The marked decline in Shell’s global profits in 2013 compared with previous years and the imposition of a N1.8 trillion fine on the company for the December 2011 spill in the Bonga Deep Offshore Oil field are twin indicators that the company’s days of impunity are over, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has said.
Shell had posted a 39-per cent slump in annual net profits, two weeks after shocking the global market with a profit warning. It blamed high exploration costs, pressures across the oil industry and disruption to Nigerian output for the slump.
The company was also slammed a N1.84 trillion fine by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) recently for the Bonga spill incident which occurred on December 21, 2011.
Shell had claimed that some 40,000 barrels of crude leaked into the Atlantic Ocean from its Bonga Deep Offshore Oil Fields while environmentalists and the local communities that were impacted said the spill volumes reported by the company did not represent the actual volumes which were significantly higher. While Shell was busy lying to the global community that the spill had naturally thinned out due to chemicals and dispersants it deployed, fishermen within the Qua Iboe Oil Fields and communities near the spill site reported unusual quantity of oil sheen in their waters.
At a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, NIMASA calculated a total of $6.5 billion (about N1.04 trillion) as compensation to be paid to the communities affected by the spill.
NIMASA boss, Patrick Akpobolokemi, said that Shell tried as much as possible to frustrate the agency’s moves to get to the site of the spill. On its part, NOSREA fined Shell $5 billion (about N800 billion) for the oil spill incident.
In a statement issued in Lagos, ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Godwin Ojo, said: “The fines imposed on Shell by NIMASA and NOSDRA and the drop in Shell’s global profits are victory for all environmental justice groups fighting for justice in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Shell cannot continue to ruin the environment, violate the rights of local communities, dodge responsibility and then expect to rake in mega profits from the same communities.
“We commend the monitoring agencies for imposing these fines on a company with a track record of dodging responsibility. The imposition of fines on Shell here in Nigeria, and the plummeting of its global profits are interlinked going by the fact that Shell has consistently not owned up to its ecocide in the Niger Delta. It remains cocky, burying its head in the sand and expects mega profits. That era is over.
“We have said it consistently that Shell has refused to be regulated. It has inadvertently arrogated to itself the role of a regulator that wants government agencies that have that statutory responsibility to turn a blind eye to its environmental crimes that have ruined livelihoods. This is totally unacceptable.
“Shell will continue to face problems if fails to respect the rights of local communities to a safe environment. It should promptly pay this fine and stop ignoring the laws of Nigeria. In solidarity with local groups and communities that suffer the impacts of the company’s recklessness we insist that enough is enough. Shell’s days of reckoning are here.”
Nigeria faces a renewed risk of losing many children this year to vaccine preventable diseases, arising from potential vaccine stock out.
In 2013, Nigeria experienced a major measles vaccine stock out resulting in the occurrence of 57,892 measles cases with 348 deaths. In 2012, the number of reported measles cases was 11,061, with 126 deaths. This represents more than 500 percent increase in the number of measles cases from 2012 to 2013.
Indeed, the reported number of measles cases in 2013, was the highest in the last six years. Most (78 percent) of the 2013 measles cases occurred in children between the ages of nine and 59 months. Significantly, 88 percent of the children coming down with measles had not received a single dose of measles vaccine. With the measles vaccine stock out in 2013, our national measles coverage rate of 42 percent, about half of the coverage rate of 80 percent for all vaccines, recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO.
Nigeria also has the largest population of people in Africa at risk of contracting Yellow Fever; yet vaccine coverage was at an alarmingly low rate of 35% in 2012; also as a result of stock out of the Yellow Fever vaccine. Vaccine stock outs are regular and frequent features of health care delivery in Nigeria. In 2013, there were stock outs of the BCG, Hepatitis B and Yellow fever vaccines at various times during the year1. According to the October 2013 edition of the Routine Immunization and Logistics Feedback, published by the NPHCDA, the anticipated stock out dates for EPI vaccines are – DTP and Measles (January 2014), BCG and HepB (February 2014), TT (March 2014), OPV (April 2014) and the DPT+HepB+Hib combo (May 2014).
