The need for action on the implementation the Sustainable Development Goals as well as tracking progress on water-related SDGs is one of the main talking points at the 2016 World Water Week that is ongoing in Stockholm, Sweden. “It is time to turn commitment into action.” With these words, the Swedish minister for foreign affairs, Margot Wallstrom, reaffirmed the sense of determination that characterized the opening plenary. According to her, the significance of water issues stretches far beyond being just question about water but also about the potential benefits for women and girls, in terms of health aspects as well as freeing up time for school work and employment. “I would very much like to see more men in developing countries take part in fetching water as that will start changing things and speed up development” Wallström added. In his premiere address at the global water event, Engr Gerson Lwenge, Tanzanian minister for water resources and irrigation and President of the African Minster’s Council on Water (AMCOW) drew parallels between the theme of this year’s World Water Week, “Water for sustainable growth” and the outcome of the recently concluded 6th Africa Water Week which firmly established Africa’s roadmap to achieving the SDG-8 as well as other interlinking SDGs connected with water resources management and improved sanitation delivery. “Our commitment to achieving an Africa where there is equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for poverty alleviation and socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment remains unwavering and that is why we have established a Pan African monitoring and reporting system capable of informing policy and tracking progress on the SDGs in Africa,” Engr Lwenge said. The AMCOW president who led a delegation of African water ministers to Stockholm declared that “Africa is already linking the monitoring and reporting processes from member-states to sub-regional, continental and even global levels to reduce the burden and duplication of monitoring efforts at various levels by making information generation, assessment and dissemination easy for all stakeholders in the continent.” The Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and organisers of the World Water Week, Torgny Holmgren, noted that 2015 was a year of several global decisions and agreements that will guide development efforts for decades to come. “With a Sustainable Development Goal dedicated to water and sanitation, several other goals, which depend on reliable access to water to be achieved and also the Paris climate agreement, water will not only be an integral part of both mitigation and adaptation efforts but will continue to determine the parameters for inclusive, sustainable growth, full and productive employment,” Holmgren says. Holmgren believes that this year is when efforts to put words into action start as all initiatives, large and small, from all actors, will need to be considered. “We must be open to unconventional alliances. We can only reach the goals we set for ourselves if we are serious about collaboration, about doing it together and breaking new ground. This is what I hope…

Ouverture ce matin au Centre Togolais des Expositions et Foires de Lomé (CETEF) au Togo de la première édition du Salon International des Savoirs Traditionnels et Bioéconomiques en abrégé SISTRA-BIOECO. SISTRA-BIOECO se veut un cadre d’inspirations, et de transfert de connaissances écologiques, technologiques, socioculturelles et sanitaires pour l’innovation et la réinvention du modèle de croissance économique et industriel. Cette première édition est placée sous le thème « Innovation et Promotion du modèle de croissance bioéconomique », ce salon est initié par le Centre Omnithérapeutique Africain (COA). Il a pour entre autres objectifs de contribuer à la vulgarisation et à la valorisation des savoirs traditionnels bioéconomiques et des innovations compatibles à la sauvegarde de la planète, offrir une opportunité d’affaire dans le domaine bioéconomique et technologique, élargir et renforcer les relations d’ affaire entre les différents exposants nationaux et internationaux. Le ministre Togolais de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, Octave Nicoué Broohm en ouvrant les travaux ce matin, a martelé : »chacun individu sur notre planète doit contribuer à la sauvegarde de notre patrimoine commune de manière responsable « Les participants sont venus d’Allemagne ,d’Amérique ,de la France ,du Niger ,du Ghana ,du Bénin, du Burkina Faso ,du Sénégal et du Togo ainsi que les institutions de formations et de recherches, les sociétés de productions et de transformations, les institutions économiques, politiques et financières, les organismes ou associations de protection de l’environnement, de la culture, des acteurs de la santé, des chercheurs ,inventeurs ,des entrepreneurs ,des industriels. Au total 256 exposants et plusieurs conférences, ateliers et projections seront également animés par d’éminents chercheurs au cours de cette période. Des rencontres d’affaires, des soirées culturelles, des jeux concours meubleront aussi le salon dont l’apothéose est fixée au 31 Août 2016 à Lomé au Togo.Le Centre Omnithérapeutique Africain (COA) est un établissement d´enseignement supérieur à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel, fondé sur la collaboration et l´interdisciplinarité entre chercheurs universitaires, médecins, pharmaciens, agronomes, religieux, juristes, des acteurs de la santé et de l´écologie. 

