As the World Forestry Congress begins on Monday September 7, 2015 in Durban, Greenpeace calls on the delegates to take action to protect the Congo Basin Forest.
Governments and corporations must back up their words with action to achieve ambitious global targets to combat deforestation, the group insists.
Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo delivers a keynote address and activists hold banners outside the meeting which read “Stop Forest Crime in the Congo Basin.”
The World Forestry Congress is the largest and most significant gathering of the global forestry sector.
She goes it alone… Photo credit: AFP/Mujahid Safodien
Passing across the message… Photo credit: AFP/Mujahid Safodien
Kumi Naidoo delivers an address… Photo credit: AFP/Mujahid Safodien
The big banner says it all… Photo credit: AFP/Mujaid Safodien
Governments and corporations must back up their words with action to achieve ambitious global targets to combat deforestation, Greenpeace International Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo, said on Monday, September 7, 2015 in Durban, South Africa at the opening of the World Forestry Congress.
Greenpeace International Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo. Photo credit: zimbio.com
One year on from the New York Declaration on Forests that was endorsed by governments, businesses, indigenous peoples and non-governmental groups, little progress has been made in fulfilling pledges to restore 150 million hectares of forest and completely eliminate deforestation from global supply chains, according to Greenpeace.
“Government and business leaders are saying the right things internationally about fighting forest destruction but are not delivering action at home,” Naidoo said. “In Indonesia, for instance, corporate commitments to stem deforestation are undermined by a government whose development plans would see what’s left of the forest sacrificed to industrial agriculture. In the Congo Basin, shipments of illegally-felled timber continue to be exported to the European Union, China and elsewhere despite legislation expressly prohibiting it.”
“In three months’ time world leaders will meet in Paris to agree a new plan to tackle climate change. This huge problem cannot be solved unless governments and businesses invest in protecting and restoring the world’s forests,” continued Naidoo.
“Conserving the world’s remaining forests is one of the most effective, cheapest and quickest ways of reducing carbon emissions and preventing catastrophic climate change. There is already agreement on how to achieve this. It is a bold and inspirational vision of a world with significantly more natural forests than today. We need to make sure it is realised.”
Later this month governments are expected to agree on new development goals at a UN summit. These are expected to include measures to end deforestation, reverse forest degradation and implement large-scale forest restoration by 2020.
The World Forestry Congress is the largest and most significant gathering of the global forestry sector. It is held every six years and this year’s event is the first time it has been held in Africa.
In a bid to curb desert encroachment and land degradation, the Sokoto State Government has banned the practice of felling trees which some use as firewood for domestic purposes.
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal plants a tree
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal stated this Monday at the flag-off of this year’s tree planting campaign which held at Kawadata, Goronyo Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
According to him, to mitigate the effect of the new policy on rural dwellers, government would provide modern stoves while encouraging residents to explore other sources of energy like coal.
Tambuwal also urged residents to cultivate planting of cash trees like gum Arabic and date palm which he said would not only help in preserving the environment, but alleviate poverty and tackle unemployment.
The governor waters the young tree
The governor said growing of trees is both an environmental and spiritual obligation, adding that Islam encourages planting of trees for the benefit of communities.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Environment, Garba Muhammed Sarkin-Kudu, said that, for this year, a two-kilometre shelter-belt would be established in the three senatorial zones of the state.
He said that, in addition, the government’s house-to-house tree planting campaign has been carried out in the 400 housing estates across the state to provide shelter and serve as windbreak.
The theme for this year’s campaign is sustainable ecosystem restoration.
Floods are said to have ripped through seven local government areas of Sokoto State, leading to the death of a seven-year-old boy and destruction of farm produce worth N500 million.
The Deputy Head of Sokoto State Zonal Operations Office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Thickman Tanimu, announced the flood havoc at the weekend in Sokoto, the state capital.
He said that the seven-year-old boy was killed when a wall fell on him after a rainstorm in Umbutu village of Kebbe Local Government area.
According to him, the local government areas that were worst affected by the flood are Rabah, Wurno, Goronyo, Wamakko, Kware , Binji and Silame.
Tanimu said that no fewer than 7, 500 acres of farmland, with maturing farm produce and dozens of villages were completely submerged.
He said that the submerged villages are Duhuwa-babba, Dinbiso, Kagara, Rabah, Gandi, ‘Yar-tsakuwa, More, Kware, Kwalkwalawa, Dundaye, Rafi and Marabawa, among others.
Tanimu added that some of the destroyed farm produce included rice, maize, guinea corn, millet, vegetables, beans and groundnuts.
