A new study has exposed the risks of genetic contamination from GM crop pollen. Results from 10 years of monitoring finds that the EU 20-30 meter buffer zone recommended to protect against genetic contamination from Bt maize crops is well below the distances pollen is able to travel.
Barack Obama. US President
Authors conclude that a buffer zone of 1 km is needed if conventional varieties are to be protected. In any case, pest resistance to Bt toxins continues to spread, making the utility of Bt crops limited.
The study is titled: “Maize pollen deposition in relation to distance from the nearest pollen source under common cultivation – results of 10 years of monitoring (2001 to 2010).”
Another newly released study now shows for the first time in the US mainland, field developed resistance to Cry1F toxins in the Fall armyworm that may have migrated from Puerto Rico.
One of the main arguments in support of GM crop safety is the purported claim that US citizens have been eating them for years without ill effect.
Another environmental risk for disease, according to the report, is electromagnetic fields, which mankind is increasingly exposed to with the development and spread of mobile technologies. A new Swedish publication analyses two case-control studies, linking mobile phone exposure to increased risk of developing malignant brain tumours.
Society often places individual responsibility before societal responsibility for many health problems such as obesity and other related disorders. A new study however, highlights how the environment and particularly, social deprivation can be a significant risk factor in the development of diabetes in the US.
Titled “Multilevel and Urban Health Modeling of Risk Factors for Diabetes Mellitus: A New Insight into Public Health and Preventive Medicine,” the study aimed to apply multidisciplinary analysis approaches and test two hypotheses that (1) there was a significant increase in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) from 2002 to 2010 in the city of Philadelphia, and that (2) there were significant variations in the prevalence of DM across neighborhoods, and these variations were significantly related to the variations in the neighborhood physical and social environment (PSE).
Such studies underline the fact that human health reflects the wider functioning of society itself, with inequality being a major contributory factor to disease risk.
Prince Lekan Fadina, Executive Director at Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management and Environment (CISME), is a negotiator and member of Nigeria’s official delegation to COP 20 in Lima, Peru
Prince Lekan Fadina
COP 20 in Lima, Peru is an important event that its outcome will have a great impact on the global climate and development agenda. It is coming with the background of the UN Secretary-General Summit of the World Heads of States in September 2014, the IPCC Report and the recent meeting of the G20.
The COP 20 outcome is expected to be a major Agenda for COP 21 in Paris, France in 2015. It is expected that it will provide the platform for global legally binding agreement towards a low carbon world.
Nigeria is a member of the Africa Group and her views are aligned to that of the Africa Group.
The position of the Africa Group on some of the issues are:
Green Climate Fund
This is one of the key issues at COP 20 especially with the mobilisation and sourcing of the GCF. The response has been slow. However, with the outcomes of the UN Summit in New York last September, the Summit of G20 in Australia and involvement of the private sector, it is hoped more contributions will come into the Fund. The commitment of $3 million by the United States President gave some hope. It is certain that it will have effect on the COP 20 negotiations. We need to take our minds back to the last three COPs and the way they ended.
It is expected that, by 2015, the indicative level of resources should reach the level of $44 billion.
The AGN’s Approach
The GCF should develop allocation criteria that allows for fair share of access to the means of implementation between developing countries. This should include needs and geographic balance.
We expect the completion of the operational policies of the Board as soon as possible including on country ownership and access modalities.
The GCF, as a cornerstone of the finance landscape, needs to reduce transaction costs and duplication across the finance landscape.
The GCF should be able to have entry and access points to global financial architecture, while ensuring that the Fund operates on ‘learning by doing basis’ particularly when it comes to the direct access modalities.
Standing Committee on Finance Report to the COP
While exploring outcomes of the work of the Standing Committee on Finance, the committee will consider the summary and recommendations by the SCF on the 2014 biennial assessment and overview of climate finance out flow.
Similarly, it will deliberate on the executive summary of the technical paper on the fifth review of the financial mechanism of the Convention, as well as:
Executive Summary of the Report on the SCF Forum or mobilising adaptation Finance.
Suggestion for elements of draft guidance to the global facility submitted by members of SCF.
Work plan of the SCF for 2015.
Consider inputs from Adaptation Committee and Technology Committee with regard to draft guidance to the operating entitles.
List and timeliness of on-going activities related to measurement, reporting and verification of support under the Convention.
Long Term Fund
Refocusing of the LTF to $100 billion per year by 2020.
Ensure that refocusing is consistent with the need for progress on delivering the commitment to provide resources to developing countries.
Refocusing is not about numbers but about how enhanced results can be achieved for both mitigation and adaptation from increased resources.
