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Lagos climate change policy underway

Michael Simire
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Lagos climate change policy underway

Bordering the Atlantic Ocean coastline in the south, Lagos State faces a considerable climate change challenge. Sea level rise (SLR) and flooding are having serious ramifications on the health and settlements of coastal populations, such as those at the Okun Alfa (Alpha Beach) community on the Lekki Peninsula.

Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State Governor
Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State Governor

Experts have estimated that 3.2 million Nigerians could be displaced from their homes by SLR, with over two million of these people living in Greater Lagos and other urban areas. Unique features of Lagos such as a high and rapidly increasing population, the flat topography, extensive coastal areas and a high water table, which in some areas of Lagos Island is less than 0.15m from the surface, are predisposing factors that further increase the state’s vulnerability to climate change impacts. Other potential climate change impacts on Lagos State include salt-water intrusion into aquifers and other fresh water sources, destruction of infrastructure by floods and storm surges, and increase in the incidences of water-borne diseases, among others.

At the same time, climate change does have opportunities that developing countries and states such as Lagos State can take advantage of. These include the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which is legislated under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol; Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs); and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus (REDD+).

Existing policies, programmes, actions and measures are insufficient to address the level of risk posed by climate change. Weak technical capacity and lack of appropriate institutional framework and governance instruments particularly at the national level are additional challenges pegging climate change response in the state. They are also some of the factors for poor participation by Nigeria in climate change opportunities such as the CDM.

It is against this back drop that the Lagos State Climate Change Policy is being developed. Stakeholders will this week to validate the draft policy document at a three-day forum at the instance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The rationale of the Policy is to guide the state and other stakeholders on the implementation of collective measures to address climate change impacts and causes through adaptation, mitigation and other measures, while assuring sustainable socio-economic development through harmonised and coordinated strategies, programmes and actions to combat climate change.

The Policy provides an integrated, harmonised and multi-sectoral framework for responding to climate change in Lagos State through adaptation, mitigation and other measures collectively referred to as “cross-cutting measures”. Some of the cross-cutting measures include education and training, research and development, technology development and transfer, finance, and mainstreaming and governance. Putting into consideration the differentiated impacts of climate change on different segments of the society, and the differentiated roles of women, men, youth, and the physically challenged, gender and other social perspectives have, according to the promoters, also been considered in the Policy.

Primary priority areas of this Policy, they disclosed, are climate change adaptation and disaster risk management, which will be supported by capacity building areas and pillars such as finance; technology development and transfer; education, training and public awareness; and information and knowledge management systems.

Climate change mitigation is said to be a secondary priority of the Policy. It was gathered that, regarding mitigation, the Policy recommends the implementation of measures that meet sustainable development needs of the state.

Climate change impacts on nearly all sectors of the economy but mostly on energy, water, agriculture and food security, biodiversity and ecosystem services (wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems, forests, wildlife, and tourism), human health, land use and soil, industry, human settlements, transport and other infrastructure. In this context, the Policy recognises the critical need for the development and implementation of integrated adaptation and mitigation projects to secure sustainable development of the State.

It is also aligned with the National Communications (NCs), which Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) use to communicate their status of implementing the UNFCCC related to vulnerability and adaptation, national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories by source and removal by carbon sinks, and potential mitigation actions. Nigeria submitted its initial National Communication to the UNFCCC Secretariat in November, 2003.

The Policy complements various international conventions, treaties and protocols on environment and natural resources. In particular, the Policy is in line with the United UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol (KP) as well as other key Conference of the Parties (COP) decisions such as the Cancun Agreements (COP 16) and the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (COP 17). The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to, according to the UN, “achieve stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner”.

Other related Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs) linked to the Policy that Nigeria is a Party to and affect Lagos State, include: the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITIES); the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat; the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs); the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer; the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; and the Basel Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, among others.

The Ministry of Environment (MoE) of the Lagos State Government will be responsible for the implementation of the Policy, working in close collaboration with other key line ministries. The Policy recommends that various implementation instruments be developed for its operationalisation. These include an elaborate State Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.

The Climate Change Department within the MoE shall coordinate and manage the implementation of the Policy so as to enhance synergies and minimise duplication of efforts.  It shall work jointly with existing relevant state and national governments’ agencies, departments and institutions as well as other agencies, departments and institutions that may be established in the implementation of the Policy. As a coordinating institution, the Climate Change Department shall be vested inter alia with mandates to design climate change strategies and plans, design relevant projects, promote the introduction of climate change in education curriculum, and initiate relevant climate change capacity building projects.

Besides establishing a state climate change governance framework to coordinate and harmonise the implementation of state-level climate change activities and initiatives, the Policy aims to identify priority adaptation action areas and roles of the state and other stakeholders to address climate change.

It will also identify priority mitigation action areas, while taking into account that poverty eradication and economic development are the overriding priorities of the state, and the roles of the state and other stakeholders to address climate change.

Apart from upholding capacity building efforts through education and training; public awareness; research and development; technology development and transfer; and information and knowledge management, the Policy will also promote climate change research and observations through monitoring, detection, attribution and model prediction to enhance climate change preparedness and disaster risk management.

State officials disclosed that a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework shall be developed as an integral component of the Policy implementation to ensure that Policy goal and objectives are achieved and priority actions are implemented in a cost-effective, coordinated and harmonised approach. The Climate Change Department in the MoE will develop tools and guidelines for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Policy.

Finally, the Policy will be reviewed every three years to take into account emerging issues, challenges, and trends on climate change at the local, national, sub-regional, regional and global levels including the dynamic international climate change policy debate.

How climate change is destroying the earth

Michael Simire
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A team of designers and researchers recently put together an infographic showing how bad climate change has gotten and how it’s contributing to the destruction of the planet.

 

Thanks to extensive research and noticeable changes in weather and storm prevalence, it’s getting harder to turn a blind eye to the reality of climate change. Since the Industrial Age spurred the increasing usage of fossil fuels for energy production, the weather has been warming slowly. In fact, since 1880, the temperature of the earth has increased by 1 degree Celsius.

