On the occasion of this year’s World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) wants the Federal Ministry of Health to expedite action on regulations for implementation of the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act, which recommends graphic health warnings to cover at least 50 per cent of cigarette packs sold in Nigeria.
Health officials say tobacco smoking is dangerous to health
On May 31 every year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners mark the WNTD, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocate for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.
This year, the WHO and the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) are calling countries to get ready for plain (standardised) packaging of tobacco products which is described as an important demand reduction measure. Plain packaging restricts use of tobacco packaging as a form of tobacco advertising and promotion, limits misleading packaging and labelling, and increases the effectiveness of health warnings.
Specifically, it refers to measures that restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colours, brand images or promotional information on packaging other than brand names and product names displayed in a standard colour and font style.
Guidelines to Articles 11 and 13 of the WHO FCTC recommend that Parties consider adoption of plain packaging.
ERA/FoEN Deputy Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said: “The 2016 WNTD theme reinforces our advocacy that the Ministry of Health quickly unveil regulations for effective implementation of the Tobacco Act. While we seek a review of the Act to accommodate plain packaging, the provision on graphic health warnings on cigarette packs will make the aesthetics of the lethal products less-glamorous for youths that tobacco companies target in their unhealthy marketing tactics.
“In as much as we are not satisfied that the Tobacco Act stopped at just bold graphic health warnings, the delay in the regulations is being exploited by tobacco companies that continue to shamelessly unveil new, beautiful-looking packs with deadlier products intended for the lungs of our people.”
He explained that plain packaging is part of a comprehensive, multi-sectoral approach to tobacco control which was first adopted by Australia in 2012 and has been adopted in Ireland, the United Kingdom and France which also starts plain packaging from May 2016.
“Here in Nigeria, the NTC Act provision on graphic health warnings covering 50 percent of the packs is a good beginning. We will however not rest on our oars. We will continue advocating until tobacco packs sold in Nigeria are totally rid of any attractive logos or colours as recommended by the WHO-FCTC,” he insisted.
Energy Efficiency Shell on Monday in Lagos announced that it would launch a major public service campaign in Nigeria on Tuesday, 31st May 2016, as part of a global effort to encourage debate on how a rapidly expanding world population can meet its energy needs.
Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria
Using traditional and social media advertising and other targeted activities, the 2016 campaign, christened #makethefuture, follows from the “Let’s Go” outreach and seeks to promote advocacy and partnership for Bright Energy Ideas as part of Shell’s thought leadership on the Future of Energy. The primary target of the campaign is the Energy Engaged Millennials (aged roughly between 18 and 34) who are expected to lead the debate on energy efficiency.
“The campaign is an important contribution to the debate on the future of energy, especially in Nigeria,” said Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria. “Like everyone else, we are keen to see how a growing population will provide for its energy needs. Studies show that energy use has increased globally at the same time that we face the challenges of climate change and reduction of CO2 emissions. The campaign therefore seeks to challenge assumptions and spark imaginative thinking on how to make today’s energy go further and to find cleaner energy for the future.”
The campaign starts with advertising on print, electronic and online media in the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. A key feature is the build-up from the kinetic football pitch built by Shell at the Federal College of Education, Akoka, Lagos. The pitch is powered by a combination of player activity and solar energy and is the first of its type in Africa, and second only to Brazil globally. It was launched in Lagos in November 2015 as a signpost for Bright Energy Ideas thinking among Nigerian youth, along with their counterparts worldwide. Akon, an international music star partnered with Shell for the launch in line with his vision of powering Africa.
As part of the campaign, there will be simultaneous football matches in Lagos, London and Brazil which will be played on the pitches on June 30, 2016, in a bid to further arouse public awareness on the bright energy ideas. The campaign, which also holds in several other countries including the United States, United Kingdom, China and Brazil, ends in August 2016, but Shell hopes that the resultant discussions and debates will lead to ideas that contribute to sustainable solutions to the global energy challenge.
In 2014, Shell commissioned a “Future of Energy Survey” which revealed that more than four out of five Nigerian respondents were interested in the topic of energy, with reliable electricity ranking alongside employment and job security as their most important issue of concern. Shell has conducted Future of Energy surveys in numerous countries since 2013 in an attempt to obtain a better understanding of the aspirations and hopes of people with regard to energy and related development themes.
Leaders of the Shipibo indigenous village of Santa Clara de Uchunya, accompanied by their representative organisation FECONAU, filed a constitutional law suit challenging Peru’s regional government authorities for failing to secure legal protection of their traditional lands and enabling its acquisition and clearance by an international agribusiness company.
Canoeing in the Amazon river
Plantaciones de Pucallpa SAC, an agribusiness company affiliated to the Melka commercial group, appears to have begun acquiring the lands since 2012. Since that point, satellite images show that more than 5,000 ha of forest have been cleared to pave the way for an oil palm plantation.
