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Lead poisoning: Government urged to declare Shikira emergency zone

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Lead poisoning: Government urged to declare Shikira emergency zone

The Federal Government of Nigeria has been asked to declare Shikira, a small rural mining community in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, a national emergency zone.

Local mining activities in Shakira has led to large scale lead poisoning
Local mining activities in Shakira has led to large scale lead poisoning

The Abuja-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Connected Development (CODE), made the call in a statement released on Tuesday, urging the trio of President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara to declare the state of emergency in order to address the lead outbreak epidemic that recorded 65 cases in May, 2015 due to negligence.

CODE officials say the call to save Shikira is to reinforce the assessment plan released by the Response Planning Development Committee on Outbreak of Lead Poisoning in Niger State established in May, 2015.

Chief Executive of CODE, Hamzat Lawal, was quoted in the statement thus: “It is sad to note that nothing meaningful has been done about the crisis since the submission of the Committee’s report which stated that N500 million should as a matter of urgently be approved to clean-up the community contaminated by lead poison due to improper mining activities which had claimed the lives of 28 children, mostly those below five years of age. Laboratory testing confirmed high levels of lead in the blood of the over hundreds of surviving children, livestock and water reserves.

“To CODE, this kind of attitude is even more worrisome and shocking as the outbreak left other children with many anomalies such as fever, pallor, abdominal pain, vomiting, convulsion, altered level of consciousness and nervous breakdown. If nothing is done urgently, these children would be deformed for life.

“Dear Mr. President, Senate President and Mr. Speaker, this situation may look bad when assessed outwardly but, inwardly, there are sustainable solutions. It may interest you to know that Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders – MSF) are presently on ground to provide free medical services: Chelation therapy, but are arm-twisted because they need government to first clean-up the contaminated areas for them to intervene.

“President Buhari, please approve the needed intervention funds from the Ecological Funds Office for urgent remediation to help save Shikira. Senate President Saraki and Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, we urge you to urgently debate lead poison on the floor of the Senate and the House respectively, to help save Shikira by declaring this a national emergency and compel the Executive arm to speedily approve and release the needed funds for intervention while you ensure oversight for speedy implementations.

“It is important to note that the raining season is almost here and might contaminate neighbouring communities and villages surrounding Rafi LGA putting more children at risk and degrading our environment at large. We strongly blame this onslaught on human lives on administrative recklessness and lack of ‘will’ by institutions and political actors to tackle the plights of the citizenry in local communities.

“As part of our contributions to address the crisis, we will host a stakeholders’ dialogue in the state which will bring together participants from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) at the state and federal levels such as Environment, Health, Mines and Solid Minerals, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, CSOs & CBOs, development partners as well as locals in the community.

“Also, our Follow The Money Team is keen in ensuring transparency and accountability in tracking and visualising funds released for this local community as we have done in the case of Bagega, where we successfully tracked over N850 million that helped saved the lives of 1,500 children in Zamfara State.

“Lastly, are using this medium to call on the Federal Government to review the 2007 Mining Act to reflect present realities in the sector as it affects local communities and artisanal miners. Government should also consider sanctions for culprits responsible for this menace to avert similar occurrence elsewhere in the country.”

Earth Day 2016: UN plants American dogwood tree

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Earth Day 2016: UN plants American dogwood tree

As world leaders and ministers lined up in their droves to sign the landmark Paris Climate Change Agreement in New York last Friday, a group of senior UN officials slipped out for a few minutes in the sunshine into a very special place for a small but unique event.

The flowering dogwood tree
The flowering dogwood tree

The group, including UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson; the President of the General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft and UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) Deputy-Executive Secretary Richard Kinley, came to roll up their sleeves to dig in a native American flowering dogwood tree at the new UN Food Garden.

The flowering dogwood (or cornus florida) is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae native to eastern North America and northern Mexico.  The tree is commonly planted as an ornamental in residential and public areas because of its showy flowers and interesting bark structure bracts.

