Population growth rates in Africa are projected to double the continent’s population from one billion in 2010 to two billion in 2040. This growth is also accompanied by an accelerated transition from rural to urban population majorities, which observers believe constitutes the most important challenge and opportunity presented to Africa’s nations. The population of urban dwellers is expected to increase from 40% in 2010 (400 million) to 50% (roughly one billion) by 2035. Similar to other parts of the world, urbanisation in Africa has occurred in tandem with economic growth in real GDP and an increase in the percentage of middle class households.
Kabir Yari, head of the UN-Habitat office in Nigeria
While there are various benefits and opportunities associated with rapid urbanisation, general or regionspecific challenges also need to be identified and addressed. Changing demographics, limited urban industries, infrastructure needs, overreliance on fossil fuels, rapidly diminishing natural resources, environmental degradation and climate change are some of the main challenges that require solutions for a sustainable urban future in Africa.
According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the Habitat III Africa Regional Meeting in Abuja, that holds February 24-26, 2016 will be an opportunity for regional governmental representatives and other stakeholders to meet, discuss and identify priorities for sustainable urban development in the coming decades. As with all Habitat III Thematic and Regional Meetings, a final participants’ declaration resulting from the meeting will be prepared and included as an official input and contribution to the Habitat III preparatory process. Ultimately the Abuja Declaration will be feeding the final outcome of the Habitat III Conference (i.e. the New Urban Agenda) to be held in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016.
“The remarkable growth occurring in African cities presents a unique opportunity to take strides in developing urban innovations towards more sustainable, equitable, healthier, and inclusive urban centres. Through interactive discussions and presentations, the Habitat III Africa Regional Meeting will provide a platform where African diverse stakeholders can share and propose approaches to regional urbanisation to strengthen positive transitions and to improve existing conditions, in African cities and human settlements,” says UN-Habitat.
He was poverty stricken. Stubborn to take elders’ counsel. Failed to feed his family. Lived hopelessly. Believed in stealing, alcoholism and trouble making, characters that are not in line with the Christian values, those Jesus preached.
A tomato farm
His children and family could not appreciate family love. They failed to make ends. Often times, thronged their parents-in-law for food, clothes and financial support.
Malekano Chikupila, Village Head Nzuma in T/A Mazengera in Lilongwe was at the centre of this. He was struck by poverty. However, close to him were untapped fertile land and water.
Few kilometres after Kamphata in Lilongwe as you travel on the M1 Road lies Diamphwe River and vast Dambo land – precious resources for farming as business.
But all Chikupila needed were farming skills and counseling so that he can exploit Diamphwe River and the vast Dambo land for farming as business in a move to live a happier life. He recalls that life became unbearable when he got married.
But now, Chikupila lives a decent life out of farming, which he did not believe could transform him likewise his family members.
How? This follows training sessions by Nkhoma Youth Department under the CCAP Synod – with funding from Y-Malawi through World Vision – held for Nkhoma-Chilenje youths.
“Since I joined the club my life has changed for the better. I used to cause havoc in the area, which is not the case today. I did not mind what trouble to cause. But look, I now contribute positively to the family and development of the community,” explains Chikupila.
Chikupila is a staunch farmer and dedicated church member of the CCAP. Like other members, he too takes advantage of rain and Diamphwe River water to grow cabbage, maize, beans and tomato for subsistence and commercial purposes.
He has iron sheets out of the farming business, a thing he recalls would not have done some years before 2013.
“I bought 15 bags of maize last year to beef up with what I harvested using the money I gained from sales of other farm produce. This year, I expect to sell more and continue with my investments plans,” says Chikupila.
He, however, pleads for timely availability of farm input and field officers so that they have advanced skills in agricultural production in view of the global talk of climate change.
Youths under Diamphwe Club say the presence of more field officers in the agriculture sector is vital for more financial gains.
The club, which comprises 40 members – has seen its members grow maize, tomatoes, cabbage, beans and other crops since inception in 2013.
Through the growth of such crops, various members of the club have prospered in their day to lives such that they are a force to reckon with.