We had exhausted our stock of yellow fever vaccine since December 2013. While some frantic efforts have been made to procure more vaccines, the current stock level of vaccines will be completely depleted by March/April 2014. With the 2014 budget yet to be approved by the National Assembly, the Federal Government may not be able to release funds on time to procure vaccines needed for the rest of the year.
For some vaccines, it takes up to six months or more between placing an order and delivery. It is therefore crucial that funds are released on time to ensure that we do not experience vaccines stock out and shortages. Delay is not only dangerous but deadly to the 6-7 million annual cohort of Nigerian children, left unprotected in the absence of vaccines. Vaccine preventable diseases still account for about 40 percent of all childhood deaths in Nigeria.
Vaccines are fragile and cannot be kept on shelves like biscuits and pure water. Vaccines are manufactured on demand; the needed quantity ordered and paid for far in advance of the anticipated time or period of use. To compound the problem, Nigeria imports every dose of an estimated 130 million doses of vaccines needed to fully vaccinate our annual cohort of 6-7 million new born Nigerian children. It is indeed a matter of shame and distress for the so called GIANT OF AFRICA to remain so blatantly impotent on this issue of vaccine production.
It is about time for Nigeria to seriously, vigorously and efficiently pursue the manufacturing of some vaccines locally. The current feeble and half-hearted attempts must give way to a purposeful policy. Given the way our government works, it may be more efficient to fully and completely engage the private sector in the production of vaccines in Nigeria.
Government should then play a regulatory role in ensuring that safe and efficacious vaccines are produced. Past government involvement in vaccine production has followed the well-known patterns of vehicle assembly plants and power generation disasters. We dare not involve the ponderous hands and grubby fingers of government in such a delicate project of vaccine production.
Finally, The Federal Government needs to amend the national policy, to put immunization funding on first-line charge in the annual budget; which means that funds for immunization can be accessed directly once the national budget has been passed.
By Oyewale Tomori (President, the Nigerian Academy of Science)
In an apparent bid to curb the spate of crime, the government of Lagos State has activated over a thousand closed-circuit television (CCTV) security cameras, in addition to existing ones.
Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
By implication, Lagosians will be continuously monitored by in-house television cameras but, thankfully, not by personal audio microphones; as it is the case in Big Brother, the popular reality game show that features a group of people (or housemates) living together in a large, usually specially constructed house.
During their time in the house, Big Brother housemates are isolated from the outside world and are not commonly aware of outside events. However, that is not the case for residents of the overcrowded city of Lagos who are neither housemates nor placed in an enclosure.
Nonetheless, Governor Babatunde Fashola, in collaboration with the Federal Government, has deployed the cameras in strategic places across the state. Additionally, the newly-reconstructed Isopakodowo Market in Oshodi is equipped with 64 CCTVs to provide security for the facility.
On the necessity of CCTVs to the state’s security, Fashola said that besides the fact that it has become a common practice in modern cities such as London in the United Kingdom, the rise in the population of Lagos far outstrips any increase in the number of police officers in the foreseeable future.
“So we are going to continue to rely on about 33,000 police officers spread over eight area commands and 84 divisional headquarters, to police 18 million people,” he lamented, pointing out that, on the average, it amounts to a ratio of one police officer to 600 people.
During the 1990s, CCTV surveillance technology was an increasingly important and visible part of crime and nuisance prevention measures in town and city centres throughout the UK. The Home Office, police forces and many local authorities expressed support for CCTV and they often report reductions in reported crime levels and in the fear of crime following the introduction of the devise.
However, there are concerns about its cost-effectiveness and about a number of legal, personal privacy and civil liberties issues.
