With the support of Carex Hand Wash Soap and Etisalat, as well as performances by music artists, Sunny Neji and 2face Idibia, the Concern Universal’s Global Handwashing Day campaign is shaping up to be one of the largest and most impactful in the Day’s history.
2face Idibia
Diseases resulting from poor hygiene are the leading causes of death in children – with diarrhoea alone killing one in five Nigerian infants. As many as 50% of these deaths can be prevented by simply washing hands with soap. In response, each year on 15th October, over 200 million people around the world come together to celebrate Global Handwashing Day and to promote hand washing with soap.
To maximise the Day’s impact in Nigeria, Concern Universal has teamed up with some of the county’s best known musicians and companies to run a month-long campaign that will feature special events and musical performances, text message and media coverage and will empower thousands of children to transform their schools, families, and communities.
Two impressive theme songs by Sunny Neji have 2face Idibia have been written and recorded exclusively for the campaign – and can be accessed on our Facebook and YouTube sites. They will feature on TV and radio before, during and after the Day. There will also be interviews with these famous sons of Cross River and Benue states explaining what inspired them to write and record their own songs about hand washing.
Tim Kellow, Nigeria Country Director, Concern Universal, says: “We want their creative and life-saving messages to reach as many people as possible, so we encourage you to share the links through your contacts and networks (WhatsApp etc). If you would like to use these songs in your own Global Handwashing Day events, or for school activities or hygiene promotion events, please let us know.”
Sunny Neji
To reinforce the campaign’s simple and life-saving message and help secure genuine behaviour change, our communication partner Etisalat will send three separate text messages on the importance of handwashing with soap to all of their customers in Nigeria during October – one on 15th October itself, and one a few days either side. Kellow wants recepients to share these text messages with those that they care about or use them as the basis of communication on the Day. Text messages will also be sent that promote the campaign theme songs and offer people the chance to download them as call-back and ring tones.
The campaign will culminate in a week-long celebration that kicks-off on October 15th at an event in Bekwarra LGA, Cross River State, featuring an exclusive performance by Sunny Neji, and ends on October 22nd at an event in Logo LGA, Benue State, featuring 2face Idibia. The celebrations, hosted by campaign sponsor Carex Hand Wash Soap, will spread awareness of handwashing with soap by transforming hundreds of school children into ‘hygiene heroes’ – vehicles of change in their communities.
Each event will feature over 500 children from 25 schools in rural communities that are part of the Rural Sanitation & Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) project that Concern Universal coordinates. The children will be engaged in creative activities and, inspired by the songs written by their heroes, will compete against other schools to perform their own handwashing songs and win Carex prizes.
“This campaign promises to be one of the largest and most creative Global Handwashing Day to date, and has already generated substantial publicity on our Facebook page – Concern Universal Nigeria – which is the best way to receive and share campaign updates throughout your networks,” discloses Kellow.
Ahead of the approval of the Summary of Policy-Makers (SPM) and adoption of the Synthesis Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by month ending, journalists and environmentalists in Nigeria and beyond will be briefed by a panel at a virtual session on Saturday.
Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The video press briefing, organised by the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA) and the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) in conjunction with EnviroNews Nigeria/Development Communications Network, will feature a panel including Prof Olukayode Oladipo (renowned climatologist), Kaisa Kosonen of Greenpeace and Alister Doyle of Reuters.
The video session, which will utilise the “GoTo Meeting” conferencing software, will hold by 12 noon Nigerian time on Saturday, October 18, 2014.
During the session, Prof. Oladipo will give insights on the AR5 (the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report), and related reports and their implications to Nigeria and the developing world.
Kosonen is the Greenpeace lead on AR5 and has been to all the three Working Groups. Apart from explaining what the science means (for politics, business and community), she will talk about the science-policy interface in the IPCC process and how governments own these reports.
Doyle is happy to share his experience in covering IPCC, finding stories and angles that work for an outlet like Reuters (and the many others who run Reuters stories), making the science accessible, and selling it to its editors.
The IPCC’s Synthesis Report is the capstone of an assessment report, which distills, synthesises and integrates the findings of the working group contributions into a concise document.
This integrated approach allows the Synthesis Report to draw together the assessment of past changes in climate as well as projections for the future from the three working group reports already released as well as the two Special Reports brought out in 2011.
It covers both adaptation and mitigation to provide an overview of possible risks and solutions. A synthesis approach allows authors to highlight contrasts and make comparisons between findings from different working groups. These comparisons provide critically important information for policymakers.
