At the cost of $80 million and within a six-month construction period beginning in the New Year, the Abuja real estate market will be increased by 300 units of housing under the initial phase of a collaboration involving the Federal Government and a firm of property developers originating from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Minister of Lands, Housing & Urban Development, Akon Eyakenyi (second right), shaking hands with Anand Ramani (third left) of the Dubai-based Signature Value Homes. Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Development, Jumoke Akinjide (right); Permanent Secretary in the Lands, Housing & Urban Development Ministry, George Ossi (third right), and other guests look on.
An agreement to this effect was signed recently in Abuja, the Federal Capital City, by the Minister of Lands, Housing & Urban Development, Akon Eyakenyi, and Anand Ramani of the Dubai-based Signature Value Homes Limited. Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Jumoke Akinjide, witnessed the ceremony
The project will be implemented under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with government providing land and the developers financing the development.
The estate, a mixed-use development, will be built on a 20 hectares (ha) free and unencumbered land situated at Gwagwalada in the FCT. It will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments on four floors comprising approximately 1,672 dwellings.
Akinjide praised Eyakenyi for what she termed an “uncommon transformation” of the housing sector in the country. According to her, the FCT Ministry has confidence in the quality of houses being provided by the Housing Ministry in the light of “the ministry’s good work done in other projects”.
While thanking Akinjide for being part of the event, Eyakenyi remarked that the Housing Ministry is effectively utilising the lands allocated to it by FCT.
Signature Value Homes Limited is a mass housing project developer entity that specialises in providing holistic solutions for integrated community development, according to the firm. The company had presented a profile of successfully executed projects in India and sub-Sahara African countries. The company, which is also engaged in mass housing development with the Niger State Government, has technical and engineering partnership with Mahindra Consulting Engineers and construction partnership with Klassic International.
In November, the firm made a technical presentation to the Housing Ministry, which eventually gave the go-ahead for the project, in the belief that Signature Value Homes is technically capable and has the financial capacity to undertake the scheme.
Under the Housing Ministry’s PPP Unit – the vehicle through which it builds mass housing – government provides land and developers build according to agreed specifications.
Peru, the bustling Peruvian capital city, received more than 14,000 visitors from abroad and nearly 80,000 citizens attended Voices for Climate in those 12 days
Welcome to COP20 in Lima, Peru. Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com
After two weeks of intense activity from December 1-12 2014, COP20 (20th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) mobilised a large number of people gathered in Lima to be part of an international event that brings together representatives from governments, civil society, business and authorities from 195 countries.
“I congratulate and thank Peruvians and citizens from Lima because with their hospitality Peru has held the largest event of its history, successfully without incidents, making nearly 14,000 people, who have come from abroad, feel at home,” said the Ministry of Environment and President of the COP20, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal.
COP20 was held at the General Army Headquarters in a facility built for the occasion. This structure had more than 30 meeting rooms and two plenaries with capacity for 2,000 people. On the other hand, the Ministry of Environment promoted a space for participation called “Voices for Climate”. This was free and open to the public and it showcased the progress Peru has made in the country in five emblematic issues: Mountains and Water, Forests, Sustainable Cities, Renewable Energy and Oceans.
A city on the move
COP20 was able to mobilise and create awareness in citizens about the effects of climate change in the world, and especially in Peru. “Voices for Climate” received – in 12 days – over 80,000 visitors and the Indigenous Maloca more than 35,000. In addition, more than 400 conferences in which new research projects and initiatives were presented were organised. Personalities from different fields as Christiana Figueres, Rajendra Pachauri, Fabien Cousteau, Lucho Quequezana, Charly Alberti, among others, attended Voices for Climate.
COP20 also received seven presidents, among which were Evo Morales of Bolivia; Enrique Peña Nieto, of Mexico; Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia. It was also attended by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon; John Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States and Al Gore, former US Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize. During the full duration of the COP, over 140 press conferences were held and more than 900 journalists from around the world covered the international event, while 1,200 Peruvian volunteers participated in the conference, assisting national and international guests.
The thousands of attendees took daily buses from seven different points in the city to the venue on established routes and flexible hours. This was planned to avoid generating more traffic in the crowded city and to have a safe transportation system. On the other hand, the campaign Play Your Part, generated more than 330,000 citizens’ commitments nationwide and continues to work to raise awareness among citizens and businesses to fight climate change.
Sustainability at COP20
COP20 is the first event in Peru to separate the waste generated in five categories (organic, plastics, paper/cardboard, glass and general waste), announced the Organisation and Logistics committee for COP20. It will also be the first conference in Peru to measure (by means of independent verification/ validation) and offset its carbon footprint, via Verified Emission Reductions generated by a REDD+/ reforestation project in protected areas in Peru. Once the certifying organisation AENOR has verified the conformity of the process of calculating and offsetting of the emissions, its carbon offsetting certificate will be awarded to COP 20.
All cups used in the venue are biodegradable. In addition, the majority of plates and forks/ knives/ spoons are biodegradable and/or recyclable (all available stocks of biodegradable dishes in Peru have been depleted). The income from selling the recycled materials will be given to ANIQUEM, the Assistance Association for Burned Children. This organisation provides free physical and psychological rehabilitation to children and youth suffering from injuries related to burns as well as training for their families to provide home therapy.
Cassava farmers in Nigeria and Zambia who have adopted mechanised production and improved farming practices reap up to four times additional yield and attract higher purchase prices through structured market linkages, according to the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)
A cassava plantation in Rivers State, Nigeria. Photo credit: gopixpic.com
Farmers participating in the African Agricultural Technology Foundation’s (AATF) Cassava Mechanisation and Agro-processing Project (CAMAP) in Nigeria and Zambia realised a boost in their 2014 harvests as they harvested up to four times the usual tonnage they previously received from cassava crop produced manually. According to George Marechera, the Business Development Manager at AATF, farmers in Osun state, Nigeria received between 28 and 33 tonnes of cassava per hectare compared to the 7 tonnes per hectare they previously harvested. In Zambia, farmers realised an average of 24 tonnes per hectare up from the usual average of five tonnes from the crop harvested this year that was planted in 2013.
“The harvested tubers also attracted higher purchase prices through structured market linkages between farmers and processors facilitated by the project. Processors collected the cassava tubers from farmers’ fields, reducing the duration of time to market which is key to preserving the quality of the tubers and ensuring it is processed within 12 hours of harvest,” said Marechera.
