Since history is no longer offered as a subject in Nigerian schools, do not expect young Nigerians to know that parts of their country’s rainforest in the state of Cross River are older than the valuable and world-renowned Benin Ivory Masks, and Ife Bronzes in museums and private custodianship around the world. Their parents are not better informed either, being the victims of folk tales and syllabuses that describe tropical forests in frightening metaphors, practically as the impenetrable jungle abode of man-eating animals, cannibal head-hunters, and evil spirits.

In one Marrakech conference hall, the Nigerian president was calmly declaring the resolve of his government to ensure that policies will be put in place to address climate change and make Nigeria emerge as one of the world’s best examples of how reducing emissions can benefit the environment and the economy.

Nigeria is among the most vulnerable African countries to global warming, with rising sea levels and coastal erosion, deforestation and desertification as principal concerns. Halting the rate of deforestation of tropical forests in Nigeria, which between 2000 and 2005 was as high as 11% per year, and promoting reforestation and afforestation can also be key mitigation efforts.

In the second conference hall, Governor Ayade of Cross River State was outlining details of what he describes as a “digital superhighway”, to cross the entire length of the last rainforests in Nigeria. The president and the governor belong to different political parties. But the pair easily formed a coalition to launch the superhighway construction through the Cross River National Park, some months ago; well before the submission by the proponents of a comprehensive environmental and social impact assessment for the project.

The impact assessment document is still awaiting the awkwardness of approval from the Federal Ministry of Environment, because the widely-held belief in Nigeria is that President Buhari, a rather ethically correct personality, has since regretted his association with the superhighway, and the Ministry of Environment now finds itself zig-zagging and playing damage control politics.

How a government can start the anthem of a green agenda, but also join the refrain for forest degradation is a shameless, discordant rendition that brings Nigeria into ridicule before the international community. Is a forest estate, internationally famous for its high profile and endemic species set for destruction by the endemic corruption in Nigeria?

By the nature of its federated configuration, these incongruent perspectives of conservation and exploitation of forests in Nigeria mutate, rotate and gather momentum from ecological to economic and to political and conflict proportions. Many rural and community development projects in Nigeria fail, simply because federal and state governments are unable to clarify important issues of subsidiarity and the dualisms of land tenure, in addition to a lack of coherent and inclusive policies.

Colonialism, and the subsequent Amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria Protectorates in 1914, cut through, and opened the belt of coastal rainforest that separated the West African savannah and the Atlantic Ocean. In Nigeria, these forests were actually more sustainably managed by communities, through customary norms before the advent of a centralized and planned economic development.

The oil boom in the 1980s set the cat among the pigeons and drove the last nail in the coffin of the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors in Nigeria. With the recent decline of oil revenues, the resurgence in logging forests is not only to make way for superhighways, but also to make money that disappears into private accounts.

Forest-dependent communities in Nigeria are poor people, and depend overwhelmingly on natural resources for their income. They are voiceless within a cosmetic three-tier system of governance that neither guarantees decentralisation of political authority, nor devolution of fiscal control. The poverty-environment nexus is one of many causative factors of ecosystems degradation in the country. But because this feeling is growing, Nigeria lives in a dangerous belief and primitive economic theory that poverty must first be eradicated in order for the environment to be better managed.

The small conservation lobby in Nigeria, on the other hand has been unable to bring convictive argument, and demonstrate the intrinsic, economic, health and heritage values of forests. Why have we not seen cost-benefit analyses that argue the case for forest conservation against infrastructure development and superhighways? Without evidence-based facts and figures, it is easy for ignorant and misinformed politicians to lampoon conservationists as arrogant anarchists that have no tangible solutions to the problems of Nigeria.

By Ako Amadi  (Executive Director, Community Conservation & Development Initiatives)

eement

Countries accelerated global climate action across a broad range of areas at the two-week 2016 UN climate change conference (COP22) that ended on Friday in Marrakech, Morocco as they fast-tracked the political and practical aims of the historic Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Multi-billion and multi-million dollar packages of support for clean technologies; building capacity to report on climate action plans, and initiatives for boosting water and food security in developing countries were also among the many new announcements and initiatives launched.

Meanwhile, governments set a rapid deadline of 2018 to complete the rule book for operationalising the Paris Agreement to ensure confidence, cooperation and its success over the years and decades to come.