The process will be rounded up with a formal presentation of the report on November 2 in Copenhagen, Denmark by the Chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri. Other panellists at that session will include United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Michel Jarraud, and the Secretary of the IPCC, Renate Christ. Authors that have contributed to the report will be present.
However, the GCCA/EJN video press briefing in Nigeria is intended to prepare journalists and interested practitioners for SPM and Synthesis report release. Persons wishing to participate in the briefing can register at: http://goo.gl/forms/H5KWKPCYU1.
Efforts to tackle the growing challenge of urbanisation on the African continent is being revisited as settlement development practitioners gather for three days in Lagos from Monday, October 13, 2014 to explore the emerging African Urban Agenda.
Dr. Leke Oduwaye, Professor of Urban & Regional Planning, and former Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning of the University of Lagos in Nigeria will host professionals and students from around the world in a conference to discuss the continent’s human settlements trials.
The conference, with the theme: “The Urban Agenda for Africa: Realities, Challenges and Potentials”, is aimed at providing a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder platform to discuss and debate the subject.
The conference is expected to be attended by distinguished guests, presenters and audiences from both within and outside of academia. Four key-note addresses will be delivered by: High Commissioner of South Africa Nigeria, Lulu Louis Mnaguni; Prof. Tunde Agbola, Chair of the Association of African Planning Schools; Mr. Ibrahim Aliko of telecommunications services provider Etisalat; and Ibrahim Dikko of the Dar al Handasah Group. Prof. Vanessa Watson of the University of Cape Town, Co-Chair of the Association of African Planning Schools, will make a video presentation.
Also, there will be a special panel session on urbanisation, trends and patterns in Nigeria titled “Urban Research Nigeria”. This panel will be chaired by Dr. Bunmi Ajayi, a renowned urban planning professional in Nigeria, with Prof J.B. Falade formerly of the UNDP and UN-Habitat as the discussant. The presenters of this session will be Dr. Robin Bloch and Nikolas Papachritodoulou, both from from ICT International; Dr Andres Rigon, who is affiliated with the Development Planning Unit; and Dr Jessica Lamond from the University of the West of England.
A PhD colloquium is also one of the major events of the conference and it is sponsored by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Nigeria.
Over 60 peer reviewed academic papers are scheduled for presentation in parallel sessions during the three-day conference. The conference dinner speech will be delivered by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Orelope Adefulire.
This year, two separate gatherings in Chad and Columbia examined the urban agenda issue. In February in N’djamena at the fifth session of the African Ministerial Council on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD), African ministers tabled housing finance and related topics for discussion.
The meeting, which had “Case Studies in Financing Human Settlements in Africa: Appropriate Legislative Frameworks and Innovations in Implementation” as its theme, essentially:
Developed an enhanced operational compendium for legislative framework and innovative practices for human settlements financing;
Defined ‘Africa Urban Agenda 2063’ that will also serve as an input into the African Union’s ‘Agenda 2063 as well as to the Post-2015 Agenda and to Habitat III; and,
Adopted the N’Djamena Declaration on Financing Human Settlements in Africa
Similarly, the seventh session of the World Urban Forum held in April in Medellin.
Both forums held in the wake of mounting efforts towards the articulation and adoption of a New African Urban Agenda, which is required to tackle the growing challenge of urbanisation on the continent. These processes, it was gathered, will lead up to the landmark third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, billed to take place in 2016.
Nigeria, which is leading preparations under this initiative in Africa, had last year demonstrated its commitment to the process with a pledge of $3million spread over three years, to drive participation by African countries.
The High Court in London on Thursday blocked an agreement between the oil giant Shell and the UK law firm CW Law in relation to over 7,000 claims of Nigerians, which the Marble Arch based law firm claimed it represented, in a dispute over oil spills in Nigeria.
Aftermath of oil spill in Bodo. Photo: Leigh Day
Mr Justice Akenhead, the President of the Technological and Construction Court, blocked the deal and upheld an injunction against CW Law which prevents them, or anyone representing them, to make contact with the people of Bodo in furtherance of the settlement agreement.
The judge made it clear that Leigh Day are proceeding with the case to trial in the High Court next year and that many thousands of claimants are entitled to damages under the Oil Pipelines Act which could be substantial.
In Thursday’s verdict, the judge also said there may have already been a major breach of an existing interim injunction against CW Law. He said that Leigh Day had strong evidence that representatives of CW Law had breached the order by continuing to seek to sign up claimants whilst the order was in place.
Leigh Day now has three working days to set out to the Court which breaches of the order they would seek contempt proceedings on. CW Law will have 10 working days to respond and provide full evidence of the instructions they have from claimants to represent them.
