WaterAid Nigeria wants political parties and their candidates to mainstream water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) issues into political campaigns, as the country prepares to hold the 2015 general elections.
President Goodluck Jonathan (right) and General Muhammad Buhari will contest the 2015 presidential elections. Photo credit: naijagists.com
Towards achieving this, the UK charity in collaboration with several civil society partners including YouthWASH Nigeria and Water and Sanitation Media Network is mobilising the general public to demand political parties and aspirants to proffer solutions to Nigeria’s water and sanitation crisis in their manifestos. About 63 million people are believed to without access to safe drinking water, while about 39 million are still defecating in the open, according to WaterAid.
Speaking in Abuja last week during a workshop to sensitise journalists, bloggers and WASH activists on the ‘Vote4WASH’ campaign, Saheed Mustapha, Advocacy and Partnership Manager, WaterAid Nigeria, called on voters to demand solutions to water and sanitation issues from political aspirants for local, state, and federal positions, saying: “Water is a developmental issues such as education, basic healthcare, and economic delivery, as such it should be in the forefront of national political discourse.”
National Coordinator of YouthWASH, Nature Obiakor, said Nigerians youths through the Vote4WASH campaign will engage with political aspirants and hold them accountable should they fail to redeem their WASH pledges, after being sworn in. “Vote4WASH campaign will not end at the conclusion of the 2015 general elections, it continues after election, because we would demand that elected public offices deliver their WASH promises,” he said.
Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, has said that the United Nations-promoted Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD+) programme being implemented in the state as a pilot area is positively impacting the citizenry in the area of forest management.
Senator Liyel Imoke, Governor of Cross River State. Photo credit: elombah.com
Imoke, who made the disclosure on Friday in Calabar, the state capital, during the programme’s Stakeholder Engagement Forum, stated that this comes against the backdrop of the desire to continue to explore every opportunity to build on existing structures and processes.
He said: “Today, we see REDD+ beginning to have impacts in our state. Though still at the REDD+ Readiness Phase, there is already strong evidence of positive behaviour change towards the management of our forests, and coordination of all stakeholders to invest in meaningful initiatives that will benefit first our forest dependent communities, and everyone else.
“We are happy to note the advancement in REDD+ implementation in Cross River State. As stakeholders become more informed and involved in the process, we as government are waiting to receive feedback that will influence policies and processes based on evidence and with the intent on preserving our culture and wellbeing. We in Cross River State have recognised that the responsibility lies on us all to join hands and preserve our heritage and our future. We owe this to ourselves, to our children now and future generations, and the global community. With God on our side, we will succeed.”
He inaugurated the REDD+ Stakeholder Forum, comprising six stakeholder groups including forest dependent communities, government bodies, media, academia, civil society and the private sector. It will coordinate actions and responses in order to create harmony in forest governance processes.
National Coordinator, Nigeria UN-REDD+ Programme, Salisu Dahiru, who disclosed that the country has been opportuned to join the World Bank’s FCPF REDD+ family, declared that lessons from Cross River’s Stakeholder Engagement are critical.
“Nigeria’s REDD+ programme is a realistic one, not too ambitious, and designed to suit our federal structure. We are encouraged that the two-track approach of Nigeria is succeeding; we look forward to a positive scaling up of the REDD+ programme to two additional states and the entire country,” he added.
Chairman Cross River Forestry Commission (CRSFC), Odigha Odigha, said of the forum: “We are trying to establish ownership of the entire programme and the ownership should start from a process that we all designed and took part in. This is talking about establishing a community-based REDD+ platform where decisions will be taken by the committee and essentially talking about providing alternative livelihood.
“We are complying with the basic element of good governance, participatory behavior, accountability, transparency and equity. The stakeholders are truly contributing – they are not influenced into forming an opinion.”
Board member, CRSFC, Arikpo Arikpo, expressed hope that besides financial support to improve community forestry activities that have historically been constrained by limited resources, REDD+ would bring non-financial benefits including improvements in institutional capacity and human capital.
“It is hoped that better monitoring of resource extraction and greater enforcement of rules may result in improved forest carbon and livelihood outcomes. For REDD+ as a forest-based climate change mitigation strategy to succeed, it is expected that the funding for programmes would be timely, and implementation participatory,” he submitted.
Tony Atah (UN-REDD+ Stakeholder Engagement Specialist) and Ruth Akagu (South East Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation), stressed that besides the inauguration of the Stakeholder Forum, the programme would likewise implement Community Based REDD+, commence FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent), develop REDD+ implementation strategy, mainstream gender strategy, and develop appropriate policies and legal instruments.
They added: “If change in climate and loss of biodiversity had no meaningful impact on humanity, nobody would care. REDD+ therefore is all about the people – promoting people-centred and people-driven development through improved natural resource management.”