In order for developed countries to be on track to meet the 2020 finance goal.
The International Rights of Nature Tribunal will convene in Lima, Peru during the 20th UN COP on Climate Change to hear 12 international cases that are aligned with conference’s priorities. Each case will be reviewed within a framework based on Rights of Nature and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.
Prosecutor for the Earth, Ramiro Avila. Photo credit: earthlawyers.org
“We the people assume the authority to conduct an International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature. We will investigate cases of environmental destruction which violate the Rights of Nature,” Prosecutor for the Earth, Ramiro Avila, declared during the opening of the world’s first Tribunal on the Rights of Nature in January in Quito, Ecuador.
The diverse international panel of judges on the Tribunal in Lima includes:
Alberto Acosta, Tribunal’s President, economist and former President of the Constituent Assembly from Quito, Ecuador.
Verónica Mendoza, Peru Congress member, representative of the region of Cusco.
Raúl Prada Alcoreza, Philosopher, sociologist, author, former member of the Bolivian Constituent Assembly of 2006-2007, Bolivia.
Hugo Blanco, Political leader, leader of the Confederación Campesina del Perú, Peru.
Tantoo Cardinal, actress (e.g., Dances with Wolves) and activist from the Tar Sands of Canada.
Blanca Chancoso, Kichwa leader and educator from Cotacachi, Imbabura, Ecuador.
Edgardo Lander, sociologist, professor, from Venezuela.
Tom Goldtooth, Dine’/Dakota, director of Indigenous Environmental Network from MN, USA
Anibal Quijano, sociologist and humanist thinker. Professor of critical theory, Perú.
Francios Houtart, professor, philosopher, theologian, from Belgium.
Osprey Orielle Lake, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network, USA
Rocío Silva Santiesteban, National Human Rights Coordinator, author, professor, Perú
Atossa Soltani, founder and Executive Director of Amazon Watch, USA
Terisa Turner, professor Sociology and Anthropology, former UN Energy Specialist, Canada
Ramiro Ávila, environmental attorney from Ecuador serves as the Prosecutor for the Earth.
Natalia Greene and Robin Milam, Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, serve as Secretariat.
4 Amazon River Basins of Peru (Sarah Kerremans, Jose Fachin, Aurelio Chino, Peru)
Belo Monte Dam (Representatives Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre, Brasil)
BaguaDefenders of Earth (Bagua Community leaders)
Conga-Cajamarca Mine (Milton Sanchez, Marco Arana, Perú)
Forests and REDD+ (Casandra Smithie, USA)
Condor Mine Open Pit Copper (Domingo Ankuash, Ecuador)
Indigenous rights activist Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca from Oklahoma, USA) and Patricia Gualinga, an indigenous of the Amazon and director of Sarayaku, will provide expert witness testimony on the critical importance of Rights of Nature.
“What will happen if the temperature increases more than 2 °C? “A third of the population of animals and more than half of the plants on Earth could disappear.” Listing violations to the Rights of Mother Earth related to climate change, Pablo Solon went on to add, “We need a new system of harmony between human beings and Mother Earth that replaces the capitalist system of infinite growth for the accumulation of capital.”
The International Tribunal will be held at the Gran Hotel Bolivar on Plaza San Martín, Jirón de La Unión 958, in the historic district of Lima. The Public is invited to attend free of charge. The Tribunal begins at 8:30am and concludes at 19:00 on Friday December 5 and Saturday December 6, 2014. Six cases will be heard with closing responses from the Tribunal judges each day.
The Global Alliance for Rights of Nature was founded at a gathering in Ecuador in 2010, two years after Ecuador became the first nation in the world to adopt Rights of Nature in its Constitution and Bolivia passed its Law of the Rights of Mother Earth. Across the United States dozens of communities have adopted local rights of nature laws within the framework of a Community Bill of Rights in recent years.
The Rights of Nature movement draws on the wisdom and cosmovision of indigenous peoples in positing a new jurisprudence that recognises the right of nature in all its forms to exist, persist, evolve and regenerate.
SY Design, an internationally recognised hotel architecture and interior design firm, has been hired to design Ambassador Heights, the new luxury residential development at the Moevenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, the Ghanaian capital city. The firm was responsible for the creation of the coveted suites and Presidential Suite at the Ambassador Hotel in addition to recent work on impressive projects including the Four Seasons London, Four Seasons Beirut, and Moevenpick Beirut.
The Movenpick Hotel in Amsterdam. Photo credit: velvetescape.com
SY’s vision for Ambassador Heights, “is to create a secure sense of place that allows each homeowner to feel as though they are on vacation while in the heart of the city,” discloses founding principal, Simon Yammine.
