African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have called for the need to decentralise renewable energy and make it people centred.
Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), one of the several key individuals who spoke at the event Photo credit: cloudfront.net
The CSOs echoed their voices over the weekend at the sidelines of the sixth special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) holding in Cairo, Egypt.
In his remarks during the presentations on post-Paris conversations on climate change, renewable energy, energy transformation and access in Africa, Mithika Mwenda, who represents millions of African farmers, women and youth groups under the umbrella of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), urged African governments to work towards ensuring that energy is decentralised and not concentrated on urban areas only.
Mithika added that initiatives such as the African Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) need to consider how local communities can benefit from energy instead of focusing on big corporations whose profit-oriented actions favour the urban areas.
Reinforcing the same line of thinking, Augustine Njamnshi from Cameroon stated: “There is need to invest in decentralised production and use of renewable energy and to make it community-driven if we are serious about transforming people’s lives with energy.”
Civil society actors from across Africa also stressed the need to correct the erroneous impression that energy only means lighting up people’s homes. It is for this reason that the CSOs agreed that there is need for AREI and indeed other renewable energy initiatives on the continent to look at energy in a much broader context.
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, representing Mbororo pastoralists in Chad and co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change, said there is need to look at energy as veritable means to food security, job creation, poverty reduction among other several key social-economic developments that come with availability and accessibility to energy.
“The most urgent need for someone in rural area is food, lighting up the home only comes as a secondary need. We therefore need to take into account how energy can bring food to Africans and that is energy for agricultural production. Energy is more than just lighting up homes,” she said.
Dr Ahmed Hegazi, head of Water Engineering and Renewable Energy Unit at the Nuclear Research Centre in Egypt, added that energy is a catalyst for development without which there can never be development.
The CSOs’ meeting resolutions will be shared with the African Ministerial Conference of Environment (AMCEN) holding in Cairo. The nagging issue at both the CSOs’ meeting and AMCEN is the issue of renewable energy and how it can transform people’s lives in a continent that is reeling under perennial energy gap.
Statistics from the African Development Bank (AfDB) show that over 640 million Africans have no access to electricity. Africa is known for its darkness, not for its light. Also, over 700 million Africans have no access to clean cooking energy. The bank further reveals that Africa loses 600,000 people every year through indoor pollution as a result of relying on charcoal, kerosene and fuel wood.
Dr. Khaled Fahmy, Minister of Environment of Egypt and President of AMCEN, believes that “it is of paramount importance that this AMCEN session addresses the way forward for swift implementation of the African Renewable Energy Initiative as well as the African Adaptation Initiative.”
The need to sustainably harness Africa’s vast reserves of natural capital and the implications of the Paris Agreement dominated the opening session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Cairo, Egypt.
Opening session of the AMCEN6 in Cairo, Egypt
Attended by the ministers of the environment and high-level officials from more than 40 African countries, the sixth special session of the AMCEN has “Agenda 2030 and Paris Agreement: From policy to implementation in Africa” as its theme.
Dr. Khaled Fahmy, Minister of Environment of Egypt and President of AMCEN, said: “Egypt is proud to host the sixth special session of the AMCEN in Cairo at this important moment in time. The continent stands to determine its development priorities in the context of the sustainable development goals. It is crucial for us to clearly define common priorities and the means to achieve our objectives at the regional and national levels.
“To meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is crucial that Africa confronts some of the biggest problems facing the continent, be it climate change or disease, poverty or the degradation of our ecosystems.
“It is of paramount importance that this session addresses the way forward for swift implementation of the African Renewable Energy Initiative as well as the African Adaptation Initiative.
“The outcome of this important conference will be communicated at the upcoming United Nations Environment Assembly, where our work here at AMCEN will feed into global efforts to find solutions to some of the most critical issues of our time.”
At AMCEN, ministers and government representatives are also expected to come up with ways for Africa to engage in the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), which will be held in Nairobi next month.
