In Ghana, many people, especially women, who live along the coastal areas, are engaged in fish smoking, known as “Namhowfo” in Akan, one of the languages spoken in the country. As a means of living, fish smoking was done by traditional, energy inefficient and smoking stoves. This method affects both human health and the environment, say observers.
Fish being smoked with the improved Morrison stove
According to the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), in Ghana like in other countries, traditional fish smoking stoves expose women to harmful smoke. This causes 16,600 deaths annually, in addition to environmental degradation, which comes in form of mangroves destruction. Mangroves are the sources of fuelwood for fish smoking.
A survey by SNV gives 120,000 as the number of traditional and Chorkor fish smoking stoves that are used in coastal regions for fish smoking. The survey states: “The smoke from these stoves affects people’s eye-sights and also causes lung-related diseases.”
This development informed SNV’s decision to develop the Morrison Improved Fish Smoker that seeks to attain 40 percent efficiency in fish smoking. Today, many communities are enjoying the new technology along with the FAO Thiaroye Technology (FTT) stove, transferred to Ghana from Cameroon.
Also, in order to improve the livelihoods of women involved in fish smoking and combat the deforestation associated with their activities, the Renewable Energy sector of SNV got funding from DGIS for a two-year Improved Fish Smoking and Mangrove Restoration project (IFS) to support sustainable energy value chain in fish smoking markets in Ghana by improving both supply and demand side activities.
A field visit to Anyakpor coastal village by participants of the Smart Villages West Africa Regional workshop, organised by the Smart Villages Initiatives in collaboration with SNV was an eye-opener. Participants listened to women who smoke fish expressing their happiness for the introduction of the Morrison stove. They counted benefit to include increased volume of processed fish, increased profit, and minimal hazard caused by smoke.
Mrs. Helen Afiagbedefu smokes fish in Anyakpor village. She used the Chorkor before the introduction of the Morrison Fish Smoking Stove. In an interview, she disclosed that the process of smoking fish was now faster, less hazardous and more money-yielding. She told of how, after switching to the Morrison stove, women in Anyakpor noticed the difference, especially in terms of reduced health hazards caused by the smoke and increased income as a result of the volume of fish smoking, compared to the traditional method hitherto used.
“Fish smoking has become faster for us now. I now smoke 10 25-litre containers of fish in two to three hours by using Morrison stove. I used to smoke the same quantity in three days by use of traditional method. Now, if I want to smoke fish, I arrange wire mesh in layers. I then spread the fishes on each of the mesh, numbering three, four or five. I would then place a chimney on top of the wire meshes rails to reduce the smoke, which negatively affects our health,” Afiagbedefu said through an interpreter.
She said that, with the new stove, “women in Anyakpor are now making more money because we spend less time to smoke fish using this new stove than when we were using the traditional stove,” she further said adding that “prices of smoked fish range between 40 and 100 Cedis, depending on the size of the fish. I make an average profit of between 30 to 50 Cedis a month.”
It therefore means that if governments in West Africa would promote the use of renewable energy in smoking fish, Mangroves would be preserved and the health hazard caused by smoke would be averted.
In this regard too, the West African sub-region, experts say, should design reforms that would promote renewable energy sources, in which case the private sector would play a more active role.
Akinbode Oluwafemi (director of corporate accountability at Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria) and Kelle Louaillier (president of Corporate Accountability International, based in Boston, in the United States) in this treatise utilise the cities of Flint and Lagos as a case in study to demonstrate challenges related to public water system administration
Kelle Louaillier, President of Corporate Accountability International
Although separated by continents and oceans, the people of Lagos understand how our destinies are closely linked to those who live in Flint, Michigan in the United States. Just as the private water industry seeks to exploit and capitalise on the horrific tragedy of lead poisoning of the water in Flint, so too are the forces of privatisation threatening Lagos’ public water system. And just as the people in Flint are demanding more democracy – not less – over how their water is governed, so too are the people of Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, the most populous black nation on earth.
Since 2014 a movement of civil society and labour groups have been mobilising against a planned privatisation of Lagos’ public water systems supported by the World Bank.
