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Dangers of Lead in paints

Michael Simire
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Dangers of Lead in paints

PaintsA team of civil society organisations (CSOs) that met recently in Lagos has joined the global campaign to eliminate Lead in paint.

The activists observed that, in 2002, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), governments (including the Nigerian government) agreed a goal that, by 2020, chemicals should be used and produced in ways that lead to the minimisation of significant adverse effects on human health and the environment.

Seven years later at the second session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) in 2009, several chemical issues were identified by consensus to be international priority issues of concern. One of these emerging policy issues is Lead in paints.

In response to the ICCM decision, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) jointly initiated a global partnership (Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint – GAELP) to eliminate the use of lead compounds in paints in order to protect public health and the environment.

Lead, along with other heavy metals of concern, are present in many products, including children’s toys and paints, and in electronic products and wastes, contributing to unacceptable exposures to children and other vulnerable groups.

Lead use in paints pose special concerns because of their permanence and potential for serious harm to the environment and human health, especially of children, pregnant women and future generations.

Over 700 under-five children died from Lead poisoning to date and another over 3,000 still requiring treatment from the Lead poisoning incident which occurred in Zamfara State in 2010.

In 2009, SRADev Nigeria, one of the CSOs, carried out a study to analyse 30 paints sampled from the Lagos market. The result showed that all exceeded permitted lead levels far beyond the recommended limit of 90ppm, rising to alarming levels of 129,837ppm.

However, there is no acceptable blood lead level in children that is considered safe and even relatively low levels of exposure can cause irreversible neurological damage and in some cases adverse lifelong effects, such as decreased intelligence, poor school performance, mental retardation and violent behavior.

The activists expressed encouragement by the successful findings from the global studies on “Lead in Decorative Paints” and the alarming high levels above permissible limits particularly found in Nigerian paint samples.

Mindful that the awareness of policy makers and the general public about the risks of Lead and other heavy metals to human health and the environment is often very low, particularly in Nigeria, they expressed concern that Nigeria has yet no regulatory standards for Lead in paints, leaving the general public at the mercy of paint manufacturers.

The gathering that many alternatives to Lead as a drying agent in paint production such as zirconium, metallic zinc, cobalt, and metallic calcium, among others, exists requiring no change in technology to substitute any of these in paint production.

Against this background, they made an urgent call to action on the need for society to adopt essential precautionary and preventive policies and practices to ensure a lead-safe environment for all kids through advocacy at the national and state levels for regulatory frameworks to promote the establishment of an appropriate legal and regulatory framework to control the manufacture, import, export, sale and use of lead paints and products coated with lead paints should be discouraged towards complete elimination.

They underlined the need for awareness campaigns to inform the public about the hazards of lead exposure, especially in children; the presence of lead decorative paints for sale and use on the national market; lead paint as a significant source of childhood lead exposure; and availability of technically superior and safer alternatives.

They like wise underscored the need for voluntary action and labelling, such that paint manufacturers are encouraged to eliminate lead compounds from their paint formulations, especially of those paints likely to contribute to lead exposure in children and others. Paint manufacturers also are encouraged to consider voluntary participation in programmes that provide third party paint certification that no lead has been added to their paint, and to label products in ways that help consumers identify paints that do not contain added lead.

They added: “There is immediate need to enact mandatory national regulations for limiting lead concentrations in paints. Also, urgent effort needs to be put in place to eliminate lead in paint as was achieved in petrol phase out.

“There should be a complete ban and eradication of continued sale of leaded paints. Put in place regulatory mechanism towards adulterated, unregistered, unlabelled, repackaged and uncertified paint products. We believe that national re-branding should by synonymous with product re-branding. Government should set example by prohibiting procurement (purchasing) of paint products with Lead.”

Greenhouse gas atmospheric concentrations escalate

Michael Simire
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Greenhouse gas atmospheric concentrations escalate

Greenhouse gasThe amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2012, continuing an upward and accelerating trend which is driving climate change and will shape the future of our planet for hundreds and thousands of years.

A GHG is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapour, carbon dioxide CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.

A recent edition of the World Meteorological Organisation’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin released last week shows that, between 1990 and 2012, there was a 32 percent increase in radioactive forcing – the warming effect on our climate – because of CO2 and other heat-trapping long-lived gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.

