ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PAMACC News) - There is a significant disconnect between global policy optimism on the benefits of REDD+ and local realities, experts said Thursday at the start of a two-day talkson “Market policy versus market mechanisms in the implementation of the Paris Agreement”.
“REDD+ is alive but not well” Dr. Adeniyi Kashwan of the University of Connecticut told a cross-section of climate change experts in Addis Ababa.
As climate change continues to threaten mankind, the world depends in part on forests to diminish its devastating effects.
“Forests cover 30% of the world’s land surface and are also one of the world’s best methods of storing carbon, absorbing 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and storing billions more” said Dr. Wallace Anacho, an environmentalist.
According to scientists, deforestation rates have increased significantly in Africa in the last decades jeopardizing the efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change. One initiative to stop deforestation is Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and (forest) Degradation commonly referred to as REDD+. About 29 African countries are involved in the REDD+ project.
“The basic idea of REDD+ is that, you pay countries and indigenous populations to plant and protect forests” said Dr. Yetibitu Moges of the Ethiopian Ministry of environment, forest and climate change.
The payment usually comes in form of credits referred to as carbon credits and it is expected to provide an alternative way of life to indigenous populations that hitherto relied on forest products to survive.
That is what is supposed to happen but experts are now worried that since the initiation of REDD+ by the United Nations, rights of some local communities have been abused.
“The future is not as bright as expected. In many countries we are seeing rights abuses. Here, we are talking about right to land, right to forests, right to take things out of the forest not just timber but vegetable food, non-timber forest products that people rely on for survival” said Dr. Adeniyi adding that bans on forest exploitation have in many cases proved detrimental to local communities.
“In enforcing these bans we see the use of military force, police and rangers often going into the forest with sophisticated ammunition to harass and terrorize communities. We have seen these in many African countries sometimes resulting in the loss of lives”.
The theory that you exclude indigenous communities from using the forest and then give them alternative means to survive has in many cases not materialized on the field, Dr. Adeniyi said.
“The carbon credit is often shared between consultants, sometimes foreign consultants and governments and a little bit offered to communities. So what is given to communities, if at all anything is given to them from REDD+ benefits is nothing compared to what they are losing. These benefits cannot sustain livelihoods that indigenous people have developed over time”
In spite of the shortcomings, there is a common agreement that REDD+ remains one of the most effective ways of protecting forests. At the Addis Ababa talks, experts were unanimous that there needs to be checks and balances from journalists, researchers and civil society actors on the field to follow up and report malpractices.
“We also have to recognize that REDD+ is not going anywhere if we do not address issues of social justice alongside issues of environmental conservation. The two have to go hand in hand. So you can’t keep the forests at the expense of peoples’ livelihoods and right to survival” Dr. Adeniyi added.
Essentially, fresh procedures should be introduced to get local communities of their own volition, realize that they own the forests and must protect them by themselves if they must survive, the experts suggested.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, (PAMACC News) – Participants attending the African Climate Talks II (ACT!-II) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia want Africa to change how it does business to reap the benefits of the Paris Agreement.
Attending the two-day talks dubbed “Market policy versus market mechanisms in the implementation of the Paris Agreement”, that begun on March 23, speakers called for an urgent shift in how the continent will forge ahead to escape the consequences of climate change.
Ambassador Lumumba Di-Aping, from South Sudan and former chair of the G77 called for strengthening of the current regime, noting that the current Paris Agreement is fundamentally flawed and inadequate.
“The agreement will be the main basis for multilateral cooperation during the first period of commitments (2020-2030). The African Continent in this new architecture is tragically weaker than even before,” Di-Aping said.
He urged Africa to reinvent itself consistently through science.“We must think“out of the box” to build the framework for a more effective effort from 2025 onwards – one consistent with Africa’s survival and prosperity,” he said.
Dr James Murombedzi, the Officer in Charge of the Africa Climate Centre Policy (ACPC) noted that the continent needs to invest in strong evidence based African narrative.
“This narrative should have a science, research and policy interface. We also should invest in informed societies that participate in the shaping of policies and strengthen capacities of countries,” Murombedzi said.
