Women Bear the Brunt of Climate Change

Natalia Milovanova

The effects of climate change are not equal across genders. Women, particularly in the global south, are more greatly impacted than men. This is a result of cultural and historical norms that put women in vulnerable positions. These norms, compounded with the fact that women make up the majority of agriculture producers in rural areas, make them more susceptible to the negative effects of climate change, such as droughts, floods, and crop failures.

In addition, women are expected to care for children, the elderly, and the sick in traditional patriarchal societies, leaving them with little mobility to migrate. Women also face a lack of equal opportunities compared to men in finding alternative employment in rural areas. The effects of natural disasters, such as the destruction of infrastructure, also disproportionately impact pregnant women in rural areas, contributing to the high rates of maternal mortality.

The root cause of these issues is the lack of land rights for women. Without ownership of the land they work on, women are not able to be active decision-makers and their labor remains invisible. This not only perpetuates their vulnerability to the effects of climate change, but also makes the current system unsustainable as women produce the majority of food.

It is imperative that advanced laws and legislation be put in place to give women rights over their land. This, along with governance support, could provide women with the necessary financial, humanitarian, and medical aid in times of disaster. We must also challenge cultural norms and prioritize equality, making women more visible and granting them full human rights. This, in turn, will lead to a more sustainable future.

Further Reading

UN Learning Centre course about Gender in Environment:https://unccelearn.org/course/view.php?id=39&page=overview

The vulnerability of women to climate change in coastal regions of Nigeria: a case of the IIaje community in Ondo state» By Adenike A. Akinsemolu and Obafemi A.P. Olukoya; 

Gender Equality and Sustainable Development: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Nigerian Laws and Practices to Guarantee the Woman’s Human Rights» by Oluwakemi Odeyinde, Leccion of Amber Fletcher from Regina University,

Fighting climate crisis made harder by Covid-19 inequality, says WEF

Larry Elliott

Environmental issues are biggest danger in coming years, says international organisation

Flooding in Hyderabad, India. The WEF said extreme weather events were one of top risks caused by the climate emergency. Photograph: Mahesh Kumar A/AP

Tackling the existential risk posed by the climate crisis will be made harder by the growing gap between rich and poor triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Economic Forum has said.

The body that organises the annual gathering of the global elite in the Swiss town of Davos said warning signs of the threat posed by infectious disease had been ignored for the past 15 years, with disastrous results.

Despite the loss of almost 2 million lives to Covid-19, the WEF’s global risks report found that environmental issues were considered to pose the biggest danger in the coming years, both in terms of impact and likelihood.

Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the WEF, said: “In 2020, the risk of a global pandemic became reality. As governments, businesses and societies survey the damage inflicted over the last year, strengthening strategic foresight is now more important than ever.”

Schwab added: “Growing societal fragmentation – manifested through persistent and emerging risks to human health, rising unemployment, widening digital divides, and youth disillusionment – can have severe consequences in an era of compounded economic, environmental, geopolitical and technological risks.”

The WEF report said the Covid-19 pandemic had widened longstanding health, economic and digital disparities, making it harder to secure the international cooperation needed to combat challenges such as environmental degradation.

Extreme weather events were considered to be the top risk measured by the likelihood of them happening, followed by climate action failure, human environmental damage, infectious diseases and bio-diversity loss.

The top five risks in terms of impact were infectious diseases, climate action failure, weapons of mass destruction, biodiversity loss and natural resource crises.

For the first time, the report assessed risks according to when respondents thought they would pose a critical threat to the world. Short-term dangers – which could happen at any time in the next two years – revealed concern about infectious diseases, employment crises, digital inequality and youth disillusionment.

Over the medium term – three to five years – respondents believe the world will be threatened by knock-on economic and technological risks, which may take several years to materialise – such as asset bubble bursts, IT infrastructure breakdown, inflation and debt crises. Longer term concerns – five to 10 years – were dominated by existential threats, such as weapons of mass destruction, state collapse and biodiversity.

The WEF said it was hard for governments and businesses to address long-term risks but the pandemic had shown that ignoring the dangers did not make them less likely to happen.

The global risks survey is normally released a week before the annual meeting of the WEF but the pandemic has meant only a virtual event has been possible. A physical gathering is planned for Singapore in May.

THE GREEN ROOM (Episode 9): Ami Vitale on SUSTAINABLE PHOTOGRAPHY (When Pictures Tell Stories for Change)

GREEN ROOM: LIVE WEBINAR

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Summary of the Discussion

The Moderator kicked off the discussion with the introduction of our guest Ami Vitale, an Award-winning Photojournalist with the National Geographic Magazine. Ami Vitale talked about her early career as a Journalist and the need to be determined in the face of despair.  She shared amazing stories of her project on Northern White Rhinos, a project that was first rejected but today has attracted attention from different parts of the world and the Save Giraffe Now project, both from Kenya.  Ami also advised upcoming creatives on the need to gain different skills that will help them achieve their unique vision. She also expatiates on the importance to be ethical and unbiased in journalism.

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LISTEN TO PODCAST

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Nikon Ambassador and National Geographic Magazine photographer Ami Vitale has traveled to more than 100 countries, bearing witness not only to violence and conflict, but also to surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Dr. Jason J. McSparren is an educator, researcher, and administrator with a PhD. in Global Governance and Human Security from Massachusetts Boston. He is also a Pre-Doctoral Fellow (2017-18) for the West African Research Association (WARA).

