A UN climate impact report, released on Monday, gives the clearest and most comprehensive evidence yet that the earth we call home is in deep trouble. It reinforces the sobering view that climate change is real, it’s happening now and it’s affecting the lives and the livelihoods of people as well as the sensitive ecosystems that sustain life.
This is the second in a series of four reports being prepared by the world’s leading climate authorities in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It assesses the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of human and natural systems, the observed impacts and future risks of climate change, and the potential for and limits to adaptation.
Samantha Smith, leader of the WWF Global Climate & Energy Initiative, says the report highlights, for the first time, the dramatic difference of impacts between a world where we act now to cut emissions, which now come mostly from using fossil fuels; and a world where we fail to act quickly and at scale.
“This report tells us that we have two clear choices: cut emissions now and invest in adaption – and have a world that has challenging and just barely manageable risks; or do nothing and face a world of devastating and unmanageable risks and impacts.”
”The report makes it clear that we still have time to act. We can limit climate instability and adapt to some of the changes we see now. But without immediate and specific action, we are in danger of going far beyond the limits of adaptation. With this risk posed so clearly, we have to hope that the next IPCC report which is being released in Berlin in April, will provide us with strong statements on the solutions that we know exist,” she says.
Despite the warnings given by the IPCC in its reports over the past 20 years – reinforced by the release of the report today – the gap between the science and what governments are doing remains huge, says Sandeep Chamling Rai, head of the WWF delegation to the meeting.
“The science is clear and the debate is over. Climate change is happening and humans are the major cause of emissions, driven mainly by our dependence on fossil fuels. This is driving global warming. This report sets out the impacts we already see, the risks we face in the future, and the opportunities to act. It has been accepted by the member governments of the IPCC. Now it is up to people to hold their governments to account, to get them to act purposefully and immediately,” he says.
The risks of collective inaction are greatest for developing countries, says Chamling Rai. “All countries are vulnerable but developing countries have a greater sensitivity, with more people living in poverty and fewer resources to respond to climate disasters. We need to put in place those measures that will slow down warming and put us on a fair and just transition to a sustainable world. The report shows that ambitious emissions cuts now can reduce the risk of climate change in the second half of this century.”
And the regional assessments – given in depth in this report – show with a great degree of certainty what the impacts will be in the key regions of the world.
“We now have a better understanding of how climate impacts will affect people and nature in different regions. International adaptation efforts need to be intensified to adequately respond to such varied impacts,” says Chamling Rai.
Lokoja, Nigeria during the 2012 flooding
Dr Camilla Toulmin, Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), says: “The new IPCC report highlights the threats climate change poses to people’s peace and prosperity. It shows that countries, communities and companies must act fast to adapt to the changing climate, but it shows too that there are limits to adaptation and this drives home the urgency of global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now is the time for unprecedented global solidarity and cooperation.
“Now is the opportunity for true leaders to shine. Some of the world’s least developed countries are already forging ahead. Ethiopia has committed to carbon-neutral development. Bangladesh has invested $10 billion of its own money to adapt to extreme climatic events. Nepal is the first country to develop adaptation plans at the community level. It is time for the richer countries to pull their weight and do the right thing, by investing at home and abroad in actions that can reduce emissions and protect people and property from danger. The climate reminds us that we are all in this together and that we can only solve this problem is as a united international community.”
Governments the world over have been handed a warning by the world’s leading climate scientists that society is vastly underprepared to deal with the increased risks posed by climate change impacts that the world is no longer able to avoid.
The second instalment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), released in Yokohama, Japan on Monday, has warned that climate change is already negatively affecting every continent and the oceans. As climate change worsens, it will make people poorer, hungrier, and more ill as they contend with more extreme flooding, heat waves, and droughts.
Surveyor Efik of Climate Change Network Nigeria (CCN-Nigeria) and the Lead Facilitator of the Nigerian civil society Strategist Think Tank on Climate Change, set up to promote awareness of the findings of the IPCC AR5 reports in Nigeria, said the delay in acting to solve the climate crisis had already resulted in impacts such as desertification and droughts in the Northern part of Nigeria and sea level rise and flooding in the Southern part of Nigeria, all with heat waves spreading across the country at various degrees.
Without urgent action, Nigeria will face significant negative impacts on agricultural productivity, affecting the livelihoods of farming populace and communities, and reducing domestic food security and culminating in the loss of between two percent and 11 percent of GDP by 2020, rising to between six percent and 30 percent by the year 2050. “Even though the IPCC has warned further that delaying climate action could double the hit to the economy, the money to innovate and clean up the energy sector and to allow communities to adapt is yet to be found,” Efik added.
