A detailed new study by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, commissioned by Humana Lithuania, follows the journey of used textiles from collection and pre-sorting in Sweden to export and resale in Kenya and finds the system valuable both economically and ecologically. The findings demonstrate significant benefits to Kenya’s economy, environment, and job market, contradicting the false narrative that Africa serves as a dumping ground for low-quality textiles.
Used clothing
The report follows the journey of used textiles from Sweden to Kenya’s mitumba markets. It examines the sustainability implications of exporting second-hand clothing (SHC), including the operation of the trade, relevant legislation, and quality assurance practices.
The study also highlights the market dynamics in Kenya and the potential socio-economic impacts, such as job creation and local economic activity, and finds that a prevalent criticism – that exporting second-hand clothes to Kenya constitutes dumping of low-quality garments – is not supported by evidence.
Amanda Martvall, a textile expert and co-author of the report,added, “The mitumba market in Kenya is a clear example of a well-functioning circular value chain in practice, and exporting unusable used textiles would not make economic sense – no evidence was found in Kenya that supports this claim. Instead, specialised sorting centres carefully grade and categorise garments by quality and type, adding value at each stage and ensuring that only marketable clothing reaches new users. In contrast, the rise of ultra-fast fashion and the accelerating consumption of new clothing is deeply concerning. This is where fundamental change is urgently needed.”
The case study follows the highly organised and methodical nature of the second-hand clothing trade, showing how the used clothes are manually sorted and rigorous quality control is built into every stage of the process. Skilled and trained workers perform thorough sorting and frequent inspections at Humana Lithuania and global partner facilities, ensuring that only marketable items reach Kenyan shores.
“Our operations are specifically designed to ensure only quality textiles that have market value are exported,” explained Orjan Osterdal, CEO of Humana Lithuania. “This methodical approach benefits both the environment and local economies, clearly dispelling the dumping myth and underlining the importance of the trade for a truly circular textile economy.”
Key findings from the report include:
Dumping is not profitable: Given Kenya’s high import taxes on mitumba, approximately 40% of shipment costs, or around EUR 0.62 per kilogram, importing textiles to discard them in landfills or incinerators would be economically unfeasible.
Robust Kenyan market dynamics: The Baltic Textile Trading (BTT) and Think Twice retail chains in Kenya implement strategic pricing cycles that maximise garment reuse, demonstrating sophisticated consumer awareness and market efficiency.
Circular economy and job creation: The SHC trade generates employment opportunities, ranging from collection and sorting in Europe to retail operations in Kenya.
System supports humanitarian fundraising: In the Global North, sorting and resale of used clothing is frequently carried out by charitable organisations and social-value businesses, with profits reinvested to support humanitarian causes in the Global South.
Effective sorting and quality control are key: In 2024, approximately 38,000 tons of used textiles were sorted at Humana Lithuania’s sorting centers in Vilnius and Oman, including 11,000 tons sourced from Sweden.
Textiles are sorted into over 400 categories based on quality and market needs.
Only clean, wearable items are exported to Kenya.
In summary, the study highlights the critical role African markets, such as Kenya, play in ensuring sustainable textile management globally and demonstrates how the trade, after rigorous sorting processes in Europe, positively impacts Kenya’s local economy through job creation, small-business opportunities, and affordable clothing options for consumers.
Mathias Gustavsson, co-author of the report,added, “Export markets like Kenya play a crucial role in European textile sustainability. Without these markets, many reusable textiles would inevitably be incinerated or sent to landfills due to limited recycling infrastructure in Europe.”
Ahead of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) holding from July 14 to 18, 2025, African civil society and climate justice groups and movements are issuing an urgent call to governments of the region to reject all forms of geoengineering on the African continent and globally.
UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya
Africa faces a grave threat as geoengineering – the large-scale technological interventions in the Earth’s systems – attempts to mask the symptoms of climate change instead of addressing its root causes. This can cause disruptions to African monsoon, collapse of ecosystems and displace peoples and communities.
At AMCEN 2023, African Ministers collectively called for a global governance mechanism for the non-use of solar radiation modification. To protect Africa and African people, the group urged AMCEN to renew and expand that call, with Africa continuing to lead in global efforts to establish an International Solar Geoengineering Non-Use Agreement.
Despite growing opposition, Africa is being targeted by geoengineering proponents pushing what is termed risky and speculative approaches such as Solar Radiation Modification/Manipulation (SRM), often under the guise of African leadership on climate crisis. These efforts attempt to co-opt African policymakers, mislead the public, and shift the burden of climate risk onto the very continent that has contributed the least to global emissions.
Across the continent, African communities are already advancing real climate solutions rooted in climate justice – from agroecology and renewable energy to ecosystem restoration and community-led adaptation.
Civil society groups are also calling on all social movements, Indigenous communities, youth, and grassroots organisations across the continent and the world to join them in rejecting geoengineering and advancing real, just, and community led solutions to the climate crisis.
Dr. Mfoniso Xael, Programmes Manager, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, said: “Geoengineering is a false fix – risky, reckless, and rooted in the same broken thinking that caused the climate crisis. Africa must not become a laboratory for reckless techno-fixes like solar radiation manipulation that gamble with our monsoons, ecosystems, and lives. We reject this neocolonial bait-and-switch that masquerades as innovation while deepening injustice. Real solutions are already in our hands, rooted in agroecology, energy sovereignty, and community-led resilience. Africa must lead not in planetary manipulation, but in global resistance to it.”
Kwami Kpondzo, Director Centre pour la Justice Environnementale, Togo, said: The climate solutions need to be democratised and people centred solutions, not imposed colonial geoengineering technologies such as Solar Radiation Manipulation which will bring more harm to the people and nature. Geoengineering is not a solution to the climate crisis, not in the present time or in the future. Africa doesn’t need to waste time and energy for capacity building on geoengineering technologies but rather needs to amplify people’s solutions that are in harmony and peace with Mother Earth. NO to Solar Radiation Modification as climate solution, YES to real peoples’ solution.”