Mr Kinley said: “I was delighted to be there. Planting a tree is a very simple but powerful expression of solidarity with people, the earth… indeed life itself.  It is also a symbol of a fundamental reality – that in order to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals, especially achieving climate neutrality in the second half of this century, forests, soils and other ecosystems are our natural allies given their ability to remove and store carbon from the atmosphere alongside the myriad of other services they provide for humanity, including food.”

They were joined by a few curious birds, a hive of bees that have recently set up home in international territory and the charming Catherine Zanev, Associate Expert for Climate Change in the UN System Chief Executives Board but more importantly on that day Coordinator of the Garden.

Some weeks ago UNFCCC launched with the Earth Day Network a campaign linking 22 April, the signing of the Paris agreement, with the theme of Earth Day 2016 – Trees4Earth.

When it comes to climate change, there is a lot of focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency and ‘hard infrastructure’ but without trees and other ecosystems the world will struggle to meet not only the climate goals but those under the Sustainable Development Goals.

So when Catherine saw our campaign via social media, she thought it was a cool idea to organize a planting at the UN HQ on the key day.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if Christiana Figueres, the SG and others planted a fruit tree in the UN Food Garden on 22 April? We’d be happy to help make this happen, if you are interested,” she wrote on 8 April, and naturally I said yes!

In the end the UN Secretary-General was super busy with signing as was Ms Figueres, but Friday’s line up was still impressive and the pretty, white-flowered, tree was given an impressive bedding-in.

According to Wikipedia, the new tree is from the genus Cornus of which there are “about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark”.

Not sure who writes these entries, but they must have a sense of humour. The idea of a tree called dogwood with “…a distinctive bark” surely can’t have gone unnoticed by the Wiki authors!

Later I found time to chat to Catherine about the Garden.

The UN Food Gardens is an initiative of staff volunteers from various UN system entities and Permanent Missions to the UN. It aims to transform unused land at the UN Headquarters into sustainable food gardens.

By integrating small-scale food production into its own landscape, the UN translates global priorities related to increased biodiversity, good land stewardship, sustainable food systems and greener cities into action and leads by example.

The first garden was officially opened by the Secretary-General in July 2015. A wide variety of edible plants from around the world have since been grown in the garden. UNICEF’s and the UN Secretariat’s caterers have turned some of the garden produce into super-local, healthy food for UN staff.

As the sun was making its descent later in the day, I popped by to ask Catherine my only nagging query – why did we not plant a fruit tree?

It seems Facilities Management, the UN people who keep the HQ running, were a little concerned that a fruit tree might – er well – produce fruit which in turn could make the surrounding walkways sullied and perhaps slippery.

But Catherine explained that the dogwood does produce berries, which can make jam and are a great source of food for birds who have to eat too – clearly a lot to tweet about for all species on Earth on a very special day!

By Nick Nuttall (UNFCCC Spokesperson)

Solar aircraft makes historic Pacific Ocean crossing

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Solar aircraft makes historic Pacific Ocean crossing

“Solar Impulse is breaking through self-imposed barriers of possibility. We did not think before that it would be possible to traverse long distances with zero emissions in any flying vehicle. The fact that the two pilots have proven that this is possible, the fact that they are up in the air again and finishing the around the world flight they initiated proves that impossible is not a fact, it is an attitude.”

Solar Impulse prepares to land in San Francisco after a three-day Pacific Ocean crossing
Solar Impulse prepares to land in San Francisco after a three-day Pacific Ocean crossing

Those were the words of the UN’s top climate change official Christiana Figueres, as she reacts to news that Solar Impulse, a zero-fuel aircraft powered entirely by the sun, has safely landed in San Francisco after a three-day Pacific Ocean crossing. The innovative plane is now preparing to fly over the continental United States.

The plane took off from Hawaii on 21April, the day before the signing of the historic Paris Climate Change Agreement in New York, piloted by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard.