The IPCC has conservatively estimated that the cost to adapt in the developing world alone to be USD100 billion a year – a figure which does not consider the loss of anything without monetary value, such as culture, lives and biodiversity. Yet the IPCC scientists have also warned that without also dramatically and urgently reducing carbon pollution, the impacts of climate change will go beyond our ability to adapt to them.
“Delaying action will cost more and be less effective Nigeria,” Efik warned. “While acting now saves lives and delivers many other benefits such as green jobs and more sustainable economies to our communities and the environments they depend on, it will also keep planet earth safe for socio-economic growth of future generations.”
The report – which is signed off by governments of the world – comes just six months before the UN Secretary General’s climate summit at which leaders must commit to actions which pave the way for the new international climate treaty due in 2015. The third instalment of the IPCC’s fifth assessment report will come out in Berlin next month and it focuses on the options for reducing carbon pollution.
A five-day meeting that commenced on Tuesday involving government representatives and scientists, and convened by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to finalise a report assessing the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems, options for adaptation, and the interactions among climate changes, other stresses on societies, and opportunities for the future, ended Saturday.
The meeting, the culmination of four years’ work by hundreds of experts who have volunteered their time and expertise to produce a comprehensive assessment, will approve the Summary for Policymakers of the second part of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, checking the text line by line. The meeting will also accept the full report which, besides the Summary for Policymakers, consists of a Technical Summary and 30 chapters in two volumes.
This report, produced by the IPCC’s Working Group II, deals with impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. It is part two of a four-part assessment. The first part, by Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change, was finalised in September 2013. The Working Group III contribution, assessing mitigation of climate change, will be finalised in April. The Fifth Assessment Report will be completed by a Synthesis Report in October.
“The Working Group II author team assessed thousands of papers to produce a definitive report of the state of knowledge concerning climate-change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Many hundreds of volunteers, in and beyond the author team, approached this work with dedication and deep expertise,” said Vicente Barros, Co-Chair of Working Group II.
The meeting, hosted by the Government of Japan, ran from Tuesday to Saturday. The Summary for Policymakers is due to be released on tomorrow. The draft full report will also be released at the same time, with final publication online and as a two-book series a few months later. Volume I will cover issues sector by sector. Volume II will consider continental-scale regions.
“This report considers consequences of climate changes that have already occurred and the risks across a range of possible futures. It considers every region and many sectors, ranging from oceans to human security. The focus is as much on identifying effective responses as on understanding challenges,” said Chris Field, the other Co-Chair of Working Group II.
The report builds on the four previous assessment reports produced by the IPCC since it was established in 1988. Compared to past Working Group II reports, the Working Group II contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report assesses a substantially larger knowledge base of relevant scientific, technical and socio-economic literature, facilitating a comprehensive assessment across a broader set of topics and sectors.
The IPCC is the international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Working Group II, which assesses impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability, is co-chaired by Vicente Barros of the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution for Science, USA. The Technical Support Unit of Working Group II is hosted by the Carnegie Institution for Science and funded by the government of the United States of America.
At the 28th Session of the IPCC held in April 2008, the members of the IPCC decided to prepare a Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). A Scoping Meeting was convened in July 2009 to develop the scope and outline of the AR5. The resulting outlines for the three Working Group contributions to the AR5 were approved at the 31st Session of the IPCC in October 2009.
A total of 309 coordinating lead authors, lead authors, and review editors, from 70 countries, were selected to produce the Working Group II report. They enlisted the help of 436 contributing authors, and a total of 1,729 expert and government reviewers provided comments on drafts of the report. A total of 837 coordinating lead authors, lead authors, and review editors worked on the Fifth Assessment Report as a whole.
The Working Group II report consists of two volumes. The first contains a Summary for Policymakers, Technical Summary, and 20 chapters assessing risks by sector and opportunities for response. The sectors include freshwater resources, terrestrial and ocean ecosystems, coasts, food, urban and rural areas, energy and industry, human health and security, and livelihoods and poverty.
A second volume of 10 chapters assesses risks and opportunities for response by region. These regions include Africa, Europe, Asia, Australasia, North America, Central and South America, Polar Regions, Small Islands, and the Ocean.