Josué Aruna, Executive Director of Congo Basin Conservation Society CBCS-Network DRC, said: “We would like to draw the attention of young people and African researchers not to be attracted by the financial means that neo-colonialism uses to divert our attention from the real issues of fighting climate change and destroying our future. Africans must turn their backs against this kind of support. Africa must be seen as humanity’s hope in the fight against climate change and not as a laboratory for dangerous technologies such as geoengineering.”
Amos Nkpeebo, FIDEP Foundation, Ghana, said: “This is a defining moment. As African youth, we bear the brunt of intergenerational climate injustices, and we refuse to accept dangerous illusory shortcuts like geoengineering that could further destabilize our future. The risk of termination shock and long-term planetary disruption is too great. Proven solutions already exist, like solar PV, agroecology and other resilience strategies led by our communities. We urge African leaders to invest in these real, just solutions, not untested experiments that gamble with the future of African youth.”
Kenneth Nana Amoateng, Executive Director, AbibiNsroma Foundation, Ghana, said: “Solar geoengineering does not address the drivers of human-induced climate change, nor does it address the full range of climate and other impacts of anthropogenic greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. Solar geoengineering is not a climate solution. It is a technological gamble that the people of Africa cannot afford. Civil Society and AMCEN need to reject all forms of geoengineering on the African continent.”
The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to setting the power sector on the path of sustainability and bankability by prioritising the different reforms being undertaken in the sector. This is critical to the economic growth and development of the nation.
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, and other dignitaries at the meeting
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the Mission 300 Stakeholders Engagement meeting, held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, where he announced that the estimated investment required for the Mission 300 Compact is $32.8 billion, with $15.5 billion expected from the private sector. The Mission is to provide electricity to 300million unserved people in Africa.
He said the stakeholders meeting would provide an opportunity for them to align, strategise, and to build the partnerships needed to move from Nigeria Energy Compact, to concrete results, as he called on development partners, the private sector, philanthropic actors, the public sector, and the civil society organisations to rally around this mission.
“Mobilising this level of financing will demand innovation, coordination, and a shared commitment.
“In this room today are many of the institutions and individuals who can help us shape the future of Nigeria’s energy sector. Let us take this opportunity to ask hard questions, identify the practical solutions, and develop actionable plans that will make universal access a reality not just in the policy space, but in the daily lives of our citizens by powering our hospitals, our schools, our industries, and our homes,” Adelabu said.
He announced the priorities of the government in power sector reforms to include “adressing the market liquidity issues and initiating required sector reforms”.
“Currently”, he added, “there’s a huge outstanding debt to the Power Generation companies in the form of unpaid government subsidies which stands at about ₦4 trillion as of December 2024. The Federal Government is already working out modalities to defray this obligation and to ensure that further obligations are not accrued going forward, the government is working on a plan to transition the sector to a fully cost-reflective regime while implementing targeted subsidies for the economically vulnerable citizens in the country.
“Improving our power generation through recovery of idle capacities and expanding energy mix to ensure energy security, and to dilute the power pool with cheaper and cleaner energy sources.”
Other areas he identified included “Expanding transmission infrastructure to deliver more power, ensuring stability of the national grid to put an end to several grid disturbances and collapses previously observed on the grid, and to further strengthen the coordination and management of the national grid.
“Ensuring viability and performance improvement of the distribution segment of the power sector through strategic programs like the Presidential Metering Initiative and the World Bank-funded Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP).”
The Minister also said that the Power Ministry is pursuing increased renewable energy through its rural electrification and energy transition drive, to provide a reliable power supply to unserved and underserved communities.
Through its training institute, the Ministry is also working to improve human capital and local content development in the sector to reduce import dependence, stimulate jobs, and build a homegrown energy industry.
“I assure you,” he continued “that the Federal Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is fully committed to this vision and through the Federal Ministry of Power, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, we will continue to champion reforms, promote innovation, and partner with all stakeholders to deliver a sustainable energy future.”
He expressed the appreciation of the Federal Government to the World Bank Group under the leadership of Mr Ajay Banga and the African Development Bank under the leadership of the former Managing Director of the Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), and Sustainable Energy for All for taking on this mission to connect 300 million people across Africa to electricity by the year 2030 through the Mission 300 initiative, saying, “this ambition reflects our shared belief that energy access is a fundamental issue that must be urgently addressed to unlock economic potential of the continent”.
According to Adelabu, in January 2025 at the Dar es Salaam Africa Energy Summit, President Tinubu joined 11 other African Heads of State in endorsing the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration and formally committing to the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Mission 300.
“We presented our National Energy Compact, a bold statement of intent and ambition to fast-track access to both electricity and clean cooking for all Nigerians with the aim of achieving universal access by 2030 by increasing the rate of electricity access from 4 percent to 9 percent per annum and raising access to clean cooking from 22 percent to 25 percent per annum”, he said.
The Minister of Finance, Chief Wale Edun, who spoke through zoom from Brazil, also said that the reforms the government was undertaking in the power sector were critical towards unlocking the full potentials of the economy as it would lead to job creation. He said the reforms have led to over 40 percent increase in power distribution in the first quarter of 2025.
Present at the meeting were the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Geoffrey Nnaji, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, the World Bank Officers, head of agencies in the Power Ministry, and partners of the sector.
In June 2025, Burkina Faso marked a significant milestone in its commitment to elephant conservation and the fight against wildlife trafficking, with the formal validation at a two-day workshop in Ouagadougou of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the secure management of ivory and other wildlife products.