Although 72% of media outlets report on global warming with a skeptical air, the overwhelming majority of scientists believe that the extreme weather of the last decade is at least partially caused by global warming. Some examples of climate calamities caused partly by global warming include: Hurricane Katrina, drought in desert countries, Hurricane Sandy; and Tornadoes in the Midwest.

These storms, droughts, and floods are causing death and economic issues for people all over the world – many of whom cannot afford to rebuild their lives from the ground up after being wiped out by a tsunami or other disaster.

Evidence also indicates that the face of the Earth is changing because of warming trends. The ice caps of the Arctic are noticeably shrinking, the ice cap of Mt. Kilimanjaro alone has shrunk by 85% in the last hundred years, and the sea levels are rising at the rate of about 3 millimeters per year because of all the melting ice. Climate change is also affecting wildlife – for instance, Arctic polar bears are at risk of losing their environment; the Golden Toad has gone extinct; and the most adaptable species are evolving into new versions capable of withstanding warmer water.

Despite some naysayers with alternative theories about why global temperatures are rising – including the idea that the earth goes through natural temperature cycles every few millennia – the dramatic changes in the earth’s atmospheric makeup suggests humans are to blame. In fact, 97% of scientists agree humans are responsible for climate change. Since the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels increased 38% because of humans, methane levels have increased 148%, nitrous oxide is up 15% – and the list goes on and on, all because of human-instigated production, manufacturing, and organizations and individuals work hard to promote an Earth-friendly existence, resistance to change is rampant and actions are slow. For instance, while the US Environmental Protection Agency is still working on collecting data to support development of greenhouse gas reduction expectations for businesses, most of their efforts feel more like pre-research than actual change. Other countries have made efforts – such as signing to Kyoto Protocol to reduce their 1990 emission levels by 18% by 2020 – but the only solution will require the whole world band together.

Steps anyone can take to reduce global warming include: driving a car with good gas mileage, or investing in a hybrid or electric car; switching from incandescent light bulbs to CFL or LED; insulating your home and stocking it with energy efficient appliances; recycling; and using green power available in your area.

The infographic below depicts what else the changing climate is affecting.

Climate change infographic
Climate change infographic

Video: Breastfeeding

admin
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Video: Breastfeeding

Pilot projects versus National Policy in the REDD+ arena

Michael Simire
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Pilot projects versus National Policy in the REDD+ arena

A recent workshop in Ethiopia reunited governmental, civil society and private sector stakeholders, from various countries across Africa, to discuss the linkages between local REDD+ projects and national REDD+ strategies. Dr. Josep Gari, a UNDP professional and the Africa advisor for UN-REDD who is based in Nairobi, was invited by the organisers (FCPF and the Government of Ethiopia) to intervene at the closing panel. This article assembles and elaborates his public reflections.

 

Gari
Gari

The interrelated challenges of forest conservation and climate-change mitigation led to the birth of REDD+, an environmental finance mechanism that is endorsed by international negotiations and agreements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The traction of REDD+ relies on the positive incentives, notably international climate-change finance, that developing countries would acquire against demonstrated achievements in reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and other forest-related activities. In order to be effective and lasting, REDD+ was originally conceived as a mechanism with a nation-wide scope, anchored to national-level policies, national implementation measures and public/private transformational investments. Such national scope would foster, achieve and demonstrate sustainable development with a social and environmental performance of magnitude. The national scope of the REDD+ mechanism is thus not arbitrary – it lays the basis for mainstreaming, impact and permanence.

In fact, defining the scope and scale of actions to mitigate climate change has been a central matter in international negotiations. The UNFCCC, through its Kyoto Protocol, enabled a dual approach: developed countries with a large legacy of carbon emissions were compelled to national targets of emissions reductions; whereas a number of “flexible mechanisms” allowed a project approach to climate change, notably in developing countries, consisting in the implementation of discrete, local interventions (the Clean Development Mechanism is a clear illustration). This project-based approach stimulated and engaged a myriad of entrepreneurs and non-governmental organizations, among others, into preparing and conducting numerous climate-change mitigation projects, from community-based actions to industrial innovations. This approach was appealing and became predominant, also permeating the REDD+ arena.

The project approach to climate-change affairs certainly nurtures experimentation and yields some benefits. But it is proving deficient to address the scale of the climate crisis and to deliver the UNFCCC goals, resembling more a therapy than a transformational endeavour to tackle the causes of the malady. Furthermore, stand-alone projects scarcely influence policy, while their long-term impact remains unclear, not to mention the risks of displacement of the emissions, particularly in the land-use and forest sectors. Accordingly, a second generation of instruments for climate change emerged after the Kyoto Protocol: REDD+ being the most paradigmatic of them. Their aim is national-wide schemes, engaging national policy as well as promoting national performance and safeguard measures. These second-generation mechanisms are meant to better foster transformations towards low-carbon and climate-resilient societies, connecting policy with action, and engaging large territories, all of which should serve the climate-change cause more resolutely.

National efforts for REDD+ are advancing in a number of countries, such as Costa Rica, the Republic of Congo, Viet Nam and Zambia. They prove complex and lengthy, which this is understandable since deploying innovative mechanisms nation-wide and reforming policies are major tasks. Conversely, local projects on REDD+ remain a tangible means to test innovations and to accomplish concrete results. In fact, REDD+ projects of diverse sizes and designs are advancing in several countries, such as Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Kenya and Tanzania. The investment phase for REDD+ also accepts pilot projects – as geographically discrete interventions – yet the underlying philosophy of REDD+ remains the achievement of country-wide performance and compliance with UNFCCC objectives and criteria (e.g., UNFCCC’s Cancun Agreements: Decision 1/CP.16). In fact, pilot projects for REDD+ are proliferating with determination, to the extent that they seem to be overcoming the very national REDD+ processes with which they should be integrated. While national REDD+ processes are obviously cumbersome and tend to create some fatigue, pilot projects attract the attention of many stakeholders for their concrete nature and for bearing fruits sooner. However, are pilot projects on REDD+ contributing to, aligning with, or rather alienating national policy for REDD+?