Bertrand Piccard at the controls of Solar Impulse
Bertrand Piccard at the controls of Solar Impulse

Ms. Figueres congratulated the renewed effort of the Solar Impulse team, which includes the pilot André Borschberg, in flying the aircraft to circumnavigate the globe.

For Figueres, the Paris Agreement is only the beginning of process to rapidly decarbonise the global economy. People must now turn the vision of Paris into reality, according to her.

Alluding to Solar Impulse and the potential of solar energy to replace the bulk of polluting fossil fuels world-wide, she said: “Now the rubber hits road – or rather, the sun hits the panel”.

Solar Impulse gets its energy from 17,000 photovoltaic cells that cover the top surfaces of the craft. These cells power propellers during the day, but also charge batteries that the vehicle’s motors can then use during the night.

Bertrand Piccard and his team tried to circumnavigate the world last year, but the vehicle’s batteries overheated during the trip, forcing the project to layover on the Pacific archipelago while repairs were conducted.

The Swiss pilots intend to get to New York by the start of June to begin preparations for an Atlantic crossing.

Assuming this is completed successfully, the plane will then return back to its point of departure, which is Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Nigeria, others to mobilise $1 trillion investment in solar energy

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Nigeria, others to mobilise $1 trillion investment in solar energy

Following the signing of the historic Paris Climate Change Agreement in New York on 22 April, governments have pledged to take concerted action to lower the costs of clean energy and to unleash a potential investment flow of up to $1 trillion into solar assets, among a raft of other initiatives.

Indian Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal with French Environment Minister and President of COP 21 Ségolène Royal
Indian Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal with French Environment Minister and President of COP 21 Ségolène Royal

At the United Nations in New York, Indian Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal and French Environment Minister and President of COP 21 Ségolène Royal co-hosted an event on the International Solar Alliance (ISA), launched by India and France at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris last December.

Ministers and representatives from over 25 countries, including Nigeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, the US and France, were in attendance.

In order to accelerate massive deployment of solar energy at various scales in their countries, ministers and representative from 25 countries agreed to take concerted action through targeted programmes launched on a voluntary basis, to better harmonize and aggregate the demand for:

  • Solar finance, so as to lower the cost of finance and facilitate the flow of more than $1000 billion investment in solar assets in member countries;
  • Mature solar technologies that are currently deployed only at small scale and need to be scaled up;
  • Future solar technologies and capacity building, through strategic and collaborative solar R&D, to improve the efficiency and integration of solar power as well as increase the number of solar applications available.

The 25 countries represented at the event included Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, Peru, Djibouti, Surinam, Zambia, Bolivia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Mali, India, USA and France.

Also in New York, the International Solar Alliance and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) pledged to cooperate to promote solar energy globally, by looking for strategic cooperation in the areas of programmatic and technical expertise.

Report explores ways to achieve sustainability, protect Colombian Amazon

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Report explores ways to achieve sustainability, protect Colombian Amazon

Secure territorial rights of indigenous peoples and traditional knowledge must be central to post-conflict initiatives to save the Colombian Amazon and achieve sustainable development, says a study

Kamentsa indigenes of the Colombian Amazon. Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com
Kamentsa indigenes of the Colombian Amazon. Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com

A new report “Deforestation and Indigenous Peoples Rights in the Colombian Amazon” co-published by social justice and environmental NGO DEDISE and Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) underlines the critical role of secure land and territorial rights and traditional knowledge in sustaining one of the most culturally and biologically diverse forests on the planet.

Drawing on grassroots interviews, community workshops and a review of official documents, the study assesses historical and contemporary direct and underlying causes of forest destruction and associated human rights impacts in the region. It finds that current deforestation and associated negative impacts on indigenous peoples are most rampant in Caquetá, Guaviare and Putumayo. Forest loss and rights violations in western and northern areas are driven by expansion of cattle ranching and commercial cultivation of illicit crops. According to the report, deforestation is closely linked to road construction, while mining and oil developments act as poles of colonisation leading to urbanisation, land grabbing, militarisation, conflict and human rights violations.

