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Promising African CDM prospect amid World Bank intervention

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Nigeria and some 16 other middle-income countries are beneficiaries to the $7 billion Climate Investment Fund (CIF), which is being implemented by the World Bank in partnership with some multilateral development banks. The CIF entails the $4.8 billion committed to the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and $2.2 billion to the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF).

World Bank interventionSimilarly, the African adoption of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects is considered higher than the world average. Delegates at the recently-held Africa Carbon Forum (ACF) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, were informed that the continent currently has 85 registered CDM projects, representing just over two percent of the more than 4,000 projects.

Apart from Nigeria, the CTF funding is leading to leveraging investments of $37 billion to support nations like Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. The countries plan to radically rebalance their national energy portfolios by investing in renewables at a large scale.

Robert Bisset, Senior Communications Officer, Sustainable Development Network at the World Bank, disclosed in Washington, District of Columbia, USA, that under the SCF, the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) endorsed strategic investment plans worth around $960 million.

According to him, the Bank is the Trustee of 15 carbon initiatives. According to him, 10 carbon funds and facilities were established between 1999 and 2008, and that these initial instruments are currently capitalised at $2.2 billion.

“In addition, five carbon instruments have been launched that focus on the post-2012 carbon market. A total of 174 active projects are expected to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) by an estimated 220 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent,” he said.

Recent data from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Risoe Centre shows that in the last three years there has been a significant increase in the number of CDM projects initiated in Africa compared to other regions of the world, a trend observers predict will likely continue.

Indeed, a recent World Bank publication, “The Little Data Book on Climate Change,” shows that, out of the 50 African nations, only 18 have hosted CDM projects, out of which five were issued Certified Emission Reduction credits (CERs).

The CDM allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn CERs, each equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2). The CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialised countries to meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

As at November 2011 when the journal was printed, the five countries were Egypt (nine CDMs; 7,012 CERs), Morocco (six CDMs; 330 CERs), Nigeria (five CDMs; 312 CERs), South Africa (20 CDMs; 1,900 CERs) and Tanzania (one CDM; 56 CERs).

The five registered Nigerian CDM projects are: Recovery of Associated Gas that would otherwise be flared at the Kwale Oil-Gas Processing Plant, owned by AGIP; Pan Ocean Gas Utilisation Project in Ovade-Ogharafe; Asuokpu-Umutu Marginal Field Gas Recovery Facility, owned by Platform Petroleum; the SAVE80 Fuel Efficient Wood Stove that aims to reduce by 80 per cent the amount of wood needed for cooking, thereby slowing the rate of desertification in the northern part of the country; and Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Composting Project in Ikorodu, Lagos State, registered December 2010 and owned by EarthCare Nigeria Limited.

The 13 nations with only registered CDMs, according to the World Bank publication, include Cameroun (two), Congo Democratic Republic (two), Ivory Coast (three), Ethiopia (one), Kenya (five), Liberia (one), Madagascar (one), Mali (one), Rwanda (three), Senegal (one), Tunisia (two), Uganda (five) and Zambia (one).

China leads the way globally with 430,696 CERs from 1,604 CDMs.

Developments as at March 2012 however showed the Escravos Oil Field Associated Gas Recovery in Nigeria (that is expected to generate18.6 million CERs by 2020) is the second largest of the 262 newly-approved CDM projects. The largest entrant in March is China’s Qinshui County 120 MW Power Generation Project (27.5 million CERs by 2020).

Similarly, Namibia has submitted its first project for validation, which is a power-from-biogas activity in Windhoek that strives to generate 91,000 CERs by 2020.

Kai-Uwe Schmidt, Team Leader of Carbon Finance Assist at the World Bank, described the ACF as one of the key climate events on the African continent.

His words: “This conference definitely exceeded our expectations, especially in terms of the remarkable increase in the breadth and depth of the interactions among policymakers, experts, and practitioners from the public and private sectors. It has been a great place to see peers exchanging knowledge and collaborating on major issues, including low-carbon development strategies, action plans, climate, and carbon finance.”

John Kilani, Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Sustainable Development Mechanisms, said the conference showed that Africa is ready to actualise its potential toward a green growth economy.