The reality is that most pilot projects for REDD+ are poorly connected to national-level policy processes, sometimes prevailing as “successful” ventures against the complexities and discredit of national governance. This disconnection can undermine the aspiration of the REDD+ mechanism, as set out in UNFCCC negotiations and agreements. Pilot projects for REDD+, no matter if well designed or even if earning carbon credits, will prove an insufficient effort if they do not influence national development policies and institutions. They will only have a punctual impact, and a likely ephemeral effect, whether on climate-change mitigation, on forest conservation or on enhancing local livelihoods. Furthermore, pilot projects often broadcast a disparity of methods in designing and implementing REDD+ activities, for instance when defining reference levels, carbon rights or benefit-sharing arrangements. Such disparity, although healthy in terms of experimentation, will later cause controversy: for instance, project beneficiaries may enter complaints, or even grievances, if they feel their project is more difficult or yields fewer benefits than another. Such disparity will also undermine the ability of governments – and their prerogative – to establish national standards and policy for REDD+.

REDD+ projects can, however, support national REDD+ processes well, through advocating REDD+, experimenting with REDD+, and creating a critical mass of practice on how to craft REDD+. Meanwhile, developing national policy is required to stimulate an orderly emergence of projects, providing them with common methodological guidance, endowing them with legitimacy, and embedding them into a national purpose. How could both approaches to REDD+ cooperate and conciliate with each other? These are crucial questions for countries and stakeholders to address in the REDD+ readiness phase. There is need for specific actions to build a cohesive interface between national policy and activities on-the-ground for REDD+, in order to avoiding a dispersion of approaches or a disruption of the essence of the mechanism.

A number of actions and measures are proposed to help bridge these two REDD+ trends – national policy processes and pilot projects – allowing them to feed into each other. They are: establishing a regular dialogue between governments and pilot-project actors; drawing up basic national policy/guidance for REDD+; establishing national REDD+ registries (as an institutional, managerial device for organization, monitoring and transparency of projects); and exploring the so-called jurisdictional REDD+ projects (which tend to blend a project approach with decentralized governance).

First, regular dialogue between governments and project actors is necessary in climate-change practice, not just on REDD+, in order to exchange views, disseminate lessons from the field, craft alliances and set common benchmarks. The innovative nature of many UNFCCC instruments and initiatives, compounded with the lack of a specific policy framework in the countries, require governments to establish a regular multi-stakeholder dialogue, as an interim step, in order to build policy and methodological coherence across the board. In addition, consulting pilot-project stakeholders (from project entrepreneurs to community participants) will provide governments with extremely valuable information and field experiences for the design of pragmatic national REDD+ strategies, including the REDD+ implementation infrastructure (e.g., governance measures, monitoring systems, required socio-environmental safeguards). Equally, the public advice of government, via the proposed multi-stakeholder dialogue efforts, will assist local projects, helping them to better align with national development policy, and providing them with sufficient legitimacy (especially when basic national policy or national standards on REDD+ are absent, or under development). Therefore, regular REDD+ forums that put governmental and project constituencies together are proposed, and not just to share information and perspectives, but also to agree on common approaches and basic standards for REDD+. Some efforts in this sense are ongoing: the government of Kenya regularly invites pilot-project stakeholders to national consultation events for REDD+ (in return, pilot-project engage in contributing with local insights to such national policy dialogue); Cambodia has hosted exchanges between pilot projects and national stakeholders to identify successful ways to resolve forest-related conflicts; and the national REDD+ coordinating cell of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has actively provided technical guidance and support to the design of a number of pilot projects for REDD+ across the country.

Furthermore, establishing basic national policy on REDD+ (or some sort of formal guidance from government) is recommended and increasingly required, more so as pilot projects proliferate. REDD+ is a new mechanism and thus countries may face a policy vacuum for it – to which project entrepreneurs respond with tailored approaches, which are not necessarily in the best interest of the nation. Hence some national-level guidance is eventually needed, for a number of reasons, namely: to better organize and orient pilot-project initiatives; to define national priorities (such as may be geographic priorities or deforestation drivers that require urgent attention from project interventions); to inject some consistency in the methods and standards used by pilot projects; and, not least, to federate local efforts towards a national goal. In Africa, Kenya and Nigeria intend to develop a policy note and a decree-like instrument, respectively, to address such policy vacuum on REDD+ and to better frame pilot projects and local actions. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has already enacted legislation on REDD+ to provide such policy direction: a Prime Minister’s decree endorsing the national REDD+ process and its national-level managing structures (2009); a ministerial decree defining the basic procedures to formalize REDD+ projects (2012); and the Council of Ministers adopting the national REDD+ Framework Strategy (2012). In addition, national REDD+ strategies – which are the pivotal REDD+ policy instrument – should ideally define the criteria, standards and priorities for pilot projects, so that all efforts in the country, at all scales, contribute towards a common (and measurable) performance objective.

A third proposed action is the establishment of a national REDD+ registry, which represents an effective system for a government to organize, guide and monitor project initiatives in their country. REDD+ registries are on-line platforms that facilitate that REDD+ projects and activities align with essential national standards, guiding them towards common national objectives, while ensuring transparency, consistency and quality in the REDD+ arena. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been the pioneer country in conceiving and establishing a REDD+ registry, backed by a ministerial decree, although it still has to become operational. It has provisions for an approval process, by government, when carbon credits are involved, in order to ensure national oversight and further transparency in any credit transaction (which is a new, delicate matter). Colombia also intends to establish a national REDD+ registry, more so in view of the volume of early action, project-based activity so far. In essence, national registration instruments, even if imposing some operational restrictions and requirements to project promoters, will actually enhance their legitimacy. Yet registries should be well designed, with both realism and pragmatism: if the registration criteria, national standards and approval process for REDD+ are too demanding or very strict, they will suffocate project initiatives and kill REDD+ at the grassroots.