Prof Zehurin Woldu, Acting Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia urged participants to devise ways and means of tackling climate change disruptions.
“The temperatures are rising and Africa is suffering. Let us unite to save our continent. Let us develop sustainable ways of dealing with climate change,” Woldu said.
Di-Aping noted that Africa must move beyond the old dichotomy of “mitigation and adaptation.”
“We must look at each sector – agriculture, industry etc – and focus on integrating climate considerations into wider industrial and development planning in an integrated way. The climate regime must focus not just on “emissions reductions” but on the real solutions needed to achieve them,” Di-Aping said.
He urged for negotiations which provide a space where these with problems, with solutions and with money, can meet as part of a structured process.
“We need to make the UNFCCC more relevant to the real world. The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative is to be commended as an important step in the energy sector - we need matching initiatives in each other sector,” he said.
He called for technology and infrastructure marshal plan which can implement solutions in practice to meet Africa’s development goals.
“Let us think about the financial sector and financial instruments and engineering. If we need a major plan to address 1.50C, the question arises how to fund it. Clearly the $10 billion in the GCF will not be enough; and developed countries have no intention of delivering $100 billion in practice,” Di-Aping said.
He called for a permanent negotiating forum supported by government missions to enable more systematic discussion of solutions and how to implement them in practice.
“Meeting for a few weeks a year is simply not realistic if the objective is to stabilize the Earth’s climate and maintain the conditions needed for the continuation of civilization,” Di-Aping said.
He called on African leaders to recognize that the continent faces an existential crisis that it cannot alone solve.
“Our survival is at stake. We must convince or find ways to pressure or coerce -- other countries into doing their fair share,” he said.
He noted that Africa needs stronger science from an African perspective and Climate Institutions.
“We need an African Climate Science Working Group – an African IPCC led by and for Africans. We do not have an AU Commissioner for Climate Change. It is notable that there is no permanent secretariat supporting the African Group, and that we shamefully remain reliant on foreign donors for much of the support to our technical experts,” Di-Aping said.
He also urged Africa to find ways to exert greater pressure on all countries to achieve 1.50C and 20C goals.
“Our trade policies and foreign direct investments (FDI) cost structures reflect the need for financing mitigation and adaptation in each sector. Can we make access to resources, including fossil fuels,conditional upon climate action and climate funding? he posed.
Prof Laban Ogallo of the University of Nairobi called for trans-boundary efforts to make sure that one country’s wrongs or rights do not affect neighbours.
“Many African countries share rivers, mountains, lakes, coastal lines among many resources. We need to work together so that we can achieve common goals across the continent,” Ogallo said.
Dr Adeniyi Asiyanbi of the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom said REDD+ is replete with severe rights abuses, safeguards notwithstanding.
“REDD+ is alive but certainly not dead. Communities participating in the scheme are disillusioned due to unmet expectations. However, carbon forestry logic will persist and will reflect emerging political trends. Governments and international institutions will also seek new alliances under this scheme,” Asiyanbi said.
Prof.Godwell Nhamu of the University of South Africa urged African negotiators to vigorously negotiate for all they want.
“Half a loaf is better than nothing” is a myth. Half a loaf remains half a loaf. Let us negotiate for a full loaf. If our negotiators can’t ask for what we want, they should give way for those who are willing to get what they ask for in the UNFCCC process,” Nhamu said.
He noted that agriculture is the backbone of African economies and countries should give it the prominence it deserves.
“There is minimal reference of agriculture on African NDCs. Rwanda mentions it 23 times while South Africa mentions it twice. If we forsake agriculture, then we have missed the point,” he said.
Prof David Lessole of the University of Botswana called for specific and urgent interventions to address effects of climate change.
“We run a workshop on $20,000 and end it at a talking point. If the $20,000 was given to a group of women to construct a sand dam, they could break the cycle of poverty,” Lessole said.
He added, “Seems in Africa, we do not have the mouth to eat the climate money. We use our mouths to talk too much when others are eating.”
Prof Cush Ngonzo of Health College of Kenge, DR Congo insisted on a research-based approach in addressing climate change shocks.
