NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on African leaders to work in unity to be able to combat effects of climate change.
Saying that climate change is a matter of life and death for Africa and the continent has experienced devastating and unprecedented impacts of climate change on its peoples' lives and livelihoods and national economies.
“Given that our shared ecosystems and natural resources know no boundaries, it is essential that we continue to speak in one voice to safeguard the basis of our development and seek transformative solutions,” Uhuru said last week.
In a speech read on his behalf by Environment Cabinet Secretary KeriakoTobiko, Uhuru said Africa is the most vulnerable continent despite contributing only about four per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Tobikoread the speech when he represented the President to launch the three-day 7th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-VII) in a Nairobi hotel.
The conference is convened by Government, in collaboration with Climate Development (CLIMDEV) Africa Partners, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and Think Renewables from Canada.
However, the President said climate change threats present opportunities for innovative and green investments for Africa.
“This is why implementation of the Paris Agreement remains a priority for the continent in order to adapt to the inevitability of climate variability and change,” Uhuru said
He said that achieving the goals of the Agreement require committed leadership from state and non-state actors.
“The theme of this year’s forum, “Policies and actions for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement for resilient economies in Africa”, reflects our collective engagement and commitment to strengthen climate change actions in the context of Africa’s development priorities,” Uhuru said.
He called on Africa to use the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Global Warming of 1.50C special report and its impacts in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty released this week.
The President said 2018 is a critical year for the operationalization of the Paris Agreement. The nature and extent of parties’ obligations will only be clear once negotiations on the Paris Rule Book are complete, and hopefully adopted in COP 24, in Katowice, Poland in December 2018,” Uhuru said.
He noted that for Africa to address effects of climate change, it needs adequate and predictable resources be mobilised and made available to support adaptation and mitigation action in Africa and other developing world.
Kenya has put in place an enabling policy and legal environment for climate change implementation and has a greenhouse gasemission reduction target of 30 per cent by 2030.
“Our National Climate Action Plan (2018-2022) identifies disaster risk management, food and nutrition security, water and the blue economy, forestry, wildlife and tourism, health, sanitation and human settlements to help us tackle climate change,” Uhuru said.
The President as part of tapping into the opportunities in biodiversity, Kenya will hosting the first Sustainable Blue Economy Conference next month to promote sustainable investments in oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers.
“I invite you all to attend and actively participate in the Conference so as to raise the African voice in matters of Blue Economy and Ocean governance,” Uhuru said.
Tobiko stressed the need to include indigenous knowledge, marginalized and indigenous communities, private sector, the youth and women.
“Scientists need to work closely with indigenous people to learn from them on how to address climate change. The communities have solutions to the problems we are facing now. Let us not spend more time in boardrooms,” Tobiko said.
Vihiga Governor Dr Wilbur Otichillo who represented the Council of Governors (CoG) stressed the need for working together to achieve climate change goals.
“The national government has built capacities of counties. Counties now should have their own county determined contributions to address climate change since this is a devolved function,” Otichillo said.
Dr James Murombedzi, head of Africa Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) said climate change is happening at a rate much faster than previously estimated.
“Global warming is outstripping all our efforts to resolve it.The impacts of global warming are also already much greater than predicted, particularly in developing countriesLimiting global warming to 1.5 degrees will cost $2.4 trillion of investments in the global energy system every year between 2016 – 2035. The cost of not doing anything will be much, much higher,” Murombedzi said.
MithikaMwenda, the secretary general of PACJA said political leaders hold the key for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.
“Our leaders should remain focused and resist attempts to scatter the unified African voice to deny us a strong bargain of the Paris rulebook which will define whether the agreement will follow the previous efforts which have remained in the shelves of government offices without implementation,” Mwenda said.
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation and the World Bank are working towards an agricultural observatory platform that will enable institutions access high resolution agro-meteorological data.
The partnership is to support Kenya Climate Resilient Agriculture (KCSAP) project under the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation to pilot the Agricultural Observatory Platform for the sector for one year.
The data that will be received from satellites will help policy makers and farmers optimize on data that supports agro weather, market, climate and advisory markets.
Speaking during the launch of the pilot Agricultural Observatory Platform, KALRO Director General Dr. Eliud Kireger said the biggest challenge in agriculture performance has been lack of accurate, timely and reliable weather.
“This data will be able to give accurate information as it will observe information such as temperature, weather and rainfall that will be availed to scientists to make sense of it and in turn provide digital meteorological information using modern ICT tools,” he said.
