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Oladipo: Why Nigeria needs climate commission

Michael Simire
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Oladipo: Why Nigeria needs climate commission

Prof. Oladipo
Prof. Oladipo

An environmentalist, Professor Emmanuel Oladipo, has said that Nigeria still has a lot to do in terms of protecting the environment.

Oladipo observed that there is desert encroachment up north of the country while gully erosion was fast degrading and destroying the environment.

Professor Oladipo who once taught Geography at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, called for an immediate establishment of what he calls “ Climate Change Commission or Agency” to handle climate change in Nigeria with every sense of seriousness.

He argued that Nigeria exists and lives in a limited and fragile environment made up of many components requiring a great deal of management for its preservation, warning that “the environment is very critical and determines whether we survive or not”.

He also observed that land does not grow, but that the Nigerian population is growing at an alarming rate thereby posing more danger ahead.

Oladipo, who represented Nigeria on the Global Committee on Science and Technology of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), said desertification is not only due to changes in climatic conditions but also a function of how humanity manages the environment.

“The more we utilise a particular land to get products out of it over and over without putting back into that land, definitely reduces its productivity. If we continue to use the land this way with the several climatic changes taking place, the land will not yield much and therefore becomes degraded. In some instances it is washed away and becomes mere sand. The wind piles this up and turns to sand dunes. So desertification is the gradual process of the inability of humanity to use land in a productive and sustainable way. In some parts of the extreme north of Nigeria, the land has been totally degraded,” he explained.

“Otherwise after a while, like we have in some areas of Maiduguri now, even digging wells will not give us water any more. And. So my interest has been to help propose ways by which to manage our land in which government has to really greatly invest to ensure that agricultural practices in these parts of the country are not withering the land to the extent that it becomes completely degraded,” he added.

Nigeria is party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The body, over the years, has worked to bring to global agreement to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which are responsible for the increasing changes in climatic conditions witnessed around the globe today. As a result of being a member of this Convention, there are many obligations that Nigeria has to fulfil.

The National Communication to the UNFCCC was one of such obligations that Nigeria had to fulfil on climate change. Professor Oladipo also facilitated the production of that first communication to the UNFCCC. He remarked that though Nigeria has made appreciable achievement on climate change, much was still being expected from the country.

“It is true that Nigeria currently has now a National Policy on climate change and has a National Plan of Action to Respond to Adaptation. However, policies are not enough. The implementations are very critical and that is where the country is not pushing enough. A lot of attempts have been made to create a climate change commission or agency for government to attach a significance importance to issues of climate change. Two times, the House has passed the bill, but the Presidency has not accented to it. Establishment of this commission or agency would demonstrate to the world that Nigeria is serious on issues of climate change,” Oladipo explained.

It is recalled that last year, Nigeria witnessed devastating effects of flooding. Part of the cause of the flooding can be linked to changes in the climatic condition.

“There is the need for Nigeria to look inwards as a nation and put in place strategic action plans that can help the country adjust to changes in the climatic conditions. It is worthy of note that a recent report by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) demonstrates that Nigeria is not likely to be out of the woods yet as far as climate change is concerned,” he concluded.

By Nkechinyere Itodo

Will decision on REDD+ emissions verification emerge in Warsaw?

