Growing cotton provides livelihoods for an estimated 100 million households in as many as 85 countries. But adverse global market conditions and reliance on large doses of water, fertilizer, and pesticides impose considerable social and environmental costs, writes Michael Renner, senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute.
Michael Renner. Photo credit: flickrhivemind.net
Although synthetic materials are making inroads, cotton remains by far the most important natural fiber for textiles. In 2013/14, an estimated 26.3 million tons of cotton were produced worldwide.
Cultivating cotton accounts for about three percent of all agricultural water use worldwide. Countries that import cotton or finished cotton products also bring in large amounts of embedded “virtual water” with these imports and have considerable water footprints. Producing a pair of jeans takes an estimated 10,850 litres of water, and a t-shirt takes 2,720 litres.
The legions of small cotton farmers around the world face a set of challenges largely beyond their control. In addition to unfair subsidies (totalling $47 billion between 2001 and 2010 for the United States, China, and Europe), they must deal with health risks from pesticide use and, in some cases, insurmountable levels of debt.
Cotton is a very pesticide-intensive crop (accounting for 16 percent of global insecticide use and 6.8 percent of herbicide use), with potential repercussions, such as pest resistance and adverse health impacts on farmers that range from acute poisoning to long-term effects. Pesticides and fertilizer (nitrogen, phosphorus, potash) can also leach out of the plant’s root zone and contaminate groundwater and surface water.
Sadly, severe indebtedness has caused an estimated 100,000 cotton farmers in India to commit suicide over a 10-year period. Indebtedness results from numerous factors, including the rising cost of pesticides and genetically modified seeds, low yields due to droughts, and the declining price that cotton fetches on world markets.
Several initiatives exist to improve the social and environmental conditions under which cotton is produced. In organic production, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are replaced with organic substances, soil fertility management, and integrated pest management. Fair trade producers, usually small family farms organized in cooperatives or associations, receive a minimum price covering the average costs of sustainable production, as well as a premium.
One effort, the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), seeks to reduce the environmental impact of cotton production, improve the livelihoods of farmers, and promote decent work. In 2013, just 3.7 percent of all cotton was produced in accordance with BCI principles, but the goal for 2020 is to extend this to 30 percent and to involve five million farmers. Such initiatives offer important benefits to cotton farmers. But for the moment, at least, they account for only a relatively small share of the industry.
The Rockefeller Foundation, the African Union Commission and the International Fund for Agriculture Development on Sunday in Rome, Italy launched the ‘Leadership for Agriculture (L4Ag): The Network for African Ministers of Finance and Agriculture’ on the sidelines of this year’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s Governing Council Meeting. L4Ag is an exclusive network of Africa’s ministers of finance and of agriculture who are coming together to provide leadership and strategic thinking to transform and energise Africa’s agricultural sector, to position it as a major contributor to economic growth across the continent.
Mamadou Biteye, Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office. Photo credit: businessdayafrica.com
Formed in early 2014, L4Ag aims to promote strategic networking amongst member ministers and stakeholders to increase commitment to investing in agriculture; enable members to share best practices in innovative success cases in Africa for replication in their respective countries; promote a structured approach to agriculture productivity across in Africa; encourage stronger accountability measures for agricultural productivity; and to transform the smallholder farm into a productive unit and the farmer into a businessperson.
The network was first convened by the Rockefeller Foundation at 2014’s Fin4Ag conference in Nairobi, together with the African Union Commission. It is open to membership by all of Africa’s Finance and Agriculture ministers, and currently has a growing membership led by the founding countries of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea. The network was joined by Ghana, Madagascar, Sudan and Chad at the launch, and together the ministers expressed confidence that it would catalyse the much needed development and investment in Africa’s agriculture. There was also representation from Mozambique, Angola and Zimbabwe.
“Across Africa, the majority of people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, yet millions of smallholder farmers and their families remain trapped in poverty. Corporates and financial institutions shy away from making greater investments in the sector due to perceived risks,” said Mamadou Biteye, Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office. “We can change this, and the new Leadership for Agriculture Network will play an essential role by sharing knowledge among African ministers of agriculture and of finance, particularly about national reforms that can transform agriculture towards enhanced resilience and more inclusive economic growth for farmers, communities, and nations.”
