13 year old Joshua Ushie lives in Ikeja layout community, Beten, Bekwarra Local Government Area in Cross River State in Northern Nigeria.His community is one of those triggered and declared open defecation- free by Concern Universal, an NGO implementing agency of the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) Programme in Benue and Cross River states.Ushie and his friends have seen the benefit of not defecating in the bushes, rivers and other public places, they are aware of handwashing with water and soap or ash at critical times.As a curious reporter on a field visit to RUSHPIN Project sites, I tested their knowledge on such issues.I asked Ushie if I could use his parents' toilet, he responded in the affirmative, yes ma."We don't 'shit' in the open here, our community have been taught on why we should build our toilets, if you are caught doing it in public, there is a fine for that offense.""In this community, if anybody is caught defecating in the bush, the person will pay fine, crate of beer, goats etc, if the person refuses, he is arrested."Ushie said most of the children who previously died and fell sick often due to faecal-oral disease transmission were no longer experiencing such.Corroborating this fact, the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Coordinator, Bekwarra LGA, Mr Godwin Aghwanya, said the WASH Community Group raise money though a cooperative account to give loans to those who can't afford them to build toilets.He said this was also done to make the community members convert their toilets from pit latrines to pour-flush types, towards moving up the sanitation ladder.At a visit to Otuche community in Yala Local Government Area, there was an obvious stench of human faeces permeating the environment.Around the houses, we could see flies perching on freshly done faeces, creating an atmosphere of poor Hygiene and sanitation.The Village Head, Godwin Ogar, was educated on the importance of building and using toilets and also in stopping open defecation.Ogar said before the coming of RUSHPIN Project, his community members defecate only in the bush, saying he would take it upon himself to encourage them to construct and use toilets."I will tell my people to construct and use thier toilets, because most times, they fall ill, children die anyhow."Some of us have dig the toilets, but I will encourage everybody to build and use theirs."He pledged that within two months, the community would be declared open defecation free.Ogar said the community has appointed a four-man committee to inspect houses,saying they would also serve as watchdog towards sustaining total sanitation in the vicinity.He said there was a fine of 5, 000 naira for penalty for anyone found defecting in the open, saying this would also include the deliberate construction of tigers in such cases.Mrs Scholastical Beshel, Hygiene Officer, WASH, Yala LGA, one of those who triggered the community was optimistic that the community would change and be committed to hygiene promotion.She said some of them have decided to end open defecation in their area,…

LUSAKA, Zambia (PAMACC News) – Ahead of COP 22 in less than two months, Civil Society Organisations working on climate related activities in Zambia have been urged to intensify their sensitisation programmes on climate change. Speaking during the CSO Paris Agreement review meeting in Lusaka, Richard Lungu, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) country focal point in Zambia reminded delegates of their critical role in simplifying the Paris Climate Agreement to the masses. Lungu, who also announced the recent approval of the country’s climate change policy by cabinet, believes CSOs have a greater responsibility of educating the masses on the implications of the Paris Agreement in their lives. “Our economy is natural resource intensive,” he said, adding “it is incumbent upon us to make people understand the Paris Agreement provisions and what they mean for the implementation of our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).” The UNFCCC Zambia Focal Point, who is also the Chief Environmental Officer at the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, said government wants to see an active involvement of CSOs especially in the implementation of the climate change policy. “Now that we have an agreement in place, COP 22 and beyond is about implementation and requires support in form of ideas from all concerned stakeholders so that Zambia, and Africa in general, continues with its push for a successful implementation of the Paris Agreement,” emphasizedLungu, stressing that Africa remains a vulnerable region to climate change with limited capacity to cope without external support. Organised by Green Enviro Watch with support from Oxfam Zambia, the CSO meeting was called to deliberate on the linkages between the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of the country’s development agenda. Adopted in New York in September last year, SDGs have become a foundation on which governments are anchoring their sustainability actions. However public sensitization and awareness has been low, prompting the CSOs to brainstorm and chart the way forward. “Our goal is to carry everyone on board especially youth and rural populations who are ironically the most affected by policy decisions and/or omissions,” said Abel Musumali, Green Enviro Watch Executive Director. He said “while Africa continues to push certain demands collectively especially on finance and technology transfer, national circumstances as outlined in the NDC have become a key focus area in the implementation stage of the land mark climate agreement.” Meanwhile, French Ambassador to Zambia, Emmanuel Cohet implored the CSO representatives to work in partnership with one another not only to strengthen their proposals for support from development partners, but also complimenting each other’s capacities in terms of project implementation. Cohet assured that his government remains committed to aspirations of the global community as espoused in the Paris Agreement to which France played a key role to achieve. And in amplifying the role of partnerships, Oxfam Zambia Humanitarian Programme Manager, Teddy Kabunda said there is more to be gained when working in synergies. “We know that government is making a lot…