“Africa does not lack the capacity to deliver on its promises. We should talk about capabilities of implementing the same. The continent has a strong reservoir of research brains which we need to nurture and use in solving our problems,” Ngonzo said.
Prof Seth Osafo called on developed countries to meet their pledges in climate change commitments.
“We need to quickly finish drafting the Paris Agreement rule book so that we implement the pact. African countries however, need to pursue policies that can be implemented as some of them are hard to implement,” Osafo said.
Dr Yitebitu Moges, national REDD+ coordinator, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ethiopia said the country’s green growth path cuts across its seven economic sectors.
“We aim to achieve a 64 per cent reduction in national green house emissions by 2030. Agriculture and forestry contribute close to 85 per cent of the baseline emissions,” Moges said.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, (PAMACC News) – Participants attending the African Climate Talks II (ACT!-II) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia want Africa to change how it does business to reap the benefits of the Paris Agreement.
Attending the two-day talks dubbed “Market policy versus market mechanisms in the implementation of the Paris Agreement”, that begun on March 23, speakers called for an urgent shift in how the continent will forge ahead to escape the consequences of climate change.
Ambassador Lumumba Di-Aping, from South Sudan and former chair of the G77 called for strengthening of the current regime, noting that the current Paris Agreement is fundamentally flawed and inadequate.
“The agreement will be the main basis for multilateral cooperation during the first period of commitments (2020-2030). The African Continent in this new architecture is tragically weaker than even before,” Di-Aping said.
He urged Africa to reinvent itself consistently through science.“We must think“out of the box” to build the framework for a more effective effort from 2025 onwards – one consistent with Africa’s survival and prosperity,” he said.
Dr James Murombedzi, the Officer in Charge of the Africa Climate Centre Policy (ACPC) noted that the continent needs to invest in strong evidence based African narrative.
“This narrative should have a science, research and policy interface. We also should invest in informed societies that participate in the shaping of policies and strengthen capacities of countries,” Murombedzi said.
Prof Zehurin Woldu, Acting Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia urged participants to devise ways and means of tackling climate change disruptions.
“The temperatures are rising and Africa is suffering. Let us unite to save our continent. Let us develop sustainable ways of dealing with climate change,” Woldu said.
Di-Aping noted that Africa must move beyond the old dichotomy of “mitigation and adaptation.”
“We must look at each sector – agriculture, industry etc – and focus on integrating climate considerations into wider industrial and development planning in an integrated way. The climate regime must focus not just on “emissions reductions” but on the real solutions needed to achieve them,” Di-Aping said.
He urged for negotiations which provide a space where these with problems, with solutions and with money, can meet as part of a structured process.
“We need to make the UNFCCC more relevant to the real world. The Africa Renewable Energy Initiative is to be commended as an important step in the energy sector - we need matching initiatives in each other sector,” he said.
He called for technology and infrastructure marshal plan which can implement solutions in practice to meet Africa’s development goals.
“Let us think about the financial sector and financial instruments and engineering. If we need a major plan to address 1.50C, the question arises how to fund it. Clearly the $10 billion in the GCF will not be enough; and developed countries have no intention of delivering $100 billion in practice,” Di-Aping said.
He called for a permanent negotiating forum supported by government missions to enable more systematic discussion of solutions and how to implement them in practice.
“Meeting for a few weeks a year is simply not realistic if the objective is to stabilize the Earth’s climate and maintain the conditions needed for the continuation of civilization,” Di-Aping said.
He called on African leaders to recognize that the continent faces an existential crisis that it cannot alone solve.
“Our survival is at stake. We must convince or find ways to pressure or coerce -- other countries into doing their fair share,” he said.
He noted that Africa needs stronger science from an African perspective and Climate Institutions.
“We need an African Climate Science Working Group – an African IPCC led by and for Africans. We do not have an AU Commissioner for Climate Change. It is notable that there is no permanent secretariat supporting the African Group, and that we shamefully remain reliant on foreign donors for much of the support to our technical experts,” Di-Aping said.
He also urged Africa to find ways to exert greater pressure on all countries to achieve 1.50C and 20C goals.
“Our trade policies and foreign direct investments (FDI) cost structures reflect the need for financing mitigation and adaptation in each sector. Can we make access to resources, including fossil fuels,conditional upon climate action and climate funding? he posed.