The first CCTV system was installed by Siemens AG at Test Stand VII in Peenemünde, Germany in 1942, for observing the launch of V-2 rockets. The noted German engineer, Walter Bruch, was responsible for the technological design and installation of the system.
In the U.S., the first commercial CCTV system became available in 1949, called Vericon. Very little is known about Vericon except it was advertised as not requiring a government permit.
The earliest systems required constant monitoring because there was no way to record and store the information. Recording systems were later introduced, when primitive reel-to-reel media was used to preserve the data, where the magnetic tapes had to be changed manually. It was a time consuming, expensive and unreliable process; the operator had to manually thread the tape from the tape reel through the recorder onto an empty take-up reel. Due to these efforts, video surveillance was rare. Only when VCR (video cassette recorder) technology became available in the 1970s, which made it easy to record and erase information, did video surveillance start to become much more common.
In September 1968, Olean, New York was the first city in the United States to install video cameras along its main business street in an effort to fight crime. From the mid-1990s on, police departments across the country installed an increasing number of cameras in various public spaces including housing projects, schools and public parks departments. Following the September 11 attacks, the use of video surveillance became a common occurrence in the country to deter future terrorist attacks.
The CCTV later became very common in banks and stores to discourage theft, by recording evidence of criminal activity. Their use further popularised the concept. The first place to use CCTV in the United Kingdom was King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
In recent decades, especially with general crime fears growing in the 1990s and 2000s, public space use of surveillance cameras has emerged, and Lagos in Nigeria is not an exception. Experiments in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, led to several larger trial programmes later that decade.
These were deemed successful by the government, and paved the way for a massive increase in the number of CCTV systems installed. Today, systems cover most town and city centres, and many stations, car-parks and estates.
In fact, a report, which claims that the average person on a typical day would be seen by 70 CCTV cameras, estimates that the number of cameras in the UK is 1.85 million. A survey of Scottish local authorities identified that there are over 2,200 public space CCTV cameras in Scotland.
Against the backdrop of strong anecdotal evidence that CCTV aids in detection and conviction of offenders, and plays a crucial role in tracing the movements of suspects or victims, it is expected that the device will be widely utilised in the coming years not only in Lagos, but also in other parts of the country.
Left to Right: Dean, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Prof. Ade Adediran; Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Ayobami Salami; Principal Partner, Femi Olomola and Company, Dr. Femi Olomola; Prof. (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe; Chairman, Committee of Deans and Dean, Faculty of Science, Prof. Wasiu Muse; representative of the Director, Physical Planning and Development Unit, Mr. Adebayo Owolabi; and Provost, College of Health Sciences, Prof Adesegun Fatusi, during the inauguration of a Stakeholders’ Forum on the university’s master plan review project, in Ile-Ife, Osun State …recently
The spatial configuration of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, is set for a comprehensive overhaul, courtesy of a 15-year project that will see a more effective landuse pattern in the show-piece Ivory Tower.
Designed by Israeli architect, Arieh Sharon, the 52-year-old institution that boasts of 13 faculties and two colleges is endowed with modernist architecture. The campus has an eye-catching landscape built on about 5,000 acres (20 km2) of a total of 13,000 acres (53 km2) of the land owned by the university.
The existing master plan of the university was prepared in 1981 while the first master plan was done in 1961. Then, the main core of the university’s master plan focused on campus development and its original plan was modified in 1963 and 1969 to accommodate growth of new facilities and increased density. The university’s existing land use system comprises 11,855 hectares of land. Out of it, 5,605 hectares was captured in the first master plan and additional 6,250 hectares was acquired sometime in 1973 for further development.
Its halls of residence include: Awolowo Hall, Angola Hall, Alumni Hall, ETF Hall, Fajuyi Hall, Ladoke Akintola Hall, Moremi Hall, Mozambique Hall and Murtala Muhammed Hall.
However, the university authorities have inaugurated a 200-member stakeholders’ forum to review the institution’s master plan, a venture that will expose the extent of existing development, while assessing the adequacy and physical condition of residential, academic, commercial and recreational environment.