African ministers are also expected to agree on the key steps needed to speed up the region’s efforts to combat climate change, following the landmark Paris Agreement adopted by 195 countries in December.
The agreement, which will be signed by over 130 countries this week, aims to keep the global temperature rise this century to well below 2°C and to drive efforts to limit the temperature rise even further – to 1.5°C degrees above pre-industrial levels.
In particular, the ministers will focus on the Africa Adaptation Initiative, which provides means for African countries to build resilience to the impacts of climate change, and the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, which seeks to foster renewable energy capacity on the continent by 2020.
In addition, ministers will look at how Africa can benefit from the finance, adaptation, and loss and damage provisions agreed upon in Paris.
The meeting is expected to produce strategies for tackling key issues facing the continent, such as the illegal trade in wildlife. It is estimated that the loss of elephants – a key tourist attraction – costs Africa up to $1.9 billion annually.
High level officials at this sixth special session will discuss ways to reverse these losses and redirect the revenue into African economies to drive the continent’s transformation, alleviating poverty, reducing hunger, providing access to clean energy and improving education and health.
Sustainable use of Africa’s natural capital could result in savings of up to $103 billion every year for the region and drive economic growth to help Africa achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the continent’s Agenda 2063.
Africa holds 30 per cent of the world’s mineral reserves, roughly 65 per cent of its arable land and 10 per cent of its freshwater resources. Its fisheries are estimated to be worth $24 billion and the continent boasts the second largest tropical forest in the world.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Deputy Executive Director, Ibrahim Thiaw, said: “The AMCEN meeting comes at a critical point in time for the environment. With the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs, the world has agreed upon a roadmap that charts a better future for humanity and the ecosystems that sustain it. At UNEA-2, the world will set the stage for the implementation of these goals and drive the world towards a better, more sustainable future.
“Key to achieving the vision laid out in the 2030 Agenda will be finding ways to make the most of Africa’s rich reserves of natural capital while protecting the environment and lifting people out of poverty.”
According to conservative estimates, the continent loses as much as $195 billion every year from resource plunder, illegal logging, illegal trade in wildlife, unregulated fishing, illegal mining practices, high food imports and degraded ecosystems.
Representatives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), sub-regional economic communities, the African Development Bank, civil society organisations, United Nations agencies as well as other bilateral and multilateral partners will also participate in this special session.
AMCEN was established in 1985 to promote regional cooperation in addressing environmental issues affecting Africa. UNEP serves as the Secretariat of AMCEN and also provides both technical and financial support to the Conference.
Regular sessions of AMCEN are convened every second year, with the most recent one being the 15th session that was held in Cairo, Egypt in March 2015. In addition, several special sessions have been convened to consider specific issues of concern.
AMCEN is critical in providing strong leadership on environmental and sustainable development matters in Africa. Through its strong convening power, it brings together African Governments to deliberate and craft common positions on important environmental issues for the region.
The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) is believed to be the world’s most powerful decision-making body on the environment and the de-facto “Parliament for the Environment” responsible for tackling some of the most critical issues of our time. The assembly holds the power to dramatically change the fate of the planet and improve the lives of everyone, impacting everything from health to national security, from the plastic in our oceans to the trafficking of wildlife. Thanks to UNEA, the environment is now considered one of the world’s most pressing concerns alongside other major global issues such as peace, security, finance and health.
This year in May, hundreds of key decision makers, businesses and representatives of intergovernmental organisations and civil society will gather at UNEA 2 at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, for one of the first major meetings since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement. The resolutions passed at UNEA-2 will set the stage for early action on implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and drive the world towards a better and sustainable future.
A trio of blasts occurring within eight months at facilities operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) has raised fresh concerns over safety procedures and status of the firm’s operation.
The scene of one of the explosions
Seventeen persons have lost their lives as a result of three explosions in NAOC fields, with the most recent being March 26, 2016. The first occurred July 9, 2015 followed by an incident on February 16, 2016 which did not result in any death.