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWER

Jason McSparren: Yes, please ask questions. We know that we've got a really interesting audience on this fantastic topic. Okay. So, let's see. We have a question here. Okay. This is actually a statement right here. We have a question from Paulina Ondarza. And she asks, this is she says this is so powerful and inspiring. Loved that you pointed out that often, the solutions or a second half of the story is left out. How do you interact? How do you turn a tragic story into one of hope doing it justice on both sides? So how would you approach that as a Storyteller as a Photojournalist?

Ami Vitale: Thank you. That's such a great question. I mean, I think that the immediate thing is to like feel the sense of despair when you, there are days I mean to be totally honest, there are days it's hard to get out of bed. Truly, you just look at the world like, oh my God, I don't even know, it's like one thing and the next thing and you just think it can't get any worse and then it does right? I literally sometimes just have to channel that despair into and I remember I mean, I have the privilege of meeting the people on the ground and I realized when you actually think about it, there is no other answer than having hope and then looking at the people the real heroes on the ground and I think you know there are answers and we have all the capacity to turn this around. If you think about the amount of money and things that we spend our money on and the things that we put our importance on. I mean if you channelled just a percentage of what we value in today's world and channelled it back into these causes and people in organizations and institutions, we got this and I think people are incredibly smart.

 It's really about what we choose to prioritize and I think as storytellers, it's up to us to not just get overwhelmed by the despair and give up. We have to actively seek out the solution and I see this happening all the time, where journalists and writers will write these beautiful stories, but then we don't give people, we don't point them in the right direction, and I know that there was always this question when I was growing up and studying journalism. It was like don't cross that ethical line like you're not an activist and I'm I agree, you know, my role is not to be the activist. I'm the Storyteller, but I also think that it's not enough to just point out the challenges and leave it there. What next, like you got to point people to the institutions, give the viewpoint from all sides, a multitude of viewpoints is very important, but then you know, definitely it's okay to point out who's doing this work and give you know, give the credit where the credit's due.

I think often journalists kind of insert themselves inside the story and that's okay. But remember to make it about the people that, you're writing about does that kind of answer it

Jason McSparren: I would think so and actually just want to say that the way that you approach that answer kind of touched on a question that I was going to ask earlier and I just want to ask the question at respectively and make a comment because on your website, which is a really interesting website to take a look at amivitale.com. In one of the stories toward the end, Ami mentions that she uses her photography to amplify the voices of others and I think you just explain that whole sentiment in that motivation in your previous comment, but I just think that it's really important that because I saw in the comment, somebody's asking what is your motivation? And I think that is an element of your motivation. It's really you as you said early like to be behind the camera out of the spotlight and really amplifying and elevate the actions and the motivations in the voices of other people doing really interesting and important work.

Ami Vitale: Yeah, I think you get to a certain point the motivations is I've been really blessed to see all these different things in life and you get to a certain point where you just start to see the connections between all of humanity, all of the natural world and that it isn't just about you know, there's a sense of humility that I think comes after a certain time where you just filled with gratitude and wanting to make the connections, realizing that we're a blip on this planet, we are a blip in time. What we do right now matters not just for us but truly like you just get the sense of the internal nests of this planet, and I know that sounds lofty, but it's really true and I think nature reminds us of that. I mean you get out in nature and it's humbling. It's deeply humbling

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Favourite Quote

“All stories of humanity are always related to the stories of the natural world, our environment.”

— Ami Vitale

“The People, the indigenous people living with the wildlife...Honestly, they hold the key to saving what is left, they are the greatest protector of what is left.”

— Ami Vitale

“Almost every story has been told in a variety of different ways, but only you can bring back your unique vision and your unique way and bring frankly, your unique access.”

— Ami Vitale

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Top Comment

Thank you Ami for sharing your vision, passion and inspiration- Michelle

Hello from Atlanta and a former Seattleite for 30 years. As another female photographer for 32 years, I have seen you speak at a Nat Geo lectures as well as watched your career grow. I wanted to tell you how much I have admired your perseverance. I really appreciate the conservation angle you have taken along with your statements against social media. Thank you!- Dani Weiss

​Happy to be here and listen to Ami. Thanks Green Institute for this opportunity. Greetings from Ukraine! ❤- MissKKate

Hi, Ami from Munich! I admire your work so much.- Kristina Assenova

Nice content learnt some good things-Thomas James

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THE GREEN ROOM (Episode 8): Climate Change and the Voiceless

GREEN ROOM: LIVE WEBINAR

Randall S. Abate is the inaugural Rechnitz Family and Urban Coast Institute Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy, and a Professor in the ...

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Summary of the Discussion

The discussion kicked off with a brief introduction of our guest, Prof Randall S. Abate, Professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology, at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. by our amiable moderator Dr. Duygu Sever Mehmetoğlu

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LISTEN TO PODCAST

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Randall S. Abate is the inaugural Rechnitz Family and Urban Coast Institute Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy, and a Professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology, at Monmouth University.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

S. Duygu Sever is a passionate researcher who works on the intertwined relationship between energy politics, sustainability and human security. She holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations at Koç University, Turkey.

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Moderator: So Professor, let's start with the basics. You are using a very interesting, striking, and important term The Voiceless while talking about climate change and the efforts to mitigate its impact. What does the term Voiceless stand for?

