It was an experience Lagosians would love to forget. They had gone out for their daily endeavours but to return home on Monday night was challenging, no thanks to the heavy downpour and the consequent flood-induced traffic that lasted till the early hours of the next day.
The rainfall, which started around 7.30 pm when most city dwellers were on their way home from work, caused heavy traffic as most of the roads were flooded and, in most cases, impassable for vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Worst hit were Ikorodu Road, Isolo-Mushin Road, Agege Motor Road, Igando-Ikotun Road, Lagos-Abeokuta Road, Isheri Osun-Jakande Estate Road and several others. The Idi-oro/Ojuwoye was extensively flooded and completely inaccessible.
Although the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) had predicted heavy rain this year, Monday’s rainfall appears to have attested to the prediction and signs of what is to come in days and months ahead.
Despite repeated calls to clean-up the environment and dispose waste at the appropriate places, many Lagosians seem yet to heed this call.
This writer, who was stuck in traffic during the duration of the heavy downpour, observed that some residents chose that period to dispose refuse openly, thereby compounding the already dire situation.
A trader in Mushin who pleaded anonymity lamented that “it is a very bad habit for people to be disposing their waste into the rain water.”
“It is a common habit for people around Mushin. Once the rain starts, they will now go and bring out their waste. People will continue to blame government. See, is it government that threw these waste into the water? Of course, not. Sometimes you see people throwing pillows and all kinds of stuffs, this is bad,” she said.
She explained that, at a point, residents had to block the drainage in front of their shops because of the kind of waste that people threw into the drainage that ended up blocking the drainage channel and resulting in serious flooding in their compounds.
The thunderstorm also led to the loss of supply from two power stations to the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, temporarily halting flight operations at the facility.
The terminal building was thrown into darkness for about six minutes due to a power surge from the two main PHCN power supply sources to the airport. The airport is connected to two main power sources from Ejigbo and Egbin power stations.
The storm initially knocked-off the power supply from Ejigbo which led to a three-minute outage at the airport before the agency’s engineers switched over to the alternate power supply source from Egbin which also was later affected by the storm, leading to another three-minute power outage.
As a way of improving the quality of education in a sustainable way, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is constructing a group of floating schools in Makoko coastal community of Lagos.
Makoko Floating School
The school, whose prototype design was unveiled during a ceremony a week ago, is a two-storey building standing on silt and would be powered by solar energy.
Country Director of the UNDP in Nigeria, Ade Mamonyane Lekoetje, in an opening remark said the UN body was committed to improving the standard of living of people and expressed optimism that the school would change the face of Makoko.
According to her, the children in the Makoko waterfront community deserve quality education in a conducive environment and the floating school project serves that purpose.
She added that through the support of the Lagos State Government the school would attract tourists to see the wonder school floating on the Lagos Lagoon.
Designer of the Makoko Floating School, Kunle Adeyemi, said the school is a sustainable project that would not be affected by the impact of climate change like sea level rise.
This is, according to him, is because the water level at any given time does not affect the school but the school floats without being disturbed. The waste generated in the school would be recycled, he added.
Adeyemi, an architect, called for support in construction of more floating schools in other coastal communities across the country because, according to him, it would help to improve the lives of the people in such areas.
One of the community leaders in the Makoko waterfront community, Chief Francais Agoyon, thanked the UNDP for constructing a school that suits their environment and the needs of his people.
Agoyon stressed that the Makoko people would make good use of the school and called for more of such developmental projects that meets the demand of the people.
He believes that, with such projects in Makoko, the area would attract tourists from far and wide that would enjoy the hospitality of the residents.
Programme Officer of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Paul Okunlola, described the project as a welcome initiative by the UNDP because children in Makoko will not be disadvantaged from accessing quality education because of their environment.
Okunlola stressed that the UN-Habitat was committed to achieving Goal 7, Target 11 of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that is in line with upgrading slums across the world.
“Though more slums are coming up but it is a running battle and we are aimed to win the war,” he added.
With less than two years to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline in 2015, the United Nations, state parties and partners have been collaborating towards the development of a successor framework, taking into consideration lessons from the MDGs and the present development realities.
An impression of the revised Abuja cityscape
Consequently, Nigeria a week ago in Abuja hosted a round of National and Thematic Consultations, apparently to get the inputs of citizens on the character and content of the next global development goals. The event was organised by The Presidency, MDGs Office Nigeria and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The two-day forum brought together Nigerians from across different spectrums of the society – government officials and policy makers, the civil society, media, faith-based groups, women and farmers’ associations, as well as the disabled and youths – to explore their perspectives to development realities beyond 2015. This is considered top priority for the country building on the MDGs and other national policies such as the Vision 20:2020 and the MDGs Countdown Strategy.
Some of the thematic topics were: Governance & Accountability, Inequalities, Education, Environment & Sustainable Development, Food & Nutrition, and Health.
Others included Housing & Urban Development, Rule of Law/Human Rights & Poverty, Population Dynamics, Growth & Employment, and Water.
For instance, the session by the Thematic Group on Housing & Urban Development (HUD) that involved about 70 participants was chaired by the Director of Urban and Regional Development in the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing & Urban Development (FMLHUD), Dr. Olatunbosun Ayileka, and deliberations were guided by a lead paper presented by Professor Mustapha Zubairu of the Centre for Human Settlements and Urban Development at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State.
The session was coordinated by the Abuja office of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT).
There were two panel discussions by the Special Assistant to the Ondo State Governor on Urban Renewal, Oladunni Oyewumi, and Deputy Director (MDGs) at the FMLHUD, M.T. Babakobi.