At a workshop held in Abuja a couple of months ago to assess AR5 and the Nigerian situation, participants resolved to: create a mobile and web application portal that will educate people on climate change related issues; form a network of civil society organisations on the topic to be able to effectively engage policy makers on national and international issues; research and domesticate the effect of climate change in Nigeria; empower farmers to opt out of poverty to enable them avoid practices that induce climate change; and create a green political movement.
Environment activists, operating under the aegis of the Nigerian ASP Implementation Network (NASPIN), have said that residents of the city are sitting on an environmental time bomb as a result of the large scale pollution of the Lagos Lagoon.
The NASPIN is an independent, non-profit national alliance of voluntary groups, made up of non-governmental organisations and civil societies that are concerned about the devastating effects of harmful chemicals on the people, ecology, biodiversity and the general environment.
According to the group, the concentration of dangerous chemicals in fish, chicken eggs and soils from communities such as Ilaje, Okobaba, Iddo and Apapa around the Lagos Lagoon are considerably high, constituting serious health hazard to residents.
The body disclosed at a recent gathering in Lagos that a significant and persistent level of these chemicals (otherwise referred to as Persistent Organic Pollutants – POPs) exist in water and sediment from the lagoon, following continuous indiscriminate industrial discharge causing pollution of the water ways.
The activists also disclosed that human exposure to POPs as noticed in breast milk of some breastfeeding mothers contain reasonable levels of POPs sufficient for public health concern.
Essentially, POPs are chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment. This group of priority pollutants consists of pesticides (such as DDT), industrial chemicals (such as polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs) and unintentional by-products of industrial processes (such as dioxins and furans).
According to scientists, POPs are transported across international boundaries far from their sources, even to regions where they have never been used or produced. They add that the ecosystems and indigenous people of the Arctic are particularly at risk because of the long-range environmental transportation and bio-magnification of these substances. Consequently, persistent organic pollutants pose a threat to the environment and to human health all over the globe.
At a Dissemination Workshop on the project titled: “Community Action to reduce the Pollution Load of POPs and other PTS into the Lagos Lagoon, Lagos State,” the promoters attempted to publicise details of their findings and also raise awareness among key stakeholders, host community and the public on the persistence and dangers of chemical POPs load in the lagoon particularly and in the Nigerian environment in general.
Funded by the Global Environmental Facility/Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP), the project is being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and executed by United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPs) for NGOs in Nigeria.
Leslie Adogame, the NASPIN National Coordinator, said: “The broad goal of the project is to generate global and national environmental benefits by effective management of POPs in the Lagos Lagoon through engagement with communities and businesses with the aim to determining spatial distribution of POPs concentrations in the water and depositional sediments in relation to key sources, pathways, and loadings to the Lagoon; characterise the Lagoon’s current chemical and eco-toxicological status and use the information as a baseline to evaluate future projections and ecological quality using BAT/BEP and related risk reduction methods.”
According to him, the project has so far: raised awareness, sampled and analysed POPs and metabolites along the three segments of the Lagos lagoon from water and sediments, and strengthened stakeholders’ capacity.
Global warming, an offshoot of the climate change phenomenon, is being transformed from a threat of environmental doom to a promise of financial boom, thanks to a range of emerging profit-spinning prospects.
As the unsavoury impacts of climate change persist on one hand, the positive side, on the other hand, is throwing up numerous opportunities for investors.
“It doesn’t mean we are celebrating climate change or advocating increasing emissions! Responding to your opportunities might mean helping others to reduce their own vulnerability to extreme weather or other impacts of a changing climate,” said a source.
But the Lagos State Government, at the Sixth Edition of its Annual Climate Change Summit, is giving this picture a closer look. The summit has “Exploring Business Opportunities in Climate Change: Lagos State in Focus” as its theme and will hold from 18th to 20thMarch 2014 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
In what appears to have become a tradition, state authorities are once again confronting the climate change challenge, albeit via a yearly forum that has received global acclaim.
Last year, the 5th Lagos Climate Change Summit held from March 13th to 15th and examined: “Vulnerability and Adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria: Lagos State Transportation, Housing and Infrastructure in Focus.”
Previous events held 24th to 26th March, 2009; 4th to 7th May, 2010; 8th to 10th February, 2011; and 12th to 14th April, 2012.
While the 2009 maiden event had “Reclaiming the Environment: Challenges and Consequences of Climate Change” as its theme, the follow-up in 2010 discussed: “Trans-boundary Effects of Climate Change.” Further, while the 2011 summit focused on: “Charting a Road Map for Combating Climate Change in Nigeria”, the gathering in 2012 explored issues related to: “Vulnerability and Adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria: Lagos State Agriculture, Industry and Health Sectors in Focus.”