With increased population growth in Malawi, which the United Nations estimates at 16 million, business operators and farmers stand to benefit more if they increase production to meet the demand.
Malawi Government and various local and international organisations think Malawians should regard farming as business if they are to progress in life. These organisations include agricultural and humanitarian ones such as World Vision.
This is why World Vision deputy national director Fordson Kafweku recently echoed by saying that population growth should be regarded as an opportunity for producers to make more profits.
He adds: “It is an issue of demand and supply. If there are more people, it means producers of various goods and services have to boost their production to match with the increasing demand.”
Josephine Jacob, a secondary school student, shared another success story following the introduction of youth clubs in Nkhoma. She comes from a family of four (two boys and two girls).
She says she is can now afford paying school fees for herself. According to her, she sells Mandasi after knocking off from school.
When in class, it’s her relations who sell Mandasi on her behalf.
“I am a member of Diamphwe Youth Club and through my business, I buy clothes, school uniform, shoes and notebooks. On daily basis, I make at least K2 000 (U$2.8) per day. I am also into village savings,” she says.
Josephine explains that life was tough before she attained business, leadership, health and other skills.
She salutes Nkhoma Youth Department and World Vision for the training.
“My parents could not fend for my needs. They struggled buying me school uniform, shoes and clothes, which I can now afford,” she says.
Different youth clubs operate under Nkhoma Youth Department.
According to Kennedy Chabwera Programs Officer for Nkhoma Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Student Organization (CCAPSO) clubs were formed to shape the youths into reliable citizens.
“Those who patronise the clubs have changed their behaviour and that’s what we intend to achieve,” says Chabwera.
He adds that they provide youths with books and any other written literature to improve their business, farming and leadership skills.
Nkhoma Youth Department gets support from Y-Malawi through World Vision for its activities.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that degradation of about two billion of hectares of arable land is due to population pressures in 64 of 105 countries.The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) says 11 states in Northern Nigeria (Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe states in the northeast Nigeria and Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara in the northwest) are threatened by desertification.Studies by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan show that the rate of deforestation in Nigeria is about 3.5 percent, translating to a loss of between 350,000 and 400,000 hectares of forest land per year.
One of the greatest challenges in human history is before us. It is desertification, which has brought decline in biodiversity, with consequences on economic productivity of the affected lands.
The statistics of desertification in Africa is alarming, especially in the Sahara/Sahel regions where the sand has become an enemy that is being feared. The creeping desertification is causing droughts. Food security is threatened by the intruding sands.
It is on record that about 43 percent of Nigeria’s total land area is under the threat of desertification with the resultant deleterious effect on food security, sustainable livelihoods and social security of the affected communities of over 40 million people.
Of the total of 19 states that compose northern Nigeria, 11 are hit by desertification. This reasoning gave vent for Nigeria to propose the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI).
It is a Pan-African; adopted by the African Union in 2007 when it also adopted Declaration 137 VIII, which approved the decision on the implementation of the Green Wall for the Sahara Initiative.
In Nigeria, the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) is the domestication of the GGWSSI, a Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) signed by Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan at a convention in Ndjamena, Chad in June 2010 to create the Great Green Wall (GGW) agency.
Nigeria’s GGW strengthens the need for the country’s enrollment of all MEAs. Only this will lead to on-the-hand delivery that would control desert encroachment and other climate-related challenges.
The vision of the GGW is to combat ecological degradation, which in turn would tackle poverty. Over the years, climate variability, frequent droughts, poor management of land and water resources have caused rivers and lakes to dry up and contribute to degradation of soils in the Sahel-Saharan region.
Victor Ndoma-Egba, a former Senate leader, who sponsored the bill that became a law establishing the NAGGW to implement the Great Green Wall programme in Nigeria, said, “The specific goal of the Initiative is to address land degradation and desertification in the Sahara and Sahel region, enhance food security and support communities to adapt to climate change.”
One of the human causes of desertification is deforestation. And, according to FAO, Nigeria has the highest rate of deforestation in the world. Between 1990 and 2005, Nigeria lost a total of 35.7 percent of its forest cover, translating to 6,145,000 hectares.