Zubairu’s paper highlighted the relevance of the HUD policies to repositioning the sector, as well as advocated innovative and futuristic planning. It was noted that, Nigeria, with a total population of about 169 million, has an urban population of about 48 percent (over 80 million city dwellers), of which up to 66 percent (about 53.7 million people) live in slum conditions, which is believed to be significantly higher than the proportion in most other regions of the world.
It was observed that Nigeria is at the moment far from meeting the goals and targets on issues related to HUD under the current MDGs regime. The group also noted that the issue of HUD was not isolated as a specific item under the current MDGs dispensation but subsumed under MDGs Goal 7, Targets 10 and 11, which focused on improving the status of the urban poor as represented largely by slum dwellers.
Participants described efforts made so far in addressing HUD issues as “winning isolated battles but loosing the real war”, adding that management of Nigerian cities requires confronting the unique challenge of addressing mostly settlements under transition, and that HUD issues have not been properly integrated into the entire MDGs framework.
Upon extensive deliberations with specific respect to determination of Post-2015 Development priorities, the group found that the implementation of MDGs programmes in the HUD sector in Nigeria had the advantage of securing appreciable funding from the Federal Government, especially through the Debt Relief Gains. The programme has, however, not been guided by proper Needs Assessment Studies and has oftentimes been hijacked by isolated “Constituency Projects” for federal legislators, participants lamented.
They noted that while such projects identified critical needs of concerned communities, they are not the best way of articulating all the composite urban renewal and slum upgrading needs of the people in such communities.
“MDGs programme in the HUD sector has been handled as isolated projects and not sufficiently integrated into national development agenda, and there is continuous decay of rural areas due to neglect, thus accentuating the ‘pushing’ of rural areas into the cities.”
They want a change in the attitude of city dwellers to human settlements planning and development, stressing that proper and comprehensive Needs Assessment Studies should be instituted forthwith such that urban renewal and slum upgrading needs of the people will become more robust and comprehensive.
The group suggested that, in view of its cross-cutting influence, post-2015 MDGs should recognise HUD as a separate and distinguishable focus area, even as deliberate efforts at rural rejuvenation should be made.
While clamouring that concerted efforts should be made to strengthen institutional and human resource capacities for HUD, the gathering maintained that physical planning should precede housing development so as to prevent the continuous creation of slums.
“It may be necessary to set up an umbrella organisation to coordinate and exercise overarching monitoring of all projects and activities in HUD, and a programme should be established to address the issue of maintaining basic infrastructural services that have been provided in the communities,” participants emphasised, stressing that the current HUD policies have basic ingredients of transforming these sectors and the provisions contained in these policies should be vigorously implemented to complement ongoing and future MDG frameworks.
They added: “Concerted effort should be made to create and sustain robust information base and data sources for HUD. There is a glaring need to innovate on sources of funding for HUD in the post-2015 era. There is need to take steps to address the growing security challenges by adopting special programmes for engaging the youth in productive ventures and generating employment towards boosting Local Economic Development, which will also enhance revenue generation for cities.”
In what appears to have become a norm, barrels of crude oil have found their way beyond the “safe” confines of a pipeline.
A week ago, yet another round of oil spill occurred in Kalaba community in Okordia clan of Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, leading to widespread environmental devastation.
Crude oil reportedly gushed out from six ruptured points on pipelines belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in the area.
While one of the spurting points was observed across the Taylor Creek, five ruptured points leaked volumes of oil behind the bushes of Kalaba. Some officials of Agip reportedly visited the impacted site on Saturday, February 16.
Residents of neighbouring communities fear that the spewed crude could spread fast as the heavens open up in the restive region.
It is yet to be ascertained if the six spill points were caused by acts of sabotage or from obsolete pipeline.
Nonetheless, the spill has persisted, with oil flowing into farmlands and water bodies, which are local folks’ means of likelihood. The people are mainly engaged in fishing and farming.
This is the fifth reported case of oil spill within seven years in Kalaba, one of the communities through which Agip pipelines traverse in Okordia clan. Following that of 2006, there was a notable spill in 2009 that lasted about two months, in respect of which Agip reportedly paid compensation to some locals. In 2011, the community experienced over 10 spills on both sides of the Taylor Creek. In June 2012, there were fresh oil spills along the pipelines that lasted several days.
Curiously, some previous oil spill sites are deemed not to have been cleaned up till today. For instance, residents allege that those of 2006 and 2011 are still pending.
According to them, Agip officials often deny responsibility if they do not have a copy of the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) report that documents the cause of a spill.
“That is why we always ensure that we get copies of such reports. Sometimes, even when armed with the JIV report signed by Agip, the company denies. An example is one of the spills in 2009,” discloses a resident.
He laments that the oil giant has not impacted the community in any positive way, apart from the negative impacts of oil spills and related oil exploitation conflicts in the area.
His words: “You can never see any project executed by Agip in this Kalaba community. Not even a single scholarship for our children. This is the simple truth and it is very bitter too. I want to appeal to Agip to amend the way it relates with communities, especially in terms of response to oil spills and community relations.”
Observers believe that the firm’s nonchalant attitude may not be unconnected with the somewhat paltry penalty in place for oil spillers.
A call by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) for Agip to pay the sum of N1 million as fine over its (Agip’s) alleged failure to immediately contain, recover and clean up an oil spill at its OB/OB Gas plant in Obrikom, Omoku, Rivers State, drew the ire of Senator Bukola Saraki, who claimed that the fine imposed was not deterrent enough for such offence that has the potential to cause degradation of the environment and inflict long lasting damage to the health of the people living in the community.