Fashola
All past Climate Change Summits – as well as the upcoming one – have held under the tenure of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, who seems committed to tackling the global environmental scourge in general and the unsavoury impact of the climate change phenomenon in Lagos in particular.
“Gone are the days when we could succinctly draw a line between the rainy season and dry season; gone are the days when harvest was predictable and bountiful; gone are the days when select species of certain fish were readily available on the menu table,” the governor observed in 2009 at the maiden Lagos Climate Change Summit.
Subsequent events have proved him right as, for example, when the weather went haywire on July 10, 2011. The heavens suddenly opened up and, for 16 hours non-stop, Lagos experienced a torrential rainfall that was unprecedented in the history of the state. The memory still lingers on in the minds of Lagosians.
Then on February 13, 2012, an unprecedented storm with wind speed hovering between 75km and 100km befell the bustling city, damaging numerous homes and several properties.
Curiously, the rainstorm occurred in the middle of February, a month not usually associated with such an extreme weather condition.
However, for the first time in the history of the summit, participants are brainstorming on the “positive” – albeit the business – aspect of the phenomenon, which has seen investors jostling for a piece of the multi-billion-dollar global carbon market.
Valued at a whopping N170 billion, the increasingly lucrative industry has become the beautiful bride and indications are that participants at the 6th Lagos Climate Change Summit will attempt to steer Nigeria in the right direction towards becoming an active player.
Nonetheless, Nigeria is currently operating several Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects approved by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
One of such is the Lagos State Government’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Composting Project in Ikorodu. It was registered December 2010 with the UNFCCC and operated by EarthCare Nigeria Limited.
Similarly, the state’s Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) at its Olushosun Landfill Site at Oregun is turning waste to wealth by curbing carbon emission and producing gas from wastes.
National and state officials are also involved in the promotion of the Save80 Fuel Efficient Wood Stove, which reduces by 80 percent the amount of wood needed for cooking, thereby keeping the carbon sink and slowing the rate of desertification.
Other CDM projects, which entail the gathering and use of hitherto flared associated gas, are:
1. Recovery of Associated Gas at the Kwale Oil-Gas Processing Plant, owned by AGIP;
2. Pan Ocean Gas Utilisation Project in Ovade-Ogharafe; and,
3. Asuokpu-Umutu Marginal Field Gas Recovery Facility, owned by Platform Petroleum.
Bello
Lagos State Environment Commissioner, Tunji Bello, submitted that past summits have produced a wide range of recommendations which, upon their implementation, have helped to advance the state’s adaptation and mitigation capabilities to the impact of climate change.
He said: “For instance, government a couple of years ago declared July 14 of every year as Tree Planting Day in the state. It came under a programme aimed at planting millions of trees to beautify Lagos and also provide a carbon sink. Over 6 million trees have so far have been planted.
“Similarly, the government has established the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) to beautify and regenerate the Lagos environment from the effect of climate change, in the light of the intensity of global warming that is threatening the entire ecosystem. The agency’s effort at establishing gardens and parks all over Lagos has placed her among the notable green cities in the world today.
Speaking on the idea behind business opportunities in climate change, he added: “There is likely to be an increasing demand for products and services designed to function in the new climate. For example, products that are heat resistant, robust, waterproof, moisture retaining or made from permeable material.
“Also, there are likely to be market opportunities for new or existing products or services that help others deal with the climate risk. For example, by providing products or services that monitor or measure weather or impacts.”
In the last few weeks, global attention has been drawn to the United Kingdom where the wettest winter in 250 years has emptied more than an ankle deep of flood onto the streets of the City of London and other parts of the Kingdom. The phenomenon, which the Government is still battling to contain, has flooded over 300 properties along the banks of River Thames with a total of 2,500 others remaining at risk. As at Wednesday last week, fourteen severe flood warnings remained in place along a ten-mile stretch of the Thames with some parts of the River a few miles upstream from London including Datchet and Wraysbury, under threat. Also in Surrey, 470 roads were reportedly flooded with 2,500 houses at risk.