“We have paid particular attention to allowing nature and the outer green spaces and surrounding gardens to compliment the interior of the homes. Blending outside within through the use of beautiful glass features throughout the residence,” he adds
The exterior and interior of the homes will be an extension of the five-star luxury reflected within the surrounding hotel, he points out, adding that timeless elegance and sophistication will be felt across all elements of the residences from the fixtures, to the fittings, to the appliances. In addition, custom designed furniture packages are currently being produced by SY Design for the owners of Ambassador Heights.
Yammine adds, “The Ambassador Heights Furniture Package will further upgrade the luxury of the residence and will include the furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) and operating, supplies, and equipment (OS&E). This will encompass everything from stylish yet comfortable living areas, to beautiful chandeliers, to fine cutlery, to high-end branded technology, to one of a kind artwork. Subtle African touches will be seen throughout paying tribute to local customs and culture.
“The furniture package will complete a move in ready residence and will allow homeowners to include their property in a short term rental management programme, which will be operated by the hotel giving homeowners the best of luxury and investment flexibility.”
Ambassador Heights is on schedule for completion in the fourth quarter of 2015.
For effective management of Nigerian cities, authorities must put in place legal and administrative framework, which must be jealously guided and strictly adhered to by the relevant professionals within the real estate sector, the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) has said.
Dr Femi Olomola
A major highlight of the annual conference is the election of Dr Femi Olomola as the 21st NITP President. In his acceptance speech, he pledged a 10-year development plan for the Institute and commencement of a yearly National Urban Settlement Summit.
Olomola also plans to create at least five million units of jobs per annum for registered town planners via the introduction of a Land Use Planning Report, which would be accompanied with applications for building permits, issuance of certificate of occupancy, and opening of corporate accounts with banks.
At the opening of the conference, the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, noted that with current state of urbanisation, Nigeria’s population stands at the threshold of becoming predominantly urban in the near future, having more than 800 urban settlements, especially, Lagos State that is already a megacity of about 20 million people, coupled with about other 10 cities that their population are also in millions.
In his address, the NITP outgone National President, Steve Onu, said that, over the years, the call has been on the need for planning human settlements that have been emerging sporadically, leaving the authorities helplessly in search of ways to navigate through the challenges posed by the sporadic developments.
According to Onu, even though these settlements have emerged, in most cases, without any development plan and have grown from small towns to cities, to metropolis, megalopolis and as in Lagos, to a megacity, their administrators are faced with the basic necessities of life as well as the necessary physical and social infrastructure to make them a live-able environment.
President of the Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria (TOPREC), Professor Layi Egunjobi, was of the view that urban planners are currently facing formidable challenges managing the consequences of rapidly growing cities and evolving new strategies that would make the city centres of economic development in the face of sharply limited recourse.
According to Egunjobi, currently, 3.3 billion people are already living in cities and that, by 2030, that number will have risen to almost five billion. The total population is increasing by 280,000 people per day, while the bulk of this increase is occurring in less developed regions.
“Managing our cities has become one of the most critical challenges of the 21st century as a result of the uncontrolled and unplanned sprawling of our cities. This rapid process causes a lot of different ecological, economic, social and infrastructural problems and risk. Considering the high density and large number of inhabitants combined with the accelerated urban development, cities in particular run highest risks in cases of natural and man-made disasters,” he said.
Furthermore, Egunjobi emphasised that management of cities in developing economy is a concern to urban and regional planning professionals in Nigeria, noting that cities and massive conurbations are complex and dynamic systems that reproduce the interactions between socio-economic and environmental variables at local and global scales.
But despite their importance for economic growth, social wellbeing and sustainability to present and future generations, cities have not received the level of attention they require in the study of global economic change. They are not only risk areas; they also hold best chances for a sustainable future. They are the engines of economic growth and social development.
“Therefore, there is the need to adopt best practices in approach and procedures towards the attainment of identifying spatial tools, general principles, norms and standards.
“All these are meant to lead to reliable and accessible spatial information, and providing guidance to relevant authorities, agencies and institutions towards successfully addressing the problem of rapid urbanization and management in Nigerian cities,” he stated.
President of Ghana Institute of Planners, Steve Yirenkyi, commended the theme of the conference as very apt that could not have come in a better time. He said that in West Africa and in the wider Africa, when an economy grows, everything prospers except the cities and its landscape.
“As people become rich and adopt affluent lifestyles, they begin to flout the laws governing the cities. Everybody flocks to the city and want to do business anywhere in the city.
