Nigeria came into being on January 1, 1914 with the formal amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of the British Territory. The country has therefore been in a festive mood this year to celebrate 100 years of existence.
The Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, in collaboration with the Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), joined in observing the landmark via a stock-taking symposium on “The Nigerian Environment – Past 100 Years and the Future” that focused on the nation’s total environment.
Prof Emeritus David Okali celebrating his birthday during the symposium
Prof Margaret Okorodudu-Fubara of the Obafemi Awolowo University, le-Ife
Prof Daniel Gwary of the University of Maiduguri
Prof Adeniyi Osuntogun (right) and Prof Chinedum Nwajiuba
A two-day forum that explored environmental implications of 100 years of Nigeria’s existence came to a close on Thursday in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Conference banner
The Nigerian Environment Centenary Symposium (1914-2014), which had “The Nigerian Environment: Past 100 years and the future”, held at the University of Ibadan, courtesy of the institution’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences (in the Faculty of Public Health of the College of Medicine) as well as the Nigerian Environmental Study Action Team (NEST).
The symposium and book concept, chaired by Professor Emeritus Akin Mabogunje, took stock of Nigeria’s total environment as regards what has been achieved so far and the directions to move forward.
Prof Emeritus David Okali (middle) celebrates his birthday during the symposium. He is flanked by Prof Chid Ibe, Prof (Mrs.) Margaret Okorodudu-Fubara and Prof Adeniyi Osuntogun
Speakers were invited based on their expertise, past scientific contributions and vision for the nation’s growth and development. They reviewed the trend, major developments and lapses in safeguarding the Nigerian environment over the past century, and drawing a blueprint for future development.
The papers presented will be compiled into a book that will form a standard reference point for future generations.
Prof Okali celebrating with colleagues
The thematic topics were: Land Resources, Water Resources, Atmosphere, Biosphere, Coastal and Marine Environments, Energy and Environment, Environment and Health, Urbanisation, Industry, Waste Management, Environmental Education and Awareness Raising, Environmental Disasters and Emergencies, Environmental Governance and the Economics of Managing the Nigerian Environment.
The resources persons were: Prof E. E. Okpara of NEST (Land Resources and Erosion), Prof Emeritus N. M. Gadzama and Prof H. K. Ayuba of the University of Maiduguri (Desertification), Prof Daniel Gwary of the University of Maiduguri (Land Use), Dr D. T. Gowon (Evolution of Water Resources Management and Development in Nigeria: Possible Future Trajectory), Babatope Babalobi of USAID (Water Supply), Dr Elizabeth Oloruntoba and Prof M. K. C. Sridhar of the University of Ibadan (History of Sanitation and Hygiene Practices in Nigeria), Dr Godson Ana of the University of Ibadan (Air Quality in Nigeria), Prof Olukayode Oladipo of Kado Consult and Dr Ibidun of University of Ibadan (Changing Climate in Nigeria), Prof Emeritus David Okali of NEST and Prof A. O. Isichei of Obafemi Awolowo University (The Nigerian Environment: Past 100 Years and the Future Ecosystems), Prof Labode Popoola of the University of Ibadan and Prof E. C. Nzegbule of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (Trends in Development of Forestry in Nigeria), Prof B. A. Ola-Adams (Biodiversity), Dr Gloria Ujor of the Federal Ministry of Environment (Historical Perspectives and Domestication of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nigeria), Alade Adeleke of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (Assessment of Policy and Practice of Biodiversity Conservation), Prof Chidi Ibe (The Coastal and Marine Environment), Prof Chris Ikporukpo of the University of Ibadan (The Environment of the Niger Delta), and Huzi Mshelia of Huzi & Associates (Expanding Renewable Energy Access for Environmental Sustainability).