The proliferation of laws against oil spillage notwithstanding, the country still lacks a clear-cut law and policy that would checkmate oil companies from abusing the ecosystem. It does not have serious laws meting out punishment to offenders when it has to do with oil pollution especially in the Niger Delta.
Saraki, the Senate Committee Chairman on Environment and Ecology, has since taken up a campaign to tinker with the NOSDRA Act to ensure that oil spillers are severely punished to serve as a deterrent.
Meanwhile, the series of spills in Kalaba is severely impacting the community’s environment and should be urgently addressed. A source said that the impact on trees, shrubs and other plants around the spill sites is grave as they display wilting leaves and varying stages of death.
“Even the birds on tree tops are not spared as the escaping crude oil in gaseous form comes with a characteristic sound and rises far above the trees and spreads all around the environment, presenting a kind of misty scenario that impedes visibility. This may cause forced migration of birds or death of young ones and abandonment of eggs in nests. And, for sure, all living creatures will avoid that environment due to the sound and toxicity of the crude oil. The ecosystem has suffered much assault from the crude oil escaping from Agip’s pipeline.”
Agip needs to urgently mobilise to site and stop all the spill points and follow up with clean-ups. Pending spill sites should likewise be attended to.
The oil firm should effectively monitor its facilities, including the pipelines in Kalaba, to forestall situations where spill incidents continue for days or weeks and months.
While NOSDRA should ensure that Agip cleans up before the heavy rains sets in, the impacted environment should be re-mediated and compensation paid without delay where necessary.
Eko Atlantic, the visionary new city for Lagos, drew high-level presidential praise from both President Goodluck Jonathan and the former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, during a recent
An impression of Eko Atlantic City
dedication ceremony to mark a milestone event.
Describing the development of Eko Atlantic City as an outstanding initiative, President Jonathan said, “This landmark event is continuing the good news narrative that Nigeria must now embrace permanently. You cannot be hearing only ugly stories. Eko Atlantic City is bringing us happiness and this happiness has come to stay.”
Eko Atlantic City’s land reclamation started in February 2008 with a seven-year dredging operation planned to create 8,000 square metres of new land every day.
A year after reclamation work began, the Chagoury Group, the developers and planners of Eko Atlantic City, committed at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York to protect Victoria Island from coastal erosion through the forces of the Atlantic Ocean.
Since making their commitment, the developers have built a sea revetment known as The Great Wall of Lagos that now stands at three and a half kilometres. Half the land needed to build the new city has been recovered from the ocean.
“They have reclaimed five million square metres of land from the sea. They have built the beginnings of this amazing wall. They have kept their commitment and it will help to diversify the economy of Nigeria, to brand Lagos all over the world and to create an enormous number of opportunities. I am convinced that within five years people will be coming from everywhere just to look at the wall.”
The Great Wall has brought back the coastline of Victoria Island to where it was a century ago before coastal erosion began to wash it away.
“This is an ingenious engineering feat,’ said President Clinton, This is something I am telling you there will be countless numbers of people coming here to study. It is something you can be very proud of.”
Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, hosted the dedication ceremony close to the massive sea revetment that protects the five million square metres of land. “When all is done, a new city will emerge here from what was once a devastated area as a result of nature’s onslaught,” said Governor Fashola. “But that devastation is now history. Our ultimate triumph beckons,” he said, “the human spirit will prevail because of the goodwill of a few good men.”
The dedication ceremony was attended by high-ranking Nigerian federal and state officials as well as international developers, financial institutions and the diplomatic corps.
In his address, the Executive Chairman of Eko Atlantic, Ronald Chagoury, said, “Nigeria is a great nation. Building a city of this calibre can only be achieved by putting our hands together. Today we are at a turning point where the real construction of the city has started.” And he added, “Today Lagos is the economic capital of Nigeria. We pray by your blessing Mr. President, to become the economic and financial centre of Africa in the near future”.
The construction of infrastructure for Eko Atlantic, such as roads, drainage and sewage systems has also started as has foundation work for Eko Atlantic’s first commercial tower block. An international developer, Satellite Oil and Gas from Nigeria, has started to build Eko Energy Estate and numerous other projects are in the pipeline.
Upon completion, the developers and city planners of the new city will have produced 10,000,000 square metres of land, ripe for development: equivalent in size to the skyscraper district of Manhattan in New York City.
Eko Atlantic is designed to provide the space and infrastructure to house 250,000 people and become the workplace for a further 150,000.
Before the dedication, management of the city had recently built the first road to compliment the new city high status with gave the city its first internal access road.
The 2.25 kilometre road comprises a single carriageway that is 7.2 metres wide with two lanes. The new road, as yet unnamed, will serve as one of three major boulevards in the Business District of Eko Atlantic. In all, it is planned that 85 kilometres of road will be required to serve the needs of the newly emerging city.
Makoko is a slum settlement that is home to fishermen and other low income earners, which the authorities see as a blot on the cityscape, one that would have to go if Lagos is to attain its much-vaunted mega city status.
Makoko
Last July, government agents moved in to demolish portions of the sprawling lagoon slum, amid claims that the residents were living dangerously – under the high-tension electric wires supplying power to the highbrow Victoria Island and Lagos Island.
With the action being predicated on a notice, which according to press reports was dated July 12 2012, observers felt the government reaction was high handed and a push for it to stop the demolitions soon began.
The Social and Economic Rights Center (SERAC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), was at the forefront of efforts to get the government to show a more humane outlook to the issue. The demolition stopped, but observers believe that it is only a matter of time before government returns, perhaps with more determination to remove the settlement.