CW Law was accused, by law firm Leigh Day, of unlawfully entering into settlement talks with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on behalf of many villagers of Bodo, in the Niger Delta, who they didn’t represent and who were not clients of the firm.
The settlement agreement between CW Law and Shell, given as evidence in Court on Thursday, sought to settle the claims for £150 each with an additional £390 per claimant going into a Trust. The Agreement also included an incentivised costs structure for CW Law which would see them paid more, by Shell, the more claimants it signed up to the scheme.
Bodo villagers. Photo: Leigh Day
With a population of 14,000 people, the great majority of the villagers are represented by London based law firm Leigh Day in one of the largest environmental legal cases in history following two massive oil spills in 2008 from pipelines operated by oil giant Shell.
Leigh Day has spent three years gathering witness statements and verifying its list of clients on the ground, in Nigeria, to fight the case against Shell in the UK Courts.
In August 2014, Leigh Day learned that SPDC had entered into a settlement with CW Law, English Solicitors, who claimed to represent 7,400 of the villagers.
Leigh Day visited Bodo and spoke to the Chairman of the Council of Chiefs & Elders in Bodo, the Chiefs of the Council and the Village Heads of the 35 villages that make up Bodo and confirmed that they had not heard of CW Law or the Nigerian lawyers Egbegi & Co, who claimed to be working with CW Law.
Speaking after the judgment, the Senior Partner of Leigh Day, Martyn Day, said:”We are very pleased that the Judge agreed to block the deal between Shell and CW Law as far as our clients are concerned.
“This paltry deal may have been lucrative to the lawyers involved but it would have meant peanuts for those of our clients caught by it. The Bodo Creek is damaged for decades to come. We will only resolve the claims when Shell is prepared to pay properly for the damage it has caused.”
Bodo oil spill and fire. Photo: Leigh Day
Shell is accused of two leaks from its pipelines in 2008/09, which devastated the environment surrounding the community of Bodo, in Gokana Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria.
Bodo is a fishing town. It sits in the midst of 90 sq km of mangroves swamps and channels, which are the perfect breeding ground for fish and shellfish.The Bodo community is a rural coastal settlement consisting of 31,000 people who live in 35 villages. The majority of its inhabitants are subsistence fishermen and farmers. Until the two 2008 spills Bodo was a relatively prosperous town based on fishing. According to Leigh Day, the spills have destroyed the fishing industry.
Expert evidence indicates 1,000 hectares of mangroves have been destroyed by the spills and a further 5,000 hectares have been impacted.
The United Nations, Amnesty International and the Nigerian government have all expressed disappointment with Shell’s lack of action in the region. Impoverished local fishermen have been left without a source of income, and have received no compensation.
The Ogoni fishing and farming communities have accused Shell of applying different standards to clean-ups in Nigeria compared with the rest of the world. Amnesty has described the oil spill investigations ‘a fiasco’.
Experts at the Africa Climate Change conference in Marrakech, Morocco have restated Africa’s capacity to feed itself now and in the future without genetically modified organisms.
Mrs Olushola Olayide of the African Union Commission
They however warned that it would require increased investment in climate change research, development and innovation to make technology accessible and affordable for farmers, to enhance opportunities for easy access to agricultural finance and insurance, to facilitate trading and access to markets at all levels, and to create an enabling environment for private sector investment in the agricultural value chain.
Mrs. Olushola Olayide, a representative of the Africa Union Commission at the conference, stated that the absence of an AU official position on GMOs does not manifestly translate into an endorsement of the organisms as “the continent has recorded good success stories in local food production and conservation methods in Benin and Malawi and, with these efforts being upscaled currently, Africa will comfortably feed Africa.”
For Dr Abdalla Hamdok, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the GMO issue is “a debatable one as they are problems in addressing biodiversity and loss but its potential to create enhancement in productivity cannot be discountenanced.”
Civil society concerns
Mithika Mwenda of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), representing over 800 African civil society organisations including small scale farmers, faith based organisations and indigenous peoples at the Marrakech conference, declared emphatically that Africa can only feed Africa when words are translated into action, put in place mechanisms and frameworks aimed at putting more money into agriculture in line with the Abuja Declaration, and ensure extensive implementation of the CAADP framework as well as integrate climate change adaptation strategies into agriculture.
According to Mwenda, African civil society is concerned about GMOs because the interest of the multinationals promoting them is at variance with the long-term interests of African farmers. “GMOs constitute a threat to the survival of small holder farmers across Africa as it will create more poverty and food insecurity,” he said.
FAO warning
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations recently warned African countries against the use of genetically modified organisms as they are not needed to improve food production and are unsuitable for many countries in Africa.