The stakeholders are expected to make inputs into the proposed master plan review project being undertaken by the project consultant, Messrs Femi Olomola and Company (FOC). The town planning and development consulting firm has commenced an inventory of the existing services, facilities, utilities and the changes brought by trends in development activities. The outfit is also formulating concrete proposals aimed at evolving harmonious and aesthetic environment conducive to various activities taking place within the university community for a period of 15 years.
Essentially, FOC is expected to highlight the challenges and potentials of the sectors and sub-sectors in the campus, carry out detailed studies of physical, economic, socio-cultural, engineering, aesthetic and ecological components and other subjects relevant to the development of the university.
Speaking at the inauguration of a Stakeholders’ Forum and the Presentation of Findings in the on-going master plan review project, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Ayobami Salami, urged the participants to contribute meaningfully to ensure that the university produces an enduring master plan.
He said the project has been on along the vision of the founding fathers but, because of the dynamics of the time, “there is a need to review the master plan to see what can be taken or re-modified to ensure that Ife, remains Great Ife.”
Director, Physical Planning and Development Unit (PPDU), James Ayodeji, who was represented by Adebayo Owolabi, explained: “With rapid population growth and changes experienced by the university over the years as well as pressure which has led to the overstretching of academic, social, economic and infrastructural facilities, it became a necessity to undertake a review that will accommodate changes besieging the old plan.
“Our expectation is that after these stakeholders’ consultations, accelerated actions will be taken by the consultant to conclude the project. These include recommending strategies, policies, actions and concrete proposals aimed at improving the existing situation taking into cognisance of the university strategic plan, the university environment policy and the National University Commission (NUC) minimum standards for preparing master plan of universities.”
According to the Principal Partner at FOC, Dr Femi Olomola, the firm is adopting citizens’ participatory approach in the project. “The entire university community will have a say at every stage of the project so that they will see the end product as our master plan and not their master plan,” he said.
Olomola disclosed that members of Stakeholders’ Forum were selected from all the sectors/units within the university such as Head of Departments, Provosts, Directors of units and representative of the Vice Chancellor office, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Regional Centre for training in Aerospace Surveys.
He added that the forum members are expected to comment on findings from the studies conducted on all existing land use systems and infrastructure within the university, which will form the basis for other stages of the project. The forum will also offer recommendations on the sources of assistance in terms of funding to implement the revised master plan.
Olomola further said the project was delayed due to some unforeseen circumstances such as getting the survey plan of the 6,250 hectares of land acquired for OAU in 1979, delay by consultants to conclude studies, trade union strikes, and getting copies of the university’s up-to-date base map.
According to him, while preparing a campus master plan, his firm is fond of:
Laying emphasis on the choice of primary access and approach roads to the core of the institution;
Locating the institution’s academic/administrative core as a central focus sufficiently remote and protected from highway traffic nuisances;
The use of open spaces and green verges as connectors and separators of buildings and land as well as to create openness and screening effects on some activity areas and building; and,
Minimising potential traffic conflicts between pedestrian and vehicular movements and ensuring a safe and relaxed environment for the academic/administrative core of the campus.
The firm had previously prepared master plans for: Chariot University, Osi, Kwara State; Elim University of Education, Imo State; South Western University, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State; Kings Polytechnic, Ubiaja, Edo State; Interlink Polytechnic, Ijebu-Jesha, Ilesha, Osun State; and Heritage Polytechnic, Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
Others are Fidei Polytechnic, Gboko, Benue State; Allover Central Polytechnic, Sango-Ota, Ogun State; Ronik Polytechnic, Ejigbo, Lagos State; Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos State; Grace Polytechnic, Surulere, Lagos State; and Lagos City Polytechnic, Ikeja, Lagos State.