Carbon dioxide, mainly from fossil fuel-related emissions, accounted for 80 percent of this increase. The atmospheric increase of CO2 from 2011 to 2012 was higher than its average growth rate over the past ten years, according to the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

Since the start of the industrial era in 1750, the global average concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by 41 percent, methane by 160 percent and nitrous oxide by 20 percent.

“The observations from WMO’s extensive Global Atmosphere Watch network highlight yet again how heat-trapping gases from human activities have upset the natural balance of our atmosphere and are a major contribution to climate change,” said WMO Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud.

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its recent 5th Assessment Report stressed that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years,” he said.

“As a result of this, our climate is changing, our weather is more extreme, ice sheets and glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising,” said Jarraud.

“According to the IPCC, if we continue with ‘business as usual,’ global average temperatures may be 4.6 degrees Centigrade higher by the end of the century than pre-industrial levels – and even higher in some parts of the world. This would have devastating consequences,” he said.

“Limiting climate change will require large and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. We need to act now, otherwise we will jeopardise the future of our children, grandchildren and many future generations,” said Jarraud. “Time is not on our side,” he added.

Healthcare waste management policy formulated

Michael Simire
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Healthcare waste management policy formulated

Healthcare waste“Wastes are substances or objects, which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the provision of national law. It is therefore necessary for there to be proper management of medical waste to in order to ensure healthier environment and people.”

These were the words of the Managing Director, Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Ola Oresanya, at the 2013 edition of the National Healthcare Waste Management Summit held recently. The event had “Healthcare waste management and the environment” as its theme.

Oresanya explained that waste goes beyond just disposal when it comes to healthcare waste. “The elements of proper waste management have to be applied due to its delicate and hazardous nature. Healthcare wastes have a peculiar nature because they are not regular materials at dumb sites. When seen, people and even waste handlers tend to mishandle it thereby exposing themselves to the hazards inherent in them like injuries and infections,” he submitted.

He recalled that, in 2005, a seven-year-old boy in Ketu in Lagos was found playing around with used syringes which was found to have been indiscriminately disposed at a refuse dump. He added that, in 2011, three hospitals were shut-down in the Orile area of Lagos due to their indiscriminate healthcare waste disposal.

Oresanya stressed that LAWMA would continue to ensure that medical waste from hospitals and diagnostic laboratories are properly managed at all levels in the state.

Lagos State Commissioner of The Environment, Tunji Bello, disclosed that the Healthcare Waste Management Policy Bill being facilitated by LAWMA had been approved and signed by the Lagos State Government and would take effect in 2014.

The event included an Institutional Awards Presentations to several medical institutions in Lagos, including Premier Specialist Hospital on Victoria Island, Nigerian Navy Medical Centre Navy Town in Ojo, General Hospital in Apapa and the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA).

Dr. (Mrs.) Adeola Eko-Pacheco, the only recipient of an individual award, received Best Medical Private Sector Participation (PSP) Manager. Eko-Pacheco applauded LAWMA for its consistent advocacy on proper waste management and rated the agency high on its healthcare waste initiatives.

The National Healthcare Waste Management Summit is an annual event where stakeholders in the health sector come together to map out ways to ensure standard practice is maintained and to award exceptional medical practitioners.

 

By Tina Armstrong-Ogbonna

How Nigeria will be prominent at COP 19

Michael Simire
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How Nigeria will be prominent at COP 19
Haruna
Haruna

Nigeria has disclosed that its participation at the 19th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) holding in Warsaw, Poland will enable it ensure that its concerns as a developing nation as well as an oil producing country are effectively guided and presented.

Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME), Taiye Haruna, who made the disclosure recently in Abuja at a Media Roundtable organised in preparation for the COP, added that the participation would further assist to strengthen existing partnerships/network and also establish other appropriate ones to move the nation forward towards the achievement of its economic transformation agenda.

“I want to therefore assure you that the ministry is committed to implementing the overall mandate of the Climate Change Convention and its Protocol. This present administration acknowledges that inaction is even more expensive as it will hinder the actualisation of Mr. President’s Transformation Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” he said.

But he expressed disappointment with “the lack of ambition in the outcomes on the part of Annex 1 countries’ mitigation and finance commitment”, adding that the last conference (COP 18 in Doha, Qatar) had “paved the way for a new phase, focusing on the implementation of the outcomes from negotiations under the AWG-KP and AWG-LCA, and advancing negotiations under the Ad-hoc Working Group on Durban Platform (ADP).