Nigeria must therefore use all available MEAs in the fight against desertification. This is especially because funding for most projects that are based on international conventions on the environment, are available.
According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Global Enrivonment Facility) GEF), Monique Barbut, GEF is determined to fund specific projects that bear on international conventions on the environment.
“The projects funded by the GEF fall within the purview of strategies that reflect the thrust of international conventions on the environment,” he stated.
In addition, Nigeria should lead all African countries that have the problems of desertification in the fight against this phenomenon. The country should implement all other international protocols bordering on environment in order to check the menace of desertification.
Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Héla Cheikhrouhou, has announced that she will step down in September 2016, at the end of her current term as head of the Fund.
GCF executive director Hela Cheikhrouhou. Photo credit: news.gcfund.org
Ms. Cheikhrouhou, who made the disclosure on Friday, was appointed by GCF’s Board in June 2013 to serve as the Fund’s first Executive Director and to establish the necessary infrastructure and mechanisms to make the Fund operational.
During her tenure, she set in motion the Fund’s first resource mobilisation process that resulted in more than $10 billion equivalent in pledges from 43 countries.
Ahead of the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015, she worked with the GCF Board to secure the approval of $168 million in funding for its first round of eight projects and programmes, signalling the end of the Fund’s launch phase and kick-starting the flow of climate finance through the Fund to developing countries.
At the operational level, Ms. Cheikhrouhou oversaw the establishment of GCF’s Headquarters in the Republic of Korea, including the recruitment of permanent staff members and the rolling out of institutional policies and procedures.
At its upcoming 12th meeting from 8 to 10 March 2016, GCF’s Board will discuss steps to appoint a successor and ensure a smooth transition of leadership.
To ensure sustainability and supply security, an International Energy Agency (IEA) report prescribes a new balance between regulation and competitive markets
A power grid
Electricity markets are undergoing massive transformation, as the push for low-carbon power generation shifts the industry towards high investment in renewables and other new technologies even as demand stagnates or declines in many countries.
Building the electricity markets of the future, Re-powering Markets explains, requires a comprehensive framework that encourages low-carbon investments and operational efficiency but also keeps security of supply as a top priority. That requires efficient markets, which are best achieved by introducing prices that reflect supply and demand conditions as often as possible and as close as possible to locations where the energy is generated or consumed. Markets are adopting technology that allows such pricing, including day-ahead, intraday and real-time trading, as well as by zone to stimulate cross-border trade. The detailed price information needs to be transparent to communicate the cost of electricity in specific circumstances as well as the relative value of different forms of electricity generation so that all participants, even from neighbouring markets, learn where and when to operate and invest.
Furthermore, efficient markets unlock flexibility to deal with renewables’ variability, like when and where the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine – or when and where wind and solar generation is abundant – as well as weather forecasting errors and network congestion.
Besides efficient markets, the shift to a low-carbon energy system requires a robust carbon price to help reveal the right value for various technologies. That is part of the regulation with long-term arrangements that is necessary to attract investments in a timely manner and at the scale required. Investors, governments and consumers all have to share the risks in the transition, Re-powering Markets explains, to ensure efficient and lowest-cost evolution.
More than just generation is at stake. Networks, too, are critical: improving and expanding power grids, including across borders, helps ensure successful integration of higher shares of wind and solar power as well as increases energy security. Proper governance is necessary to see the bigger, often transnational, picture critical to a modern electricity system: options examined in the book include transmission auctioning. Regulation of distribution must also be modernised to take into account the potential of batteries as well as consumers who also produce renewable electricity.
As the markets evolve, though, shortages of capacity can result in scarcity prices. While these prices are critical to incentivise generators to produce as well as to get consumers to reduce demand, Re-powering Markets makes clear the need for an adequate regulatory framework during hours of capacity shortage.
Besides looking at price spikes, the book examines other ways regulators can cope with the huge uncertainty of decarbonisation pathways and policies, including capacity mechanisms that pay for maintaining adequate generation to meet politically set reliability standards. It also details the opportunities that demand response offers through dynamic pricing and the pooling of consumers through new technologies, including the impact of increased electrification from widespread adoption of electric cars and other new technology.
