Cleaner fuel to reduce air pollution for more than quarter of a billion people

ABUJA, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - Five West African countries have agreed to ban importing Europe’s dirty fuels, a move that will dramatically reduce vehicle emissions and help more than 250 million people breath safer, cleaner air.

Together, the countries of Nigeria,Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire agreed on 1 December in Abuja, to introduce strict standards to ensure cleaner, low sulfur diesel fuels and vehicles emissions standards, effectively cutting off Europe’s West Africa market to export its dirty fuels.

A report by Public Eye in September this year exposed how European trading companies were exploiting the weak regulatory standards in West African countries, allowing for the export of fuels with sulfur levels up to 300 times higher than is permitted in Europe.

Erik Solheim, the head of UN Environment said: “West Africa is sending a strong message that it is no longer accepting dirty fuels from Europe. Their decision to set strict new standards for cleaner, safer fuels and advanced vehicle emission standards shows they are placing the health of their people first.
“Their move is an example for countries around the world to follow. Air pollution is killing millions of people every year and we need to ensure that all countries urgently introduce cleaner fuels and vehicles to help reduce the shocking statistics.”

Alongside the introduction of the new standards, the West African group has agreed to upgrade the operations of their national refineries, both public and privately owned, to produce fuels of the same standards by 2020.

UN Environment has been supporting countries in West Africa to develop policies and standards to stop the practice of importing fuel with dangerously high sulphur levels and introduce cleaner fuels and vehicles.Reducing the emissions of the global fleet is essential for reducing urban air pollution and climate emissions. A combination of low sulfur fuels with advanced vehicles standards can reduce harmful emissions of vehicles by as much as 90 per cent.

Nigeria’s Environment Minister Amina J Mohamed said: “For 20 years Nigeria has not been able to address the vehicle pollution crisis due to the poor fuels we have been importing. Today we are taking a huge leap forward – limiting sulphur in fuels from 3000 parts per million to 50 parts per million, this will result in major air quality benefits in our cities and will allow us to set modern vehicle standards.”

In The Hague today, Minister Amina J Mohamed will join Minister Lilianne Ploumen, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, to take stock of the progress that is being made in improving the quality of fuels being exported from Dutch ports to West Africa.

Minister Ploumen of The Netherlands, where much of the dirty fuels that are being imported to West Africa come from, said: “The recent report from the NGO Public Eye made abundantly clear that coordinated action is needed to stop the practice of exporting dirty fuels to West Africa. I am very pleased West African governments quickly decided to introduce standards that will help accessing European standard quality fuels. Their people deserve cleaner air, better health and a cleaner environment. I commend UN Environment for their excellent work.”

UN Environment is hosting the Secretariat of the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV); a global public-private partnership that supports a shift to cleaner fuels and vehicles world-wide.

When the Partnership started its work on promoting low sulfur fuels in 2005, not a single low- and middle-income country used low sulfur fuels. Today,23 countries have shifted to low sulfur fuels and another 40 are on their way. Last year, East African countries moved to low sulfur fuels and the decision by West African countries to follow suit will add a further five to the total number of countries that have achieved low sulfur fuels.

UN Environment is also hosting the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, whose members recently adopted a global strategy for moving the world to clean low sulfur fuels and advanced emissions standards, which would save an estimated 100,000 premature deaths per year by 2030.

Abidjan (PAMACC News) - After almost one year of dry spell in Kenya’s Makueni County, rains have finally come down. Now, everything looks green, very green.  But residents know, for sure, that this is a very short-lived spectacle, because two days after the downpour subsides, all seasonal rivers will dry up, and in two months, the sun will be burning with vengeance, upon perched thirsty sandy soils.

That’s why they have invested in sand-dams, as their magic bullet for harvesting the rain water, and using it for another set of months after every rainy season.

The dam is simply a reinforced concrete wall built across a seasonal riverbed. When it rains, the concrete wall gathers sand, which becomes a reservoir for water.

As residents in the entire semi arid Eastern Kenya rush to propagate their seeds following the pounding rainfall, women in Songeni village are completely relaxed. One thing they are sure of is that their sand-dam constructed across Tawa River has already captured millions of litres of water, which the entire village will use for domestic purposes and irrigation for the next one year – if it doesn’t rain again.

“It is the most appropriate way of harvesting water from seasonal rivers in dryland areas,” Simon Middrell, the founder of Excellent Development, a nonprofit organisation that supports rural, dryland communities to work their way out of poverty told delegates at the 2016 Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) forum in Abidjan.

Since February, when it last rained in Makueni, villagers of Songeni have been farming French beans for export, and other crops for domestic consumption using water from their sand-dam.

And now, Middrell, whose organisation supported the construction of the sand-dam used by Songeni villagers through a local NGO known as Africa Sand Dam Foundation (ASDF) wants the ‘gospel’ of sand-dam construction in dryland areas spread all over the world, especially in developing countries.

However, said Middrell, it cannot be a copy and paste technique. “Sand-dams do not work everywhere. If the place has a lot of clay soil, then the dams are likely going to be silted, and as a result, they will not help the residents,” he warned.