Kireger added that depending on the focus given through the platform, information collected will also be availed to policy makers and farmers to make timely and informed decisions.
For the farmers, the DG said they will be able get information on how to prepare early depending on indication of the weather such as early rainfall, poor rainfall or even lack of and thus plan.
He said that the policy makers and through the observatory platform will now be able to advise farmers through the Agricultural extension systems on even the variety of maize they need to plant depending on the area data.
Kireger noted that the two-year Agricultural Observatory Platform will be able to aggregate field and farm level data into able information that provides insight in addressing the challenge of where it rained, where crops failed and how many people were impacted.
The Lead Agriculture Economist from the World Bank, Ladisy Komba Chengula said that the system will be up and running by end of the month.
He explained that with only 23 meteorological sites that are providing agro weather data and mostly concentrated in Central and rift valley the current observatory platform will be providing data on rains, temperature, wind and speed in an area of 9 by 9 kms square.
“This access is high resolution, reliable and it means we will be having 7,200 agro weather stations that will be giving data,” he said.
Chengula explained that the current 23 Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) owns the ground stations that compliments the data gotten from the satellite and will cost yearly subscription of USD 50,000 which is a subsidy considering one MET stations would cost USD10, 000.
“The biggest climate risk Kenya has is drought which alternates with floods even with good rains, this platform will see scientism be able to predict when floods will happen and in which area,” he said.
Agronomists says two weeks delay of rains means that 40 percent reduction of yields will occur but with this system one can be able to postpone in order not to incur losses and this is the kind of scientific message that is pertinent for any production decisions that farmers or policy makers can make,” he said.
The system will operate through all the 47 counties, as well as the East African Region and this system is not only for local monitoring but traders can be able to look at what is happening in other areas.
The observatory platform is the first of its kind in Africa and being implemented in Kenya and Ethiopia before being replicated in other countries in Africa upon the success.
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation and the World Bank are working towards an agricultural observatory platform that will enable institutions access high resolution agro-meteorological data.
The partnership is to support Kenya Climate Resilient Agriculture (KCSAP) project under the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation to pilot the Agricultural Observatory Platform for the sector for one year.
The data that will be received from satellites will help policy makers and farmers optimize on data that supports agro weather, market, climate and advisory markets.
Speaking during the launch of the pilot Agricultural Observatory Platform, KALRO Director General Dr. Eliud Kireger said the biggest challenge in agriculture performance has been lack of accurate, timely and reliable weather.
“This data will be able to give accurate information as it will observe information such as temperature, weather and rainfall that will be availed to scientists to make sense of it and in turn provide digital meteorological information using modern ICT tools,” he said.
Kireger added that depending on the focus given through the platform, information collected will also be availed to policy makers and farmers to make timely and informed decisions.
For the farmers, the DG said they will be able get information on how to prepare early depending on indication of the weather such as early rainfall, poor rainfall or even lack of and thus plan.
He said that the policy makers and through the observatory platform will now be able to advise farmers through the Agricultural extension systems on even the variety of maize they need to plant depending on the area data.
Kireger noted that the two-year Agricultural Observatory Platform will be able to aggregate field and farm level data into able information that provides insight in addressing the challenge of where it rained, where crops failed and how many people were impacted.
The Lead Agriculture Economist from the World Bank, Ladisy Komba Chengula said that the system will be up and running by end of the month.
He explained that with only 23 meteorological sites that are providing agro weather data and mostly concentrated in Central and rift valley the current observatory platform will be providing data on rains, temperature, wind and speed in an area of 9 by 9 kms square.
“This access is high resolution, reliable and it means we will be having 7,200 agro weather stations that will be giving data,” he said.
Chengula explained that the current 23 Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) owns the ground stations that compliments the data gotten from the satellite and will cost yearly subscription of USD 50,000 which is a subsidy considering one MET stations would cost USD10, 000.
“The biggest climate risk Kenya has is drought which alternates with floods even with good rains, this platform will see scientism be able to predict when floods will happen and in which area,” he said.
Agronomists says two weeks delay of rains means that 40 percent reduction of yields will occur but with this system one can be able to postpone in order not to incur losses and this is the kind of scientific message that is pertinent for any production decisions that farmers or policy makers can make,” he said.
The system will operate through all the 47 counties, as well as the East African Region and this system is not only for local monitoring but traders can be able to look at what is happening in other areas.