“In this situation, city management and urban governance go out of control because planning standards are no longer respected; regenerating the city cannot be sustained due to twin factors of cost and pace,” he said.
Similarly, the outgone Chairman of Lagos Chapter of the institute, Ayo Adediran, praised what he described as “the good works” of the current administration in Lagos State under the leadership of Governor Babatunde Fashola
“For those who are returning to Lagos after a long vacation you could have observed the transformations going on in all sectors of the city development and management. These range from transportation, housing, urban regeneration, security, education, health, sports, tourism and urban planning among others. The most gratifying of these is the contribution of the State Government to urban planning” he said, adding that as part of the key development agenda of sustainable environment and physical planning, the State government has initiated many reforms in urban planning and development with a view to giving the mega city a new face.
We, the representatives of Nigerian Civil Society under the aegis of Climate and Sustainable Development Network of Nigeria (CSDevNet) held nation-wide consultations and mobilisation meetings on the imperatives of Climate Justice and Post-2015 Agenda as well as draw strategies and action plans for a robust participation in COP 20/CMP10. The meetings which took place from the 15th to 20th of November 2014 across the six regions in the country drew participants from Government, CSOs, Media, International Development Partners, grassroots community practitioners, trusts, farmer cooperatives, federations of slum dwellers and pastoralists, home based caregivers, youth, women and faith-based organisations, including those working on child welfare, the elderly, disabled and those focusing on livestock and animal welfare.
Participants at one of the sessions
Recognising: the role of Nigeria to speak with one voice along with other African countries at the forthcoming Lima COP 20 and desirous that this one voice should be that of and be informed by realities of the local communities; and the fact that non-state actors contribution to the UNFCCC process and its outcome is essential for informed policy formulation and monitoring of its implementation at all levels;
Acknowledging: that these meetings held at a time that the world is expressing its deep solidarity with the families of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls and the people of North-East Nigeria, we hereby join the global call for solidarity and compassion with the Chibok families and we say “Bring Back Our Girls, Now and Alive”!
Affirming: the authority of the Nigerian Civil Society and communities, as the expression of the sovereign will and voice of the people;
Concerned: that Africa which contributes the least to the cause of climate change now suffers the most compared to other regions of the world;
Noting: the release of the Synthesis Report of the IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report that cited evidence of increasing warming globe and its devastating impacts in Africa and Nigeria in particular;
A campaign by CSOs
Expecting: that the UNFCCC-COP 20 in Lima will produce the first draft of the Post 2020 Climate Agreement that should be adopted as legally binding Climate Change Treaty during the UNFCCC-COP 21 in Paris by 2015 and that this treaty will be responsive to the climate change challenges in Nigeria;
We hereby declare and adopt the following as the Nigerian position for LIMA COP 20:
Finance
Developed countries must begin to manifestly honour and deliver on their promises of providing $100 billion a year by 2020. In line with the Warsaw decision on finance, annex 1 countries must now scale up their pledges to fulfil their obligation to provide adequate, new and additional funds as this amount is far from all estimates of climate finance needed by developing countries.
As COP 20 beckons in Lima, developed countries should pledge at least $20 billion in grants towards the initial resource mobilisation of the Green Climate Fund. We consider it as vital that these pledges are announced before the COP so they do not become part of the bargaining in Lima.
Adaptation
Climate change, if not addressed in time, is expected to exacerbate Nigeria’s current vulnerability to weather swings and limit its ability to achieve national aspirations. We therefore call on our government to build resilience and define priority adaptation actions, building on the 2011 National Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action on Climate Change (NASPA-CCN).
Agriculture as a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions still reels under the warming effect of climate change especially in developing countries through higher temperatures, greater demand for water for crops, more variable rainfall and extreme climate events such as heat waves, floods and droughts. We therefore call for concerted action and climate resilient mechanisms and strategies that will strengthen food security, adaptation and mitigation as well as contribute to sequestering greenhouse gas emissions and capturing carbon in the soil.
Adaptation efforts should systematically and effectively address gender-specific impacts of climate change in the areas of energy, water, food security, agriculture and fisheries, biodiversity and ecosystem services, health, industry, human settlements, disaster management, and conflict and security.
Developed countries must compensate Nigeria in particular for the full costs of avoiding harms, actual harms and damage, and lost opportunities for our development resulting from climate change. We oppose any efforts to establish adaptation as an obligation not a right, or to use adaptation as a means to divide or differentiate between developing countries.