Prof. Randall: Well, I used this term deliberately in the book to represent those that are not able to represent their own interests under the law. So, the three categories that I've identified in the book share that common vulnerability when we talk about future generations of humans such as youth that are not yet able to vote and the unborn, and wildlife and natural resources. They share a common vulnerability of not being able to represent their interest in the legal system and therefore they need human guardians and advocates to step in to protect their interest, to account for their concerns because they're not able to participate on their own behalf. And so the term of the voiceless does have other meanings outside of this book project and I certainly respect those references as well. For instance, sometimes voiceless can refer to other marginalized communities of humans who aren't adequately protected under the law but for purposes of this book project, it's those three categories only.

Sabika: Thank you for having me on your show. Thank you. My name is Sabika and I'm calling in from Qatar and I suppose I'd like to just briefly tap into your expertise at law. And as we all know that climate change is just not a simple issue, It is not only an environmental issue, It is an issue that is a social issue and economic issue, a racial one, a gender, ableism, a moral issue, just so many layers but when it comes to law, which is a mechanism to kind of figure this all out, in your opinion has the field of law involved enough to allow representation from these, you know vulnerable groups if you will and even in the field of law and law schools and what have you, has environmental law developed enough to be powerful? Do you see a specialist out there?

Prof. Randall: Thank you very much for that question Sabika. I am encouraged by the developments in the US, I can certainly speak too much directly just in the past decade that environmental justice as a field has really become much more recognized and respected as a way of seeking to promote change on these issues and just with the Biden administration some very progressive thinking people on the notion of environmental justice and how that fits into climate change and sustainability have been appointed. So I have some hope there, but more importantly at what I am most encouraged by is that there are a lot of efforts creative efforts in the courts with climate change litigation over the past decade and it wasn't so much about which cases won or lost in the court. But what was encouraging to me about it was that it really transformed climate Justice into a movement into a social movement and I've seen that very much reflected in the youth in American society now that climate justice is very much a rallying cry like black lives matter and like me too. It's a galvanizing of this demand for social justice and how we move forward and so environmental justice is a very important piece of those when used to be different social issues. And now we're seeing those come together in today's youth in the US and that is also informing who that generation is voting for who's ultimately getting into state and federal political offices to be able to reflect the will of the public and set agendas on these issues.

Sabika: Thank you so much and do I have an opportunity to ask one more question then

Moderator: Sure, please do.

Sabika: Okay, perfect. So, I mean I understand that capitalism has been the driving force of economies worldwide and you also touched upon this in your earlier discussion, but I guess the alarming fact is that it's also the driving force behind the developing economies that are almost myopically kind of going on this narrow path of rapid development and it tends to kind of emphasize individual prosperity over the more global kind of thinking. So I suppose the question is that is there a space within capitalism that is being practiced in developing countries to look at actions towards climate change as a win-win situation as opposed to a zero-sum game. Are there any ways to make it, you know, the defects of climate change less conceptually distant because at the moment there seems to be very limited pressure to have these sustainable mechanisms in place, especially in this new kind of economies?

Prof. Randall: That's a great question. So I think that kind of reflects back on this notion of climate in the climate change negotiations, the notion of common but differentiated responsibilities in how we need to move forward as a global community to address climate change, and what that really means is that the developed countries have a higher responsibility to lead these transitions away from our bad habits whether it be capitalism or fossil fuels or factory farming and essentially the developing world is entitled to financial and technical assistance from the developed world to help them make that transition in a slower way because they lack the means and in fact, they're entitled to their engagement of those capitalism mechanisms to advance their economics because the developed world had that opportunity and exploited it and it shouldn't be well now there's no room for the developing world to engage in that more short-term capitalistic frame. But the reality is that we're all more informed about what it means to be sustainable. So even with that slower transition in the developing world away from capitalism, there needs to be more sustainable minded thinking and how those capitalistic efforts can move forward. There's no right to exploit the environment. There is a right to develop in a way that's going to sustain the economies of those developing countries without being unduly burdensome on the environment. And so I think that's where there really is this moral and political and economic responsibility in the developed world to support that transition and that hasn't gone as well as hoped. If there's anything that has come out of the past three decades of climate negotiations, It's that the developed world especially countries like the US have not embraced that moral responsibility and the developing world is just pushing back and saying it shouldn't land in our shoulders and as has been very frustrated by that reality.

Sabika: Thank you. Dr. Randall. Thank you so much.

Prof. Randall: Thank you for the questions.

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Favourite Quote

“The Voiceless represents those that are not able to represent their own interests under the law.”

— Prof. Randall S. Abate

“What Sustainability really means is that it really requires us to adopt more of an ecocentric way of looking and moving forward as inhabitants of this planet.”

— Prof. Randall S. Abate

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Top Comment

Prof. Abate is an inspiration, his work in social equity, climate justice and clarifications on sustainable development is indeed profound, relevant and needed.- Chris Chinapoo

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Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé named top plastic polluters for third year in a row

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé have been accused of “zero progress” on reducing plastic waste, after being named the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year in a row.

Coca-Cola was ranked the world’s No 1 plastic polluter by Break Free From Plastic in its annual audit, after its beverage bottles were the most frequently found discarded on beaches, rivers, parks and other litter sites in 51 of 55 nations surveyed. Last year it was the most frequently littered bottle in 37 countries, out of 51 surveyed.

It was found to be worse than PepsiCo and Nestlé combined: Coca-Cola branding was found on 13,834 pieces of plastic, with PepsiCo branding on 5,155 and Nestlé branding on 8,633.