The World Bank had spent decades laying the groundwork for water privatisation in Lagos, but it was defeated by the robust civil society movement for public water in Lagos. First, the World Bank’s private arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), was forced to cancel its proposed advisory contract with the Lagos government. Then, the World Bank was compelled to abandon its push for a privatisation project as part of a $200 million loan.
But, while intense pressure from the civil society groups forced World Bank to walk away from privatisation, the threat for Lagos’ water system still looms. Conflicting public statements by officials would seem to indicate that the Lagos State Government is not set to halt the experimentation of a failed model of water privatisation called Public Private Partnerships (PPP).
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Director of corporate accountability at Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria
Activists believe the Lagos government with a monthly internally generated revenue (IGR) put at about N30 billion can very well fund water without inviting privatisers into the system. But the recent, rumoured secret concessioning of some public water infrastructure managed by the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC) would seem to lend credence to the belief that the rights of Lagos citizens to a free gift of nature may soon be violated.
Campaigners, however, insist they will not let up in their advocacy to stop the planned PPP in Lagos, and they can point to the situation in Flint as an example of the urgent need for democratic control of water.
The root of Flint’s water woes has been traced to the state of Michigan’s anti-democratic emergency management system, a demonstration of systemic racism at work. It forced a corporate model on a mostly black city, giving emergency managers near-absolute power to balance the budget by whatever means they deemed necessary. It was under this system that Flint’s emergency manager made the disastrous decision to change its water source from Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water, sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River, to the Flint River. Yet, the Flint River was heavily corrosive and improperly treated, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, and leading to extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal. An estimated 12,000 children have been exposed to water with high levels of lead, which can cause a number of serious health problems including permanent brain and nerve damage leading to learning disabilities, attention problems, and behavioural issues.
It may come as no surprise that the private water industry had a hand in this appalling crisis. After the switch to the Flint River, when residents began sounding the alarm about their water quality, the city’s emergency manager brought in the private sector. He hired Veolia, one of the world’s largest water corporations, to review the city’s water treatment process and evaluate its compliance with regulations. But Veolia raised no flags on lead poisoning when it discovered the lack of corrosion control in the water system. It even downplayed residents’ health concerns, stating that “some people may be sensitive to any water.” Because of role in prolonging the time people in Flint were exposed to lead, the corporation is now named in multiple lawsuits filed by Flint residents.
But perversely, the private water industry is pouncing on the tragedy in Flint to position itself as the solution. Just a few weeks after news about Flint’s water broke nationwide, The National Association of Water Companies (NAWC) released a statement to assure the public that private water corporations “stand ready to offer expertise and solutions to local, state, and federal officials.”
At the same time, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey – the U.S. home of Suez, another of the world’s largest private water corporations – introduced a bill that would allow Suez, Veolia and their cohort to access unlimited municipal bond money – a corporate subsidy that would promote privatisation and cut into tax revenue. Similar, bills have failed in the past four sessions of Congress, but the private water industry is taking advantage of the crisis in Flint to try to push through this bill.
And, pouring salt into the wound, private water corporations are seeking a contract with the city of Flint, threatening to reproduce their track record of dangerous, corner-cutting recommendations, and potentially leading to the privatisation of the water system. All this, in the face of opposition from the residents of Flint, who are demanding the accountable, democratic control of their water system that they have been so long denied.
Just like in Flint, the private water industry is jockeying to position itself as the solution in Lagos and other parts of Africa.
In Lagos, as in Flint, our public officials have failed us. The state of our water infrastructure is the result of years of mismanaging funds and loans for expansion of existing water infrastructure in Lagos. But instead of investigating the managers of such funds, the state government (backed for decades by the World Bank) is pushing forward privatisation as a solution.
The people of Lagos, like in Flint, want to have democratic control of water. But rather than heed the demands of the public, outrageously, the Lagos government has let the system deteriorate to unacceptable levels, and has pushed the public to accept the flawed – and false – argument that the state has no money to fund the public water system, hence the need for privatisers to come in.