Group picture of all the attendees of the SOP training in Burkina Faso, June 2025
The technical validation workshop, organised by the Direction Générale des Eaux et Forêts (DGEF) and supported by the EPI Foundation (EPIF) and the local NGO Les Anges Gardiens de la Nature (AGN), brought together conservation stakeholders from government, civil society, and international partners, to establish robust, practical, and enforceable guidelines for the handling and storage of ivory and other seized wildlife products.
Ivory trafficking continues to be one of the major threats facing Africa’s elephants. Poor storage conditions, inadequate record keeping, and weak legal frameworks all result in stockpile mismanagement and potentially, leakages into the illegal trade. The newly adopted SOPs in Burkina Faso are a direct response to these risks and an attempt to minimise them.
The Big Picture
The workshop in Burkina Faso is part of an EPI Foundation regional project focused on Securing Wildlife Stocks in five West African Countries, funded by the UK’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. This initiative supports Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in developing SOPs, improving storage infrastructure, and ensuring that ivory stocks are not exploited for profit.
During the workshop’s opening, the EPIF Director of State Engagement, Ulysse Korogone, highlighted the foundation’s commitment to implementing the African Elephant Action Plan (AEAP) while emphasizing the steps that need to be taken in maintaining the global ban on ivory trade, closing domestic ivory markets, and putting all government-held ivory out of commercial use.
The Content of the Standard Operating Procedures
The SOPs lay out detailed procedures for each step of the chain for seized wildlife products, from their discovery to their secure storage and eventual disposition. These result in not only technical improvements, they also reflect a philosophical shift toward transparency, accountability, and fast decision-making by authorities. Key improvements include the alignment of national legal codes with CITES provisions, standardised systems of marking and coding wildlife products, new inspection protocols and transparency in record keeping.
With the SOPs now validated, Burkina Faso is poised to implement a more rigorous and coordinated approach to wildlife product management. However, as noted in the workshop’s conclusions, successful implementation will depend on sustained collaboration across agencies and adequate resourcing for infrastructure, monitoring, and enforcement.
Participants expressed hope that the EPI Foundation would continue its support in extending SOP implementation and warehouse improvements beyond Ouagadougou to other parts of the country. Importantly, the workshop also set the stage for upcoming legislative reviews that will further entrench these new practices in law.
A Continental Movement with Global Impact
Burkina Faso’s commitment reflects Africa’s growing determination to stand firm against wildlife crime. It is a testament to the power of African-led conservation and the vision of the Elephant Protection Initiative. As more countries adopt SOPs and close the door on the ivory trade, they send a message that the future of Africa’s elephants is too important to be defined by mismanagement or corruption. It will be shaped by coordinated, courageous, and continent-wide action.
Global Credit Ratings (GCR) has affirmed and upgraded Shelter Afrique Development Bank’s (ShafDB) international and several key national scale ratings, reflecting the Bank’s strengthened capital position, risk management improvements, and growing credibility across its shareholder base.
Shelter Afrique Development Bank’s Director of Risk, Bernard Oketch
In its latest review, the Johannesburg-based rating agency has affirmed the Bank’s international scale long-term and short-term issuer ratings at B/B, with a Stable Outlook.
At the same time GCR has also upgraded the long and short-term national scale issuer ratings for Kenya to AA+(KE)/A1+(KE) from AA-(KE)/A1+(KE); Nigerian to AAA(NG)/A1+(NG) from AA+(NG)/A1+(NG); and Mauritian to BBB(MU)/A2(MU) from BB+(MU)/B(MU). All the three national scale ratings have been accorded a stable outlook.
The Agency has also upgraded the ratings of its Nigerian Series 1 Senior Unsecured Notes under the NGN200bn Domestic Bond Issuance Programme to AAA(NG) from AA+(NG).
“The upgrades reflect GCR’s confidence in the Bank’s improved risk management, strengthened capitalisation (leverage ratio up to 82.2% in FY2024), and progress in capital arrears resolution. The Stable Outlook affirms expectations of continued sound capitalisation, strategic disbursement growth, and enhanced shareholder engagement,” GCR said in a commentary.
“This recognition underscores Shelter Afrique’s growing operational credibility, commitment to quality lending, and continued transformation into a resilient and trusted multilateral development bank dedicated to delivering affordable housing and urban development solutions across Africa,” GCR added.
Welcoming the rating reviews, Shelter Afrique Development Bank’s Director of Risk, Bernard Oketch, said the rating upgrade has reinforced the Bank’s financial strength, strategic direction, and institutional credibility.
“These upgrades reflect our strong fundamentals and our unwavering commitment to reforms, growth, and sustainable impact. Clearly, we are on a solid path forward in delivering impactful, quality-driven housing finance solutions across Africa,” Mr. Oketch said.
Shelter Afrique Development Bank’s has 46 shareholders comprising 44 member States under “Category A” shareholding, and African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Africa Reinsurance Corporation (Africa-Re) under “Category B” shareholding – who will be convening in Algiers, Algeria from July 15 to 17, 2025, for the Bank’s 44th Annual General Meeting and Housing Symposium. https://www.agm.shelterafrique.org/agm-2025/
It has also “Category C” shareholding for non-African institutions and States willing to join the institution as shareholders.
Environmental activists and legal practitioners are calling for unity in the pursuit of environmental accountability in Nigeria and want Nigerians to utilise the ongoing constitutional amendment exercise to demand for a review of the environmental laws in the country. They reject a system that puts absolute power over Nigeria’s natural resources in the hands of the federal government, abandoning the victims of oil and gas pollution in local communities.
Some of the participants at the EDEN event
This was their position at a one-day hybrid programme organised by Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), in collaboration with the Nigeria Chambers of the International Law Association and the Chima Williams and Associates at EDEN Head office in Benin City, Edo State.