CAMAP uses a value chain approach to address constraints that smallholder farmers face in the cultivation of cassava. The project encourages use of improved high yielding and disease resistant cassava varieties; use of planters which ensures stems are well cut and properly planted; application of fertiliser and herbicides; weeding and use of root diggers for harvesting. The project also supports market linkages which helps farmers get good returns for their crop.
Cassava though an exceptionally important crop in the two countries, faces numerous production and processing challenges. These include limited or no access to cassava mechanised farming equipment and processing technologies. “CAMAP has the potential to intervene across the entire value chain of cassava production in Zambia and Nigeria and indeed in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)” added Marechera.
The goal of (CAMAP) is to enhance the contribution of cassava production and processing technologies for sustainable improvement in food security, incomes and livelihoods of farmers, processors, and marketers in the cassava sector. This is being achieved through upgrading and expanding traditional planting, harvesting and processing techniques that will contribute to development of competitive cassava commodity value chains for a reliable supply of processed products for food and non-food industrial use.
CAMAP is a public-private partnership that is being coordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and in Nigeria involves the National Centre for Agricultural
Mechanisation (NCAM), National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) and the governments of Kwara, Ogun, Kogi and Osun states. In Zambia, AATF is partnering with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute and in Uganda with the National Crops Resources Research Institute.
According to Dr Denis T. Kyetere, the Executive Director of AATF, agricultural mechanisation is one of AATF’s key priority areas of work that will ensure that crops like cassava contribute their rightful share in the alleviation of food insecurity in SSA.
Nigeria and Zambia were the first pilot countries for the project whose operations kicked off in 2012. Uganda joined the project in 2013 and activity implementation including mechanised planting started in July 2014.
Cassava is an important food crop both for urban and rural consumers in SSA and is a basic staple food in Nigeria, Mozambique, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania making Africa the largest cassava producing region in the world. The competitiveness of African cassava manufactured products at the world market has been low because it is produced and processed for subsistence, not as a commercial crop.
CAMAP is aimed at affecting change along the cassava value chain: planting, harvesting, processing, value addition and market linkages. The project is enhancing smallholder capacity in planting, harvesting, and processing and enterprise development to improve food security, create wealth, generate employment and boost the rural economy.
In Nigeria the project is being piloted in four states – Kwara, Kogi, Ogun and Osun. In Zambia the project is in Kaoma district in Western province, and Mansa and Samfya districts in Luapula province. To date, over 2,500 hectares have been planted in the three countries states. The process involved land preparation using tractor drawn ploughs and harrows, sourcing of improved cassava varieties for planting materials, planting using cassava planters, and application of pre-emergence pesticides using boom sprayers. More land will be put under the crop during the 2015 planting season.
The mechanisation equipment being accessed by CAMAP is for cultivation, planting, weeding, harvesting, peeling, dewatering, drying, chipping, roasting, milling and processing cassava into various cassava products. The project is targeting 3.5 million farmers in SSA.
To fly into the Niger Delta is to marvel at seemingly endless trees. Africa’s moist equatorial forest stretches from Congo to Gabon. Much is still pristine in Nigeria, the canopy closed. However, vast swathes have been despoiled by oil seepage and flaring. Joblessness and insecurity abound.
Rubber agroforestry – coco yam, maize, a young bush mango (Irvingia gabonesis) – and other plants in the dappled light in a gap between mature rubber trees. Photo credit: Cathy Watson
“The young boys are punching holes in the oil pipelines,” exclaims Father Kevin O’Hara, who works in Bayelsa. His eyes brighten when Dr Ebenezar Asaah from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) tells him about rubber agroforestry — mixed stands of rubber, fruit trees and annual crops. “If you could offer them something to do in the way of agriculture, it would sure be fine,” the priest says.
O’Hara is an activist, holding the petroleum industry and local government to account. A film of him showing the Dutch ambassador a three metre deep oil spill is on You Tube. He never goes up the creeks these days – too risky. Four days before we meet him at OXFAM Nigeria, Dutch nationals visiting a hospital are seized by armed men in a speedboat up one of the narrow waterways.
O’Hara is not the only one who wants farming to give new purpose to young men. In Delta State, Dr Suleiman Ikodo stands in a field of plantains, cassava and rubber and fruit trees. “If we improve the production base like this, Michelin and the other companies will bring back their factories, and unemployment and youth restiveness will go down,” says the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN) scientist.
The plantains and cassava give farmer Ben Egbune income and food in the six years before the grafted rubber trees yield latex. Improved indigenous fruit trees such as African cherry and bush mango — eaten as a soup thickener by 60% of Nigerians daily — will yield early too. Egbune’s 15 workers each earn $150/month plus meals. He has a nursery of 5000 rubber rootstock to which they will graft budwood. Seedlings sell for 100 Naira ($0.60) a piece.
The planting arrangement is 500 trees of rubber in lines of two with ten metres between them on a hectare. This allows 70% of the land to be used for food crops until the rubber canopy closes at six years. Even then, about 40% will still receive sufficient sun to grow food. Shade-tolerant medicinals, crops such as coco yam, and mini-livestock – snails, rabbits and bees – thrive under the rubber.
“We are not promoting rubber as such but rather the diversification of all smallholder economic crops like rubber, cocoa and coffee,” says ICRAF’s Dr Assah. “This is sustainable agricultural intensification and minimizes the hazards of monoculture – loss of biodiversity and build up pest and diseases.”
Supported by the Common Fund for Commodities, ICRAF and RRIN have piloted rubber agroforestry in the Delta since 2009. It holds the potential to resuscitate Nigeria’s rubber industry while creating jobs. Its early yielding grafted trees overcome farmer reluctance. Raised from seed, rubber would take 15 years and fruit trees about eight before producing – too long for most farmers.
The disengagement of youth comes up in every conversation. Not only do young males need work, but rubber needs them. “Those young ones who are meant to make the village lively have gone to the city or want quick money from harassing oil firms,” explains Dr Ikodo.
Labour is the key limiting factor in production. “Immediately the oil boom started in the late 1970s, we started seeing a shortage. Our peasant farmers abandoned their plantations and went into non-agricultural work,” says Professor Osayanmo Eguavoen, RRIN executive director.
But no one at RRIN or in government ministries in Abuja blames ordinary people. “Most farm activities are manual so there is drudgery and that discouraged them,” says the professor. The Nigerian civil war (1967-70) and low prices also contributed to rubber’s demise. The result is aged trees and the collapse of the value chain.