Others included: Joanna Maduka of Friends of the Environment (Gender, Energy and Environment), Prof O. O. Kale of the University of Ibadan (The Environment and Health), Bolarinwa Olowe of Konsadem Consultants (Urbanisation, Industry and Waste Management), Prof Moses Inyang-Abia of the University of Calabar (Evolutionary Trends in Environmental Education), Michael Simire of EnviroNews Nigeria (Awareness Raising), Dr Babatunde Lawal of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (Environmental Education and Awareness Programme), Ako Amadi of the Community Conservation & Development Initiatives (Reducing the Risk of Environmental Disasters), Dr A. C. Anuforom of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (Weather and Climate Services for Environmental Disaster Management), Dr Ngeri Benebo of the National Environmental Standards & Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) (Evolving a New Institutional Mechanism for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development in Nigeria), Prof Matt Ivbijaro of Mattivi Nigeria Limited (Environmental Governance in Nigeria), Prof Margaret Okorodudu-Fubara of the Obafemi Awolowo University and Dr Tope Ako of the University of Hull, UK (Environmental Justice, Equity and Rights in Nigeria), Prof Olanrewaju Fagbohun of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (Law and Ethics from Pre-Colonial to Post-Colonial Era), Prof Anthony Ikpi of the University of Ibadan, Prof Adeniyi Osuntogun of Resource Integrated Development Foundation and Prof Chinedum Nwajiuba of the Imo State University (Economics of Managing the Nigerian Environment).
A team of civil society organisations is kicking against the proposed Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, saying that it will not deliver the urgently-needed solutions
Climate-smart agriculture. Photo: talkvietnam.com
We, the undersigned civil society organisations, hereby manifest our rejection of the proposed Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture to be launched at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Leaders’ Summit. This proposed alliance is a deceptive and deeply contradictory initiative.
Food producers and providers – farmers, fisherfolk and pastorlists – together with our food systems are on the front lines of climate change. We know that urgent action must be taken to cool the planet, to help farming systems – and particularly small-scale farmers – adapt to a changing climate, and to revive and reclaim the agroecological systems on which future sustainable food production depends.
The Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, however, will not deliver the solutions that we so urgently need. Instead, “climate-smart” agriculture provides a dangerous platform for corporations to implement the very activities we oppose. By endorsing the activities of the planet’s worst climate offenders in agribusiness and industrial agriculture, the Alliance will undermine the very objectives that it claims to aim for.
Although some organisations have constructively engaged in good faith for several months with the Alliance to express serious concerns, the concerns have been ignored. Instead, the Alliance is clearly being structured to serve big business interests, not to address the climate crisis.
We reject “climate-smart” agriculture and the Global Alliance for a number of reasons already articulated in previous efforts to interface with the promoters, including:
1. No environmental or social criteria
The final framework of the Alliance does not contain any criteria or definitions for what can – or cannot – be considered “climate-smart agriculture.” Industrial approaches that increase greenhouse gas emissions and farmers’ vulnerability by driving deforestation, using genetically modified (GM) seeds, increasing synthetic fertiliser use or intensifying industrial livestock production, are all apparently welcome to use the “climate-smart” label to promote their practices as solutions to climate change.
2. Carbon trading
The originators of “climate-smart” agriculture – the FAO and the World Bank – have a vision that “climate-smart” projects will be funded in part by carbon offset schemes. Many of our groups question the environmental and social integrity of carbon offsetting. Carbon sequestration in soils is not permanent and is easily reversible, and should be especially excluded from schemes to offset emissions. Carbon offset schemes in agriculture will create one more driver of land dispossession of smallholder farmers, particularly in the Global South, and unfairly place the burden of mitigation on those who are most vulnerable to, but have least contributed to, the climate crisis.
3. A new space for promoting agribusiness and industrial agriculture
Companies with activities resulting in dire social impacts on farmers and communities, such as those driving land grabbing or promoting GM seeds, already claim that they are “climate-smart.” Yara (the world’s largest fertilizer manufacturer), Syngenta (GM seeds), McDonald’s, and Walmart are all at the “climate-smart” table. Climate-smart agriculture will serve as a new promotional space for the planet’s worst social and environmental offenders in agriculture. The proposed Global Alliance on Climate-Smart Agriculture seems to be yet another strategy by powerful players to prop up industrial agriculture, which undermines the basic human right to food. It is nothing new, nothing innovative, and not what we need.