The incident of July 9, 2015 at Azuzuama claimed 14 persons, while that of March 26, 2016, resulted in three casualties.
The unsavoury development has prompted Lagos-based environment watchdog, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), to demand a comprehensive audit of safety procedures at Agip oilfields in Bayelsa State. The group is also calling for a revocation of the company’s license if investigations show negligence led to the deaths.
The ERA/FoEN, in a statement issued in Lagos, said the frequent explosions in oil fields operated by NAOC indicated that the company may have breached safety procedures at the cost of the lives of Nigerians.
The ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Godwin Ojo, was quoted in the statement as saying: “This is totally unacceptable. We have noticed a systematic pattern of decimation in the way NAOC carries on with its activities in the Niger Delta communities that host its facilities. Not only is the negligence of Agip reprehensible, it has cost our people their lives and livelihoods and must be investigated.”
Dr Ojo recommended the setting up of an investigative panel of enquiry by the federal and Bayelsa state governments to get to the root of the matter with appropriate sanctions on NAOC if it is found wanting, and compensation for victims’ families.
“Community people in Southern Ijaw LGA are fed up with the usual rhetoric of Agip to evade responsibility. We demand that community representatives and the civil society be also given an opportunity to contribute towards such an effort to bring out the truth of the matter.
The ERA/FoEN boss further recommended that autopsy be carried out on the victims of the explosions to determine the actual cause of their deaths.
“The corporate impunity of NOAC should not be allowed to pass by the Federal Government. NAOC is liable to prosecution on environmental crime of ecocide and harm to Mother Earth. We demand an immediate revocation of NOAC license by these frequent deaths of our people in the oilfield almost on a daily basis,” he added.
Ghana’s Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr. Kwaku Agyemang Mensah, has noted that the quantity and quality of water can change lives and livelihoods of workers and even transform societies and economies.
Nii Oblempong Ababio addressing the gathering. Seated on his left hand side is Ghana’s Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing Dr. Kwaku Agyemang Mensah
On the occasion of the World Water Day (WWD) observed recently, the minister called for a strategic repositioning of water issues, noting that the way they are addressed “will affect the successful achievement of the country’s Medium Term and the Planned Long Term National Development Agenda.”
He stressed that WWD celebrations should “serve as enough inspiration for us to intensity our commitment and awareness drive at reversing the deterioration of our waters … developing a preventive based culture, involving our women, children and youth … in ways that they can contribute effectively to resolving the country’s issues.”
Mensah spoke at a stakeholders’ dialogue as part of events to mark the WWD, held at the palace premises of the James Town Mantse (Chief) at James Town in British Accra. The area boasts of some historic colonial structures including Ussher Fort, James Fort, the two light houses and the building of the Ghana Bible Society.
Speaking during the same occasion, the Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited, Fredrick Lokko, expressed regret at how the firm loses significant volumes of water produced daily to illegal activities of some consumers.
“This,” he said, “impacts negatively on the capacity of the company to sustain the supply of this vital resource without which there is no life.” Mr. Lokko mentioned some of the illegal activities as connection to distribution lines; and perforation of pipe-lines by gardeners, farmers and cattle herdsmen.
He urged Ghanaians to be “patriotic and do the right things to support the Ghana Water Company to serve you better.”
The street procession of school children marking 2016 World Water Day in Ghana
These sentiments were also expressed by the Ashiedu Keteke Sub Metro District Environmental Health Officer, Rev. Chris Gawugbe. He said damage to pipelines expose treated water to communicable diseases, which affect the health and well-being of most of the people. The Vice Chairman of the Coalition of NGOs on Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), Bishop Nathaniel Adams, said, “The issue of water in this country is about safety… we need to change strategies and bring in new methods to make our water safe…”
For his part, the Chief Executive of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Clement Bugase, noted that “there is a cost and responsibility to safe water.” He said his agency currently has a huge challenge to provide about 450 thousand small and rural communities with safe water, saying, “the need is huge and it requires urgent measures to conserve our water resources.”