One of the sessions held in Ibadan, Oyo State
Loss and Damage
The establishment of an international mechanism to provide expertise to help developing nations cope with loss and damage caused by climate impacts will remain an exercise in tokenism until the mandate and scope of the mechanism are strengthened to meet the needs of the vulnerable. In agreeing to establish a loss and damage mechanism, countries have accepted the reality that the world is already dealing with the extensive damage caused by climate impacts, and requires a formal process to assess and deal with it, but they seem unwilling to take concrete actions to reduce the severity of these impacts
Technology Transfer
Developed countries must remove intellectual property rights, pay full incremental costs of technology transfer to protect developing countries and contribute for peaking and declining of global emission. We oppose efforts to sell rather than transfer appropriate technologies, or to strengthen rather than relax intellectual property rights. Developed and developing countries should support the adoption and development of indigenous and locally innovated technology as well as ensuring efficiency in technology transfer and deployment.
Mitigation
Developed countries must commit to cutting their domestic greenhouse gas emission to keep with the IPCCC AR5 and to keep global warming well below 1.50C to peak by 2015 and decline thereafter to at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
Developed countries should provide financial and technical resources for clean, accessible, sustainable energy, low-carbon development and the implementation of effective, pro-poor adaptation measures in Nigeria.
Post-2015 Agenda
We believe that the year 2015 is critically important as processes that will potentially shape development frameworks across the globe will be concluded by 2015:
Negotiations for the new Climate Change treaty under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate (UNFCCC)
Negotiations for the new development framework to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) spearheaded by the United Nations.
We view the aforementioned processes as inter-related and dependent on each other. Sustainable Development Goals cannot be attained if the global community fails to heed the recommendations by science and act decisively on climate change. At the 2012 Rio+20 Conference, all countries agreed that climate change is a major obstacle to sustainable development and poverty eradication.
This is supported by the experience of people living in poverty and vulnerability and major UN reports feeding into Post-2015.
Science further underlines the immediate need for action in all areas including international development. The urgency for action is underpinned by climate science and the window of opportunity for avoiding dangerous climate change is rapidly closing.
The Post-2015 Framework must therefore help to make climate action in all countries happen without further delay and must support poor people, particularly in Africa and Nigeria to build resilience so as to adapt to climate impacts they are experiencing already.
The post-2015 framework should address all risks and hazards, both natural and human-made, including conflict. Moreover the framework must be part of, not separate from other development and environmental frameworks so that disasters, development, poverty and climate change are strategically integrated, particularly at the community level. The framework should be underpinned by the four guiding principles agreed at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2013: inclusion, equity, people-centred and environmental sustainability.
The post-2015 framework should prioritise support to high-risk countries like Nigeria and populations disproportionately impacted by natural and human-made hazards and disasters.
The post-2015 framework should provide strategic guidance for the redirection of resources from post-disaster recovery towards disaster risk reduction and sustainable development that addresses underlying causes of disasters risk.
The post-2015 Agenda should prioritise high frequency, low-severity weather-related disasters, particularly in African countries and areas of insecurity, insurgency and fragility.
With many countries, cities, and states billed to hold elections this year and next, Civil society calls on citizens of such countries to pile up pressure on their aspirants until climate change becomes embedded in their manifestoes, not just as an environmental issue but a political agenda necessitating urgent attention of all.
Climate action bordering on climate-smart agriculture, re-shoring the economy, sustainable land planning, alternatives to the car-culture, energy sobriety, eco-housing, ethical finance, social and environmental conversion of manufacturing, ethical consumption, a new share of wealth and work, community support, waste reduction and recycling, preservation of common goods such as water, soil, and forests should be on the front burner as 2015 beckons.
With a membership of over 50 organisations cutting across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, Climate & Sustainable Development Network of Nigeria (CSDevNet) brings together organisations, comprising grassroots community practitioners, trusts, federations of slum dwellers and pastoralists, home based caregivers, youth, media, women and faith-based organizations, including those working on child welfare, the elderly, disabled and those focusing on livestock and animal welfare, to commonly promote and advocate pro-poor, climate-friendly and equity-based responses to climate change.
CSDevNet aspires to unify and coordinate isolated civil society efforts on climate change advocacy in Nigeria to ensure that people-centred response mechanisms are accorded desirable attention and relevance as climate change is increasingly mainstreamed in national and global poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies and actions.
In keeping with our tradition of seeking ways to build common understanding on critical issues, no matter how complex, today we are considering “The Food We Want” and the need to have wholesome food. It is a great honour to examine this topic with you, members of The Young Environmentalists Network (TYEN). Being children from primary and secondary schools we can rightly say that you hold out the hope for our nation to overcome her challenges, to produce healthy foods and protect our environment.