We do urgently need climate action! Unfortunately, the Alliance seriously misses the mark. Real climate solutions are already out there in farmers’ fields – based on agroecological practices and the relocalisation of food systems to effectively fight hunger. Instead of creating one more body for business-as-usual, governments, funding agencies, and international organisations should be taking bold action: committing to shift resources away from climate-damaging practices of chemical-intensive industrial agriculture and meat production and towards investment in and commitment to agroecology, food sovereignty, and support to small-scale food producers.
The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development concluded in 2008 that business-as-usual in agriculture is not an option; instead, a thorough and radical overhaul of present international and agricultural policies is essential to meet the challenges of the future.
We reject the Global Alliance as one more step by a small percentage of the UN’s total membership to promote industrial agriculture against all the evidence of its destructive impacts on people, biodiversity, seed, water, soils, and climate. It is merely one more attempt to block the real change needed to fix our broken food systems and our broken climate, change which instead must be based on food sovereignty and agroecological approaches for agriculture and food production and the effective reduction of greenhouse gases. International Organisations & Farmers’ Movements: ActionAid International, Centro de Estudios Internacionales y de Agricultura Internacional (CERAI), CIDSE, Coalition pour la Protection du Patrimoine Genetique African (COPAGEN), Corporate Europe Observatory, Earth in Brackets, Foro Rural Mundial (FRM), Friends of the Earth International, IBON International, Inades-Formation, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), International-Lawyers.Org (INTLawyers), GRET, LDC Watch, Mesa de Coordinación Latinoamericana de Comercio Justo, Send a Cow, South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), South Asia Peasants Coalition and Third World Network National Organisations & Farmers’ Movements: Abalimi Bezekhaya (Farmers of Hope), South Africa; ACRA-CCS Foundation, Italy; Action Contre la Faim, France; Africa Europe Faith & Justice Network (AEFJN), Brussels; Agrosolidaria Federacion el Tambo Cauca, Colombia; Alliance International sur les OMD (AIOMD), Niger; All Nepal Peasants Federation (ANPFa), Nepal; Antenne Nationale du Niger (AAIOMD-Niger); Asemblea Nacional Ambiental (ANA), República Dominicana; Asociacion de Prosumidores Agroecologicos “Agrosolidaria Seccional Viani” Colombia; Asociacion Nacional de Produtores Ecologistas del Peru (ANPE); Asociacion Viva Amazonica de San Martin, Peru; Association Malienne pour la Sécurité et la Souverainté Alimentaires (AMASSA); Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC); Beyond Copenhagen, India; Biofuelwatch, UK; Biowatch South Africa; Bolivian Platform on Climate Change, Bolivia; Campaign for Climate Justice Nepal (CCJN); Carbon Market Watch, Belgium; CCFD-Terre Solidaire, France; Centre for community economics and development consultants society (CECOEDECON), India; Cecosesola, Barquisimeto, Venezuela; Centre d’Actions et de Réalisations Internationales (CARI), France; Centre for Learning on Sustainable Agriculture (ILEIA), the Netherlands; Community Development Association (CDA), Bangladesh; Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), South Sudan; CONCEPT ONG, Sénégal; EcoFrut, Colombia; EcoNexus, UK; Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh (EquityBD); Family Farmers’ Association, UK; Farm & Garden Trust, South Africa; Farms Not Factories, UK; Féderation des Eglises Evangéliques des Frères (FEEF), the Central African Republic; Federacion Nacional de Cooperativas Agropecuarias y Agroindustriales de Nicaragua (FENACOOP); Find Your Feet, UK; Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN) Nepal; Forum des Femmes Africaines pour l’Education (FAWECOM), Comoros; Friends of Siberian Forests, Russia; Friends of the Earth – England, Wales & Northern Ireland; Friends of the Earth – Latvia; Fundación Caminos de Indentidad (FUCAI) Colombia; Fundación Lonxanet para la Pesca Sostenible, Spain; Fundación Solidaridad, Bolivia; Harvest of Hope, South Africa; Gramya Resource Centre for Women, India; Groupe d’Action de Paix et de