“There was even a time when farmers were cutting rubber to plant cassava,” says Dr TJ Odeyemi, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development. “When we look at rubber, we can say it has suffered. We were doing well in the 1960s. But it did not receive adequate attention.” Farmers once “controlled the whole activity from plantation to processing” says Eguavoen, but the smoke houses in which they hand mangled rubber sheets to sell to factories have vanished.
Forty years of neglect may be ending. Amid regret that rubber was left to flounder, there is a new zeal that is economic and political. Part is the momentum of Nigeria’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda. But officials also say – we ignore rubber at our peril. “We are not taking any matter relating to rubber lightly. If we fold our arms about the Delta, what is happening in the north could happen there,” says Dr JO Appanisile, director of commodities in the ministry of trade.
The French Development Agency is lending Nigeria $100 million to develop 30,000 hectares of rubber outgrower plantations in five Delta states, while ICRAF and RRIN are promoting varieties that can be harvested for timber when their latex-producing life ends. They are also training tappers —- unskilled ones can kill the tree — and installing Indian sheeting machines. “We look ahead to a time when farmers form clusters and process on the spot and take their destiny into their own hands,” says RRIN director Eguoveon.
From one such cluster in Iguoriekha Farm Settlement in Edo state, a lorry is collecting “cup lumps” – latex that coagulates naturally in the cup on the tree. Large piles lie neatly on banana leaves. Young males record weights and heave basins of cup lump into the truck. Trained tapper, Oweh Goddy, 21, says he earns the equivalent of $95-200 a month, which he is saving for university.
Value addition can involve many like him. The cluster is slated to receive a sheeting machine and will build the shed to house it. Ribbed rubber sheets command a higher price than cup lump. Oil from the rubber seed can become soap, shampoo, putty, epoxy, a leather treatment and printing ink; the seed cake can be livestock feed and a soil amendment.
Rubber agroforestry can be part of the solution in one of Africa’s most volatile regions; 70% of the 30 million residents of Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta live in poverty – compared to 60% for the country as a whole.
By Cathy Watson (Head of Programme Development at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya)
According to the most recent estimates, 2014 emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main contributor to global climate change, are projected to be 2.5 percent higher than 2013 levels, which translates into the release of 37 billion additional tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gas increases are leading to a faster rate of global warming. Photo credit: earthtimes.org
As negotiators wrapped up their talks at the international climate conference in Lima, Peru, there is no indication that this trend will change soon. Scientists estimate that future emissions should not exceed 1,200 billion tons of CO2, in order to keep Earth’s temperature increase to no more than 2 degrees Celsius and to avoid severe and irreversible environmental effects. Yet at the current rate of emissions, this remaining “quota” would be used up in less than a generation, writes Joel Stronberg, contributing author for the Worldwatch Institute’s Vital Signs Online.
As in 2013, the primary emitters in 2014 from the combustion of fossil fuels are expected to be China (28 percent), the United States (14 percent), the European Union (10 percent), and India (seven percent). In emissions per person, however, the United States ranks first with more than twice the per capita emissions of China, ranked second. There is a continued geographic shift in emissions from industrialised to developing countries.
The three other major greenhouse gases responsible for climate change are methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons. Natural gas production and agriculture are major contributors of methane, a super-potent gas that traps 86 times the heat of CO2. Satellite photos show that methane leakage from the drilling and pipeline delivery of natural gas offsets any CO2 benefits that natural gas may bring over coal during combustion and use.
Energy supply, industrial processes, forestry, agriculture, and transportation account for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions. An expanding world population and the growth of developing-country economies contribute to the rising slope of emissions. And deforestation not only generates carbon emissions from the burning of forest residues, but also reduces the capacity of forests to capture carbon. Flattening the emissions curve to slow the rate of global climate change requires increasing the efficiency of energy production, transmission, and consumption; switching to renewable energy sources for electricity generation and transportation; and using non-fossil-fuel-based feedstocks for chemical production, among other actions.
Efforts to meet previously established climate goals have failed for a variety of reasons, including the falling prices of coal, natural gas, and petroleum due to changed global economic conditions, and the increasing supplies of oil and natural gas available through hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The slowdown in global economic growth and a movement toward austerity measures has led some industrialized nations to limit or consider limiting their near-term support for clean energy alternatives, particularly given currently depressed fossil fuel prices.
Although rising greenhouse gas emissions may be an intractable problem in the near term, the means to significantly reduce both emissions and the rate of climate change are available. The rapidly falling costs of clean energy alternatives such as solar and wind power reduce the need for government subsidies to make them competitive with fossil fuels. Innovative financing mechanisms are making solar systems more accessible to consumers everywhere. New storage technologies help address the problem of intermittency of wind and solar power. Particularly in remote areas of developing countries, mini- and micro-grids can be deployed more rapidly than building or expanding a centralised electric grid. And at the corporate level, companies worldwide are committing publicly to increasing their investments in de-carbonization and reducing their carbon footprints.
Increasingly, the world has the means to achieve the needed emissions reductions. Whether or not the delegates to the 2015 climate conference in Paris can agree on a global accord, individuals, corporations, and national and subnational governments are showing greater willingness to take some needed actions. The important question is, will the required steps be taken rapidly enough to avoid crossing the 2 degrees Celsius threshold?
Two Nigerians – Dr Sunday Makinde of the Lagos State University, Ojo and Dr Godson Nwofia of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike – are among 21 senior plant scientists from sub-Saharan Africa who recently graduated as the first cohort to complete training with the African Plant Breeding Academy (AfPBA) in Nairobi, Kenya. From 11 countries and 19 institutions, they are returning to their respective countries to work on neglected crops that are fundamental to their peoples’ nutrition and culture.
Dr Godson Nwofia of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike
“It’s profound,” said Howard Shapiro, chief agricultural officer for Mars, Incorporated, which currently funds the academy. “Only 57 plants in the world have ever been sequenced. Now we are adding another 101. These scientists are at the top of their game. Many of them are professionals and heads of research institutes. Now with the AfPBA training, they have the ability to make decisions about plant breeding quicker, which will lead to better plants with, among other things, much higher nutrient content.”
The six-week course was led by the University of California Davis and included some of the world’s most renowned plant breeders, such as Rita Mumm, Bruce Walsh, Allen Van Deynze and Iago Hale, as trainers. It is hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, which also inaugurated the African Orphan Crop Consortium Laboratory on Wednesday 10 December.