Insecure land rights, perverse incentives and violation of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) are key underlying drivers of land use change and rights violations. The report finds that existing Colombian legal and institutional mechanisms to apply the FPIC standard and prior consultation are defective, while mining, oil and gas concessions overlap indigenous forest territories throughout the region. Imposed infrastructure and road building programmes like the Iniciativa para la Integración de la Infraestructura Regional Suramericana (IIRSA), facilitated by the Inter-American Development Bank also threaten indigenous territories and fragile forest watersheds in the region.

One indigenous Kamentsa leader observes: “Implementation of IIRSA in Colombia will lead to the extermination of indigenous peoples and accelerate deforestation as it opens up forests to mining and logging. In Putumayo, one of the country’s major oil production areas, the impacts have been very negative for our people and our way of life…”

The study pinpoints contradictions between national policies for economic growth and recent pledges made by Colombia’s government to tackle climate change, promote sustainable development and achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon region by 2020.

Mayra Tenjo, one of the co-authors of the report, says: “There is a major disconnect between national commitments to uphold indigenous peoples’ rights, combat deforestation and achieve sustainable development in the Amazon on the one hand, and Colombia’s existing National Development Plan (PND) on the other. The PND promotes mining, extractive industries, infrastructure development and industrial agriculture. The two different sets of policies are not coherent. Better cross-sectoral policy coordination and more inclusive, rights-based approaches are needed to respect indigenous peoples and achieve genuine sustainable development…”

As well as contradictions in national and sub-national land use and development policies, the analysis finds that programmes intended to safeguard the forest and deliver development, such as the GEF funded “Heart of the Amazon Programme” and Vision Amazonía 2020 initiative funded by the UK, Norway and Germany, are not properly involving grassroots communities, who know little about these top-down interventions.

Hernando Castro, an indigenous leader from the Middle Caquetá, notes: “Forest projects to expand national parks like the Heart of the Amazon Programme are mostly driven by government technicians, the World Bank and NGOs in Bogotá and Washington DC without effective FPIC and sufficient prior consultation with our Resguardos. We do not know exactly what budgets are destined for our communities and our demands for extension of our Resguardo titles are not being given enough priority by these programmes…”

A similar issue is now arising with the larger Visión Amazonía 2020 and related Sustainable Colombia initiatives of the Santos government. The same leader adds: “Now there is a new bigger forest programme that we understand is funded by countries like Germany and the UK, but we know little about it. It is essential that the indigenous component of the Visión 2020 programme is developed with the full involvement of our traditional authorities and Cabildos. This programme must support our systems of self-government and it must build on our ancestral knowledge and our collective visions for forest management and self-determined development.”

In assessing possible future threats, the report highlights that a successful peace process could open up vast areas of the Amazon forest and eastern plains to foreign investment in oil palm, maize, sugar cane and soybean monocultures as well as extractive industries. The risk of increasing land grabs, deforestation, rights violations and displacement of small farmers to the forest frontier are heightened by the recent adoption of the controversial ZIDRES land and rural development law.

This law risks facilitating the allocation of concessions to commercial interests, privatisation and the enclosure of so-called vacant State lands (baldíos), without adequate protections for the pre-existing customary collective territorial rights of indigenous peoples. Among other consequences, this law could allow companies to obtain legal rights over “baldíos” they had already accumulated through land grabbing in the past.

Given these risks, the report concludes that effective interventions to uphold human rights, slow deforestation, maintain biodiversity and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Colombian Amazon must involve reform of the top-down system for land use zoning, concessions and territorial planning that allocates land and minerals to private commercial interests. Crucially, the report emphasises that more effective actions to protect and secure territorial rights are needed alongside reforms to ensure genuine respect for free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Actions to strengthen self-government of indigenous peoples, apply traditional knowledge and reinforce indigenous agroforestry systems are identified as essential for achieving effective forest and climate policies in the region.