Formation pour la Transformation (GAPAFOT), Central African Republic; Human Rights (HR) Alliance, Nepal; Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan (HUROB); INHURED International, Nepal; Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), USA; Instituto de Cultura Popular, Argentina; Jagaran Nepal; Jubilee South Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JSAPMDD), Philippines; Karnataka State Red Gram Growers Association, India; Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre, Nigeria; L’Association des Jeunes Filles Pour la Promotion de l’Espace Francophone (Membre du CNOSCG), Republic of Guinea; MADGE Australia; MASIPAG, Philippines; National Civic Forum, Sudan; National Federation of Youth Organisations in Bangladesh; National Network on Right to Food, Nepal (RtFN); Organización Casa de Semillas Criollas Atenas, Costa Rica; Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum (PFF), Pakistan; Partners for the Land & Agricultural Needs of Traditional Peoples (PLANT), USA; People’s Alliance of Central-East India (PACE-India); PHE Ethiopia Consortium; Plateforme Haïtienne de Plaidoyer pour un Développement Alternatif (PAPDA), Haïti; Plateforme pour le Commerce Equitable, France; Public Advocacy Initiatives for Rights and Values in India (PAIRVI); Red Ecologista Autónoma de la Cuenca de México; Red Nicaraguense de Comercio Comunitario (RENICC); Red Peruana de Comercio Justo y Consumo Ético, Perú; Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN); SADF ONG, Democratic Republic of Congo; Sanayee Development Organisation, Afghanistan; Secours Catholique (Caritas), France; SOCDA (Somali Organization for Community Development Activities); Sudan Peace and Education Development Program (SPEDP), South Sudan; Texas Drought Project, USA; Unión Nacional de Agricultores y Ganaderos de Nicaragua (UNAG); Unión LatinoAmerica de Technicos Rurales y Agrarios, Argentina; UK Food Group, UK; Vicaria del Sur, Diócesis de Florencia, Colombia; Voluntary Action for the fight against climate change and the adverse effects of Sulfur Diesel, (AVOCHACLISD), Burundi; World Development Movement, UK; and, Youth Network for MDGs, Madagascar
The Climate Change Summit has come and gone. The Summit was able to galvanise international action on climate change.
The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, told the gathering of over 120 world leaders who gathered in New York City that it has been a success. He said that event was a great and historic one, which never before had so many leaders gathered to commit to action on climate change.
Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General
The uniqueness of the summit is that the private sector and the civil society joined in ensuring that climate change is put at the centre stage of global discourse. It has also been said that climate change is another global terror that must be urgently addressed.
The Summit saw the launching of dozens of new initiatives including:
Commitments by the worldwide financial sector to mobilise $200billon for climate change in the developing countries.
Governments partnering with oil and gas industry to reduce methane emissions.
Commitment to halve deforestation by2020 and eradicate it fully the following decade.
A number of network initiatives by various countries and organisations.
The Summit participants were hopeful that the global Climate Conference in Paris in 2015 would agree to a binding climate deal. Ki-Moon’s post-summit comment gave hope to our future world. Let us look back on today as the day we decided – as a human family – to put our house in order to make it liveable for future generations.
The Summit in New York also witnessed other activities including the formation of Global Alliance for Agriculture of which Nigeria is actively involved.
The Summit has shown that the world can rise to what we can call a Climate Challenge.
By Prince Lekan Fadina (Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management & Environment)
Delegates from around the world will on Monday converge on Pyeongchang in South Korea for the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP MOP 7). The meeting will discuss and adopt further decisions to contribute to ensuring the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology and consider the issue of integrating biosafety into other relevant national initiatives to enhance further implementation.