The university was founded in 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria, led by late chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, and was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University on 12 May 1987 in honour of Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987), first premier of the Western Region of Nigeria, whose brainchild the university was.
MINT is a neologism referring to the economies of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey. The term was originally coined by Fidelity, a Boston-based asset management firm, and was popularised by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs, who predicted that the MINT countries that would be the world’s economic giants in the next decade. These four countries are also on the Next Eleven countries list.
Before coming up with MINT, O’Neill, in 2001, had predicted the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). After a while, he added South Africa, therefore, making BRICS. According to O’Neill’s prediction, these five countries witnessed huge economic growths, especially China and Brazil. With this economist’s prediction that global economic growths would be more visible in the MINT countries in the next decade, it is good news for Nigeria and Nigerians
Nigeria is a middle-income, mixed economy and emerging market, with expanding financial, service, communications, and entertainment sectors. It is ranked 30th (40th in 2005, 52nd in 2000), in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product at purchasing power parity as of 2012, and 3rd largest within Africa (behind South Africa and Egypt), on track to potentially becoming one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020. Its re-emergent, though currently under-performing, manufacturing sector is the third-largest on the continent, and produces a large proportion of goods and services for the West African region.
Observers believe that, this year the MINT countries will surpass the BRICS in the world race for millionaires. In fact, a study predicts that the MINT countries as a whole will perform better than both the BRICs and the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK and the U.S.).
In the list of countries set to create the most millionaires this year, the MINTs are posed to rank within the top eight, WealthInsight said. Led by Indonesia, which is expected to see a 22 percent increase in the number of millionaires this year, the list is followed by Nigeria with a 10 percent increase, Turkey with a 8.5 percent increase and Mexico with a 7 percent increase.
Nigeria‘s geographical advantages are less immediately obvious, although it does have the potential to become the hub of Africa‘s economy at a time when the continent is enjoying a sustained period of strong expansion.
Strong growth in Asia has pushed up demand for the fuel and raw materials needed for industrialisation and three of the MINTs – Mexico, Indonesia and Nigeria – are leading commodity producers. Of the four, only Nigeria is not already a member of the G20 group of developed and developing countries.
Even so, financial markets are wary about treating what is actually a disparate group of countries as a bloc. If the BRICSs are now a bit old hat, it is in part because their reputations are a little tarnished.
Putin, Russian President
For instance, when Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Vladmir Putin of Russia, Manmohan Singh of India, Xi Jinping of China and Jacob Zuma of South Africa met sometime last year under the aegis of BRICS in the South African coastal city of Durban, the leaders explored the creation of a development bank, in follow up from the previous summit.
Focused on establishing an infrastructure-focused bank, the heads of states fashioned out what it would do and how it would provide an equitable return on the initial investment of about $10 billion.
The media described the bank as a way to bypass the IMF and the World Bank. The criticisms did not end there. Environmental activists also picked holes in the activities of the group in the area of climate change and sustainable development.
Nigerian Nnimmo Bassey, who is of Oilwatch International, recalled that when BRICS collectively gave $75 billion to the IMF in 2012, “it was not Europe or the US which lost voting power – but Africa.”
He went on: “When BRICS (minus Russia) signed the ‘Copenhagen Accord’ with Washington in 2009, this deal confirmed that the fossil-fuel addicted economies could continue polluting unabated while the rest of Africa is cooked by climate change. The governments of the BRICS pretend that they are standing up against neo-colonial and imperial forces. They also suggest that their countries’ corporations compare favourably to the global North’s. These claims have little foundation in reality. The BRICS’ infamous power, oil and other fossil-fuel companies (whether private or state-owned) engage with impunity in the same misbehaviour that foreign transnational companies in the same fields do. They aid repression, drive environmental destruction and harm local livelihoods.”
According to Bassey, Brazil’s Petrobras, Russia’s Gazprom and Lukoil, India’s CoalIndia Ltd., China’s CNPC and Sinopec, and South Africa’s Sasol, among others, are all extending their reach deep into their continents and beyond, taking advantage of each country’s role as regional hegemon.”