The programme explored the negative impacts of climate change on local communities, the role of polluting corporations and how the Nigerian constitution has aided pollution, derailing environmental accountability.
Executive Director of EDEN, Barr. Chima Williams, who spoke on “The Drive Towards Climate Justice and Environmental Accountability” highlighted parts of the Nigerian constitution that place utmost power on the federal government, inhibiting the state and regulatory agencies and citizens’ right to demand environmental accountability from polluting corporations.
“There are provisions of the Constitution that put petroleum resources under the exclusive legislative list of the constitution, which means it is only the federal government that can regulate it. This has also denied states legislatures and the judiciary from having anything to do or say about petroleum issues. Our constitution has bestowed on the federal government the right over all our mineral resources. These policies do not provide openings that ensure that our environment is well protected or accountability in our environment sector. So the starting point is our very constitution.”
Expanding on issues concerning “Community Organizing for Climate Resilience”, Deputy Executive Director, Comrade Alagoa Morris, highlighted the increasing impact of climate change in the Niger Delta, manifested in increased rainfall and severe flooding such as was experienced in 2022. He explained that rural communities are struggling to adapt to climate change, with farmers replanting quickly between floods to avoid food insecurity.
He revealed that the pollution crisis in the Niger Delta is further compounded by the actions of the military and NNPC surveillance contractors, who burst containers of illegally acquired crude oil and refined products, flooding the environment with toxic hydrocarbon contents.
“These agents also set ablaze boats, vessels, and trucks transporting suspected stolen or illegally refined crude oil, which further denies the people of the Niger Delta clean air and water.”
He noted that while lawyers are often ready to support communities in seeking environmental justice, the scientific community is not providing sufficient backing through research, limiting the ability of communities to hold polluters accountable, and allowing companies to escape liability despite visible evidence of pollution on the ground.
EDEN’s Director of Programmes, Philip Jakpor, spoke on the place of the “Media in the Nigerian Climate Change Narrative”, pointing out that the role of the media is to document and shape public perception and the understanding of climate change, serving as a bridge between complex research findings and policymakers as well as the general public.
“For climate coverage to have real impact, stories should revolve around the immediate environment, such as agriculture, water stress in rural and urban areas, and rising temperatures. We need to tell the stories of people affected by climate change, including communities, women, children, vulnerable groups, and workers, while linking these stories to local and national economic impacts in clear and understandable terms. It is important to spotlight the fossil fuels companies behind the climate crisis as well as agro-industrial plantation companies.”
Speaking on “Maximising Global Climate Movements to Combat Climate Crisis”, EDEN’s Director of Climate and Energy Justice, Maimoni Ubrei-Joe, said the essence of climate justice movements is to keep individuals, governments, and industries accountable while redirecting the world toward climate action.
He explained that there are several global movements that have been instrumental in mass mobilisation, protests during COPs, bilateral engagements, policy advocacy, and legal actions.
“The challenges in climate justice organizing are greenwashing, false solutions, and distractions such as geoengineering, the carbon market, and waste-to-energy initiatives. These approaches delay real climate action and are often reflected in existing policies. While some call for new laws, there is a need to clean up the current laws so they reflect and protect the interests of the ordinary people. There is a need to demand divestment from fossil fuels and to channel resources into renewable energy.”
On his part, Associate Professor of International and Environmental Law from the University of Derby, UK, Dr. Eghosa Ekhator, pointed out that climate laws are not effective in Nigeria. He stressed that the impact of climate change weighs more on the vulnerable people in society.
“The African character has been part of Nigerian law since 1983. There are very few environmental justice cases. We need the expertise of scientists. We need local communities who are the real victims to start talking about environmental and climate justice.”
He charged civil society organisations and environmental activists to start developing the capacity of local communities for climate litigation and build their knowledge to realise that they can seek for environmental justice and accountability through the court.
Other speakers at the event included Eric Omare Esq, a legal practitioner who highlighted the role of the Petroleum Industry Act and how local communities can apply it in litigation processes. Professor of Environmental law, University of Benin, Prof. Ngozi Stewart, pointed out the need to move from law to impact by strengthening climate litigations and environmental governance. Senior lecturer of the Faculty of Law, Delta State University, Dr. Brown Umukoro, exposed the potential of children and youth focused climate litigations that maximises the impact of climate change on the younger generation.
The programme which was both in-person and virtual was attended by civil society organisations, women led groups, environmental activists, legal practitioners and the media.
Developing country representatives on the Board of the UN’s Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) have issued a critical joint statement expressing concerns over the scale and status of resources, noting that a lack of transparency from contributors is “severely limiting” the ability to program funds and reducing confidence in the long-term commitment of partners. The statement was issued during the Fund’s 6th Board Meeting in Cebu, Philippines.
brahima Cheikh Diong, Executive Director of Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD)
The statement from the developing country constituency highlights that while funding needs for economic damages alone are estimated to be around $395 billion in 2025, only $348 million is currently available in the Fund. This comes after total pledges of $788.68 million, revealing a significant gap between promises and payments. The constituency underscored the “urgent and immediate need for new, additional, predictable and adequate financial resources” to help developing countries respond to escalating climate disasters.
The developing country constituency maintains its position that the Fund must programme at least $100 billion a year by 2030 as a minimum and called for the Board to shift its priorities towards launching an initial capitalization and replenishment process that goes “far beyond the initial pledges.”
The press conference featured an important video statement from Jotham Napat, Prime Minister of Vanuatu, who highlighted the need to scale up funds to address the actual needs of developing countries.
NEW Global Campaign – “FILL THE FUND” Launched
In direct response to this crisis of inaction, a global coalition of climate justice movements and civil society groups representing thousands of organisations launched “Fill The Fund,” a new global campaign to demand wealthy nations and corporate polluters meet their historical responsibility to pay for the climate crisis.