But for Londoners, it is not what has already happened that is worrisome but the threat of what the weather still holds in stock. Although the Mayor of the City of London, Boris Johnson, has assured them that Government was prepared for the flooding, he still told LBC radio last week, “I would say to people, looking at the weather, looking at the rainfall over the next few days, it is pretty clear this problem is not going soon”. This view was, indeed, corroborated by London’s Environment Agency Risk Manager, Ian Tomes, who also told LBC radio, “Looking at the forecast for the rest of this week, the end is not yet in sight”. Scary, one must say. But City Hall sources still maintained that there was unlikely to be any need to evacuate Londoners from their homes or businesses although there was on-going concern about high river levels and saturated ground across the capital when more bad weather is on the way.
What has all these got to do with us here in Nigeria and Lagos, thousands of kilometres away from the adverse weather, one may well ask. First and foremost, it is clear to us today that what obtains in those faraway places – London, America, China, India, Pakistan and so on – is also realistic here. We are all joined at the hips, so to say, by the air, land and sea. If the air is polluted anywhere in the world, chances are that we might be affected mildly or severely depending on the intervening variables such as vegetation and their capacity to cleanse the atmosphere before the air gets here. If the water level rises, chances are that our rivers will also rise and may overflow their banks causing flood whose severity will also depend on the volume of water distributed.
One thing that the administration of Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has done consistently since inception has been to bring to the consciousness of Lagosians the fact that the State is one of the coastal states in the country and as such is prone to flooding any time it rains. They are also told that they can minimize the effect of flooding by keeping the various drainage channels, both natural and man-made, free from refuse and objects that could block them and obstruct the free flow of water. The Government has since also gone beyond this to provide temporary shelter for victims of the inevitable phenomenon aside spending huge amounts each year on public enlightenment to continually educate residents, especially the most vulnerable, on immediate steps to take in the incident of flooding before help arrives.
Overall, however, one could still say that Lagos has been lucky. Apart from the numerous natural flood channels and drainages in form of Lagoons, canals and wetlands, subsequent Governments over the years have constructed drainages, channels and canals across the State with each government improving upon what its predecessor has done. The present administration, for example, aside from expanding the responsibilities of the Ministry of Environment, has between 2007 to 2013, constructed over 133 concrete secondary water collector drainage systems, representing over 60 percent of new concrete storm water secondary collector drainage infrastructure, across the State. Also, over 54 storm water drainage earth channels, amounting to 118 kilometres, were dredged while no less than 550 storm water drainage channels, amounting to about 440 kilometres, were de-silted. Within the same period, hundreds of canals and other water channels have been constructed or reconstructed to complete the network of drainage systems that ensure that water disappears from flooded areas each time it rains.
Arranged into systems numbering 1 to 6 for the purpose of monitoring and maintenance by the State Ministry of Environment, the network of drainages and flood channels ensure that flood water drains away within 48 hours at most after the rains in any part of the city. System 1, otherwise known as Odo-Iya-Alaro Channel, runs from behind Cadbury in Agidingbi through Awolowo Way, Oregun Link Bridge, Third Mainland Bridge and empties into Agboyi Creek by Ogudu foreshore. Served by eight tributaries, the system de-floods Agidingbi, Oregun and environs, Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way, Awolowo Way, Ikeja, Allen, Opebi, Ilupeju, Ojota, Maryland, Anthony, Mende, Bariga and Pedro, among other areas. System 2, called Shomolu Channel, runs from Apata Street through Anifowose Street, Balogun Street, Abiodun Street, Bajulaiye Road, Adetayo Osho Street, UNILAG Road and empties into the lagoon. With two tributaries, this system de-floods Shomolu, Bariga, Ilaje, parts of Pedro, Akoka and the University of Lagos. System 3 has three tributaries, Oyediran Estate Canal, which runs from Sabo, through Oyediran Estate, Makoko and empties into the lagoon, Iwaya/Makoko Canal which runs through Iwaya, Dacosta, Makoko and empties into the Iwaya Canal and Iwaya Canal which empties into the lagoon. This System defloods Makoko, Oyediran Estate, Iwaya, Sabo, Alagomeji and Birrel Street area of Yaba. System 4 begins from NTA 7 and runs through Stadium, Western Avenue, Bode Thomas, Breweries, National Theatre and empties into Otto Creek. With two tributaries, Murtala Mohammed-Railway Compound-Mainland Channel and Ojo Oniyun-Olaleye Village-Main Channel, the System defloods Tejuosho, Yaba, part of Ebute-Metta, Stadium area, Bode Thomas and part of Iganmu Industrial Estate.