The lawsuit argues that these actions violate indigenous peoples’ collective property rights over their traditional and customary lands. These rights, which exist and are legitimate irrespective of whether or not their lands are titled, are protected by Peru’s constitution and under international human rights law, which is obligatory for the Peruvian government.
The lawsuit describes a process over many years through which the Peruvian government failed to legally secure the lands of Santa Clara de Uchunya, but then also enabled acquisition by individuals claiming occupation rights who it appears then subsequently sold their plots to Plantaciones de Pucallpa. Unfortunately, this sort of irregular accumulation of land is widespread practice throughout the Peruvian Amazon. A 2014 report by national indigenous organisation AIDESEP has identified more than 1,200 communities vulnerable to land grabs whose legal land titles remain outstanding. This lack of legally-secure land rights is facilitating widespread conflict over lands, forests and resources.
The community has been denouncing and campaigning actively against the operations of Plantaciones de Pucallpa and has engaged energetically with local and national authorities with mixed success. In September 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture ordered the suspension of the operations on the grounds that Plantaciones de Pucallpa had none of the authorisations and environmental certificates and assessments required by the Peruvian government before clearing forest. Since then, however, the operations appear to have continued as verified by a recent field visit to the plantation site by Ministry of Agriculture officials, which was captured on video.
Meanwhile, community members have been promised by local officials that the titling of their traditional lands is being processed. However, at the same time, communities point out that the illegal practice in which their lands are issued by local authorities to third parties without their Free, Prior and Informed Consent continues. In December 2015 the community found out that a further 17 plots of land in their traditional lands extending to more than 200ha had been allocated to individual farmers by regional authorities. In this case they managed to file an immediate appeal and an administrative process remains pending. Prosecutors visiting the area on 5th and 6th May confirmed that there was no evidence that would support the farmers’ claims.
Leaders of the community and representatives of the organisation FECONAU, describe a growing sense of fear as their denunciations and campaigning are triggering a growing backlash, apparently stemming from Plantaciones de Pucallpa and their supporters. This has manifested itself in a campaign of defamation in local media relying on unsubstantiated accusations that community members have burnt down houses of local farmers as well as anonymous death threats for individual leaders.
Joel Nunta Valera, President of the community, said: “There are outsiders coming here who are threatening and intimidating members of the community and sowing fear and disquiet. This is in revenge for the various denouncements and other actions taken by the community in defence of its territory.”
Community leaders and representatives report that there have been strangers arriving in the village at night who are armed and masked and asking for the whereabouts of their leaders. Meanwhile, these threats have escalated since an official delegation of Peruvian environmental prosecutors conducted a field visit in the area on the 5 and 6 May 2016 and confiscated chainsaws and detained individuals found to be felling trees without permission.
Robert Guimaraes, president of FECONAU, reports that he is in fear of his own life and for the lives of the leaders of Uchunya: “The threat of death is very strong and smouldering. Residents of the community have literally been told by people in the nearby town of Requena ‘Take care because we are going to kill your leaders and if we do not manage to do your leaders in, then we will kill anyone from Uchunya itself, we have a list’.
“We must have protection from the authorities; we plead for the intervention of international human rights agencies.”
Plantaciones de Pucallpa is one of many companies registered in Peru with links to a complex corporate network apparently controlled by US-Czech businessman Dennis Melka and known collectively in Peru as the ‘Melka group’. Mr Melka founded the Malaysian agribusiness company Asian Plantations.
Melka group companies in Peru, including Cacao del Peru Norte SAC and Plantaciones de Ucayali SAC and their parent companies United Cacao Ltd and United Oils Ltd, have attracted similar accusations of illegal deforestation and land conflict. On 4 May 2016 a formal complaint was submitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on the London Stock Exchange highlighting the multiple violations of Peruvian law by United Cacao Ltd and requesting their delisting from the AIM. On 24 May, Peru’s National Forest Authority (SERFOR) issued a statement clarifying unequivocally that Cacao del Peru Norte SAC have engaged in unauthorised deforestation and have urged the AIM to hold them to account. The statement is important because it establishes clearly that the arguments used by United Cacao del Norte and its sister companies, including Plantaciones de Pucallpa, that they have operated within the law are unfounded.
Bread of Life Development Foundation (BLF), a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has called on national, state, and local governments to work towards increasing access to safe drinking water, and promotion of safe sanitation and hygiene practices in order to reduce high child mortality in Nigeria.
According to UNICEF, Nigeria losses over 150,000 children annually from Diarrhea deaths
The call comes as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s Children’s Day, which was observed on Friday, May 27.