Prof Laban Ogallo of the University of Nairobi called for trans-boundary efforts to make sure that one country’s wrongs or rights do not affect neighbours.
“Many African countries share rivers, mountains, lakes, coastal lines among many resources. We need to work together so that we can achieve common goals across the continent,” Ogallo said.
Dr Adeniyi Asiyanbi of the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom said REDD+ is replete with severe rights abuses, safeguards notwithstanding.
“REDD+ is alive but certainly not dead. Communities participating in the scheme are disillusioned due to unmet expectations. However, carbon forestry logic will persist and will reflect emerging political trends. Governments and international institutions will also seek new alliances under this scheme,” Asiyanbi said.
Prof.Godwell Nhamu of the University of South Africa urged African negotiators to vigorously negotiate for all they want.
“Half a loaf is better than nothing” is a myth. Half a loaf remains half a loaf. Let us negotiate for a full loaf. If our negotiators can’t ask for what we want, they should give way for those who are willing to get what they ask for in the UNFCCC process,” Nhamu said.
He noted that agriculture is the backbone of African economies and countries should give it the prominence it deserves.
“There is minimal reference of agriculture on African NDCs. Rwanda mentions it 23 times while South Africa mentions it twice. If we forsake agriculture, then we have missed the point,” he said.
Prof David Lessole of the University of Botswana called for specific and urgent interventions to address effects of climate change.
“We run a workshop on $20,000 and end it at a talking point. If the $20,000 was given to a group of women to construct a sand dam, they could break the cycle of poverty,” Lessole said.
He added, “Seems in Africa, we do not have the mouth to eat the climate money. We use our mouths to talk too much when others are eating.”
Prof Cush Ngonzo of Health College of Kenge, DR Congo insisted on a research-based approach in addressing climate change shocks.
“Africa does not lack the capacity to deliver on its promises. We should talk about capabilities of implementing the same. The continent has a strong reservoir of research brains which we need to nurture and use in solving our problems,” Ngonzo said.
Prof Seth Osafo called on developed countries to meet their pledges in climate change commitments.
“We need to quickly finish drafting the Paris Agreement rule book so that we implement the pact. African countries however, need to pursue policies that can be implemented as some of them are hard to implement,” Osafo said.
Dr Yitebitu Moges, national REDD+ coordinator, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ethiopia said the country’s green growth path cuts across its seven economic sectors.
“We aim to achieve a 64 per cent reduction in national green house emissions by 2030. Agriculture and forestry contribute close to 85 per cent of the baseline emissions,” Moges said.
PAMACC, Abuja - NIGERIA Between February and March 2017, three students of Queens College Lagos; Vivian Osuinyi, Bithia Itula and Praise Sodipo, died from consuming water from a contaminated water tank in the school.
The story made headlines as a result of the magnitude of the issue and the effect of negligence on water pollution.
These issues were further compounded with reports of persons dying and getting illnesses from consuming water from unsafe sources.
There have been reports of deaths from cholera cases and from other water-borne diseases in parts of the country.
Although Nigeria has made considerable progress in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, access to high-quality, reliable, and sustainable services remains low.
According to the 2017 WASH Poverty Diagnostic by the World Bank, Nigeria needs to invest three times its current investment to improve the decaying WASH sector and also to meet the Sustainable Development Goal six on water and sanitation by 2030.
The report offers an overview of poverty in Nigeria, considers the relationship between poverty and WASH, explores demographic patterns influencing access to WASH, and analyzes the relationship between WASH and child health outcomes.
Experts say the 2018 World Water Day with the theme, 'Nature for Water' is an opportunity to explore nature-based solutions to the water challenges in the 21st century.
According to the UN Water Website, damaged ecosystems affect the quantity and quality of water available for human consumption, with 2.1 billion people globally living without safe drinking water at home; affecting their health, education and livelihoods.
The SDG six commits the world to ensuring that everyone has access to safe water by 2030, and includes targets on protecting the natural environment and reducing pollution.
In Nigeria for instance, stakeholders have, on many occasions, called for adequate funding of policies on water resources to achieve greater socio-economic developments.
