ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopian (PAMACC News) - African civil society organizations on climate change have been at the forefront in building momentum for vulnerable people on the continent and other developing economies to access climate justice.
The voices were high and loud going into the UN Conference of Parties (COP21) on Climate Change which produced the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015.
But these voices have gone down low after the talks.
Two years after Paris, most countries on the continent have slowed in climate action.
Sudanese scientist and climate activist, Dr. Shaddad Mauwa, has sat in meetings, shouted and held placards in demonstrations at the local, continental and global stages to clamour for climate justice.
He acknowledged that though African climate change actors – governments, parliamentarians, negotiators, civil society – are doing better than before, there seems to be a wall that has become difficult to break.
“There are many issues still not going in the line of what Africa will like to see,” he said.
For him, these issues include the commitment of developed economies to heed to the Paris Agreement in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lack of access to climate funds by developing countries and poor implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to be climate-resilient.
Pushing the African Climate Agenda
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) has for almost a decade served as the largest advocacy platform for CSOs in Africa.
The activities of the Alliance resonates with the global call for action against climate change proclaimed by the United Nations, with a singular clarion call that no single individual, institution, country or region can single-handedly defeat the threats posed by the changing climate and the quest for achieving a sustainable development while leaving no one behind.
Secretary-General of the Organization, Mithika Mwenda, however, says the major concern is how to make the Paris Climate Agreement relevant to the vulnerable farmer who needs to irrigate his farm all year round to produce food and the community that gets displaced by flood anytime it rains.
“Having the Agreement is one thing and getting it implemented is another thing,” he said. “One of the things we’ve been trying to do is to push the governments to focus more on implementation because now we have a framework which is supposed to go on the ground”.
It is a shared opinion that Africa is not deficit in policy formulation. But getting the thoughts off paper to achieve set goals on the ground becomes problematic. Lack of finance for implementation is often cited as hindrance.
PACJA has been pushing the international community to provide sufficient funds for the implementation of provisions in the Paris Agreement, which includes each country’s NDCs, to ensure integration of climate change into the new paradigms of low-carbon development and climate resilience pathways.
“We are very optimistic, though it is not an easy thing to do. Africans and the global community have no choice; we have to act on climate change. We have frameworks in countries that if we build on, we can have very transformative economies,” said Mithika.
Building a stronger CSO Alliance
The adoption of the Paris Agreement left many stakeholders and countries unable to shift from the negotiation mode to implementation, including many civil society groups.
PACJA envisions a global environment free from the threat of climate change with sustainable development, equity and justice for all.
The Alliance acknowledges there is still more ground to cover around low-carbon, climate-resilient, green economy discourses.
At its Second Extra-Ordinary General Assembly meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on January 23, 2018, The Alliance elected the Continental Executive Board as the implementing organ of decisions and policies of the organization.
Newly elected Chairperson of the Board, John Bonds Bideri, says building capacities of local CSOs remains crucial to PACJA to support grassroots initiatives to deal with climate vagaries.
“The most important thing is that the vulnerable people should have that protection at the global, continental and community levels in terms of responding to issues or challenges that affect them,” he stated.
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NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has welcomed the British government’s plan to close - with some limited exemptions - its domestic ivory markets.
Ivory (whether raw or worked) continues to be traded legally within UK and the other European Union (EU) Member States, in auction houses, markets, shops and online – and that antique items can even be traded without permits or certificates.
Paul Gathitu, KWS spokesman said the existence of legal ivory markets and exports provide opportunities for laundering illegal ivory.
“The existence of these markets and exports also fuel demand for ivory within the UK and abroad and thus contribute to poaching,” Gathitu said.
He noted that KWS and Government welcome the plan by UK to close its ivory markets as this will obliterate any chances for opportunists, who may have in the past used the existing market in antique ivory as a cover for trade in illegal ivory.
The UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson at the end of last year said that his aim is to make 2018 the year of British leadership in defeating the ivory trade.
“Ivory poaching is an abhorrent crime and it is shocking that in the 21 century we are still witnessing the slaughter of tens of thousands of elephants every year for their tusks. It is mankind’s privilege to share the planet with these wonderful creatures but their treatment is heartbreaking,” Johnson said.
He added, “We are committed to tackling this problem and are playing a key role in building global consensus to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade. Our plans to ban the sale of all ivory products in the UK will remove opportunities for criminals to trade illegally-poached ivory, helping to protect this majestic and endangered species.”
Speaking last week, UK’s Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the decline in the elephant population fuelled by poaching for ivory shames the current generation.
“The need for radical and robust action to protect one of the world’s most iconic and treasured species is beyond dispute. Ivory should never be seen as a commodity for financial gain or a status symbol – so we want to ban its sale. These plans will put the UK front and centre of global efforts to end the insidious trade in ivory,” Gove said.
Effective January 1, 2018, China banned the mainland domestic sale of elephant ivory and related products, a significant move toward slowing the annual slaughter of the largest land animals on Earth. The UK’s plan to follow suit could not have come at a better time.
Consequently, Gathitu noted that KWS and Kenya recognizes this bold step as important in the war against elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade, pulling especially the African elephant further away from the precipice of extinction.
