Rural communities in six states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are being offered a helping hand in their bid to cope with the vagaries of the warming weather and it’s damning consequences.
Borehole project 1
In the light of the nation’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, local folks in Kwara, Osun, Imo, Kogi, Gombe and Cross River states along with the FCT are receiving state-of-the-art boreholes, equipped with rainwater harvesting facilities, transformed with climate-smart agricultural practices and trained on the use and benefits of the Moringa plant as well as other alternative livelihood ventures.
The initiative, which is a pilot project that will eventually be replicated nationwide, comes largely under the Japanese government-sponsored Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP), which is being executed in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Environment (FMoEV) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Over the weekend, a team comprising officials of the Department of Climate Change in the FMoEV and Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST) inspected borehole facilities in Orile-Owu, Ayedaade Local Government Area (LGA), Osun State.
Director, Department of Climate Change, FMoEV, Dr Samuel Adejuwon, said: “The project is aimed at helping the communities to adapt to the impact of climate change. Ordinarily, the residents travel several kilometres to access potable water, and this is during the rainy season. During the dry season, water sources get dried up completely, making it even more challenging for them to have access to water.
Borehole project 2
“So by siting this borehole makes water available at any point during the year, whether during the dry or wet season. Also, they are sure of the quality of water they are taking from the borehole because it is not contaminated. Besides coming from the ground, the tank is occasionally washed. So there is constant supply of quality water for domestic use.”
According to Adejuwon, other projects undertaken to adapt to climate impacts include rainwater harvesting, climate-smart agriculture in Aguatu LGA in Imo State whereby a very large percentage of land is cultivated for rice with water, weather station and other supporting facilities are provided.
He added: “We hope to replicate this in other parts of the country. Nigeria is very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change hence the execution of projects like this to ease the natural process of adaptation. We also have projects in Kwara, Enugu, Kogi, Imo and Cross River states and the FCT. These ones are being done under the Japanese government-sponsored AAP project. These are pilot projects. We want them to be sustained, the little capital projects, and get fish famers also involved in adaptation projects. We have done feasibility studies in some states but we are being held back by limited funding. We are also venturing into climate-smart agriculture, which involves a lot of funding.”
Isaac Oloogunebi, Finance & Admin. Manager at the Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST) which, under a consultancy capacity, renovated and converted the two boreholes to motorised pump. They became operational in October 2012, but were commissioned May 2013.
Isaac Oloogunebi of the Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST) (left) with Ann Umar and Dr Samuel Adejuwon (both of the Department of Climate Change of the Federal Ministry of Environment), in Orile Owu, Osun State
Oloogunebi listed other projects to include those at Kwara State (provision of portable water), Kogi and Imo states, and FCT (rainwater harvesting and training on water, sanitation & hygiene – WASH management), Cross River (alternative livelihood: aqua culture centre and fishpond) and Gombe State (training on Moringa use and rainwater harvesting).
Ijaduola Sikiru, Secretary to the Committee Maintaining the Project at Orile-Owu, disclosed that the facility is being properly maintained from the stipend charged, which is N10 for 20 litres bowl or keg of water.
Sikiru, who is a farmer, stated that the project has positively impacted the environment, adding that more females than males participated in the planning, execution and monitoring of the project as well as contributed more to resources that ensured its realisation and upkeep. He added that females compared with men have more access to the services provided by the project.
According to him, the average time spent fetching water has reduced from about 45 minutes trip to the community stream to just two to five minutes to get to the water facility, adding that there has been no reported cases of water borne diseases since the facility became operational.
Dr Adejuwon sharing with community leaders
Fasasi Nurudeen, another farmer in Orile-Owu, revealed that about 100 people daily fetched water for domestic use from the facility before it was rehabilitated. He added the number has since doubled following its upgrading.
Saying that the entire community is now being served by the facility, he expressed satisfaction with the degree of the community’s participation in the adaptation project’s processes, as well as the resources made available and quality of work done.
It is late afternoon and the September heat is taking its toll on some portions of Moroson Hakakwale’s vegetable garden.
Hakakwale, who is village headman at Hajunza in Pemba district of Southern Zambia, engages in gardening especially during summer when it is off-field activity season in this Southern African nation.
Moroson Hakakwale
“Off season gardening has become critical to our survival as smallholder farmers here. With frequent droughts, we have no option but to diversify into gardening for food and income security,” Hakakwale says.
Between May and October, most families here target wetlands in and around water bodies for easy irrigation of their vegetable crops which they sell for income to purchase additional staple food-maize, in case of field crop failure, which, according to Hakakwale, “has become perennial”.
Hakakwale believes smallholder farmers, who contribute over 90 per cent to the country’s food basket, have the potential to continue doing so even in the face of climate change if only sustainable irrigation solutions were introduced.
“Our greatest challenge is erratic rainfall. Since 1995, droughts have become more frequent. Our production levels keep on going down. We have heard of climate change but we are seeking sustainable technologies to avert this problem, otherwise, hunger will remain a password in our homes because our agriculture is rainfall-driven,” he says.
He says the diversification programme where farmers are encouraged to venture into growing different crops such as vegetables for income would only make sense through sustainable irrigation technologies.
Moroson Hakakwale’s diesel powered water pump
The village headman bemoaned that the early drying up of streams was frustrating the diversification cause especially the off-season gardening.