In the end, there is no definitive market design for the low-carbon energy systems of the future. But governments and industry around the world must adjust as new technologies prompt constant evolution, and Re-powering Markets shows them how to navigate that transformation by developing markets that provide secure, sustainable and affordable electricity.
Christiana Figueres speaks at TED2016 – Dream, February 15-19, 2016, Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada
Christiana Figueres. Photo credit: Bret Hartman / TED
In 2009, six months after a spectacularly failed climate change summit in Copenhagen, Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres was appointed executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Her job: Leading the next round of international climate change negotiations.
At that time, no one believed that we could ever get a global climate change agreement. “In fact,” Figueres says, “Neither did I.”
Tasked, essentially, with saving the planet — with full responsibility and absolutely no authority, as all governments are sovereign — Figueres panicked.
In her first press conference in her new official capacity, a journalist asked Figueres if she thought a climate change agreement was possible. Her response: “Not in my lifetime.”
“You can imagine the faces of my press team,” she says, “who were horrified at this crazy Costa Rican woman who was their new boss.”
Six years later, that horror has turned to optimism.
On December 12, 2015, in Paris, under the United Nations, 195 governments came together and decided, unanimously, to intentionally change the course of the global economy in order to protect the earth and improve the quality of life for all of us.
So how did this remarkable achievement happen?
“Impossible is not a fact, it’s an attitude,” Figueres says, thinking back on that first press conference. “And I decided, right then and there, that I was going to change my attitude, and I was going to help the world change its attitude on climate change.”
She had no idea how we were going to solve climate change, but she knew we had to change the tone of the conversation. “There is no way you can deliver victory without optimism,” she says.
So she channeled courage, hope, trust, solidarity and the fundamental belief that we humans can come together and help each other to better the fate of mankind. And for six years, she has stubbornly and relentlessly injected optimism into the system.
Pretty soon, she began to see changes happening, precipitated by remarkable changes in technology.
“We began to see that clean technologies, in particular renewable-energy technologies, began to drop in price and increase in capacity,” she says. These new technologies bring us cleaner air, better health, better transportation, more livable cities, more energy security and more energy access to the developing world. “In sum, a better world than what we have now,” Figueres says. Perhaps more important, the economic equation changed, and the realisation that clean technologies could improve the bottom line set in across industries.
The shift caused a change in perspective on the part of governments, who realised it was now in their national interest to engage in sustainable development. They were ready to converge onto a common path, and 189 governments submitted comprehensive climate change plans, the measurement and reporting of which is legally binding, to the UN.
“The checkpoints that we’re going to have every five years to assess collective progress toward our goal are legally binding,” Figueres says, “and the path itself towards a decarbonised and more resilient economy is legally binding.”
Whereas before we had a small handful of countries who had undertaken reduced, short-term emission reduction commitments, now we have all countries of the world contributing with different intensities and approaches to a common goal.
“Once you have all of this in place and you have shifted this understanding, then you see that governments were able to go to Paris and adopt the Paris agreement,” Figueres says.
Figueres describes the day that agreement was signed: 5,000 people, jumping out of their seats, crying, clapping, screaming, yelling, torn between euphoria and, still, a disbelief at what they had just seen.
“I’m the first one to recognise that we have a lot of work still to do,” Figueres says. “We’ve only just started our work on climate change … But I do believe that we have come, over the past six years, from the impossible to the now unstoppable.”
Seventeen US governors have agreed to jointly pursue clean energy goals, including better energy efficiency and higher rates of renewable energy, modernising the electricity grid and promoting electric and alternatively fueled vehicles.
California’s Governor Jerry Brown in 2015 convened international leaders from 11 other states and provinces to sign an agreement to limit the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius
The governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future makes an economic case for expanding cooperation between states on renewable energy by supporting the growth of innovative US companies.