African civil society organisations at the World Social Forum in Montreal have called on human beings all over the world to make sacrifices so as to contain the worsening climatic conditions.This comes just after two separate reports indicated that global temperatures for the first six months of 2016 were the highest ever. “To achieve the goal of keeping the global temperature rise to well below 20C and pursuing efforts to keeping it below 1.50C as enshrined in the Paris Agreement and to further achieve the objective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it will require a lot of sacrifices in the way we live” says Samson Samuel Ogallah of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.According to Ogallah, the sacrifice will require switching from the current unsustainable production and consumption lifestyle especially by the industrialised countries. “Business as usual scenario will lead the world to a 30C and above by 2030, thereby eroding any gain that may have been made from the implementation of SDGs,” he said.According to the two studies by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS) both released in July 2016, the arctic sea ice melted early and fast, which is a clear indicator of climate change. They also indicated that carbon dioxide levels, which are driving global warming, have reached new highs.It is reported that the Month of June 2016 marked the 14th consecutive month of record heat for land and oceans. It marked the 378th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average. The last month with temperatures below the 20th century average was December 1984."Another month, another record. And another. And another. Decades-long trends of climate change are reaching new climaxes, fuelled by the strong 2015/2016 El Niño," said Petteri Taalas, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Secretary-General, in a statement released alongside one of the reports.Taalas further observed that the El Niño event, which turned up the Earth's thermostat, has now disappeared, but climate change, caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gases, will not. “This means we face more heatwaves, more extreme rainfall and potential for higher impact tropical cyclones," he added.United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited leaders to a special event on 21 September to deposit their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Paris Agreement on climate change. It will also provide an opportunity to other countries to publicly commit to the agreement before the end of 2016. In that regard, Mithika Mwenda, the Secretary General of PACJA called for global solidarity among civil society organisations to ensure that they hold governments accountable to their commitments in the SDGs and the Paris Agreement.TemperaturesThe average temperature in the first six months of 2016 was 1.3°C (2.4°F) warmer than the pre-industrial era in the late 19th century, according to NASA.NOAA said the global land and ocean average temperature for January–June was 1.05°C (1.89°F) above the 20th century average, beating the previous record set in 2015 by 0.20°C (0.36°F).Each month was record warm. Most of…

The opening of the Olympic Games in Rio this year witnessed a dramatic twist that brought fresh impetus to its drive to chase impossible dreams and stretching the limits of human ambition. Beneath the glitz and glamour that characterize the Rio Carnival-like atmosphere, this year ceremony showcased the most impossible sounding dream of all – Africa’s Great Green Wall. A Press Release of August 5th,2016, from United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification , UNCCD says in a Film on Africa’s Great Green Wall featured prominently as one of the highlights of the opening with Fernando Meirelles’ documentary on global reforestation efforts. The film in the Great Green Wall struck a chord as a generation-defining initiative aiming to grow an 8000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa, against all odds. “The film show efforts to restore vast swathes of degraded land in a region called the Sahel and in the process provide food, jobs and a reason to stay for the millions of people living on the frontline of climate change that may be forced to migrate,” the report stated. Once complete, the Wall will be three times the length of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. More importantly, it is expected to promote peace and strengthen resilience in a region long devastated by drought, war and famine. The Sahel region of Africa is one of the world’s most impoverished – a key reason being the degradation of enormous tracts of fertile land, which form the basis of people’s livelihoods here. Persistent drought, food insecurity, and conflicts over dwindling natural resources are some of the many consequences. Continued inaction means an estimated 60 million people could migrate to Europe from Africa’s degraded areas by 2030. According to statistics from UNCCD, about 40 % of Africa is threatened by desertification with increasing loss of aerable land. The Sahel, a semi-arid transitional zone between the Sahara desert and the savannah, is the focus of efforts to build a "Great Green Wall" to hold back the desert and provide jobs and sustainable development for struggling African nations. Meirelles’ film, which features footage from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s Virtual Reality experience unveiled at last year’s Paris Climate Summit, provides a stark warning of the need to restore natural resources, like land. The progress made since the initiative started a decade ago shows that land restoration efforts on a mass scale are both possible and offer hope. Senegal has already planted 12 million trees, Ethiopia has restored 15 million hectares of degraded land and Nigeria has created 20,000 jobs in rural areas. “The Great Green Wall is about far more than just growing trees. It is a mosaic of interventions weaving across the Sahel region that is helping to build community resilience and provide economic opportunity. Already, it is feeding hungry families and malnourished children, putting people back to work and growing peace and security to help communities thrive once more. Most crucially, it provides young people with a genuine alternative…