“The significance of support from such an influential quarter can be measured in the multiple effects seen in the results on the ground. An example is the global effort focusing on elephant conservation between 2014 to date, targeting ivory source countries, transit and consumer countries, which has led to remarkable reduction in elephant poaching in the source countries and ivory demand in the consumer countries,” he said.
Gathitu also pointed out that the measures agreed to by States on implementation of National Ivory Action Plan process under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to combat elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade are yielding positive results.
“KWS and Kenya stand ready to partner closely with the British government, as well as other conservation partners, in all further endeavours to fight elephant poaching , ivory trade and wildlife crime,” Gathitu said.
The most recent census results for elephants and other large land mammals were released by Prof. Judi Wakhungu, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources at a press conference held at KWS headquarters on December 22, last year.
The results covered census conducted in 2016 and 2017 in five key ecosystems which are elephant distribution areas and revealed thriving elephant populations and decreased poaching trends.
The censuses; aerial total survey of elephants, buffaloes and giraffe in the Laikipia-Samburu-Meru-Marsabit ecosystem in November 2017 showed a 12 per cent increase over the past five years.
A total of 7,347 elephants were counted compared to 6,454 elephants counted in 2012, which translated to an annual increase of 2.4 per cent over the period.
In February last year, Gathitu said the dry-season aerial census for the Tsavo-Mkomazi was conducted.
"The triennial cross-border survey covered Tsavo East, Tsavo West and, Chyulu National Parks as well as South Kitui National Reserve in Kenya and Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania,. The census showed a growth of 14.7 per cent in the elephant population over the last three years," he said.
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has welcomed the British government’s plan to close - with some limited exemptions - its domestic ivory markets.
Ivory (whether raw or worked) continues to be traded legally within UK and the other European Union (EU) Member States, in auction houses, markets, shops and online – and that antique items can even be traded without permits or certificates.
Paul Gathitu, KWS spokesman said the existence of legal ivory markets and exports provide opportunities for laundering illegal ivory.
“The existence of these markets and exports also fuel demand for ivory within the UK and abroad and thus contribute to poaching,” Gathitu said.
He noted that KWS and Government welcome the plan by UK to close its ivory markets as this will obliterate any chances for opportunists, who may have in the past used the existing market in antique ivory as a cover for trade in illegal ivory.
The UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson at the end of last year said that his aim is to make 2018 the year of British leadership in defeating the ivory trade.
“Ivory poaching is an abhorrent crime and it is shocking that in the 21 century we are still witnessing the slaughter of tens of thousands of elephants every year for their tusks. It is mankind’s privilege to share the planet with these wonderful creatures but their treatment is heartbreaking,” Johnson said.
He added, “We are committed to tackling this problem and are playing a key role in building global consensus to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade. Our plans to ban the sale of all ivory products in the UK will remove opportunities for criminals to trade illegally-poached ivory, helping to protect this majestic and endangered species.”
Speaking last week, UK’s Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the decline in the elephant population fuelled by poaching for ivory shames the current generation.
“The need for radical and robust action to protect one of the world’s most iconic and treasured species is beyond dispute. Ivory should never be seen as a commodity for financial gain or a status symbol – so we want to ban its sale. These plans will put the UK front and centre of global efforts to end the insidious trade in ivory,” Gove said.
Effective January 1, 2018, China banned the mainland domestic sale of elephant ivory and related products, a significant move toward slowing the annual slaughter of the largest land animals on Earth. The UK’s plan to follow suit could not have come at a better time.
Consequently, Gathitu noted that KWS and Kenya recognizes this bold step as important in the war against elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade, pulling especially the African elephant further away from the precipice of extinction.
“The significance of support from such an influential quarter can be measured in the multiple effects seen in the results on the ground. An example is the global effort focusing on elephant conservation between 2014 to date, targeting ivory source countries, transit and consumer countries, which has led to remarkable reduction in elephant poaching in the source countries and ivory demand in the consumer countries,” he said.
Gathitu also pointed out that the measures agreed to by States on implementation of National Ivory Action Plan process under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to combat elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade are yielding positive results.
“KWS and Kenya stand ready to partner closely with the British government, as well as other conservation partners, in all further endeavours to fight elephant poaching , ivory trade and wildlife crime,” Gathitu said.
The most recent census results for elephants and other large land mammals were released by Prof. Judi Wakhungu, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources at a press conference held at KWS headquarters on December 22, last year.
The results covered census conducted in 2016 and 2017 in five key ecosystems which are elephant distribution areas and revealed thriving elephant populations and decreased poaching trends.
The censuses; aerial total survey of elephants, buffaloes and giraffe in the Laikipia-Samburu-Meru-Marsabit ecosystem in November 2017 showed a 12 per cent increase over the past five years.
A total of 7,347 elephants were counted compared to 6,454 elephants counted in 2012, which translated to an annual increase of 2.4 per cent over the period.
In February last year, Gathitu said the dry-season aerial census for the Tsavo-Mkomazi was conducted.
"The triennial cross-border survey covered Tsavo East, Tsavo West and, Chyulu National Parks as well as South Kitui National Reserve in Kenya and Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania,. The census showed a growth of 14.7 per cent in the elephant population over the last three years," he said.