Perhaps with this inevitability in mind, the Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) is promoting a scheme designed to address inherent flaws, on the heels of a workshop held last November in Lagos to discuss burning issues. A fresh phase commenced last Wednesday, courtesy of a daylong meeting at Makoko that featured residents and experts involved in the project.
The HBS is a German, legally independent political foundation affiliated with the German Green Party.
Variant of a floating school proposed for Makoko
The November forum centred on climate resilient strategies for environmental design, as well as the plight of the people of Makoko and how it could be best addressed. Numerous presentations were made at the event.
However, a presentation by an urban planner and lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning of the University of Lagos, Omoayena Yadua, seemed to have met the workshop organisers’ requirement for tenable proposals that could define a roadmap for community engagement to ensure the sustainability of proposed ideas. She laid emphasis on stakeholder involvement/engagement and a bottom-up approach to addressing issues.
She said: “My presentation was on the stakeholders approach and talked about integrated approach to solving climate change problems like flooding. We identified every private citizen, government, corporate and professional angle. We identified that the government alone cannot tackle it, citizens alone cannot embark on solutions and the professional too cannot provide solutions that would not be adopted by both the government and the citizens.
“So we adopted a holistic approach, which was created in a triangle showing arrows connecting the professionals, the people and the policy makers. We proposed that that is going to give us a sustainable solution because the people will agree to what they were involved in. The government is going to be in agreement with a policy they jointly formulated and the professionals – we the planners, architects and others – will be able to learn from the lessons from the people and the past lessons from the government in trying to implement such solutions.”
According to her, the intervention entails involving the end users and the government in whatever changes to be introduced and to ensure they are part of the planning.
“This is because if we design the floating cities and the government does not approve of it, even if the people do, that design is forfeited. But if the designers, planners and the government come together and the government gives its word that it would support the project, success would be achieved. However, if we work in isolation then we can never be sure of success and may end up with a stalemate,” she added.
Last week’s integrated stakeholders meeting sought to analyse the causes of flooding, its effects and possible solutions to flooding in the neighbourhood.
Residents identified the possible causes of flooding; asserting that they had good waste disposal habits and that refuse and filthy environment usually associated with the study area was as a result of the aftermath of flooding. They also said that it damaged life and property and also endangered their health. Business activities are negatively affected thus reducing their economic capabilities, they added.
They proposed the demolition of houses situated on the natural drainage channel, dredging/ clearance of the drainages (canals), weed control and construction of embankments as solutions.
“The points were noted by the urban planners and would be considered when coming up with the set of conceptual plans which would be presented to the residents in a fortnight. Representatives of the Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Physical Planning are scheduled to attend the next stakeholders meeting,” disclosed Yadua.
Kunle Adeyemi’s design of Floating School under construction
At the November workshop, Kunle Adeyemi, whose floating school project was funded through the research stage by HBS, as a social design intervention in Makoko, was on hand to show how interacting with the people in their environment led to the development of his pet project.
From a single flood resilient school now under construction, Adeyemi, an architect, is looking at a significant upgrade of the entire community from stilt buildings to aesthetically pleasing and architecturally conceptualised floating buildings. He said that his innovation would not just transform Makoko from a slum settlement into a modern settlement, but would make it a standard for the rest of the world.
His slides at the presentation showed a different Makoko, one with uniformity and the sort of organised layouts that seem not readily evident in Nigerian cities.
There were other presentations on water-resilient building designs and strategies, as well as proposals for sustainable urban drainage systems, especially of the type that could be implemented on short notice without having to tear down the urban-scape in developing nations.
Just as they did with the floating building concept, the designers and architects came up with various innovative means of flood control in urban areas. The proposals were also developed with cost in mind and utilisation of items sourced from the immediate environment was key.
HBS had called for entries from architects, designers and anyone interested in providing solutions to the specified problem. Of the proposals submitted, nine respondents were invited to be present their proposals at the open space workshop.
Community participation was a critical criterion at the workshop.
Apart from Yadua, other urban planners involved in the project include Taibat Lawanson (group leader), Olabode Orelaja, Akindeju Olayemi, Agwu John, Wole Soyinka (all from the University of Lagos), Lukmon Oshodi (Urban Space) and Aisha Mustapha (Olabisi Onobanjo University).
Starting from an office above a supermarket 40 years ago, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been modernised into a strengthened and upgraded institution better able to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
The decision, by ministers of the environment meeting at the UNEP Governing Council, implements the call by Heads of States and governments in the “Future We Want” forged at the close of Rio+20 conference last June in Brazil.
Governments have also backed more predictable, stable and increased funding for UNEP from the UN Regular Budget by 2014, apparently underlining increasing confidence in UNEP’s ability and role to deliver the environmental dimension of sustainable development.
Ministers meeting for the first time under universal membership of 193 member states – again as a result of the decisions taken and adopted last year at Rio+20 and the UN General Assembly later in the year – adopted a welter of other decisions relating to the way UNEP will operate and work as the global platform for environmental policy-making and action over the coming years and decades.
Governments called for the transformation of the existing Governing Council into a UN Environment Assembly of UNEP and to build stronger links between UNEP’s science-based Global Environment Outlook process and its ministerial meetings—further implementing the call by member states at Rio+20 to strengthen the science-policy interface.
Steiner
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said at the close: “The theme at this historic, universal membership Governing Council was Rio+20: From Outcome to Implementation—and that was precisely what happened over the past five days”.