While issuing the warning, Jose Graziano da Silva, FAO Director General, added, “Our position as FAO is not that we are against GMOs but we are saying we don’t need them now to eradicate hunger.”
He further expressed concerns about the impact of GMOs on the environment as “we don’t know what will happen to areas of production and the crops.” “It is risky for continents whose crops have GMOs; we want to ensure that proper security measures related to environment contamination are taken.”
Expensive technology
A report on the conclusions of the 2008 International Assessment of Agriculture Science and Technology (IAASTD) underlined the fact that GM is not a suitable technology for alleviating hunger because it does not benefit small and subsistence farmers, and it is these farmers that provide 70% of the world’s food.
The IAASTD report emphasised that agro-ecological approaches were the most appropriate technologies to tackle food security and hunger. Techniques focused on building organic matter in soil to help in drought situations, utilising mixed cropping and rotations, and the use of agro-forestry are showing they can deliver increased yield and greater resilience. These techniques are not reliant upon expensive inputs like fertilisers and pesticides that GMOs rely on, and that small farmers can ill afford.
GMOs are organisms whose genetic material have been altered using genetic engineering techniques and those modified include micro-organisms such as bacteria, yeast, insects, plants, fish and mammals.
Africa’s readiness to receive and deploy funds towards projects aimed at increasing the continent’s climate resilience capacity has been confirmed.
Speaking at the fourth edition of the Climate Change Development in Africa (CCDA-IV) conference in Marrakech, Morocco, Dr Abdalla Hamdok, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), declared that Africa is indeed ready for the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
“In view of the fact that Africa is at the receiving end of problems of flood and drought, Africa is quite ready to benefit a lot from alternative development as well as chart the path that embraces green technology,” declared Hamdok.
Reinforcing the continent’s capacity to equitably manage the GCF funds through institutional frameworks such as ClimDev Africa at the African Development Bank, the ECA Deputy Executive Secretary believes that, with Africa’s 55 countries, the $100 billion pledge should be considered as the minimum.
The GCF represents a potential watershed moment for climate finance in Africa. To date, the flows of climate finance of the continent have been inadequate in comparison to the continent’s needs.
Africa is widely acknowledged as the region in the world most vulnerable to climate change, while its recent impressive economic growth has placed an increased focus on the resources required to ensure that emissions do not grow correspondingly.
Following the successful launch of the Moroccan chapter of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) at the sidelines of the African Climate Change conference in Marrakech, Morocco, the government of the Kingdom of Morocco has welcomed the initiative.
Sam Ogallah (left) with Ms Hakima El Haite
While commending the organisation for its extensive advocacy on climate justice for Africa, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Energy, Mining, Water and Environment, Morocco, H.E Ms. Hakima El Haite, pledged the support of the Moroccan government towards ensuring effective collaboration with civil society using the credible platform already provided by the new PACJA chapter.
Sam Ogallah of appreciated the support of the Moroccan government and called for greater collaboration with governments in North Africa as the march towards a new global treaty beckons in Paris.
The PACJA Coordinator for North Africa who doubles as the head of the Moroccan chapter, Said Chakri, pledged to deploy the network’s extensive contacts in driving the attainment of climate justice objectives across the region.
Deputy Executive Secretary at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (NECA), Dr Abdalla Hamdok, laments on Wednesday in Marrakech, Morocco at the opening of the Fourth Annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-IV) that, of all the regions of the world, Africa remains the hungriest, producing only 10% of global agricultural output from farming systems that rely on rain-fed agriculture. He wants the continent to invest wisely so that it can transform the agricultural sector, feed its people, sustain the economic momentum and create wealth
Africa’s capacity to feed itself now and in the future remains a major challenge despite its enormous agricultural potential to produce enough food for the continent and surplus produce for markets which could have effectively secured long term inclusive growth and enabled governments achieve the ultimate goal of reducing poverty and ending hunger in their countries.
Today, regardless of achievements in economic growth, nearly 300 million people go hungry and the continent continues to spend colossal amounts of money annually (between $40 billion and $50 billion) importing agricultural products despite enormous resource endowment of unutilised arable land, fresh water resources and human capital to produce sufficient food.
Consequently, of all the regions of the world, Africa remains the hungriest, producing only 10% of global agricultural output from farming systems that rely on rain-fed agriculture and nearly wholly dependent on environmental stability, which makes them sensitive to rainfall variability and are extremely vulnerable to impacts of climate change. Paradoxically, agriculture remains the single most important sector in many African countries accounting for at least 30% of national incomes, employing around 75% of the population, providing their livelihoods, as well as forming the bulk of export revenue.