Haruna recalled that COP 18 focused on ensuring the implementation of agreements reached at previous conferences.

His words: “The outcome of the COP 18 ‘Doha Gateway’ decisions included amendments to the Kyoto Protocol to establish its Second Commitment Period. Having been launched at First Commitment Period (CMP 1) in 2005, the Ad-hoc Working Group on Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) terminated its work in Doha.

“Ad-hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) and negotiations under the Bali Action Plan were also terminated at the conference. Key elements of the outcome also included agreement to consider Loss and Damage, ‘such as’ institutional mechanism to address loss and damage in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.”

Participants at the Roundtable examined issues related to climate change communication, effects of social media on development of small scale adaptations projects in local communities, and the politics of climate change.

Resource persons included: Dr Samuel Adejuwon (Director, Department of Climate Change at the FME), Prof. Olukayode Oladipo (climatologist and negotiator), Prof. Adeniyi  Osuntogun (agricultural economist and negotiator) and Michael Simire (urban planner and climate change communication specialist).

Africa takes stand ahead Warsaw climate conference

Michael Simire
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Africa takes stand ahead Warsaw climate conference
Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary
Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary

African nations have resolved to take a common position as the basis for negotiations on strengthening the international climate change regime through full, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol (KP).

While agreeing that the key messages on negotiations for the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 19) scheduled to hold this month in Warsaw, Poland should guide and inform discussions by the African group, African environment ministers who met recently in Gaborone, Botswana, affirmed that the UNFCCC and KP constitute the fundamental global legal instrument on climate change, and that the climate change negotiations in Warsaw under the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action should be in conformity with the principles of the Convention and lay a solid foundation for the completion of negotiations at the COP 21 to be held in Paris, France in 2015.

The minister resolved to call for outcomes of COP 19 that are based on science, equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, reflecting the latest scientific, technical, economic and social information as, according to them, these outcomes will significantly influence efforts to secure sustainable development for Africa.

Similarly, the ministers reaffirmed at the fifth special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment that a long-term global goal must include ambitious short-term, medium-term and long-term mitigation commitments by Annex I parties reflecting their historical responsibilities and an equitable and appropriate contribution to the global effort, as well as the provision of adequate means of implementation, including finance, technology and capacity-building, to enable Africa to address its adaptation needs in particular.

They declared in the Gaborone Declaration – released at the close of the two-day session – to encourage Annex I parties to the UNFCCC that are not undertaking commitments under the second commitment period of the KP to undertake commitments under the Convention that are comparable in magnitude and effort to those undertaken under the Protocol and that are measurable, reportable and verifiable through an agreed set of common accounting rules and a compliance framework.

Furthermore, the ministers resolved to call on developed country parties to urgently scale up support for the implementation of adaptation measures and national adaptation plans, particularly through the Cancun Adaptation Framework and the Nairobi Work Programme, and to support and expedite work to understand, reduce and compensate for loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including its impacts on agriculture.

Likewise, they agreed that the national adaptation plan process should not be prescriptive, but should rather facilitate country-owned, country-driven action, that the formulation of national adaptation plans should build on and complement existing adaptation planning, and that financial and technical support should be provided to African countries to enable the development of the national adaptation plans.

The ministers agreed to recognise and support the Africa Adaptation Knowledge Network as the continental network for coordinating, facilitating, harnessing and strengthening the exchange of information and knowledge for climate change adaptation.

They urged the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board, in its capacity as an operating entity of the UNFCCC, to allocate increased funding for climate change adaptation in Africa once the Fund becomes operational.

The ministers reaffirmed that agriculture must be treated under adaptation because of its status as a means of livelihood and the backbone of the African economy. They added that agriculture is a priority for Africa and should be treated as a matter of survival, recommending that a comprehensive work programme covering finance, technology transfer and capacity‑building to support sustainable agricultural production in developing countries be established under the Cancun Adaptation Framework, with support from developed countries.

Relevant institutions, including the African Development Bank (ADB) and other regional development banks and partners, were called upon to assist African countries in accessing funding available through the GCF and other global climate funds, and further enhancing their capacity for direct access.