Orphan crops are crops that are under-researched and undervalued by decision makers because they figure little in global trade. Yet they are vital as sources of energy (e.g. oil from the Shea tree) as well as protein, vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients (e.g. spider plant) in resource-poor societies. Culturally significant and mostly indigenous, orphan crops tend to be resilient to environmental stresses and adapted to local conditions.
Often only one or two traits – a tough seed coat in the case of the African yam bean – are preventing them for providing nutrition to millions more people. The African yam bean is an exceptionally nutritious pulse, whose utilisation is poor and localised. In rural Africa, almost 40% of children under the age of five are stunted — have short stature for age and at times impaired cognitive development.
The 101 plants include the Bambara groundnut, an African grain legume and leading protein source in Zimbabwe, where it is grown by 70% of farmers. It contributes to food and nutritional security by yielding well in marginal areas which are too arid for the common groundnut, maize and even sorghum. More protein rich than the common bean, it contains 17–25% protein, 42–65% carbohydrate and 6% lipids. Zimbabwean plant breeder Busiso Mavankeni, one of the four women on the AfPBA training, plans a cultivar which matures in less than 100 days as opposed to the current lengthy 140.
Dr Sunday Makinde of the Lagos State University, Ojo
Genomes for eight species, including the astoundingly nutritious Baobab, are being sequenced and assembled by the Beijing Genomics Institute. Just 20g of Baobab pulp provides 10 times the antioxidant level of oranges, twice the amount of calcium as spinach, three times the vitamin C of oranges and four times more potassium than bananas. The genomes will be further analysed by ICRAF’s new lab with machines donated by Life Technologies (Thermo Fischer).
Knowing where traits lie on the genome enables the scientists to breed out factors that impede productivity. “What BGI is doing is writing the treasure map,” says ICRAF director general Tony Simons, which can be plumbed to create improved planting materials for smallholder farmers. The approach is not to create GMO orphan crops but to expedite conventional breeding methods with knowledge of orphan crop genomes.
Dr Firew Mekbib from Haramaya University intends to focus on the Ethiopian potato, a super orphan among orphan crops on which there has hitherto been no research. “The farmers, who curate and breed this crop, say there is not enough planting material. We need to de-orphanize and microtuberise it.” He plans a superior Ethiopian potato by 2018 and is setting up a center to work on 40 orphan crops. Commenting on Mekbib’s initiative, Shapiro, who led the way in 2010 by sequencing the cocoa genome and making it public, says, “What we are seeing here is a scientific explosion”.
Dr. Makinde is breeding the fluted pumpkin, a vine from the rain forest ecosystem, the seeds and leaves of which – high in protein and iron – form part of the daily diet in Nigeria in dishes called egusi and ogbono.
“The problem with this plant is that you cannot tell the male and female plant apart until they start flowering. Only the female plant produces pumpkin yet the farmers cannot tell which to grow when they are young,” says the botanist.
Dr. Nwofia’s crop is coco yam. Like other neglected crops, it is almost undocumented – at least in Africa. “If you go to the internet, you get little or no information. Production in Nigeria used to be the highest in the world but of recent has dropped by more than a half because of the Taro leaf blight. If we do not work on it, how will we recover it?” Among other things, cocoyam is a critical weaning food, its starch more digestible than that of yam or cassava.
However, it flowers erratically so is hard to hybridize. “It is only vegetatively propagated at present,” says the associate professor.
“Yet if we do not create variation and the crop remains a clone, any disease can come and it is gone.” His aim is also to make cocoyam, currently a “woman’s crop”, attractive to men as well. “Right now no man will touch it. We need to prove that it can be commercially viable and put money into peoples’ pockets.”
Wonder Nunekpeka is working on Hibiscus sabdariffa (Roselle), which has been cultivated in Sudan for 6000 years, but is endemic across Africa, producing iron rich leaves that can be eaten raw or cooked as vegetables, fibre, paste, feed for animals and more. “Roselle offers a lot of benefits to humankind but has been neglected,” said the scientist from Ghana’s Biotechnology and Nuclear Agricultural Research Institute.
He has already collected 45 representatives of the plants from the coastal savannah, rain forest, deciduous forest and Guinea savannah regions of his country and commenced breeding. “I want to fuel large scale production by farmers.”
The African Plant Breeding Academy is part of an uncommon public/private collaboration called the African Orphan Crop Consortium (AOCC). It includes the African Union – New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU-NEPAD Agency); Mars, Incorporated; Google; World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF); BGI; Life Technologies; World Wildlife Fund; University of California, Davis (UC Davis); University of Ghent; LGC; iPlant Collaborative; and Biosciences eastern and central Africa – International Livestock Research Institute (BecA – ILRI Hub).
Located at ICRAF in Nairobi, Kenya, the AfPBA will train 250 plant breeders and technicians over the next five years. All genomics data will be made publically available with the endorsement of the African Union through a process managed by the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture. The internet giant Google is assisting with the data pipeline. Some crops have genomes many times larger than the human genome.
MARS is granting seed funds for AfPBA graduates to develop breeding programmes. But the long term goal is support from the private sector and particularly African governments. “We want their political buy in,” says Dr Diran Makinde on behalf of NEPAD CEO Dr Ibrahim Mayaki. “Ministers of agriculture need to contribute and own the orphan crop priority. It is all about the achievement of food security and improving the quality of life of our farmers.”
A barrage of reactions has greeted the much-vaunted UN climate change summit that came to a close at the weekend in Lima, the Peruvian capital city.
Strategy and Communications Director of 350.org, Jamie Henn. Photo credit: wrongkindofgreen.org
After two weeks of consultations and negotiations, the global forum, which was expected to produce a direction towards a new climate agreement scheduled for endorsement next year, ended with delegates at the gathering expressing mixed feelings over the outcome – the “Lima Decision”.
While some believe that there is now a far clearer vision of what the draft Paris agreement will look like as delegates prepare for the next round of negotiations in Geneva, others describe the attitude of negotiators as ‘shoe-gazing’, one lacking in seriousness and urgency.”
The Climate Action Network (CAN) states: “All eyes will turn to the leaders of the governments who have signed off on an outcome at the UN climate talks in Lima which neither reflects the growing public support for the ongoing transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies nor the urgency to accelerate this transition.