The annual audit, undertaken by 15,000 volunteers around the world, identifies the largest number of plastic products from global brands found in the highest number of countries. This year they collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% of which was marked clearly with a consumer brand.

Coca-Cola came under fire from environmental campaigners earlier this year when it announced it would not abandon plastic bottles, saying they were popular with customers. In March, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever were found to be responsible for half a million tonnes of plastic pollution in six developing countries each year, in a survey by NGO Tearfund.

“The world’s top polluting corporations claim to be working hard to solve plastic pollution, but instead they are continuing to pump out harmful single-use plastic packaging,” said Emma Priestland, Break Free From Plastic’s global campaign coordinator.

Priestland said the only way to halt the growing global tide of plastic litter was to stop production, phase out single use and implement reuse systems.

“Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé should be leading the way in finding real solutions to reinvent how they deliver their products,” she said.

Up to 91% of all the plastic waste ever generated has not been recycled and ended up being incinerated, in landfill or in the natural environment, according to a 2017 study.

This year’s global audit of branded plastic waste revealed that single-use sachets, which are used to sell small volumes of products such as ketchup, coffee and shampoo, were the most commonly found type of item, followed by cigarette butts, then plastic bottles.

Simon Mbata, national coordinator of the South African Waste Pickers Association, said: “The majority of plastic we come across cannot be recycled. We find it everywhere, in our waste stream, on our land. When it is buried, it contaminates our soil. Whatever cannot be recycled must not be produced.”

Coca-Cola said it was working to address packaging waste, in partnership with others, and disputed the claim that it was making no progress.

“Globally, we have a commitment to get every bottle back by 2030, so that none of it ends up as litter or in the oceans, and the plastic can be recycled into new bottles,” a spokesperson said. “Bottles with 100% recycled plastic are now available in 18 markets around the world, and this is continually growing.”

63% of plastic waste collected by volunteers in an annual audit was marked clearly with a consumer brand. Photograph: Noel Guevara/Greenpeace

The spokesperson said Coca-Cola had also reduced plastic use in secondary packaging, and that globally “more than 20% of our portfolio comes in refillable or fountain packaging”.

A spokesperson for PepsiCo said the company was taking action to tackle packaging through “partnership, innovation and investments”. They said it has set plastic reduction goals “including decreasing virgin plastic in our beverage business by 35% by 2025”, and was also “growing refill and reuse through businesses like SodaStream and SodaStream Professional, which we expect will avoid 67bn single-use plastic bottles through 2025”.

They added that the company was investing in partnerships to increase recycling infrastructure and collection, pledging more than $65m (£48m) since 2018.

A statement from Nestlé said the company was making “meaningful progress” in sustainable packaging, although it recognised more was needed: “We are intensifying our actions to make 100% of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 and to reduce our use of virgin plastics by one-third in the same period. So far, 87% of our total packaging and 66% of our plastic packaging is recyclable or reusable.”

A Continent on the Brink

Alistair Bunkall,

Defence and Security correspondent

There is nowhere in Africa where the waters are rising as fast as Saint-Louis.

The colourful city on Senegal's northern border with Mauritania was once celebrated as the Venice of Africa, but the sea that surrounds it is now closing in so fast that ten metres are lost to the incoming tide each year.

Along the crumbled seawall, houses teeter at impossible angles, completely uninhabitable.

They will fall into the sea any day and then the frontline will move inland another few metres.

The waves of the southern Atlantic are drowning the old French colonial capital and taking lives with them.

More than 100 million people live along the west African coast - four million of those have been displaced, forced to live in temporary camps away from the shoreline.

You can draw a viable line of extremism from coast to coast across the African continent and connect it to climate change.

"When droughts come and wipe out herds of cattle, that leaves people susceptible to be swayed to follow extremists who come into their communities and then pretend they can provide for them," Mohamed Chambas, the UN special representative for the Sahel, told Sky News.

"We know that is false, they cannot. They lead them to death and destruction. But this [climate change] is certainly one of the triggers, important factors to conflict in the Sahel."

Most of those countries in the Sahel region find themselves in the grip of vicious conflict as militants battle weak governments.

France has more than 5,000 troops fighting insurgents in Mali, a former colony.

They are backed up by a tiny British contingent that transport troops and equipment around in Chinook helicopters, but it's not enough.

The UN peacekeeping force in Mali is struggling to keep control. It is regularly attacked by militants and is often described as the UN's "most dangerous mission".

The death toll in the country is rising rapidly, more than 4,000 were killed in 2019.

A few hundred British soldiers were set to join the UN mission in Mali this summer, but the deployment has been delayed because of coronavirus.

They will deploy by the end of this year, all being well.

Few think it will be "peace-keeping" in the traditional sense – it could prove to be the riskiest British operation in many years.

Across the Sahel, there are small numbers of British, American and other European forces training West African militaries - but it is a slow process against an evolving enemy.

We witnessed a large multi-national exercise and saw how Nigerian, Cameroonian and Moroccan forces are learning counter-terrorism drills from their Western allies.

They are fighting an enemy that is moving freely across borders in spaces that few can still live in. 

It is a war against extremism and the elements, and the truth is, they're not winning it.

Dropped emissions during COVID-19 lockdown will do 'nothing' for climate change

Chelsea Gohd 

While greenhouse gas emissions plummeted as the world locked down in response to the coronavirus pandemic, such dips will do "nothing" to slow climate change unless society moves away from fossil fuels, researchers have found. 