A final remark goes to the consideration of the typology of pilot projects for REDD+. A recent innovation in REDD+ is the concept of jurisdictional REDD+ initiatives, where a decentralized or local government is closely involved in, or may actually lead on a REDD+ initiative. This seems an advantageous type of pilot initiative because it matches with a public administration entity, thus integrating better the multi-sector dimensions of climate-change action. In practical terms, this form of REDD+ approach blends better local action with public policy, and may actually become favoured for its mix of project and governance elements. In fact, guidance and methodologies for jurisdictional REDD+ projects are emerging in the voluntary carbon market community (e.g., VCS, ACR) in recognition to this new approach and its advantages. Brazil and Indonesia are advancing the jurisdictional approach to REDD+, which fits the ‘sub-national’ scale as endorsed in the UNFCCC agreements.

In summary, national policy and local activities on REDD+ are advancing simultaneously, but often in a disconnected manner, somehow unevenly. This can create disruptions, maybe contradictions, in climate-change mitigation efforts. However, both trends are necessary and can actually strengthen each other, creating valuable synergies. The deployment of specific measures is required to bridge national policy with pilot projects, ensuring that both strata are compatible and mutually reinforcing:  these measures range from routine dialogue to establishing registration systems, and from defining national standards for projects to allowing project lessons to inform national REDD+ strategies. This interaction, which may also become a healthy contest of ideas and methods, has started and should intensify. The desired outcome is the conciliation between the first and second generation approaches for climate-change action, probably getting the best of each on board. This will serve better to put into place the transformational policy and practices that the climate-change crisis urgently requires.

Desmond Majekodunmi: Our lives and those of generations yet unborn rely on healthy environment

Michael Simire
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Desmond Majekodunmi: Our lives and those of generations yet unborn rely on healthy environment

Desmond Majekodunmi is the chairman of the Lagos Urban Furniture and Animal Care Initiative, a non-government organisation committed to the preservation of natural resources and the environment. In this interview with Kayode Aboyeji, the electro-acoustic engineer-turned environmentalist who is also Member, Governing Council, of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), speaks about how he got into environmental management, how the country has lost most of its forest resources and failed to tackle desert encroachment due to government negligence, as well as why everyone must join in the battle against climate change, among other topical issues.

 

Majekodunmi
Majekodunmi

What inspired you into environmental management and nature conservation?

I started as an electro-acoustic engineer and, having been exposed to the Kenya terrain for several years where I worked with the Colombia Broadcasting Services, I was very impressed with the way the Kenyans used natural resources and environment to maintain healthy economy. Ninety per-cent of Kenya’s economy comes from agriculture and ecotourism.

After spending three years in Kenya, I decided to come back and try farming practice. Coming back to Nigeria, I knew nothing about farming but I hade a friend at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan who put me through a crash programme in tropical agriculture. One of the things they said when I told them that the land meant for the farming practice was on the Lekki Peninsula – I got a 50 hectares farm land from Lagos State – was that the land is delicate tropical coastal land and that I should do what they called agro-forestry and conservation. That meant I should maintain as much of the natural ecosystem that are there and not to disturb the soil so much.

So I followed the advice from IITA and maintained a lot of forest trees that were there, having a remnant of mangrove forest. After a couple of years that I started the farming, a group of people from the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) came for bird watching because the trees were there and because of that the birds were also there. I was very interested in these people coming and looking at the forest. And they now started to enlighten me about the need to protect the forest, that if there is no forest, there will be no birds; and, likewise, if there are no birds, there will be very little forest because they work together. They help each other and that it even goes beyond just forest, they said that if there is no forest, there will be no rain, there will be erosion and no fresh air, and there will be no oxygen; that you and I cannot live for more than five minutes without oxygen.

So, I became very interested in the NCF and I met some of their people; they were very enlightened people like Akintola Williams, Ambassador Dupe Alakija, Chief Philips Asiodu, Chief S.L Edu and Ola Vincent of blessed memory. I was privileged to learn a lot from these people and I am still learning from the likes of Philips Asiodu, our president. He is doing a wonderful job, and I saw that the people at NCF are doing some wonderful job and I started learning about the need to conserve the environment and nature; that everything we rely on for our life comes from the environment; it comes from nature, let alone having good economy like the Kenyans did through farming and ecotourism.

I saw that the NCF had done so many things, they helped to set up Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) which later became Federal Ministry of Environment; set up National Park System to be protecting parks all over the country; education system to teach children about environmental protection. They were able to put me through international Conservation organisations and I become more and more aware.

 

Including climate change?

About 15 years ago, we came across this issue of climate change. During that time at NCF, I assisted my wife (Sheila, of blessed memory) who was a brilliant singer in making an album/record called “Green Leaves.” It was all about the environment, the Mother Nature. We presented this record to His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburg, husband of the queen of England, who was very impressed. That was why we decided to create more awareness on the environment; that life depends on a clean environment, and we should keep the environment clean for the children and a good future.

Then, we heard about climate change and, as time went on, the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) was set up, and which has started turning in reports that if we continue in this way of putting greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere, that we are going to have global warming and that it has already started. And this global warming is going to affect the climate, as a result of its effect on climate there is going to be change in weather pattern, frequent types of weather occurrence, more cyclones, heavy rains, more deserts, climate will just continue changing.

Five years ago, they started sounding an alarm and said that the thing is really getting bad now, that we have already increased the part per million (PPM) of carbon dioxide which is the main culprit from 180 before the industrial revolution to now 350 ppm and that 350 ppm has caused almost a one degree global warming and it’s that one degree global warming that is giving us all the terrible weather conditions that we are seeing now and that we better be very careful not to allow this ppm to go beyond 400 ppm.