In Lagos, official corruption was allowed un-reigned to pave the way for privatisers to take over the system. But learning from examples like Flint, we should be investing our tax revenue in our public water infrastructure – not offering it up to private entities. Bringing in the private sector will only lead to less democracy and transparency. Residents of Flint are clear that they do not want the private water industry to step in. They are demanding the federal government free up funds to fix their water system – and keep it public. Lagos residents also reject water privatisation and demand the state government fund the expansion of water infrastructure from its hundreds of billions of Naira of IGR.
Let us all, from Flint to Lagos, from the U.S. to Nigeria, recognise that we need more democracy, not less, when it comes to making sure people have clean, safe water. We must treat water access as the human right it is and prioritise the democratic control of water over private profit and financial gain.
Globally, two million poor and marginalised women and girls suffer from Obstetric Fistula, a preventable and treatable condition as a result of hole or tear between the birth canal and the rectum or bladder that results in chronic incontinence and dangerous infections. It afflicts those who do not have access to good quality maternal health care.
A woman suffering from inconvenience caused by obstetrics fistula. Photo credit: who.int
Added to the pain and suffering is the stigma and discrimination that surrounds Obstetric Fistula in many communities around the world because it is almost entirely a condition of the poorest, most vulnerable and most marginalised women and girls; sufferers of this condition often live with it for years because they cannot afford to get treatment.
The theme for this year’s International Day to End Obstetric Fistula is: “End fistula within a generation”. Celebration of the Day, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, remarks: “The persistence of fistula in some countries and regions is an indicator of very poor access to quality maternal health services. To end it, we must strengthen health systems and address broader development and human rights issues affecting women and girls: poverty, gender inequality, early marriage, early childbearing, and lack of education. Fistula has virtually been eliminated in most high- and middle-income countries around the world, so we know that it can be eliminated in every country.”
Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, in his statement, acknowledges the need to accelerate efforts towards ending Obstetric Fistula.
His words: “For UNFPA, ending fistula remains one of our highest priorities, and we will continue to accelerate efforts, both in our own work and within the United Nations system. The global Campaign to End Fistula, launched in 2003 by UNFPA and partners, has made significant progress towards eliminating fistula and supporting its survivors through prevention, treatment, social reintegration and advocacy. UNFPA has supported more than 70,000 fistula repair surgeries for women and girls in need, and Campaign partners have enabled many more to receive treatment.”
As the world takes action against polio, HIV/AIDS, female genital mutilation and several other forms of health issues, observers urge commitment to stepping up efforts to end fistula, once and for all.
This, they add, implies heeding the call of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind, especially those most neglected, invisible and powerless, including the women and girls living with fistula.
“Now is the time, and I am confident we can do it,” adds Dr Osotimehin.
International Day to End Obstetric Fistula is celebrated on May 23rd every year. It aims to raise awareness about, generate new support for, and speed up efforts to end an injury that harms women physically, socially and economically.
Mixed progress on air quality still falls far short of what is needed to save seven million lives each year
Formal opening of the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2)
As global air quality declines, threatening to add to the seven million people air pollution kills each year, increased action in some air quality areas points to political will to tackle this “global public health emergency,” according to reports released Tuesday, 24 May 2016 at the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) holding in Nairobi, Kenya.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), global urban air pollution levels increased by 8 per cent between 2008 and 2013. More than 80 per cent of people living in urban areas that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality levels that exceed WHO limits, threatening lives, productivity and economies.
However, Actions on Air Quality, a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), found improvements in areas such as access to cleaner cooking fuels and stoves, renewables, fuel sulphur content and public transport – pointing to a growing momentum for change.
Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, said, “A healthy environment is essential to healthy people and our aspirations for a better world under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“We are indeed making progress on air pollution, but the fact remains that many people are still breathing air outside of WHO standards. The health, social and economic costs are massive and rising. UNEP’s study on ten areas for policy intervention provides a roadmap for countries to follow as they look to reduce air pollution, and we will support them every step of the way.”
For example, 97 countries have increased the percentage of households that have access to cleaner burning fuels to more than 85 per cent – a key move to tackle indoor air pollution, which claims over half the seven million lives.