“Ministers responsible for the environment implemented the strengthening and upgrading of UNEP to an institution better equipped and resourced to serve the planet and its people to meet the ever growing challenges posed by ecosystem degradation to the growth of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere while catalysing transformational change to seize the equally fast growing opportunities for a sustainable development path change,” he said.
“Meanwhile ministers responsible for the environment took also took forward the wider implementation of the Rio+20 outcome document—the Future We Want—across a broad sweep of issues and actions from support for 30 countries to make a green economy transition; building a stronger science-policy interface, and strengthening the exercise of environmental laws to fast tracking action on persistent and emerging issues, support for renewable energy under the UN climate convention and the decade long initiative on decoupling natural resource use from economy growth—in short the 10YFP,” said Steiner.
“Heads of State at Rio+20 grasped the sobering science, laid out in reports like UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook-5, and put in the foundations for new pathways and new directions to achieve a sustainable century—here ministers and delegations from over 150 nations have been the architects and designers of an evolved UNEP with greater authority, impact and pathways to deliver the Future We Want,” he added.
Among the wealth of other decisions taken at the first Universal Membership of the UNEP Governing Council were:-
·A UNEP-led consortium will host and coordinate the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) which will be the implementing arm of the Technology Mechanism of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The CTCN will work on leap-frogging the technical and financial hurdles to the even greater take-up of clean and renewable energies to low carbon transportation and energy efficient buildings.
·Full operationalisation of a decade-long initiative to decouple economic growth from unsustainable use of natural resources and pollution generation–the 10 Year Framework of Programmes for Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP for SCP).
The UNEP-hosted initiative will assist countries in areas from sustainable public procurement, lifestyles and education to sustainable buildings and construction and sustainable tourism, including ecotourism—again bringing from outcome to implementation other key aspects of the Rio+20 Future We Want.
·Governments also decided to convene in October this year an intergovernmental diplomatic conference to formally adopt the Minamata Convention on Mercury that was agreed in January in Geneva under a UNEP-facilitated negotiation–again a further implementation of the Rio+20 outcome document.
The mercury treaty, aimed at reducing releases and emissions of a notorious health-hazardous heavy metal from source such as artisanal small-scale mining, medical equipment and power stations, will open for signature at the conference in Japan en route to ratification and coming into force.
Inclusive Green Economy
The summary by the President of the Governing Council, Hassan Abdel Hilal, Minister of Environment, Forests and Physical Development, Sudan, noted that many ministers called for a driving forward of the Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.
Several suggested that efforts should initially focus on areas where fast action might happen soonest including in area such as energy, water and agriculture.
UNEP unveiled the Partnership for Action on a Green Economy (PAGE) in order to implement the outcomes of Rio+20 and meet the needs of countries keen to join such a transformation.
PAGE, which will initially support 30 countries on Green Economy work, is backed by UNEP, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
Sustainable Development Goals
The meeting also discussed the role of the environment in the post-2015 agenda and the discourse surrounding the development of a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which was informed by the presence of Amina J Mohamed, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning.
·In his summary, the President observed that many representatives observed that UNEP should play an important role in promoting environmental sustainability in the proposed goals and post-2015 agenda
·They also that achieving sustainable patterns of consumption and production should be one of the SDGs
Environmental Law
Governments also gave a big boost to environmental law, building on the UNEP-convened World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability held during Rio+20 last June.
·Ministers and delegates today asked UNEP to lead the United Nations system and support national Governments in the development and implementation of environmental rule of law including boosting information disclosure, environmental auditing and independent dispute resolution.
Medium-Term Strategy and Budget
A medium-term strategy for UNEP’s work up to 2017 was also adopted focusing on themes outlined in the Rio+20 outcome across seven priority areas while approving a more detailed work plan for the organization for 2014-15, which provides for strengthened responsiveness to country needs and more funds for direct activities including via a re-structuring of elements of UNEP’s finances to be more stable and predictable via an increase to be approved from the UN Regular Budget.
From the Launch of Cutting Edge Reports to World-Class Meeting of Youth, Judges and Women Environment Ministers and Leaders
In advance and during the Governing Council UNEP launched a series of reports and hosted awareness-raising events and meetings of other stakeholders aimed at improving the science base available to policy makers, prompting further transformative action, and highlighting key issues the organization will be working on in 2013 and beyond.
A UNEP-World Health Organisation report on endocrine-disrupting chemicals unveiled new science on this subset of chemicals, which affect the hormone systems of humans and animals.
·Many such chemicals are untested for their effects, and The State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals called for more research to understand fully the associations between these chemicals, found in many household and industrial products, and specific diseases and disorders.
UNEP and the Food and Agricultural Organization off the UN’s Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint campaign on cutting food waste hosted a reception dinner for hundreds of policy makers. The campaign is in support of the UN Secretary-General’s Zero Hunger Challenge.
·The reception highlighted the scale of waste in Kenya and globally by preparing the meal from almost 2,000 kilogrammes fruit and vegetables that had been rejected by UK supermarkets for cosmetic reasons.
Young people representing over 100 countries at the UNEP Tunza International Youth Conference, which took place in Nairobi a week earlier, issued a statement to the Governing Council calling for governments, business, cities and civil society to support UNEP’s campaign.
·The Tunza youth statement also called for reduced food waste and loss to be a post-2015 development target as a Sustainable Development Goal.
Also on the topic of the global food system, the UNEP-commissioned report Our Nutrient World laid out how humans—in pursuit of greater food production– have in many areas altered the natural flows of nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients, causing a web of water and air pollution.