People started getting quite worried, people like Prince Charles, Al Gore, and various people in the United Nations, and of course our people like Philip Asiodu in NCF and Tasso Leventis. They started becoming very concerned, very worried that this is very serious and that we are already going to 360 ppm which is above average and this climate can only take so much.

So, I did a documentary at that for the Heinrich Böll Foundation run by the German Green Party on global warming. It was like a docu-drama trying to explain to our people who, unfortunately, have not benefit from an effective education system. We did this docu-drama to explain the worst case scenario. It showed the worst case scenario if the ice caps are melting, where Lagos will be and all the coastal cities will be under water. At that time the Lagos State Government was not happy with us at all. But, in fairness to them, they did a research and, after a few months, they realised that we are just telling the truth, showing them some data and they now became very progressive in this fight on climate change and one is very impressed with what Lagos is doing.

Then, just recently in the last couple of years, the whole issue has now became far more serious. They started warning that if we get to 400 ppm, which is like a threshold and if we crossed this threshold, there is no saying again whether we will be able to control this terrible monster called climate change.

 

In the light of that revelation, what do you suggest a developing country like Nigeria should do since, according to a school of thought, we are victims of what the developed nations did many years ago?

Exactly. It is terrible that we are just victims; they said that the carbon footprint of the whole of Nigeria is not even up to that of New York Cityalone. We are not the problem, but within our soil lays the solution. And that is why I’m so encouraged by the likes of Newton Jibunoh, the NCF, Action Right, Friends of the Earth and other NGOs they are doing a lot in terms of tree planting and afforestation, and we need to do a lot more because that is part of the solution.

Part of the solution is to massively regenerate our forest. We are in a tropical rainforest belt. Nigeria has already destroyed over 90 per cent of her pristine tropical rainforest through irresponsible logging, forest management and this is not the way God designed it. God designed it that the tropical forest are the lungs of the Earth, life belt upon which the Earth counts because the forest sequests carbon dioxide on a massive scale. Part of the solution is to regenerate our forest and to take these things very serious.

And one of the things we showed in our documentary is the life of our children. If we continue this way because we are pushing it to what is called the tipping point. If we continue this global warming in another eight to 10 years, the planet would have increased its temperature enough to spontaneously release of GHGs to be triggered off. What do we mean by that? We mean that places like Antarctic, where the polar ice caps are already threatening us with sea level rise which could cover the whole of Lagos and so many other coastal cities. Underneath, we have what is called permafrost; and underneath this permafrost is methane gas, millions and millions of tons of methane gas trapped under it.

And about 10 to 15 years ago, scientists started detecting that, at a certain time of the year; almost all of this methane gas will be released. Methane gas is 25 times a potent GHG than carbon dioxide even though it degrades quicker. It is a far more potent a GHG and what we are saying is, if you figure up the reach, it will make more of the permafrost to melt which could cause more of the gas to trip off in circle that you cannot stop, that is why they call it the tipping point.

And that is why we are now calling upon people. I believe that no matter how hard hearted we are as human being, no matter how wicked our soul may be, even the most hard hearted, greedy wicked men have something in common with the kindest men and women, and that is that we love our children. I believed that, I believe we do really love our children and we would not want to give a negative legacy to our children or what Prince Charles called a poisoned chalice.

Prince Charles launched the campaign to protect the Transylvania’s Forests project about four years ago and he said we need to expressly regenerate/re-grow rain forest and if we fail to regenerate and protect the tropical rain forest, we shall have lost the battle against climate change. He said we shall be bequeathing unto our children a poison chalice which in our language mean we go dey give our pikin a poison calabash, where poison dey inside.

I don’t believe any person in their right minds will want to bequeath a poisoned forest, a calabash poison, a poison planet that will go through one catastrophe to another. And we have already seen the warning signs, we have already seen the flood in Nigeria that we never experienced in our own life, we have seen the kind of hurricane hitting America, and we need to take cognisance of this warning signs and we ensure that as a nation we join together with our African brothers and go on a very strong campaign to regenerate and protect our forest.  Access the fund in a protest and binding it together and insisting at the point of single indictment to the face of the West to tell them you caused this problem with your pollution, you must stop this pollution.

 

You mentioned regeneration of the forest and one way by which this can be done is for government to play a regulatory role or monitor this activity. How will you describe government’s disposition to the protection of the environment?

In the past it was abysmal and dismal, like so many things in government, there was a big plan to fund the desert encroachment prior to the Abacha government, they started a huge tree planting campaign which was scuttled by the Abacha regime and the whole thing about planting trees died off, and the desert encroached relentlessly. If that plan had succeeded, we would probably have far less of the sort of insecurity that we have experience in the northern region. Because that plan failed was purposely scuttled by elements in government as at that time, who were stealing the money. Because of that millions of people became refugees in their own land, and when you are a refugee in your own land, it is not a nice thing; you are expected to grow up in a nice place where you have green pasture and your grandfather grew up there as well.

And there is a saying that a hungry man is an angry man. These young men are very angry but I would love to extend that saying to say that a man without water for him and his family is a mad man, and that is why we are seeing the kind of madness that we are seeing in this region, because there is no other way to describe the type of militancy that we are seeing in the North now, it is just abhorrent madness and a lot of it is borne out of terrible environmental degradation which could have been avoided if government had lived up to its role as the custodian of people’s security and interest had they protected the forest that were there and executed the desert plan.

The government has been exceedingly irresponsible in the past but we are now seeing at some time, from some governments and some elements in the Federal Government, that they do care and they would like to do something far more serious about the issue. Unfortunately, the signs we are seeing are not enough and the seriousness is not enough to address this problem that has been described by Ban Ki Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, as the most important issue facing mankind on this planet, and so also described by him as a crisis. If you look at the definition of the word crisis, you will not want to wish crisis unto even your worst enemy.

 

The World Environment Day is celebrated every year. What is the significance of the day and what do you expect the government to do?

