PAMACC, Nairobi-KENYA: As the African clean mobility week drew to a close today, participants have identified electric mobility as a workable pathway to a more sustainable and cleaner transport system in Africa.This recommendation, alongside other strategies, was approved by delegates to the Africa clean mobility week which comprised representatives of government agencies responsible for transport, environment, energy and finance from 42 African countries; oil and vehicle industry; and donor agencies.Other delegates were drawn from the academia, civil society and the media.Taking cognisance of the rapid urbanisation fueled by technological growth as well as Africa’s increasing rate of motorization which is considered the highest in the world, electric mobility, delegates say, presents an opportunity for African countries to leapfrog to cleaner transport with regards to reduced carbon emissions, improved air quality and economic growth.African countries, according to the recommendations, are to explore the two low-hanging entry points into electric mobility. These low-hanging entry points revolve round deploying electric/hybrid buses and electric two/three wheelers for public transport.In view of the fact that only a handful of African countries have put in place policies and regulations on electric mobility, delegates urged African governments to develop fiscal and institutional policy interventions capable of creating a favourable environment for electric mobility uptake.These policies they underlined, must be integrated into the wider urban transport system planning with solutions for batteries, recycling and end of life programmes.However, they warn that Africa’s unique mobility challenges with electric solutions must be understood.The Africa clean mobility week therefore called for tailor-made products for African countries. These products according to the delegates, must incorporate electric motorcycles that can run long distance, and on high-load and rough roads.Local manufacturing capacities are to be strengthened while governments are to set aside resources for peer reviews, and consumer awareness campaigns on the benefits of electric mobility and its impact on everyday life including road safety.Other recommendations aimed at fast-tracking Africa’s switch to electric mobility include mainstreaming electric mobility policies into their nationally determined contributions as a way of supporting national and global climate change targets, and the constructive engagement of the private sector. UN Environment's Deputy Executive Director, Ibrahim Thiaw, sees green transportation as an imperative in order to boost sustainable development in Africa."Africa should leapfrog to clean mobility by domesticating best practices from elsewhere and investing in cleaner technologies like electric cars, two and three wheel machines," said Thiaw.Urias Goll, the Deputy Executive Director of Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said that Africa required home-grown initiatives to advance the green mobility agenda."There is need to support local industries to manufacture hybrid and electric vehicles tailor made for the local market," Goll said, adding that consumer awareness is key to boosting the adoption of non-motorized and cleaner transport models in Africa.

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Rural communities are the biggest losers in Africa’s war against poaching, scientists have revealed. In most of the countries where resources are being channeled to fight poaching, marginalized communities are getting zero benefits from the conservation revenue stream, according to the Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF). “When a lot of resources are being used to fight poaching, benefits to the communities and the economy go down or are no-existent,” says Philip Muruthi, the vice president, species conservation at AWF. As a professor in ecology, Muruthi, recommends that communities must be wholly involved in conservation, if Africa is to significantly reduce poaching and trafficking of wildlife trophy.Lack of cross border cooperation against poaching has also undermined Africa’s efforts to fight wildlife crime. For instance, he says, it has been proven that criminals are coordinating their operations from countries which are not friendly to Africa’s anti-poaching call, to raid neighboring countries’ wildlife. “Poaching and trafficking is like an amoeba,” says Muruthi. “You push it in one corner, it simply moves to another.” But the cloud should not obscure the silver lining, Muruthi told a gathering of conservation detectives and officers working at transit stations in Africa, in a Nairobi meeting. New technologies and innovations like the use of drones and sniffer dogs are giving the crackdown on wildlife crime a facelift. For instant, sniffer dogs are able to detect illegal wildlife products, track the scent of a poacher, and even lead the charge in areas where weapons are used heavily by criminals. “Dogs are incorruptible, accurate, efficient and are even feared by poachers and traffickers,” says Mark Kinyua, an expert in canine handling.About 35,000 elephants are poached every year in Africa, out of a population of 415,000. “At this rate, in 15 years Africa will have no elephants,” says Muruthi.