The James Town Mantse Nii Oblempong Ababio, who was chairman for the function, said, “It has been a lesson learning event,” and called on Ghanaians to protect water bodies and stop dumping refuse in them. He urged the children who participated in the event to educate their parents about the messages on water.
The durbar was preceded by a street procession of school children carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Water is life, save water save life,” and the “Health of our water is our responsibility.”
As part of the activities marking national World Water Day, a School’s Tree Planting Competition was launch at the Ayalolo Cluster of Schools in Accra. The Chairman of the Planning Committee for World Water Day, Mrs. Adwoa Dako, explained the rationale for the competition saying, “It is a way of involving school children in the celebration and educating them on the importance of trees as a buffer against erosion and storms.”
A Tree Validation Auditor of the Greater Accra Regional Forest Services Division, Frank Ankomah, reminded the children of the importance of trees for sustaining lives. The Ayalolo Circuit Supervisor, Mrs. Christiana Maclean, was hopeful that the children would take good care of the seedlings and nurture them into matured trees, so that the premises will become shady and beautiful.
The participating schools are Asia Mills Primary and Junior High, Ayalolo 1 & 2 Primary, Akoto Lante Junior High, and Central Mosque Basic Primary and Junior High. They will be evaluated and awarded at the next celebration of World Water Day.
Ahead of the sixth special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) scheduled for the 16th-19th April 2016, civil society consultations on the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda began Friday morning in Cairo, the Egyptian capital.
A cross-section of delegates at the consultative workshop. Photo credit: PAMACC/Atayi Babs
Organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) in collaboration with Major Groups and Stakeholders Forums, the Post-Paris workshop aspires to interrogate the overall African performance in COP21, the Paris Agreement, and its implications for Africa in the short and long-term development agenda.
The consultative workshop also seeks to internalise the new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their implications for Africa with a view to identifying and defining the action agenda for different stakeholders towards COP22 in Morocco in November 2016.
The AMCEN, which consists of African Ministers of Environment from across Africa, will hold in Cairo, Egypt, from Saturday, 16 April to Tuesday, 19 April, 2016, in a conference that aims to reflect on the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the new set of SDGs.
The forum, coming just before the ceremonial signing of the Paris Agreement in New York on Friday, 22 April 2016, is said to be an opportunity to prepare African governments for the implementation of the Agreement. The meeting comes at a time when the preparatory process for the COP22 holding this November in Marrakech, Morocco, is gaining momentum.
The Pre-African Ministerial Conference on Environment (Pre-AMCEN) at the sidelines of this event serves as a platform for African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) as well as other stakeholders to effectively contribute to the process. The Major Groups and Stakeholder Forum held in Nairobi from 15th – 19th February, 2016 will inform the AMCEN discussions. PACJA, in collaboration with UNEP/ROA, has organised the Pre-AMCEN Civil Society Consultative Workshop as a distinct activity aimed at contributing to the achievement of the continent’s environment and sustainable development agenda. AMCEN is an opportunity to contribute towards Africa’s development agenda.
This year’s Pre-AMCEN consultative workshop runs alongside the UNEP Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum and as usual, ahead of the main AMCEN sessions on 14 -15 April 2016. The workshop is organised by PACJA in partnership from UNEP- Regional Office for Africa- ROA and other Institutions with a shared vision. In attendance are representatives of civil society, parliamentarians, and governments, international development agencies, regional integration bodies and UN Agencies. The consultative workshop broadly reflects on COP21 outcomes, the SDGs and plan for the second United Nations Environmental Assembly scheduled 23 -27 May 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Dr. Khaled Fahmy, AMCEN Chair/ Minister for Environment, Egypt will present a keynote address at the official opening. Also in attendance are: Awudu Mbaya, Pan African Parliamentary Network on Climate Change; Dr. Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, Director & Regional Representative, UNEP- ROA; and Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General, PACJA.