The observatory platform is the first of its kind in Africa and being implemented in Kenya and Ethiopia before being replicated in other countries in Africa upon the success.
LAGOS, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - Mariam Shuaibu, is one of the 845 victims of insurgency residing at the Gongola Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp, in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.
Mariam, like other peers suffering the same fate, finds succor in this camp, after activities of insurgency in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, made them flee their homes in 2015, being ravaged by terrorists.
At a visit to the temporary make-shift community along airport road, one could see the untold hardship glaring, with look of despondency, not knowing where the next meal or succor would come from.
Narrating her ordeal was a tale of dashed hopes of resettlement and rehabilitation of their home in Madagali Local Government Area in Adamawa, North-east Nigeria.
According to her, several attempts at relocation to their base met a brick wall, following continuous insurgent attacks.
Mariam noted that the camp which had become home to her family and other settlers, was being neglected by the government of the day, noting that these was evident without access to potable water and sanitation facilities.
``We don’t have any good source of water here, all we use is the stream that is a kilometer away, there were two occasions when two women going to fetch water were bitten by snakes.
``This is not the first time that this has happened, we had to take them to the health center in Karamajiji Lepers village, a distant community to assess first aid care for them.
Mariam, a mother of four, also bemoaned the lack of toilet facilities at the make-shift community, saying they had to make use of surrounding bushes to defecate in the open.
Another settler, Hannatu Peter, worried about continued cases of occurrence of infection women suffer from lack of toilet, saying the cost of hospitalization was taking its toll on them.
``We go to the stream, we don’t have water here, even toilets, it is the use of bush, a woman was bitten by a snake while defecating in the bush, and another one was bitten when she went to pick firewood for cooking.
``We want them to help us, especially on this toilet and water issue, some women urinate anywhere and get infected, majority of us are having infections, to treat it in hospitals is expensive,” Peter said.
Curious to know the hygiene situation of the community, I had the opportunity to witness poor living conditions, with the smell of open defecation permeating the air.
Without been told, one would believe that open defection practice in that community was the reason why a large number of the children had bouts of cholera.
The camp Chairman, Mr Joseph Jauro, noted that there was the need for immediate interventions from the relevant stakeholders, saying this was necessary to forestall future occurrences.
He recounted numerous cases of diarrhea and cholera cases and deaths among under-five children, saying this was been linked to poor sources of drinking water.
Jauro narrated the difficulty in getting water, adding that water vendors usually came around to sell water for some persons in the community.
``The issue we have in this camp is malaria, cholera and snake bite, Because of the bushes around, there are times when they come into your room.
``We don’t have water and toilets here, some of us go to the bushes around to do their thing, there are times when we buy the water outside, one 20 litres of water is bought for 50 naira.
``Some water vendors called ‘mairuwa’, usually come to sell water for us, we buy from them at N20 naira per 20 litres jerry can.
``There are times when you do not have the money to buy the water, you end up going to the stream to fetch the water the way it is.
``We want government to help us, to alleviate our sufferings in this camp, how can we call ourselves Nigerians when we do not have the basic necessities of life’’, he added.
The chairman also called for the construction of a borehole, provision of electricity, health center and a school.
Highlighting the state of access to water and sanitation in Nigeria, an NGO, WaterAid, has called on tiers of government to develop cross-ministerial coordination for the implementation of water and sanitation policies and programmes.
According to the organization’s Communications and Media Manager, Oluwaseyi Abdumalik, only 13 per cent of Nigerians have access to basic hand washing facilities, with 157 million people lacking access to hand washing facilities.
She said promotion of hand washing with soap could reduce diarrheal disease by 48 per cent, calling on policy makers to prioritize nutrition-sensitive water, sanitation and hygiene interventions.
Earlier, an official of the National Task Group on Sanitation, Mrs Chizoma Opara, noted that Federal Government was working with some stakeholders to pass the hand washing messages round, with the provision of potable water.
She said the visit to the IDP camps was one of the activities to commemorate the 2018 Global Hand Washing Day.
With the theme, ``Clean Hands, a recipe for health’’.
She said hand washing is one of the avenues to break the cycle of transmission of diseases, saying that the group was carrying hygiene messages to eight IDP camps.
``We are aware of the large number of vulnerable persons in the camps, which is why we are carrying the hand washing messages to them.’’
Opara said in 2017, the group carried out hygiene messages to schools and public places, noting that children have been known to lead behavior change among their peers and family members.