“For me to survive in gardening up to now, I had to get an $800 loan to purchase this diesel powered irrigation pump,” Hakakwale points at his water pump which he bought last year.
He stated that, without the pump, he would have joined other frustrated farmers who get into the charcoal making business, believed to be an instant money spinner owing to the huge demand for fuel wood in Zambia standing at over 80 per cent.
“But you know, loans are not easily accessible by smallholder farmers due to collateral issues which most of us don’t have. I had to be recommended by an NGO to be given the money.
It is for this reason that we seek government’s intervention to come up with mechanisms to help us through irrigation loan schemes for example, equipment for harvesting rain water and other technologies that are simple and affordable by all,” he explains.
Moroson Hakakwale’s spring onion chocked by heat
Africa can feed Africa Now: Translating Climate Knowledge into Action, was the running theme for the Fourth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa-CCDA IV held in Morocco from the 8th-10th of October 2014.
Delegates deliberated on the potential impacts of current and future climate change on African agriculture in a bid to identify ways to adapt to and mitigate the adverse effects, in order to enhance agriculture’s performance and sustainability.
Just as Hakakwale has highlighted the role of irrigation, experts also identified it as a key factor to Africa’s Agriculture growth and potential to feed itself.
Ken Johm of the African Development Bank (AfDB) said Africa would not make any meaningful gains in agriculture without investing in the untapped potential of irrigation.
Johm, who is Coordinator for Special Initiatives and Lead Economist for Agro-Industry Development, believes that “irrigation development is very important if there is going to be transformation of African agriculture.” He pointed out that the current statistics showing that only three to five percent of arable land is irrigated in Africa are a serious concern.
Zeroing down the situation to Zambia, the statistics above are not far from the truth as it is estimated that, out of 523,000 hectares (ha) that could be economically developed through irrigation, only 340,000 ha of land is irrigated in Zambia.
It is out of this realisation that the government of the Republic of Zambia, with support from the World Bank, is implementing a $115 million irrigation development and support project (IDSP) targeting small-scale and emergent farmers.
According to the project concept, it targets to provide bulk water infrastructure through construction of dams, establishment of canals and irrigation schemes with different irrigation equipment emphasizing on low to medium cost pumps for affordability purposes considering the target group.
And Kebby Kabunda, a Humanitarian Program Coordinator at Oxfam Zambia, agrees that climate change adaptation solutions among which is irrigation, should be devised in accordance with the needs of the local communities.
“For us at Oxfam, we believe in the grassroots approach and that is the message we are taking home,” Kabunda told me on the sidelines of the CCDA-IV in Marrakech, Morocco, emphasising the need for appropriate technologies that suit the needs of the local people.
With the launch of a €33million ClimDev Africa Special Fund by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to support climate change initiatives on the continent, climate change activists and farmers alike are hoping for their active involvement in designing projects that directly answer to their adaptation challenges.
“All we are saying is that the locals must always be taken on board in these projects to avoid failure,” Robert Chimambo of the Zambia Climate Change Network says, pointing out that board room decisions have most often than not, proved futile in addressing people’s challenges.
I would like to thank the scientists and the IPCC team chaired by Dr Rajendra Pachauri for their painstaking work in delivering the synthesis report of the 5th assessment for approval.
Christiana Fugueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC
It comes in advance of the UN Climate Convention’s conference in Lima, Peru where one key aim is to deliver a new draft universal agreement that can be finalized in Paris, France in December 2015.
The contribution made by the IPCC over two decades has been incalculable in terms of providing the gold standard risk assessments that governments need for understanding and acting on climate change.
With every IPCC assessment those risks have become clearer and more sobering as have the likely impacts on lives, livelihoods and the health of our world now and for generations to come.
In its first assessment in 1990, the IPCC commented that observed temperature increases were “broadly consistent with predictions of climate models, but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability.”
The second assessment, in 1995, said: “Results indicate that the observed trend in global mean temperature over the past 100 years is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin.”
In 2001, its third assessment reported: “There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.”
By 2007, the consensus had reached “very high confidence” – at least a 90% chance of being correct – in scientists’ understanding of how human activities are causing the world to become warmer. Today the 5th assessment puts that certainty at 95% – a level at which to not act collaboratively and in a timely manner would fly in the face of both reason and responsibility.
The good news is that governments everywhere have been increasingly internalizing and acting upon the IPCC’s findings as have cities, investors, companies and citizens ranging from environmental groups to faith-based organisations.
There is a strong head of positive steam building towards Lima and Paris – the IPCC has and will continue to play a crucial role in bringing forward the science upon which the transformational policies needed to realise a low carbon, and ultimately climate neutral world in the second half of the century, can be forged.
The United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD+) has suddenly become the beautiful bride of numerous state governments in Nigeria, where the initiative’s pilot implementation via an innovative, two-track approach consisting of actions by the Federal Government and Cross River State Government is ongoing.
From left: Richard Okibe, Raymond Ebonine, Faniyan Babasola, Olatilu Olubunmi Benson and Tijani Ahmad, during a meeting involving the UN-REDD+ Scoping Team and officials of the Ekiti State Government, in Ado-Ekiti, on Monday October 27, 2014
But others want a share of the action and no fewer than eight states of the federation are jostling to enlist onto the enterprise, which builds on the convening role and technical expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Forest Department of the Federal Ministry of Environment is coordinating the Nigeria UN-REDD+ project.