At the end of the workshop, the group expects to achieve the following outcomes: sufficient understanding of the implications of COP21 outcome and Paris Agreement to Africa; an understanding of the role various blocs will play in the Post-Paris engagements, and an understanding of the SDGs and how they relate with the African development paradigm, such as Agenda 2063.
On the occasion of the Rio Tinto AGM on Thursday, 14 April 2016 in London, Re:Common and the World Rainforest Movement released a report titled: “Rio Tinto’s biodiversity offset in Madagascar: Double landgrab in the name of biodiversity?”
Industrial action at Rio Tinto
In recent years mining companies have become actively engaged in promoting “biodiversity offsetting” as a way of “greening” the mining sector. The claim is that biodiversity destruction in one place can be “compensated” through the promise of restoring or protecting biodiversity elsewhere. One offset project in particular, the Rio Tinto QMM biodiversity offset in the Anosy region of south-eastern Madagascar, has been widely advertised as a biodiversity offset model for the mining industry.
Rio Tinto and its partners from the conservation sector assert that the company’s biodiversity conservation strategy will not only compensate for biodiversity loss but that mining will even have a “Net Positive Impact” on biodiversity in the end.
However, a joint Re:Common and WRM field investigation in 2015 found that the reality appears different from the picture presented in the glossy brochures distributed internationally. The groups insist that little information has been made available to communities about what biodiversity offsets projects actually are and villagers had not been informed that what had been presented to them as a “conservation project” was actually designed to compensate for Rio Tinto QMM’s ilmenite mine destroying unique and rare littoral forest near the city of Fort Dauphin, some 50 km to the south of the Bemangidy-Ivohibe biodiversity offset site.
Luca Manes of Re:Common declared in a statement: “Villagers at this biodiversity offset site felt that restrictions had been imposed without negotiation and with little regard for their situation. Their subsistence livelihoods are made even more precarious so Rio Tinto can increase its profits. A meeting with a conservation NGO involved in implementation of the biodiversity offset revealed that ethically deplorable methods have been used to ensure compliance with these restrictions on forest use.
“Income-generating alternatives to alleviate the loss of access to the forest had been promised but have yet to materialise while severe restrictions on community forest use are already in place and the only place left for villagers to grow their staple food, maonic, are the sand dunes.”
An affected villager was quoted as saying: “We are really suffering now because we had to stop cultivating there. We moved our cultivation into the dunes, but it’s so sandy there that growing anything is difficult. Plus they took our land and did not even compensate us. They said they would, but they never did. They provided micro-credit projects to maybe 10 people, with 60,000 Ariary (18 euros) each, but this is nothing to make a sustainable project.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has decided the strategy and timeline for its next series of reports, the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), and the special reports that will be prepared in the next few years.
The Panel responded positively to the invitation from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to provide a special report in 2018 on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 ºC above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways.
It also agreed to prepare two other special reports: on climate change and oceans and the cryosphere; and on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. These will be produced as early as possible in the AR6 cycle.
“These issues are not only highly relevant to policymakers and our broader audiences; they are areas where the IPCC can bring clarity to the growing volumes of scientific research through its assessments,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee after the 43rd Session of the Panel in Nairobi, Kenya.
“We now have a clear roadmap for the production and delivery of AR6,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee.
The IPCC also decided to pay special attention, when the outlines of AR6 are drawn up, to the impacts of climate change on cities and their unique adaptation and mitigation challenges and opportunities.
Preparations for the main AR6 report, which is expected to be released in three working group contributions in 2020/2021 and a Synthesis Report in 2022, will start later this year.
Work on drawing up the outlines of the special report on 1.5 ºC will now start with a call for experts to scope the report.
The Panel was also informed that Mr Abdalah Mokssit had accepted an offer to become Secretary of the IPCC. Mr Mokssit is currently Director of the National Meteorological Service of Morocco and Third Vice-President of the WMO. He is a former Vice-Chair of IPCC Working Group I, which deals with the physical science basis of climate change.