The week-long African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) ended on Friday with African Heads of State, private sector, donors and philanthropists pledging billions of dollars to help transform agriculture on the continent.The forum which began on Monday September 5 ended on September 9 with pledges of up to $30 billion (Ksh3 trillion) while presiding over a high level panel that Rwanda President Paul Kagame, former Nigeria and Tanzania presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Jakaya Kikwete and representatives of the public sector, promised to do all in their means to boost the agriculture sector in Africa. President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday led other stakeholders to pledge the money in investments to increase production, income and employment for smallholder farmers and local African agriculture businesses over the next ten years. The collective pledges at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) that ends today at the UN Complex in Gigiri, Nairobi, are believed to represent the largest package of financial commitments to the African agricultural sector to date, backed by the broadest coalitions ever assembled in support of food production on the continent, Uhuru who was joined by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and other speakers at the AGRF high level panel, laid out a bold vision for how agriculture transformation can be achieved in Kenya and across Africa. The President committed himself to deliver on both the political and policy agenda, announcing that his government will invest Sh20 billion (US $200 million) for 150,000 young farmers and young agriculture entrepreneurs can gain access to markets, finance, and insurance, Uhuru as chairman of the African Peer Review Mechanism called for a continental scorecard that will measure and track the commitments to agriculture transformation and ensure they translate into action and promised that agriculture will be part of the agenda of the institution he chairs. Other agriculture investors and development partners who announced new financial and policy commitments include the African Development Bank (AfDB), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group, OCP Africa, World Food Programme, Yara International ASA, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Gayle Smith, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), called for investors and donors to be bold and do their part to achieve "A Food-Secure 2030". The US government already has invested more than $6.6 billion in global food security and nutrition efforts through its Feed the Future initiative. This commitment is now locked in for the long-term following approval in July of the bipartisan Global Food Security Act legislation. Smith noted that the initiative "signals the US government's enduring commitment to global food security and nutrition and is the largest development authorisation the US Congress has made in a decade," Smith said. AfDB's President Dr Akiwumi Adesina pledged US $24 billion over the next ten years, representing a 400 percent increase over previous commitments, to help drive agricultural transformation in Africa. "A key pillar of AfDB work will be support for the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme,…

Air pollution has emerged as the fourth leading risk factor for premature deaths worldwide.The deaths from air pollution cost the global economy about US$225 billion in lost labor income in 2013, a new study finds, pointing toward the economic burden of air pollution, according to a World Bank report.The report titled The Cost of Air Pollution: Strengthening the economic case for action, released yesterday, is a joint study of the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), and seeks to estimate the costs of premature deaths related to air pollution, to strengthen the case for action and facilitate decision making in the context of scarce resources.An estimated 5.5 million lives were lost in 2013 to diseases associated with outdoor and household air pollution, causing human suffering and reducing economic development.While pollution-related deaths strike mainly young children and the elderly, premature deaths also result in lost labor income for working-age men and women.The report finds that annual labor income losses cost the equivalent of almost one per cent - 0.83 percent - of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in South Asia.In East Asia and the Pacific, where the population is ageing, labor income losses represent 0.25 per cent of GDP, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, where air pollution impairs the earning potential of younger populations, annual labor income losses represent the equivalent of 0.61 percent of GDP.When looking at fatalities across all age groups through the lens of "welfare losses", an approach commonly used to evaluate the costs and benefits of environmental regulations in a given country context, the aggregate cost of premature deaths was more than US$5 trillion worldwide in 2013.In East and South Asia, welfare losses related to air pollution were the equivalent of about 7.5 percent of GDP."Air pollution is a challenge that threatens basic human welfare, damages natural and physical capital, and constrains economic growth. We hope this study will translate the cost of premature deaths into an economic language that resonates with policy makers so that more resources will be devoted to improving air quality," said Laura Tuck, Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank.She added, "By supporting healthier cities and investments in cleaner sources of energy, we can reduce dangerous emissions, slow climate change, and most importantly save lives."