Ogun, ECN, UNIDO to generate power from sawdust

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Ogun, ECN, UNIDO to generate power from sawdust

The Ogun State Government has begun plans to generate electricity from saw dust. Officials say the development is part of government’s contribution towards increasing power output in the country.

Sawdust
Sawdust

Commissioner for Forestry, Chief Kolawole Lawal, revealed this during an inspection visit to sawmill sites in Ijebu-Igbo, Ijebu-North Local Government Area of the state.

Chief Lawal, in a statement signed by the Ministry’s Press Officer, Olubodun Olusola, said the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in collaboration with the state government are putting heads together to devise a technology that would generate electricity from sawdust.

“The UNIDO, ECN and the state government are on a project now that will convert sawdust to energy,” he was quoted as saying.

Lawal added that government was currently carrying out a feasibility study of the project which, according to him, would materialise in due course.

He therefore implored the saw millers not to waste the sawdust, saying though it is seen as waste product but would soon become raw materials for energy production.

Campaigners demand urgent implementation of Ogoni UNEP report

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Campaigners demand urgent implementation of Ogoni UNEP report

“Plants are gone, and the aquatic environment is going off, the flora and fauna is actually going off too. The clean-up should start, not coming around to make announcement and make a minister to visit, that is not a clean-up. We have anticipated, we have hoped, but it is long over-due. Let the clean-up start, that is our prayer.”

Participants at the session
Participants at the session

These were the words Mr Dum Syl Amainikpo an Ogoni activist, last week in Port Harcourt, River State during a daylong session involving the civil society and community leaders tagged: Environmental Parliament on Non-Implementation of UNEP Report and organised by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN).

Dr Uyi Ojo, executive director of ERA/FoEN, said: “Based on the strong evidence contained in the 2011 UNEP report recommendations, there is monumental damage done to the environment this past 50 years. The plight of the Ogonis has worsened with monumental pollution of water sources with potentially carcinogenic substances and soil contamination up to the depth of five meters that has resulted in poor wealth conditions, lowering farm yields and fish catch depletion that have combined to make life more difficult for the Ogonis.

“The Ogoni environment has been ruined by the Shell Oil Company operations over the years and communities constitute sites of ecological crime against the people and their environment, is no longer news.”

He faulted the Federal Government for not putting in place “the much-needed institutional frame work to drive the process nor has the proposed governing board been inaugurated”. He expressed displeasure over the absence of “a realistic time table and dateline of commencement of Ogoni land.”

Another Ogoni activist Young Kigbara when asked what his expectations were, said: “I suffered a lot and am still suffering. We have it on record that people are dying all over Ogoni consequent upon the fact that they have been affected by the pollutant and no one is talking it seriously.” He expressed his doubt over the fact that the Federal Government has the political will to deliver the Ogoni clean-up project.

He added: “My understanding of political will means that if you say that you will do one thing, you will commit yourself completely to it and have it done.”

Mr Kigbara said: “Almost a year now we have people in government who told us that we are going to do this in less than no time,” but he regretted that “there hasn’t been a match of that promise with action.

“So I want a situation where government will reason well and clean-up the environment so that I will live a better life,” he said resignedly.

Dr Koba, another prominent Ogoni son, warned “that reforming Ogoni environment would not succeed unless they start the restoration of the mangroves”.

An Ogoni woman Activist Martha Agbani, Executive Director of Lokiaka Development Centre, while speaking to EnviroNews, said: They are supposed to start with serious consultation with the people, it shouldn’t be the kind of top of bottom approach.”

She advocated for an all inclusive broad consultation. She also called for a review of the UNEP Report saying: “Review the report they have so released because it is about four years now that the report was released so there must be some gaps within what they already have from the species, from the ecosystem.

“They cannot do without working with people,” she continued, advising that youths should be a strong focus of whatever they are doing. She also talked about the inclusion of women, saying: “We cannot talk about this without women. The Federal Government has not done anything.”