“It is only through collective action and investment that we can ensure that Africa’s future includes a vibrant and productive rural economy that begins on the smallholder family farm, which makes up 80 per cent of all farms in sub-Saharan Africa. Investing in the smallholder farmer is investing in the resilience of food systems, the vigour of communities, and the strength of nations,” said Kanayo F. Nwanze, IFAD President. “This ministerial network contributes to the outcomes of the African Union Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Africa Agriculture Growth and Transformation, which calls for partnerships and collaboration at multi-sectoral and multi-institutional level. This underscores the importance of Africa’s finance and agricultural sectors sharing information and working together in order to achieve the goal of a food and nutrition secure, and poverty free Africa,” said H.E. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission.
Together, the Rockefeller Foundation and the AUC already have a number of initiatives in Africa that are aimed at improving the lives of poor and vulnerable people in agriculture and other sectors. In 2014, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote cooperation between them in their efforts towards Africa’s progress.
Although we do know that the environment affects everything we do in life, including how we live and die, we often think that it does not matter what we do to the Planet. Demands for stewardship in relation to how we relate to the gifts of Nature are sometimes regarded as affront to political power wielders and corporate entities that claim ownership of our lands, waters and the several gifts that Nature has endowed us with.
Nnimmo Bassey
As we approach the rescheduled 2015 election, the thing that matters most to us, our environment, has been pushed to the backseat by the political players who are concerned with how to grab our votes without telling us what they would do with the very thing that supports our lives and livelihoods.
The parties proclaim transformation and/or change. We have seen change. We are living in change. Our waters have been changed into polluted and heavily toxic soups. Our air hangs heavy with noxious fumes. Frantz Fanon famously said: “We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe.” The truth is that we have got to the point where we can hardly breathe.
Our lands have been transformed into mishmash of toxic dumps. In some places our environment has been almost irreversibly changed from what Nature generously gave to us. Our effort today is to prepare platforms for demanding and for building the real change that we need.
In line with our conviction that the environment is our life Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) is collaborating with our communities in conducting organised conversations on our environment and our environmental re-sources. We salute the resilience of our people as they carry on living in heavily impaired environments and their resolution to tackle the challenges foisted on them by factors that are external to their communities. In keeping with our tradition we stand at one with our people in their struggles to catch at least a whiff of fresh air.
As we engage in these Community Dialogues, we keep in mind the basic principles of Re-Source Democracy as captured in our document of the same title:
Re-source democracy hinges on the recognition that a natural ‘resource’ fundamentally belongs to Nature and secondly to communities of species and peoples who live in the territory or have traditionally held the territory where the ‘resource’ such as forests, rivers or grazing lands exists. Re-source democracy is about stewardship that recognises the right of citizens to establish rules and to act in line with traditional as well as best available knowledge to safeguard the soil, trees, crops, water and wildlife first as gifts of Nature and secondly to enjoy the gifts as necessary provisions that support their lives and livelihoods as well as those of future generations. Re-source democracy calls on us to re-source, to re-connect with Earth – our source of life – and to respect her as a living being with inherent rights, and not just a ‘resource’ to be exploited.
It hinges on pragmatic politics and wisdom that our relations with nature cannot be left to speculators and manipulators of market forces whose drive is to commodify Nature. It ensures the right (and demands a responsibility) to participate in decisions that determine our access to, and enjoyment of nature’s gifts and removes the obstacles erected by the politics of access while providing process for redress. It demands that certain places must be off limits to extractive activities especially when such re-sources are found in fragile ecosystems or in locations of high cultural, religious or social significance in order to support the higher objectives of clean and safe environments to ensure citizens’ wellbeing.
A clear understanding that Mother Earth has the right to regenerate her natural cycles without disruption by third parties should place a burden of protection on all humans. Taking up the defence of our ecology is a mark of enlightened self-interest because when we destroy, or permit the destruction of our environment, we invariably diminish ourselves.
The Community Dialogues (CD) are diagnostic exercises that provide space for community members to go down memory lane, review the environmental situation of their communities and identify areas where actions are inescapable if they are to restore, preserve and defend their heritage.