Businesses, investors, cities and local governments also issued new climate change commitments, adding to the thousands announced in the run up to the Paris climate conference last year.

For example, a club of subnational governments, the Under2 Coalition, who have committed to reduce their emissions by at least 80 percent by 2020, announced their membership has grown to 165.

The combined GDP of these 165 members is close to $26 trillion – a third of the global economy – and cover a population of around one billion people living in North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

The Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of more than 40 vulnerable nations, released a declaration that strengthens the call to limit global temperature rise to as close to 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible.

Their Marrakech Vision commits these countries to various ambitious aims, including achieving 100% renewable energy between 2030 and 2050.

Several countries – Canada, Germany, Mexico and the United States – announced ambitious climate strategies out to 2050, reflecting the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement to achieve climate neutrality and a low-emission world in the second half of the century.

Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said, “The landmark Paris Agreement set the course and the destination for global climate action. Here in Marrakesh, governments underlined that this shift is now urgent, irreversible and unstoppable”.

This new era of implementation and action for climate and for sustainable development was captured in the Marrakech Action Proclamation.

“I would like to pay tribute to the Government of Morocco and the President of the Conference, Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, for their remarkable success. COP22 has been what it needed to be, a COP of action that has accelerated progress under the Paris Agreement across finance, new initiatives, ambition and solidarity between nations and across Continents,” she said.

Mr. Mezouar, President of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22), said, “The Kingdom of Morocco is fully engaged in the success of this COP and will energetically carry out its role as President. At the outcome of the last 15 days, our vision has been consolidated and we are working to make concrete progress and to carry out breakthrough actions from now until the end of 2017”.

“It will be necessary to respect the commitment of $100 billion dollars from now until 2020. Faced with the magnitude of what is required for dealing with the impacts of climate change, turning billions into trillions is indispensable.  2017 must be the year of large scale projects, of mobilising finance, and accessing financial facilities that will be necessary for adaptation,” he added.

Ms. Espinosa added, “During COP22, the strength, the support for and the robustness of the Paris Agreement was furthered underlined, with nine more ratifications received at the UN in New York and the promise of many more to come. Nations reaffirmed that the agreement is in their national interests and a key catalyst to a better, more prosperous future for their citizens”.

COP22, hosted by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, saw almost 500 Heads of State or Government and Ministers attend. It also witnessed the first meeting of the Paris Agreement’s top governing body following early entry into force of the Paris Agreement on 4 November.

At the close, Fiji was announced as the host of the 2017 UN climate conference, with Germany assisting the Pacific island nation by holding it in Bonn.

Key Outcomes and Initiatives

Rule Book

A crucial outcome of the Marrakesh climate conference was to move forward on writing the rule book, or operational manual, of the Paris Agreement.

The agreement calls for a significant boost of transparency of action, including for measuring and accounting emissions reductions, the provision of climate finance, and technology development and transfer.

It also includes work to design the adaptation communications, which is the primary vehicle under the Paris Agreement to share individual adaptation efforts and support needs.

Countries pressed forward on this and set a fast track date of 2018 for completion. Countries have already built the foundation for this by peer assessing each other’s actions to cut emissions through a transparent process that began in 2014.

Multilateral Assessment

At COP22, seven developing countries presented updates and opened themselves to examination by their peers on how they are moving to a low carbon economy.

This fits into delivering a system for monitoring, verifying and reporting actions and opens the door to greater ambition under their climate action plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency

During COP22, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a multilateral funding arm, announced a Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency backed by 11 developed country donors providing $50 million-worth of funding.

NDC Partnership

Implementation of climate action plans also received a boost from the launch of the NDC Partnership – a coalition of developing and developed countries and international institutions working together to ensure countries receive the technical and financial support they need to speedily meet their climate and sustainable development goals.

Progress by Governments

Governments made progress across key areas of climate action, including climate finance, adaptation, capacity building, technology and gender-responsiveness. This is an overview:

Climate finance

• Countries pledged more than $81 million to the Adaptation Fund, surpassing its target for the year.
• Countries pledged over $23 million to the Climate Technology Centre and Network, which supports developing countries with climate technology development and transfer. As the implementation arm of the Technology Mechanism, the CTCN is a key institution to enable nations realise their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
• The Green Climate Fund (GCF) announced the approval of the first two proposals for the formulation of National Adaptation Plans: Liberia for $2.2 million and Nepal for $2.9 million. Another 20 countries are expected to have their proposals approved soon with up to $3 million each.
• Overall, the GCF is on track to approve $2.5 billion worth of projects.