“The Lima Decision reaffirmed that governments are now on the spot to put the individual climate pledges on table in the first half of next year, that will form the foundations of the global climate agreement due in Paris next December, but some of the big issues that have been plaguing the talks for years were shirked and could cause headaches later on.
Samantha Smith, Leader, WWF Global Climate and Energy Initiative. Photo credit: zeeburgniews.nl
“When it comes down to it, these talks shows governments are disconnected from their people who are worried about climate risks and want a just transition to boost our economies, deliver jobs and strengthen public health. Increasingly domestic issues, whether they are elections or decisions about major projects such as the KeystoneXL pipeline in the US and the Galilee basin in Australia, will be seen as a country’s intention on climate change.
“While governments were able to hide in Lima, they won’t have that luxury in Paris where the world will be expecting them to deliver an agreement, not shoe-gazing.
“In a positive contrast, negotiators here in Lima were in sync with the emerging consensus around the world that we need to phase out fossil fuels, illustrated by this phaseout surviving as one of the options listed in the current list of options for the Paris agreement. Governments need to get to real work at the next UN climate session in February, in Geneva, to convert the options into plain English, legal negotiating text.”
Strategy and Communications Director of 350.org, Jamie Henn, adds: “Negotiators failed to build on the momentum coming into these talks. Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand climate action – millions more will join them in the year ahead. Politicians can either ride that wave, or be swept away by it.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International. Photo credit: usaid.gov
“With the impacts of climate change already being felt in vulnerable communities around the world, the need for immediate action could not be clearer, and yet rich countries are still dragging their feet on everything from finance to emissions reductions.
“We were pleased to see around 100 countries support the goal of phasing out carbon emissions by mid-century. The goal’s inclusion in the draft text is a win for the fossil fuel divestment movement and will add momentum to that growing campaign. But action must begin now, not after decades of delay.
“We must continue to take on the biggest barrier to progress: the fossil fuel industry. During COP20, more than 53,000 people call on the UN to ban fossil fuel industry lobbyists from the climate talks. We know that companies like Chevron and Shell are working behind the scenes to block action. They don’t deserve a seat at the table when they’re trying to burn it down.
“These climate talks have shown a clear disconnect between the negotiations and the global movement offering real, immediate solutions to the climate crisis. Regardless of the outcome falling short, the movement continues to grow unabated.”
Mohamed Adow, Senior Climate Advisor at Christian Aid. Photo credit: Scidev.net
Samantha Smith, Leader, WWF Global Climate and Energy Initiative, says: “Governments crucially failed to agree on specific plans to cut emissions before 2020 that would have laid the ground for ending the fossil fuel era and accelerated the move toward renewable energy and increased energy efficiency. The science is clear that delaying action until 2020 will make it near impossible to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, yet political expediency won over scientific urgency. Instead of leadership, they delivered a lackluster plan with little scientific relevancy.”
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, declares: “There is still a vast and growing gulf between the approach of some climate negotiators and the public demand for action. This outcome can only be seen as a call to action for people around the world. Governments will not deliver the solutions we need unless more people stand up to make our voices heard. We must continue to build a stronger movement to counteract the narrow interests that are preventing action.”
Mohamed Adow, Senior Climate Advisor at Christian Aid, notes: “The talks took place in the wake of worsening climate impacts hitting communities around the world, like Typhoon Hagupit in the Philippines which has highlighted to ensure communities can adapt and to providing support for the loss and damage they experience when they can no longer adapt.
Mattias Söderberg, co-chair of the ACT Alliance Advisory Group on Climate Change Advocacy. Photo credit: dailykos.com
“There is an elephant in the room at these negotiations – we’ve not managed to entice it out. Working out how to fairly share the workload of tackling climate change between developed and developing countries has become the major stumbling block on the road to Paris.”
Lack of vision among countries and missed opportunities in the Lima climate talks have undermined the process towards a global agreement on climate change in 2015, international humanitarian and development organisation ACT Alliance has said.
The group adds: “After two weeks of fruitless negotiations among countries on how to steer clear of irreversible damage from climate change, parties lacked a sense of urgency, refusing to step out of their comfort zones, resulting in no progress on any aspects of the decision text.
“It said the agreement reached is just a symbolic greeting to the Peruvian COP presidency, and a commitment to give the negotiations a new try at the next session of climate talks in February.
“Many had expected the talks to result in some of the groundwork towards the Paris agreement, including a finance roadmap toward 2020 and clarity on the information countries will have to submit along with their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). However, the guidance on INDCs is still unclear, despite expectations for submissions to start in March 2015.
Felipe Calderón, former President of México and Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. Photo credit: nytimes.com
“But while a number of countries expressed openness on the issue of adaptation there was no progress on finance, with the Alliance highlighting a missed opportunity with the Green Climate Fund not fitting into a bigger picture of being linked to the roadmap to 2020 and beyond.
“While on the policy level there has been little progress, the Alliance, which works with communities in over 140 countries, said that on the political level engagement by concerned citizens is growing.
“In September more than 400,000 people turned out for the People’s Climate March in New York ahead of the UN Climate Summit, and around 15,000 people marched the streets of Lima for climate justice.”
Mattias Söderberg, co-chair of the ACT Alliance Advisory Group on Climate Change Advocacy, emphasises: “There is a real possibility of failure in this process. The Lima talks have been clouded by missed opportunities: a missed opportunity to build trust among parties, with now even more division along north south lines; missed opportunities on finance since developed countries were not willing to discuss pre or beyond 2020; and a missed opportunity around ambition, which simply fell off the radar completely.
Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at London School of Economics and Political Science, and President of the British Academy. Photo credit: lse.ac.uk
“It is very clear that while no country has had the courage to step up and take accountability for its role in climate change, in communities across the globe momentum for change is growing. What policy makers seem to miss is that these negotiations are about people – about who will survive and who will be forgotten. Yet nothing in the decision today is going to change anything in terms of the support governments give to developing countries to help those communities in need.
“This mobilisation is happening on the ground and governments that don’t get on the boat are going to be left behind. We won’t leave the poor and vulnerable people to fight climate change on their own. Some governments here may have, but we will not.”
There were, however, some expression of hope on the outcome of the global conference.
Felipe Calderón, former President of México and Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, submits: “This week in Lima we have made progress towards an international agreement that will send a clear signal to businesses and investors. There is still considerable work to be done. But I am encouraged that countries, all around the world are beginning to see that it is in their economic interest to take action now.