“My wish is that participants will leave this conference knowing that Africa is now ready to participate actively in the CDM, while also remaining engaged in any discussion or consideration for new market approaches,” he said.

Kurt Lonsway, Manager at the Environment and Climate Change Division of the African Development Bank (ADB), expressed satisfaction with the high number of participants as well as the active interest and engagement they showed. According to him, the  increasing economic development on the continent means that “there is no better time than now to promote green and low carbon growth in Africa.”

Henry Derwent, President and CEO of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), said: “Africa Carbon Forum 2012 has shown that Africa has now enthusiastically absorbed the message that carbon reduction can be combined with development and increased income. The world now needs to translate that enthusiasm into economic demand.”

Yannick Glemarec, Executive Coordinator of UNDP-GEF, echoed the importance of the private sector, saying: “It was promising to see the continuous private sector engagement in carbon finance and the high interest in scaled-up programmatic CDM. We are confident that Africa will be able to deliver climate change mitigation at scale.”

About 1,200 registered participants took part in this year’s ACF, which is organised under the auspices of the Nairobi Framework, an initiative launched to help developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, increase their participation in the CDM.

The annual forum is described as the leading knowledge-sharing and carbon trade platform in Africa. The event brought together project developers, service providers, buyers and sellers of carbon credits, and various other private and public sector stakeholders. They sought to tap the potential of carbon finance to promote low carbon development on the continent.

Bisset noted that the World Bank has taken a leadership role in the next generation carbon markets for the post-2012 period by developing new carbon instruments. He emphasised that, in 2008, the Bank established two new carbon facilities designed to broaden, depeen and extend the duration of carbon finance – the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) aiming to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), and the Carbon Partnership Facility (CPF), aiming to scale up the use of carbon to accelerate mitigation activities.

“In 2010, the Bank launched the Partnership for Market Readiness to support market-based national efforts to reduce GHG emissions in developing countries. In December 2011, two new post-2012 carbon initiatives were launched in Durban: the BioCarbon Fund’s third tranche (BioCF T3) and the Carbon Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev). These new carbon initiatives will channel funds to projects which are vital to the world’s poorest.”

By Michael Simire

African nations accused of undermining food sovereignty

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African governments have been accused of being complacent about the “covert” activities of the biotechnology industry to undermine food sovereignty on the continent.

According to participants at a workshop held in Abuja, the policy frameworks for biotechnology in most African countries are either non-existent, weak or subject to manipulation by multinational corporations promoting genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), and acting in alliance with some research institutes.

Nnimmo Bassey, Chairman of ERA

Participants at the event organised by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) in collaboration with the African Biodiversity Network (ABN), African Center for Biosafety, EcoNexus and the Third World Network declared that the much-touted benefits of GMOs, when critically analysed, are found to be myths.

They pointed out that, in 2008, over 400 scientists, 30 governments from developed and developing countries and 30 civil society organisations, concluded work under the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). The report observed that modern biotechnology would have very limited contribution to the feeding of the world in the foreseeable future, they said.

At the workshop titled “Biosafety Regulations and Experience Sharing”, the participants warned that the production of GMOs is not only a threat to biosafety; it also poses a great threat to human and animal health as well as the environment.

“Promoters of GMO and their allies have deliberately ignored the importance and the peculiarities of African culture, environment and agriculture in their aggressive attempts to impose their products on Africa. Rather than African governments getting committed to promotion of agro-ecological agriculture practices, they have become tied to the apron-strings of speculators and neo-colonial powers whose objective is to exploit, subjugate and destroy food production systems on the African continent.”

They added that, contrary to the arguments peddled by modern biotechnology industry, there are few or no tangible successes stories on GMOs and Africa must not be used as ground for experimentation for unverified technologies.

They accused the Nigerian government of not taking into account the concerns of local farmers, critical stakeholders, citizens’ participation and engagement contrary to the provisions of the AU model law and the Cartagena Protocol in the formulation of the draft Biosafety Bill now waiting for the President’s signature.