These Dialogues are not restricted to rural communities but can work well in urban and even in specialised communities such as schools, estates and workplaces. The Dialogues are community driven exercises and participating communities set areas of priority action after the initial diagnostic conversations. To aid these exercises we have prepared a Guiding document that communities are free to adopt and/or adapt.
It is our hope that these Community Dialogues will lead to the formation of ecological defence teams and networks in our communities, something akin to the Ogoni Women Ecological Defenders (OWED) Network that was inaugurated in August 2014 at Bori, Ogoni. From the enthusiastic buy-in and ideas generation prelude to these Dialogues we are confident that they will not be mere talk-shops but veritable platforms for action towards the restoration of damaged community environments and full restitution by polluters and their backers. After the dialogues we will follow up with paralegal, community environmental health and monitoring trainings as may be required.
By Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF)
The UN climate talks in Geneva, Switzerland, closed on Friday, February 13, 2015 with an air of optimism having made progress towards a new agreement that is due to be signed in Paris at the end of the year. According to the Climate Action Network (CAN), the draft agreement seems on track to signal an end to fossil fuel emissions with both Jamaica and Switzerland adding their voices to the idea of a long term goal.
Some members of CAN have, however, been weighing the implications of the outcome of the weeklong forum.
Julie-Anne Richards, Manager International Policy, Climate Justice Programme, stated: “It’s good news countries have given a stamp of approval for a new draft version of the climate agreement that will be the basis of negotiations through the year and that it features a wide range of options to deal with mitigation and to provide support to help developing countries prepare for climate impacts including a loss and damage mechanism.
“There’s been a seachange in the dynamics in Geneva, thanks to the open and consultative approach of the Co-Chairs. Countries also came ready and willing to work. The spirit of Geneva needs to be kept alive, as we move to on to deal with crunch issues like the need to scale up financial support for action and how to treat richer and poorer countries fairly, and loss and damage – which has the potential to be a make or break issue for Paris.”
Tasneem Essop, WWF head of delegation to the UNFCCC. Photo credit: unfccc.int
Tasneem Essop, WWF head of delegation to the UNFCCC, submitted: “All eyes must be on political leaders now, as they are the single most important influence that will shape the final outcome of a new global climate deal in Paris later this year.
“There are important political moments outside of the UN climate negotiation process – at both ministerial and Heads of State level – on the road to Paris where they can demonstrate their intentions, such as the G7, the G20 meetings, and the SDG Summit.
“The first test of political will and influence inside the negotiating process will come in the period from March to June when countries announce their plans to reduce emissions and, we hope, provide financial resources for the post-2020 period.”
Jamie Henn, Strategy and Communications Director, 350.org
Jamie Henn, Strategy and Communications Director, 350.org, disclosed: “As the talks here in Geneva come to a close, people around the world are taking part in Global Divestment Day, a worldwide effort to move money out of the fossil fuel industry and into a clean energy future.
“That’s what these negotiations need to do, as well: send a clear signal to investors that the age of fossil fuels is coming to an end.”
The CAN is calling for a complete phase out of fossil fuel emissions and the phase in of 100% renewable energy by 2050 with sustainable energy access for all.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the spirit of Lima transforms into spirit of Geneva en route to the December Climate Conference in Paris
A plenary in Geneva. Photo credit: newsroom.unfccc.int
A key milestone towards a new, universal agreement on climate change was reached in Geneva, Switzerland last week following seven days of negotiations by over 190 nations.
Nations concluded the Geneva Climate Change Talks by successfully preparing the negotiating text for the 2015 agreement. The agreement is set to be reached in Paris at the end of 2015 and will come into effect in 2020.
Delegates from 194 countries including Nigeria convened in Geneva to continue work following the Lima Climate Change Conference held in Peru last year, which had produced elements for the negotiating text – known as the Lima Call for Climate Action.
“I am extremely encouraged by the constructive spirit and the speed at which negotiators have worked during the past week,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.
“We now have a formal negotiating text, which contains the views and concerns of all countries. The Lima Draft has now been transformed into the negotiating text and enjoys the full ownership of all countries,” she added.
The negotiating text covers the substantive content of the new agreement including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity-building. Countries worked hard to identify the main choices, put their views forward and add more sharpened options to the text.
“The text was constructed in full transparency. This means that although it has become longer, countries are now fully aware of each other’s positions,” Ms. Figueres said.