Michael Simire
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Will decision on REDD+ emissions verification emerge in Warsaw?
REDD_redLouis Verchot is normally an optimist, but even he is doubtful: “It’s been four years since the debate on measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) carbon emissions started and yet we still see disagreements on how to make decisions.”
Verchot, a research director at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), is referring to the meeting that never was. Earlier this year, the Subsidiary Body for Implementation – the group charged with implementing and financing decisions by the 190 nations involved in the annual UN climate talks – was blocked from meeting by Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, which were more than a little annoyed at being ignored at the conclusion of last year’s climate meeting in Doha.
It is symptomatic of a wider problem of division between countries – a problem that has also been stalling progress on verification of carbon emissions as part of a scheme to reduce emissions from deforestation (REDD+), in which developed countries provide financial incentives to developing forested countries to keep their trees standing.
Russia’s impasse didn’t stop all progress at the Bonn meeting. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) prepared a draft decision on how to verify REDD+ emissions before money is disbursed and also developed a detailed outline of technical reporting requirements.
The science behind calculating carbon emissions is now strong, but the politics of verifying measurements is complex. A decision needs to be reached in Warsaw as “next year we’ll really be thinking more about the new agreement (to replace the Kyoto Protocol) and phasing in what has (already) been done with REDD+,” says Tony La Vina, negotiator for the Philippines.
Until recently, it wasn’t just politics holding up progress at UN meetings.
When the idea of an international scheme for reducing emissions from deforestation was first floated at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 7th Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP7) in 2001, it was rejected because, among other reasons, it was perceived to be too difficult to calculate the emissions avoided by keeping forests standing.
But since COP11 in Montreal in 2005, when developing countries again raised the idea as part of their contribution to addressing climate change, various tools, ideas and concepts had been developed to resolve the technical problems and figure out ways to make the necessary calculations – even in countries with low capacity and few data. But as no country is yet at the stage of REDD+ where verification is needed, there are still three to five years to experiment.
Developing countries (such as Brazil) are objecting to having costly, independent verification of emissions imposed on them by donor countries (such as Norway, the United States, Australia), which need to tick the boxes to ensure taxpayers’ aid money is being spent wisely.
They have a point. Many developing countries do not have the technical capacity to engage in complex reporting and verification schemes. And verification costs money.
Developed countries also have a point. Development aid finance is not designed to support this type of funding – lump sum payments for achieving emission reductions.  Development finance must achieve objectives and contribute to non-carbon benefits (such as poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation), says Michael Dutschke, director of Biocarbon Consult, an international network of policy advisors for planning and implementation of market-driven climate change mitigation.
“An agreement on verification in Warsaw will only relate to a minor share of REDD+ funding under the UNFCCC (for example, the Green Climate Fund, which is not yet operational),” he says. “All other bilateral dealings, even those of multinational institutions like the World Bank, are subject to contractual law anyway, and will have their own MRV requirements.”
Countries reached a compromise in Bonn and tabled an internal review process for discussion in Warsaw. If adopted, it will require all countries seeking to receive payments based on a reduction of emissions to:
·         submit a report estimating their carbon emissions to the UNFCCC every two years based on the latest IPCC greenhouse gas inventory guidelines.
·         submit a technical annex on the methodologies used to calculate the reference (emission) level and emissions for the reporting period (see here for our line-by-line analysis of SBSTA’s draft technical annex).
·         have their report reviewed by a technical team of experts, including a developed and developing country expert from the UNFCCC roster who will assess it for transparency, consistency, completeness and accurateness.
·         work with the review team to clarify issues and provide additional information.
“Countries can now actually see what kind of information they will have to provide and can internally assess how burdensome it would be to provide that information,” Verchot says.
The draft decision is weak in two areas:
·         It is not clear on how a country would be required to respond to a negative reviewer and at the moment any negative judgments only need to be “noted it in the summary report”.
·         It does not specify how policies and policy changes should be addressed in the country reference level and whether the technical team of experts has the right to assess these or to give advice to the government. 
So what is the likelihood of a decision in Warsaw?
If the Subsidiary Body for Implementation impasse continues, verification discussions may be pushed late into the second week (and we may have another overtime COP on our hands).
But if the verification debate looks like it will kill the negotiating process, it is better to be less ambitious and only agree on rules of reporting, says Markku Kanninen from the University of Helsinki.
“Countries only have one and a half years to agree on the next climate treaty. Forget about verification, forget about payments at this stage. Just agree on principles – that countries will report emissions and that countries reducing emissions will get compensated. All the details can be pushed into the next phase.” 
The stalemate harks back to the fact that REDD+ was designed as a market-based mechanism, he says. “There will be no strong carbon market unless there is a strong commitment from industrialised countries to reduce emissions.”
But the rules of the game seem to be changing. The past few decades, marked by the division of countries between Annex I and Annex II, rich and poor, North and South, developed and developing may no longer be appropriate, with the draft compromise on emission reductions a sign of things to come, says Verchot.
“The Kyoto era is almost over; the next climate agreement will mandate both developing and developed countries to take action on curbing emissions. Things are starting to change but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. If money changes hands with this system then it will be a change.”

World Bank warns that damages from extreme weather are rising

Michael Simire
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World Bank warns that damages from extreme weather are rising

Super Typhoon ruinsAs the global climate continues to change, the costs and damages from more extreme weather related to a warming planet are growing. While all countries are impacted, developing
nations bear the brunt of mounting losses in lives and livelihoods from increasingly severe floods, droughts, and storms.

“Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful typhoon ever to hit the Philippines, has brought into sharp focus how climate change is intensifying the severity of extreme weather events, which hurts the poor the most,” said Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President. “While the immediate relief effort must be front and center of our attention today, such tragic events show that the world can no longer afford to put off action to slow greenhouse emissions, and help countries prepare for a world of greater climate and disaster risks.”

More can be done to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change, as well as prepare for and respond to weather-related disasters, according to a new World Bank report released recently on the sidelines of the UN climate talks in Warsaw, Poland.

Titled “Building Resilience: Integrating Climate and Disaster Risk into Development,” the report looks at the gradual or slow-onset effects of climate change like sea-level rise, salinisation of freshwater sources and droughts, as well as extreme weather events like floods, heat-waves or cyclones.