At least 82 countries out of 194 analysed have incentives that promote investment in renewable energy production, cleaner production, energy efficiency and/or pollution control equipment. Last year, for the first time, renewables accounted for a majority of the new electricity-generating capacity added around the world, at an investment of $286 billion, according to research by UNEP, Bloomberg and the Frankfurt School.
However, action in other areas is less impressive. Policies and standards on clean fuels and vehicles could reduce emissions by 90 per cent, but only 29 per cent of countries worldwide have adopted Euro 4 emissions standards or above. Meanwhile, less than 20 per cent of countries regulate open waste burning, which is a leading cause of air pollution.
A second report released on Tuesday, which looks at attempts to control Beijing’s air pollution over a 15-year period, also finds steady improvements are being made. A Review of Air Pollution Control in Beijing: 1998-2013 analysed measures implemented since Beijing began launching air pollution control programmes, which saw a steady downward trend in the concentrations of many harmful pollutants.
In 2014, the international community, at the first UNEA, asked UNEP to support global efforts to improve air quality. UNEP has launched several programmes, including an initiative to develop a low-cost sensor that can be used across the developing world to track and address pollution hotspots.
Actions on Air Quality, part of UNEP’s push, focuses on ten basic measures to improve air quality. It shows that the majority of countries world-wide are still to adopt the top-ten air quality policy actions, but highlights many good examples that can be followed.
More than three billion people still use solid fuels and inefficient cook stoves, but the Seychelles was able to improve indoor air quality by transitioning the whole country from solid fuels and inefficient cook stoves to liquefied petroleum gas.
Only a quarter of countries have advanced fuels and vehicles standards, which can significantly reduce small particulate matter pollution, especially in cities. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, decided that from 1 January 2015 only low sulphur fuels would be allowed in their countries. This reduced their emissions by over 90 per cent.
Electric cars have been on the increase, with strategies being developed in many countries around the world. One-third of all cars bought in Norway are now electric, the result of incentives instituted by the government.
However, some countries and cities have been able to increase waste recycling, reducing the need to burn waste. In Brazil, for example, millions of hectares of land are under conservation agriculture, which leaves crop residue from previous harvests on the land rather than burning it.
The majority of countries around the world have now put in place national air quality standards. India, with major air quality challenges in many cities, has established air quality laws and regulation and also an implementation strategy for these laws.
The Beijing analysis, carried out by UNEP and the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, found that carbon monoxide and sulphur levels are now below limits set by China’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards, while nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter ten levels are also creeping closer to the standards.
This trend has been driven by a decrease in coal consumption in the power sector and a drop in vehicle emissions resulting from vehicle emission control measures. Coal use fell from a peak of 9 million tonnes in 2005 to 6.44 million tonnes in 2013, while the 2013 levels of carbon monoxide dropped by 76 per cent compared to 1998.
“Even though the air pollution control programmes in Beijing have made substantial progress, the environment quality is far from satisfactory,” said Chen Tian, Director General of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. “We will continue to explore approaches that could work effectively for improving the environment in this region.”
Heads of state and government, Economy Ministers, Bank Governors, development partners and delegates will on Monday in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, begin talks on “Energy and Climate Change” as the African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) 51st Annual Meetings commence. The event will come to a close Friday.
Lusaka, Zambia
Nigeria’s Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, is expected to grace the occasion.
This year’s meeting will be focus on “Energy and climate change” – a timely theme for the world and particularly Africa, given that about 645 million Africans do not have access to electricity, 700 million have no access to clean cooking energy, and 600,000 die each year from indoor pollution from reliance on biomass for cooking.
No fewer 54 Finance or Economy Ministers from member countries of the AfDB, including Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, will review its 2015 operations report, and unveil new strategies and programme to create some 25 million jobs for young people over the next decade.
The Bank’s flagship meeting would also bring together some 3,000 delegates. Other invitees include development partners, representatives of international organisations, academia, civil society and the media.
At the end of 2015, the Bank had made USD 112 billion of loans and grants since 1967, through some 4370 operations. In 2015, it disbursed some USD 8.8 billion in 240 operations, a 25 per cent increase on 2014. Nigeria has been a beneficiary of the bank’s grants.