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity
The Cartagena Protocol, an additional agreement to the Convention on Biodiversity, entered into force on 11 September 2003. To date, 168 countries are Parties to the Protocol. The Supplementary Protocol, an additional agreement to the Cartagena Protocol, was adopted in Nagoya, Japan in 2010. To date, 26 countries are Parties to the Supplementary Protocol. It will enter into force 90 days after 40 Parties have acceded or ratified it. The latest country to accede to the Cartagena Protocol and the Supplementary Protocol is the United Arab Emirates on 12 September 2014.
At the end of the five-day meeting, decisions of the Parties are expected to advance the implementation of the Protocol through their 10-year Strategic Plan for the Cartagena Protocol. Among the agenda items to be discussed are: financial mechanism and resources for the Protocol’s implementation; Supplementary Protocol; risk assessment and risk management; socio-economic considerations concerning LMOs; and the assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Protocol. The Parties will also convene a special session on the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol to review integration of biosafety into relevant
national development plans, other relevant national policies in line with the Strategic Plan for the Protocol.
Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Republic of Korea, Yoon Sang-jick, said: “We should seize this opportunity to redouble our efforts to promote further guidance for integrating biosafety into relevant national development plans, other relevant national policies and programmes and mobilise additional resources in our effort to implement the Cartagena Protocol.”
Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, said: “As we prepare towards the seventh meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, I call upon Parties to re-commit to the objectives of the Protocol as their contribution to the theme of the Pyeongchang meetings: “Biodiversity for Sustainable Development.”
With the launch of the first ever World Cities Day on October 31, 2014, The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has designated the month of October as Urban October.
Joan Clos, Executive Director, UN-Habitat
This is coming on the heels of two important milestones on the urban calendar, which coincide in the same month. On the first Monday of the month, October 6, the world will be commemorating this year’s edition of the yearly World Habitat Day. Uniquely, this year’s event will be followed by the celebration of the pioneer World Cities Day on the last day of the month, October 31. The series of celebrations, events and activities taking place in this context are all grouped together under the umbrella of Urban October.
Urban October, through the several initiatives on advocacy, outreach and communications that UN-Habitat promotes and convenes that month, will therefore present a unique platform for governments and partners to organise and promote actions and activities on sustainable urban development. Urban October is a month for raising interest on urban challenges and opportunities to the media and communications networks. It is the month for stimulating debates and moving forward commitments.
The theme for World Habitat Day (WHD) 2014 on Monday, 6 October 2014, is ‘Voices from Slums’. World Habitat Day 2014 campaigns to recognise life in slums and gives voices to slum dwellers for improving quality of living conditions in existing slums, as well as highlights the efforts done with the MDGs process. Governments, NGOs, private sector, academic and other institutions are encouraged to place current and past slum dwellers as protagonists of World Habitat Day 2014. Webstories, videos, photos, interviews and other stories will feed the campaign’s contents on social media, websites, media and other supports.
Urban Thinkers Campus will take place from 15 to 18 October 2014 in Caserta, Italy. The Campus is built on the outcomes of the deliberations of the Sixth and Seventh session of the World Urban Forum organised by UN-Habitat in Naples, Italy in 2012 and in Medellin, Colombia in April 2014. One month after the first Preparatory Committee for the Habitat III Conference, the Campus aims to gather urban thinkers and stakeholders to debate ‘The City We Need’, initiated by the World Urban Campaign.
World Cities Day (WCD) 2014, which will be commemorated on Friday, 31 October 2014, will be celebrated under the theme ‘Leading Urban Transformations’. WCD is expected to greatly promote the international community’s interest in global urbanization, push forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and challenges in urbanization and contribute to urban sustainable development around the world. The city of Shanghai, China will host the main celebration of World Cities Day while there will be local events worldwide.
Efforts to evolve a comprehensive but inclusive urban agenda for Nigeria will move into top gear in the federal capital Abuja next month, with the hosting of the country’s First National Urban Forum. The event is being held as part of activities commemorating World Habitat Day 2014.