A $4 million funding from the UN-REDD+ Programme obtained in 2011 has enabled Nigeria’s implementation of its REDD+ Readiness Project, which entails the preparation and implementation of REDD+ strategies with the active involvement of local stakeholders, including indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities.
Similarly, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) of the World Bank at its 16th Policy Council meeting held in December 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland approved Nigeria’s REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) with a funding allocation of $3.6 million.
Consequently, the national UN-REDD+ office received a barrage of requests from states wishing to be part of the programme, and prompting a series of scoping missions by officials to interested areas as part of the strategy for conducting preliminary National Strategy for expanding REDD+ nationwide.
Apart from visiting on-going sustainable forest management projects, the scoping teams likewise met and discussed with ministry officials as well as communities and stakeholders.
In Akure, the Ondo State capital, Governor Olusegun Mimiko disclosed that the state has one of the most preserved forests in the country. Mimiko, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Aderotimi Adelola, said that the state had taken pains to follow the path of green development hence the planting of over five million trees in the last five years.
“We are committed as a state to become part of these global initiatives. We will not want to be left behind knowing that this programme has the potentials of changing the livelihood of our forest communities,” the governor added, saying that the state has 14 forest reserves. “We are prepared to fulfil all the indices required by the United Nations to be part of this laudable initiative.”
Tunde Atere, Commissioner for Natural Resources, described the UN-REDD+ initiative as a star programme that has the capacity to protect and conserve forests for future generations.
“We have demonstrated our interest to be part of the programme with an official letter to the Nigeria programme office. Our quest to become part of the UN-REDD Programme is based on our belief that it will change the way our forest is being handled. It will bring about income for the state and forest based communities,” Atere said.
Salihu Dahiru, Director of Forest Conservation, Federal Ministry of Environment, informed the state that the UN-REDD Programme was introduced as a result of the challenges of climate change.
Dahiru, who is National Coordinator for the Nigeria UN-REDD+ Programme, said that only Cross River State was benefiting from the programme while eight others have indicated their desire to come on board.
He said the scoping mission in Ondo was to enable the National UN-REDD office look at what is on ground in Ondo as well as to assess the level of its preparedness to join the programme. He said the indices set out by the United Nations that states were required to meet before being enlisted include the political will on the part of the state, the willingness of the state to join the programme and the involvement of forest-based communities in the management of forest reserves.
In Asaba, Delta State, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Mrs. Felicia Adun, said, “Delta is a state that is very much interested in protecting its environment. It is a low-lying coastal state and it is vulnerable to climate change. We know that trees in the forest are very important for the sequestration of carbon, so we need to conserve the forest.”
Adun said the governor is very passionate in the issues of climate change and environmental conservation, saying there have been many projects in climate change mitigation and adaptation and projects in forest conservation.
She said there are already community-driven projects in forest conservation and that the state is prepared to take part in the REDD+ programme and “I know that we have a very good chance to be the next state in the REDD+ programme.”
According to her, there are natural forests in Delta state and that Ibusa and Uzere communities host these forests, adding that people in these communities really do want to conserve their forests and abhor unwanted exploitations of their forests and that on account of this there are still natural forests in Delta State.
She said the government has good working relationship with the communities through the Department of Conservation and Forestry. “We have forest officers that relate one-on-one with the communities.”
According to her, she prepared a REDD+ plan for Delta State that was presented to the team from Abuja by Dr Egwunatum Anselm, who is Assistant Director, Environmental Conservation.
Egwunatum, who led the team to the communities, said Governor Uduaghan created a “Delta State climate change team and it was from this that he established a REDD team.”
The governor, he said, then signed a MoU with the UNDP to reduce the impact of climate change in the various communities and that the government “released $1 million to show commitment to climate change activities in the state.”
A climate change policy was then developed in the state and a REDD+ Programme was incorporated in it. “There is a section devoted exclusively to REDD+. The policy is now being reviewed with the idea of turning it into a law.”
The state has some projects designed to assist communities adapt to the impact of climate change and, these projects are within the scope of REDD+. One of these projects is the EcoStove, which is now used in Otorogun community in Ughelli North Local Government Area (LGA) and it is being sought by other communities in the area.
After a presentation of the state’s REDD+ Readiness Plan by Mrs. Adun, the team visited forests in Uzere in Isoko local government area and Ibusa in Oshimili North LGA.
Leader of the REDD+ team to Delta, Moses Ama, who represented Dahiru, submitted: “We have come and seen and will go back to put our findings together. Our interactions with the communities have been fruitful. The body language that I saw was reflective of the fact that they are interested in the programme. Also, that there is smooth relationship between them and the government and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.”
Ama, an Assistant Director, said he noticed that Delta State has a strong political will behind the programme, but that because of the terrain they were challenged and so could not have an in-depth scoping of the forest.
He said, “The scoping mission was fine. We saw and interacted and will put the report as best as we can. Also, there is an opportunity for them to come and defend their presentation and to also see what other states have so that no state feels marginalised. They will see who is better and who should come in first. They will also have an opportunity to see the pilot projects in Cross River and, if they don’t qualify then they will see the reason they didn’t qualify.”