By Dandy Mgbenwa

FRSC canvasses use of rear seat safety belts

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FRSC canvasses use of rear seat safety belts

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has disclosed that top on its agenda for this year is the mandatory enforcement of speed limit device and use of the rear seat safety belt.

Oyeyemi Boboye, FRSC Corps Marshal, at the rear seat using a safety belt
Oyeyemi Boboye, FRSC Corps Marshal, at the rear seat using a safety belt

Corp Marshal, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, who made the disclosure at the sector headquarters in Lagos on Friday at a session with members of Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), said that the strategy is to continuously reduce accidents and fatal crashes on Nigerian roads.

He warned that most Nigerians, especially those who are described as “car-owners” and who usually seat at the rear, should imbibe the habit of wearing their seat belts along with other rear seat passengers or face the wrath of the law. He stressed that, by so doing, “car-owners” will inspire others beside him or her to wear their belts as well.

According to him, annually, most probable cause of road traffic crashes has been linked to speed violation, loss of control and dangerous driving.

On top of this list, Oyeyemi said, has been speed violation, which has also continued to reduce in the last four years with about 8.7 per cent. He added that, as at December 2015, speed violation road accidents were at 26.5 per cent, while loss of control was at 22.9 per cent and dangerous driving at 9.4 per cent.

He also revealed that the Corps has commenced advisory enforcement on the use of rear seat belts to further reduce fatalities and save more lives.

He, therefore, solicited partnership with the Nigerian media to ensure this initiative gets the buying-in of all Nigerians.

Oyeyemi advised Nigerians and media practitioners particularly to also show examples by fastening their rear seat belts.

He also solicited media partnership with FRSC, saying, “Nowhere in Nigeria is better covered without the Press. Information from remote parts of the country can be accessed through the Press and vice versa; hence, FRSC has better mileage when the Press is there for her.”

Images: Nigeria delegation graces UN Paris Agreement signing

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Images: Nigeria delegation graces UN Paris Agreement signing

Though Nigeria is yet to neither sign nor ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change, the nation was ably represented at the landmark event that saw some 175 countries signing the Paris Agreement at a ceremony at the UN Headquarters on Friday 22 April that observers say far exceeds the historical record for first-day signatures to an international agreement.

Environment Minister, Amina J. Mohammed, in the company of Acting Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Usman Sarki, led the Nigerian delegation at the forum, that featured numerous side events.

Environment Minister, Amina Mohammed, holds on to several SDG options
Environment Minister, Amina Mohammed, holds on to several SDG options
Dr Peter Tarfa, Amb. Usman Sarki and Ms Amina Mohammed
Dr Peter Tarfa, Amb. Usman Sarki and Ms Amina Mohammed
Achim Steiner, Rachel Kyte and Amina Mohammed
Achim Steiner, Rachel Kyte and Amina Mohammed
Amina Mohammed (right) formally Inducted as a member of Troika+ of Women Leaders on Gender & Climate Change
Amina Mohammed (right) formally inducted as a member of Troika+ of Women Leaders on Gender & Climate Change
Amb. Usman Sarki (left) with President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger
Amb. Usman Sarki (left) with President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger
Akon (right) with Ms Amina Mohammed
Akon (right) with Ms Amina Mohammed
Akon with Ms. Amina Mohammed's aide, Esther Agbarakwe
Akon with Ms. Amina Mohammed’s aide, Esther Agbarakwe
American actor, film producer and environmental campaigner, Leonardo Dicaprio
American actor, film producer and environmental campaigner, Leonardo Dicaprio
Amina Mohammed in the company of personalities such as Rachel Kyte, Christiana Figueres and Helen Clark discuss ways to improve grassroots women participation in climate governance process
Amina Mohammed in the company of personalities such as Rachel Kyte, Christiana Figueres and Helen Clark discuss ways to improve grassroots women participation in climate governance process

 

Need for urgent action to deliver on climate treaty stressed

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Need for urgent action to deliver on climate treaty stressed

The 43-member Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) on Friday joined other Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to take forward commitments to fully implement the Paris Agreement. In a press conference held in conjunction with the Paris Agreement Signing Ceremony, the leadership of the Climate Vulnerable Forum emphasised the significance of urgently translating pledges into solid and decisive actions, as well as partnership with civil society and efforts in the context of the High Ambition Coalition.