Jotham Napat, Prime Minister of Vanuatu, in a recorded statement: “Pledges alone cannot rebuild what has been erased by the climate crisis in Vanuatu and across the world. A single cyclone caused over $500 million in damages, yet we are capped at receiving just $20 million a year from the Loss and Damage Fund.
“The question now is whether the fund will be able to mobilize the scale of resources needed to meet the moment and deliver – especially when we consider that children in developing countries suffer more than $400 billion in impacts annually.”
Elena Cristina Pereira Colindres, FRLD Board Member (Honduras), speaking on behalf of the G77 constituency:“The current financial situation and the lack of clarity on the overall scale of the Fund will likely affect the start-up phase and the long-term scaled financing needed from the Fund.
“We therefore raise the question of whether the Board should now shift its priorities towards launching an initial capitalisation and replenishment process of new, additional, predictable, and adequate resources at a scale that goes far beyond the initial pledges.”
Richard Sherman, Co-Chair, FRLD Board (South Africa), speaking in his national capacity:“We have to build the abacus, so to speak, of the fund’s financial architecture: how we mobilise money, how we bank contributed funds, and how we disperse money to countries. Although this is a small step, it has a big, big, big footprint.
“We need to continue our work with vigilance, and with the support of civil society all around the world, to ensure the fund remains accessible, open, and inclusive—which is not necessarily a simple thing to do.”
Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson, FRLD Board Member (Barbados):“Middle-income nations like Barbados are on the frontlines of climate impacts, yet we often cannot access the finance needed. When Hurricane Beryl struck us, we lost 90% of our fishing fleet and significant coastal infrastructure.”
“That is why the Board’s decision in Barbados this past April was a critical step forward: it established the Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM) and, crucially, ensured that 50% of the funding goes to LDCs and SIDs as grants, not loans.”
Daniel Lund, FRLD Board Member (Fiji): “Our red line- the imperative to keep the global average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees – is on the brink of being breached. Recent science suggests that an overshoot may be unavoidable.”
“This must be a fund that works differently and thinks differently; one that can effectively work with national systems and be responsive to the needs on the ground. We must incentivize social protection and avoid the fragmentation and administrative burden that the current project-based financing regime continues to create.”
Harjeet Singh, Convenor of the new Global Campaign “Fill The Fund” on Loss and Damage Finance, and Founding Director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation said at the launch event: “The creation of this Fund was a historic victory, but it will be a meaningless one if it is not filled with new, additional, and accessible public grants. This campaign will unite the voices of thousands of organizations to demand that developed countries stop shirking their responsibilities.
“The ‘Fill The Fund’ campaign will coordinate global advocacy, track pledges and payments through a public dashboard, and mobilize citizens to pressure governments ahead of key moments, including the COP30 climate conference in Belém, Brazil.”
Claire Miranda, Deputy Programme Manager for Climate Justice, APMDD (Philippines) and member of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ): “It is significant that the FRLD Board is meeting here in Cebu, one of the cities hardest hit by Super Typhoon Rai in 2021, which left a vast trail of death and devastation across our country.
“Bringing the Board discussions here is not just symbolic; it is a reminder of who this fund must serve. But symbolism is not enough. We need substance. We need decisions that move us from delay to delivery, from pledges to actual contributions, and from rhetoric to real reparations. We need to fill the fund.”
Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, Climate Action Network International: “The establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund was a major political achievement, thanks to the leadership and pressure from civil society and developing countries. However, the real test will be how this Fund is filled. With increasingly devastating climate impacts, felt mainly in the Global South, we are talking billions, not millions, that are needed for recovery and rebuilding.
“Rich nations, who caused harm historically, must pay up. We are talking about public, grants-based finance. The attempts by the World Bank to get the private sector involved in financing the Fund is yet another escape clause for rich nations. You cannot profit off of suffering. Rich nations must pay their dues. They can find the money to fund wars and subsidise fossil fuels, so there can be no argument that there is no money.”
Brandon Wu, Director of Policy and Campaigns, ActionAid USA:“When rich countries say they don’t have the money to contribute to global climate solutions, it’s a bluff. In this fiscal year alone, the US government plans to spend nearly $200 billion on border security and immigration enforcement. That is almost 11,000 times more than its paltry $17.5 million contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund – money that will go towards persecuting everyday people rather than supporting their needs.
“This has never been about a lack of resources; it has always been about a lack of political will. When those in power decide something is a priority, they can mobilize untold amounts of money at the drop of a hat. It’s time that rich countries choose to prioritize survival and dignified life for billions of people around the world. Living up to their obligations to contribute to the FRLD is a core part of that choice.”
Liane Schalatek, Associate Director, Heinrich Böll Foundation Washington, DC, said: “Only 358 million US Dollar in the bank when at least the same number in billions is needed per year – this is the sad state of efforts to mobilize financing to #FillTheFund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).
“Announced with much fanfare at COP28 in Dubai 20 months ago, developed countries have so far failed to fulfill their legal obligation and moral duty to help marginalized people and vulnerable communities in developing countries to cope with ever more devastating extreme weather events with hurricanes, floods and droughts, glacier melt and sea level rise, and more and more lives and livelihoods lost. No more excuses and evasions.
“We need public grant finance delivered to the Fund in the billions as a matter of urgency and climate justice. If countries in the Global North can find money for military expansion, subsidizing fossil fuels, beefing up border controls and tax gifts for the richest, they can summon the resources to #PayUp4LossAndDamage – NOW!”
Chiara Liguori, Climate Justice Senior Policy Adviser, Oxfam GB:“The establishment of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage in 2022 was hailed as a historic moment. But little money has followed since then. We have only seen more excuses and delaying tactics.