It is indeed sad that owing to increase in global temperature and ensuing climate change agriculture productivity will further deteriorate according to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A rise in temperature of more than 2°C could aggravate existing food deficit and deny the continent capacity to feed its growing population which is predicted to reach two billion by 2050 and prevent African countries from attaining the ultimate goal of reducing extreme poverty and ending hunger. Equally challenging is the predicted decline in precipitation exposing millions of people to water stress and expanding semi-arid and arid areas which make agricultural production unattainable.
Aware of food security challenges, countries have been struggling to increase agricultural production largely through the expansion of cropping areas into forest and marginal areas instead of through increased productivity on land currently in production. The impact of this is the exacerbation of deforestation, which increases the risks of disruptions of water systems on which agriculture depend, as well as raise GHG emission that contribute to climate change.
Innovative actions are therefore needed to turn climate challenges into opportunities that enhance capacity to produce sufficient food, improve agriculture sector performance while creating rural jobs to deter rural urban migration and accelerate the pace of Africa’s economic transformation to inclusive development.
African leaders have been fully conscious of the need to act to address the challenges posed by food insecurity to their countries. To this end, African leaders have mapped out the way for improved agricultural performance and enhanced food security by adopting the CAADP programme to which they recommitted themselves fairly recently during the AU Heads of State and Government Summit in Malabo, in June 2014. They pledged to increase investment in agriculture of 10% from their national budgets, as well as to take actions to address climate change, including transfer of affordable technologies for adaptation and mitigation to allow Africa space for sustainable development. By adopting the provisions of CAADP programme, countries such as Ghana, Ethiopia and Rwanda have been able to make remarkable progress in the area of food production. For example, Rwanda, one of the first countries to adopt the programme in 2007, was able within a five-year period, to raise its maize harvest by 213% from 0.8tonnes per hectare to 2.5tonnes per hectare.
Conscious of the fact that placing emphasis on agriculture without addressing availability of timely and reliable climate information to guide policy formulation and programme implementation cannot achieve food security, AUC together with ECA and AfDB established the ClimDev-Africa Programme to build and enhance the ability of policy makers, government institutions and practitioners to make use of climate change information to effectively manage climate risks and link climate change concerns to development imperatives in general.
Furthermore, increasing agriculture productivity alone is not sufficient to ensure food security. Agriculture must gradually transition from subsistence agriculture to agriculture as a business in order to achieve the objective of ending hunger and eliminating poverty. Transforming agriculture into a more dynamic, commercial oriented, productive and competitive sector will not only improve productivity but also create jobs, generate incomes and enhance livelihoods. This is the surest way in which agriculture would contribute to rural development, food security and poverty eradication.
Aside from the imperative of affordable production inputs, the transformation of Africa’s agriculture from subsistence farming to business oriented agriculture also requires more value-addition agro-processing and agribusiness, as well as improved access to markets, all of which need significant amounts of energy.
Availability of affordable, reliable and sufficient energy to drive this transformation process is critical across the entire agricultural value chain. Unfortunately however, energy from existing grids is not accessible to rural areas and communities. And even when the energy infrastructure exists the cost is simply too prohibitive. This situation prevails despite the fact that the continent has ample renewable energy sources in the form of solar, hydro, wind and thermal energy which could be harnessed to provide reliable and affordable energy capable of transforming rural economies.
Furthermore, Africa faces unique challenges of poor physical infrastructure and poor market access, as well as weak institutions and policies. Even when farmers have bumper harvests they incur heavy post-harvest losses due the inability to transform, store and transport their produce to markets. Limited access to markets both at local and regional levels perpetuates poverty and food deficiency whereas improved infrastructure would not only open access to markets but also help address challenges of climate change by facilitating movement of food from areas of food surplus to those that suffer crop failure due impacts of climate change.
Thus adopting innovative agronomical practices such as conservation agriculture, making use of climate information, using and managing water efficiently, improving rural infrastructure and enabling access to power as well as markets among others, confirming the fact that, agriculture has a vast potential to drive African economies towards inclusive growth and address predicted impacts of climate change.
Since Africa’s population livelihoods depend on performance of the agricultural sector and the rural economy and directly linked to the state of poverty, countries need to invest more in the areas mentioned so that Africa can transform the agricultural sector, feed its people, sustain the economic momentum and create wealth along with ensuring inclusive economic development.
Africa’s needs are unique and the continent faces exceptional climate challenges. Therefore, efforts to transform its economies, including its agricultural sector, require clear understanding of the intricate relationships between water, energy and agriculture production and the need for efficient management and the use of climate information in development.