Well, judging from time gone by and past editions, we celebrated the environment. World Environment Day is more of the day we celebrate nature and in the process of celebrating nature understand why we are celebrating nature and come to the realisation that our lives, and those of our children born and unborn rely entirely on a healthy environment. Science will only protect us for so long and science has its limitations. When the Americans saw hurricane Irene coming in New York, they knew exactly when it was coming, where it was coming, they used vast advanced technological data in the whole world. But with all their science and technology they could not slow down that hurricane for one second. So we should not be putting too much faith in science because science has its limitation.

 

Recently, the national security adviser to the President, Col. Dasuki Sambo (rtd), linked the current insecurity in the North and other problems to climate change and desertification. Do you agree with this?

I agreed entirely, and that whole concept started with a lecture that the NCF organised – the Chief S.L Edu lecture, where Ambassador Joy Ugwu came from the United Nations and delivered a lecture on climate change and the environment, the threat on food security, and it was a very good lecture. She just detailed it; some were alluded to in the past, that for God’s sake a man grows up in a man’s land green pasture with his flock, his father grows up there  and his great grandfather grows up there and is living a contented life until the climate changes and the place becomes too dry; a responsible government allowing people to remove trees without replanting the tree, the place turned to a desert, where he used to play as a small boy and his father used to enjoy as a small boy becomes dry, no water. He has nowhere to go, is looking for water and goes to places where there is water and becomes a threat to the people there, it is probably one of the primary causes of the insecurity that is going on there because a man without water becomes a mad man. The type of insecurity going on there is not as much as ideological as environmental degradation.

 

We are in the rainy season and the National Emergency Management Agency has warned communities in the flood prone to move to dry land. What is your concern about this, looking back to what we experienced last year in Nigeria?

Well again, we need to shine our eyes on the government of those states that are flood-prone. Last year, NEMA warned all the states that flood is coming but only two of those states reacted to the warning and were able to evacuate most of their people from the flood-prone zone. And it is not very difficult to know which area will flood and which area will not especially now that we have seen the flood. Any state government that justified their presence there would have made sure that they have very good record of where those floods took place.

Now the same agency that warned us last year is telling us again that this thing is going to happen in various states, there is absolutely no excuse now. Last year they could have probably had the excuse that they are ignorant of NEMA warning. Now, there is no excuse and the laws of nature, the wrath of God will surely rest upon the head of those various governments if they did not heed the warning which they have been given and people under their jurisdiction lose their lives or lose their livelihood. Then they are to blame and they will reap the laws of reaction if somebody loses his children as a result of negligence of those governors and governments because they have been warned and there is no longer any excuse again.

 

In the past 25 years or more, you seem to have shown commitment to the environment. What is the legacy that you would like to leave behind in this area?

Well right now, I have dedicated a portion of the farm I mentioned earlier as a park. I am working in collaboration with the Lagos State Government; we call it Lagos Urban Furniture and Animal Care Initiative (LUFACI). There are some very lovely ancient trees there, which will be used to educate school children, who will regularly visit the place to see how beautiful forest trees are and do some research there as well. It is also a place where Lagosians will be able to come and relax. I’m actually working on that right now and that is one of the things that, by God’s grace, I will be able to leave behind.

ERA to oil firms: Publish what you pump

Michael Simire
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ERA to oil firms: Publish what you pump

The impact of oil extraction is severe on the environment and threatens sources of livelihoods, sustainable development activists have said.

Ojo
Ojo

At a gathering held last week in Port Harcourt, River State, at the instance of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), participants declared that offshore oil exploration and exploitation in Nigeria is a major contributor to climate change.

They declared that the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and other government actors responsible for monitoring and enforcing regulations in the oil and gas sectors have failed in the discharge of their statutory responsibilities.

The participants at the workshop, with the theme: “Environmental Training and Capacity Building for Civil Society Groups on Offshore Oil Drilling, its Impact on Lives and Livelihoods and Channels for Engagement,” observed that although the impacts of oil extraction are visible and happening in our backyards, oil companies continue to deny responsibility for the degradation of farmlands, pollution of rivers and streams which the people depend on.

“Absence of effective metering systems by the corporations in Nigeria has deepened confusion on the actual volume of oil produced in Nigeria. A direct result of this is that there is no accountability and transparency in the oil industry,” declared the participants that comprised environmentalists, representatives of communities, women groups, the academia, civil society organisations (CSOs), government agencies and the media.

They further observed that offshore oil exploration and exploitation now accounts for 40 percent of the nation’s oil and gas activities, but that it is also fraught with more dangers and devastating environmental and livelihood implications. They lamented that civil society groups are still largely in the dark and have poor capacity on issues relating to offshore oil monitoring.

Consequently they recommended that while oil companies should publish what they pump, no new licences for offshore oil exploration and exploitation activities be granted to local or international oil companies.

The forum also maintained that oil companies currently operating in Nigeria put in place real-time and modern metering system to avoid ongoing oil theft, which they claim robs the Nigerian people of billions of dollars in oil revenues.

In a communiqué endorsed by the ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Godwin Uyi Ojo, participants declared: “All existing laws on oil extraction should be reviewed and amended to reflect the sovereign ownership of the land and the natural resources by the Nigerian people while guaranteeing strong provisions on transparency and accountability.

“That civil society groups continue to build synergy with relevant stakeholders including community groups for the effective monitoring of offshore oil exploration and exploitation. In addition, civil society and key stakeholders should deepen interest in offshore livelihoods and environmental issues as well as campaign against increased deep water blocks.

“Civil society should vigorously engage in advocacy targeted at the communities on the impact of offshore oil exploration and exploitation.”

In a related development, ERA/FoEN the same week in the Garden City launched a new campaign titled “Publish What You Pump” which aims to fill the gap in the present Publish What You Pay of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) processes.