Quoting UNICEF figures that says Nigeria losses over 150,000 children annually from Diarrhea deaths, and Federal Ministry of Health estimates that indicates another 177,000 children die annually from pneumonia, the BLF in a statement endorsed by its Executive Director, Babatope Babalobi, said these deaths are preventable because they are largely caused by access to poor water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.
“As we celebrate Children’s Day, we must remember that the nation has failed its children as we are pushing thousands of them to an early grave through bad WASH governance. One out of every 11 Nigeria child that is celebrating Children’s Day today may die in the next five years, unless we accelerate efforts to provide them with essential water supply and sanitation services,” Babalobi was quoted as saying in the statement.
For those that are alive to celebrate Children’s Day, duty bearers should provide critical water supply and sanitation services to ensure they are alive to celebrate next children’s day in May 2017, he stated, adding:
“We must act now to break to the chain of needless deaths from water-related diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, pneumonia, Arsenicosis, Cholera, Guinea worm diseases, Intestinal worm, and Malaria.
The group also called on State Ministries of Education and Education Boards to support the provision of safe water supply and sanitation facilities in schools, both public and private; and urges parents to adopt Household Water Treatment mechanism to break the cycle of water related sicknesses at family levels
Girls’ needs around menstruation have been neglected by health and education systems around the world, leading to inequity in education and missed opportunities for girls, says WaterAid Nigeria on the world’s third commemoration of Menstrual Hygiene Day.
Dr. Michael Ojo, WaterAid Nigeria’s Country Representative
Menstruation is an important issue yet it is shrouded in silence because of deeply rooted taboos and negative social norms. On any given day, some 800 million women and girls are on their periods across the world, and hundreds of millions of them are subject to ostracisation, shame and risk of infection because of the stigma that still surrounds menstruation.
Menstruation is a woman’s monthly bleeding. During menstruation, the body sheds the lining of the uterus (womb). Menstrual blood flows from the uterus through the small opening in the cervix and passes out of the body through the vagina.
On Saturday, 28 May, the world observed the 2016 Menstrual Hygiene Day – a day that affirms the urgent need to talk about periods and break the silence, taboos and negative social perceptions around menstruation. According to the organisation, it is a day to remember and commit to doing something about the women and girls in the world without access to safe water and a safe toilet to manage their menstrual cycle.
More than a billion women and girls around the world must manage their periods without a safe, private place to go to the toilet. And nearly half of schools in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria do not have basic toilets – meaning girls who are menstruating risk embarrassment and shame during this time, and may decide not to attend school.
Cultural beliefs and myths about menstruation are perpetuated by society and often portray women and girls as inferior to men and boys. This reinforces gender inequalities, often constitutes discrimination and has a negative impact on the fulfilment of the universal human rights to dignity, health and education of women and girls.
In many countries, women and girls are not allowed to cook, go to the farm or are even banished from the family home to an outdoor shed during each menstrual cycle. WaterAid Nigeria recently carried out a study on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in Benue, Bauchi, and Plateau States in Nigeria to explore and understand existing MHM practices and the context that might impact positively or negatively on the implementation of a MHM programme in Nigeria.
The study revealed deeply rooted attitudes and myths surrounding menstruation including the belief that a menstruating woman or girl is cursed and possessed by evil spirits and brings bad luck. Such beliefs result in restrictions being placed on girls and women during their menstruation – including exclusion from attending religious services and even holding their infants in some of the communities. To make matters works, these women and girls lack access to safe water or private toilets at home, in schools and in public places. The effects are devastating.
On the Menstrual Hygiene Day, WaterAid sought to contribute to breaking the silence and building awareness about the fundamental role that good menstrual hygiene management (MHM) plays in enabling women and girls to reach their full potential. The group calls for cooperation with the education and health sectors as well as those working in reproductive and sexual health to ensure girls are prepared for the onset of menstruation, to ensure they can care for themselves in a dignified and hygienic way, and to dispel the myths and taboos that often accompany menstruation.
Dr. Michael Ojo, WaterAid Nigeria’s Country Representative, said: “In some communities in West Africa, women and girls are not allowed to use water sources and latrines during menstruation – the very facilities they need the most during this time! We must move away from the dichotomy of placing value on menstruation as a sign of fertility, celebrating the birth of new life and at the same time excluding women and girls and making them social pariahs during their time of menstruation. There is simply no logic to it whatsoever.
“Over half of the girls interviewed in our study said that they only learned about menstruation after their first experience so when we talk about menstrual hygiene management, it’s not about providing sanitary pads. It’s more than that. It’s really about helping young girls and the people around them, the men in their lives – fathers, brothers, husbands etc., to have the information awareness and the knowledge around this issue. It’s about helping girls to have the confidence to manage their hygiene safely and with dignity and also to ensure that wherever they are- whether it’s at home, school or even in other public places; that provision is made for them to be able to manage their menstrual periods safely and hygienically and for the products to be collected and disposed effectively. So it’s really making sure we have services that respond to the needs of our young girls and women.