The negotiating text is available on the UNFCCC’s website (see http://unfccc.int/2860.php) and will be edited and translated into the UN’s official languages. After this, the text will be communicated to the world’s capitals by the UNFCCC secretariat in the first quarter of 2015.
“This fulfills the internationally-accepted timetable for reaching a possible treaty because it alerts capitals to the fact that a legal instrument could be adopted in Paris. It does not, however, set this possibility in stone – it merely opens the door for this possibility. As for the legal nature of the agreement, this will only be clarified later in the year,” Ms. Figueres explained.
In parallel to the negotiating text being communicated to the world’s capitals, its successful construction kick-starts a year of intense negotiations towards the new agreement.
The next step is for negotiators to narrow down options and reach consensus on the content. Formal work and negotiations on the text will continue at the Climate Change Conference in Bonn in June with two further formal session planned for later in the year including in October.
Additionally, ministerial-level meetings throughout the year will include climate change on their agendas and contribute to convergence on the key political choices.
These include the Major Economies Forum; the Petersburg Climate Dialogue and the African Ministerial Conference of the Environment with the upcoming G7 and G20 meetings affording further political engagement on climate change and the Paris agreement.
“These opportunities will help to ensure that countries have opportunities to work with each other at several political levels–what is needed now is vertical integration so that the views of heads of state, through ministers and to negotiators reflects a seamless and consistent view of ambition, common ground and ultimately success in December,” Ms. Figueres said.
The first meeting preparatory to COP 21 in Paris, France ended on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland. There were several issues on the table but this piece is a continuation of our series “The Road from Lima to Paris” and will focus on the structure of the agreement and the way forward from the Geneva meeting.
Prince Lekan Fadina
We must stress that our interest is in pursuance of the Article 6 of the Convention and the resolution from Lima to pursue education and public awareness as mechanism for addressing the challenges and opportunities in climate change. We also want to make it clear that we are all stakeholders in this important global issue of our time. We must all be interested in knowing how the global community is facing this issue and what we can do in our own way to achieve a collective solution to this phenomenon.
The Parties were invited to discuss the structure of the 2015 Agreement in Paris, focussing on what the agreement should do, how it will advance the Convention, whether it will be a “one time agreement” or an agreement evolving through successive sets of commitments, the role of the bodies and mechanism created since COP15, how to address adaptation/mitigation and which issues should be included in the agreement and which one should be addressed through COP decisions.
There were many views that were canvassed. For example, one of the Parties said that the agreement should include objectives, principles and major thematic issues. It also emphasised establishing a link between commitments and compliance, universal participation and considering lessons learned from the Kyoto Protocol for the entry into force of the new agreement.
The views varied from emphasising that the legal nature should not be discussed ahead of agreement on the substance to issues including a section of both mitigation and adaptation to reflect balance and the universal nature of commitments.
The United States was of the view that that the agreement should evolve over time to promote progressively more ambitious action. It also opposed including INDCs in annexes indicating that another format will be appropriate for 195 diverse INDCs.
The EU had preference for legally-binding outcome in the form of a protocol, identifying the need for provisions on entry into force and ratification as well as regional, economic organisations and compliance.
The African Group along with Group 77 + China stressed the importance of distinguishing what will be in the agreement and what will be included in the COP decisions.
In another development, the African Group had the opportunity of sharing the decision of Africa Head of States and Heads of Governments on Africa’s engagements at the UN Climate Summit and Lima Global Climate Change Conference COP20/COP10 on the outcomes of the negotiations. The Report submitted by the Co-ordinator of the Committee of the Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCO), His Excellency Mirisho Kikiwello, President of the Republic of Tanzania. The Heads of States commended the efforts of the Co-ordinator, the African Ministers of Environment, the African Group of Negotiators and others for the common Africa position, the oneness, talking with one voice, active participation including High Level Work Programme on Climate Change Action in Africa-A Blueprint for Climate Action on the Continent.
The road to Paris is definitely long and time is not on our side. We in Nigeria have a great role to play as the continent looks to us to lead the way and ensure that we play the role expected of us.
Paris has an important role to play in the collective vision of humanity to create a better world, move towards the path of low carbon economy, enhance the standard of living of greater number of the citizens of the world and strive for a cleaner environment.