They called for the work to enhance ambition under the Durban Platform to adequately address the need to limit the increase of global average temperature to well below 2.0 degrees Celsius, and to emphasise in this context the urgent need to reflect ambitious commitments under the Bali Road Map in order for Annex I parties to reduce their emissions by at least 40 per cent  by 2017 as an equitable and appropriate contribution to achieving the objective of the Convention.

The ministers called for efforts under the Durban Platform to enhance ambition leading to the development of a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention by 2015 to enter into force by 2020 to reflect all the principles and the provisions of the Convention, including equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in order to limit the increase of global average temperature to well below 2.0 degrees Celsius while ensuring equitable access to sustainable development and the sharing of atmospheric space and resources taking into account cumulative historical responsibility and the use of such resources by Annex I parties.

They urged all African countries to participate actively at COP 19.

Incorporating sound chemicals management in MDGs, Vision 20/2020 dreams

Michael Simire
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Incorporating sound chemicals management in MDGs, Vision 20/2020 dreams

Chemical PixExperts have underlined the need for a well-coordinated mechanism that would ensure the eventual incorporation of sound chemicals management priorities and recommended activities in the Vision 20/2020 document. They likewise observed that the endeavour is essential to attaining the millennium development goals (MDGs).

Besides the overlapping of organisational responsibilities at the national, regional and local levels, they are however worried that activities of bodies charged with the responsibility of ensuring that chemicals do not present adverse effects to human health and the environment are inadequately coordinated, thereby resulting in gaps in the area of importation, registration, use/handling, disposal, compliance monitoring/enforcement, as well as workers’ health/safety.

The eggheads gathered last week in Abuja at the instance of the Nigeria-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project on Mainstreaming Sound Management of Chemicals (SMC) into MDG-based Development Plans and Policies. Funded by the Swedish Chemicals Agency (KEMI), the project came to a formal close on Tuesday as participants gathered to review the SMC Roadmap.

Hitherto, the project had: developed, reviewed and endorsed a National SMC Situation Report; endorsed two key SMC priority issues for Nigeria; developed, reviewed and endorsed concept note document for SMC priority issues; developed, reviewed and endorsed policy options to address the identified SMC priority issues; developed, reviewed and endorsed cost of action document to address identified SMC priority issues; developed, reviewed and endorsed cost benefit analysis document to justify government expenditure on SMC; and, developed the SMC action plan/roadmap.

In line with the project document, the developed action plan/roadmap was subjected to stakeholder review and endorsement at a daylong venture that officially ended the Mainstreaming SMC project.

Drawing over a hundred participants from government, academia, private sector, professional associations, media and non-governmental organisations, the project sought to: qualify the links between priority major chemical management problem areas, identify areas of the national chemical management governance regime that needs strengthening most urgently, develop a realistic phased plan for strengthening the national chemical management governance regime, assist to quantify the costs of inaction/benefits of action in planning/finance/economic language regarding major chemical management problem, and propose a path forward to mainstream the highest priority chemical management issues in Nigeria’s MDG-based development planning.

At the end of last week’s event, participants urged government to leverage resources for the implementation of conceptualised projects to address SMC priorities in Nigeria as, according to them, implementing it would bring about poverty reduction, improve maternal health, reduce infant mortality, increase child enrolment in school and ultimately pave way for the most desired sustainable development of man and the environment.

Apart from including in their annual capital budget proposals, relevant projects articulated in the SMC document, government organisations were advised to seize the opportunity of the ongoing review process by the National Planning Commission (NPC) and endeavour to include projects and programmes articulated in the national SMC action plan/document while submitting proposals to the NPC.

Essentially, the SMC report identified 11 SMC priority areas, which included: Constitutional Provision for Governance through Enabling Policy and Legislative Framework for SMC in Nigeria; Government Institutional Capacity; Risk Assessment; Risk Management; Risk Communication Strategies for Awareness Raising, Outreach and Education; Remediation; National Waste Management Strategy for Toxic and Hazardous Wastes; Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response; Diagnosis and Treatment for Intoxication; Knowledge and Information; and Illegal International Trans-boundary Movement and Dumping of Wastes.

On extensive deliberation on the review of the draft national situation report, four of the above-mentioned SMC priorities were further condensed by consensus to two. They included: Strengthening SMC Governance, legal framework and institutional infrastructure including capacity building and mainstreaming of SMC; and Risk Management including hazards communication strategies for awareness raising, outreach and education.