Adaptation

The Adaptation of African Agriculture initiative, which includes 27 participating countries, showcased how water, soil, climate risk management, funding of small farmers and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being addressed with an overall aim of advancing adaptation.

Loss and Damage

A new five-year framework under the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (WIM) will deal with impacts that are not addressed through planned adaptation, including displacement, migration and human mobility and comprehensive risk management.

Capacity building

In another show of accelerated climate action, countries operationalised the Paris Agreement’s Paris Committee on Capacity Building. It will help build capacity for climate action in developing countries. The members have been elected and the committee will take up its work in May 2017.

Technology

During COP22, governments learned that in 2016 over 30 projects for cutting emissions with technology transfer objectives were approved by the GEF, with $188.7 million in GEF funding and $5.9 billion in co-financing.

Gender

Fifteen years after the first decision on women and gender under the UNFCCC at COP7 in Marrakech, governments took another important step towards achieving their goals on gender balance and gender-responsive climate policy by agreeing an extended work programme that includes civil society, businesses and others.

Indigenous Peoples

COP22 took first steps in making the local communities and indigenous peoples platform operational which was established last year in Paris. This marks a new era of addressing the concerns and needs of indigenous peoples in the climate process. Once operational the platform will allow for an exchange of experiences and sharing of best practices on mitigation and adaptation and ultimately lead to more climate actions.

Others Initiatives Launched

• UNEP launched a new global initiative, The Global Peatlands Initiative, which aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and save thousands of lives by protecting peatlands, the world’s largest terrestrial organic soil carbon stock.
• The initiative will mobilise governments, international organisations and academia in a targeted effort to protect peatlands, which contain almost 100 times more carbon than tropical forests.
• The Solar Impulse Foundation launched the World Alliance for Clean Technologies as a legacy to the first ever solar flight around the world.

Its goal is to federate the main actors in the field of clean technologies to create synergies, give advice to governments, and promote profitable solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental and health challenges.

• The first ever private adaptation and resilience investment vehicle, the Marrakech Investment Committee for Adaptation Fund is a $500 million fund launched in partnership with The Lightsmith Group, based in the United States, BeyA Capital, based in Africa, and the Global Environment Facility.
• Over the next four years, the MENA Climate Action Plan aims to nearly double the portion of World Bank financing dedicated to climate action, taking it to around $1.5 billion per year by 2020.

Global Climate Action

Further impressive announcements were made by cities and sub-national governments to investors and business as part of the Global Climate Action spearheaded by Climate ChampionsLaurence Tubiana and Hakima El Haité.

“Through our mandate as Champions, we have enhanced the participation of non-state actors, encouraging a range of initiatives, both individual and cooperative. The shift to a low-carbon future and a resilient civilisation is something that is irreversible,” said Climate Champion Laurence Tubiana.

The High-Level Climate Champions launched the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action to provide a strong roadmap for how the UNFCCC process will catalyse and support climate action by Parties and non-Party stakeholders in the period 2017 to 2020.

Announcements linked to GCA events at COP22 include:

• 19 African Capital Markets Authorities and Exchanges, accounting for 26 African countries, have signed and endorsed the Marrakech Pledge for Fostering Green Capital Markets in Africa.
• The European Union Commission launched the European Fund for Sustainable Development to encourage investment in Africa and the EU Neighbourhood, strengthen partnerships, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The plan involves:

1. Value of up to EUR4.1 billion, triggering regional public and private investment of up to EUR44 billion to 2020.
2. Technical assistance to help local authorities and companies to develop bankable projects and to improve regulatory environments in partner countries.
3. Improvement of the general business environment by supporting reforms in economic governance.on

Corporate Climate Action CG

Global Climate Action

• The number of companies making climate commitments through the We Mean Business coalition has more than doubled since COP21.

1. We Mean Business announced that in total, 471 companies with over $8 trillion in market capitalisation have undertaken well over a thousand ambitious commitments to climate action.
2. These companies represent every sector and geography globally.

• The Science Based Targets initiative continues to see tremendous momentum since Paris. To date, almost 200 companies have joined the initiative, and in the past year, growth has been at a rate of more than two new companies per week.