In Ado-Ekiti, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State reiterated his commitment to environmental management and forestry initiatives, saying that, during his first tenure as governor, he initiated a massive state-wide tree planting programme aimed at greening the environment, restore degraded forests and mitigate the impact of climate change.
“The UN-REDD+ Programme has my entire support and I will do everything possible to ensure its success in Ekiti State,” he said, adding that the tree planting and forest regeneration schemes he earlier embarked upon would be revived, while existing natural forest resources protected with renewed vigour.”
Lead by Raymond Ebonine, an Assistant Director, the UN-REDD+ scoping team in Ekiti held meetings with state Forestry Department officials and visited the Ise Forest Reserve, Idege Farm Camp, as well as Temidire and Ekemode communities. Other members of the team included Richard Ikibe, Caroline Doka and Tijani Ahmed.
Faniyan Babasola (Director, Multilateral Relations and State UNDP Focal Person in Ekiti State) said: “Having you here today is like a mission accomplished. We had complained to the UNDP about our diminishing forestry stock.”
Olatilu Olubunmi Benson (Director, Non-timber Forest Products) said: “Ekiti has several free forest areas and 10 reserves. Exploitation has been going on from 1955 to date. Some reserves have been converted to artificial plantation, while some are completely degraded. What Ekiti needs now is the ‘+’ part of REDD to ensure the regeneration of our reserves.”
Felix Akunluyi (Director, Forestry) disclosed that a bill aimed at shifting emphasis from government intervention to community forestry is awaiting governor’s assent. He added that the idea is also to de-emphasise wood in favour of bamboo use as an alternative.
Adekunle Sunday, a Chief Forest Officer, noted that the state is also planning to establish a Forest Service Commission. He however insists that a strong political will is what the state needs to overcome its numerous forestry-related challenges.
Ebonine and Okibe expressed satisfaction with the governor’s words as well as the determination by government officials to be part of the UN-REDD+ initiative. They are however that a considerable amount of the state’s revenue is from logging and translating to large-scale exploitation of forest resources.
“They should consider sacrificing logging and seek alternative sources of revenue generation. With the right attitude and political will, it is possible.”
Other states that have indicated interest in the REDD+ programme include: Taraba, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Enugu and Lagos.
Human influence on the climate system is clear and growing, with impacts observed on all continents. If left unchecked, climate change will increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. However, options are available to adapt to climate change and implementing stringent mitigations activities can ensure that the impacts of climate change remain within a manageable range, creating a brighter and more sustainable future.
Rajendra Pachauri, head of IPCC
These are among the key findings of the Synthesis Report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Sunday, November 2, 2014. The Synthesis Report distils and integrates the findings of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report produced by over 800 scientists and released over the past 13 months – the most comprehensive assessment of climate change ever undertaken.
“We have the means to limit climate change,” said R. K. Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC. “The solutions are many and allow for continued economic and human development. All we need is the will to change, which we trust will be motivated by knowledge and an understanding of the science of climate change.”
The Synthesis Report confirms that climate change is being registered around the world and warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Since the 1950s many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. “Our assessment finds that the atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, sea level has risen and the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased to a level unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years,” said Thomas Stocker, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I.
The report expresses with greater certainty than in previous assessments the fact that emissions of greenhouse gases and other anthropogenic drivers have been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century.
The impacts of climate change have already been felt in recent decades on all continents and across the oceans.
The more human activity disrupts the climate, the greater the risks. Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of widespread and profound impacts affecting all levels of society and the natural world, the report finds.
The Synthesis Report makes a clear case that many risks constitute particular challenges for the least developed countries and vulnerable communities, given their limited ability to cope. People who are socially, economically, culturally, politically, institutionally, or otherwise marginalized are especially vulnerable to climate change.
Indeed, limiting the effects of climate change raise issues of equity, justice, and fairness and is necessary to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication.
“Many of those most vulnerable to climate change have contributed and contribute little to greenhouse gas emissions,” Pachauri said. “Addressing climate change will not be possible if individual agents advance their own interests independently; it can only be achieved through cooperative responses, including international cooperation.”
“Adaptation can play a key role in decreasing these risks,” said Vicente Barros, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II. “Adaptation is so important because it can be integrated with the pursuit of development, and can help prepare for the risks to which we are already committed by past emissions and existing infrastructure.”
But adaptation alone is not enough. Substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are at the core of limiting the risks of climate change. And since mitigation reduces the rate as well as the magnitude of warming, it also increases the time available for adaptation to a particular level of climate change, potentially by several decades.
There are multiple mitigation pathways to achieve the substantial emissions reductions over the next few decades necessary to limit, with a greater than 66% chance, the warming to 2ºC – the goal set by governments. However, delaying additional mitigation to 2030 will substantially increase the technological, economic, social and institutional challenges associated with limiting the warming over the 21st century to below 2ºC relative to pre-industrial levels, the report finds.
“It is technically feasible to transition to a low-carbon economy,” said Youba Sokona, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III. “But what is lacking are appropriate policies and institutions. The longer we wait to take action, the more it will cost to adapt and mitigate climate change.” The Synthesis Report finds that mitigation cost estimates vary, but that global economic growth would not be strongly affected. In business-as-usual scenarios, consumption – a proxy for economic growth – grows by 1.6 to 3 percent per year over the 21st century. Ambitious mitigation would reduce this by about 0.06 percentage points. “Compared to the imminent risk of irreversible climate change impacts, the risks of mitigation are manageable,” said Sokona.