Burkina Faso is phasing out the production of genetically modified cotton introduced by Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed company, because growers are unhappy with the short length of its fibre.
Monsanto spokesman, Billy Brennan
Africa’s biggest cotton grower is reducing the acreage for genetically modified cotton this season until it’s completely phased out in 2018 and replaced by conventional cotton, the West African nation’s cabinet said in a statement published late on Wednesday.
The results of a pilot project with Monsanto that began in 2003 “aren’t favourable in the sense that the length of the fibre after ginning has degraded and no longer responds to the needs of the market,” according to the statement.
The decision may negatively impact Burkina Faso’s status as a top cotton exporter, hurt employment and increase farmers’ exposure to pesticides, Monsanto spokesman Billy Brennan said in an e-mailed statement. “We continue to have discussions” to “find a path towards mutual resolution” for genetically modified cotton in Burkina Faso, Brennan said.
The nation’s three cotton companies and the national cotton farmers’ union will seek 48 billion CFA francs ($82 million) in compensation for lost harvests from Monsanto, Helene Traore, a spokeswoman of Sofitex, one of the companies, said by phone. They’re scheduled to meet for talks with Monsanto next week, she added.
The U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report earlier this month that Burkina Faso’s cotton producers had planned to meet with Monsanto in late March to try to solve the issue.
“We’ve lost years because of this cotton,” said Mana Denis, a cotton farmer in the western city of Dedougou who welcomed the announcement. “They imposed it on us, but it didn’t produce the desired effects,” he said Thursday.
The 2016-2017 crop is estimated at 700,000 tons, the government said in the statement. Neighbouring Mali is the region’s second-biggest producer, while Ivory Coast ranks third. Cotton is the nation’s second-biggest export after gold and accounts for 20 percent of shipments.
The first decade of the 21st century was ripe with discoveries and innovations in the animal kingdom. From 2001 to 2010, new species were found, ground-breaking animal research was published, and some species were brought back from the brink of extinction. But the past 10 years also saw some animals wiped from existence.
Here’s a look at the species that were declared extinct this decade, with the West African black rhino topping the list.
West African black rhino
West African black rhino
The rarest of the black rhino subspecies, the West African black rhinoceros, is now recognised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as extinct. The species, Diceros bicornis longpipes, was once widespread in central Africa, but the population began a steep decline due to poaching. The rhino was listed as “critically endangered” in 2008, but a survey of the animal’s last remaining habitat in northern Cameroon failed to find any sign of the rhinos, either a true siting or even evidence of its presence, like feces or feeding signs. No West African black rhinos are known to be held in captivity.
Baiji dolphin
Baiji dolphin
The last documented sighting of China’s baiji dolphin, or Yantze River dolphin, was in 2002, and while the species is listed as critically endangered, scientists say it may already be extinct. In 2006, scientists from the Baiji Foundation travelled up the Yangtze River for more than 2,000 miles equipped with optical instruments and underwater microphones, but were unable to detect any surviving dolphins. The foundation published a report on the expedition and declared the animal functionally extinct, meaning too few potential breeding pairs remained to ensure the species’ survival.
The decline in the baiji dolphin population is attributed to a variety of factors including overfishing, boat traffic, habitat loss, pollution and poaching. Deemed “the goddess of the river,” the dolphin’s skin was highly valuable and used to make gloves and handbags.
Golden Toad
Golden toad
The golden toad, which is sometimes referred to as the Monteverde toad or the orange toad, was a species that lived only in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve in Costa Rica. It was once a common species, but no specimen has been seen since 1989. The toad’s breeding sites were well-known and closely watched — in 1988, only eight males and two females could be found, and in 1989, only a single male could be located. Extensive searches for the golden toad since then have failed to locate another specimen, and the species was declared extinct in August 2007. The amphibian disease chytridiomycosis, airborne pollution and global warming probably contributed to the species’ demise.