Finally, it is also critical that existing disconnect between the components of national agricultural systems of innovation, industry and science and technology research institutions; as well as fragmented scientific and technological activities are removed through enhanced integrated approaches to scientific and technological interventions specific to commodity value chains in order to achieve desired transformation of this sector. The good news is that Africa now recognises that scientific advancements and innovation are the keys to transforming African agriculture.
Director, Special Initiative Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (NECA), Dr Fatima Denton, says on Wednesday in Marrakech, Morocco at the opening of the Fourth Annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-IV) that even though climate change constitutes the greatest challenge of Africans, it is also the continent’s greatest opportunity to widen out ripples of prosperity. Denton, who is also coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), believes that Africa can go a step further by making agriculture the engine of its development
Fatima Denton. Photo: Pan-African Media Alliance for Climate Change (PAMACC)
We are gathered under a common theme that reflects our collective resolve, to keep climate food insecurity at an arms length, and to stimulate growth through the translation of climate information into practical action.
The theme over the next few days will reflect the on-going work by the African Union Commission and the need to ensure that agriculture is embedded into a solution space, in which climate change becomes not only a risk amplifier, but an opportunity to shift our current modes of production into a viable entrepreneurial activity.
Our deepest conviction is that climate change remains a double edge sword. It constitutes the greatest challenge of our times, but it is also Africa’s greatest opportunity to widen out ripples of prosperity across our continent. Africa is already defying the rest of world and showing great potential in terms of its macroeconomic growth. Our continent is well poised to use its resources towards achieving structural transformation and severing ties with poverty for good. A 2-degree warming will make a mockery of all our efforts to combat poverty, and instead of embalming our stride towards sustainable development, it will reduce the scope we have to make poverty a thing of the past.
Africa is one of the few regions where hunger and undernourishment continue to claim lives, and robs productive sectors of their most basic tools, healthy women and men who are able to replenish their human and physical capital to stimulate growth in the agricultural sector. Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, has the highest prevalence of hunger with one in four people in the region being undernourished.
Last year we reflected on the theme: Africa on the rise, but, we noted that Africa’s flight towards agricultural sovereignty cannot be achieved if we do not deliberately use agriculture as a catalyst for growth. Unfortunately, Africa’s high economic growth and rising GDP in the last decade, does not reveal the full story of the potential of agriculture as a bedrock to erect and safeguard Africa’s development, now and in the future. The increase in extractive minerals and other non-renewable resources have propelled growth in recent years and injected huge capital flow into the economy.
But in many ways, this increase has diverted policy focus away from agriculture. We are missing the opportunity to use agriculture as a foundation for our industrial pathway.
Agriculture has not served as a transformational hub in fuelling economic growth and propelling industrialisation. Pre-industrial agricultural in the developed world has been largely predicated on three variables: climate, culture, and the deployment of smart technologies. With agricultural transformation came migration, industrialisation, which enabled countries such as Britain, to increase both population growth and improving living standards. Indeed, no industrialised country has achieved sustainable economic growth without a solid agricultural foundation.
We have a major opportunity in turning agriculture in Africa as the engine of development.
Africa currently possesses a demographic dividend, predominantly comprised of a youthful population with over 60% under 30. In addition, Africa is globally experiencing the fastest rate of urbanisation with 50% of the population expected to be living in urban areas by 2030.
This will require a deep reflection not just about producing more food, but also how we produce it using SMART agriculture for example.
Currently, agriculture in Africa employs about 70% of the population. However, the current form of agricultural practice will not serve the aspirations of our younger generation. We must turn it into a source of lucrative business rather than simply a subsistence way of life, and incentivise our younger generation in embracing it as a wealth creating opportunity.
Leaders across Africa have consistently showed their commitment towards agriculture’s role in Africa’s development. The Abuja Declaration of 2006, for example, is a testimony to this commitment. The African Heads of States and Governments recently pledged to uphold the principles of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), and further committed themselves to enhancing investment finance in agriculture, in the Malabo Declaration of June 2014. They reiterated their resolve in the Maputo Declaration, to uphold the allocation of at least 10% of public expenditure to agriculture to ensure its efficiency.
Weaving all these together requires climate information services in overcoming the current challenges posed by climate change. Climate information services enable better integration of the water, energy and land nexus.
They are critical along the entire agricultural commodity value chain.
According to the Africa Agriculture Status Report of 2013, agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa depends on the climate as irrigation only constitutes 10% of productive land. Therefore, managing climate change remains an indispensable component of any future investment in agricultural development.
The Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) programme jointly implemented by the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank was entrusted with a mandate by the African Heads of States and Governments to improve climate information services in support of African development agenda.
Consolidating the potential for agriculture, using climate information services, will have a multiplier effect in catering for our youth, shared prosperity, and providing food, water and energy security.
This puts Africa along the transitional pathway of a vision towards a green and blue economies agenda. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s use this conference to start stitching the various pillars of African development using climate information services.
Our leaders have recently met in New York during the UN Secretary General Summit on Climate Change. They have accentuated their determination as world leaders to honour commitments of the past and provide concrete assurance that our past actions cannot be the predictors of our future performance.
Africa wants to turn its back on promises that have not gone the extra mile, commitments that have not translated into adaptation resources and funds that have remained pledges and hollow words for our vulnerable communities of farmers, fishers, pastoralists.
We remain convinced that the international agreement under negotiation can only be meaningful to Africa if commitments to support adaptation have a legally binding provision. As such, Africa has proposed a Global Goal for Adaptation in supporting such an outcome. Our governments already bear the costs of adaptation, and these must find recognition as part of contributions in the new agreement.
Action must ripple through to mitigation efforts, and this means that developed nations must shoulder the overwhelming responsibility to turn mitigation efforts into decisive actions. Africa and other developing countries are playing their part. We have recognised that the pledged mitigation efforts by developing countries for 2020 exceed those of the developed world, despite our lower levels of responsibility for causing climate change and limited capacities to address it.
We are here today because our planet is under threat, our resources are being depleted, our ecosystems are being degraded; but most of all, the legacy that we can hand down to our children is diminishing. Our collective resolve is to prepare clear signposts that will lead to a strong post Kyoto Protocol agreement.
Africa and the rest of the world will not gain from a weak agreement in Paris in 2015. We cannot bend history. We are here today because both historical and current emissions have conspired to compromise the existence of our most valuable resources. Hence, we cannot win the fight against climate change unless developed countries take the plunge and raise the ambition bar in delivering on bold mitigation commitments.
Climate change has crystallised what is at stake. It is the core of our humanity – our most sacred assets that will undermine our collective human security if we continue on the “politics as usual” trajectory. Africa is not sitting idly by waiting for blueprints. Our conviction is that we can turn the strong currents of underdevelopment into wealth creation through our hard work, resilience and “inclusive” growth. We have all the ingredients that will give greater hope to our children, as we walk with them in choosing viable pathways that are signposted to sustainable development.
The next generation of African youth will be the custodian of the world, our generation should do all we can today to ensure that the impacts of climate change do not constitute the only legacy that we handed down to them, and that we start weaving together a rich tapestry of prosperity that we can all share for the well being of our people and the future we deserve.
The European steel industry is worried that a continental climate policy will engender regulatory carbon dioxide (CO2) costs that may undermine the sector’s wellbeing.
A steel making plant line
The greenhouse gas (GHG) of most relevance to the world steel industry is CO2. On average, 1.8 tonnes of CO2 are emitted for every tonne of steel produced. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2010 the iron and steel industry accounted for approximately 6.7% of total world CO2 emissions.
But defiant steel makers in Europe have joined hands and forged a campaign to protect their interests, ahead of the European Council meetings scheduled to hold in Brussels, Belgium 23-24 October, 2014. They insist that a climate policy should rather strengthen the industry so as to provide the products, jobs and incomes for the policy’s successful implementation.
In a letter to Heads of State and government, President of the European Parliament, President and President-elect of the European Council, and President and President-elect of the European Commission, 60 CEOs of the European steel industry are demanding from the October EU summit to give a clear guidance that the EU’s new climate and energy framework will not impose regulatory direct and indirect CO2 costs “on globally competing European industries”.
Declaring that they share the EU’s ambition to find an effective response to the climate change imbroglio, the group pointed out however that, to be effective, such response needs a policy that supports a healthy manufacturing industry with jobs on the continent.
“That would be a policy which benefits European society as a whole. Our products and products applications, our employees are the foundations for a carbon lean, energy efficient, and prosperous European society. There are not only four million jobs at stake in energy intensive industries in Europe but many more in the value chains and its dependent service sectors,” the CEOs wrote.
They went further, demanding: “Is it asking too much that at least the most CO2 efficient manufacturers in Europe must have no competitive disadvantage from EU climate policies vis-à-vis the global competitors?
“If no effective safeguard measures are taken, the EU Emission Trading System could cost the EU steel industry about 70 to 100 billion Euros in the first period from 2020 to 2030. The measures presently in place to protect the industry will largely run out by 2020. Free carbon allowances for even the most efficient installation will have been reduced by 75%, electricity prices for European industry are already twice as high as elsewhere and still rising enormously.