These economic estimates of mitigation costs do not account for the benefits of reduced climate change, nor do they account for the numerous co-benefits associated with human health, livelihoods, and development. “The scientific case for prioritizing action on climate change is clearer than ever,” Pachauri said. “We have little time before the window of opportunity to stay within 2ºC of warming closes. To keep a good chance of staying below 2ºC, and at manageable costs, our emissions should drop by 40 to 70 percent globally between 2010 and 2050, falling to zero or below by 2100. We have that opportunity, and the choice is in our hands.”
The Synthesis Report, written under the leadership of IPCC Chair R.K. Pachauri, forms the capstone of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. The first three volumes, based on outlines approved by the IPCC’s 195 member governments in October 2009, were released over the past fourteen months: The Physical Science Basis in September 2013, Impacts, Adaptation andVulnerability, in March 2014 and Mitigation of Climate Change in April 2014.
IPCC reports draw on the many years of work by the scientific community investigating climate change. More than 830 coordinating lead authors, lead authors and review editors from over 80 countries and covering a range of scientific, technical and socio-economic views and expertise, produced the three working group contributions, supported by over 1000 contributing authors and drawing on the insights of over 2,000 expert reviewers in a process of repeated review and revision. The authors assessed more than 30,000 scientific papers to develop the Fifth Assessment Report. About 60 authors and editors drawn from the IPCC Bureau and from Working Group author teams have been involved in the writing of the Synthesis Report. Their work was made possible by the contributions and dedication of the Synthesis Report Technical Support Unit.
“I would like to thank the hundreds of experts from the world’s scientific community who have given freely of their time and expertise to produce the most comprehensive assessment of climate change yet undertaken,” said Pachauri. “I hope this report will serve the needs of the world’s governments and provide the scientific basis to negotiators as they work towards a new global climate agreement.”
The IPCC is the world body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly, to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
The IPCC assesses the thousands of scientific papers published each year to inform policymakers about what we know and don’t know about the risks related to climate change. The IPCC identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community, where there are differences of opinion, and where further research is needed.
The IPCC offers policymakers a snapshot of what the scientific community understands about climate change. IPCC reports are policy-relevant without being policy-prescriptive. They do not promote particular views or actions. The IPCC evaluates options for policymakers, but it does not tell governments what to do.
The IPCC reports draw on the wisdom and dedication of the entire scientific community dealing with climate change, with the involvement of experts from all regions and diverse scientific backgrounds. IPCC authors and reviewers, including the Chair and other elected officials, work as volunteers. They are not paid for their work at the IPCC. Only a dozen permanent staff work in the IPCC’s Secretariat in Geneva.
The members of the IPCC, comprising the Panel, are its 195 member governments. They reach consensus in endorsing the reports of the IPCC as comprehensive and balanced assessments of the scientific, technical, and socioeconomic literature. They set its procedures and budget in plenary meetings of the Panel. The word “Intergovernmental” in the organisation’s name reflects this role. It is not a United Nations agency, but was established by two UN organisations – WMO and UNEP.
IPCC reports are requested by the Panel and developed by authors drawn from the scientific community in an extensive process of repeated drafting, review, and revision. Scientists and other experts are invited to participate in this review process. The Panel endorses these reports in a dialogue with the scientists who write them. In this discussion the scientists have the last word on scientific accuracy.
The IPCC produces comprehensive assessment reports on climate change every six years or so. Among its other products it also issues special reports on particular topics requested by its members, and methodology reports and software to help members report their greenhouse gas inventories (emissions minus removals).
With the release of the Synthesis Report, the IPCC has now finalised the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The AR5 is the most comprehensive assessment of climate change ever undertaken. Over 830 scientists from over 80 countries were selected to form the author teams producing the report. They in turn drew on the work of over 1,000 contributing authors and over 2,000 expert reviewers. AR5 assessed over 30,000 scientific papers.
The 1535-page contribution of Working Group I (The Physical Science Basis) to the AR5 was finalised and released in September 2013. The Working Group II contribution (Impacts, Adaptation,and Vulnerability), consisting of Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects (1132 pages) and Part B: Regional Aspects (688 pages), was finalised and released in March 2014. The Working Group III contribution (Mitigation of Climate Change) of about 1500 pages was finalised and released in April 2014.
Working Group I’s Technical Support Unit is hosted by the University of Bern in Switzerland and is supported by the Swiss Government. The Working Group Co-Chairs are Qin Dahe of China and Thomas Stocker of Switzerland. Working Group II’s Technical Support Unit is hosted by the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California, and is supported by the U.S. Government. Its Co- Chairs are Vicente Barros and Chris Field. Working Group III’s Technical Support Unit is hosted by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and supported by the Government of Germany. Its Co-Chairs are Ottmar Edenhofer of Germany, Ramón Pichs-Madruga of Cuba and Youba Sokona of Mali.
The Synthesis Report is the capstone of an assessment report. As its name implies, it distils, synthesises and integrates the findings of the Working Group contributions into a concise document, of about 100 pages.
This integrated approach allows the Synthesis Report to draw on the findings of the three Working Group reports as well as the two Special Reports brought out in 2011. It highlights contrasts and makes comparisons between findings from different Working Groups. These comparisons provide critically important information for policymakers.