“Proper menstrual hygiene management for women and girls requires inclusive water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools and public places; provision of protection materials at affordable rates; behavioural change and communication and a review of existing policies to address this important issue. Everyone has a role to play. At WaterAid Nigeria the integration of menstrual hygiene management in all of our sanitation and hygiene interventions – with a focus on Equity and Inclusion, WASH in Schools and WASH & Health is critical.”
UNESCO estimates that one in 10 adolescent girls in Africa miss school during their menstruation and eventually drop out. A new article in the medical journal PLOS Medicine, co-authored by WaterAid, has highlighted a lack of guidance, facilities and materials for girls to manage their periods at school, affecting their health, their education and their self-esteem. Girls facing shame, fear and confusion around periods have this exacerbated when there is no clean source of water, soap, or safe, private girls’ toilet with space to wash in.
A study by USAID has shown that safe, private toilets for girls in schools, combined with private places to wash, can boost their enrolment by 11%. There is no denying the critical role access to water and sanitation plays in helping women and girls, manage menstruation hygienically and with dignity as well as realise their full potentials.
Every year and for three years now, the world has marked Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28. WaterAid says it’s a part of the global network of partners that thinks it’s important to break the silence and taboos around menstruation; raise awareness of the challenges women and girls worldwide face due to their menstruation and promote the importance of menstrual hygiene management.
“Menstruation can no longer remain a taboo subject. By giving this issue the attention it deserves, we will help ensure every women and girl has access to water, safe toilets and somewhere to wash by 2030. By talking about periods, we can help normalise this natural process and help girls and women live healthier and more dignified lives,” added WaterAid.
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Secretary General, Convention on Biological Diversity
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, the Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity, has welcomed a new UNEP report on environment and health which links a healthy environment and healthy ecosystems as the basis for the implementation of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.
On 23 May, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a new report entitled Healthy Environment, Healthy People, prepared in collaboration with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Montreal Protocol and the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions. The launch of the new report marked the start of the second United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-2).
Drawing on 2012 estimates from the WHO, the report indicates that almost one quarter of the global burden of mortality – or 12.6 million deaths – is attributable to modifiable environmental factors. This builds on other leading reports of global significance that seek to relay the importance of socio-ecological resilience to human health outcomes. These efforts include the State of Knowledge Review, Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human health jointly led by the WHO and the CBD Secretariat in collaboration with over one hundred interdisciplinary experts, and The Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission Report on Planetary Health.
Together with Healthy Environment, Healthy People, these reports form a common voice calling urgently for concerted, coherent, collaborative action to conserve or increase the resilience of ecosystems and human communities worldwide.
Dias noted: “In 2015, we witnessed the release of several landmark agreements for sustainable development including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. These are ambitious objectives, but there has never been greater urgency and opportunity to meet these commitments.”
He added that if the international community is to meet these ambitious commitments we cannot turn a blind eye to the common drivers of biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation and ill health, the limitations of predominant economic models of consumption and production, or compounding pressures – such as land use change, climate change and pollution on ecosystems nearing environmental thresholds.
The Executive Secretary also noted that many of the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets adopted by over 190 countries in 2010 directly or indirectly influence human health outcomes. Parties will have the opportunity to consider these linkages, and the implications of the findings of these reports, at the upcoming 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the CBD, in Cancun, Mexico from 4 to 17 December 2016.
The world’s environment ministers, gathered at the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday, passed far reaching decisions on issues such as marine litter, the illegal trade in wildlife, air pollution, chemicals and waste, and sustainable consumption and production – which are an integral part of the global action needed to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement.
The UN Environment Assembly convening in Nairobi, Kenya
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, “The environment has always been, and will always be, at the heart of humanity’s prosperity. World nations recognised this in 2015 with global accords, such as the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
“What we have seen in the last five days is the same political will and passion for change that brought about the groundbreaking international agreements of 2015. With global consensus affirmed, we are taking steps to bring about a real transformation of our development models. The United Nations Environment Assembly is providing leadership and guidance the world needs to take these unprecedented steps.
“In the decisions made here at this assembly for the environment, we see a significant directional shift that will inform Ministers’ decisions in their home countries. We will now need to see the bold and decisive commitment observed at UNEA transmitted at the national level to drive forward the 2030 Agenda and ensure a brighter future for people and planet.”
Thousands of delegates from 174 countries, 120 at the ministerial level, took part in UNEA-2 and associated side events on issues of global importance, including the Sustainable Innovation Expo and the Science-Policy Forum.