“What would be really historic now is for rich countries to live up to their responsibilities, honour their obligations and pay up for the losses and damages they have caused. Only this would ensure justice to the people left displaced, hungry or sick by the reckless behaviour of the richest and biggest polluters.”
Lien Vandamme, Senior Campaigner, Center for International Environmental Law, said:“States and corporations with historic and current responsibility for the climate crisis have legal obligations to pay for the damage. While we celebrated the historic step taken at COP27 to establish a Loss and Damage Fund, this fund remains an empty shell and people and communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis have yet to receive the first penny.
“2025 is the year to change this: as countries are discussing how to scale up resources of the Loss and Damage Fund, international courts are confirming State obligations to repair climate and environmental harm, at home and abroad. COP30 must tie all of this together and deliver a clear path forward towards the urgent delivery of hundreds of billions needed annually. The delay must end and polluters must pay.”
Brenda Mwale, Finance Lead, Loss and Damage Collaboration, said:“Adequate funding for the Loss and Damage fund is not merely a financial necessity; it constitutes human rights and legal imperative to address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable nations. Sufficient resources are essential for supporting recovery efforts, and ensuring a more equitable global response to climate-induced disasters.
“The current state of resources in the Fund highlights the reluctance of developed countries to assume responsibility and support frontline communities at the scale required. This issue should be treated with urgency and see the delivery of Loss and Damage scale of at least 400 billion USD a year. The response to COVID-19, demonstrated the capacity and availability of resources to support vulnerable communities. The money is there! ”
Ineza Umuhoza Grace & Nicolas Gaulin, Global Coordinators, Loss & Damage Youth Coalition, said: An empty Fund means more droughts, floods, and temperature extremes. An empty Fund means broken homes, displaced families, and unchecked destruction and disease. An empty Fund means foregoing development to pay for a crisis the primary victims didn’t create. An empty Fund means developed countries continue to downplay and reject their historical responsibility in fueling the climate crisis. An empty Fund means no trust in real action. Developing countries and frontline communities have the right to new, additional, predictable, public, grants-based and easily accessible funds to survive and thrive.
“These funds are neither charity, nor development aid or investment opportunities. These funds are meant for equitable climate action that addresses real pain at the frontlines. Nothing short of trillions will rectify this egregious breach of justice and global solidarity, consistently perpetuated by a collective of wealthy nations. The Fund must be filled today, tomorrow, and until it matches the scale of needs on the ground.
Nithi Nesadurai, Director & Regional Coordinator, Climate Action Network Southeast Asia, said: “Given the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and their rising intensity, which are aggressively adding to the loss and damage being incurred in the developing world in particular, it is imperative that developed countries meet their obligations by contributing significantly to the Fund with immediate effect. Delay tactics cannot be tolerated anymore.”
Dr. Isatis M. Cintron-Rodriguez, Founder and Director, Climate Trace, Puerto Rico, said:“Trust is in high demand and as the currency for climate justice it hinges on developed countries stepping up with public finance that is new, additional, high quality, non-debt inducing, and commensurate with the harm incurred. Anything less risk turning a promise into betrayal for the world’s most affected communities.”
Managing Director and CEO of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, Tony Attah, has called for a review of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to align with current economic and sector realities.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance, Tony Attah
Speaking on the theme “Nigeria Oil and Gas: From Reforms to Recovery,” at the 2025 BusinessDay Annual CEO Nigeria Forum held in Lagos on Thursday, July 10, Attah, noted that while the PIA was a landmark reform when signed into law in August 2021, it had been in development for over two decades, during which time the global energy sector underwent significant transformation.
“The PIA was a bill for 20 years, and while we were busy trying to get it right, the rest of the world moved on,” Attah said. “It doesn’t take cognisance of digitalisation, doesn’t recognise AI, and, in today’s world, you cannot survive without digitalisation. The PIA came late even for its time.”
Attah commended the Nigerian government for recent reforms, including the Executive Order raising contract approval thresholds from $500,000 to $10 million, which he described as a “game-changer” for operational flexibility in a multi-billion-dollar industry.
He also praised the evolving regulatory environment, noting that over 50% of Nigeria’s oil production is now driven by indigenous companies, a testament to the success of local content policies and regulatory support.
“Government reforms are working. Nigerians are taking over. But while the reform is on, there’s still a lot more to be done,” he added.
Attah highlighted pipeline security as a critical challenge, urging regulators to define clearer frameworks for safeguarding infrastructure and ensuring that production reaches the export terminals without disruption.
“Production is no longer the problem. It is getting the product to market, that is. Between production and point of sale lies the pipeline, and that’s all about security,” he said.
Reaffirming Renaissance’s commitment to national development, Attah described the company’s vision as Afro-centric, focused on enabling energy security and industrialisation across Africa in a sustainable manner.
“We want to move Nigeria to centre stage as the true African giant. The renaissance has begun for our company and for our country,” Attah said.
Renaissance operates Nigeria’s largest upstream joint venture alongside NNPC Limited, TotalEnergies, and AENR, with a portfolio of 15 onshore and 3 shallow-water Oil Mining Leases, and the Bonny and Forcados crude export terminals.
In its first 100 days of taking over Shell’s shares in the defunct SPDC, Renaissance increased crude oil production by over 40%, including significant gas deliveries to Nigeria LNG Limited.
The Society for Planet and Prosperity (SPP)inaugurated a Review Panel on July 8, 2025, to review the methodology and scoring matrix for the forthcoming second edition of the Climate Governance Performance Rating and Ranking of Nigeria’s 36 states.
The Review Panel was carefully invited to provide advisory on the methodology and scoring matrix with a view to improving it and ensuring transparency and objectivity in the overall evaluation process.