Yaba, Surulere, Ojuelegba, Aguda, Ikate, Coker Village, Iganmu, Orile, Badiya, Amukoko Ajegule and part of Apapa are de-flooded by System 5 whose main channel runs from City Way through Nathan/Obafemi Street, Tejuosho Road, Barracks, Allen/Gbaja, Akerele Street, Alhaji Masha, Babs Animashaun, Coker Village, Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Orile Iganmu Road, Obalende Road, Gaskiya College Road, Mobil Road, Apapa- Oshodi Expressway by Tincan and empties into Port Novo Creek. It has two tributaries; West Surulere Twin Channel which is divided into two parts, one starting from Bello/Ishaga Road and running through Itire/Lawanson Road/Answar Ur deen Primary School, Akerele and emptying into Main Channel at the back of Surulere Local Government Council Secretariat and the other starting from Itire/Lawanson Road and running through Owolewa, Randle Avenue to the First tributary. The second tributary; Aguda/Ikate Channel, starts from Oshogbo Street and runs through Adetola/Agbebi, Sanya and empties into Mai Channel via Coker.
System 6 has A-F segments with a total of nine channels which deflood over 14 communities comprising Yaba, Surulere, Ojuelegba, Aguda, Coker Village, Iganmu, Orile Badiya, Amukoko, Ajegunle and parts of Apapa, Apapa/Oshodi Expressway by Julius Berger Yard, GRA Ikeja, Air force Base, part of Oshodi Shogunle, Mafoluku, Apaku, Army Resettlement Centre, Ilupeju and part of Ikeja military base, Challenge, Mushin, Ladipo and part of Oshodi Expressway among others. Evidence of their existence and workability is manifested in the fact that every time it rains, the flood disappears within a few hours. The 16-hour rain of July 10, 2011 is one such example. Even with the volume and extensive damage it caused while still falling, the flood disappeared within 48 hours. And as earlier said, Government spends millions of Naira on advocacy, enlightening the populace through jingles and announcements on radio and television about areas susceptible to flooding and pre-emptive actions residents of those areas should take to mitigate the effect of flooding. Before the flooding of Sunday, July 10 2011, there was such announcement on radio and television warning residents of areas like Ketu, Mile 12, Agiliti, Thomas Laniyan Estate, Owode-Onirin, Agboye, Owode-Elede, Maidan and Isheri North Scheme, to move to higher grounds during the months of June, mid-September, October 2011 and January 2012.
Now back to the United Kingdom example. It does seem, from all indications that in spite of their years of experience, the government of Great Britain was ill prepared for the kind of flood that came as a result of the rains. It also appears that in the last two centuries, subsequent administrations have not seen the need to improve on whatever infrastructure that exists for the purpose of containing the overflow of the Thames. Well, whatever be the case, the truth remains that Lagos appears to be better prepared to contain flooding as a result of overflow of any body of water around it. While the United Kingdom authorities are still contemplating building an embankment to contain any future overflow of the Thames, Lagos has built an embankment to contain the overflow of the Atlantic Ocean in Victoria Island. The State is even developing a new city on a 5,000 metre land space reclaimed from the Ocean as a further insurance against future flooding from that body of water.
However, the lessons learn from the UK experience appear twofold. One is that no amount of preparations can actually prevent flooding, especially in coastal areas where the land is sometimes several inches below sea level. The flooding of the City of London and other parts of the UK was not as a result of lack of preparations by the relevant authorities. The Mayor of London himself confirmed this. Rather the lesson to learn is the relevance of adequate information and data concerning the weather at any point in time. Londoners were obviously taken unawares this time probably as a result of insufficient information concerning the severity of the weather. But from that point, the authorities ensured that residents got the true information about the weather in order to prepare their minds for the future.
Secondly, even as it is happening in UK, we in Nigerian should be preparing ourselves for the coming Rainy Season bearing in mind that what is happening in those “faraway” places may happen here with even worse impact. The network of flood water channels are there to take away the body of water that will constitute flood after the rains, But residents must ensure that this network is kept clear. This is the work they must do as we await the coming of the gathering storm.
By Mac Durubgo, Personal Assistant on Print Media to the Governor of Lagos State
The No REDD in Africa Network (NRAN) and its allies have condemned the evictions and forced relocation of the Sengwer Indigenous People in Kenya’s Cherangany Hills, as well as the World Bank-funded Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programme in the country.
In an open letter to the United Nations and the Kenyan government, the NRAN states: “The forced relocation of the Sengwer People proves the urgency of cancelling REDD.”