“In Lima we have seen progress across the fundamental building blocks of our economies. Seven Latin American countries, including Mexico, have pledged to restore life to 20 million hectares of degraded land by 2020. Restoration will reduce carbon while providing new economic opportunities, especially for poor people.
“A new standard for measuring carbon emissions in cities has been set. This will drive cities to go further and to pursue compact and connected urban growth. More than $10 billion has been pledged to the Green Climate Fund, which was formally established in Cancun in 2010 – this will help poorer countries adapt and shift towards better development.
Jennifer Morgan, Global Director, Climate Program, World Resources Institute. Photo credit: Politico.com
“Now other countries, cities and business must build on these commitments. Action should not be limited to those in Lima. Decision-makers in all parts of the economy can reinforce this effort by making fundamental changes and smart choices. The New Climate Economy report has shown that they have an opportunity to create jobs and reduce poverty, while reducing the carbon emissions that threaten our future. The road to Paris has begun in Lima. We must continue to work towards a strong international agreement. Such an agreement can drive innovation and stimulate the investment needed to create better growth and a safer climate.”
Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at London School of Economics and Political Science, and President of the British Academy, discloses: “This is an important step towards a new agreement at the climate change summit in Paris in December 2015, but it still leaves a number of important issues to be worked out between countries over the next 12 months. There has been a constructive atmosphere in Lima, and the Peruvian Government deserves great credit for creating such a positive environment for the negotiations. The countries of the world are increasingly recognising the urgency of the action required to tackle the immense risks of climate change, but must focus on the big issues of scale of action and of building mutual confidence and support in the months before Paris.
“It is vital that countries put forward before the Paris summit intended nationally determined contributions that are both ambitious and credible. However, it is already clear that the scale of action to control and reduce annual emissions of greenhouse gases will collectively not be consistent with a pathway that will mean a reasonable chance of avoiding dangerous global warming of more than 2 centigrade degrees above pre-industrial level. That means countries must continue to explore opportunities to increase emissions cuts. And they must build into the Paris agreement arrangements for moving purposefully thereafter to increase the scale of action.
“All countries must continue to engage in a collaborative way with each other to build mutual confidence. Rich countries must accept the responsibilities that are associated with their greater wealth and historical contribution to the rise in greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. They must help in tackling the effects of climate change that are already with us. And they should also work to create and unlock much greater public and private investments in clean economic growth in the developing countries, and not just re-label overseas aid budgets. There is great potential for sustainable and inclusive growth across the world. Investments in clean development hold the key to both managing the risks of climate change and overcoming poverty.”
Jennifer Morgan, Global Director, Climate Program, World Resources Institute, states: “A global climate agreement is now within reach. While more hard work remains, negotiators found common ground on the most pressing issues. This emerging agreement represents a new form of international cooperation. “In the coming months, countries must propose their climate action plans and hammer out the details of the core agreement. Momentum has been growing for global climate action, with the US, China, and EU putting their emissions targets on the table early. Now others countries need to step up to the plate.
“Most importantly, in Lima countries agreed on consolidated negotiating text that delegates will build upon next year. Countries also decided in detail how they will present their national contributions by March 2015 or soon after. As contributions are put forward, peer pressure will grow for countries to be as transparent and ambitious as possible. World Resources Institute will conduct analysis of country action plans based on their level of transparency, ambition and equity.
“The most inspiring development in Lima was an outpouring of support for a long-term effort to reduce emissions. Over a hundred countries now advocate for a long-term mitigation goal. This would send a strong signal that the low-carbon economy is inevitable.
“Support grew for establishing regular cycles to review and strengthen countries’ actions to curb emissions, adapt to climate change and support low-carbon growth. These cycles of improvement are critical to ensure the Paris agreement drives climate action for not years but decades to come.
“Progress on the Green Climate Fund was a bright spot, with countries’ exceeding the $10 billion goal for 2014. These funds will jump start a transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. It will be important to identify additional sources of funding that are on par with the scale of the climate challenge.
“We cannot afford to let up. With continued leadership and trust, the world can unite around a climate agreement that will reduce climate risks and open new economic opportunities. This vision is within sight, but it’s up to all countries to make it a reality.”
A new 2015 agreement on climate change, that will harness action by all nations, took a further important step forward in Lima, Peru at the weekend following two weeks of negotiations by over 190 countries.
Nations concluded by elaborating the elements of the new agreement, scheduled to be agreed in Paris in late 2015, while also agreeing the ground rules on how all countries can submit contributions to the new agreement during the first quarter of next year.
These Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) will form the foundation for climate action post 2020 when the new agreement is set to come into effect.
During the two-week 20th Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), countries also made significant progress in elevating adaptation onto the same level as action to cut and curb emissions.
COP 20 President and Peruvian Environment Minister, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal
Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, the Minister of the Environment of Peru and the COP President, said: “Lima has given new urgency towards fast tracking adaptation and building resilience across the developing world – not least by strengthening the link to finance and the development of national adaptation plans.
“Meanwhile here in Lima, governments have left with a far clearer vision of what the draft Paris agreement will look like as we head into 2015 and the next round of negotiations in Geneva.”
According to the UNFCCC, the Lima Climate Conference achieved a range of other important outcomes, decisions and “firsts” in the history of the international climate process.
Pledges were made by both developed and developing countries prior to and during the COP that took the capitalisation of the new Green Climate Fund (GCF) past an initial $10 billion target.
Levels of transparency and confidence-building reached new heights as several industrialised countries submitted themselves to questioning about their emissions targets under a new process called a Multilateral Assessment.
The Lima Ministerial Declaration on Education and Awareness-raising calls on governments to put climate change into school curricula and climate awareness into national development plans.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said: “Governments arrived in Lima on a wave of positive news and optimism resulting from the climate action announcements of the European Union, China and the United States to the scaling up of pledges for the Green Climate Fund.”
“They leave Lima on a fresh wave of positivity towards Paris with a range of key decisions agreed and action-agendas launched, including on how to better scale up and finance adaptation, alongside actions on forests and education.”
Figueres also thanked Ollanta Humala, the President of Peru, along with the government and the people of Peru for hosting the United Nations and some 11,000 delegates from all over the world.
“The negotiations here reached a new level of realism and understanding about what needs to be done now, over the next 12 months and into the years and decades to come if climate change is to be truly and decisively addressed,” she said.
The UN climate chief thanked the Peruvian Environment Minister and President of the Conference of the Parties for his leadership.