The MINTs all have big and growing populations with plentiful supplies of young workers. That should help them grow fast when ageing and shrinking populations will lead inexorably to slower growth rates in many developed countries (and China) over the coming decades. Additionally, they seem nicely placed geographically to take advantage of large markets nearby.
But, just like the BRICSs, they face numerous challenges and it will be interesting to see, in the coming years, how they overcome them.
Renowned personalities and friends of the earth including school children gathered recently in Lagos to observe the 12th S. L. Edu Memorial Lecture series organised by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) and Chevron Nigeria Limited, where participants underlined the need to effectively manage the nation’s water resources in order to reduce poverty.
Indeed, concrete steps were recommended at the federal, state and local government levels to value water appropriately, promote its wise use and conservation by establishing appropriate water conservation guidelines and practices for an integrated water resources management as one of the ways to achieve climate resilient water resources management for national development.
Besides, governments at all levels were urged to design and sustain water supply infrastructure based on ecological principles and adaptation to a changing climate; conduct comprehensive and continuous monitoring of surface and ground water resources to provide up-to-date information required to manage water effectively in a changing climate and advance policy reform, while championing a new water ethic in the face of changing climate.
Prof. Oladipo
In a presentation titled: “Climate Resilient Water Resources Management for Poverty Reduction in Nigeria”, renowned climatologist, Professor Emmanuel Oladipo, said Nigeria’s water sector is highly vulnerable to global warming-induced climate change.
Formerly of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Oladipo stated that climate extreme events cause floods and drought with dire consequences for the availability and use of water, adding that climate change has a cumulative effect on water resource balance with its effects already visible in the country.
He explained that extreme weather events that are capable of negatively affecting the country’s water resources have become more frequent in the recent past particularly, adding that the 2012 flood disaster witnessed in more than half of the states of the country is a pointer to Nigeria’s vulnerability to climate-change induced extreme weather events with long-term return periods.
Linking water resources management to poverty reduction, Oladipo argued that water management can be a catalyst for a pro-poor economic growth, particularly at local level, where it provides vital inputs into productive activities and creates opportunities for local entrepreneurs in supplying technologies, constructing facilities and providing services.
“Thus, there is a general consensus that water management has the potential to contribute to all of the MDGs (millennium development goals) in different ways. However, in the face of changing climatic conditions the imperative for resilient water management becomes critical to effectively harness the contribution of water to development and particularly poverty reduction,” he said.
The Professor of Geography explained that, with an estimated 319.2 billion cubic metres of surface and ground water resources, Nigeria is endowed with abundant water resources to support agriculture, irrigation, transportation, energy and sustainable provision of water supply and adequate sanitation, saying that, in this regard, Nigeria is not, on the average, a water-stressed country.
He stressed that water is essential not only for sustaining quality of life on the earth, but also for economic growth and poverty reduction.
Oladipo added: “Reliable, adequate and high quality water is vital for economic development and well-being. Access to safe and adequate water improves health, fulfils multiple needs of households, contribute to food and fibre production and poverty elimination. Due to rapid increase in population, the demand for water in Nigeria will increase over time.
“The challenge will be to meet increasing demand in the face of changing climate. Nigeria may face a water crisis not only because of possible climate change-induced physical scarcities of the resources, but because of poor knowledge, experience, technology and co-ordinating among different institutions.
“Better management coupled with effective policy, intensified political will, appropriate investments, awareness, climatic change adaptation and institutional strengthening are promising pathways for sustainable water resources management.”
The guest-lecturer called for adaptation strategies such as capacity development for smart-decision making for resilient water resources management, policy, regulatory and institutional reforms for water supply and demand management; improved hydrometric network; good river basin governance and scale-up regional cooperation particularly along the Niger and Benue basins and catchment areas.