A group photo at the 5th Sustainability Academy in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria
As we all know, food means more than merely something that we place in a pot, cook and eat. Agriculture means more to us than merely going to the farm to plant some seeds or stems. Good food makes you grow healthy and strong. Bad food can make you sick and keep you from going to school.
Going to farm is almost like going to school. At the farm we learn about crops, trees and our culture. We learn to know which seeds have to be preserved after harvest for planting at the next season. We see our parents share seeds with neighbours and also share food. Agriculture and food help to build and unite us in our communities.
On a global scale, food is so important that when the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals were prepared the first goal was the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. It was hoped that between 1990 and 2015 the number of people suffering from hunger would be reduced by fifty per cent.
Although some progress has been made in this direction, over 800 million people do not have enough food to live healthy lives. The death of 3.1 million children (or nearly half the number of deaths among children) between ages 1-3 years has been linked to not having wholesome or nutritious food. And many children still go to school hungry every day.
Global hunger and malnutrition are still key issues in the world as of today.
Overcoming Hunger
You will agree with me that people are not hungry because there is no food in the market or at the farms. There are many factors that keep people hungry. In fact most of the hungry people in the world today are farmers. They sell their harvests so as to use the money to pay school fees for their children, pay house rent, pay medical bills and also for transport and other costs.
Farming has become big business and the support for farmers that community life used to provide is being reduced by what we now term as modern life.
To overcome hunger we need to look at the root causes and tackle them rather than seeing hunger as an opportunity to manipulate the system and make more profits from the misery of the poor.
Are GMOs the answer?
In 1996 the world saw the commercialisation of genetically modified organisms popularly known as GMOs. These are plants, animals and other living organisms genetically modified by scientists in the laboratory. The scientists cut desirable genetic materials from one organism and insert or paste them into another organism to produce totally new organisms that would otherwise not exist in nature. These are often done across species boundaries. For example, a gene can be taken from a pig and inserted in rice or corn or banana.
Most crops are modified to do either of two things or both:
To withstand chemicals that would kills every other plant
To kills particular pests that are known to usually attack a plant
So far the major crops that have been genetically modified and are planted in large commercial quantities are: soybeans, corn, cotton and canola or rapeseed. There are few countries that plant GMOs in the world today. These include: USA, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, China, Paraguay, Pakistan, South Africa, Uruguay, Bolivia, Australia, Philippines, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Mexico and Spain.
Problems with GMOs in Agriculture
Many people think that any fruit that is bigger than the usual ones are GMOs. This is not true. The biggest advantage of GMOs is that they make big farming easier for the farmer. The problems with this are many.
They do not support mixed cropping but support monocultures
They are not good for our agriculture, as the system requires that farmers must buy seeds and not save and reuse or share them.
Some of the crops are engineered to produce infertile seeds
They contaminate other natural varieties of crops and animals/fish
They reduce the varieties of particular crops available and this creates more problems as unexpected diseases can wipe out vast quantities of crops
They require the use of large quantities of toxic chemicals some of which are manufactured by the companies that genetically modify the seeds
Those engineered to kill particular pests also kill other organisms that were not a threat to the crops
They sometimes look like normal crops and can pass undetected making it difficult to control or withdraw it once released into the environment
There is no scientific certainty about the safety of these crops.
The major global convention governing the production, movement and use of GMOs is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This convention has a particular protocol known as the Cartagena Protocol that has an important principle known as the Precautionary Principle. This principle requires that nations should exercise precaution whenever there is doubt about the safety of any new organism to be introduced into the environment.
The CBD also requires that countries must put in place measures to regulate, manage or control the risks associated with the release or use of GMOs that are likely to affect natural biodiversity and human health. It particularly Article 8(j) of the CBD requires that nations put in place measures to “respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities relevant for the conservation of biological diversity…”
As we said earlier, once GMOs are released into an environment the contamination cannot be controlled and the only persons that gain is the company that makes the crop or organism. In fact in many cases where there are no laws to regulate the introduction of such organisms what the companies do is to ensure the contamination of the environment and then the government would be forced to make weak laws to protect their activities and allow for more contamination and possible takeover of the agricultural sector.
GMOs are useful in production of drugs and in certain other manufacturing processes. Here we are concerned with GMOs in agriculture and food.
What is happening in Nigeria?
There has been a very serious desire by companies that make GMOs to open up the Nigerian environment for their control and business. Working with their local and international agents they are making effort to have a weak law in place that would allow introduction of GMOs without any provision for holding them liable if there are accidents or contaminations.
We believe that Nigeria does not need GMOs. And that what we need is to adequately support our farmers who have been feeding us and keeping our environment healthy. We also need to make farming attractive to young people, provide rural infrastructure, and create food processing/preservation facilities. We need more agricultural extension officers and agriculture should not be used as a means of punishment in schools.