The NEMA official also said the flood had destroyed hundreds of houses in parts of Gwadabawa, Sokoto North, Sokoto South, Bodinga and Binji local governments.
He said that some roads including ‘Yar-tsakuwa-Durbawa and the Unguishi-Kuchi were cut off by the flood. According to him, the flooding became worse after the release of excess water by the Sokoto Rima River Development Authority from the Goronyo and Bakolori dams.
“This was however done after an alert and notices were sent to the agency, Sokoto State Government and the 23 local governments of the state. SRBDA had promptly given the alert and notices to all the stakeholders, while NEMA also did the same,” he added, even as he said that windstorm had blown off several houses in various parts of Kebbe Local Government.
Stories of water harvesting, pollution, scarcity and misuse among others are not new in developing countries.
And in Uganda and several other countries in Eastern and Southern Africa region (ESAR), where UNICEF estimates that about 157 million people are not connected to a clean and safe water distribution system, and thus need to use external water sources, stories of this nature are made frequently.
But whereas several stories of this nature are made, not all of them are told. Some never make it to the media.
WaterSan Perspective brings you the picture story of water harvesting, pollution, scarcity and misuse among others in Uganda which Fredrick Mugira produced with support from the CSE Media Fellowships Programme for the Global South.
In Uganda and several other developing countries, children and women are the main collectors of domestic water. They often walk long distances to fetch water.
This sometimes makes the children miss school while others reach school tired and late
Studies done by various international organisations including UNICEF indicate an increase in school attendance in communities that are provided with safe water
The gendered division of labour in water collection tasks deprives women and girls from opportunities to escape the vicious circle of poverty and disempowerment
Villagers soak themselves in the famous Kitagata natural hot springs in Kitagata, Sheema district to have their various ailments healed. Kitagata hot springs are well known for their curative waters. Patients from as far as 100km flock these springs in a bid to have their diseases including rheumatism and arthritis healed
Despite receiving enough rains throughout the year, several families with iron-roofed houses still use dirty water fetched from shallow wells. They fail to harvest rainwater and opt to follow it up to the swamp
GreenpeaceIndiasaid last Friday thatit would continue campaigningfor clean air and against coal mining in protected forests in the country even though the government had revoked its permission to receive foreign donations.
Vinuta Gopal, the interim co-executive director of Greenpeace India. Photo credit: twitter.com
In an order canceling the group’s registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that Greenpeacehad “prejudicially affected the economic interest of the state.” GreenpeaceIndialearned of the cancellation on Thursday.
The government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has declared economic development a priority and has been cracking down on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Greenpeace, whose work often runs counter to its aims.
“I think all along this is not about Greenpeace alone; this is about what’s happening to the space for dissent in India,” said Vinuta Gopal, the interim co-executive director of Greenpeace India. “The clampdown has not been just against us. It’s been against a number of NGOs.”
In April, the government suspended Greenpeace India’s registration for foreign funding and froze its bank accounts. And despite the group’s declaration that its work would continue, its legal battles and lack of access to foreign funds have hit it hard, cutting its budget by about 30 percent, Ms. Gopal said. It has had to cut its staff by about 20 percent, and Ashish Kothari, the chairman of its board, said there had been “some amount of downsizing of the campaigns.”
Particularly affected, Mr. Kothari said, will be the organisation’s high-profile efforts, exemplified last year by activists who scaled the Mumbai office building of an energy company involved in mining and hung a banner that read, “We Kill Forests.”
The moves against the group have also compelled it to change strategic course and try to increase its domestic contributions, which it receives from about 75,000 donors, even as it has had to trim its fund-raising staff because of the legal dispute, Mr. Kothari said.
In its cancellation order, the government cited accounting infractions against the organisation, including misreporting of funds from abroad, allegations that Greenpeace has disputed.
The group’s public troubles with the government began in January, when one of its campaigners was barred from flying to Britain to brief members of Parliament about the harmful environmental effects of possible coal mining projects in central India. The government later said that the woman’s actions were prejudicial to the national interest and could have led to economic sanctions against India.
India’s actions against non-governmental organisations have spread well beyond Greenpeace. The government recently demanded preapproval of grants made by the Ford Foundation, which has given $500 million to Indian organisations over the past six decades. Ms. Gopal of Greenpeace India said she was confident that the Delhi High Court would rule in the organisation’s favor in a case over what Greenpeace calls the government’s arbitrary action against it. The government’s moves, she said, show that “we’ve asked the right questions of what’s happening in terms of how it’s impacting the environment.”