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, a pandemic, which it remains today. To slow the spread of the virus, countries around the world began implementing lockdown measures that limited travel and closed down factories and businesses. In turn, Earth-orbiting satellites saw a dramatic decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. 

However, according to an international study led by the University of Leeds, unless large-scale, structural interventions — like a significant switch away from fossil fuels — are implemented, these changes will not affect Earth's climate. In fact, the researchers found, even if lockdown measures continue in some fashion around the world until the end of 2021, more than a year and half total, global temperatures will only be roughly 0.018 degrees Fahrenheit (0.01 degrees Celsius) lower than expected by 2030.

"Lockdown showed that we can change and change fast, but it also showed the limits of behavior change," Piers Forster, study co-author and director of the Priestley International Center for Climate at Britain's University of Leeds, told AFP.

"Without underlying structural change we won't make it," he said, referring to climate goals. 

Climate work to do

Scientists have identified a temperature rise to "well below" 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) above levels before the Industrial Revolution as a major climate target. Some countries are striving to keep temperature rise smaller, below 2.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C). However, according to these researchers, this goal will be difficult to reach. 

"If I'm brutally honest, the world is unlikely to decarbonize at the rates required for 1.5 C, but getting anywhere close will make our children's future better," Forster said.

To see exactly how lockdown has affected emissions and climate in the long term, the researchers used open-source data to calculate exactly how the emission levels of 10 different greenhouse gases and air pollutants changed between February and June 2020 in over 120 countries. During those four months, the scientists found that production of pollutants including carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides dropped by between 10% and 30%, a significant decrease. 

However, the researchers found that the temporary emissions drop alone wouldn't have a significant impact on climate because these lockdown efforts are temporary, as opposed to larger, long-term structural changes. 

"The fall in emissions we experienced during COVID-19 is temporary and therefore it will do nothing to slow down climate change," co-author Corinne Le Quere from the University of East Anglia said in the same statement. 

In addition to measuring the effects of this temporary lockdown, the researchers also modeled how climate would be impacted if, after this lockdown period, larger changes like reduced use of fossil fuels were implemented around the world. The team highlighted that significant, government-led changes to reduce fossil fuel use would have a lasting, positive effect on climate. 

The scientists found that if invested 1.2% of gross domestic product in low-carbon technology post-lockdown, they could cut their emissions in half by 2030 compared with if countries continued to rely on fossil fuels as they do post-lockdown. 

"The government responses could be a turning point if they focus on a green recovery, helping to avoid severe impacts from climate change," Le Quere said. 

The link between viruses, habitat destruction and climate change

 Carl Meyer

The respiratory disease affects animals like the harbour seal, of which it was responsible in 1988 for tens of thousands of deaths in the North Atlantic off the coast of Europe. More recently, scientists discovered, it had also infected northern sea otters — on the other side of the world.

Climate change is heating the atmosphere and shrinking the Arctic ice cap to such an extent that gaps are appearing. When these channels in the ice open up, it allows animals to move across territory they couldn’t previously access, researchers have found.

U.S. NOAA Photo: ​​​​​Dr. Brandon Southall, NMFS/OPR

Plying these newly ice-free waters, the animals may have unwittingly provided a free ride for PDV, which eventually jumped across the species barrier to sea otters in the North Pacific, according to the study in the journal Scientific Reports.

“We saw peaks of infection in the years after there had been a channel in the ice,” said Tracey Goldstein, a professor in the department of pathology, immunology and microbiology at the University of California, Davis and one of the researchers, in an interview.

“So that does suggest that, when there was an opening in the ice, the animals were able to move, and bring their viruses with them.”

'Put the Arctic Ocean in quarantine'

Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) is not known to be zoonotic, which means a disease that jumps from animals to humans.

But scientists have long expressed concerns there might be “zombie diseases” preserved in the frozen Arctic ice, and that climate change would melt away the barriers to these diseases, opening up a “Pandora's box."

A 2019 strategy document from Canada's national Inuit organization, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, noted that one of the impacts of climate change on Inuit populations would be an increased exposure to zoonotic diseases.

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds against the backdrop of the climate crisis, which is heating up the Arctic at twice the rate of the planet, these concerns have resurfaced.

"The Arctic Ocean does not only keep our planet cool...it keeps the local permafrost, with its payload of pathogens, frozen," reads a March 30 statement from the Parvati Foundation.

"To protect our global immunity, we must put the Arctic Ocean in quarantine now. We are seeing today the deadly consequences of delay in clamping down to prevent disease."

Polar sea ice coverage in both the Arctic and Antarctic oceans had their second-smallest average annual coverage of sea ice in 2019, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Arctic sea ice has thinned to the point where it is now likely "unprecedented for at least 1,000 years," said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

As the ice continues to shrink, it’s not just animals that are changing their behaviour, it’s people, too, noted Goldstein, one of the 22 researchers who published the study showing how PDV spread.

A recent Arctic Council report showed that ship traffic in the region jumped by a quarter from 2013 to 2019. These ships can introduce pollution, such as dirty marine fuel, into the region.

“I do think that is not a great thing for the environment, it is not a great thing for the animals,” Goldstein said.

“And it’s probably not a great thing for spreading pathogens.”

Animals losing habitat share viruses

Human activity is forcing animals all over the world to change their behaviour. Now, scientific research is demonstrating how closely tied together animals, humans and nature are when it comes to some infectious diseases.