Produced before Typhoon Haiyan left its deadly trail of destruction across the Philippines, the report describes the costs of weather disasters the lives and jobs lost as well as in losses and damages to private property and infrastructure, and their particular impact on the poor.

“Over the last 30 years, the world has lost more than 2.5 million people and almost $4 trillion to natural disasters. Economic losses are rising – from $50 billion each year in the 1980s, to just under $200 billion each year in the last decade. . And about three quarters of those losses are a
result of extreme weather,” said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice-President for Sustainable Development. “While you cannot connect any single weather event to climate change, scientists have warned that extreme weather events will increase in intensity if climate change is left unchecked.”

With a focus on lessons from World Bank Group experience, the new Bank report calls for national governments and the international development community to work across disciplines and sectors to build long-term resilience, reduce disaster risk and avoid unmanageable future costs.

The main findings include:

·         Loss and damages from disasters have been rising over the last three decades, from an annual average of around $50 billion in the 1980s to just under $200 billionn each year in the last decade. According to the reinsurance company, Munich Re, data, total reported losses from disasters are estimated at $3.8 trillion in the period from 1980 to 2012 with 74% due to extreme-weather.

·         Weather-related economic impacts are especially high in fast-growing, middle-income countries due to increasingly exposed, valuable assets. The average impact of disasters equaled 1% of GDP over the six years from 2001 to 2006, ten times higher than the average for high-income countries.

·         The impacts are particularly crippling in smaller and lower-income countries that are least able to cope. Hurricane Tomas, for example, devastated St Lucia in 2010 and wiped out the equivalent of 43% of GDP. In the Horn of Africa, the extended 2008-11 drought, which at its peak left 13.3 million people facing food shortages, caused estimated total losses of $12.1 billion in Kenya alone.

·         Climate and disaster-resilient development can save lives and livelihoods and protect the poor from climate shocks. Early warning systems have been proven to save countless lives worldwide, and typically yield benefits that are four to36 times higher than initial cost outlay. Cyclone Phailin which hit Odisha and Andrah Pradesh in 2013 resulted in 40 deaths after years of disaster risk prevention and preparedness, compared to the 10,000 who perished during a similar event in 1999.

·         There are big pay-offs despite upfront investment costs. Disaster assessment experience suggests it costs 10-50% more to build safer infrastructure than to replace original structures. For large-scale infrastructure it can be substantially higher. For example, following the 2008 floods in Namibia investments were needed to elevate roads and improve drainage in flood prone areas. This carried a cost 5.5 times the replacement value of damaged structures.

Much is known already on how to build resilience, but better cooperation is needed among relevant agencies and disciplines. The World Bank and other partners have accumulated a wealth of global expertise in resilient development – but it requires better harmonisation of climate and disaster management agendas to prevent fragmentation of local capacity and global resources.

Why Nigerians die young

admin
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Why Nigerians die young

COP 19: African CSOs demand full implementation of agreements

Michael Simire
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COP 19: African CSOs demand full implementation of agreements

SONY DSCCivil society organisation (CSOs) across Africa have demanded that developed countries fulfil and implement their commitments under the UN climate convention, in order to fairly share a necessary “emissions budget,” and avoid catastrophic climate change.

At a press conference held immediately after the opening session of the 19th session of the UN Warsaw Climate Conference, the group said that Africa is in the frontline for climate change impacts.

“We watch with horror what has happened in the Philippines, and know that it is happening in our homes too,” Mithika Mwenda, the Secretary General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), said.

“I don’t know how rich countries can ignore the facts being screamed by mother nature, nor the cries being made by the world’s poor – the time has come to cut climate changing causing emissions and to cut them deep,” Mwende said.

“Africans expect our governments to stand firm on setting an emissions budget, as recommended by the IPCC. They must then share this budget fairly, based on historical responsibility and capacities,” said Dr. Habtemariam Abate, from Ethiopian Civil Society Network on Climate Change.

Salisu Dahiru, Head of Nigeria's UN-REDD Programme, in Warsaw, Poland
Salisu Dahiru, Head of Nigeria’s UN-REDD Programme, in Warsaw, Poland

“These negotiations are about the emissions budget, whether governments admit it or not, they either negotiate to share that budget fairly, or they plan to exceed it,” Dr Abate added.

“African civil society has strong and clear proposals for how to deliver energy to those who do not have it whilst avoiding the trap of dirty fossil fuels and therefore allowing us to live within the emissions budget. Proposals include a globally funded feed in tariff – we expect such a measure to be adopted here in Warsaw,” Azeb Girmai, from LDC Watch, said.

“Warsaw can be the moment the world chooses clean over dirty energy and Africa will be leading in that choice,” Girmai, said. “African people need an international mechanism to address loss and damage from climate change. That’s the reality. We see it every day. Perhaps the rich only see it on television – well they need to turn it on, watch it, learn, and then take responsibility for the suffering their emissions have caused.” Robert Chimambo, from Zambia Climate Change Network, said.