Mr Hassan Bdliya, Chairman, Global Water Partnership in Nigeria, said apart from funding, Nigeria needed to understand that water was a resource that could finish if not properly used in line with the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
He said the IWRM emphasised the need to use water, putting in consideration sustainability, equity and reduce conflict that might come from poor use of water resources..
Bdliya said stakeholders were fond of developing water resources without following guidelines or principles and they somewhat ended up creating problems.
Corroborating this view, Mr Michael Ale, President, Association of Waterwell Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP), said 85 per cent of Nigerians depend on underground sources which are overburdened and usually contaminated.
Ale stressed the need for the Federal and state governments to address pollution of water sources by illegal drilling activities in the country, saying failure to do so could lead to more outbreaks of water-borne diseases in the country.
He said the water situation in the country was a time bomb, which needed to be addressed, adding that so long as drilling was done indiscriminately, its benefit may be lost.
At a two-day retreat on Revitalisation of Nigeria's Water and Sanitation (WASH) Sector, recently, participants recommended that the President, Muhammadu Buhari should declare a National State of Emergency to enhance the political will for the accelerated development of Water Supply and Sanitation.
They urged the Federal and State Ministries of Water Resources to urgently develop a WASH Emergency Action Plan (AP) aimed at revitalising the sector, encompassing both rural and urban areas, and pursuing the 2030 WASH SDGs.
The participants who included commissioners of water resources, Managing Directors of state water agencies and development partners agreed that failure to address the current situation would have dire consequences for the nation.
They say without immediate attention to this sector by policy makers and other key stakeholders, the country will, at best, continue to suffer from the damaging effects of the status quo.
At a recent Media Dialogue on Nigeria's WASH sector organised by the UN children's Fund, speakers say the country can and must take significant action to improve its water and sanitation sector.
According to UNICEF’s WASH Specialist, Mr Drissa Yeo, the agency was supporting the Partnership for Expanded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy (PEWASH) programme to establish a multi-sectoral partnership between government, development partners and the private sector to improve access to potable water supply and sanitation services.
The move is also to make operational the implementation of the Open Defecation-Free Road Target by 2025 by launching a National Campaign on Eradication of open defecation in Nigeria.
Yeo said there was the need for the engagement of private sectors to improve entrepreneurial energies to achieve improved sanitation and Sustainable Development Goals targets through sanitation marketing and financing.
Similarly, Mr Zaid Jurji, the UNICEF Chief of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Nigeria, alerted that no fewer than 160 million Nigerians lack access to potable water.
The UNICEF official, quoted the figure from the 2016 to 2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) report, conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in conjunction with UNICEF.
Jurji noted that most of the water consumed by Nigerians were from sources contaminated either by faeces and lack of proper hygiene practice, noting that 50 per cent of water infrastructure in the country were bad and identified these lapses as poor water governance.
He identified water, sanitation and hygiene as interrelated, recommending that good hygiene practice and making the nation open defecation free would ensure healthy lives for the citizens.
The WASH specialist specifically noted that 25 per cent of the populace practice open defecation, adding that open defecation in the vicinity of water sources could contaminate it thereby making the water unsuitable for consumption.
He called for promotion of water safety plans to protect water from point of source to consumption.
According to the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, Federal Government's constitutional role is to provide raw water to states, with a responsibility to intervene by ensuring that it's river basin and dams get water to be reticulate the states.
"The laws of the land says the responsibility to provide potable water supply rest on the state and local government.
"What the Federal Government does is to intervene from time to time and what we do at times is to ensure the provision of water in the rural areas through water schemes.
"That is not to say it is our primary responsibility. Our responsibility is providing good policy."
Adamu stated that the Federal Government was willing to provide assistance whenever necessary as it was aware of the high cost of water infrastructure.
He further noted that government has been partnering other bodies through the provision of funds, capacity building, good policy and multi lateral loans in order to improve on the capacities of the benefiting organisations as well as ensure adequate maintenance of facilities.
Experts say the theme is an opportunity for policy makers and implementers to use biodiversity as a guiding principle to address these challenges because water services depend on healthy and biodiverse ecosystems.