The document cites extreme weather events including sea-level rise, droughts, floods and wildfires as reasons to increase resilience of existing electrical grids and the overall US economy with the help of improved energy efficiency and renewable energy from sources such as wind, solar, hydro and geothermal.
The new agreement comes in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling that put a hold on the US Environmental Protection Agency Clean Power Plan for greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
It also comes in the wake of growing climate action on the part of regions around the world.
Last year, California’s Governor Jerry Brown convened international leaders from 11 other states and provinces, collectively representing more than $4.5 trillion in GDP and 100 million people, to sign an agreement to limit the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius.
The agreement, called the Under 2 MOU, provides a template for other states and provinces and played a major role in building momentum for an effective outcome of the UN Climate Change Agreement in Paris last December.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) said at the weekend that it has intensified recovery of oil from the February 14, 2016 spill at the Forcados Terminal export pipeline.
Shell’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli
The oil bigwig disclosed in a statement on Saturday that, supported by industry group Clean Nigeria Associates (CNA) and other oil companies, it has deployed specialised equipment to contain the spill. The firm added that it has likewise mobilised clean-up teams and contracted a specialised aircraft to join in the response. Production into the terminal and crude oil exports were stopped soon after the spill was discovered.
SPDC spokesperson, Gbenga Odugbesan, stressed that diving teams which inspected the 48-inch diameter export pipeline reported extensive damage that is consistent with the application of external force. Following this incident, the SPDC Joint Venture is working with relevant government agencies to review the security situation around its critical assets in the Niger Delta, he added in the statement.
General Manager External Relations of SPDC, Igo Weli, was quoted as saying: “This incident is regrettable but our response is comprehensive including multiple flights over the affected area to monitor the impact and deployment of clean-up experts from within and outside Nigeria. Oil recovery will continue while we finalise repair plans pending the conclusion of the ongoing Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) process. We appreciate the support of the communities, regulators and security agencies who are taking part in the investigation.”
Odugbesan noted that, meanwhile, SPDC has procured relief materials for distribution to communities.
For three days from Monday, February 15 to Wednesday, 17 February 2016 in Mexico City, over 65 women and men working on issues related to gender and biodiversity in Mexico came together to share experiences and provide input into the development of a gender-responsive National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP).
Mexico City, the sprawling, densely populated and high-altitude capital of Mexico hosted the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) forum. Photo credit: paradiseintheworld.com
Mexico is said to be the first pilot country taking part in a project supported by the Japan Biodiversity Fund to build capacity of developing country Parties to integrate gender into their biodiversity policy, planning and programming. The project intends to work with at least three pilot countries to integrate gender considerations into their revised NBSAPs.
The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) together with the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), are working in partnership with the Government of Mexico to engage experts in gender and biodiversity, community leaders, and representatives from women’s groups from across the country to undertake this intensive exercise, the first of its kind. Lead Mexican government ministries and agencies on gender and biodiversity issues have provided strong support to this initiative, specifically the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), the National Commission on Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (Inmujeres).
According to the CBD, the commitment of the Mexican government is a key ingredient in ensuring that the perspectives and inputs of this wide range of stakeholders are not only incorporated in the strategy but also in the implementation of gender-responsive biodiversity actions in the years ahead. In the lead-up to the 13th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention (COP13), to be held in Cancun in December 2016, Mexico’s role as a leader in addressing and showcasing gender considerations relevant to biodiversity conservation and management marks a significant step forward towards the implementation of the CBD’s 2015-2020 Gender Plan of Action.
The 2015-2020 Gender Plan of Action was updated to align with the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-
2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The Gender Plan of Action includes a framework of actions to be
undertaken by the Secretariat and identifies possible actions to be carried out by Parties, which include the integration of gender considerations into NBSAPs. The launch of this project through the first pilot initiative with the Government of Mexico demonstrates that there is a clear interest and commitment from Parties to bring the objectives of the Gender Plan into action.
Representatives from CONABIO, IUCN and Inmujeres opened the workshop.
Condoms have been the most effective way to prevent sexual transmission of HIV. For discordant couples who want children, this can be a challenge. This report shows how a new drug on trial can give these couples hope.