During the high-level meetings and thematic forums, participants will make in-depth assessments of the performance of Africa countries in the past year and envision how the Bank can help them cope with the difficult economic situation they face due to the global economic downturn and the fall in commodity prices.
AFDB President, Akinwumi Adesina, who will be presiding over his first Annual Meetings since assuming office as the Bank’s 8th President on September 1, 2015, said that participants would examine a host of burning issues in Africa as well as approve its activities and budget for the coming year.
Amongst the Bank’s five new priority actions – designed to scale up its operations for the continent’s transformation – are Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.
“All of them need to be debated and owned, as much by governments, as by business, as by civil society, as by the press, as by the people of Africa. The agenda is huge: We want to see nothing less than the social and economic transformation of Africa. We want to unleash massive potential – for Africa and for the world,” he said.
The 2016 Annual Meetings theme is aligned with two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 7 to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” and SDG 13 to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”.
The Bank’s Annual Meetings are its largest annual event, and its biggest window on the world. They bring together some 5,000 delegates and participants, and feature some 40 official events in addition to the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors, which constitutes the core purpose of the Meetings.
The Executive Boards of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on Wednesday May 18, 2016 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire took a significant step towards the continent’s economic transformation with the approval of the Bank Group’s 2016-2025 Strategy for the New Deal on Energy for Africa.
Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group
According to the AfDB, the Strategy sets out the priorities for the it’s interventions in the energy sector from 2016 to 2025. It aims to spur the transformation of Africa’s energy sector, promoting inclusive growth and the transition to green growth by increasing energy production, scaling-up energy access, improving affordability, reliability and energy efficiency as well as the sustainability of energy systems.
The New Deal on Energy for Africa is built on five inter-related and mutually reinforcing principles: raising aspirations to solve Africa’s energy challenges; establishing a Transformative Partnership on Energy for Africa; mobilising domestic and international capital for innovative financing in Africa’s energy sector; supporting African governments in strengthening energy policy, regulation and sector governance; and increasing the African Development Bank’s investments in energy and climate financing.
With over 645 million people in Africa without access to electricity and some 730 million reliant on biomass for cooking, the New Deal proposes to be a game changer for the continent’s energy sector.
To tackle this deficit, the New Deal intends to focus on seven themes that are holding back the development of the energy sector.
These strategic themes are: (i) setting up the right enabling policy environment, (ii) enabling utility companies for success, (iii) dramatically increasing the number of bankable energy projects, (iv) increasing the funding pool to deliver new projects, (v) supporting ‘bottom of the pyramid’ energy access programmes, (vi) accelerating major regional projects and driving integration and (vii) rolling out waves of country-wide energy ‘transformations’.
The AfDB intends to address these themes through a series of flagship programmes such as: Independent Power Producers (IPP) procurement, renewable energy, energy efficiency, power utility transformation, early stage project support facility, bottom of the pyramid energy financing, regional project acceleration, energy efficiency, country wide energy sector turnarounds, and transformative partnerships.
Designed to support the implementation of the new strategic goals of the Bank, the High 5s, the New Deal is critical to achieving these goals because energy drives socioeconomic development. Feeding Africa, Industrialising Africa, Integrating Africa, and Improving the Quality of Life of Africans, will rely on Lighting up and Powering Africa. The Strategy is therefore designed to unlock productivity potentials across agribusiness zones and hubs as well as industrial value chains in all economic sectors in rural and urban areas with a focus on reaching the unserved populations across the continent.
The New Deal will contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa. It will contribute directly to achieving in particular, SDG7 – on ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, modern energy for all; SDG 1 – on ending poverty in all forms; SDG 13 – on combating climate change and its impact; SDG 3 – on improving health and well-being; SDG 5 – on achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls; and SDG 10 – on reducing inequality within and among countries. In addition, by improving access to clean energy, the New Deal will have co-benefits for social, economic and environment sustainability in Africa. The New Deal will also assist African countries in achieving the COP21 Agreement on climate change, especially the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of African countries.
The AfDB has developed a significant energy sector portfolio in recent years with over 100 active projects. The volume of the Bank’s energy sector approvals from 2006-2015 amounts to about USD 15 billion (UA 10 billion). At the end of 2015, the energy sector portfolio stood at over USD 12 billion (UA 8 billion).