Energy

• At COP22, the Indian company Dalmia Cement and Helvetia insurance group committed to use 100% renewable power across their operations and join RE100; the global, collaborative initiative with more than 80 of the world’s most influential companies.
• Swiss Re committed to double its energy productivity and join EP100, a global campaign that works with companies to maximise the economic benefits of every unit of energy it consumes.
• A new private-sector led initiative, the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), was announced. REBA builds connections between corporate electricity demand and renewable energy supply.

Cities

• Cities, towns and regions are making big impacts in implementing their climate commitments by acting locally and partnering globally.
• A new assessment tool presented during the Resilience Showcase will allow standardised qualitative reporting of adaptation commitments to the Global Covenant of Mayors.

Forests

• The Government of Indonesia announced it is implementing a moratorium on clearing super high-carbon, intact peatland. The action builds on Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s announcement at last year’s Forest Action Day in Paris, to end new and review existing peat concessions.
• Colombia has announced plans to close the forest frontier as a key component of a post-conflict future. Efforts include focusing development on non-forest lands, implementing strong tenure reform, and placing very large areas of forest under indigenous peoples’ control.
• A new partnership between FAO and Google has created Collect Earth, an open-source tool that provides access to large collections of free, high-resolution satellite imagery and cloud computing.

Water

• The Water for Africa initiative, established by the Kingdom of Morocco and supported by the African Development Bank was launched at COP22, aiming to render justice to Africa through the adoption of a specific action plan that will mobilise different international political, financial and institutional partners.
• The three alliances for basins, megacities and businesses, created at COP21, which today represent more than 450 organisations worldwide, signed a common commitment to mobilise jointly their partners, identify and disseminate good practices and support the development of new projects.

Transport

• The Global Fuel Economy Initiative (GFEI) is supporting an additional 40 countries to realise the financial benefits and CO2 benefits of improved vehicle fuel economy.
• Airport Carbon Accreditation Scheme now has 173 certified airports worldwide, including 26 carbon-neutral airports – 36% of air passengers now travel through an Airport Carbon Accredited airport.
• The MobiliseYourCity initiative secured EUR35 million in funding over the last 12 months and launched development of Sustainable Urban Mobility plans in Morocco and Cameroon.

Oceans

• The Kingdom of Morocco has announced its Blue Belt Initiative aimed at building the resilience of coastal communities and promoting sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in keeping with SDG14 expectations.
• FAO, World Bank and the African Development Bank announced the African Package for Climate-Resilient Ocean Economies, an ambitious package of technical and financial assistance to support ocean economies in Africa and build greater resilience to climate change in coastal areas.
• COP22 Ocean Action partners released the Strategic Action Roadmap on Oceans and Climate: 2016 to 2021, which provides a vision for action on oceans and climate in the next five years, addressing six oceans.

Agriculture

• Launch of the Adaptation for African Agriculture initiative aims to build the resilience of farmers in Africa by promoting sustainable soil management, better water management and risk management linked with tailored capacity development, policies and funding mechanisms.
• Launch of The Global Framework on Water Scarcity supports countries to integrate climate change and sustainable water use into agricultural sectors policies and cross-sectoral dialogue.
• 130 mayors from cities across the world signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP), which calls for sustainable food systems that foster the accessibility of healthy food for urban citizens, biodiversity protection and food waste reduction.

Momentum for Change at COP22

The UNFCCC secretariat’s Momentum for Change initiative hosted a series of special events at COP22 from 12 to 17 November. These events celebrated the 2016 Momentum for Change Lighthouse Activities with inspiring videos, photography, roundtable discussions, an exhibition space and an evening award ceremony.

The Momentum for Change Lighthouse Activities are said to be some of the most innovative, scalable and replicable examples of what people are doing to address climate change – these events celebrated these solutions.

After about two weeks of negotiations and consultations at UN climate change summit (COP22), delegates representing countries from all over the world on Thursday, November 17 2016 in the Moroccan city of Marrakech have adopted the Marrakech Action Proclamation for Our Climate and Sustainable Development”. The delegates proclaim thus:

We, Heads of State, Government, and Delegations, gathered in Marrakech, on African soil, for the High-Level Segment of the 22ndSession of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and the 1st Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, at the gracious invitation of His Majesty the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, issue this proclamation to signal a shift towards a new era of implementation and action on climate and sustainable development.

Our climate is warming at an alarming and unprecedented rate and we have an urgent duty to respond.