During the virtual Inauguration session of the Review panel, Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke welcomed the distinguished experts and expressed gratitude for their willingness to contribute their time and expertise in service of the collective goal of improving climate action, especially at the subnational level.
He emphasised the need to continually strengthen the ranking process to better reflect what states are doing to tackle climate change and to inspire greater climate ambition.
Prof. Okereke added that there is need to enhance and improve the process to ensure that it delivers its core objective of accurately shining a spotlight on what states are doing to combat climate change and to motivate them to do more.
“There is a growing consensus that in contexts where legislation may be weak, tools like climate governance rankings can help stimulate accountability and progress,” he said.
“I am delighted that you have accepted to be part of this expert review panel. In a political environment where legislation is not strong, one way to improve climate governance is through climate governance ranking. While no one tool is sufficient, the subnational ranking has gained traction and credibility following the success of the inaugural ranking, helping to stimulate accountability and progress. Your contributions as experts will be critical to ensuring its continued relevance and effectiveness,” he added.
Dr. Iniobong Abiola-Awe, the Director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, reiterated the commitment and support of the Federal Ministry of Environment to the Climate Governance Performance Rating and Ranking of Nigeria’s 36 states, and re-assured that states are better empowered to drive climate action, while encouraging other relevant stakeholders and experts to be part of the process of empowering subnational governments.
“I appreciate the SPP team for their commitment to the success of this subnational ranking. Following the success of the first ranking, we have seen a number of states share best practices to ensure that climate policies are enacted and implemented in their states,” she added.
Participants commended the progress in climate change initiatives at the subnational level, while emphasising the importance of measuring governance commitment and tracking implementation impacts.
Dr. Priscilla Achakpa highlighted the need for states to prioritise climate change governance and expressed appreciation for the platform, which she noted has set a precedent for subnational climate action in Nigeria.
Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba lauded the initiative as a welcome development in improving climate governance at the subnational level, stating that what cannot be measured cannot be improved.
In her contribution, Mrs. Halima Bawa noted that while projects undertaken at the subnational level such as solar panel installations are important, she emphasised the need to prioritise nature-based solutions, especially forest conservation and reforestation.
Other participants acknowledged the progress made at the subnational level, highlighting the importance of evaluating governance frameworks and tracking the impact of their climate actions and policies.
Dr Eugene Itua commended the efforts of the SPP and DCC team from the first edition and kickstarting the second edition.
The panel’s recommendations are expected to inform the revised framework for the upcoming edition of the ranking, which will build on the success of the inaugural report to deepen climate ambition and implementation at the state level.
The expert review panel is composed of Prof. Chinedu Nwajiuba, Chair of the Board, West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL); Prof. Olukayode Oladipo, Adjunct Professor, UNILAG; Prof. Daniel Gwary, University of Maiduguri; Dr.Eugene Itua, CEO, Natural Ecocapital; Mrs Halima Bawa, Director, National Council Climate Change Secretariat; Dr. Pricilia Achakpa, Global President of the Women Environment Programme (WEP); Mr. Olumide Idowu, Executive Director, International Climate Change Development Initiative; Mr. Amara Nwankpa, Director General (Acting) Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation; Mr. Eghose Omoigui and Madam Gbemisola Akosa, Executive Director Centre For 21st Century Issues (C21st).
By Ugochukwu Uzuegbu, Communication Specialist, SPP
Keynote address delivered by Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), at the 3rd Niger Delta Climate Conference held at Port Harcourt, River State, Nigeria, on Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Nnimmo Bassey
When we speak of building a resilient future, we have to look at the environment in which we live and examine the state of that environment. What are the living conditions for humans and other beings that we share the planet with? The Niger Delta is a deeply polluted environment, a deeply degraded territory, one of the worst polluted places on the planet.
Researches have confirmed this sad reality. The Environmental Assessment of Ogoni land issued by United Nations Environment Program in 2021 clearly shows the desperate pollution of Ogoni land – the land, the water, and the air. In some places, hydrocarbons have penetrated the soil up to 5 meters. By the time the cleanup started, pollution had sunk as deep as 10 meters.
In 2023 the Bayesian State Oil and Environment Commission, issued a report entitled An Environmental Genocide, Counting the Human and Environmental Cost of Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria. Now, when we speak of environmental genocide, we have to understand this by looking at what genocide itself means. Genocide is an intentional attack and annihilation of a people, ethnic cleansing. An environmental genocide can also be termed ecocide. It happens when there’s an intentional and persistent destruction of a particular environment, as has been the case of the Niger Delta over the last 68 years.
The Niger Delta is a territory that the inhabitants are literally the living dead due to horrific environmental degradation. Consider Bayelsa State that has 40% of mangrove forests gone and there is a 1.5 barrels of crude oil spilled per capita. Imagine that about 14 million cubic meters of natural gas is flared every day at 17 facilities in Bayelsa State alone releasing toxic elements into the air and causing cancers, breathing illnesses and acid rain.
Oil related contaminants such as chromium are present in groundwater at a level 1000 times beyond the World Health Organization limit, and then shockingly, total petroleum hydrocarbons exceed safe levels by a factor of 1 million. Think about that.
Now our topic is on building a resilient future. What is resilience? Other words for resilience could be toughness, strength, tenacity, power, persistence. Now, when you are resilient, it doesn’t mean you are tough to receive any kind of beating. That’s not resiliency, just being helpless, but strong.
No, resilience is a situation where you overcome hazards, where your vulnerability is removed, and disasters are not the norm. It’s a situation where what you lost is restored and what was damaged is paid for. To build an excellent future, we have to map that future. We have to change our imaginaries.We have to determine what the future would look like and then we build towards attaining that future. We need to be passionate about this. We need to be conscious of where we are, and act to get to where we want to be.