UNEA-2 sessions were attended by UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson; the President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta; UN Habitat Executive Director Joan Clos; and Vice-President of Iran and Minister of Environment Masoumeh Ebtekar. The sessions were presided over by Costa Rica’s Minister of Environment Edgar Gutiérrez, who took over from Oyun Sanjaasuren, former Minister of Environment and Green Development for Mongolia.
Among the 25 resolutions and actions decided at UNEA-2, the theme of which was “Delivering on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, the following themes dominated:
2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement Implementation
The main theme of UNEA-2, Delivering on the 2030 Agenda, was a particular focus. The implementation of the work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a primary undertaking of the UN system, and the Assembly showed their full understanding of this.
UNEA asked UNEP to initiate new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, including with the private sector and civil society.
Building on its work in sustainable finance with the UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System and the UNEP Finance Initiative, member states also asked UNEP to continue to build on its work at the intersection of finance and the environment.
With the Paris Agreement one the most significant environmental agreements in recent decades, UNEA also agreed that UNEP should accelerate support to countries, especially developing countries, to build national readiness capacity to implement the Agreement, build implementation capacity and capacity to access finance and technology.
Illegal Trade in Wildlife
A key issue at UNEA-2 was the illegal trade in wildlife, which is pushing species to the brink of extinction, robbing countries of their natural heritage and profiting international criminal networks.
UNEA-2 passed a resolution building upon previous commitments made at the first UNEA and General Assembly resolution 69/134, urging Member States to take further steps at the national level and through regional and international cooperation to prevent, combat and eradicate the supply, transit and demand related to the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products.
This includes implementing strategies and action plans, strengthening governance systems on issues such as anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering, supporting the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime and the African Elephant Fund, and developing sustainable and alternative livelihoods for communities affected by the illegal trade in wildlife and its adverse impacts.
UNEP and partners – with the backing of celebrities such as Gisele Bündchen, Neymar Jr. and many others – also launched a new campaign, Wild For Life, to engage millions of members of the public to end the illegal trade in wildlife. Angola, which is hosting World Environment Day on 5 June, will make new commitments to combat the trade, particularly in ivory.
Marine Litter and Debris
It is estimated that there are 5.2 trillion pieces of plastic floating in our oceans, harming both the marine environment and biodiversity. To address this problem, member states resolved to encourage product manufacturers and others to consider the lifecycle environmental impacts of products containing microbeads and compostable polymers, including possible downstream impacts.
Delegates also sought the assistance of UNEP to assess the effectiveness of governance strategies and approaches to combat marine plastic litter and microplastics, and identify how to address gaps. They asked UNEP to help develop and implement national and regional action plans to target marine litter, with emphasis on those regions that are the largest sources.
Healthy Environment, Healthy People
World Health Organisation estimates show that an estimated 12.6 million deaths are attributable to environmental factors each year, highlighting the importance of a healthy environment to healthy people. Several resolutions related to human health and the environment were passed. The resolution on sound management of chemicals and waste targeted actions on chemicals such as lead – exposure to which claimed an estimated 654,000 lives in 2010 and causes developmental damage to young children.
Delegates called on UNEP to develop research on actions that could be adopted to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relevant to the issue; asked the private sector to play a bigger role in an integrated approach to the sound management of chemicals and waste; and requested nations to ensure better recycling of lead-acid batteries at national or regional facilities.
Another resolution called on UNEP to establish a global research network on the threat posed by sand and dust storms and integrate the issue into its work. Sand and dust storms contribute to lowered air quality – a worldwide problem that claims seven million lives each year.
Other resolutions
Armed conflict and its relation to the environment was also a significant source of discussion at UNEA-2. A symposium focused on environment and displacement: root causes and implications.
One decision called on Member States to take appropriate measures to ensure compliance with international obligations under international humanitarian law in relation to the protection of the environment in times of armed conflict.
Resolutions on food waste and sustainable consumption and production, which both impacts on the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement in terms of increasing emissions and resource use and holding back efforts to reduce hunger, were passed. The resolution called for increased efforts and cooperation to decrease the one third of all food produced each year that is lost or wasted and committed Member States to achieving SDG 12, which focuses on Sustainable Consumption and Production.
UNEA is the world’s most authoritative decision-making body on the environment, tasked with tackling some of the most critical issues of our time. The Assembly means that the environment is now considered amongst the world’s key concerns alongside other major global issues such as peace, security, finance and health.
Peru’s government has declared a two-month state of emergency across 11 Amazon jungle districts due to mercury contamination caused by widespread illegal gold mining activities.