Oladipo also prescribed integrated water resources management (IWRM) to promote integrated river basin management; resilient water supply infrastructure development; improving water demand management and services; economic instruments/incentives; investments in small-scale earth dams in place of conventional large-scale dams and adoption of water conservation and harvest practices.
Alade Adeleke, NCF Executive Director
Acting Executive Director of NCF, Alade Adeleke, in his introductory remarks, said NCF over the years identified the importance of water and wetland and promoting the need for its management.
He urged more Nigerians to join the group so that they can have the opportunity to understand the nation’s environmental challenges and proffer solutions to same.
Asiodu
President of NCF Trustees, Chief Philip Asiodu, said the group had over the years advocated sustainable management of the nation’s environment. He disclosed that, at present, there are about 1,000 advocacy clubs in schools.
He commended Chevron for supporting the programme over the years.
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, human influence on the climate system is clear, and limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. These are the key conclusions from an assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that was released on Thursday in its full and finalised form.
The Summary for Policymakers of the IPCC Working Group I assessment report, “Climate Change 2013: the Physical Science Basis,” was approved in September 2013 by the member governments of the IPCC meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, who also accepted the underlying report, after which the Summary for Policymakers was immediately made public.
The full report is the basis for the key conclusions presented in the Summary for Policymakers. This Working Group I contribution to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report offers a comprehensive understanding of the physical science basis of climate change. Policymakers, stakeholders and the scientific community are now able to use and apply the detailed information on which IPCC Working Group I bases its assessment. Additional material documents the IPCC assessment process with its multiple rounds of drafting and review.
“The Working Group I Fifth Assessment Report, which has over 1,500 printed pages of text and includes more than 600 printed diagrams, provides a comprehensive assessment of the physical science basis of climate change, citing more than 9000 scientific publications. The report provides information about what has changed in the climate system, why it has changed, and how it will change in the future,” said Thomas Stocker, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I.
The full report consists of the Summary for Policymakers, a longer Technical Summary, 14 chapters and six annexes including an Atlas of Global and Regional Climate Projections. The Atlas is an innovation in this Working Group I assessment, containing time series and maps of temperature and precipitation projections for 35 regions of the world, which enhance accessibility for stakeholders and users. As well as the printed Atlas, there are four sets of Atlas Supplementary Material with 155 figures each, and the data underlying the Atlas figures will also be made available as part of the launch.
Another innovative feature of this report is the presentation of Thematic Focus Elements in the Technical Summary that provide end-to-end assessments of important cross-cutting issues for understanding the physical science basis of climate change, such as water cycle change, irreversibility and abrupt change, climate sensitivity and feedbacks, climate targets and stabilisation.
All chapters contain Frequently Asked Questions in which the authors provide scientific answers to a range of general questions in an accessible form.
In order to document the drafting and review process, the IPCC is making public the earlier drafts of the report that were subject to formal review, all 54,677 written review comments by expert and government reviewers on those drafts and the responses by the authors to the comments. All figures from the Summary for Policymakers, the Technical Summary, and from the 14 Chapters of the report are also being made available electronically in order to facilitate outreach and communications activities that wish to highlight IPCC findings. Extensive Supplementary Material can be accessed online and includes description of datasets, models, or methodologies used in some chapters of the assessment. Background information on all the figures in the Summary for Policymakers is provided in the Supplementary Material to the Technical Summary.
“I would like to thank the hundreds of scientists and experts around the world who served as authors and review editors for producing a comprehensive and scientifically robust assessment. I also express my thanks to the more than one thousand expert reviewers for contributing their expertise in the preparation of this assessment,” said Qin Dahe, the other Co-Chair of WGI, from Beijing, China.
The marked decline in Shell’s global profits in 2013 compared with previous years and the imposition of a N1.8 trillion fine on the company for the December 2011 spill in the Bonga Deep Offshore Oil field are twin indicators that the company’s days of impunity are over, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has said.