Scientists have suggested that the novel coronavirus itself came from bats, possibly via another intermediary animal. The SARS coronavirus jumped from bats to civets, and then to humans, triggering the outbreak in 2002.

Research in Proceedings of the Royal Society released on April 8 showed that wild animals at risk of extinction due to human activity carried over twice the zoonotic diseases, as compared to animals that were not at risk of being wiped out.

“Among threatened wildlife species, those with population reductions owing to exploitation and loss of habitat shared more viruses with humans,” the study reads.

“Our findings provide further evidence that exploitation, as well as (human) activities that have caused losses in wildlife habitat quality, have increased opportunities for animal-human interactions and facilitated zoonotic-disease transmission.”

'Climate change is unleashing biological mysteries'

Goldstein's team worked with groups in Alaska to put satellite tags on animals, trying to understand what habitat they would use as the ice disappears.

The live data they received helped them examine how far animals could move in a week, or two weeks, or a month — and see whether it was plausible to bring a virus with them.

“What we found was, indeed, this animal movement was a potential possibility of a way a virus could move down into these other species,” she said.

Priyanka Mishra, a post-doctoral scientist in the molecular biology and biochemistry department at Simon Fraser University, said it was important to remember that the carbon stored in permafrost is also of major concern, not just potential viruses.

The established threat of climate change must remain a central focus, but humans also shouldn't be ignoring the risk of disease, she said.

“The bottom line is, climate change is unleashing biological mysteries,” said Mishra.

“It’s impossible to predict what surprises we might find.”

Climate change is only going to make health crises like coronavirus more frequent and worse

Ibrahim AlHusseini, 
Opinion Contributor

While the world is currently facing down the COVID-19 pandemic, until we address an even broader issue  — climate change — we'll likely face additional pandemics for years to come. 

Scientists have long warned that climate change will impact not just our environment, but also our health by increasing rates of infectious disease.

Indeed, there's more than just water trapped in the ice caps and permafrost of high latitudes: as recently as 2015, researchers identified 28 previously undiscovered virus groups in a melting glacier. These harmful pathogens could make their way into streams, rivers, and waterways as the ice caps melt, wreaking havoc on our immune systems that have no natural resistance to these ancient diseases.  

If the COVID-19 outbreak is any indication, that future may now be our reality – which is why we have to act on climate change.

As early as 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change cited climate change as a severe risk to human health. Those findings initially received backlash: What could the climate have to do with health? But today it's clear that the criticisms – not the climate science – were baseless.

The 2001 IPCC report's findings are now accepted as fact by pillars of the healthcare community, including the World Health Organization and, even recently, the US Department of Defense. The question is no longer if climate change will impact our health. The question is, how badly will climate change impact our health?

We're already seeing the consequences today.

It's estimated that  90% of the world's children breathe toxic air every day. With health experts warning that these pollutants are damaging the developing lungs of children, it's no surprise that many now believe these toxins could also increase the risk of respiratory tract infections – including from viruses like the novel coronavirus.

In the US, extreme heat causes more death annually than all other weather events combined – and cities are getting the worst of it. These "urban heat islands" are associated with a much higher risk of death on warm summer days. 

Climate change leads to more food insecurity, and as a result, experts predict that humans will seek out alternative food sources like bushmeat and bats. Consumption of these animals leads to disease outbreaks and is even potentially to blame for coronavirus.

Then there's excessive rainfall and high humidity. Both are risk factors for the spread of waterborne diseases like malaria. 

Research suggests that even an increase of 2 to 3 degrees Celsius would increase the at-risk population by 3% to 5%, putting tens of millions of more people in danger, including large parts of the southern United States. And a 2013 paper found that the likelihood of early and severe influenza seasons increase following warmer than average winters. With this year's winter being abnormally warm, we need to prepare for the possibility that coronavirus could come back with a vengeance in the fall. 

Construction of new roads, mines, and hunting reserves is driving previously wild animals into contact with humans, leading to cross-contamination and infections from diseases like SARS, Avian Flu, and HIV.

These viruses do not disappear along with the habitats and animals they once inhabited; they tend to search for a new host – which all too often becomes us. As Eric Roston noted in a recent Bloomberg article, "unlike measles or polio, there is no vaccine for ecosystem destruction."

The good news is that these scenarios are by no means inevitable. But to avoid them, we need our elected leaders to inform the public about the connection between pandemics like COVID-19, and climate change. Because climate change is a problem we can solve, but only if we show the kind of international energy and cooperation that we are beginning to see in the fight against coronavirus.

As we head into the fall election in the US, and President Trump and former Vice President Biden debate their plans to confront this pandemic and the next one, both men would benefit from offering concrete steps to address the climate crisis. And businesses, even those who depend on fossil fuels, need to realize that the health of their customers and employees will suffer if they keep opposing climate-friendly policies and candidates.

We no longer need vague promises from our leaders: we need decisive action. Unless that happens, COVID-19 could be a harbinger of things to come.

How Coronavirus Could Help Us Fight Climate Change: Lessons From The Pandemic

David Vetter

It is a truly global emergency. By March 30, 2020, the coronavirus pandemic had claimed more than 35,000 lives worldwide, with about 750,000 confirmed cases across more than 170 countries.

The speed with which the virus has spread has taken most governments apparently by surprise: in less than three months, the outbreak has all but shut down economies worldwide, putting millions of people into isolation, emptying the streets and the skies. 