The UNEP Year Book 2013 highlighted the accelerated melting of sea ice in the Arctic, urging caution on moves to take advantage of the retreating ice to exploit resources and open up shipping routes.
·It also highlighted a spike in the illegal wildlife trade that has sent the numbers of elephants and rhinos poached soar – an issue that UNEP and its related conventions such as CITES are bringing to the attention of the global public.
·During the meeting for example UNEP signed an agreement with Shanghai, one of the world’s most-populous cities, to promote awareness among the city’s citizens of negative consequences of the illegal wildlife trade.
Women Environment Ministers
The day before the Governing Council got underway, the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders for the Environment (NWMLE) and UNEP hosted the second High-Level Gender Forum.
The forum participants called upon ministers and environmental leaders to have dedicated officials for coordination of related gender and environment programmes and agreed to send a consolidated proposal on gender actions to be forwarded for consideration by UN Secretary General’s High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post 2015 Development Agenda.
·The women ministers also requested nations to support the ratification of the Minamata convention on Mercury, which opens for signing in October.
Other highlights included:
·The launch of a collaboration with the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association to replace millions of kerosene lamps, candles and flashlights used worldwide with modern solar lighting and reduce the estimated 74 million tons of annual carbon emissions from fuel-based light sources commonly used in developing countries;
·Celebrations of the first anniversary of The Climate and Clean Air Coalition, a global initiative to significantly reduce emissions of black carbon, methane and other substances known as short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) that since its launch has been joined by 27 countries, bodies like the European Commission and the World Bank and 28 non-state organizations;
·The signing of an agreement with HRH Princess Lalla Hasna of Morocco, Chairwoman of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, on youth engagement;
·Dozens of media roundtables and side events on issues such as the Green Economy, poverty and environment linkages, Sustainable Consumption and Production, renewable energy, climate change, REDD+, sustainable transport, and the post-Rio+20 environment and Sustainable Development Goals.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has warned that the rains will be intensive this year and that communities located along the Niger River basin should brace up for more flood.
NIMET officials gave the prediction recently while presenting the agency’s report of this year’s rainfall expectations. They put the commencement of the rains from February running through June, with a lull between early October and late December across the country.
Last year’s episode is still very fresh in our minds. It was a national disaster. Numerous communities were overrun by flood as major rivers, swollen from weeks of torrential rainfall and release of water upstream, overflowed their banks. Thousands were displaced and they had to be accommodated at relief camps established at several locations.
The incident started when the Benue River flooded adjourning communities. The river was said to have been distended by large volumes of water released upstream at the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.
Since 1982 when the dam was built in Lagdo town on the Adamawa Plateau in the Northern Province of Cameroon along the course of the Benue River, lowland communities in north-eastern Nigerian states (of Borno, Adamawa and Taraba) especially those located downstream within the River Benue drainage basin are usually flooded whenever water is released from the reservoir.
Last year was not an exception as the floods submerged hundreds of settlements in Adamawa State, killing people and displacing thousands of families. Many were reportedly missing. The entire upper and lower Benue River basin was extensively flooded.
The deluge spread to other parts of the country, this time due largely to the Niger River’s flooding.
Concerns were also raised over what looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Ironically, it also concerns Cameroon, where the notorious Lake Nyos is located.
Scientists fear that the protective walls of the lake are weakening and could collapse at any time and, in the process, free its large volume of water, which is expected to flow along a course from its native Cameroun into neighbouring Nigeria, where settlements will be extensively flooded.
Now, proposals have been put forward to address both Cameroon-related scenarios, but with little achieved in terms of these ideas seeing the light of the day.
For instance, following an agreement involving Nigeria and Cameroon in 1980, the Nigerian government committed to building a dam along the course of the Benue River, ostensibly to contain the gushing water released upstream from Lagdo Dam and curb flooding and attendant destruction of property and loss of lives.
In 1981, a shock-absorber dam was designed. Tagged the “Dasin Hausa Dam,” the multi-purpose facility was, besides cushioning the effect of the Lagdo Dam flooding, supposed to generate some 300mw of electricity and irrigate about 150,000 hectares of land (and provide crop tonnage of 790,000 tons in Adamawa, Taraba and Benue states). Similarly, it was meant to provide employment opportunities for 40,000 families and make available navigational route of the Benue River to the Niger Delta.
The project site is the Dasin Village of Fufore Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
Cameroonian authorities insist that they will continue to release excess water to avoid the dam’s collapse. According to a source, since the release of excess water from Cameroon cannot be stopped, construction of the Dasin Hausa Dam remains the best option.
But the construction of the dam is yet to be embarked upon.
However, the authorities have commenced work on the Kashimbilla/Gamovo Multipurpose Dam project in Taraba State, which will serve as a buffer upon the event of an earthquake and the collapse of the Lake Nyo’s wall.
The dam can generate 40mw of electricity with the capacity for expansion to 60mw. It is located between Kashimbilla and Gamovo on River Katsina-Ala in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State.
Upon completion, the dam is expected to measure 35m in height, 1,585m in length and 150m width with reservoir capacity of 500mcm, irrigate an area of 2000ha and treat 60,000m3 of water to supply 400,000 people.
Government officials have variously expressed satisfaction at the progress of work on the project.
Contract for the construction of the dam and associated structures was awarded to Messrs Setraco Construction Company (SCC) Nigeria Limited in 2007 with a revised contract price of N60.63 billion for the multipurpose development of flood control, water supply, hydropower supply, irrigation, tourism and fishery potentials.
The dam, which is said to be 40 per cent completed, has an expected completion date of April 2014.