On subjecting the endorsed SMC priorities to policy option analysis, the cost of taking action to mitigate the adverse impact of chemicals on human health and the environment amounts to $405.3 million over a four-year period (2014-2017).

The cost benefit analysis study carried out in the course of the SMC project supported taking action to improve sound management of chemicals to move forward the country’s development agenda. The analysis further demonstrated that benefits expected from mainstreaming SMC are significant, diverse and permanent.

Participants described the net present value (NPV) as positive, even when sensitivity analysis was carried out and costs increased and benefits decreased, the NPV was still positive and the benefit/cost ratio was 1.56.

The project was considered viable and recommended for execution. The action plan/roadmap for mainstreaming of SMC into the 2nd National Implementation Plan for the Vision 20/2020 document (2014-2017) has been drawn, targeting the on-going review process of the first implementation plan.

Tackling climate change in Delta State

Michael Simire
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Tackling climate change in Delta State
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State

Ikem Victor is Programme Co-ordinator at Environment Communication Research Group (ECREG), a Lagos-based environment advocacy group. He examines Delta State Government’s initiatives relating to global warming; adding that the emergence of a climate change policy and framework of action is commendable 

 

Recently, Delta State emerged as first and only state, so far in Nigeria, to develop and launch a comprehensive climate change policy and framework of action to mitigate climate change’s growing negative impacts in the state which is one of the most volatile coastal regions, with worsening levels of ecological hazards, in sub-Saharan Africa. This policy initiative is expected to set in motion effort to ensure steady evolution of an environmentally friendly clean energy and a green economy process that would see the state emerge as one of the most proactive and ‘smart state’ in Nigeria and indeed Africa within the next few years.

The government of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has always promoted the vision of a Delta State beyond oil which can be linked to the government’s determination to reduce the state’s continued over dependence on oil as primary and only major source of revenue, and indirectly on a medium to long term basis, offer some breather from the overwhelming degradation of the environment which is a fallout of years of oil exploration and environmental negligence by the big oil and gas multinational corporations.

Niger Delta region of Nigeria is characterised by lowlands with most of the delta being less than 6m above sea level, according to expert findings, making the region very much exposed to rise in sea level.  The abundant rivers, creeks and streams expose the region to adverse environmental negative impacts with significant flooding resulting from inland surface waters and the boundary coastal shelf. Food production has been adversely affected by the recurring climate change induced flooding.

Oil exploration in Niger-Delta has been on for over 50 years without any corresponding effort to clean up or renew the environment and for this reason the region has become one of the most degraded and endangered in the world. The oil and gas industry is the most vibrant industry in Nigeria and it contributes over 85 percent of total income of the country, yet there is no corresponding growth, with regards to fiscal and physical development, in this region that produces all the wealth of the nation. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on environmental degradation in Nigeria’s oil rich but infrastructure poor Niger Delta region exposes not only the highest levels of neglect and abandonment but (un) conscious abuse of the very resources and the environment that ultimately decides the fate of all human beings within its remote or immediate influence. There are yet to be concrete response action to clean up oil spillage in the region amidst unending blame game going on among key stakeholders.

The commitment of Delta State towards addressing many of the environmental challenges facing the state through a well thought out policy, and soon to be enacted enabling laws, is remarkable. It is on record that Udghahan is a co-founder of R20, a coalition of 50 sub-regional leaders and governors from around the world with the goal to develop policy instrument and response actions towards addressing climate change and other environmental problems globally.

Addressing guest present at the event to launch the new climate change policy in Asaba, the governor, who was represented by his deputy, acknowledged that climate change was a serious global problem that could not be ignored saying that the objective of the policy was to set out a framework for reducing the vulnerability of the local communities to the anticipated impact of climate change and also develop a low carbon and climate resilient economy. The governor recognises that the devastating impact of climate change on all human systems were seen in the ravaging and unprecedented floods, which had hit the world in recent times, including extreme weather situations such as heat waves, typhoon and tsunamis hence the state is collaborating with United Nations Development Programme on the initiative referred to as Territorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC).