The first point is obvious: climate change and coronavirus share a similar magnitude, affecting every country on earth. With regard to the second, Levy notes that both crises affect different nations, and different communities, with varying degrees of severity.

In this rapidly emerging new reality, lessons are being learned. Coronavirus, constituting an emergency unprecedented in modern times, has much to teach us about how civilization should deal with global crises. And in the view of Brazilian economist and former chief financial officer of the World Bank Dr Joaquim Vieira Ferreira Levy, the immediate danger of coronavirus has a great deal in common with the threat of climate change.

“One: it’s global. Two: it affects different people in different ways. Three: it shows the importance of government,” Levy says.

What the Coronavirus Means for Climate Change

Meehan Crist

Lockdowns and distancing won’t save the world from warming. But amid this crisis, we have a chance to build a better future.

Something strange is happening. Not just the illness and death sweeping the planet. Not just the closing of borders and bars and schools, the hoarding of wipes and sanitizer, the orders — unimaginable to most Americans weeks ago — to “shelter in place.” Something else is afoot. In China and Italy, the air is now strikingly clean. Venice’s Grand Canal, normally fouled by boat traffic, is running clear. In Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta, the fog of pollution has lifted. Even global carbon emissions have fallen.

Coronavirus has led to an astonishing shutdown of economic activity and a drastic reduction in the use of fossil fuels. In China, measures to contain the virus in February alone caused a drop in carbon emissions of an estimated 25 percent. The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimates that this is equivalent to 200 million tons of carbon dioxide — more than half the annual emissions of Britain. In the short term, response to the pandemic seems to be having a positive effect on emissions. But in the longer term, will the virus help or harm the climate?

To be clear, the coronavirus pandemic is a tragedy — a human nightmare unspooling in overloaded hospitals and unemployment offices with unnerving speed, barreling toward a horizon darkened by economic disaster and crowded with portents of suffering to come. But this global crisis is also an inflection point for that other global crisis, the slower one with even higher stakes, which remains the backdrop against which modernity now plays out. As the United Nations’ secretary general recently noted, the threat from coronavirus is temporary whereas the threat from heat waves, floods and extreme storms resulting in the loss of human life will remain with us for years.

Our response to this health crisis will shape the climate crisis for decades to come. The efforts to revive economic activity — the stimulus plans, bailouts and back-to-work programs being developed now — will help determine the shape of our economies and our lives for the foreseeable future, and they will have effects on carbon emissions that reverberate across the planet for thousands of years.

2019, the second warmest year as confirmed by the UN

“The average global temperature has risen by about 1.1°C since the pre-industrial era and ocean heat content is at a record level,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.  

At the current trend of CO2 emission rate, we are headed towards between a 3 to 5 degree increase in temperature by the end of the century.

2019, as reported by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was 1.1°C warmer than the pre industrial era.

Only 2016 was hotter, due to a very strong El Niño which causes warming, combined with long-term climate change. 

'The water's not going anywhere' - Louisiana confronts climate threats

In storm-battered New Orleans, preparation for disasters "has become the norm, not the exception"

Sitting on his porch in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Otis Tucker cuts a lone figure on a street punctuated with large empty spaces - the shadows of homes lost to Hurricane Katrina.

Tucker lives in the part of the Louisiana city most devastated by the powerful storm and its aftermath in 2005, when levees designed to protect the city from flooding failed.

Many residents of the poor neighbourhood have struggled to return after fleeing Katrina.

Lack of funds to come home and rebuild, coupled with developers swiftly moving in, and gentrification of this predominantly black, lower-income area, have left scars.

Today, broken windows and overgrown weeds pepper abandoned homes, and the angry barking of a dog interrupts the silence.

"There were families here, there were kids in the street playing football, and there were neighbours," said Tucker, who was born and bred in the neighbourhood. "And that went away overnight. It just got washed away."

Since being battered by Katrina – which killed more than 1,800 people and destroyed or damaged about 800,000 homes - New Orleans has started adapting to extreme weather, which scientists predict will worsen as the planet warms.

Arthur Johnson, chief executive officer of the Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development in the Lower Ninth Ward, said disaster preparation "has become the norm, not the exception".

Evacuation centres have been built, homes have been raised higher, and solar panels installed on roofs.

The center teaches the community here to create "rain gardens" that capture rainwater for re-use. And with much of the soil still contaminated by toxic chemicals such as arsenic post-Katrina, local people are shown how to grow orchards and plant seeds in troughs above the ground.

WORKING WITH WATER

On a larger scale, New Orleans-based architects Waggonner and Ball have played a lead role in developing the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan.

Funded by the Louisiana Office of Community Development, the plan addresses flooding from heavy rainfall, as well as ground subsidence caused by pumping out storm water.

Company president David Waggonner, who travels extensively to share his experiences, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation the city has much to learn from Amsterdam.

New Orleans has relied on an outdated method of pumping out excess water, and needs to rethink if it is to survive, he explained at his desk, which sports a model of the city's streets and extensive pump stations.

"The city needs to learn to live with water - creating a space for water to fall and gradually go into the soil and back into the sky," he said.

One way to do this is by creating "aesthetic blue ways and green ways", he added.

These include the Mirabeau Water Garden in Gentilly district - 25 acres (10 hectares) that will be designed to divert water from canals and capture storm runoff - as well as other green infrastructure such as new parks and redesigned streets with trees, grassy areas and ponds.