The group stated: “Although the NEITI processes have been ongoing for nearly 12 years, it has largely failed to sanitise the Nigerian petroleum sector or reduced the level of corruption as Nigeria loses nearly 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day, costing the nation nearly $8 billion dollars per year.”

The initiative, according to ERA, will require that institutions such as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) TO set up appropriate guidelines for measuring oil and gas production as well as have the necessary tools to carry out their oversight functions.

Ojo said that the launch marks an important milestone in national and global advocacy to ensure good governance, transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector.

Video: TB/HIV Co-infection in Nigeria

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Video: TB/HIV Co-infection in Nigeria


Aminat Alli-Agboola Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS NIBUCAA as MIPA workplace Adviser and Project Assistant. Ibrahim is the Interim National Secretary of African Coalition on TB, Nigeria Chapter.

A boost to actualise clean cook stoves

Michael Simire
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A boost to actualise clean cook stoves

Stoves-300x189Efforts to reduce emissions of Short Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) were last week given a boost at an international meeting in Mexico City.

Members of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) approved a multi-million-dollar funding to support the more widespread uptake of high quality clean cookstoves that also cut soot or black carbon emissions.

Cutting emissions of SLCPs like black carbon, methane and gases known as HFCs could cut the rate of global warming by up to 0.5 degrees Celsius, save millions of lives and reduce crop losses by over 30 million tonnes a year.

The increased support for clean cook stoves, amounting to $1.4 million, will in part go to supporting regional testing centres to improve performance standards for clean cooks stoves and fuels.

Studies indicate that, depending on the design, choices of fuel and the conditions in which they are used, advanced coosktoves and fuels can play a key role in reducing emissions of SLCPs.

Funding will also be used to support a fund, known as the Spark Fund, to provide pre-investment funding to scale projects that reduce black carbon and SLCPs while also supporting outreach and education on the role that advanced cookstoves and clean fuels can play in mitigating emissions of SLCPs.

Radha Muthiah, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which is a member of the CCAC, said:  “The Alliance believes that this work to support standards and testing for black carbon, and pre-investment grants for entrepreneurs to scale projects that reduce SLCPs, will pay tremendous dividends for the climate and women and children’s health in the developing world.”

At the end of the meeting, hosted by the Government of Mexico, an additional $1.6 million was also awarded to the Coalition’s brick kilns initiative.

There are an estimated 100,000 small-scale brick-making facilities across Africa, Asia and Latin America some of which have designs that date back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Many are inefficient and burn highly polluting fuels that emit significant levels of black carbon and other harmful pollutants into local communities and to the atmosphere.

The increased funding will generate various activities. In Asia, the aim is to make governments more aware of the pollution and health issues surrounding old-fashioned brick kilns while also assisting brick-makers to identify cleaner designs and technologies while providing training on how to monitor emissions improvements.

Beatriz Cardenas of the Government of Mexico’s National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change, which is one of the leaders of the Coalition’s brick kiln initiative, said: “In Colombia, for example, the support will allow the government to carry out an inventory of black carbon emissions as a first step towards managing them down and as a model for other countries. In Mexico, we plan to generate a pilot certification system that will identify bricks made from efficient, less-polluting kilns.”

The Coalition also approved an additional US$400,000, building on nearly $2 million worth of funding to assist cites reduce methane emissions from landfills.

The Coalition is currently working with eight cities including Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Cali (Colombia), Vina del Mar (Chile), Accra (Ghana) and Dhaka, (Bangladesh).

The additional funding will bring to around 24 the number of cities the Coalition is working with on plans to capture landfill emissions to compost organic waste.

Another aim of the Coalition is to avoid the widespread uptake of Hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) as replacement chemicals in for example refrigeration systems. Studies indicate that if HFCs became widespread by 2050, they could produce emissions equivalent to all today’s transport emissions.

As part of a wider initiative on HFCs, the Coalition today agreed funding of over $100,000 to carry out a feasibility study in the Maldives on how to provide city-wide cooling systems that avoid high global warming potential HFCs.

Helena Molin Valdes, who heads the CCAC Secretariat hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “The decisions taken this week in terms of moving forward on a range of initiatives sends a good and strong signal to the Ministerial Meeting of the Coalition members scheduled for Oslo, Norway in September.”

“The Coalition and its initiatives are certainly moving forward at a good rate and there is a real and tangible sense of enthusiasm and ambition to make a difference. We are confident that the Ministerial session can act as a further catalyst to take forward the common and collective aims to fast track action on SLCPs and bring health, climate and food security benefits to millions of people,” she added.

The Coalition also agreed to a second phase of a programme that is assisting countries to work out how best to rapidly reduce SLCPs emissions across their economies and calculate the likely benefits.

The SNAP initiative began work in January, and has already supported four countries – Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana and Mexico – to plan early and effective action to reduce damage to health, crops and climate.

Three inter-governmental meetings have already been held – in Colombia, Ghana and Thailand – that highlighted the benefits of the programme to 250 representatives of governments and other organisations from 48 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The CCAC allocated a further $1.9 million which will allow the initiative to be rolled out to support further countries around the world.

The International Working Group of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) was held in Mexico City from 22-25 July 2013.

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants is a partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, the environmental community, and other members of civil society. Launched by six countries and the UN Environment Programme in February 2012, it now consists of 64 partners, including states and key international institutions and organisations.

Between Coronavirus and bats

Michael Simire
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Between Coronavirus and bats

The Lagos State Government last week alerted residents to the existence of a new virus in the world known as Coronavirus, which officials described as deadly. Indeed, the dangerous pathogen is believed to have claimed about 50 lives since it was first discovered in 2012. In full, it is referred to as: “Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus” or MERS-CoV.

BatInfection with the novel virus has been diagnosed in 90 patients so far, over half of whom have died. In severe cases, patients develop pneumonia and acute kidney failure. All cases so far are – sometimes indirectly through infected family members or close contacts – connected with the Arabian Peninsula.

State officials have thus called for the observance of a high standard of personal and environmental hygiene in order to reduce the risk of infection as, according to them, there is no specific treatment for illnesses caused by the virus.