We are considering building a resilient future by integrating climate action and community empowerment. Now, what are the key climate actions that are being taken globally today. One is adaptation, and second is mitigation.
Simply put, adaptation means adapting to changing situations, making accommodation with what is coming at you, while mitigation means taking action to stop the change from happening or to reduce the change that is occurring. When we speak about climate change, sometimes our focus is on the carbon in the atmosphere, but we must also speak about the carbon in the ground that is being extracted and burnt to put that carbon in the atmosphere. If we keep looking only into the skies and forget to look at the ground, then of course, we will not really tackle the problem that affects our people on a daily basis. And so we have to look at where the rain started beating us.
That deluge drenched us when the first oil well was drilled and exports began in the late 1950s at Otuabagi in the Oloibiri oil field. Now those early oil wells have since been abandoned. They were abandoned in 1970s but they’ve never been decommissioned. The area has never been cleaned up, and as we speak, they are still contaminating the environment, and this happens because of lax regulation. Lax regulation is not accidental, just like ecocide is not happenstance. It’s all about profit for international oil companies and their Nigerian counterparts.
The Niger Delta is a sacrifice zone where anything goes and the people just manage and struggle to survive. Those of us who live in the area don’t have to be told about the level of pollution here. The reports are there, the Ogoni report, the Bayelsa report, even the Niger Delta Environment Survey that Shell commissioned in the 90s, but never released, and many others including the one by Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, which studied blood samples of women from Otuabagi area, and found them all loaded with hydrocarbons. people are literally the walking dead.
In November to December 2021 over a period of six weeks, there was an oil blowout on the Santa Barbara river, a well run by Aiteo. That spill all happened in public view. The polluters and NOSDRA claimed that a mere 3,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled. Imagine a spill from a well head at high pressure for six weeks. Experts estimate that about 500,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled in that incident. And how about Ororo-1 oil well off the coast of Awoye in Ondo State? That oil well blew up 5 years ago and is still burning and spilling as we speak – a clear indication of systemic neglect.
How can we be serious about climate action when we have an oil well burning and spilling crude for 5 years? It’s an open sore, burning, spilling in broad daylight, destroying livelihoods of communities along the coastline of the Niger Delta, especially at the Awoye area. In sum, the Niger Delta is not just a sacrifice zone, it’s a zone that holds the history of colonial exploitation, extractivism, expropriation and extermination of the people on a daily and continuous basis.
How can we speak of community empowerment in this sort of environment? What would community empowerment look like? What is community empowerment when perpetrators of environmental degradation are abandoning their responsibilities in the so called divestment moves? What kind of transition would that be? If a polluter leaves the pollution, hands it over to his allies or other companies that they set up, and moves deeper offshore to pollute from offshore and maybe turn the offshore into a situation that is akin to what they’ve left in our onshore the Niger Delta is not only suffering from loss and damage. It is a lost and damaged territory. It is almost a lost and damaged, totally damaged, irreversibly damaged territory.
And our work in community. If we want to do real community empowerment, we must take real climate action to avert a continuation of the sacrifice of the zone. And there are things we must do. Number one, there has to be a clear environmental audit across the entire Niger Delta, what has gone wrong? Who is responsible, and how can people live in that kind of society? Environment number two, health audit. What has been killing our people?
How come we don’t have adults? Children have become adults and we don’t have elderly people. Number three, remediation, we’re not only going to audit the environment, or did the health. There must be a cleanup of the entire Niger Delta. There must be reparations. There must be payment for the damage that has been done to lives and to the environment.
Gas flaring must be stopped and halted. It’s an illegal activity. It’s a crime against humanity. It’s crime against the environment, against Mother Earth. It must be stopped. The so called divestment must be started and reversed, it is time to empower the communities and take real climate action by bringing into play community control, renewable energy provision, supporting food sovereignty, building resilient infrastructure.
Still speaking about building resilience through climate reparations, it’s a time to right the wrongs in terms of energy provision, United States a very challenged environment, and electricity penetration is very low, and so to reach hard to reach communities, there must be community controlled renewable energy.
In other words, we have to bring energy democracy to the Niger Delta, so that the people who only see glimpses of light from gas flares would now have electricity with which to engage in productive activities and to light up the territory. Now, the land, the water and the air has been so contaminated, if gas flaring is stopped, pollution is cleaned up, then the people have a chance to engage in agriculture in a way that is resilient and a way that helps tackle global warming, and that would be having food sovereignty with a key focus on agroecology, cultivating crops according in line and in harmony with nature.
And then finally, one clear action that must be taken to build resilience is to encourage community democracy and have community development agencies that are truly driven by the people and not manipulated through divide and rule and rule system by either the oil corporations or the governments at various levels. And so we’re speaking about community agency the people must be on the driving seat to build a resilient future, to take real climate action and to empower themselves the people are going to empower themselves when the conditions are right, and this starts by building social cohesion and resilience through inclusive approaches to resource management, accountability and ownership, communities must be in a position say this cannot happen in our territory.
This can happen in our territory. They must be in charge of what resources are extracted in their territories and how these are extracted. And finally, we have to work to promote restorative justice. In other words, community in Agile data can only be empowered and build resilient future when there is environmental justice.
Those who do the harm the most harm must do the most to write those harms, to correct those harms. They have to pay for the harms done.
We need ecological justice. We need species justice where we understand that we are not alone on this planet. We’re not alone in Niger, there are other beings that we share the environment with, and they must be intergenerational justice. We have to keep in mind that the future we’re talking about belongs to the children yet unborn, and so what we do now must be such as would ensure that they can they’ll have a repaired resilience, strong ecosystems, ecology, systems, a week to thrive. These are some of the, these are the thoughts.