According to available report, the Territorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC) is part of a partnership between the United Nations and sub-national governments for fostering climate friendly development at the sub-national level. The partnership which is a collaborative effort involving UNDP, UNEP and eight associations of regions was signed in December 2009 between Delta State and UNDP as part of efforts to tackle environmental devastation arising from climate change. It is reasoned that being an oil and gas producing state, Delta State is well positioned to seize opportunities from climate change mitigation actions. And at the same time, being a coastal state, Delta State is particularly vulnerable to sea water rise and therefore has to develop a strategy to analyse the present and future vulnerability of the state.

Within the context of varied expectations, Delta State anticipates that the partnership with UN through TACC will assist the state government in developing capacity to assess the level of environmental damage caused by oil pollution and rising sea level. The goal of the initiators is that the TACC project will support the integration of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures into sustainable development planning and programming in developing countries like Nigeria.

Not only is Delta State vulnerable to the heavy negative impact and consequences of climate change, the state may certainly loss huge revenues in the future toward solving social and economic problems that can arise from climate change-related crises. It is hoped that the foresighted government would match words with action by not allowing this to be a policy just on paper alone or a law for its sake. But see to it that the very details of the policy are implemented completely, with serious attention paid to the very rural areas where the overwhelming consequences of climate change are being felt in all aspects including agriculture, food production, water scarcity, housing and health.

It is also a wish that the next administration in Delta state after Uduaghan, by 2015 going forward, will be able to demonstrate the same level of zeal, energy and commitment by paying urgent attention to climate change related issues as have been the case with the state’s current leadership.

The race to mitigate climate change impact is not a competition about who is first, but a lifelong journey towards sustainable development and economic growth of nations and the world.

Living with disability, disasters

Michael Simire
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Living with disability, disasters
Toure
Toure

With the widespread challenges arising from last year’s floods still very vivid, and even as the government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels collaborate to sharpen action on how to best tackle disasters management, Nigerians have been urged to come to terms with the fact that plight of persons living with disabilities is magnified when a disaster strikes.

According to Daouda Toure, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations (UN) Systems in Nigeria, they are less likely to receive the support they need during a humanitarian crisis and they are also less likely to recover in the long-term.

“As such it is imperative that they must be included in our disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy planning processes,” he said.

Toure, who is also Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), spoke last week in Abuja at a forum to observe this year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction tagged ‘Living with Disability and Disasters’.

He described the theme as a sober realisation that persons with disabilities often remain marginalised and excluded from DRR plans and policies and that more needs to be done in promoting their inclusion.

“Today’s event highlights the urgent need for the enlargement of spaces for a robust post-2015 development framework that is all encompassing through inclusive future DRR policies that give persons living with disabilities opportunities to make contribution to the process of identifying disaster reduction solutions,” he submitted, adding that, over the years, the UNDP collaborated with National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) to produce interventions such as: an Institutional Mapping of DRR efforts in Nigeria; Disaster Risk Reduction Capacity Assessment for the country; and the Development of a National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Toure added: “More recently, in the aftermath of the 2012 flood, we also led the United Nations Development Systems in Nigeria to provide critical support into the development of Post Disasters Needs Assessment (PDNA) that was conducted with support of World Bank/Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Reconstruction (GFDRR), European Union (EU) and other Development Partners. To this end, UNDP also supported the preliminary humanitarian assessment, undertook a community consultation and validation surveys in partnership with the six Nigerian universities centres for disaster management as a critical part of the human recovery needs assessment (HRNA).

“Throughout these endeavours, our research, analytical base, and consultations with government stakeholders and civil society have consistently highlighted the policy gaps around the exclusion of people with disabilities in DRR, as well as the opportunities that would derive from their inclusion.

“This points to the need for inclusive policy response framework of a broader nature.  In this respect, more recently our partnership with NEMA has also resulted in the development of a number of strategic policy support documents. Among them is the National Disaster Recovery Strategy and Framework – which specifically highlights the unique challenges faced by persons with disabilities in disaster situations.  I am told that UNDP, as part of the validation process of the policy framework in question, specifically consulted with representative groups of people living with disabilities, thus giving them an opportunity to voice their interests, needs, and concerns and to see these reflected in the final strategy document.

“We are now in the process of consolidating this support through the finalisation a two year DRR intervention that will focus on providing NEMA with additional policy implementation capacity support. This project will be implemented with NEMA at both federal and state levels to predict, monitor, respond and recover from disasters through effective coordination mechanisms.”