Hawaiian Crow
Hawaiian crow
This native Hawaiian bird was declared “extinct in the wild” in 2002 when the last two known wild individuals disappeared. Some birds remain in captivity, and between 1993 and 1999, more than 40 birds were hatched in a captive breeding program. The birds were released into a lightly managed habitat and closely monitored, but releases were abandoned in 1999 because of increasing mortality. A reintroduction plan is being developed, but about 75 Hawaiian crows would be needed for the plan to work. The reasons for the bird’s extinction is not fully understood, but researchers speculate that an introduced disease, such as avian malaria, might have played a significant role in the species’ decline.
An illustration of Pyrenean iIbex
Pyrenean ibex
The Pyrenean ibex is one of two extinct subspecies of the Spanish ibex. The species was once numerous and roamed across France and Spain, but by the early 1900s its numbers had fallen to fewer than 100. The last Pyrenean ibex, a female nicknamed Celia, was found dead in northern Spain on Jan. 6, 2000, killed by a falling tree. Scientists took skin cells from the animal’s ear and preserved them in liquid nitrogen, and in 2009 an ibex was cloned, making it the first species to become “unextinct.” However, the clone died just seven minutes later due to lung defects.
What caused the Pyrenean ibex’s extinction remains unknown, but some hypotheses include poaching, diseases and the inability to compete with other species for food.
Spixs macaw
Spix’s macaw
Although 71 Spix’s macaws exist in captivity (like the two pictures here), the last known bird in the wild disappeared in 2000 and no others are known to remain. The species is currently listed as “critically endangered” instead of “extinct in the wild” because not all areas of potential habitat have been thoroughly surveyed. The bird is native to northern Brazil and in 1987 the three known remaining birds were captured for trade. However, a single male bird was discovered in 1990 and paired with a female bird in captivity, but seven weeks after the female’s release, she collided with a power line and died.
The decline of the Spix’s macaw is attributed to hunting and trapping, habitat destruction and the introduction of Africanised bees, or “killer bees,” which compete for nesting sites.
Liverpool pigeon
Liverpool pigeon
The Liverpool pigeon, or spotted green pigeon, is an extinct bird species of unknown origin, although some researchers speculate it might have lived in Tahiti. The only remaining specimen of the bird resides in the Merseyside County Museum, and scientists say it’s likely that the species was close to extinction before European exploration began in the Pacific. The International Union for Conservation of Nature assessed the species in 2008 and declared it extinct, but the reasons for its extinction remain unknown.
Black faced honey creeper
Black-faced honeycreeper
The black-faced honeycreeper, or po’o-uli, is endemic to Hawaii’s island of Maui and is listed as “critically endangered/possibly extinct.” Of the three known birds discovered in 1998, one died in captivity in 2004 and the remaining two have not been seen since that year. Scientists say the species may already be extinct, but surveys in all areas of potential habitat are needed to confirm this. If any have survived, the population would be extremely small. Habitat destruction and the rapid spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes are thought to be responsible for the species’ decline.
An impression of Alaotra grebe
Alaotra grebe
The alaotra grebe, which is also known as a Delacour’s little grebe or a rusty grebe, was declared extinct in 2010, although it might have been extinct years earlier. Scientists were hesitant to write the small bird off too soon because it lived in Lake Alaotra, which is located in a remote part of Madagascar. Thorough surveys of the area in 1989, 2004 and 2009 failed to find any evidence of the species, and the last confirmed sighting of the bird was in 1982.
The alaotra grebe population began to decline in the 20th century because of habitat destruction and because the few remaining birds started mating with little grebes, creating a hybrid species. Considering the bird’s restricted range and lack of mobility, scientists declared it extinct, and today, only one photograph exists of an alotra grebe in the wild.
Holdridge’s toad
Holdridge’s toad
The Holdridge’s toad was a species endemic to the rainforests of Costa Rica. While it was declared extinct in 2004 because the animal has not been seen since 1986, surveys in 2012 resulted in the toad’s status being upgraded to critically endangered. Its population size is likely less than 50 individual toads. The main cause of the toad’s population decline and extinction is likely chytridiomycosis, an amphibian disease, perhaps in collaboration with the effects of climate change.