Yari Kabir, National Programme Manager, Urban Development and Advocacy, UN-Habitat Programme Support Office (HAPSO) in Nigeria
The World Habitat Day is commemorated on the first Monday in October each year, in line with United Nations General Assembly Resolution 40/20A of 17th December, 1985. It is set apart for reflection on the state of cities and an assessment of progress made in efforts to ensure sustainable urbanisation and adequate shelter for all. This year’s commemoration at the federal level will however hold in Abuja on the 13th-14th October, as the first Monday coincides with a designated major public holiday.
The hosting of National Urban Forums at country level was conceived by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat), as a critical part of the preparatory process for the forthcoming third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), scheduled to take place in 2016. The Habitat III Conference is being convened as directed by United Nations General Assembly in line with the bi-decennial cycle that saw the hosting of Habitat I in Vancouver, Canada in 1976 and, Habitat II in Istanbul Turkey in 1996.
The Habitat III summit will reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urbanization, focus on the implementation of a “New Urban Agenda” and, build on the Habitat Agenda adopted during Habitat II in Istanbul in 1996. Already, Nigeria is supporting the preparatory process at the continental level to the tune of $3 million, through the Strengthening Partnerships for a New Africa Urban Agenda project.
Nigeria’s First National Urban Forum, which will be the highpoint of the 2014 World Habitat Day commemoration, is bringing together all key stakeholders in the housing and urban development sector to deliberate on and validate the work of consultants commissioned for the preparation of a National Habitat Report, among other activities.
The summit is coming on the heels of the inauguration of Nigeria’s National Habitat Committee by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Akon Eyakenyi, on 20th February, 2014 in Abuja.
The theme for World Habitat Day (WHD) 2014 is ‘Voices from Slums,’ which campaigns to recognise life in slums and gives voices to slum dwellers for improving quality of living conditions in existing informal settlements, as well as highlights the efforts made towards the MDGs process.
Five distinguished individuals and a corporate body are to be awarded the 2014 Right Livelihood Honorary Award, which honours courageous and effective work for human rights, freedom of the press, civil liberties and combatting climate change.
The awardees are: Americans Bill McKibben and Edward Snowden, Briton Alan Rusbridger, Pakistani Asma Jahangir, Basil Fernando from Hong Kong SAR and Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) of China.
Bill McKibben. Photo: Nancie Battaglia
Author, educator, environmentalist and co-founder of 350.org, McKibben is being decorated“for mobilising growing popular support in the USA and around the world for strong action to counter the threat of global climate change”.
He says: “This is a great honor but clearly it belongs mostly to the people who make up 350.org – it’s them, but above all the hundreds of thousands of volunteers in 191 countries, who have built the first global grassroots movement to deal with the largest crisis civilization has ever faced.” He added that the prize money would fund the work of 350.org and its partner organisations. Some money would be sent immediately to the Pacific Island activists who will blockade Australian coal ports in their traditional canoes next month.
“This recognition of our efforts comes at a perfect moment after the remarkable success of the People’s Climate March and as we start the strongest push yet against the fossil fuel industry and the politicians it has purchased.”
Snowden, the computer professional who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA), impressed the jury “for his courage and skill in revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance violating basic democratic processes and constitutional rights”.
Snowden’s word: “Being named a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award for my work in revealing the global system of mass surveillance that is monitoring all of us in secret without the consent of the public is a vindication, I think, not just for myself but for everyone who came before me to raise awareness about these issues. Any contribution that I have made has been a result of the efforts of so many other people working in journalism, in activism, in human rights community, the civil liberties community, the technical communities, who recognised long before I did what was coming and why it was so important to stop it.
“Now, initially I thought I would be setting out to do this alone and that the attacks against me would isolate me, but I am surrounded by more people than I ever have been. People from countries around the world, who speak many different languages, but who recognise that the meaning of resisting the violations of our freedoms that we see today is not that we have something to hide, but that we have something to protect – our rights. Because the list of freedoms that any society enjoys is always equal to those that we are ready to defend. On behalf of so many around the world, who have risked their lives and their freedom to resist unlawful and disproportional mass surveillance, I would like to thank you.”