Every time Chrispus Twikirize, a student and resident of Kainamo in Ibaare, Igara Bushenyi, goes to the well to fetch water for domestic use, he has no choice – he draws the same dirty water completely contaminated with solid wastes, algal blooms and toads.
Chrispus Twikirize fetches water from a well in Ibaare, Igara Bushenyi district of Uganda
“We have no choice. This is our only source of water. The quality is gradually becoming worse,” narrates Chrispus, a student of Ankole Western University in Sheema district.
Jeconeous Musingwire, an environment scientist with the national environment watchdog – NEMA, says it is possible that the water that Crispus fetches from their well is full of mud, faecal matter; fertilizers and soil sediments.
The UN Water notes that deteriorating water quality has become a global issue of concern as human populations grow, industrial and agricultural activities expand, and climate change threatens to cause major alterations to the hydrological cycle.
What is more worrying is that surface water sources such as wells, lakes, rivers, streams and ponds which are vital sources of water for public supply in developing countries, are the ones that get contaminated easily.
In the rural and urban communities of South-western Uganda, surface water accounts for about 99% of the total public water supply in the region, according to Jeconeous.
A man and his son fetching water from a shallow well in Kakiika, Mbarara district of Uganda
“Up to three-quarters of water surface in the region is contaminated. Surface water is not clean for consumption,” insists Jeconeous.
“When showers come, the first run off is full of all sorts of dirt including human wastes due to open defecation. Animals also drink directly from these water points. And some latrines are shallow. Faecal matter from these latrines end up going into water sources,” narrates Jeconeous.
Water pollution is the major cause of several diseases – including typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis A, cholera and diarrhoea in developing countries.
According to the World Health Organisation, up to 3.2 million children under the age of five in developing nations die annually as a result of unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.
Water scientists insist that such deaths are bound to keep soaring unless people stop interfering with the water cycle such as through deforestation, destroying vegetation, encroaching on wetlands.
Charles Ngabirano, a water engineer, says the water filtration capacity has been compromised.
“People have destroyed the vegetation cover, wetlands and trees which used to filter such water. What do you expect? All that running water collects on the way is now deposited into wells.”
Vegetation cover – wetlands in particular – act as nature’s kidneys. They filtrate water by removing sediments, pollutants, excess nutrients as well as retaining water which averts flooding.
Charles insists that all surface water must be treated before consumption, vegetation cover conserved and catchment areas preserved.
Additionally, Fredrick Muhanguzi, an agricultural value chain expert says farmers must desist from toxic agriculture practices.
Farmers should not cultivate on banks of water sources such as rivers. They need to practice proper farming methods that do not cause soils from hilly areas to slope down the hills and pollute water sources in valleys every time it rains.”
By Fredrick Mugira (Water Journalists – Africa/WaterSan Perspective)
This story was produced with support from the CSE Media Fellowships Programme for the Global South.
The latest round of UN climate change negotiations ended on Friday in Bonn, Germany, on track to produce the first comprehensive draft of the new, universal climate change agreement that governments are committed to reach in Paris, in December.
Co-Chairs Ahmed Djoghlaf (right) and Daniel Reifsnyder. Photo credit: www.npr.org
The draft, to be drawn up by Ahmed Djoghlaf of Algeria and Daniel Reifsnyder of the United States, will present clear options and ways forward on all elements of the agreement and the decisions that will operationalise it from 2020.
“At this session, countries have crystalised their positions and have requested the Co-Chairs to produce a concise basis for negotiations with clear options for the next negotiating session in October. This means that we will arrive in Paris on time without too much turbulence – not before, not later,” said Mr Djoghlaf, Co-Chair of the ADP, the negotiating body tasked with reaching the agreement that must put the world on a path to stay beneath a 2 degree Celsius temperature rise.
“What Parties are looking for now is a better basis from which to negotiate. This week, we achieved an enormous amount of clarity as to where we are going which makes this possible and allows us to speed up,” said Co-Chair Daniel Reifsnyder.
Mr Djoghlaf said they will deliver the basis for the negotiations of the Paris climate package the first week of October, well in advance of the next ADP meeting in Bonn, Germany from 19-23 October.
Mr Reifsnyder said that this meant that all Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be able to negotiate the Paris package in a single drafting committee.
“In October, countries will continue their important work, basing their negotiations on a clear, consistent, comprehensive, and coherent draft of the agreement and its accompanying decisions. They will get it in shape and ready for successful completion in Paris,” he added.
The document will retain sets of options reflecting the different views and positions where governments still need to agree common landing zones.