Only wholesome, natural foods can ensure adequate nourishment for you children. GMOs have been fed to farm animals since 1996 and some food products for humans contain GMO products. If anyone tells you they are safe, ask them for the proof. There is no scientific evidence to show that GMOs are safe. The makers of GMOs and their agents want to turn Nigeria, Africa and the world into their laboratory for experiments. Will you accept to be used for experiments?
Last word
This Sustainability Academy has been organised to share information with you so that you can know what is happening around the world and in our nation. Although only few items on the market shelves that have GMOs are so labelled, it is important to check the labels – especially for products that contain soybeans and corn. The future belongs to you. Shine your eyes.
Presentation by Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), at the 5th Sustainability Academy of HOMEF held at Eghosa Grammar School, Benin City, Nigeria on 25 November 2014 in collaboration with The Young Environmentalists Network (TYEN)
The recent release of United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Fifth Emissions Gap Report is attracting a growing number of voices, including those of the 900 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working together in Climate Action Network (CAN), which are calling for governments to scale up climate action to achieve a phase out of carbon pollution to zero by mid-century.
Achim Steiner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Similarly, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, has welcomed the report, which underlines how the world can keep a global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius.
Figueres said: “This important report underscores the reality that at some point in the second half of the century, we need to have achieved climate neutrality – or as some term it zero net or net zero – in terms of overall global emissions.
“The report also emphasises the wider important contributions that can be made to local and national sustainable development goals, if climate change is effectively addressed.”
The UNEP report comes on the back of another blockbuster report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, which was released on November 1 and endorsed by governments. It said that the only way the world economies can still prosper is if countries phase out fossil fuel pollution entirely while adapting to the impacts of climate change.
The UNEP report makes plain that if governments scale up climate action now, they will unlock the benefits of action for their communities, such as better public health, more secure livelihoods and a reduction in poverty.
Christiana Figueres of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The concept of a global carbon budget shared by all nations – put forward by both the IPCC and UNEP – and the bold NGO call for phasing down emissions to zero by 2050 have now both been added to new draft negotiating texts for the international agreement to limit climate change due to be finalised in December 2015 in Paris.
At the major UN climate negotiations in Lima next month, governments can support these concepts in the text as way to guide collective climate action. They can sign off on a platform that would support countries to roll out more renewable energy, invest in energy efficiency and build smarter ways of powering our lives.
In early 2015, governments will table a commitment to take climate action which will speed up the ongoing transition of our economies away from reliance on fossil fuels that drive climate change and towards 100% renewable energy – a shift more and more citizens, businesses, investors and scientists are demanding and driving.
“To maximise benefits and ensure a safer world, we can and must use the powerful combination of short and medium term efforts to reduce emissions and increase resilience, together with a clear vision of our collective long term destination,” said Figueres.
The UNEP Gap Report also focuses on the urgency to act now to achieve ever higher ambition before 2020. This year’s edition of the Emissions Gap Report focusses on opportunities from scaled up action on energy efficiency. These actions range from appliances, lighting standards and labeling to tighter building codes and vehicle fuel standards.
The report suggests that improved energy efficiency has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 3 to 7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2 e) a year.
Other key findings of the report underline the wider, sustainable development imperative of addressing climate change.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that seven million people die prematurely each year from indoor & outdoor air pollution, mostly in developing countries.
Energy efficiency improvements reduce fossil fuel use and thereby also air pollution emissions, and save lives. One study states that 100,000 premature deaths could be avoided every year by 2030 in the US, the EU, India, Brazil, China and Mexico.
Further benefits:
Greater access to energy: Improving energy efficiency lowers energy costs and makes energy more accessible to poor and middle-class households.
Jobs: Energy efficiency projects provide millions of jobs worldwide with estimates ranging up to seven million people through an acceleration of energy efficiency.
Increased industrial productivity: Improving energy use leads to lower energy use per unit of output which extends the life-time of equipment, reduces waste disposal costs, and lowers maintenance.
Efforts to tackle the growing challenge of urbanisation on the African continent were revisited recently as settlement development practitioners gathered for three days in Lagos to explore the emerging African Urban Agenda.
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning of the University of Lagos in Nigeria hosted professionals and students from around the world to discuss the continent’s human settlements trials.
The conference, with the theme: “The Urban Agenda for Africa: Realities, Challenges and Potentials”, was aimed at providing a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder platform to discuss and debate the subject.