After deliberations, participants underlined the need for Community Based REDD+ (CBR+) to address the issue of poverty in forest dependent communities. According to them, REDD+, through CBR+, should support communities to raise fund for community level projects through advocacies in international events.
“While youth education and capacity building to be encouraged to reduce pressure on forest, biodiversity management initiatives should include watershed management. Capacity building for rule enforcement in forest dependent communities will ensure compliance and improved forest governance,” they added.
The newly inaugurated Stakeholders Forum will, besides liaising between REDD+ and all stakeholders, ensure that the voices of communities are well documented and integrated into relevant policies.
The Forum will also: contribute into work plans and periodic progress review of REDD+; develop data base of stakeholders e.g. phone numbers to facilitate effective dissemination of information among forest dependent communities and other stakeholders; and participate in the production and dissemination of knowledge products for effective information dissemination.
Essentially, it will: create awareness; build capacity; implement CBR+ especially livelihoods component; train the media training; organise knowledge sharing meetings and strengthening the forum by holding quarterly and bi-annual meeting.
Under the Forum, the forest dependent communities are Mbe/Afi Cluster (Boki LGC), Iko/Esai Cluster (Akamkpa, Yakurr, Obubra and Etung LGCs) and Mangrove Cluster (Akpabuyo, Calabar South, Calabar Municipality, Bakassi and Odukpani LGCs).
Government bodies will have representatives from: CRSFC, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment, State Planning Commission, Department of International Development Cooperation, Department of Tourism Development, Department of Investment Promotion, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Women Affairs and CRS House of Assembly.
Others include: civil society organisations (3), media (2), academia (Forestry & Wildlife Department, University of Calabar; Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences, University of Calabar; Faculty of Agriculture, Cross River University of Technology).
Six broad stakeholder groups including forest dependent communities; government ministries, departments and agencies (GMDAs); media; academia; civil society organisations; and private sector players gathered for three days last week in Calabar, Cross River State (CRS), courtesy of the United Nations collaborative mechanism on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD+) Programme.
The REDD+ Readiness Programme in Nigeria is being implemented in Cross River as pilot state. The Stakeholder Forum is regarded as the ultimate platform to coordinate stakeholders’ participation and contribution to the strategic direction of the REDD+ Programme implementation in state. The forum likewise validated the Participatory Governance Assessment Draft Report and the Community Based REDD+ Draft Country Plan.
Nigeria is executing the REDD+ Readiness programme under an innovative, two-track approach involving the Federal Government and CRS.
Royal Fathers at the forum (L-R): Dr. Etim Ekpo (Akpabuji), Ntufam Clement Ekpe Emajip (Akamkpa), Chief Obio Aidam Eyo (Ekuri/Eko cluster), Otu Fredalin Akandu (Boki) and Ovat Ewona (Obubra)
National Coordinator, Nigeria UN-REDD+ Programme, Salisu Dahiru, making a presentation
REDD+ Specialist, Ochuko Odibo, addressing the gathering
UN-REDD+ Stakeholder Engagement Specialist, Tony Atah (right) with Finance & Admin. Manager, Bassey Ituen
Project Director, African Research Association Managing Development in Nigeria (ARADIN), James Odey (left); South East Regional Coodinator, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Ruth Akagu; and other participants
Board Member, Cross River State Forestry Commission (CRSFC), Arikpo Arikpo (left); UN-REDD+ Officer, Department of Forestry, Federal Ministry of Environment, Hauwa Umar (middlie); and Chairman, CRSFC, Odigha Odigha
Following previous meetings held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in March 2013 and in Nairobi, Kenya in February 2014, the Africa Urban Research Institute (AURI) recently (November 2014) in Cape Town, South Africa convened a gathering with a thematic focus on “Urban research for reducing urban poverty” to plan for the future.
Cape Town, South Africa. Photo credit: www.tripadvisor.com
Organisers were of the belief that outcomes of the meeting could provide a basis to develop an informed and compelling research and advocacy agenda around African urbanisation and urban poverty reduction, targeting key events such as the 2015 Africities meeting and the 2016 Habitat III conference.
With financial support from the Mistra Urban Futures programme based at the African Centre for Cities, the third AURI workshop meeting was held on 20 November 2014, in Cape Town, South Africa. The meeting was intended to inform AURI members of the content of the Ford Foundation proposal and the work plan leading to the end of 2015. The workshop specifically addressed the following issues:
The changing purpose, nature and focus of research on urban poverty.
Available information sources and methods (including co-production) for researching and reducing urban poverty.
Changes in how urban poverty is being (and will be) addressed in policy, especially in relation to the ongoing process to develop the SDGs.