It therefore calls for a feasibility study, so as to be sure that the dam will be able to amass sufficient sand, which acts as a cover for water underneath to protect it from evaporation. It also calls for appropriate technicians to construct it, because the intensity of rainfall in dryland areas is likely to break poorly constructed dams.

“The sand-dams have numerous advantages,” said Middrell. “They form the best bridges in dryland areas because culverts always break during floods. They recharge ground water, water from the dams is safe for drinking, can be used for domestic purposes and by animals both domestic and wild,” he added.

However, Middrell cautioned that without involvement of community members, sand-dam projects are bound to fail because they will lack ownership. “You need to involve the surrounding community, and have them own the project. That way, they will protect it as their property, hence, they will maintain it sustainably,” he told the water form.

So far, Excellent Development has supported construction of over 900 sand-dams in nine countries in Africa, supporting over one million households.

Abidjan (PAMACC News) - After almost one year of dry spell in Kenya’s Makueni County, rains have finally come down. Now, everything looks green, very green.  But residents know, for sure, that this is a very short-lived spectacle, because two days after the downpour subsides, all seasonal rivers will dry up, and in two months, the sun will be burning with vengeance, upon perched thirsty sandy soils.

That’s why they have invested in sand-dams, as their magic bullet for harvesting the rain water, and using it for another set of months after every rainy season.

The dam is simply a reinforced concrete wall built across a seasonal riverbed. When it rains, the concrete wall gathers sand, which becomes a reservoir for water.

As residents in the entire semi arid Eastern Kenya rush to propagate their seeds following the pounding rainfall, women in Songeni village are completely relaxed. One thing they are sure of is that their sand-dam constructed across Tawa River has already captured millions of litres of water, which the entire village will use for domestic purposes and irrigation for the next one year – if it doesn’t rain again.

“It is the most appropriate way of harvesting water from seasonal rivers in dryland areas,” Simon Middrell, the founder of Excellent Development, a nonprofit organisation that supports rural, dryland communities to work their way out of poverty told delegates at the 2016 Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) forum in Abidjan.

Since February, when it last rained in Makueni, villagers of Songeni have been farming French beans for export, and other crops for domestic consumption using water from their sand-dam.

And now, Middrell, whose organisation supported the construction of the sand-dam used by Songeni villagers through a local NGO known as Africa Sand Dam Foundation (ASDF) wants the ‘gospel’ of sand-dam construction in dryland areas spread all over the world, especially in developing countries.

However, said Middrell, it cannot be a copy and paste technique. “Sand-dams do not work everywhere. If the place has a lot of clay soil, then the dams are likely going to be silted, and as a result, they will not help the residents,” he warned.

It therefore calls for a feasibility study, so as to be sure that the dam will be able to amass sufficient sand, which acts as a cover for water underneath to protect it from evaporation. It also calls for appropriate technicians to construct it, because the intensity of rainfall in dryland areas is likely to break poorly constructed dams.

“The sand-dams have numerous advantages,” said Middrell. “They form the best bridges in dryland areas because culverts always break during floods. They recharge ground water, water from the dams is safe for drinking, can be used for domestic purposes and by animals both domestic and wild,” he added.

However, Middrell cautioned that without involvement of community members, sand-dam projects are bound to fail because they will lack ownership. “You need to involve the surrounding community, and have them own the project. That way, they will protect it as their property, hence, they will maintain it sustainably,” he told the water form.

So far, Excellent Development has supported construction of over 900 sand-dams in nine countries in Africa, supporting over one million households.

ABIDJAN (PAMACC News) - African governments will be forced to come up with rural based water and sanitation projects with clear infrastructure for management and maintenance, if they have to benefit from the African Development Dervelopment Bank’s kitty for rural water supply.

Speaking at the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) forum in Abidjan, Sering Jallow of the African Development Bank expressed concerns that many leaders in African countries usually prioritise projects that are politically beneficial, thus, ignoring important projects that would benefit people on the ground.

“Countries always come with proposals for urban water and sanitation projects because such projects are more visible, hence, politically rewarding,” he told the water and sanitation forum.

The bank runs a project known as Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI), which supports rural water and sanitation projects and programs with funding for investment operations, strengthening of sector processes and systems, as well as through advocacy and knowledge building.

According to the latest report, the Bank among other development partners disbursed a total of 35.5 million Euros through RWSSI to support water and sanitation projects in Uganda, Sudan, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leon by 2015.

However, the bank now insists on projects that can be sustained for a longer period.

“There is need for policies, but also, there is need for adequate capacity for implementation and management with involvement of rural communities and the private sector,” said Jallow.

He pointed out that poor management of water and water resources especially in rural areas often leads to fragility. And such fragilities, he said, are always an impediment to development. “There is clear evidence that countries that had conflicts did not achieve the millennium development goals,” he told the water and sanitation forum.

Alexander Bakalian, World Bank Sector Manager for Urban Development and Services in the Africa Region pointed out that there was need to professionalise water access services in rural communities.

He observed that many governments prefer investing in urban areas where there are many engineers, but are reluctant to take similar investments to rural areas fearing lack of expertise.

“We need to understand that poor people live in rural areas. So if we have to address poverty, we must focus on rural communities,” he said.

The RWSN forum brings together over 500 people from different sectors to share ideas, learn from each other’s experiences so as to make water available to all, at least by 2030.