The UN boss commended Sani Sidi, Director-General of NEMA, “for his leadership and the giant strides that NEMA and indeed the broader disaster risk reduction agenda are making in the country on his watch.”

Toure assured that the UNDP and the entire UN Systems in Nigeria would remain committed to working with him and all stakeholders in the strengthening capacity, resilience and inclusion at all levels for effective management of disasters as a critical safeguard for the ongoing economic transformation agenda.

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, in a message to mark the global event, lamented that more than one billion persons in the world live with a disability, and described the commemoration as an opportunity to recognise their role in fostering resilience.

Ki-Moon’s words: “Unfortunately, most persons with disabilities have never participated in disaster risk management or related planning and decision making processes. They suffer disproportionately high levels of disaster-related mortality and injuries.

“Early warning systems, public awareness campaigns and other responses often fail to consider the needs of persons with disabilities, putting them at an unnecessarily elevated risk and sending a harmful message of inequality.

“We can change this situation by including persons with disabilities in disaster resilience initiatives and policy planning. The recent General Assembly High-level Meeting on Disability and Development recognised the urgent need for action on this issue, which is also addressed in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“Inclusion saves lives. And it empowers persons with disabilities to take ownership of their own safety – and that of their community.

“We can already see their potential contribution in the many persons with visible and invisible disabilities around the world who already serve as volunteers and workers helping communities when disaster hits to cope and bounce back.

“On the International Day for Disaster Reduction, let us resolve to do everything possible to ensure that all persons with disabilities have the highest possible levels of safety and the greatest possible chance to contribute to the overall wellbeing of society.

“Let us build an inclusive world where persons with disabilities can play an even greater role as resourceful agents of change.”

Monsoon in West Africa

Michael Simire
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Monsoon in West Africa

MonsoonWest Africa is home to about 317 million people. Communities in the sub-region and the entire sub-Saharan Africa depend strongly on rainfall where 65 percent of the labour force and 95 percent of the land is devoted to agriculture.

Scientists portend that if the Five-Sigma Model relative to climatology occurs, Africa may be faced with a monsoon that will affect the sub-region. But the concept indicates that there is only one chance in a million years likelihood for it to occur.

The monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally-changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase.

Monsoons are large-scale sea breezes which occur when the temperature on land is significantly warmer or cooler than the temperature of the ocean. These temperature imbalances happen because oceans and land absorb heat in different ways. Over oceans, the air temperature remains relatively stable for two reasons: water has a relatively high heat capacity  and because both conduction and convection will equilibrate a hot or cold surface with deeper water (up to 50 metres). In contrast, dirt, sand, and rocks have lower heat capacities and they can only transmit heat into the earth by conduction and not by convection. Therefore, bodies of water stay at a more even temperature, while land temperatures are more variable.

There is no consensus about how precipitation will change over West Africa in a warming climate as most of the studies appear contradictory. This is because less than 66 percent of the global models agree on the sign of the change in precipitation over West Africa. Also, more than 1/3 of these models do not represent the monsoon. According to scientists, the models that that do, typically misrepresent the spatial patterns and intensity of monsoon precipitation.

There is however an agreement that the huge population in the sub-region is vulnerable to climate variability.

According to scientists Gil Mahe and Jean-Emmanuel Paturel, since 1970, West Africa has experienced one of the most abrupt changes in climate since weather data began being recorded in 1896. Mahe and Paturel, who studied rainfall patterns in the sahel between 1896 and 2006, concluded that drought was still continuing in the region even if annual rainfall had increased since the very dry periods in the 1970s and 1980s.

Meanwhile, a map released recently has shown that marine protected areas now cover 2.8 percent of the global ocean – an area larger than Europe. The map is based on data provided by the World Database on Protected Areas, run by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The map shows an increase of 0.6 percent in the ocean area protected since 2012. In 2010, most of the world governments agreed to protect at least 10 percent of the world’s marine and coastal zones by 2020.

“It’s encouraging to see the progress we’ve made so far,” says Carl Gustaf Lundin, Director of IUCN’s Global Marine and Polar Programme. “Protecting less than three percent of the ocean is still not enough to ensure its sustainable conservation. However, if we continue to increase this area by one percent each year, we should be able to reach the agreed 10 percent by 2020. We’re hoping that this map will make this process much more efficient.”