Tambopata National Reserve, an important protected area in the southern Peruvian Amazon in Madre de Dios. “One can clearly see the beginning of the illegal gold mining activity and deforestation within the reserve between September (left panel) and November (right panel) 2015,” MAAP says. Photo credit: Monitoring the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP)
The South American country, home to 13 percent of the iconic Amazon rainforest, is the sixth largest gold producer in the world. Covert mining for the luxury metal, however, has been a major cost to the environment and human health.
“Gold has a dirty underbelly, whether the horrific mercury poisoning in the Peruvian Amazon from small-scale mining, or the human rights abuses in northern Peru perpetuated by multinational mining companies,” Earthworks mining programme director Payal Sampat told EcoWatch.
According to Mining.com, illicit gold production in Peru increased fivefold since 2012, and it is estimated to provide 100,000 direct jobs in the country, 40 percent of which are in the Madre de Dios region in southern Peru.
Studies from Stanford University and other institutions have detected high levels of mercury in Peru’s citizens, fish and waterways.
The International Business Times noted that thousands of miners, who are working illegally in the region, use mercury to extract gold from the rivers.
“Some 15 percent of the production is believed to be extracted illegally with little to no measures taken to protect the environment,” the publication writes.
According to Reuters, miners dump 40 tonnes of mercury into Amazonian rivers annually, destroying more than 100,000 hectares (247,105 acres) of rainforest in the Madre de Dios region, the environment ministry said.
As for human health, the toxic chemical can affect vital functions of the nervous, digestive and immune systems, and on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.
Environment minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said during a news conference that 41 percent of the population – about 50,000 people – in Madre de Dios are exposed to mercury pollution.
“The consequences of mining activity in Madre de Dios will be with us for the next 80 years, and that must be fought at its roots,” he said. “Declaring the emergency brings action, hospitals, food such as uncontaminated fish, among other things.”
Indigenous and rural communities are particularly vulnerable since they consume the fish they catch from the river. Survival International writes that “up to 80 percent of the recently contacted Nahua tribe have been poisoned with mercury” and have been suffering from acute respiratory infections and other health problems since they were contacted.
Despite Peruvian President Ollanta Humala calling a state of emergency on Monday, Survival International says that the government has known about the contamination since 2014 and has done little to address the problem.
According to the Associated Press, the government is sending hospital boats to help treat people living in the affected area. Authorities are also trying to crack down on illegal mining.
“Consumers need to be aware of the human and environmental costs of the gold in their jewelry boxes and smart phones, and demand accountability from mining companies and retailers,” Sampat said.
Ten Nigerians are participating in the 2016 Sustainaware, a regional partnership conference taking place between 30th and 31st May, 2016 in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
Hamzat Lawal, Chief Executive of CODE and head of the Nigerian delegation (middle, in white), with members of the entourage
The participants, constituting journalists, environmental rights campaigners as well as sustainable development advocates, are expected to join other partners to share knowledge, solve complex challenges bedevilling environmental safeguards and proffer possible solutions on how to accelerate sustainable growth in Africa.
Initiated by Connected Development (CODE) in 2014 in collaboration with the European Union (EU), the key objective of the project is to improve knowledge and inspire young people to take leadership roles in environmental health, green economy and social-entrepreneurship.
It has since inception been implemented in eight countries namely – Nigeria, USA, Argentina, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Liechtenstein and India. Somalia and Zambia have been included as participating countries in the 2016 edition to signify progress and success in execution of work plan, according to Hamzat Lawal, Chief Executive of CODE and head of the Nigerian delegation.
He added that the scope of work in 2016 is targeted at mobilising more spirited volunteers to join the network and champion its gospel across the continent.
His words: “Access to food, medicine, portable water, education and effects of climate change on environmental conservation as well as livelihood sources are some of the priority advocacy issues in our pursuit for transparency and accountability in public service.
“We are committed to our promise and mission – improving of access to information and empowering local communities in Africa.
“Our enthusiasm in ensuring that Nigeria is part of this epic event reveal our internal strategy towards strengthening and building a network of advocates to help mobilise the required grassroots support to achieve our mandate.”
Parkview Estate, Ikoyi-based urban planner and planning advocate, Yacoob Abiodun, writes an open letter to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, urging him to uphold his decision on the relocation of the Mile 12 Market to a new site
Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State. Photo credit: ecomium.org
Your Excellency,
I indulge in writing this unsolicited letter to your Excellency for various reasons and perspectives, in respect of the planned relocation of the Mile 12 market at Ketu to a new location at Imota on the outskirts of Lagos. The first reason is that I am an age-long resident of Lagos and a qualified stakeholder in the affairs of the mega city by virtue of my residency. The second reason is that under your able leadership, you took the bold step to establish the Office of Civic Engagement, in the political history of Lagos State, for the purpose of promoting inclusive/participatory government, whereby the residents are encouraged to speak out their minds about matters of public interest, which is an embodiment of democratic tenets. It is a guarantee for effective public participation in governance. It is that sole assurance that spurs me to write this open letter, to your Excellency, sir on the Mile 12 market saga, which has recently dominated the centre stage in public discourse, trending in social media and daily newspaper commentaries.