The group is also calling for the creation of an International Truth Commissionon the forced relocation of the Sengwer People and abuses associated with REDD and carbon offsets throughout the world.
“We take great exception to the press statement issued by the World Bank in which it attempts to distance itself from this forced relocation of the Sengwer People. The cause and effect is perfectly clear; the Bank in its highly controversial role as both carbon credit financier and broker is aiding and abetting the forced relocation of an entire Indigenous People through its Natural Resource Management Plan (NRMP) which includes REDD in the region.”
The NRAN, together with 65 organisations and renowned human rights activists, are alarmed at what appears to be a connection between these evictions and the World Bank’s funding of the Kenyan government’s REDD+ Readiness Programme in the Cherangany Hills through the bank’s Natural Resource Management project.
The group describes REDD as a highly controversial emissions reduction scheme that uses forests, plantations and lands in the Global South as carbon offsets and supposed sponges of carbon emissions and fossil fuel pollution from the Global North.
Bassey
Nnimmo Bassey, founder of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Nigeria and former Chair of Friends of the Earth International, states: “The denial of complicity by the World Bank in the forced eviction of the Sengwer people from their forests is ludicrous. We will not be fooled as the fingers of international financial institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank and other carbon cowboys are clearly visible in the unrepentant push of neoliberal agenda to exploit, despoil and displace poor communities and grab their resources including carbon. This nonsense must stop.”
Anabela Lemos, founder and Director of Justiça Ambiental, Mozambique, submits: “In the Maputo Declaration (2013) we had predicted that REDD-type projects would lead to displacement of forest-dependent communities, servitude, killings, repression and other human rights abuses, and the Sengwer Peoples’ plight is a clear example of what we condemn and why there must be no REDD in Africa.
Yator Kitum, a spokesperson of the Sengwer people, says: “We demand that the government of Kenya recognise and promote the kind of conservation practiced by the Sengwer and other forest people, which has clearly shown that forest ecosystems, protected areas and other natural resources are well protected when the rights of forest indigenous communities are recognised.”
Ruth Nyambura, Advocacy & Communications Coordinator at the African Biodiversity Network in Nairobi, declares: “We are demanding that the Kenyan government immediately stop the evictions and provide reparations to the Sengwer people, in addition to providing a formal apology recognizing their rights. We are also calling on the UN and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to respond to these demands and requests, and take the corresponding action.”
The NRAN has repeatedly warned that the scale of REDD-related land grabs in Africa could be so massive that they may eventually constitute a “continent grab.”
I sympathise with the new Minister for Environment, Lawrencia Labara Mallam, in terms of the enormous and challenging situation her coming to office will face based on the challenges of the environment sector. First is the problem of a short term of service (probably from now till May 2015) and second is the peculiar political intensity of the country culminating to Confab and national elections. In my own opinion, these distractions are sufficient reasons for the new Minister not to be sharply focused on the task ahead, not minding the concern of the relevant experience of the new Minister which is also very key to her success.
However, I remain poised and resolute to making the following comments and suggestions that I consider can be used to assess her performance at the end of tenure. The Minister needs to immediately conduct a gap analysis/assessment on what Ministry (as the custodian of sustainable development concept) has to do to make the Ministry the environmental gateway for Africa.
She has to re-position the country’s environmental mapping and do a quick “forensic analysis” on how to mainstream environment issues with others sectors of the economy like health, food security, agriculture, science and technology, lands development, petroleum resources, trade and investment, tourism, water resources, mines and works if Nigeria’s growth in the League of Nations must be sustained.
The Environment Ministry can no longer be handled as a stand-alone ministry the way it is now. Effort must be galvanised to understanding and actualising the nexus otherwise it is another business as usual. If possible put in place an advisory “national environment think-tank group” to advice on synergy.
Towards achieving this, the most germane task for the Minister is to immediately undertake the review of all environmental laws in the country before 2015. These laws are long overdue and no longer stand the test of today’s tenet, time and spirit. The environment sector has suffered most from regular change of its minister since its creation in 1999. She should not embark on an ambiguous responsibility of addressing lingering air, water, soil pollution issues or food poisoning or climate change jamboree. She should attempt instead to addressing key gaps for these sectors to thrive in 2015.