The writing of the Synthesis Report is led by the Chair of the IPCC, R. K. Pachauri. Its Core Writing Team includes authors of the Working Group reports and the members of the IPCC’s Executive Committee. The Synthesis Report comprises a Summary for Policymakers and a longer report. At its recent meeting in October 2014, the Panel approved the Summary for Policymakers line by line, and adopted the Longer Report section by section, to ensure consistency with the underlying Working Group reports. The Synthesis Report Technical Support Unit is hosted by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and supported by the Norwegian Environment Agency.
It took 22 days in the month of October 2014 to complete the race of about 70,707km from Morocco to Zimbabwe.
Samson, Samuel Ogallah of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
What is at stake here, the Olympics, the World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations torch or the visit of King Mohamed VI to President Mugabe? You be the Judge!
If East Africa was involved in this race, you can guess they will lift the gold medal but it was between the north and south so it can’t be it.
Well, this was the distance covered by the Morocco Network on Climate Change (MNCC) at Marrakech on October 7, 2014 and Zimbabwe Climate Change Coalition (ZCCC) on October 29, 2014 when the two national chapters of PACJA were launched respectively.
What did the two nations have in common besides been African countries – The Challenge of Climate Change!
It is no longer news that Africa remains a vulnerable hotspot to climate change and its adverse impacts continues to derail the development gains made by the continent in the past, present and even in the near future if urgent actions are not taken. These actions have to be local and global and every stakeholder has a part to play.
African civil society organisations are not taken this challenge lightly. The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) has over the years initiated the formation of national networks of CSOs across Africa to champion the fight against climate change. It is against this backdrop that the Alliance which operates in 45 African countries with over 1000 CSOs recently launched the Moroccan and Zimbabwean chapters of PACJA.
This is what the Ministers in charge of the environment of the two countries say about this initiative:
“…the Moroccan government will continue to support climate civil society through effective collaborations with CSOs using the credible platform already provided by the new PACJA chapter in Morocco” – H.E. Ms. Hakima El Haite, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Energy, Mining, Water and Environment, Morocco.
“Today, we launch the Zimbabwe Climate Change Coalition and we hope they will carry the country’s interests at heart, to ensure sustainable development and moving towards low carbon growth and climate resilient Pathway for the nation” – Hon. Saviour Kasukuwere, Honourable Minister, Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate, Zimbabwe.
PACJA congratulates MNCC and ZCCC and welcome the two chapters to the One Big Family.
As the Alliance awaits the birth of more new national chapters across Africa, let the race continue…..Dare to join!
By Samson, Samuel Ogallah (Pan African Climate Justice Alliance – PACJA)
The Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) recently convened a Summit on Women and Climate in Bali, Indonesia. In a letter to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the GGF, in collaboration with the International Network of Women’s Fund and Alliance of Funds, calls for the creation of a strategy for influencing the GCF to fund grassroots work, as well as indigenous, women’s and youth-led climate adaptation and mitigation ventures. The four-year-old GCF is working on a business plan, prior to the distribution of funds
Dear Board of Directors and Alternates to the Green Climate Fund:
Global Greengrants Fund, the International Network of Women’s Funds, and the Alliance of Funds extend our warm greetings and encouragement as you enter your 8th meeting of the Board of the Green Climate Fund this week.
Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of the Board of Directors, Global Greengrants Fund
We write to briefly inform you of a recent Summit on Women and Climate, held on August 2-7, 2014 in Bali, Indonesia in which grassroots women climate leaders and grantmaking organisations that work in more than 170 countries convened to examine the landscape, strategies, and opportunities for increasing funding to women and women-led organisations around the world working to advance solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
As you already know, women in the global south are more adversely affected than men by the impacts of climate change. And along with other groups, including indigenous peoples and youth, women are underrepresented in the decision-making spaces that establish the priorities for where and how climate finance is allocated. Furthermore, the contributions of women in the Global South as leaders in strategies of climate resilience, food security, low carbon agriculture, forest protection, and sustainable energy alternatives are largely not visible to typical funders and finance programmes, resulting in a crucial investment opportunity being overlooked. This has been well documented including in a recent article in the Asia Times entitled, “Carbon funds bypass Asian Indigenous Peoples.”
This problem is one that an already existing infrastructure of independent grantmaking organisations, based in 42 countries, can help address. These funds have been designed to deliver accessible funding to local environmental and women’s rights solutions in an effective manner and at a low transaction cost. The Greengrants Alliance of Funds consists of seven environmental funds with capacity to support grassroots environmental work in more than 100 countries through direct grantmaking and capacity building. The International Network of Women’s Funds unites 42 funds that work in 170 countries to advance women’s rights and empowerment by mobilising funding and capacity building for grassroots women’s organisations. Together our funds channel tens of millions of dollars a year to local, women-led organisations around the world in an effective manner with minimal transaction costs and we have the capacity to mobilise much more. In August, we committed to working together to channel more financial resources to local women-led climate initiatives around the world.
In your work this week we ask that you consider the tremendous need for climate finance resources to directly reach the community and village level, and to make further efforts to support initiatives that are led by women, indigenous peoples and youth.