We welcome the Paris Agreement, adopted under the Convention, its rapid entry into force, with its ambitious goals, its inclusive nature and its reflection of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances, and we affirm our commitment to its full implementation.

Indeed, this year, we have seen extraordinary momentum on climate change worldwide, and in many multilateral fora. This momentum is irreversible – it is being driven not only by governments, but by science, business and global action of all types at all levels.

Our task now is to rapidly build on that momentum, together, moving forward purposefully to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to foster adaptation efforts, thereby benefiting and supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

We call for the highest political commitment to combat climate change, as a matter of urgent priority.

We call for strong solidarity with those countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and underscore the need to support efforts aimed to enhance their adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability.

We call for all Parties to strengthen and support efforts to eradicate poverty, ensure food security and to take stringent action to deal with climate change challenges in agriculture.

We call for urgently raising ambition and strengthening cooperation amongst ourselves to close the gap between current emissions trajectories and the pathway needed to meet the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.

We call for an increase in the volume, flow and access to finance for climate projects, alongside improved capacity and technology, including from developed to developing countries.

We the Developed Country Parties reaffirm our USD $100 billion mobilisation goal.

We, unanimously, call for further climate action and support, well in advance of 2020, taking into account the specific needs and special circumstances of developing countries, the least developed countries and those particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.

We who are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol encourage the ratification of the Doha Amendment.

We, collectively, call on all non-state actors to join us for immediate and ambitious action and mobilisation, building on their important achievements, noting the many initiatives and the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action itself, launched in Marrakech.

The transition in our economies required to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement provides a substantial positive opportunity for increased prosperity and sustainable development.

The Marrakech Conference marks an important inflection point in our commitment to bring together the whole international community to tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time.

As we now turn towards implementation and action, we reiterate our resolve to inspire solidarity, hope and opportunity for current and future generations.

The United Kingdom (UK) has submitted its instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This was disclosed during a media briefing on Thursday, November 17 20016, by the UK delegation to the ongoing UN climate change summit (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco.

The UK signed the pact on April 22, 2016.

This brings to 111 the number of Parties who have ratified the global treaty, out of 197 Parties to the Convention (UNFCCC).

Myriam Castanie, Media Officer, European Climate Foundation, described the development as a further reiteration of the continuing strength of support for the deal, even in the face of any potential move by U.S. President-elect, Donald Trump.

Some influential UK figures have been reacting to the ratification.

Michael Liebreich, Chairman of the Advisory Board, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: “The Paris Agreement has been ratified by enough nations to remain in force with or without the US’s backing. The UK ratification is a sign that pragmatic countries will continue to address the climate challenge, and continue to use the Paris Agreement as the chosen framework for international cooperation.”

Liebreich is a well-known supporter of the UK’s governing Conservative Party.

Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change – a forum of 130 investors with over €14 assets under management said on Thursdat at the COP22 in Marrakech: “Institutional Investors across Europe welcome the UK Government’s ratification of the Paris Agreement today. This encouraging announcement can only help sustain the ‘Spirit of Paris’ and the momentum behind the international consensus to drive substantial action on climate change.”

Jill Duggan, Director of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG), which brings together 24 global businesses employing 2 million people worldwide, said: “The UK has a legacy of leadership in driving global climate action and helped to ensure a robust and ambitious climate agreement in Paris through its significant role in the High Ambition Coalition. The UK Government’s ratification of the agreement today sends an important signal to international allies, businesses and investors about the inevitable transition towards a zero carbon economy.”

Mohamed Adow, Christian Aid’s International Climate Lead, speaking from the COP22 climate summit in Marrakech: “During a week in which the international climate negotiations have experienced the shock of the US elections, this backing by America’s oldest and strongest ally shows that support for global action to tackle climate change remains resolute. If the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States can’t shake countries’ resolve then nothing will. Not only have nations remained steady, a number have actively ratified the Paris Agreement since the election, including even the petro-state of Saudi Arabia.

“If a modern, post-Brexit Britain is to thrive it needs to be at the forefront of the global clean energy transition, something the UK’s low carbon sector is well placed to take advantage of. Market forces are clearly pointing towards the smart money being in clean tech. The country that dominated the first industrial revolution is now positioning itself to capitalise on the second

“Ratifying the Paris Agreement is also a recognition by the first country to industrialise that it has a duty to help and protect the very poorest and most vulnerable people in the world suffering the effects of climate change. We expect the UK to know back up this ratification with concrete actions that will rapidly cut its emissions in all sectors. Ratifying the Paris Agreement is a moral act by a country that understands it’s responsibilities in a globally interconnected world.”