State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who gave the warning in Lagos, noted that the ways Coronavirus is spread have not been extensively studied but confirmed that it could be transmitted easily from one person to another through coughing and sneezing, close contact such as touching or shaking the hands of an infected person and touching one’s mouth, nose or eyes after touching contaminated objects or surfaces.

Idris explained that human Coronavirus usually causes mild to moderate upper respiratory tract illnesses and can progress to severe respiratory illness and pneumonia, particularly in the aged, young and already ill people, adding that its symptoms include running nose, sore throat, shortness of breath and fever.

He urged residents to suspect Coronavirus in people that develop acute respiratory illnesses with a history of recent travel to areas where the virus has been reported and not responding to appropriate treatment for the listed complaints or a close contact of a symptomatic traveller to areas where the virus has been reported.

He said: “There is no specific treatment for illnesses caused by Coronavirus. Most people with Coronavirus will recover on their own and they may require supportive treatment, which includes staying at home, resting and drinking a lot of fluids. However, those that progressed to severe distress will need to be admitted into the hospital for specialised care.”

The commissioner noted that the risk of infection of the virus can be reduced if people observe a high standard of personal and environmental hygiene by often washing the hands with soap and water; not touching the eyes, nose or mouth frequently; avoiding close contact with people who are sick; ensuring that objects used by the sick are sterilised; and avoiding being in an overcrowded place.

Idris therefore enjoined travellers on holy pilgrimage, particularly to Makkah, to get vaccination against meningitis, yellow fever and flu, while adhering to the precautions earlier mentioned.

He said that pregnant women, the very young, the elderly and the very sick who intend to go on pilgrimage should postpone such a trip.

“You can help protect others by staying at home while you are sick, avoiding close contact with others, covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, keeping objects and surfaces clean and disinfected,” he admonished.

The commissioner advised health workers to be alert, wear personal protective equipment, observe universal basic precaution when attending to suspected or confirmed cases and report same to any local government or council development area nearest to them or the state Ministry of Health.

However, a discovery in the faeces of a South African bat may have shed some light on the origin of the virus.

According to a study published in the journal “Emerging Infectious Diseases,” scientists from the universities in Germany and South Africa have now detected a virus in the faeces of a South African bat that is genetically more closely related to the Coronavirus than any other known virus. The scientists therefore believe that African bats may play a role in the evolution of virus’ predecessor viruses.

A collaboration of researchers from the Institute of Virology at the University Bonn, Germany, the University of Stellenbosch and several other South African institutions have recently found evidence that MERS-CoV could possibly originate from bats occurring in southern Africa. The South African scientists, headed by Prof. Wolfgang Preiser, tested faecal material from a total of 62 bats from 13 different species for Coronaviruses. In collaboration with their colleagues in Bonn, headed by Dr. Jan Felix Drexler, they investigated the genetic material of the viruses that they found.

In a faecal sample from a bat of the species Neoromicia cf. Zuluensis, they found a virus that is genetically more closely related to MERS-CoV than any other known virus. They believe that MERS-CoV may originally come from bats and may have reached the human population via other animals acting as intermediate hosts.

This finding was made in one individual bat only, but nevertheless serves as an important pointer. When searching for the origin of MERS-CoV, Africa should be taken into account, in addition to the Arabian Peninsula. This work is as important as searching for treatment, because once the origin and modes of spread are known, the risk for human beings can be minimised. Further studies of bats and potential interim hosts are urgently needed to elucidate the origin of MERS-CoV.

CCDI, AAP scheme seeks to generate power from waste

Michael Simire
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CCDI, AAP scheme seeks to generate power from waste

The second stage of a pilot project entitled “Energy Generation from Waste – A Locally Based Livelihood, Resource Protection and Adaptation Project” has been completed in a local community in Lekki Local Council Development Area in Lagos State. It involved operation, training and testing for optimisation activities.

DSC01260It is being supported by the Japanese government-sponsored-African Adaptation Programme (AAP), being executed by the Department of Climate Change of the Federal Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the project is being managed by Community Conservation and Development Initiatives (CCDI).

According to Kofo Adeleke of CCDI, the aim is to establish a locally-based integrated waste management strategy to reduce waste, generate energy and improve livelihoods, using a small scale bio digester system to convert organic waste, using a 10KVA generator, into electricity and fertiliser.

She disclosed that the bio digester was locally fabricated by Midori Solutions and was delivered to the Ebute Lekki community site in February.

Her words: “It is now operational and generating electricity; being fed with waste from the local communities on a daily basis. The waste is mainly fish and kitchen waste, and grass and water hyacinth; the fish is the most potent biogas generating source of waste. Apprentices drawn from the local community have been trained to operate it. The biogas composition has been tested to show the ratio of methane to biogas and efforts are being made to source for greater quantities of fish waste from the community.

“Energy generation typically generates greenhouse gases (GHGs) which affect the climate and discussions on waste management and climate change are often centred on how to generate energy from waste on the basis that waste can provide a source of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, community-based waste management has widespread economic and environmental implications in terms of job creation, providing low carbon energy and keeping the environment clean and healthy. This pilot project aims to highlight a method of reducing carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate climate change and to maximise economic opportunities in the transition to a low carbon society.

“This project also includes a greening component where a local playing field is being secured for the use of present and future generations. Lekki is fast developing and needs to secure recreational spaces before they are totally swallowed up by development. The field has been levelled and grass planted, with trees and hedges planted to delineate the perimeter.”

She states that, during the third stage, a gas generator will be purchased for the generation of electricity and various options for its use will be tested such as a grinding machine facility, a barbers shop, battery charging kiosk and a fish cooler.

“A workshop will take place where all of these options will be discussed with community members as well as the choice of community-based system of management to be established and the role of the local government. All of this is to be done in preparation for the handover of the bio digester and the playing field to the community,” Adeleke points out.

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