Journalist and the editor of The Guardian of London, Rusbridger, bagged the award “for building a global media organisation dedicated to responsible journalism in the public interest, undaunted by the challenges of exposing corporate and government malpractices”.
Rusbridger’s reaction: “I am honoured to receive the Right Livelihood Award for the journalism of the Guardian, for the kind of journalism that we represent: journalism in the public interest, open journalism that is available to all and journalism that is seeking to remold and reinterpret journalism for the 21st century. I am also delighted that Edward Snowden has won an award, because I think he was a whistleblower who took considerable risks with his own personal freedom in order to tell society about things that people needed to know. And I think the combination of Edward Snowden and The Guardian show the value of journalism, what it can do, and robust journalistic institutions and how they can tell stories and defend them.”
Edward Snowden. Photo: The Guardian
Leading Pakistani lawyer, human rights activist and advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Jahangir, becomes the first Pakistani to be so decorated. She is being honoured “for defending, protecting and promoting human rights in Pakistan and more widely, often in very difficult and complex situations and at great personal risk”.
She submits: “This Award is not just for me but also for several people in our country who do human rights work. It is an encouragement for the younger generation to follow in the footsteps of those activists who came before them, who fought against oppression and for human dignity. Pakistan has often been portrayed in a negative way, and I am aware of its weaknesses. But it also has a brighter side, and that is the story of those who have struggled against oppressive regimes, and stood up for women’s rights, and for children, under extremely difficult circumstances.”
Human rights defender, Fernando, along with the AHRC, bagged the Right Livelihood Award “for his tireless and outstanding work to support and document the implementation of human rights in Asia”.
In a reaction, Fernando calls for a change at policy levels in strategies of poverty alleviation. Missing from poverty alleviation discourse, usually “is the cost that the poor have to pay, as a result of the absence of protection. (…) This absence is the non-existence of a public justice system capable of protecting the poor from the onslaught of predators in society.”
Besides funding legal support for Snowden, the Foundation announces that Jahangir, Fernando and AHRC will share the cash award of Swedish Kroner 1.5 million.
The 2014 Right Livelihood Awards were to be announced at the Swedish Foreign Office pressroom today (September 25), where the announcement has been taking place since 1995. But the Foreign Office has decided to cancel the press conference this year. However, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation has gone ahead to publish the news.
Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, said: “This year’s Right Livelihood Laureates are stemming the tide of the most dangerous global trends. With this year’s Awards, we want to send a message of urgent warning that these trends – illegal mass surveillance of ordinary citizens, the violation of human and civil rights, violent manifestations of religious fundamentalism, and the decline of the planet’s life-supporting systems – are very much upon us already. If they are allowed to continue, and reinforce each other, they have the power to undermine the basis of civilised societies.
“But the Laureates also demonstrate that the choice is entirely in our hands: by courageous acts of civil disobedience in the public interest, through principled and undeterred journalism, by upholding the rule of law and documenting each violation of it, and by building social movements to resist the destruction of our natural environment, we can turn the tide and build our common future on the principles of freedom, justice, and respect for the Earth.”
The Awards will be presented at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on December 1, 2014, hosted by the Society for the Right Livelihood Award in the Swedish Parliament.
Founded in 1980, the Right Livelihood Awards are presented annually in the Swedish Parliament and are often referred to as ‘Alternative Nobel Prizes’. They were introduced “to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today”.
Jakob von Uexkull, a Swedish-German professional philatelist, sold his business to provide the original funding. Since then, the Awards have been financed by individual donors. This year, there were 120 proposals from 53 countries. Presently, there are 158 Right Livelihood Award Laureates from 65 countries.
The Rockefeller Foundation on Wednesday in New York signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union Commission to promote increased cooperation between the two institutions in their efforts towards Africa’s progress.