Senator Loren Legarda
Senator Loren Legarda

The more than 160 nations present at UN Headquarters in New York for the Paris Agreement Signing Ceremony represents about 93% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

“With the signing today of the Paris Agreement by over 160 countries, the time for talk is over and the time for urgent climate action is now,” said Philippine Senator Loren Legarda.

“The 1.5 degrees Celsius-cap on global temperature increase is at the core of the Paris Agreement. ‘Well below’ 2 degrees certainly cannot mean 1.9, 1.8 or 1.7 degrees. 1.5 is really the minimum deliverable and we can already take actions to achieve it well before 2020,” she added.

Legarda further commented: “We have already breached one degrees Celsius and look what has happened to countries like my country, the Philippines. We still feel the effects of Typhoon Haiyan. Our country and large parts of the world are reeling from the effects of extended drought.”

Manuel Gonzalez, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica said that the successful signing ceremony should be immediately followed with domestic and international initiatives that will make sure that the Paris Agreement takes effect and is acted on as soon as possible.

He further stressed that more ambitious pre-2020 action must be aligned with the 1.5 degrees Celsius-goal: “We cannot live in a world fraught with challenges to life and human well-being. Nobody is going to come from Mars to help us. It’s very simple. Our effort here today is sending a strong signal to the world on the type of development model and public and private investments we need in the future,” Gonzalez pointed out.

Wael Hmaidan, a member of the Climate Vulnerable Forum Expert Advisors Group and International Director of the Climate Action Network, expressed confidence that the overwhelming turnout at the signing of the Paris Agreement only indicates that the world is eager and ready to tackle climate change.

“Usually, after a big political moment like Paris, the level of momentum stalls. But climate action is only growing as the events in New York today attest,” he said. “On a civil society-level we see the same momentum continuing to progress. This transformational movement will only grow. One of the key objectives for us going forward is to support the Climate Vulnerable Forum on its 1.5 degrees Celsius-advocacy and on achieving 100% renewable energy.”

For his part, Secretary Emmanuel M. De Guzman of the Philippine Climate Change Commission (CCC) underscored the importance of governments working hand-in-hand with civil society: “There is a lot of work to do and without civil society action and support at the local level it becomes very difficult to achieve change. In the Philippines, we are rolling out an initiative called Communities for Resilience (CORE), and we are working to mainstream emissions reductions strategies down to the very local level. We are going down to the community and engaging them on how they can contribute to achieve the Philippines negative 70% emissions,” De Guzman noted.

The Forum also released a statement with delegates also highlighting the need for all countries to already begin work to prepare new, higher ambition contributions to emission reductions (INDCs) under the Paris Agreement in order to ensure alignment with the 1.5 degrees Celsius-limit. Also highlighted were the importance of rapid progress towards achieving the $100 billion joint commitment of developed countries on climate finance in support of raising ambition, and the humanitarian priority of achieving a 50:50 balance of climate finance between mitigation and adaptation by 2020.

“Keeping the 1.5 degrees Celsius-promise, scaling up and funding increased action will help protect the 1 billion people who are most vulnerable to climate change. It will, at the same time, help lift billions of people from poverty,” De Guzman said. “The world will not be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, also agreed last year, without ensuring the Paris Agreement reaches its full potential.”

“Not funding adaptation would be the worst kind of false economy as it would only drive up the costs of humanitarian emergencies,” De Guzman also asserted. “We are looking forward to seeing real progress on this front, as much remains to be accomplished.”

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