Laurence Tubiana, Special Climate Envoy for the Government of France, said: “At this session, countries have clarified all the different pieces of the puzzle. Now, all pieces of the puzzle will be assembled and this will enable the negotiations to pick up pace.”
Assembling the puzzle will provide countries with the overview of options that they need for the final steps towards the new agreement.
“I am very encouraged,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres. “This session has yet again proven that all countries are moving in the direction of progress and all agree that Paris is the final destination for the new universal agreement.”
The October meeting is the final scheduled session of the ADP (Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action) before the December conference.
But the ACT Alliance has said that the Bonn climate negotiations have not made significant progress towards the anticipated climate change agreement in Paris in December.
The international humanitarian and development network said that while negotiators from many countries participated with a good exchange of ideas on the different elements of the draft text under negotiation, the general slow pace meant that very little advanced into substantive negotiations.
“The sense of urgency required in view of the few months remaining before Paris in December, was simply not there,” said Mattias Söderberg, chair of the ACT Alliance advisory group on climate change advocacy, who led the alliance delegation that attended the talks. “We cannot afford to delay the process, because the consequences would be unbearable for the efforts towards climate action. Therefore we keep calling on governments to step up and use the next – and final – session of negotiations in October meaningfully.”
ACT Alliance is a network of over 140 church and faith based organisations working together in 140 countries to achieve sustainable change in the lives of people affected by crisis, disasters, poverty and injustice.
Söderberg highlighted that some progress has been achieved in the negotiations relating to loss and damage and applauded this, stating: “We hope the governments will find a way to include it as part of the Paris agreement.”
However, he added: “We expected more progress in this session considering that parties had a text which had been prepared by the co-chairs in good time. Having followed these meetings we see no credible justification for the delays and lack of meaningful steps forward. Now, we can only hope that previous failures in the UN talks, similar to what we saw in Copenhagen 2009, will not be repeated.”
The Climate Action Network (CAN) International observed that, in Bonn, negotiators grappled with the new tool produced by the co-chairs to guide negotiations. The group stressed that, while not obviously apparent in the text, there was a new willingness by countries to more openly discuss potential roadblock issues in detail like loss and damage, differentiation, finance, and a mechanism to scale up action in the years to come.
On the ground in Bonn, CAN members made the following comments:
Jasper Inventor, Greenpeace, said: “The clock is ticking, and country negotiators cannot just sit and wait until October. They need to find compromises on the key outstanding issues between now and the start of the next session. We need a better mutual understanding than they currently have – ready to build a Paris agreement together that can deliver the action needed for a climate safe future.”
Mohamed Adow, Christian Aid, noted: “It’s getting very clear that we will get a deal in Paris. The question now is what kind of a deal we are going to get – whether that deal will be a good deal. Right now, the country commitments won’t keep us under 2°C, much less 1.5°C. A good deal will to create a framework for countries to continually increase their ambition, protect the most vulnerable, and prevent catastrophic climate change. This means the deal needs to provide support for poor countries to adapt and develop on a low-carbon path.”
The recently closed $250 million timber fund is the largest dedicated to timber investments in sub‐Saharan Africa, which remains an under-invested market
Mr. Jean‐Claude Bastos de Morais, founder of Quantum Global
Quantum Global has announced that its alternative investments arm has recently joined the Forest Stewardship Council International (FSC International).
Quantum Global’s alternative investments team advises a family of funds targeting direct investments in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, hospitality, healthcare, structured equity as well as a recently closed USD 250 million timber fund, which is the largest dedicated to timber investments in sub‐Saharan Africa. By joining FSC International, Quantum Global underlines its commitment to responsible forest management by supporting investments that comply with the highest environmental and social standards in forestry.
Still a niche market for timber plantation investors, sub‐Saharan Africa remains an underinvested market. The timber fund strategy aims at capitalising on this opportunity to increase sub‐Saharan Africa’s plantation value through best practice management and natural forest preservation, which should contribute to a sustainable economic development in sub‐Saharan Africa. As an asset class with value drivers primarily axed on biological growth, timber assets returns are largely uncorrelated to other asset classes providing a diversification opportunity to investment portfolios.
Mr. Jean‐Claude Bastos de Morais, founder of Quantum Global, said: “The FSC membership allows us to partner alongside an international group of leading organisations to maintain and improve the state of the world’s forests by preserving their biodiversity, productivity and ecological stability. This ultimately supports the achievement of long‐term, quality returns in this asset class for our clients, while at the same time respecting the social, environmental and governance requirements inherent from this type of investment. We are very pleased with this perspective.”