The statement by the French Minister of Finance and Economy, Mr Michael Sapin, could not have come at a better time than now. “Nigeria is an Investors’ unavoidable destination,” he had said.
It is expected that Nigeria would be a major beneficiary of a 240 billion Euro fund being earmarked by France for investment in Africa as part of France’s investment drive on the continent.
We must start the process of engagement now and this involves creating the right environment for sharing knowledge, developing appropriate skills, public-private partnership for growth and development, investing in knowledge and more private sector for addressing climate change and sustainable development that are now development issues.
By Prince Lekan Fadina (Executive Director, Centre for lnvestment, Sustainable Development, Management and Environment (CISME). He is a core Negotiator for Nigeria, member of African Group of Negotiators (AGN) and member, AGN Finance Co-ordination Group)
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has alleged that Shell may be attempting to thwart the recommended cleanup of Ogoniland through a deal with a local company called Belema Oil. But the oil giant has denied the allegation, saying that, while fully committed to the Ogoniland cleanup, it has no dealings Belema Oil.
A banner by the Ogoni Cleanup Campaign. Photo credit: saction.org
Shell is said to have sold its oil blocks in Ogoniland to Belema Oil, and drilling is set to commence as the company has reached agreement with some community chiefs who are being used to collate signatures endorsing the sale of the oil in Ogoniland.
The ERA/FoEN also alleged that some top Shell officials are believed to have strong links with the company.
Community sources also revealed that that some Ogoni community leaders were recently flown to Lagos to hold secret meetings on the oil block sale and may have been compromised after which they received documents with which to collect signatures from the Ogoni people as consent to the sale of Ogoni Oil.
ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Godwin Uyi Ojo, said: “This is another deception coming from the stable of Shell. This divisive experiment is a serious affront on the peaceful Ogoni struggle for environmental justice and targeted at causing confusion so as to create a window of escape for Shell to evade its responsibilities in the clean-up of Ogoniland. We totally oppose this.
“Belema Oil is Shell’s new ploy to betray the Ogoni cause. It is intended to stymie the communities’ collective bargaining power. We align with Movement for Solidarity for the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and other Ogoni groups that believe that only an Ogoni Congress can speak for the people who are yet to fully recover from the years of untold hardship visited on them by Shell and the federal government of Nigeria.”
Ojo said that Ogoni oil must remain underground as a global metaphor for leaving the oil in the soil due to its environmental and social destruction, toll on human life, and as a response to climate change.
The ERA/FoEN boss asked that Shell be stopped from evading the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report and urged to commence immediate clean up and remediation of the Niger Delta by the establishment of $100 billion dollars restoration fund.
“Shell must be held accountable for the decades of its environmental human rights abuses in Ogoni and the entire Niger Delta. Aside halting this backdoor deal, officials of the company said to have a stake in Belema Oil must also be investigated to determine how much they have done to frustrate the implementation of the UNEP report through their Shell-run oil company that seeks to put potential profit first before people and the environment,” Ojo insisted.
But an official of Shell who doesn’t want his name mentioned said: “The identity of beneficiaries of Shell’s sold oil blocks is no secret, and it is obvious that Belema Oil is not one of them. We don’t know where ERA/FoEN got its views from. We have no dealings with any Belema Oil. And it should be noted here that Shell is and will always be committed to the cleanup of Ogoniland.”
Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs Akon Eyakenyi, in this interview addresses a range of issues related to her duty post, even as she lists achievements by government
Akon Eyakenyi, Minister of Lands, Housing & Urban Development. Photo credit: thisdaylive.com
What is the level of Federal Governments collaboration with the World Bank in the provision of affordable houses?
Yes we have a good cordial relationship with the World Bank through the Ministry of Finance. Last year, the Federal Government launched what we called Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), whose responsibility is to take charge of refinancing the mortgage institutions for the purpose of providing affordable housing to Nigerians. The NMRC, through the Ministry of Finance, was able to tap from the World Bank a certain amount of money for the purpose of establishing support in backing the NMRC Company. About $300 million was given by the World Bank to NMRC through the Ministry of Finance is to be repaid back over a period of 30 years at zero interest rate to help the re-inauguration of the mortgage institutions that we have in Nigeria to support the housing sector.
How affordable, and what makes these houses affordable?