The New Deal is coupled with internal reforms, following the previous approval by the Board of the new Business Delivery Model, which envisages the creation of a Vice Presidency for Power, Energy, Climate, and Green Growth, making the AfDB the only Multilateral Development Bank to do so.
Hydrogen-fuelled cars have been on display at the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn (which ends on 26 May), as part of a demonstration to show that clean transport technologies are available today and, if scaled up in a timely way, can play a major role in helping governments achieve their goals set under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
Christiana Figueres (left) with CEP spokesperson Claudia Fuchs
During the conference, governments are looking at economic sectors with the highest potential to curb emissions, and transport is one focus area. Salaheddine Mezouar, Morocco’s Foreign Minister and incoming President of the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech (COP22) along with the UN’s top climate change official Christiana Figueres test-drove hydrogen cars provided by the Clean Energy Partnership, an international consortium of 20 companies working together to jointly scale up the technology, co-funded by the German government.
“I believe that electro-mobility is the only way to make the transport sector emissions free, so hydrogen-cars are a big contribution towards the objective of the UN to achieve climate neutrality,” said Claudia Fried, spokesperson for the Clean Energy Partnership.
“We are in a phase in which we can see the technology works and is ready to be applied. We need the gas industry, because they know how to produce hydrogen, we need the mineral oil industry because they have the fuelling stations and we need the car manufacturers who know how to build the fuel cells.”
Clearly, hydrogen as a fuel is only clean if produced with the help of renewable energy such as solar and wind and the Clean Energy Partnership says that at least half of the hydrogen produced will come from such sources, if not more.
Hydrogen cars use five kilograms of hydrogen to drive a range of around 500 kilometres and it takes about three minutes to tank a car with hydrogen.
While the Clean Energy Partnership is made up of 20 industrial companies there is a way to go before the technology can be scaled up to the point that the cars are a common sight on the roads of the world. A country like Germany would for example need at least 100 fuelling stations before hydrogen can be sold at scale.
Andy Fuchs, a spokesperson for Toyota who was in Bonn, expects that 50 fuelling stations will be built in Germany by the end of 2016 and 400 are expected to be ready by the end of 2020, providing a network for much of the country.
Japanese car manufacturers have set their sights on being the lead exporter of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Toyota announced last year that it was willing to share its thousands of patents with other manufacturers and delivered the first of its new Mirai fuel cell cars to owners in Japan, the USA, Denmark, Germany and the UK.
Not just cars can be powered by hydrogen – Tokyo expects to have a fleet of hydrogen powered buses running in the Japanese capital in time for the 2020 Olympics.
The Toyota Mirai is not exactly cheap at around $66,000. But Andy Fuchs expects the costs to come down to around 30,000 per vehicle by 2020 for slightly less luxurious models.
And whilst the costs of such vehicles may still be prohibitive for average consumers, CEP spokesperson Claudia Fried would like to see at least the official fleets of government ministries made up of hydrogen and other types of electric cars, given that ministries can be role models for clean transport.
The Clean Energy Partnership will have a second guest appearance on 23 May at the UN Climate Change Conference during a Technical Expert Meeting on shifting to more efficient public transport and increasing energy efficiency of vehicles.
France and Morocco’s climate champions are preparing to lay out their strategy to help boost cooperative global action between governments, cities, business, investors and citizens in the wake of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, with an emphasis on cohesive, innovative and practical solutions to cut global emissions rapidly and also help the most vulnerable adapt to climate impacts and build their own clean energy futures.
Climate champions: Dr. Hakima El Haite (Morocco) and Ambassador Laurence Tubiana (France)
Dr. Hakima El Haite, Delegate Minister in Charge of Environment, Climate Champion, Morocco and Ambassador Laurence Tubiana, Climate Champion, France met on Tuesday on the margins of the ongoing UN climate change conference in Bonn, Germany, where they are scheduled to present their roadmap on Friday.
Governments in Paris formally recognised the enormous importance of individual and coordinated climate action by non-state actors in achieving the central goal of the agreement – to keep the average global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, but preferably to limit it to an even safer 1.5 degrees.