“The cooperation of over 190 countries in securing many positive outcomes owes much to the patience and persistence of the COP President – Manuel Pulgar-Vidal – and the spirit of Lima as we look forward to Paris—the city of lights and the city of love for our shared future and shared environment,” said Figueres.
Steps Forward on Adaptation including the Lima Adaptation Knowledge Initiative
Progress was made in Lima on elevating adaptation onto the same level as the curbing and cutting of curbing greenhouse gas emissions. The will be done through:
Recognition that National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) offer an important way of
delivering resilience.
NAPs will now be made more visible via the UNFCCC website which should improve the opportunity for receiving backing.
The green light was given for discussions with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on how countries can be supported with their NAPs which should increase the number of these plans coming forward for support.
Pulgar-Vidal launched a NAP Global Network involving Peru, the US, Germany, the Philippines, Togo, the UK, Jamaica and Japan. The Lima Adaptation Knowledge initiative – a pilot project in the Andes under the Nairobi Work Programme – has underlined that establishing the adaptive needs of communities can be successfully captured.
Countries supported the idea of replicating this in Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and Africa.
The Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage was confirmed for two years with a balanced representation of members from developing and developed countries.
A work programme was also established under the Committee – it has an array of actions areas, including enhancing the understanding of how loss and damage due to climate change affects particularly vulnerable developing countries and populations including indigenous or minority status ones. It will also seek to better the understanding of how climate change impacts human migration and displacement.
Financing the response to climate change
Governments made progress on coordinating the delivery of climate finance and of the various existing funds. Further pledges were made to the Green Climate Fund in Lima by the governments of Norway, Australia, Belgium, Peru, Colombia and Austria – the pledges brought the total sum pledged to the Green Climate Fund to close to $10.2 billion.
In a further boost to the adaptation ambitions of developing countries, Germany made a pledge of 55 million Euros to the Adaptation Fund. China also announced $10 million for South-South cooperation and mentioned they would double it next year.
More Countries Accept the Kyoto Protocol Doha Amendment
Nauru and Tuvalu submitted their instrument of acceptance to the Doha amendment, bringing the number of Parties to 21, even though 144 are required to bring it into force.
The United Nations is encouraging governments to speed up their acceptance of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the international emissions reduction treaty, in order to provide further momentum for global climate action for the years leading up to 2020.
New climate action portal launched as part of Lima Climate Action Agenda
The government of Peru launched a new portal, with support from the UNFCCC, to increase the visibility of the wealth of climate action among cities, regions, companies and investors, including those under international cooperative initiatives. The portal – named the Nazca Climate Action Portal – is designed to inject additional momentum into the process through to Paris by demonstrating the wealth of non-state action.
Providing transparency of developed country action
The first ever Multilateral Assessment (MA) was launched in Lima marking an historic milestone in the implementation of the Measurement, Reporting and Verification of emission reductions under the UNFCCC as a result of decisions taken at previous COPs in Cancun, Durban and Doha.
Over two days, 17 developed countries with quantified economy-wide emission reduction targets were assessed by other governments or ‘Parties’ to the Convention.
The Multilateral Assessment showed that the number of success stories and best practices in policy and technology innovation alongside nations decoupling emissions from economic growth is increasing.
Forests and the Lima Information Hub for REDD+
Countries meeting in Lima made progress on providing support to avoid deforestation. Colombia, Guyana, Indonesia, Malaysia and Mexico formally submitted information and data on the status of their greenhouse gas emission reductions in the forest sector to the UNFCCC secretariat following a similar submission by Brazil earlier in the year.
These baselines are likely to increase the possibility of obtaining international funding under initiatives like Reduced Emissions from Deforestations and Forest Degradation (REDD+).
In support of this, the COP President announced that an ‘information hub’ will be launched on the UNFCCC web site, spotlighting actions by countries carrying out REDD+ activities.
The aim is to bring greater transparency on both the actions being undertaken, including safeguards for communities and the payments being made.
Providing technology to developing countries
The Lima meeting sent an important signal that the transfer of climate technologies with the assistance of the UN and other international agencies is picking up speed.
The Climate Technology Centre and Network reported that it had received around 30 requests for assistance this year, and expects the figure to grow to more than 100 next year. The UNFCCC’s Technology Mechanism was further strengthened through the consideration of a link to the Green Climate Fund and the UNFCCC Finance mechanism.
The first research project funded under the technology mechanism was announced just prior to the Lima climate conference, involving the monitoring of climate change’s impact on biodiversity in Chile.
Lima Work Programme on Gender
The role of women is key to the response to climate change, and needs to be strengthened. The Lima conference agreed a Lima Work Programme on Gender to advance gender balance and to promote gender sensitivity in developing and implementing climate policy.
Education and Awareness-raising
The Lima Ministerial Declaration on Education and Awareness-raising was announced. It is aimed at developing education strategies that incorporate the issue of climate change in curricula, while also raising awareness on climate change in the design and implementation of national development and climate change strategies.
Peru and France launch Lima-Paris Action Agenda
The governments of Peru and France, as the incoming COP Presidency, launched a Lima-Paris Action Agenda to catalyse action on climate change, to further increase ambition before 2020 and support the 2015 agreement.
Building on the UN Climate Summit in September 2014, the agenda is designed to galvanize national, city and private sector action. Among other things, the agenda will help to convene key global, national, subnational and local leaders and to showcase key significant partnerships and actions of non-state actors.
Further Highlights
UNFCCC Pre-2020 Action Forum and ‘Fair’
As part of the efforts by countries to accelerate pre-2020 climate action, the secretariat organised a fair to showcase how policy and action is being scaled up and how many countries and non-state actors are taking action across themes ranging from renewable energies to more sustainable land use.
UNFCCC NAMA Day
A special event took place on actions to reduce emissions with the help of so-called “nationally appropriate mitigation actions” (NAMAs).
NAMAs are plans of developing countries to reduce emissions and to develop sustainably which can be supported by developed countries. The UNFCCC secretariat has established a registry to match requests for and offers of support.
Climate action on the ground celebrated by the UN
The UNFCCC secretariat’s Momentum for Change Initiative presented awards to representatives of some of the best examples of climate solutions in the world which inspire increased climate action.
This year’s winners, or “Lighthouse Activities,” range from a Latin American microfinance initiative that is unlocking resources for climate action across the region to a billion-dollar company that is leading a solar energy boom in Thailand. The Momentum for Change initiative this year for the first time included the category of Information and Computer technology.