In particular, we urge the Green Climate Fund to:
Establish appropriate mechanisms and measureable goals to ensure that a significant percentage of Green Climate Fund resources directly reaches organisations led by women, indigenous peoples and youth to implement their strategies and solutions for adaptation and mitigation.
Strengthen the important work already done in the Gender Policy and Action Plan by actively encouraging the involvement of grassroots women leaders in the design and governance structures of Sub-National, National, Regional and International Implementing Agencies and other distribution mechanisms for the Green Climate Fund.
Consider, in discussions of modalities that further enhance direct access through funding entities, how the Green Climate Fund could partner with and leverage the existing global infrastructure of grassroots grantmaking organisations to cost-effectively channel resources to small, local, non-governmental organisations that otherwise would find it difficult to access financial support from the Green Climate Fund for their important work.
Consider, in operationalising the Fit-for-Purpose Accreditation approach, how intermediaries funding community-led projects with small grants could be more easily accredited to work with Green Climate Fund resources.
We believe that the Green Climate Fund is obligated to directly support the crucial work that women around the world are leading at the local level to address the causes and impacts of climate change. Our own experience, directly funding thousands of such initiatives in more than 170 countries, demonstrates that this is possible to do on a large scale. We look forward to engaging in further dialogue with the Green Climate Fund about strategies to partner with and leverage existing philanthropic infrastructure around the world that is already providing direct financial support to those who are addressing the most pressing climate change challenges of our time.
Sincerely,
Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of the Board of Directors, Global Greengrants Fund
Artemisa Castro, Executive Director, Fondo Acción Solidária; Chair, Alliance of Funds, Mexico
Ibis Colindres, Executive Director, Fondo Vinculos Comunitarios, Honduras
Emilienne de Leon Aulina, Executive Director, International Network of Women’s Funds, Mexico
Anouk Frank, Programme Officer for Policy Development, BothENDS, The Netherlands
Aisling Nolan, Operations Manager, Small Change Fund, Canada
Teresa Odendahl, PhD, Executive Director, Global Greengrants Fund, United States
Nonette Royo, The Samdhana Institute, Indonesia
Maria Amalia Souza, Founding Executive Director, Socio-Environmental Fund CASA, Brazil
A bill for an act to establish the National Biosafety Management Agency appeared to scale a major hurdle last week in Abuja, where it was tabled for public hearing by the Senate Joint Committee on Agriculture & Rural Development, and Science & Technology.
David Mark, Senate President. Photo: Premium Times
At the daylong event, a considerable number of speakers from government, research institutions, international agencies and the academia gave the controversial bill the all-clear, pointing out that, when eventually in place, it will do the nation a lot of good.
Biotechnology applies biological agents on human, animal, plant and soil materials for health or agricultural reasons towards achieving positive results. However, the application of biotechnology can also have negative effects leading to contaminations, infections, complications, diseases and death.
But majority of the participants at the public hearing would rather focus on the technology’s numerous advantages, as they identified and supported the process of enactment into law of the National Biosafety Management Agency Bill, 2014.
For instance, Prof Lucy Ogbadu, Director-General/CEO of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), submitted that, besides increase in food supply with less farmland requirement, biotechnology would bring about wealth creation and industrial growth, ensure the discovery and delivery of new medicines and vaccines diagnosis in diseases, as well as finding relevance in the clean-up of oil spills, prevention of deforestation and provision of eco-friendly materials.
According to Prof Ogbadu, who is also Chair, Nigeria chapter of the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), the bill seeks to minimise risks to human health, regulate the importation of genetically-modified (GM) products, guard against any socio-economic consequences, offer protection against any adverse effect of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) on the environment, and reaffirm Nigeria’s commitment to the principles of international agreements and treaties on biosafety.
“The absence of a Biosafety Law has greatly hampered research and development in modern biotechnology in Nigeria; a biosafety law will therefore enable our research institutes to carry out their statutory functions,” she stated, adding that South Africa (1989), Egypt (1995), Kenya (2009) and Burkina Faso (2008) are among African countries that already have such a law in place.
Ademola Olorunfemi, President of the Nigerian Institute of Engineers (NSE), underlined the need for the application of biotechnology in agriculture in the light of the diminishing interest in preoccupation in agriculture/food production activities in one hand and, on the other, increasing demand for food to cater for increasing population while land mass is fixed.
A group displaying placards calling for the quick passage of the bill
“This scenario brings a serious complication to the equation of food and agricultural production and makes it difficult to meet global food demand. It is however necessary to scale up global agricultural and food production, despite inherent odds, via the application of science, technology and engineering. The application of bio-technology and bio-engineering are especially crucial in the production, processing and distribution of agricultural and food materials,” he disclosed.
While calling for legislation, labelling, monitoring, regulation and control framework for GM crop utilisation and administration, Olorunfemi described the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety as a relevant internationally accepted legal framework on biosafety associated with the movement of GM crops across national boundaries.
Prof Garba Sharubutu, President of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN), describes the bill as “important”, saying that it aims to protect human and environmental health.
“It is the view of the Council that if the bill is signed into law, issues that border on research and development can be standardised,” he declared, raising concerns on parts of the bill such as Part I Section 2b, Part II Section 3a and Part III (Structure of the Agency).
Prof Malachy Akoroda, Executive Director, Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), noted that the establishment of a National Biosafety Management Agency would act as a clearing house similar to what NAFDAC is doing for food and medicines.