Sir, the third most compelling reason for this writer is my professional background as a trained urban planner, who has tried valiantly in the past and now to contribute his humble/modest suggestions on how to improve physical planning practice and urban development in Lagos State in all ramifications. The most pivotal solution to the Mile 12 market problems from my personal perspective has to do first and foremost, with issues of urban planning, regardless of other perceived remedies either on the basis of social or ethnic considerations.
Your Excellency, you would recall the ugly and bloody public affray that took place at the Mile 12 market on March 3, 2016 as a result of a minor dispute traced to one Hausa commercial motorcyclist who allegedly drove against traffic and knocked down a pregnant woman. That unfortunate incident snowballed into an apex ethnic clash between the motley community of Hausas in Mile 12 market and their Yoruba host communities. Before the fracas was finally put under control, over five innocent lives were lost, 40 houses razed by arsonists and unquantifiable number of personal property worth millions of naira were destroyed. The rest, as they say is history.
As the Chief Security Officer of Lagos State, you quickly intervened and ensured that peace returned to the troubled area immediately, to the admiration of Lagos residents. You were able to bring the two warring ethnic groups to the negotiation table to jaw, jaw their differences, instead of war, war- in your firm belief of the aphorism that “two wrongs can never make a right.” At that well-publicised parley, it was reported that the Executive of Mile 12 Market Traders Association cum other stakeholders voluntarily/unanimously agreed to the decisions taken with high ranking Lagos State Government officials who took part in the peace meeting. The communiqué of the meeting was put in the public domain. I quote what Mr. Femi Odusanya, the Secretary of the traders association said verbatim as reported in one of the several daily newspapers which covered the event: “We have agreed with the government on the relocation of the market from its present location to Imota. We were told that a 30-acre of land between Ikorodu and Imota has been set aside for the market. We promised to co-operate on security, ensure peace, free-flow of traffic and hygiene in and around the market.” (Punch, March 18, 2016).
Having extracted these promises voluntarily from the traders’ association devoid any duress, your Excellency with the relevant Lagos State Ministries immediately went to work in order to prepare grounds for the relocation of the market to its new location at the shortest timeframe. This Day newspaper edition of April 13, 2016 reported that, to show the state government is committed to the peace agreement, you made the following inspiring and promissory comments among others when you went to inspect the new site at Imota on April 12, 2016: “….the new market will be ready in six months. Government is committed to developing the new market. We know it is in the interest of Lagos residents that we relocate Mile 12 market to Imota. The traders have agreed to the relocation plan. The onus is now on the state government to ensure that we deliver this new market within the next six months. If we start within the next seven days, and within the next six months, Mile 12 Market Ketu will be a thing of the past. New commodities market will take off from here, Imota new site.” (THIS DAY, April 13, 2016.)
However, the “spirit-lifting statement” credited to your Excellency was short-lived, based on a newspaper report in the Nigerian Tribune edition of May 22, 2016 titled “Don’t relocate the Mile 12 Market, Kaduna gov (sic) appeals to Lagos gov.” The said newspaper report seems to have contradicted your comments and good intentions. It has also taken many Lagos residents aback and dampens their spirit, including this writer. The paper reported that “Governor Abdullahi Urmar Ganduje of Kano State has appealed to the Lagos State government to reconsider its decision to relocate the Mile 12 market because of the economic and social repercussions of such action on the Hausa community traders in the market. This is just as he said that if the market is relocated; the entire people of Lagos State will be negatively affected, thereby harming the overall economy of the state.” (Nigerian Tribune, May 22, 2016).
The report went further to confirm that Governor Ganduje had met with your Excellency over the matter and that “Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode “appears positive” after considering the implication of relocating the popular Mile 12 Market according to a statement signed by one Alhaji Halilu Baba Dantiye, who is Governor Ganduje’s director-general, media and communication” in Kano State. Governor Ganduje was equally quoted by the same paper that: “I discussed with my colleagues, the Northern governors, and I initiated a letter to the governor of Lagos State to reconsider the proposed relocation of the market. The letter was copied to all the Northern governors and the Lagos State governor appeared positive after seeing the implication of relocating the market,” Governor Ganduje stated (Nigerian Tribune, May, 22, 2016).