The map makes global marine protected areas easily accessible to marine specialists and the public for the first time. It offers the possibility to track progress towards protecting the ocean and identify those protected areas that have not yet been included in the map.

The map shows how progress in the last few years has been boosted by the addition of large offshore marine protected areas, complementing the many smaller sites that exist in inshore waters of many countries. Such developments are visible around the national waters of Australia, France and West Africa.

“Countries that are doing well should help others that are having difficulties in protecting their marine heritage due to overpopulation or lack of capacity and resources,” says Dan Laffoley, Principal Advisor on Marine Science and Conservation of the IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme. “This map should make it easier for countries to collaborate with others. It provides a new level of transparency drawing from the official statistics to track progress against the 10 percent target.”

The oceans cover more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface. More than 3.5 billion people depend on them for food, energy and income. By protecting the ocean’s natural and cultural resources, marine protected areas play a central role in addressing some of the global development challenges of today, such as food and energy security, poverty and climate change.

Ozone layer: Nigeria to complete HCFCs’ phase-out

Michael Simire
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Ozone layer: Nigeria to complete HCFCs’ phase-out

Hcfc22Nigeria has made progress in the implementation of the Hydro-Chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) Phase-out Management Plan. Government said the aim is to achieve the first phase of the control measure for the substances in line with the provisions of the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS).

The National Ozone Officer in the Ministry of Environment, Kassimu Bayero, disclosed this in an interview in Abuja, saying that the control measure covered the period between 2013 and 2015.

“Nigeria’s consumption baseline level for 2013 freezes at the average of our 2009 and 2010 consumption. So, from 2014, it should be on the decrease. Now, the baseline amounts to 5,878.88 metric tons and is calculated as (HCFC = 398.5odp tons)”.

It will be recalled that the Montreal Protocol required the phase out of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the refrigeration and air conditioning market because they contained ozone depleting substances (ODS). This was achieved in Nigeria in 2010. So, over the years, while the CFCs were being phased out, Hydro-Chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) were brought in as substitute substances to replace the CFCs.

There are therefore, HCFC-22 used for refrigeration and air conditioning and HCFC 141B used as foaming agent. Bayero explained that phasing out of the HCFCs also became paramount because of the effects of the substances on climate change.

“HCFCs are friendly to the ozone layer in the sense that their ozone depleting potential is very infinitesimal, but were found to have very high global warming potential, thereby constituting serious impact on the climate. The whole idea is that because we are trying to solve the ozone depletion problem, we shouldn’t be seen to be causing another problem. So, at the level of the Protocol, there was another decision to accelerate the phase out again of the HCFCs in view of their impact
on climate change.

“The first phase of the implementation of the programme began in 2011 under a wider plan referred to as ‘HCFCs Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP)’ and will be completed in 2015. By 2015, the first control measure will take effect with the expected decrease of 10 percent consumption from the baseline level (average of 2009 and 2010 consumption),” he said.

Continuing, the National Ozone Officer disclosed that measures have been put in place to ensure that importers complied with the acceptable baseline consumption level in Nigeria.

“This will be achieved through our permitting and licensing system. Every year, importers apply to the National Agency for Drug Administration Commission (NAFDAC) and the National Environment Standard Regulation Agency (NESREA) for permits to bring in these chemicals. A quota system has been determined by the Ministry of Environment, which is what these agencies issue for the importation of the substances into the country.

“So the quota allocation for HCFCs in Nigeria took effect in 2013 and is frozen at the average of 5,878.88 metric tons HCFCs (baseline for consumption in 2009 and 2010). By 2014, the import data should not be more than this baseline and, by 2015, Nigeria should be 10 percent less this average. This is specified in the HCFCs Phase-out Management Plan and was based on a consumption survey from importers and users,” he added.

The first phase of the HCFCs control measure will end in 2015 and the second phase will come into force. The programme will continue until a zero consumption level is achieved in Nigeria. NAFDAC and the Nigerian Customs are at the points of entry to ensure that the allowable limits are conformed with. ODS regulations under NESREA are used to check defaulters.

The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer aims to protect the earth’s ozone layer. With 197 parties, it is the most widely ratified treaty in United Nations history, and has enabled reductions of over 97 percent of global consumption of controlled ozone depleting substances.

 

By Nkechinyere Itodo

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