Countries and organisations have in recent days reiterated their support for the Paris Agreement.

The High Ambition Coalition: “The Paris Agreement marks a turning point toward a more prosperous and stable world. Acting on climate change is in all of our national interests – it is good for our environment, good for our economies, and good for our climate security. Our commitment to be climate leaders remains steadfast, as is our commitment to work with the whole international community, including the United States, to tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time.”

Similarly, Brazil stated its continuous commitment to the Paris Agreement after the US election and highlighted the benefits of climate action and the acceleration of low carbon growth in the real economy.

The European Union (EU) declated its ongoing commitment to the pact, highlighted the benefits of climate action and the acceleration of low carbon growth in the real economy. The EU also stated their commitment to a process for bringing forward long-term strategies for 2018, noting that many member states are already coming forward and considerable efforts are being made.

China on its part affirmed its commitment to the multilateral process and that they will continue their actions. It emphasised that its efforts will not be halted and that it has confidence in the international community, and that it will continue to work with other Parties to continue climate action.

While Saudi Arabia said it would stick to Paris Agreement pledges in spite of Donald Trump, the leaders of India and Japan welcomed the early entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change, and reaffirmed their commitment to work together in developing the rules for successful implementation of the Agreement.”

Mary Robinson, a former Irish president and human rights advocate, was quoted as saying: “It would be a tragedy for the United States and the people of the United States if the U.S. becomes a kind of rogue country, the only country in the world that is somehow not going to go ahead with the Paris Agreement.”

A United Nations human rights expert has asked the government of Nigeria for an urgent explanation of the forced eviction of 30,000 people in Lagos State in the last week.

Four people are reported to have died in the latest operation to clear irregular developments along the state’s waterfronts. Residents in the Otodo Gbame community say they suffered brutal treatment and are now homeless. Most of the people affected lived in poor fishing communities and say they have lost their livelihoods and food sources as well as their homes and possessions.

“It has been brought to my attention that the evictions may have involved the extreme use of force and fire by the Nigerian police force and Lagos State Government, leaving individuals and families scrambling in the middle of the night to find safety and shelter,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, Leilani Farha.

“The mass displacement and reports of four deaths are deeply disturbing,” she stressed.

In an urgent communication on Thursday November 17 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland, Ms. Farha asked the Nigerian government for information on the evictions, the methods used and their compliance with international human rights law.

She is also questioning whether the community was given adequate notice or alternative accommodation, as required by international law. The operation took place only days after the Lagos State High Court had issued an injunction restraining demolitions in the waterfront communities.

“What makes these evictions particularly concerning is that they were carried out in blatant disregard of a court order and have completely ignored international human rights guidelines on forced evictions,” the UN Special Rapporteur said.

“International law is clear: there must be consultation with the affected community, all alternative options to eviction must be explored, and a resettlement plan must be in place should the evictions be carried out,” she noted. “Under no circumstances should force or fire be used,” the expert urged.

The people affected, from the Egun and other ethnic minority populations, with no other options, lived in poor-quality homes along creeks and other waterfronts.

“It takes many years to build a home, a community, and a sense of trust with government, but only days to destroy it. It is truly unfortunate that so many people are left with literally nothing but memories of their former lives and questions about their human rights,” the independent expert said.

Ms. Farha, a Canadain, is the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context. She took up her mandate in June 2014. She is is the Executive Director of the NGO Canada without Poverty, based in Ottawa, Canada.

A lawyer by training, for the past 20 years, Ms. Farha has worked both internationally and domestically on the implementation of the right to adequate housing for the most marginalized groups and on the situation of people living in poverty.

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.

A new global initiative, launched on Wednesday, November 16 2016, at the UN climate meeting in Marrakech, aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and save thousands of lives by protecting peatlands – the world’s largest terrestrial organic soil carbon stock.

The Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI) will mobilise governments, international organisations and academia in a targeted effort to protect peatlands, which contain almost 100 times more carbon than tropical forests.

Peat consists of partially decayed plant material, which has accumulated under water-logged conditions over long periods of time. Peatlands can be found on every continent and are regionally known as peat swamp forests, fens, bogs or mires.