Above all is federal government’s will in funding environment issues, in the past years the ministry has been so very poorly funded. The Minister must look inward for increased appropriation funds from federal government and private sector, away from the dependence on foreign donors to addressing environmental issues. Environmental issues are right-based as enshrine in the fundamental human rights of citizens and as such cannot be funded almost entirely from donor funds as it is today. Only increased pre-judicial funding of environmental issues will help to achieve Dr Goodluck’s expectation of “human and environmental security” advocated in his recent Nigeria Centenary keynote address.
The ability to develop more sustainably depends on the capacity of Nigerian citizens and institutions to understand the complex environment and development issues so that they can make the right development choices. Citizens need to have the expertise to understand the potential and the limits of the environment. There is also the need to increase the sensitivity of the Nigerian populace to, and involvement in finding solutions for environmental and ethical awareness, values and attitudes, skills and behaviour needed for sustainable development. The new Minister at this daunting time therefore, has to give the Nigerian environment a human face.
By Leslie Adogame, Executive Director, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev Nigeria)
The percentage of land owned by women is disproportionately small considering their crucial contribution to agriculture and especially the food security of households and communities. The existing gender inequality in access to and control over natural resources is regarded as an obstacle to their sustainable management and to sustainable development in general.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that human rights apply equally to all, regardless of sex, yet women around the world are disproportionately affected by human rights violations, which keeps them trapped in poverty. Women have fewer benefits and protections under legal systems than men and are largely excluded from decision-making structures. Women also lack control of financial resources, have larger work burdens, and are more likely to suffer from social isolation and threats or acts of violence.
But this error is being addressed in the West African country of Liberia, where the authorities have embraced a call for equal protection to land, urged women to do more and “stand up and be accounted for.”
Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf, along with Liberian Minister of Gender and Development Julia Duncan-Cassel, welcome land reform recommendations from Central and West Africa regional organisation REFACOF (African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests) and Liberia’s Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI).
As honored guests at Liberia’s International Women’s Day Celebrations in Monrovia on Saturday, March 8, REFACOF and FCI presented a statement to President Sirleaf urging the President to include “clear safeguards and specifics on how women’s rights to own, access, use and control land would be recognised and protected” in Liberia’s New Land Law, currently being vetted by the country’s internal vetting committee. In an open statement to participants, REFACOF President Cécile Ndjebet stressed the importance of securing women’s rights to land and providing equal protection of these rights to enhancing women’s status and accelerating prosperity in Liberia and across Africa.
“For real political and social change to take place, there are three issues that need to be addressed, we need legislation that protects equal rights for women, mechanisms that provide for political and social equity, and a change in social and cultural perceptions of women,” said Ndjebet.
The recommendations presented were the outcomes of the Third Regional Workshop on Gender, Climate Change, Land and Forest Tenures in Africa, co-organised by REFACOF and FCI, with support from the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). The workshop convened women participants from 16 African countries, and included donors, development partners, and issue experts.
During the workshop, participants discussed the insecurity of women’s land protection in Liberia’s current land reform policy. Despite the promise made by President Sirleaf in an interview with Reuters last year, in which she stated that “women will have the full right to own their land like anyone else,” clear safeguards and specifics on how these rights would be realised in practice have yet to be included.
“We must remember that action is necessary and we need more than just promises,” said Solange Bandiaky-Badji, Africa Program Director for RRI.
In Liberia, land conflicts remain the single most explosive issue, which, if not adequately addressed, could undo years of progress. The requested policy provisions not only stand to prevent rollback, but provide a path forward in empowering women and enhancing their representation and participation in all aspects of life, not just in Liberia, but across Central and West Africa. Should REFACOF and FCI’s recommendation come to pass, they could propel land equality, and greater gender equality, across the region, in countries such as Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Senegal, where land reform processes are just beginning.
To help demonstrate solidarity and apply pressure on President Sirleaf, REFACOF garnered international support through an online petition that gathered signatures from across the globe, in six continents.
As Guest of Honor Duncan-Cassel remarked, the Celebration not only marked a day “to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women’s rights” but, to further empower Liberian women at home.
Secure rights to land are a necessary step in realizing equality. Not only do they enable women to combat poverty, provide food and income for their households, and protect themselves against domestic violence and the contraction of HIV/AIDs, they provide greater opportunities for women to become active participants in political and social processes.
“Women have to be there to play, and to be in to win. Women need to start with registration for transformation. If women want women’s representation, they need to put them there through their vote,” said President Sirleaf.
Julia Weah, Executive Director of FCI, reiterated the importance of the day’s events, stating: “These are critical moments in history for women in Liberia, a game-changing moment for women’s secure ownership rights to land, and we don’t want to miss it.”