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) has said that, during the last year, African farmers planted a total of 3.5 million hectares of Biotech/GM Crops. This was also during the 20th year of global GM crops commercialisation.
Dr. Margaret Karembu
Director of the Afri-Centre of ISAAA, Dr. Margaret Karembu, who presented Africa’s report during the launch of the 2015 Annual Report on Global Commercialisation of Biotech Crops, said that so much was achieved in the continent on biotechnology and biosafety during the year under review.
“For Africa, 2015 was the 18th year of successful commercialisation of biotech crops. The cumulative hectarage from 1998 to 2015 in Africa stood at 3.5 million hectares (Ha). Three countries, Burkina Faso (350,000 Ha), South Africa (2.3 million Ha) and Sudan (120,000 Ha) spearheaded the commercialisation of biotech crops. This production of biotech crops translated to an estimated economic benefit of approximately $2 billion,” Dr. Karembu said.
The exponential growth, according to her, was recorded in spite of severe drought that led to crop failure in many countries of the continent.
“For instance, a devastating drought in South Africa contributed to a 23% decline in hectarage, demonstrating the vulnerability of the continent to climate change. In 2015, South Africa approved the drought tolerant maize trait under WEMA – Water Efficient Maize for Africa project. This timely intervention will go a long way in mitigating the effects of climate change on food security.
“In Burkina Faso, the government in consultation with key players in the cotton industry decided to temporarily scale down the hectarage under insect resistant (Bt) cotton over the next two years. This will allow scientists to address the short-staple length issue observed in current varieties. The short-staple length issues are in no way related to the Bt technology, which continues to offer numerous benefits. By 2014, the farm income gains accrued by Burkinabe farmers amounted to $41 million,” she explained.
Karembu further said that Sudan’s 4th year of Bt cotton growing recorded an impressive 95% adoption rate for which hectarage under Bt cotton soared six-fold from 20,000 ha in 2012 to 120,000 ha in 2015. “Close to 45,000 farmers planted Bt cotton in 2015 compared to the initial 10,000 farmers in 2012 indicating satisfaction with the technology.”
The Director further said that, in the last 18 years, eight countries had conducted and are still conducting trials on crops that would address African challenges. “The research focuses on key food security crops such as banana, cassava, cowpea, sorghum, sweet potato, maize, potato and rice. As a result, Africa could contribute five new biotech crops to the global biotech basket in the coming years.”
In the biosafety regulatory landscape, she said that South Africa was the only country that had Biosafety Law by 1998. “After then, 19 other African countries have developed their biosafety legislation and, in 2015, Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, enacted its biosafety law in order to tap into the technology’s benefits. In the same year, Kenya’s National Biosafety Authority for the first time, received two applications for open field cultivation of genetically modified maize and cotton,” Karembu said, adding that initiatives to operationalise biosafety laws in other countries as well as the harmonisation of regional biosafety policies were ongoing.
Although during the period 1996 to 2015, biotech maize was successfully grown globally in about 15 countries by millions of farmers on 600 million hectares and benefitting $50 billion of increased revenues, “Except South Africa, farmers in Africa, where the need for improved maize is greatest, suffered a big opportunity cost because they were denied the chance to adopt biotech crops for lack of regulation and support in their respective countries.
“In addition to maize, biotech cotton gave enormous benefit to farmers especially in China and India. In 2014 and 2015, an impressive 95 percent of India’s cotton crop was planted with biotech seed while China’s adoption in 2015 was 96 percent. Between 1997 and 2014, biotech cotton varieties brought an estimated $17.5 billion worth of benefits to Chinese cotton farmers, and they realised $1.3 billion in 2014 alone,” Karembu further said.
She called on African governments to focus on accelerating adoption of those proven technologies that were appropriate in addressing Africa’s unique challenges and reposition itself towards being a global player in development and ownership of emerging technologies.