It is imperative for the Federal Government to build the Dasin Hausa Dam to cushion the effect of water released by Lagdo Dam. The original design and feasibility study that was done in 1982 will to a large extent be outdated and should be improved upon.
The authorities should likewise ensure that funds are released as scheduled to ensure speedy completion of the Kashimbilla/Gamovo Dam.
If Nigeria used modern off-grid lighting solutions, the country could save over $1.4 billion annually, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Nigeria is considered the largest potential off-grid lighting market in Africa.
The report adds that replacing all of the kerosene, candles and batteries used annually for off-grid lighting would save Nigeria the equivalent of 17.3 million barrels of crude oil.
In addition to saving money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, phasing out kerosene lamps and candles greatly reduces risks from burns, fires, and respiratory illnesses caused by indoor smoke.
Eliminating the need for flashlights powered by disposable batteries will also greatly reduce hazardous waste disposal in landfill and related environmental damage, noted the study.
Although solar LED systems have a higher initial cost than traditional fuel-based lamps, the payback period can be very short due to the high running costs of fuel-based lighting systems.
The UNEP assessments show that the payback period in most countries is less than a year, and sometimes just a matter of months, depending on the cost of the LED system and the local price of kerosene.
They are the first studies of their kind to analyse the magnitude of financial savings, health benefits, development and carbon emission reductions that a coordinated global transition to modern and sustainable off-grid lighting solutions can deliver.
Replacing the millions of kerosene lamps, candles and flashlights used worldwide with modern solar lighting can provide an increasingly low-cost solution to reducing carbon emissions, indoor air pollution and health risks, and boosting green jobs, UNEP stated.
UNEP also announced a new strategic partnership with the private sector to facilitate a market shift towards energy-efficient, off-grid lighting and to reduce the estimated 74 million tons of annual carbon emissions from fuel-based light sources commonly used in developing countries.
The collaboration with the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA) will see the launch of an international effort to accelerate the deployment of enabling policies towards sustainable off-grid lighting.
To underscore the new partnership, the UNEP-led en.lighten initiative has unveiled new national assessments for 80 countries on the economic and environmental gains that can be achieved through a shift to solar-powered alternatives.
The studies show that if Kenya, for example, replaced all fuel-based lighting with solar-powered light emitting diode (LED) systems, the costs would be repaid in only seven months, due to major fuel savings.
Kenya currently spends around $900 million per year on off-grid lighting, and fuel-based light sources in the country are responsible for over 2.3 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per year.
“Replacing the world’s 670 million kerosene lamps with cleaner, safer solar-powered lighting represents a major opportunity to deliver across multiple fronts, from cuts in global carbon emissions, health risks from indoor air pollution, support for green technologies and the generation of green jobs,” said UN Under Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
“UNEP’s new partnership with GOGLA strengthens our ongoing work with some 50 developing countries and leading lighting companies to move away from incandescent and other inefficient light bulbs. Supporting both sustainable off-grid and on-grid lighting can bring about major financial savings in a short time, as well as additional educational, health and environmental benefits towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,” added Mr. Steiner.
“GOGLA is the industry advocate for promoting clean, quality off-grid lighting systems that benefit society and businesses in developing and emerging markets,” said Wolfgang Gregor, Secretary-General of the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA).
“We want to ensure that decision-makers and government officials are aware about the importance of modern off-grid lighting solutions and recognise the potential of this multi-billion-dollar market. This will lead to the implementation of policies that address product quality standards and environmental issues and create sustainable employment.”
Globally, over 1.3 billion people live without access to electric light. Some 25 billion litres of kerosene are used annually to fuel the world’s kerosene lamps, which costs end-users a total of up to $23 billion each year. This has an even higher price tag if government subsidies are taken into account.
New Initiative on Off-Grid Lighting in West Africa
UNEP is also launching a new programme in cooperation with the German government to work directly with West African countries to accelerate a transition to sustainable, off-grid lighting.
On average, 76 per cent of the population in West Africa lacks access to electricity and spends up to 20 per cent of the household budget on kerosene for lighting. Efficient off-grid lighting systems are available in the region and can deliver high performance, affordable and better quality lighting.
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) is providing support to UNEP to facilitate the development of a regional policy to enable the penetration of sustainable off-grid lighting solutions in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. GOGLA will contribute to this initiative by providing the industry insight necessary to assist with the development of policies and programmes.
The joint effort supports the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative and its goal of achieving universal access to modern energy services by 2030.
Key facts
Over 1.3 billion people worldwide live without access to electric light
There are approximately 900 million inefficient off-grid light points in use
Annual global expenditure on kerosene for lighting may be as high as $23 billion, for candles up to $7 billion and on batteries for flashlights up to US$2.5 billion
Consumers in Africa spend between $12 – 17 billion annually on fuel-based lighting
Consumers in Asia spend between $9 – 13 billion annually on fuel-based lighting
Solar lighting systems source energy from the sun so there is no running cost and no emissions when in use
Solar LED systems improve the quality of light and eliminate the health risks associated with fuel-based lighting such as burns, house-fires, carbon monoxide, volatile organics, black soot and other air quality problems
The widespread use of modern, off-grid lighting technologies delivers significant socio-economic, health and environmental benefits including: new income generation opportunities for small businesses; longer hours and better illumination for studying; improved safety by reducing the fire hazard associated with flammable fuels; and improved health from less indoor air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
The en.lighten initiative was established to accelerate efforts to reduce dangerous carbon emissions and the threat of global climate change around the world. The initiative has set a target date for the global phase-out of all inefficient lighting by the end of 2016.