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - The UN has called for protection of journalists so that they are able to highlight environmental issues.“UN Environment is taking a stand against the ongoing threats, intimidation, harassment, and murder of environmental defenders around the world, with the launch of the UN Environmental Rights Initiative in Geneva ,” said Erik Solheim, Head of UNEP, which is headquartered in Kenya.Speaking in Nairobi, Solheim said journalists and other environment activists need protection because they help people to better understand their rights and how to defend them and assist governments to better safeguard environmental rights.“Those who struggle to protect planet and people should be celebrated as heroes, but the sad fact is that many are paying a heavy price with their safety and sometimes their lives. It’s our duty to stand on the side of those who are on the right side of history. It means standing for the most fundamental and universal of human rights,” Solheim said.He urged governments to prioritize the protection of environmental defenders from harassment and attack and to bring those who harm or threaten them to justice swiftly and definitively.‘Killings, violence and threats often go unreported and unpunished. More journalistic coverage and stronger legal support at the local and national level are essential to defend the defenders,” said Jonathan Watts, Global Environment Editor, The Guardian.Solheim said environmental rights are enshrined in over 100 constitutions and yet in January 2018 Global Witness documented that almost four environmental defenders are being killed per week, with the true total likely far higher.“Many more are harassed, intimidated and forced from their lands. Around 40 -50 percent of the 197 environmental defenders killed in 2017 came from indigenous and local communities,” he said.The UN noted that violations of environmental rights have a profound impact on life, self-determination, food, water, health, sanitation, housing, cultural, civil and political rights.This comes at a time when the Kenya Government has imposed a 90-day moratorium on timber harvesting in public forests.Deputy President William Ruto also unveiled a taskforce last week to investigate why Kenya is losing forest cover quickly due to illegal timber harvesting and settlements.The 15-member team led by chairperson Marion Kamau will investigate why the country has 500,000 acres in water catchment areas that have no trees.The taskforce will also look into existing legal frameworks, including the forest Act and others, to ensure punitive measures are put in place to address various environmental challenges facing the country.The team which has two weeks to deliver its interim report and a month to give its final report is set to collect views from the public, religious groups, civil societies, diplomats and other interested stakeholders.“I have told the taskforce that this is not a public relations exercise. In the past, we have had exercises that end up being photo opportunities. The taskforce has a very clear mandate,” Ruto said when he unveiled its members.The call for protecting journalists and environment activists also comes at a time when the Sengwer indigenous people in Embobut forest…

PAMACC News, Nairobi - KENYA With the global car fleet due to triple by 2050 and greenhouse gas emissions from transport growing faster than any other sector, West African states have set sights on 2050 to phase out dirty and inefficient fuel.Bernard Koffi of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) disclosed this today at the ongoing African clean mobility week taking in Nairobi, Kenya.West Africa is believed to be Africa’s sub-region with the least fuel efficiency and economy levels as 80% of the vehicles across the sub-region are used vehicles while 72% of the vehicles used in ECOWAS countries are imported.The challenges of attaining fuel efficiency and economy in West Africa, according to Koffi include absence of policies and strong fiscal measures against the importation of vehicles that are over the age limit; and high age limits for the importation of used vehicles. Age limit for the importation of used light duty vehicles (LDVs) in most West African states hover between 8-15 years.Other extant challenges include poor fuel quality, and road congestion leading to high carbon emissions.These challenges notwithstanding, ECOWAS is confident of achieving fuel efficiency and economy at least by 50% by the year 2050 through the implementation of its Air Quality Agreement signed by ECOWAS ministers in 2009, and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of all ECOWAS member states to the Paris agreement.Mr. Koffi believes that the sub-region can achieve the target even before the target year by harmonising carbon emission standards and fuel specification, promoting clean vehicles and fuel economy, and strengthening institutional and regulatory frameworks on fuel consumption and carbon emissions.“An example of these measures is the recent ban placed on the importation of dirty diesel by five West African countries” he said.It would be recalled that Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Togo in 2016 announced measures to end the practice of European oil firms and traders who export to Africa, highly polluting fuels (derogatorily dubbed “African quality”) that could never be sold in Europe.Effective 1st July 2017, the five West African states banned the importation of high-sulphur diesel fuels making the permitted levels of sulphur in imported diesel to fall from as high as 3,000 parts per million (ppm) to 50ppm. Meanwhile, Europe since 2009 fixed the maximum permitted level at 10ppm.Speaking at the African clean mobility week, Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) commended the ban by the west African states.“West Africa has sent a strong message that it is no longer accepting dirty fuels from Europe. Their decision to set strict standards for cleaner, safer fuels and advanced vehicle emission standards shows they are placing the health of their people first” Solheim said..