When we say affordable, we are looking at the different cadre of the civil servants we have and target them, for a low income person that is on level 3 or 4 that earns may be N20,000 in a month over a period of time – what level of a home can such a person own through his or her own finance afford? So we are providing one-bedroom apartments, two-bedroom apartments, and three-bedroom apartments. We are also providing a studio apartment, one-bedroom portable that a bachelor can stay conveniently to do everything you want to do in that one room with toilet/bathroom closet and kitchen cabinet and where you will lay your head. We are looking at that different cadre to come and then we now fix prices to fit into the different cadre at a subsidised cost. Why I say subsidised is that government provides the land free of charge and government through the ministry will do the different types design, electrical, mechanical then bill of quantity and the cost of doing that is on government. Apart from that supervision which is the most important thing to ensure that the standard is maintained is also done by the professionals in the ministry free of charge, so that takes off cost of construction, and at the end of the day we will be left only with the cost of materials and maybe the labour for the construction. If it is a private developer that handled it highest is to top up with 50% per cent at least for the time and the resources he or she will bring to do the construction, so that helps using a way to put the cost of construction at a very low rate and that is we meant by affordable. Again the rate at which a private developer will build to sell is different from the rate government sells, because government incurs that cost of land, supervision and all.
Over the years there have been numerous cases of building collapse. What is your ministry doing to curb the menace?
The ministry is making very serious moves to curb that. When I came in there were many building collapse cases across the nation so we had to review the building code that was in existence, though was not implemented. Building code is the rule guiding the putting up of any structure. Some contractors, when they want to mould over a 100 blocks with just a bag of cement, which is unprofessional because it will not make the blocks to be strong and could lead to building collapse. When the mixture of sand outweighs the cement, the building may collapse after a short while. There are standards for laying foundation for different types of buildings and the amount of iron rods applied and mix of concretes are all part of the standard that must be adhered to.
However, we have been able to address the stakeholder to ensure that the building code ethics are strictly followed to curtail the collapse building that we have in Nigeria. The amount there is not to be determined at a go. 100,000 units is going to be put across the entire nation, for the Apo side we are doing a 20,000-unit estate, then we will go to another location using another developer and then to another state where we have land. The important things is what is the cost of construction per one building multiplied by the number of housing that will be built, which gives us the lump sum. Like the developer in Apo for the 20,000-unit scheme, we are looking at N300 million to put in there for the initial takeoff of the project, while the ones in Gwagwalada handled by Signature Homes from Dubai is going to put up about 4,000 housing units and the budget estimated is about $80 million for one develop, and we have various developers numbering about 10 that are going to be putting in 200 housing units; we also have other developers about to mobilise to site and we are processing their documentation, the signing of MOU before they are taken to site of about 200 hectares of land to ensure we give each developer depending on their financial strength and what each is interested in delivery because we will not give more than what they can handle or swallow at a time to ensure timely delivery.
What are the challenges so far?
The challenges I have faced border on sourcing for funding and getting corporate organisations and individuals to partner with government. I think basically that is major, because when you talk about building you need funding. Another major issue that I am facing has to do with land because, in the ministry, we don’t own land when we move to a state. Either we go pay to acquire a land for our project and government does not put in money in one direction as there are private issues that government is handling, we now go to the state governors because the Federal Government is bringing projects to their state; for them to partner the state governor, all we need is for them to acquire land as compensation and give us the certificate of occupancy (C-of-O) and a letter of exchange then we will now call in the developers to put up a structure for the benefit of the people of the state. However, some states have not responded and some have responded, and for those who have responded we are mobilising to start development.
What has your ministry achieved within the four years administration of President Jonathan?
I want to start by acknowledging the interest of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, for the housing sector and his top agenda in providing housing for Nigerians and in four years we have been able to put up 61,000 affordable houses for Nigerian workers and other Nigerians inclusive. But on-going we have the 100,000 housing unit specifically for workers, the flag-off for the first 20,000 was done in Apo late last year by the president himself. We have also on-going 10,000 housing unit projects cross the nation but the first was specifically for workers. The project was commenced in Abuja at Gwagwalada by Signature company from Dubai. Apart from that there are private developers who also come up with housing development projects, we do the censors on the houses that government has encouraged private developers do and then the once done by government PPP partnership ministerial project scheme, and we have various housing schemes and I want to say that we have more than 61,000 housing units that has been provided in Nigeria since in caption of the present administration.