According to scientists, greenhouse gas emissions from drained and burning peatlands account for up to five per cent of anthropogenic carbon emissions. According to them, these emissions are rising due to increasing peat degradation and loss from agriculture and fires, and driving the world closer to a dangerous tipping point.

The GPI notes that rising temperatures can cause a chain reaction in which thawing permafrost switches boreal and Arctic peatlands from carbon sinks to sources, emitting huge amounts of greenhouse gas. Peat carbon stocks are equivalent to at least 60 per cent of all atmospheric carbon, meaning they hold the potential to send climate change spiraling out of control.

“Even with current pledges under the Paris Agreement, we are heading for a global temperature rise of over three degrees Celsius this century,” said Erik Solheim, head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “This will cause misery and chaos for millions of vulnerable people, so we cannot afford to let any opportunity to reduce emissions slip by.

“Taking urgent action through the Global Peatlands Initiative can help us limit climate change. It is critical we do not reach the tipping point that will see peatlands stop sinking carbon and start spewing it into the atmosphere, destroying any hope we have of controlling climate change.”

Despite their importance, peatlands are coming under increased threat, mainly from conversion for palm oil and pulp wood production. Drainage of peatlands can result in environmental problems, most visible being the enormous fires in Indonesia and Russia in recent years.

In Indonesia, the worst days of the peat forest fires resulted in emissions greater than the daily emissions from the entire United States economy. In the Nordic and Baltic states, drained peatlands are responsible for 25 per cent of all emissions.

The impacts of peatland degradation go beyond emissions. Recent studies have suggested that the 2015 Indonesian peat fires affected 43 million people, indirectly killed up to 100,000 people through the toxic haze, and led to US$ 16.1 billion in overall economic damage (twice the value of the Aceh Tsunami Reconstruction).

The GPI, led by UNEP with support from over a dozen partners, is believed to be the largest collaborative effort on peat so far. It aims to increase the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of peatlands in countries with significant peat deposits, delivering benefits for agriculture, biodiversity and the climate.

The founding members of the Global Peatlands Initiative are the governments of Indonesia, Peru, the Republic of Congo, UNEP, FAO, Joint Research Centre of the EC, CIFOR, Wetlands International, UNEP-WCMC, GRID-Arendal, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, European Space Agency, WRI, Greifswald Mire Centre and SarVision/Sateligence.

African civil society groups at the 22^nd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) holding in Marrakech, Morocco have called on U.S. president-elect, Donald Trump, to issue a statement denouncing his twitter comment about global warming, failure to which they will join other movements campaigning for the reversal of his election.

“Mr. Trump must issue a statement reassuring the international community that his twitter remarks were just but campaign rhetoric, else, we will not tolerate any leaser who seeks to derail gains already made in the fight against climate change,” said Mithika Mwenda, the Secretary General for Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), at a media conference on Thursday, November 17, 2016.

Trump came under heavy criticisms especially from his opponent, Hillary Clinton, during their race to the Oval Office, following his remarks on twitter that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

In one of the presidential debates, Trump further said that the issue of climate change is an issue that requires further probing, and that money used to fight the phenomenon should be channelled to other uses.

“There is still much that needs to be investigated in the field of climate change. Perhaps the best use of our limited financial resources should be in dealing with making sure that every person in the world has clean water. Perhaps we should focus on eliminating lingering diseases around the world like malaria,” said the president-elect.

He continued, “We should focus on efforts to increase food production to keep pace with an ever-growing world population. Perhaps we should be focused on developing energy sources and power production that alleviates the need for dependence on fossil fuels. We must decide on how best to proceed so that we can make lives better, safer and more prosperous.”

And now that the American people have given him the key to the White House, civil societies and other interested parties all over the world are worried that his position and views towards climate change may carry the day, hence, lead to the withdrawal of US from the climate negotiation processes.

America is one of the world’s top three emitters of greenhouse gases, which are responsible for global warming.

By 2011, the top carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters were China, the United States, the European Union, India, the Russian Federation, Japan, and Canada. These data include CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, as well as cement manufacturing and gas flaring. Together, these sources represent a large proportion of total global CO2 emissions.

“Africa is the lease emitter of these gases, yet the continent is the most affected by climate change,” said Mwenda.

In that regard, as the Marrakech negotiations comes to a close on Friday November 18, 2016, the African Civil Society called on leaders to accelerate momentum on climate action with the coming into force of the Paris Agreement.