Participants lamented that African farmers, especially women, lack adequate access to land and other resources necessary for agricultural production, a situation they say is further compounded by massive land grabs by multinationals corporations for agro-fuels production and other capitalist interests.

“There is a dearth of funding and sustainable investment from African governments for research and development in agro-ecological practices of improving agriculture in Africa. There is inadequate information and awareness on food sovereignty issues in the media thus shutting out critical stakeholders, thereby deepening public ignorance and inhibiting contributions to solutions,” noted the participants.

They, therefore, called on African governments to address the hunger question on the continent by prioritisation of agro-ecological agriculture systems over corporate models that promote inequalities.

They likewise underlined the need for a local and continental paradigm-shift towards food sovereignty based on local contextual considerations, promotion of small-scale farmers, pastoralists and fisher-folk which, they stressed, have defined agro-ecological agriculture based on human rights and sustainable natural resource management.

Furthermore, African governments were urged to put in place adequate regulatory frameworks for monitoring compliance.

“African governments should adequately address the gender insensitivity in agriculture with particular emphasis on access to land and other resources. This is because women are widely acknowledged as pillars in African agricultural practice and sustenance.”

By Michael Simire

States urged to embrace REDD

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National Coordinator, the Nigeria Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD ) Programme, Salisu Dahiru, has called on state governments in Nigeria to embrace the initiative so as to mitigate the effects of climate change, protect ecosystems, develop communities and reduce poverty.

Salisu Dahiru
Salisu Dahiru, National REDD Programme Coordinator

Salisu, who announced that implementation of the Nigerian UN-REDD pilot scheme in Cross River State would commence soon, said without reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, it will not be possible to reach the 2⁰C temperature goal, stressing that carbon emissions from forests contributes about 20 per cent of the total emissions.

In a recent presentation titled: “Approaches to REDD for climate change including co-benefits for Lagos State,” he said the REDD Readiness Document provides a strategy for expanding the scope of REDD to other states of the nation including Lagos. He describes the scheme, which is a mechanism for slowing down global warming, as a critical factor in any climate change agreement.

Correcting the impression that Lagos State is not a forest producing state, but carbon producing one, he noted that the two main vegetation types of the state – swamp forest, (including mangroves) and dry lowland rain forest – are suitable for the REDD project.

He listed some of the benefits of the project to include: resilience to climate change, improved community livelihoods, revenues and ecosystem services.

“REDD is a collaborative partnership among the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),” he said.

“The main objective of REDD is to support and provide incentives to tropical developing countries for the protection and conservation of their standing natural forests and simultaneously contribute to mitigating climate change and promote sustainable livelihoods for forest dependent communities.”

Salisu further urged states to join the REDD initiative and integrate it into the climate change mitigation and adaptation plans. Besides, he challenged the states to institutionalise REDD within climate change agenda, promote private sector investments in the programme and scale up consultations.

On the implementation of the Cross River State project, he explained that what “is left is for the parties involved – the Minister of Environment, Cross River State Governor and the UN agencies – is to put pen to paper, so that they can draw the approved money down.”

Sharing a perspective on the Cross River State REDD project, Chairman of the state Forestry Commission and Head, REDD Cross River State, Odigha Odigha, represented by Arikpo Arikpo, a Commissioner in the Commission, said forest is the main asset of Cross River State.

He noted that in 2007 and 2008, logging of forest wood in the state reached a crisis level until the government placed a ban on it. He explained that an environmental summit was held in 2008 and key resolutions made, including the removal of revenue targets from timber exploitation and two year moratorium on logging.

Arikpo said implementation of the resolutions began in 2008, part of which he noted include the shift from timber concession to carbon concession. According to him, for any state to fully engage in REDD, there must be the political will as demonstrated by the state governor, Senator Liyel Imoke.

On what is require to engage in REDD, he said: “An in-depth investigation of vulnerabilities and adaptations strategies for rural communities to climate change.

“Our understanding is that although such in-depth investigation has become central to climate science, policy and practice, our capacity to conduct such vulnerability and adaptation assessments is still very limited. Through an appropriate combination of policy, technology and external funding, a low carbon economy is possible in Cross River State.”

By Michael Simire

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