A report on biodiversity and health launched on Friday, February 13, 2015 at the 14th World Congress on Public Health, in Kolkata, India, shows the significant contribution of biodiversity and ecosystem services to better human health.
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations
The report, titled: “Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health,” demonstrates that the relationship between biodiversity and human health is extensive and complex. It outlines the ways that the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity has positive impacts on human health, including through impacts on water and air quality, nutrition, non-communicable and infectious diseases, and medicines, among others.
Prepared by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the report features contributions from numerous partners and over 100 experts, including Bioversity International, COHAB Initiative, EcoHealth Alliance, Harvard School of Public Health, United Nations University, Wildlife Conservation Society’s Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages and many others.
“We hope this joint report will increase awareness and understanding not only of the intrinsic value of biodiversity, but also as a critical foundation for sustainable development, and for human health and well-being,” said Dr. Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. “In particular, it should serve as a useful reference for the definition of the sustainable development goals and the post-2015 development agenda, which represent a unique opportunity to promote integrated approaches to protect human and planetary health.”
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, said: “Despite the clear role that biodiversity plays for human health, and thus for the Sustainable Development Goals, this linkage is not being made in policy forums. Hopefully this new report will help shed some light on this critical issue.”
The report provides specific examples of the relationship for a number of issue areas including: water, air quality and human health; biodiversity, food production and nutrition; microbial diversity and non-communicable disease; infectious diseases; medicines, including traditional medicine; physical, mental and cultural well-being; pharmaceuticals and biodiversity; climate change and disaster risk reduction; and sustainable consumption and production.
Highlights of the report include: Biodiversity, Food Production and Nutrition; Microbial Diversity and non-communicable diseases; and Infectious diseases.
The report concludes with recommendation for health and biodiversity strategies. It calls for the
creation of coherent cross-sectoral strategies that ensure that biodiversity and health linkages are widely recognised, valued, and reflected in national public health and biodiversity conservation policies.
They also need to be coordinated with programmes and plans of other relevant sectors. Their implementation could be a joint responsibility of ministries of health, environment and other relevant ministries responsible for environmental health programmes and national biodiversity strategies and action plans. In all cases, they should be developed and implemented with the involvement of local communities.
Given the interconnected nature of these challenges, there is a need for policy makers to coordinate their responses. The report suggests that the solution lies in uniting work in social and natural sciences through integrative and interdisciplinary approaches such as the ecosystem, ecohealth, and One Health approach, in order to develop cooperation and mutual understanding that can lead to the production of knowledge and recommendations that can be used by policy makers and practitioners
The Taraba State Government of Nigeria has been enjoined to institutionalise and build on the Participatory Forest Management approach to natural resources conservation initiated by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF).
Participants at the forum
As part of efforts to arrest the degradation of forest as a result of overexploitation of timber products, the NCF had in the past implemented the Participatory Forest Management Project where a Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum was formed to see to the community involvement in the management of forests in Taraba State.
Speaking at a recent stakeholders’ workshop on ‘Forest Conservation’ in Baissa, Kurmi LGA of Taraba State organised by the NCF with the support of Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Technical Adviser of the NCF, Mr. Ibrahim Inahoro, attributed the unsustainable management of forest resources in the state to ineffective forestry institutions in the state.
According to him, though government did set up a Forestry Task Force Committee, much has not been done to curb the rate of forest degradation in the state.
Director of Forestry in the state, Mr. Samuel Tetule, reiterated government’s commitment to supporting efforts being made towards the protection of forest and other natural resources in the state.
At the close of the forum, participants agreed to embark on an awareness campaign on the immediate and future benefits of forest conservation targeting the youth; underlined the need for a strong political will and commitment of the state and local government on forest conservation and Management; and ensure improved funding to the forestry sector by all tiers of governments through counterpart agreement.
Similarly, they appealed to government to enact and enforce bye laws on community forestry governance structure and ownership, train and provide financial mechanism for the development of alternative income generation ventures that will reduce dependence on forest while preparing roadmap and mechanism for forest communities and the state to benefit from the UNREDD+ Programme.