The above preface leads me to why this open letter is being written as earlier stated in the introductory part. Let us ask the following probing, but honest questions begging for answers from the Governor of Kano State, to wit: what is the interest of Governor Ganduje in a matter that is purely an internal affair of Lagos State? Was his advice solicited by his Lagos State counterpart? Was the advice made in good faith? What is the reason for sending a copy of the he wrote to Governor Ambode, to all Northern governors? Was it to exert more pressure from the Northern governors on your Excellency? What empirical studies does he have in his possession on the economic implications of relocating the Mile 12 market to Imota? Does he know where the shoe pinches regarding the litany of problems being caused by the market at its present location such as security breach, traffic logjam, incessant ethnic clashes and unwholesome environmental crisis plaguing the entire Mile 12 market environs? When last did Governor Ganduje pay a visit to the market to have a feel of the magnitude of the problems Lagos residents have gone through and are still baffling with on a daily basis, most especially the traffic gridlock and the menace of street urchins? Is he aware that plan is already afoot to relocate the market as part of the general plan to renew Lagos Mega city ever before the tragic ethnic clash of March 3, 2016? Or, does he have any knowledge about the traders at Oshodi Market who have been relocated to a new site preparatory to the redevelopment of Oshodi area to a transport hub of international standard to befit the status of Lagos as a mega city? Would he have heeded your own intervention if you advise him against the removal of almajiris (street beggars) by the Kano State government from the streets of Kano? I can go on and on. The list of these questions is exhaustive and based on superior argument/professional judgment, primary concern for good urban governance (your hallmark) and your allegiance to the people of Lagos State by virtue of the oath of office you swore to during your inauguration on May 29, 2015 as the newly- elected Governor of Lagos State, that you would “protect the lives and property of Lagos residents.”
With due respect sir, Governor Ganduje’s advice can be overlooked as an unconscious meddlesomeness in the domestic affairs of Lagos State. It is rather coming too late in the day, after every arrangement to relocate the market has been put on fast track and state resources in both human and financial outlay have been irretrievably committed! Methinks, it is an advice with ethnic colouration, doubtful of any good intention. It is has an “ego-driven” motive to let the Hausa communities in Ketu area think they have one “baba ngbejo” (a godfather) who could talk to your Excellency on their behalf. Let Governor Danbuje be reminded that the essence of governance is not about the protection of the commercial interest of a privileged group of people at the detriment of the majority of Lagos State residents. While I am not acting as your Excellency’s man Friday or Special Adviser on Urban Affairs, sir, be rest assured that you have taken the right decision to relocate the market to a new location for public good, which you will be vindicated in the long run and posterity will judge you positively.
It is public knowledge that the market has outgrown its usefulness at its present location, space wise and that the reality on ground does not support the kind of advice being offered by Governor Danbuje. The market has become what in planning parlance is called an “urban nuisance,” an irritant settlement, a liability and not an asset. And as presently constituted, it is an incompatible land use, a flash point for public disorder, a breeding ground for petty thieves and a den of hardened criminals who daily terrorize the local residents.
If your Excellency succumbs to external pressure that you should rescind the relocation, it would be an unpopular decision and a contradiction of your earlier public statement referenced in this piece. Sir, I earnestly plead with you to avoid a decision that would set you in direct confrontation with Lagos residents, who hitherto have applauded your courageous decision to relocate the market to a new site vis-à-vis your modus operandi of how excellently you have governed the State of Excellent since your assumption of office in May 2015. Kindly stick to the popular slogan – Eko o ni baje under your watch, nay other future governors. Let logic, not sentiment, remains your lodestar.
The general plan to renew Lagos to a world class mega city-state cannot be faulted. The road to achieving the goal may be rough. It would warrant some tough decisions and the citizenry’s sacrifice, but in the end, the overall gain will be more than the pain. Lagos city proper has been extremely overbuilt and there is hardly any space for future physical expansion. By deliberate planning action, government must disperse the population to the hinterlands where the spillover of population can still be accommodated; and where employment opportunities can be induced and basic amenities provided there, in order to drastically reduce the steep direction of rural-urban migration to a mega city already bursting at the seams with its numerous problems of over-stretch infrastructure, housing shortage, inadequate health facilities and excruciating traffic gridlock.
The relocation of Mile 12 market to Imota vicinity would bring rapid development to the sleepy town in terms of population influx and corresponding demand for basic urban services and other human needs. Top on the list is demand for housing, employment for construction workers and local artisans, windfall income for prospective landlords and sundry multiplier effects on the local micro economy. If Lagos is not to be atrophied, its decongestion does not require rocket science rationalisation, but a committed government which is ready to listen to its technocrats’ advice. Such honest advice cannot come from an interloper-politician with a selfish provocative ethnic agenda who lives in a far-flung city from Lagos; and who fails to recognize the sovereignty of Lagos State.
Your Excellency, I thank you in advance sir, for reading this letter despite the exigency of other state matters you must attend to on a daily basis. Eko o ni baje, sir.