It is a public-private partnership led by UNEP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in collaboration with Philips Lighting, OSRAM, and the National Lighting Test Centre of China.
It also partners with other organisations such as: the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) initiative on lighting; the World Bank/IFC’s Lighting Africa programme; and lites.asia to catalyse the global market to make a sustainable, permanent shift toward quality solar LED lighting systems.
The GOGLA was established to act as the industry advocate for the distribution of clean, quality lighting systems to replace fuel-based lighting. It is a neutral, independent, not-for-profit association created to promote lighting solutions that benefit society and business in developing counties.
Makoko community is a clustered community of mainly fishermen and artisans that live on the shores of the Lagos Lagoon.
Makoko
With population explosion in Lagos, Nigeria’s megacity of about 18 million people, the residents of the community have been faced with threats of forced eviction and demolition of their homes.
The recent eviction which took place in July 2012, according to the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, was to make the state attain her megacity status and beautify the waterways being defaced by scattered, irregular shanties along the Lagos Lagoon shoreline.
The ensuing scuffle resulted in the death of a community leader who was shot by a Police officer, leading to a peaceful protest by residents to the Governor’s Office at Alausa to kick against their eviction. The residents argued that they have come to live and know the area as home because their forefathers lived there for decades.
Fashola told them that those residing under high tension electric wires would leave so as to ensure their safety. He described the Lagos Lagoon as a natural drainage for excess floodwater and that the continuous indiscriminate expansion of shanties on the Lagoon was shrinking it.
He added that, for Lagos to attain the much-desired megacity status, her waterways have to be clean and free for water transportation, which is being negated by the construction of shanties at Makoko.
Makoko residents are forced to move due to urban development concerns, but the Okun-Alfa community in Lekki at the Eti-Osa Local Government Area have been left with no choice but to relocate their homes as the rampaging Atlantic Ocean continues to erode much of the land that the once-thriving settlement stood. Experts have attributed the scenario to climate change-induced.
Okun-Alfa community hosts one of Lagos’ popular fun spots known as Alpha Beach but, in recent years, the area has experienced sea level rise and shoreline erosion that have washed away about 10km of land, threatening the community’s sources of livelihood: fishing and tourism.
Shoreline erosion at Okun-Alfa
According to the oldest man in the community, the 100-year-old Alhaji Mudashiru Atewolara, who passed on recently, he built five houses in his life time but only one still stands as others have been washed away by the advancing sea.
The ocean has also washed away the only tarred road that links the settlement with neighbouring communities, uprooted electric poles and leaving about 5,000 people without electrical power supply, washed away the fence of the only health care centre in the area and thus threatening the facility and leading to its abandonment.
The once-lively Alpha Beach that used to attract fun seekers at weekends and public holidays is now a ghost town. Business activities in the area have been paralysed to below 20 percent of what hitherto existed.
The infamous July 2011 torrential rainfall in Lagos got the entire neighbourhood flooded, including the access road linking the community with the Lekki-Epe Expressway, which further deteriorated and ultimately became inaccessible to vehicular traffic.
The community’s Baale, Chief Atewolara Elegushi, lamented the pollution of the underground water, saying that highly-publicised visits to the neighbourhood by Fashola and President Goodluck Jonathan have yielded no fruit.
Climate-induced migration was one of the topics discussed during a side event at the United Nations Climate Change Conference that held late last year in Doha, Qatar. Climate-induced migration is attributable to flooding due to excessive rain, continuous sea level rise as experienced in the small island countries, shoreline erosion, drought, hurricane, and poor crop yield (which leads communities to migrate to greener pastures in search of viable land for agriculture). Other factors that can force residents to migrate include urban development, earthquake and landslide.
A recent report states that, by 2050, one in every 45 persons in the world would have been displaced due to sea level rise, with India, Bangladesh, China and Nigeria having the highest population of 37.2, 27, 22.3 and 9.2 million people respectively.
When people have to migrate due to imminent danger, the issue of losing their ancestral homes, culture and root is quite challenging due to the emotional and psychological trauma they experience. They are also vulnerable to abuse and violence by their new hosts.
Nigeria’s Environment Minister, Hadiza Mailafia, while addressing the African Group during the Doha summit, stated that two-thirds of states in Nigeria were flooded last year (2012), leaving many to abandon their homes and migrate to higher grounds and some accommodated in emergency relief camps, where there were cases of raping of some of the internally-displaced females. Similarly, limited supplies of basic needs made people to resort to the use of sex as weapon of survival.
Due to development of urban areas in Brazil, some people were forcefully evicted to give way for the construction of modern stadiums, in the build-up to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics Games to be hosted by the country.
Reports have it that about 170,000 people have been affected by this construction in Brazil, which has made some view the international games as a pain rather than a thing of joy and pride in hosting two of sports’ highly-rated events.
Since the earthquake in Haiti in 2009, more women have been sexually abused and exploited, said CNN 2012 Hero recipient Marla Villard-Appolon. This made her start a rescue mission to rebuild the confidence of the abused women through her programme that received international support by CNN.
The status of these migrants has brought about border migration, division of nation/states, which can cause fascism and xenophobic tendencies among their host, such as the case in Nepal, The Philippines and Vietnam. The migrants could also be exploited due to immigration and labour laws in their new country.
It will be wise for victims of climate- and urban development-induced migration to be considered and planned for because, with the increasing world population and growing effect of climate change, there would soon be a generation of classless/statusless citizens.
The rainfall, which started around 7.30 pm when most city dwellers were on their way home from work, caused heavy traffic as most of the roads were flooded and, in most cases, impassable for vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