According to him, a general question regarding the coordinated and/or central disposal of hazardous chemicals is missing from the draft bill, he added.
“There are hazardous chemicals arising from works in the molecular laboratory that would need to be centrally disposed as obtainable in the developed country. There is need to properly incorporate these concerns in the bill for this act to cater for this aspect.”
Dr M.B. Yerima, President of the Biotechnology Society of Nigeria (BSN), expressed support for the bill but would rather prefer the proposed agency to be referred to as National Biosafety Regulatory Agency (NABRA).
“This is particularly so, because biosafety issues border on regulatory approaches. It is the risks that are associated with modern biotechnology applications that are better managed. In this case the idea of the bill is to safeguard the occurrence of the potential risk through the proper regulations,” he stressed.
Dr Yerima likewise underscored the need to have specialised and independent laboratories with the agency for food testing, toxicological testing of pollutants, culture collection and preservation to, according to him, ensure reliability and minimise “cooking of data”.
Prof Shehu Garki Ado, Institutional Biosafety Officer at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University in Samaru-Zaria, insists that Nigeria must take steps towards implementing appropriate biosafety and food quality standards by enacting a bill to that effect.
His words: “The bill will enhance the technical skills of laboratory personnel to ensure judicious use of GM food in the country. Such capacity building activities are part of the efforts to help develop mechanisms for confidence of smallholder farmers and marketers, and make them produce resilient crops for sustainable agriculture in the long run.
“The ultimate goal is to ensure Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD) by leveraging on the potential of the agribusiness and food processing sectors in the country.”
Prof Mohammad Ishiyaku, Programme Leader, Biotechnology Research, IAR, disclosed that instead of the expensive and harmful chemical insecticides, the institute utilised biotechnology tools to develop varieties of cowpea that are highly resistant to Maruca (a pod boring insect), leading to two-four fold higher yield than the non-resistant types. He added that the beans are under experimentation.
He said: “You can never ascertain the safety or otherwise of the products of modern biotechnology such as our insect-resistant beans without a legislation like this. To do inaction in this regard is to shut off our country from immense potential benefits there are in this technology.
“I urge you to disregard those snobbish elites among us who never tasted hunger or poverty in their lives and have no idea what it means to increase a poor farmer’s annual harvest even by one ton. We must provide the room for all technological options for the transformation of our great country which is to pass this bill into law.”
Dr Chris Ugwu, Executive Director, Society for the Improvement of Rural People (SIRP), however contends that absence of provision for public consultation is a key flaw of the bill.
He declared: “Part VIII, Section 6 of the bill has provisions for public display of applications from individuals or corporations intending to import or introduce GMOs into the country. However, Section 6(2) of the bill indicates that the announcement of the display of such applications is not mandatory. Everything in the section is optional. The announcement of where or when the display would be made is optional as well as whether the agency would convene a public hearing on the matter.
“In fact, the bill does not even say if comments made by members of the public that may get to see the application would be considered. Seeing an application by chance and commenting on it cannot be construed as public participation.”
Dr Ugwu alleges that the bill has left wide gaps that would ensure that those who wish to pollute the environment get away with slaps on the wrist sort of chastisement.
“The provision of fines of up to N2.5 million for individuals and N5 million for corporate bodies may appear huge, but they are actually not significant when we consider, as stated in the bill, the ‘potential risks that modern biotechnology may pose to the environment and human health’.”
He added: “The downside of these penalties is that there is no redress for individuals or communities who may be impacted individually or collectively. There is no clear provisions for polluters to be liable and compelled to remediate impacts. Without clear liability and redress provisions, securing our biodiversity will remain unchanged. What happens, for example, when damage is irreversible?
“The bill has provisions for confined field trials and commercial release but is silent on the possibility of large-scale field trials conducted with low or no contaminant measures. Researches have shown that there is a huge potential of GMOs to contaminate nearby farms and, by our farming practices, farmers may simply take the seeds home and mix them with natural varieties.
“Experts fear that from an ecological perspective, GM crops would lead to uncontrolled large-scale spread and persistence of transgenes within the smallholder agricultural systems in Africa. The result would be disastrous and unpredictable recombination and that would be negatively impact on our crop variety.”
Declaring open the forum, Senate President, David Mark, stated that the need to adopt modern and acceptable means of boosting food production to meet up with the growing population as conventional means were proving to be insufficient.
Represented by Senate Committee Chairman on Interior, Senator Bagudu Atiku, the Senate President urged the stakeholders to take cognisance of the economic, environmental and other benefits of biotechnology in their submissions.
“The issue of biotechnology is an international one and Nigeria is signatory to the Cartagena protocol on biosafety. But, we must domesticate the issues involved so as to benefit from the technology,” Mark added.
Senate Committee Chairman on Agriculture, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, said the National Assembly was committed to ensuring that the law which was passed but did not get presidential assent in the life of the Sixth Assembly is passed before the end of the Seventh Assembly.
He explained that the law was necessary to put a framework to regulate biotechnology application in Nigeria, adding, “The bill provides derived benefits from modern biotechnology for economic growth, improved agriculture, jobs and wealth creation, industry growth and sustainable environment.”
Various farmers associations were at the Senate chamber displaying placards calling for the quick passage of the bill.