H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, African Union Chairperson (left) and Dr. Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation (right), flanked by AUC and the Rockefeller Foundation staff.
The signing took place under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly, when H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, presented the African Union agenda 2063.
Popularly themed ‘The Africa We Want’, the AUC Agenda 2063 encapsulates the voice of Africa’s people and their aspirations for the next 50 years. It emphasizes inclusive growth, integration, community participation and good governance among many other ideals.
“The African Union Commission is an important partner of the Rockefeller Foundation. We have both worked alongside individuals and organisations across Africa for decades to support progress in many sectors. This agreement amplifies our shared vision for a strong, vibrant Africa,” said Dr. Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation.
Among the areas of greater collaboration for the two entities are Africa’s health, livelihoods, youth employment, food security, urbanisation and resilience.
Last year the AUC celebrated 50 years since the inception of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the AUC’s parent body, as the Rockefeller Foundation marked 100 years in philanthropy, with both organizations celebrating milestones in improving the lives of Africa’s people.
The agreement also comes as AUC announced 2014 the year of Agriculture and Food Security, an opportune time to strengthen ties with the Foundation, which currently has two Africa-wide initiatives focusing on reduction of food waste and spoilage, and securing farmers’ livelihoods.
Together, the Foundation and the AUC already have a number of initiatives in Africa that are aimed at improving the lives of poor and vulnerable people; one is the African Risk Capacity (ARC), a pan-African weather insurance scheme designed to help AUC member states withstand and recover from natural disasters. ARC currently has a 24 country membership, giving them access to a financial risk pool that uses advanced satellite weather surveillance and software which estimates and disburses immediate funds to these countries when hit by hazards like severe drought.
For over a century, the Rockefeller Foundation promoted the well-being of humanity throughout the world, a mission it pursues through advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity on one hand; and, on the other, building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses.
Climate Action Network (CAN) (a global network of over 900 NGOs working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels) and Global Call for Climate Action (GCCA) (an international network of diverse non-profit organisations working to mobilise civil society and galvanise public opinion in support of climate action), in a joint comment on the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit in New York City, stress that the forum showed a lot of positive signals ahead of Paris 2015
The UNSG’s Climate Summit in New York on Tuesday contributed to the growing sense that the fossil fuel era is ending and delivered some momentum towards an international climate agreement to be signed in Paris next year.
A small but growing number of countries joined UNSG Ban Ki-moon and actor Leonardo di Caprio to confirm the need to speed up the switch from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy, such as Samoa, Tuvalu, Costa Rica and Denmark. Other countries, like Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, Ethiopia and Iceland pledged to go carbon neutral by 2050.
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General
While the Summit produced positive signals and some money on the table for climate action, many governments came to New York today to merely restate what they are already doing. As the almost 700,000 people who joined the Peoples Climate marches over the weekend know, what they are already doing is not nearly enough.
“Leaders in New York, including US President Barack Obama, acknowledged they can no longer act against the will of the people. And on the weekend, the will of the people was made profoundly clear. Mums and dads, people of faith, progressive business leaders, union members and youth – all are already taking action in massive numbers, and they expect Heads of Government to join them and do more, now,” Climate Action Network director Wael Hmaidan said.
“Government leaders have the choice to lead the orderly transformation of our societies or to end up on the wrong side of history.”
China should be commended for signaling its intention to peak emissions as soon as possible. Such moves along with more ambitious actions by the US – which President Obama hinted at – could accelerate negotiations towards the global climate agreement due next year. We now need them to translate their positive rhetoric into concrete commitments – carbon cuts and climate finance for the world’s vulnerable nations.
Christian Aid’s Senior Climate Change Advisor Mohamed Adow said, “Those countries that are hawking old goods today have to go back to their capitals with a renewed determination to get their countries on the right path with the words of the Marshall Islands’, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner ringing in their ears, who said in the opening ceremony on behalf of civil society: ‘We deserve to not just survive. We deserve to thrive’.”