“It’s not sufficient to say that carbon leakage provisions should continue – they must continue at the level of 100% for the most efficient installations. They cannot be reduced or phased out through the backdoor by the so-called correction factor.
“In March 2014 the heads of State promised that the decision of the new policy framework will provide the necessary basis for growth for its economic operators. We the CEOs of the industry in Europe now trust in this promise.”
The CEOs are: Aditya Mittal (CEO, ArcelorMittal Europe), Andreas J. Gross (CEO, ThyssenKropp Steel Europe AG), Karl Kohler (CEO and Managing Director, Tata Steel Europe), Francesc Rubiratta i Rubio (Chiarman and CEO, Celsa Group), Cesare Riva (CEO, Riva Fomi Elettrici), Heinz Jorg Fuhmmann (CEO, Salzgitter AG), Martin Lindqvist (President and CEO, SSAB AB), Wolfgang Elder (Chairman and CEO, Voestalpine AG), Lucia Morcelli (CEO, Accial Speciali Temi SpA), Geovanni Arvedi (President Acciaieria, Arvedi SpA), Bernardo Velazquez (CEO, Acerinox), Philippe Darmayen (CEO, Aperam), Andre Sombecki (CEO, Benteler Steel/Tube GmbH), Jerzy Kozicz (President, CMC Poland Sp. Zo.o.), Gunnar Kohlschein (CEO, BGH Edelstahlwerke GmbH), Roberto Marzorati (Vice-President, Cogne Acciai Speciali), Eneas Garcia Diniz (CEO, Companhia Siderurgica Nacional), Martin Lowendick (CEO, Deutsche Edelstahlwerke GmbH), Karlheinz Blessing (CEO, Dillinger Huttle/Saarstahl AG), Antonio Gozzi (CEO, Duferco Belgium), Ivan Kroo (Director, Dutrade Steels Products Processing and Trade Co), Dmitrij Scuka (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Evraz Vitkovice Steel a.s.), Goran Ek (Managing Director, Fagersta Stainless AB), Giuseppe Pasini (President, Feralpi Siderurgica SpA), Pieter van Buren (CEO, FNSteel BV), Gunna Lohmann-Hutte (Managing Director, Friedr. Lohmann GmbH), Peter van Hullen (Georgsmarienhutte Holding GmbH), George Skindilias (Vice-President and CEO, Halyvourgiki Inc.), Vasil Vasilev (Manager, Helios Metalurg Ltd), Vassilios Goumas (CEO, Hellenic Halyvourgia SA), Melker Jernberg (CEO and President, Hoganas AB), Istvan Orova (Director, ISD Cokin Plant Ltd), Evgeny Tankhilevich (CEO, ISD Dunaferr) and Horacio Malfatto (CEO, NLMK Europe).
Others include: Mika Seitovirta (President and CEO, Outokumpu Oyj), Tom Erixon (President and CEO, Ovako), Imre Bartha (Director, Ozd Steelworks Ltd), Viktor Dembitski (Executive Director, Promet Steel), Pablo Ignacio Battistini (General Manager, Rodacciai SpA), Dirk Mahnke (Rohrwerk Maxhutte GmbH), Petra Einarsson (CEO, Sandvik Materials Technology), Nikolaos Mariou (General Manager, Sidenor SA), Jose Enrique Freire Arteta (CEO, Siderurgica Nacional SA), Anton Chernykh (President of the Board and CEO, SIJ-Slovenska industrija jekia, d.d.), Markus Ritter (Managing Director, Stahl-und Walzwerk Marienhutte GmbH), Eneas Garcia Diniz, (CEO&SWT Managing Director, Stahlwerk Thuringen GmbH), Emil Zhivkov (Executive Director, Stomana Industry SA), Marjan Mackosek (Managing Director, Store Steel d.o.o.), Luca Zanotti (Vice-President and Managing Director, TenarisDalmine), Adrian Popescu (CEO, TMK-ARTROM/TMK-RESITA), Jan Czudek (CEO, Trinecke Zelezamy), Jesus Esmoris (CEO, Tubacex SA), Enrique Arriola (CEO, Tubos Reunidos), George Babcoke (President, U.S.Steel Kosice), Patrick Lamarque d’Arrouzat (CEO, Ugitech), Philippe Crouzet (CEO, Vallourec SA), Sergiy Pronin (Director for Economics and Business, Dev Vorskia Steel Denmark A/S) and Vladmir Sotak (CEO, Zeleziame Podbrezova Slovakia).
