destroyed.
Due to the proximity of buildings to the waterfront, most properties on Bille have been damaged by the pollution and residents have even been forced to stack sandbags outside their homes to try to prevent oil entering their properties.
The NCTL stretches for almost 100 kilometres and was built in 1981 and although money was recently spent to replace it, Shell allegedly failed to install leak detection systems to prevent and detect operational spills and/or protect against third party interference, known as bunkering, in breach of Nigerian legal standards.
According to the legal action, the creeks, mangroves and island communities in Bille have been devastated by oil emanating from the NCTL since the replacement of the Bille Section of the pipeline in 2010. It is alleged that 13,200 hectares of mangrove have been damaged by oil spilled from the Bille Pipelines and Infrastructure, the largest loss of mangrove habitat in the history of oil spills.
The key issue in the claim will be whether Shell can be liable for failing to protect their pipelines from damage caused by third parties. In the judgment handed down in the Bodo litigation, the Court ruled that where it can be shown that Shell neglected to protect their pipelines properly, they could be liable for the damage arising from their neglect.