To help drive forward this essential breadth and depth of climate action at a high level and to bring all stakeholders together to speed up and scale up immediate action, governments also agreed to appoint two champions between 2016-2020, who will be selected successively from outgoing and incoming Presidencies of the annual UN climate change conference. Morocco hosts the next conference – COP22 – in November.
Climate action registered publicly with the UN before and after Paris by these non-state actors is captured on the NAZCA portal.
NAZCA and its registered commitments dovetailed with a range of larger ones showcased under the related Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) – an initiative of the Governments of France and Peru, the Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the UNFCCC. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is managing NAZCA, recently launched a global campaign to spotlight these game-changing commitments, including the many which are happening in the developing world.
“As we strive to green the economy, we must begin to reduce environmental degradation, pollution, and the effects of climate change.”
Amina J. Mohammed, the Minister of Environment with the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema
Those were the promising words of Amina J. Mohammed, the Minister of Environment, as she rang the Trade Closing Bell at the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday in Lagos.
The minister, who was received by the Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange, Oscar Onyema, shared the “New Narrative” at Federal Ministry of Environment that focuses on Empowering People, taking Climate Action and Protecting the Environment.
According to her, environment and private sector partnership is key towards a sustainable transition to a green economy, adding that this would ensure that industries adhere to standard and regulations on environmental protection.
Meeting with some of the CEOs of listed companies, Mohammed stated that the issue of sustainable development in Nigeria goes beyond just Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR). She added that companies need to be more responsible by adopting sustainable business models.
“The era of sustainable development is the paradigm shift needed to ensure that we protect the planet for future generations by ensuring the interaction of the environment, social and economic needs. Putting people at the centre is good for business,” the minister noted.
According to her, the response at the Federal Ministry of Environment includes creating opportunities that grow a prosperous nation through an empowered people, capable of taking action and contributing to the protecting of the planet.
Her words: “This is reinforcing the administration’s approach in the change agenda for the environment sector through peace, jobs and a corruption-free society. The private sector must contribute to this new change by adopting a business model that is transparent, accountable and encourages women in decision-making roles.”
For the past year, the Forest Unit of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has been restoring the Arboretum in the IITA-Ibadan campus in Oyo State as a Tree Heritage Park for the conservation of rare and endangered Nigerian trees. Massive amounts of exotic trees, “bush”, and weeds have been cleared from the original plots.
David Ladipo planting a mahogany seedling in IITA arboretum with Deni Bown and Kenton Dashiell the Deputy Director General of IITA looking on
Several weeks ago, a tree planting event was held to mark the end of clearing operations and the start of planting indigenous trees, which are now threatened with extinction.
The timber species popularly known as Ijebu mahogany, Entandrophragma angolense, was planted by Dr David Ladipo, who set up IITA’s arboreta in Ibadan, Onne, and Mbalmayo (Cameroon) in the 1990s. Mahoganies are one of the most highly valued timber trees; they are slow growing, taking over 35 years to flower for the first time, and mature specimens are now extremely rare. After planting the tree, Ladipo spoke of the crisis facing Nigerian trees and forests which are overexploited and fast disappearing.
The event was attended by Deputy Director Kenton Dashiell, Partnerships and Capacity Development, who congratulated Forest Unit staff on this seemingly important work. Before closing the ceremony, Ladipo presented Deni Bown, Head of the Forest Unit, with three 2-m cuttings of African myrrh, Commiphora kerstingii, as an addition to the collection of rare trees.
From 1990 to 2005, Nigeria lost 35.7% of its forests, giving it the reputation of having the highest rate of deforestation in the world. Such rapid deforestation resulted in an average temperature rise of 1.1% and decrease in annual rainfall of 81 mm. Forest cover is now down to 4% yet there are few initiatives on reforestation or protection of forests at either state or federal level.
In addition to conservation of tree genetic resources, the Tree Heritage Park in IITA-Ibadan will raise awareness that native trees are better adapted to local soils and climate, support wider biodiversity, and provide a far greater range of raw materials than exotics. It also offers seeds and young trees, and training and advisory services for reforestation and restoration of degraded landscapes.