The mass walkout of the 19th Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Warsaw by civil society groups and movements rekindled the hope that the Voice of the Streets would find a space in the battle to save the planet from the unfolding global burning. The walkout was an expression of disgust at the way the climate negotiations have become little more than an arena for trading in hot air, a carbon stock exchange. The need for deep emissions cut has been clearly shown by science. It is also known that global warming is not a matter of speculation but a reality. The carbon budget has been calculated and the level of emissions to be cut is known. Still, negotiation arenas remain places for fiddling while Rome burns.
Nnimmo Bassey in Lima, Peru
It is also known that to put the planet on a course that would keep global average temperature rise at not more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels up to 80 per cent of known fossil fuel reserves must be left in the ground. By the way, when we speak of a global average of 2 degrees Celsius for Africa that means 3 degrees. Little wonder Africa is one continent that suffers grave climate change impacts and is still having increasing manifestation of desertification. With the knowledge that fossil fuels must be kept untapped the frenzy for extreme extraction, including by fracturing nature (also known as fracking) continue unabated.
In addition it is known that deforestation and industrial agriculture are major culprits contributing to the literal choking of the planet. Just as citizens are having their lives snuffed out by brutality of the forces paid to defend them, the Earth is screaming: I cannot breathe! Rather than having a rethink, we are hearing of oxymoron like “sustainable intensification.”
With all these knowledge what is happening and what are we hearing from the climate negotiations? Platitudes. Paltry voluntary pledges of money and carbon emissions offsets! The path set by the Kyoto Protocol underscored equity and justice in tackling global warming. It stipulated binding levels of emissions cut that rich, polluting countries had to make. Assigning commitments based on historical responsibility as well as common but differentiated responsibilities are sensible ways to tackle a phenomenon of quantum is scientifically computed. Earlier negotiations were clear about climate finance and transfer of technology.
The COPs since the 15th session held in Copenhagen in 2009 have become arenas for voluntary commitments. Having countries pledging to make emissions cuts according to what is convenient to them does not indicate and understanding of the emergency situation confronting the planet and all life forms on it. This era of voluntarism does nothing to indicate that there is a carbon budget that has to be dealt with. The height of this new strategy could well be what they term the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). This should suggest to us the serious erosion of multilateralism and the enthronement of bilateralism and even an upsurge of unitary actions. This could be why voluntary pledges to a Green Climate Fund that rotates on an axis set in Copenhagen receive applause from some quarters.
Protest in Lima
Lest we forget, the world took a major wrong fork on the road to tackling global warming at Copenhagen. Subsequent COPs at Cancun, Durban, Doha and Warsaw have built on stipulates of the Copenhagen Accord. We remind ourselves that we cannot get to the right destination using a wrong map no matter how far we may go. It is always good sense to retrace one’s steps when we know we had missed it. Lima locks in those steps, as the Eifel Tower appears on the horizon.
The COP in Lima takes the cake when it comes to showing utter disdain to the urgent cries for justice and equity in the world today. For one, the host nation chose to host the world in a military facility that the locals say is tainted with blood of citizens that were tortured or disappeared there. Entering this facility reminds one that there is indeed a very thin line between freedom and repression. The setting itself is a sterile affair with meetings held under tents in the often-sweltering heat that ought to remind negotiators that global warming should not be toyed with.
If the official negotiations are locked in on the path that treats climate change as something over which to make long speeches and then perhaps throw some money at, the mood outside the COP was different. Although before the COP began there were fears that the mobilisation of citizens would be weak, the reality proved otherwise. Waves upon waves of citizens took to the streets denouncing the inaction at the COP, destruction of territories, human rights abuses and demanding the desired seriousness. Corporate kidnapping of the COP was also strongly denounced with activists marching against a meeting of the extractive sector companies, asking that they unhinge their fangs from the veins of the Earth.
At the Peoples’ Summit Against Climate Change (Cumbre De Los Pueblos) held in Parque de la Exposicion, miles away from the Little Pentagon, citizens from all over the world offered real solutions to climate change. They underscored the fact that the dominant global capitalist system is the major driver of the crisis and demanded “system change, not climate change.” The demands include an urgent transition from fossil fuels and the support of agro-ecological and peasant agriculture as the assured way of feeding the world and cooling the planet at the same time. At a session on Systemic Alternatives, Pablo Solon stressed the need to get to the root of the problem. “Climate change is not only about greenhouse gases. You cannot limit emissions without cutting extraction,” he said.
Citizens rose up against Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and other carbon offset mechanisms in all their manifestations. REDD was shown to be mostly a way of giving polluters permit to pollute and to displace poor forest dependent communities. Sadly this may end up being one of the major props for the Paris COP in 2015, according to some observers.
For Mary Louise Malig of the Global Forest Coalition, “carbon offset permits are simply permits to harm nature.” She also sees the so-called climate-smart agriculture as a backdoor way of “introducing carbon markets for soils and for using carbon accounting to direct agricultural policies.”
Two days of sitting of the International Tribunal on the Rights of Nature revealed from submissions of experts and impacted citizens that the view of Nature as an object for exploitation or merchandise and an apparent ignorance of the spiritual and cultural dimensions of nature are some of the root causes of the planetary crisis. The Tribunal admitted all cases presented and found the governments and corporations guilty as charged.
As we depart from Lima, after the COP’s official time slot had expired, the negotiators were still huddled in their dens piling up options for Paris in a document that lacks a soul. Three thoughts shared during these past days keep ringing in my mind and we close this piece with them.
“Our relationship with Nature must move from exploitation to respect. We must reject the sacrifice economy where the environment, humans and other species are being sacrificed,” said Francois Houtart. And this one from Vishwas Satgar: “We need to humanise power and subject pit to the principles of life.” The third thought came from an indigenous brother from Brazil who said: “ We are a people of culture, our spirituality and nature works in line with nature.”
This last thought inspired me to write this poem:
We Are A People Of Culture
We are a people with culture
We do not destroy nature
Solidarity, productivity, respect – those we nurture
And we are loving by nature
We are a people of culture
We live at peace with nature
Our thoughts are intergenerational in structure
For this we detest actions that break and fracture
Believe or not our future is born mature
For we incubate and brood over the picture
Of our desired, dreamed future
Not surprising we internalize our love for nature
We are a people of culture
And we live at one with nature
We will resist your plots to box us into your strictures