The forum was graced by dignitaries such as Prof Leke Oduwaye (Chairman, Technical and Scientific Committee), Dr Muyiwa Agunbiade (Rapporteur), His Excellency Louis Lulu Mnguni (South African High Commissioner to Nigeria), Mr Ibrahim Dikko (Director, Regulatory Affairs, ETISALAT Nigeria), Mr Nicola Rizk (Head, West Africa, Dar al Handassah Group), Professor Tunde Agbola (Chair, Association of African Planning Schools, University of Ibadan, Nigeria), Prof Vanessa Watson (Co-Chair, AAPS/African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, South Africa) and Mrs Mariam Yunusa (Manager, African Urban Agenda and Head of Inter-Agency Branch UN- Habitat, Nairobi, Kenya).
A technical session at the conference
Participants at the forum
Conference exhibition
Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning & Urban Development, Toyin Ayinde (third from right); with Prof Leke Oduwaye (second from right); a representative of the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Orelope Adefulire (middle); Dr Taibat Lawanson (third from left); Dr Immaculata Nwokoro (second from left); Moses Ogunleye (left); and Prof Toba Olarenwaju (right)
His Excellency Louis Lulu Mnguni, South African High Commissioner to Nigeria delivering a keynote address
Participants at the close of the conference. In the front row in green is Mrs Mariam Yunusa, Manager, African Urban Agenda and Head of Inter-Agency Branch at UN-Habitat, Nairobi, Kenya
Participants made up of representatives of academics from 25 universities and research institutions in eight countries, public and private sector built environment practitioners, independent researchers, civil society organisations, professional bodies, international development agencies including ICF International, UN-HABITAT and the media recently brainstormed for three days in Lagos.
City centre and skyline of Lagos Island. Photo credit: Wikipedia
The event was the International Conference of Urban and Regional Planning (ICURP) 2014, organised by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Lagos, Nigeria. The conference rose, devising key recommendations whose implementation the promoters feel will contribute significantly to the development of an Urban Agenda for Africa.
The theme of the conference was: “Urban Agenda for Africa: Realities, Challenges, Potentials.”
While Prof Leke Oduwaye was Chairman, Technical and Scientific Committee, Dr Muyiwa Agunbiade performed the role of Rapporteur. Similarly, keynote addresses were delivered by: His Excellency Louis Lulu Mnguni, South African High Commissioner to Nigeria; Mr Ibrahim Dikko, Director Regulatory Affairs, ETISALAT Nigeria; Mr Nicola Rizk, Head West Africa, Dar al Handassah Group; Professor Tunde Agbola, Chair, Association of African Planning Schools, University of Ibadan, Nigeria; Prof Vanessa Watson, Co-Chair, AAPS/African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, South Africa; and, Mrs Mariam Yunusa, Manager, African Urban Agenda and Head of Inter-Agency Branch UN- Habitat, Nairobi, Kenya.
Dr. Taibat Lawanson, Conference Chair, listed the recommendations to include:
The major issues confronting African cities are poverty, inequality, and a lagging sustainable infrastructure deficit. Therefore, there should be practical concerns for addressing these issues.
The desire to focus on strategic improvement of African cities should be led by Africans. This requires customised approach in solving specific, rather than generic urban challenges. There must be appropriate commitment to good urban governance. This will encourage deliberate efforts to efficient management of Africa national resources.
Urban and Regional Planning should be vigorously promoted as a major tool through which economic development and the distribution of resources can be equitably distributed.
Conscious efforts should be directed at promotion of integrated national urban policies, partnerships, institutional and legal reforms.
Africa must continue to align with global trends in developing its communities into smart habitats with appropriate technology and digital infrastructure. The dynamics of technology should be well aligned with the dynamics of population and city growth through proper planning.
Developing spatial data infrastructure should be paramount if Africa is to evolve evidence informed policies.
Informality must be recognised as an African urban reality. There should be deliberate improvement in collaborations between the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
There is imperative for better quality and inclusive urban service delivery to the citizenry in order to generate business growth, taxable revenue and employment.
Considerable efforts should be directed at planning with the people rather than for the people through better engagement across the various stakeholders: government, planners and communities.
It is important that there is continued support and partnership between the public and private sectors for projects that are beneficial to all citizens.
To effectively deliver on the above will require: knowledge management, research funding, advocacy and political influence.
Research on African Urbanisation must centre on co-production of knowledge, inter-disciplinary and multidisciplinary discourse geared towards providing solutions.
In order to produce world class researchers with the skills and competencies to provide workable solutions to peculiar African challenges, collaborative research and academic mentoring must be encouraged.
Pan-African research and development networks such as the Association of African Planning Schools, African Urban Research Initiative must be encouraged.