How African urban research centres and AURI can contribute to urban poverty reduction through policy research and advocacy.
Proceedings began with a welcome from Vanessa Watson of the African Centre for Cities (ACC), and introductions by the AURI representatives present.
ACC is part of an international network of cities (Gothenburg, Manchester, Shanghai, Kisumu and Cape Town) where efforts are underway to understand and direct urban sustainability better through innovative knowledge-sharing practices. The programme is funded and managed by Mistra Urban Futures (MUF) headquartered at Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden.
In the opening presentation, James Duminy (ACC) updated partners on the activities of the AURI secretariat undertaken since February 2014. He outlined the objectives, content and work programme of the AURI proposal submitted to and approved by Ford Foundation in 2014. As part of the work programme, AURI will:
Commission three expert think pieces as strategic resources
Commission background urban reports for each Ford Foundation country office
Conduct a series of in-country workshops in different AURI contexts to engage civil society, government and other partners
Conduct an AURI workshop in 2015 to identify key issues for policy briefs
Develop an online knowledge platform to promote sharing and dissemination of resources and information
Host a policy conference at/in parallel to the Africities 2015 event
Ntombini Marrengane and Gordon Pirie (ACC) then presented on ACC’s Africa research programmes, describing how these projects have drawn upon co-production methodologies, and how they potentially link to the AURI agenda and work programme.
Adele Hosken, regional representative of Cities Alliance (CA), updated participants on the progress of the CA Africa Strategy, CA’s contributions to the SDG process, and CA’s research and programmatic agenda around urban poverty reduction. She emphasised the importance of networks such as AURI in enabling the alignment of actors and activities across different scales in order to drive system changes. She also reaffirmed that AURI remains an important strategic partner in relation to both the CA Africa Strategy and work of the CA Think Tank (to be established in 2015). CA has identified certain priority areas for their work in Africa (and Medium-Term Strategy more generally), and will be commissioning a series of discussion papers over the next year to give impetus and substantive content to the work in these areas. AURI is well placed to contribute to this process, and in particular could help to frame certain positions around informality, inclusive growth, resilience, and gender equality.
Owen Crankshaw (Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town) then presented some of his research on urban inequality, focusing on the patterns and causes of the changing class structure of South African cities and their implications for class and racial inequality (the polarisation/professionalisation debate), as well as the contemporary spatial order of cities and its implications for racial inequality (the spatial mismatch debate). His presentation provided a basis for participants to reflect upon contemporary trends in urban inequality in Africa more generally, and to sharpen their knowledge of methodologies for studying urban inequality patterns and drivers.
The discussions then switched to the topic key global policy debates, with a presentation by Susan Parnell (Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town). She highlighted how the question of urban poverty is framed within global debates about cities, emphasising that what is said in global terms will be formative of how we conceptualise and operationalize ‘the urban’. Her presentation focused on the ongoing processes to develop the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the post-Habitat III development agenda, and their implications for cities. Points raised in discussions included:
How can AURI help to ensure that the global development norms set out by the Habitat III agenda are implemented by African governments, and according to their original objectives?
How should AURI seek to take and advocate positions in various debates, for example, surrounding the view of cities as ‘drivers’ or ‘sites’ of development? How should this position be framed in a way that doesn’t reproduce the false urban-rural dichotomy?
At the end of the day, participants agreed that AURI has an important advocacy role to play in relation to the SDG and Habitat III processes. However, it was recognised that AURI needs to develop its positions and arguments in a very limited timeframe. These arguments need to be regional in their scope, yet also acknowledge the diversity of urban processes and forms across the African continent. It was broadly agreed that the key arguments could centre on: the utility of co-production as an approach to knowledge production and service delivery; a view of urban areas and urbanization as ‘drivers of change rather than sites for development interventions; the need to recognise and respond to informality as a ‘normal’ feature of African cities; as well as the importance of promoting gender equality for sustainable development. It was also considered that AURI could take particular positions on what is needed more generally to promote inclusive and resilient growth in Africa.
In addition to recognising the multidimensional nature of poverty and its links to inequality, the SDG process currently reveals a shift towards seeing cities as ‘vectors’ or ‘drivers of change’, with sustainable urban development considered the key to sustainable development more generally. This is linked to an expanded emphasis from cities as specific geographic locations and sites of developmental intervention to recognising the transformative power of urbanization (as a process) and its relation to urban-rural interactions and long-term environmental issues (e.g. resource extraction, energy use, waste generation). AURI could support the idea of cities having a strong positive role as drivers of sustainable development whilst emphasising that sustainable urbanisation requires integrating and enhancing rural and urban processes. The argument could further emphasise the socio-economic development potential offered by migration and agglomeration processes.
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?