“The best agreement on Earth won’t make a difference without implementation in the real world. That’s why a clear outcome in Warsaw must be drastically scaled up climate finance and technology transfer. Only if those commitments are met can African governments really believe that the rich world plans to act in good faith on any future agreement,” said Agnes Banda from Malawi, one of the most vulnerable countries.

PACJA released several briefs outlining their analysis, shared with other civil society observers, on the issues of: Equity, Markets, Pledge and Review (form of the post-2020 agreement), and Global Feed in Tariff.

A continental coalition of CSOs from diverse backgrounds in Africa, PACJA has emerged as a vibrant CSO platform on climate change and sustainable development. With a membership of more than 500 organisations and networks, the Alliance brings together faith-based organisations, farmers and pastoralists` groups, community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations, trusts, and foundations, among other sectors with a common goal of promoting and advocating for pro-poor, climate-friendly and equity-based responses to climate change.

Proper positioning to access Green Climate Fund

Michael Simire
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Proper positioning to access Green Climate Fund

Nigeria has taken up a campaign to build the capacity of national planners in order to strengthen the integration of climate change in national development plans and strategies. The initiative is based on a training module developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in partnership with the Department of Climate Change (DCC) in the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME).

According to the organisers, the training will be rolled out in the states to strengthen the country’s readiness and properly position it towards accessing the Green Climate Fund (GCF). This will likewise ensure that the facility is effectively utilised in alignment with national priorities. The training will also equip beneficiaries with the necessary skills for mainstreaming climate change into national and sub-national development programmes.

The GCF is a fund within the framework of the United Nations GCFFramework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) founded as a mechanism to transfer money from the developed to the developing world, in order to assist the developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. The GCF is based in the new Songdo district of Incheon, South Korea. It is governed by a Board of 24 members and initially supported by an Interim Secretariat.

At a recent forum held in Abuja at the instance of the FME, UNDP, Economic Policy Analysis Centre (EPAC) and the National Planning Commission (NPC) to kick-start the scheme, policymakers and private sector players were given practical guidance on how climate change adaptation can be mainstreamed into development plans and strategies as part of measures to deal with impending climate threats in the country.

Participant trainees included representatives of FME, NPC, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) as well as Ministries of Trade & Investments, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Health, and Women Affairs.

Director, CCD of the FME, Dr. Samuel Adejuwon, stated: “Let me reiterate that the ministry is committed to continuous delivery of robust leadership on national climate change governance and synergy with all stakeholders.”

Executive Secretary of the NPC, Ntufam Fidelis Ugbo, said that the Commission is determined to strengthen its on-going partnership with the FME and other relevant stakeholders in: promoting green growth through the global renewable energy system; adaptation of the protocols to Nigeria’s ecological uniqueness; pollution control and waste management; management of land degradation and desertification; environmental governance, sustainable use and conservation of natural resources; strengthening of institutional capacity of the relevant agencies, such as National Oil Sill, Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); and actualisation of the full implementation of the Great Green Wall (GGW) Programme in the frontline states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Yobe, Borno and Gombe.

His words: “I wish to add that the issue of impact of climate change is not political, but a developmental issue that must be addressed collectively.  This was amply demonstrated by the 2012 floods which resulted to a huge human and material loss to the nation.  The impact provided a learning point for the nation.  It has become imperative to incorporate lessons from climate change in the design and implementation of our various development plans.”

Participants however lamented that awareness on issues of climate change is very low especially amongst vulnerable groups. They likewise frowned at the weak political will to drive climate change issues as well as a weak funding mechanism and institutional framework.

They urged government to put in place a system of dissemination of data and to embark on human and infrastructure capacity building for all aspects of mainstreaming climate change into national development.

The trainees clamoured the deployment of appropriate methods for the development of functional and sustainable database, adding that an elaborate advocacy and awareness programme should be embarked upon.

They resolved: “A coordinating institution should be established to oversee the mainstreaming of climate change into development activities. Apart from promoting activities that enhance energy efficiency and conservation, partnership should be strengthened with development partners, organised private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“The authorities should also promote activities that will support green economy, increase industrialisation and reduce pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While establishing adequate funding mechanism, appropriate technologies should be developed for sound management of non-biodegradable and biodegradable wastes from ‘cradle’ to ‘grave’.”

Dangers of Lead in paints

Michael Simire
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Dangers of Lead in paints

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greenhouse gas atmospheric concentrations escalate

Michael Simire
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Greenhouse gas atmospheric concentrations escalate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Healthcare waste management policy formulated

Michael Simire
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0
Healthcare waste management policy formulated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

By Tina Armstrong-Ogbonna

How Nigeria will be prominent at COP 19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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