COASTAL MASTER PLAN

New Orleans is the state's largest city, with a population of just under 400,000, but Louisiana as a whole is responding rapidly to ongoing land loss and an increased risk of flooding.

According to a study released by the U.S. Geological Society, Louisiana is suffering loss of its wetlands at a rate of a football field an hour.

"After Hurricane Katrina, people started to get really serious about coastal issues," said Denise Reed, research professor at the University of New Orleans and a key technical advisor on the state-led Coastal Master Plan.

The first such master plan was mandated by the state legislature following Katrina, but earlier versions were more of a "wish list", Reed said.

The latest plan - drawn up by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and approved in 2017 - outlines priority projects requiring investment of $50 billion.

The money is needed to rebuild barrier islands and wetlands, move water and sediment from the Mississippi River to make new marshes, construct levees and flood gates, raise houses, and in some cases buy property so homeowners can move to a safer place.

"We all have to be creative with expenditure," Reed told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"In the area where I live, we've passed a sales tax, so every time you go to the store to buy something, a penny or two goes into a pot used for building a levee."

SINKING LAND, RISING SEAS

In a boat heading to the marshlands off the coast of Cocodrie, a shrimping and crabbing village in southeast Louisiana, Alex Kolker, associate professor at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, pointed to large industrial structures protruding from the water.

"Something in the order of 20 to 30 percent of the nation's oil infrastructure is in the Gulf of Mexico," said the oceanologist and coastal geologist. "It's a multi-billion, if not multi-trillion investment - and much of it is at, or very near, sea level."

The extractive industry is at risk from rising seas and storms, but is also a key reason why Louisiana is subsiding, he explained. When oil and gas are taken from the ground, a vacuum is created and the land sinks into it.

Research by Kolker and others shows that much of the subsidence affecting Louisiana's coast relates to these patterns of oil and gas withdrawal.

In the last century, most of the increase in the water level was due to the ground sinking, but as global sea levels rise, that is changing.

"The biggest variable for the future of Louisiana is sea level rise," said Kolker. He pointed to predictions the United States will see an average increase of about 1 cm (0.39 inches) a year by 2050.

"Those are the kind of rates that we experienced at the end of last Ice Age. That would be very, very disruptive - to New York, to London and Tokyo," he said.

Against that background, lessons being learned in Louisiana will be invaluable for the rest of the world, Kolker believes.

Back in New Orleans, Tucker's community has already experienced the full force of wild weather.

Even though he is aware that those with fewer means may struggle to be as resilient as wealthier residents, he is determined not to be cowed by the growing threat.

"I know that the water's not going anywhere," he said. "But politicians, developers, poor people, rich people, people with many resources, people with little - we're all in this together."

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation News

Call for Abstracts, 6th International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD)

The Global Association of Master's in Development Practice Programs (MDP), in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), will hold the Sixth Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) on 26-28 September, 2018, at Columbia University in New York City.

If you would like to present at the conference, please submit an abstract as directed below. The deadline for submission is May 1, 2018. The conference is also open to observers (i.e. non-presenters). Simply register on the conference website to join us!

The conference theme is Breaking Down Silos: Fostering Collaborative Action on the SDGs. The aim of the conference is to bring together persons involved in research, policy, practice, and business. Participants will share practical solutions for achieving the SDGs at local and national levels. Abstracts should be directly relevant to one of the following Topics:

1. Linking Policy, Operations, and Workforce toward Meeting Global Health Goals
2. Opportunities of Marine Natural Capital for Sustainable Blue Growth
3. Metrics and frameworks for assessing Sustainable Urban Development
4. Ensuring Public Engagement and Accountability for Sustainable Urban Development
5. Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Towns and Small Cities
6. Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Building in Agriculture
7. Economics and Demography of Natural Disasters
8. Clean and Affordable Energy as a Keystone for Sustainable Development
9. Globalization, Value Chains and Decent Work
10. Indigenous Approaches to Understanding and Practicing Sustainable Development
11. Mainstreaming Gender in Agenda 2030: Interlinkages between Sustainable Development Goals
12. Breaking Down Silos in Government Administration
13. Breaking Down Silos in Universities: Imaginative Interdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainable Development Research, Education, and Practice
14. Collaborative Arts & Culture to Help Achieve the SDGs
15. What's Law Got to Do With It? Legal Preparedness for Delivering the SDGs

Interested presenters should submit an abstract of at least 300 words but not exceeding 500 words, in English, by 1 May, 2018, via the conference website. Each abstract may only be submitted once and under one Topic. Failure to answer questions on the submission form or the submission of the same abstract under multiple topics is likely to result in the abstract being declined.

We're here for you if you have questions! Write to info@ic-sd.org. 

Government Should Tap Into Renewable Energy Potential

Harvard and Oxford-trained scholar, Damilola Sunday Olawuyi, is a globally recognised professor of Energy and Environmental Law and director of the leading research think tank, the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute) at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti. He is Vice President of the Nigerian branch of the International Law Association; member of the World Commission on International Environmental Law; and expert member of the International Law Association Committee on Sustainable Natural Resource Development where he represents Nigeria. He served as visiting professor at Columbia University, Oxford University and the China University of Political Science and Law. He has several publications in leading international law journals on the subject of renewable energy, agriculture, climate change and sustainable development. In this interview with the Yetunde Ayobami Ojo, he says government should urgently develop the country’s enormous renewable energy potential.

Nigeria, like many oil producing countries, is still reeling from the impact of the drop in the prices of oil. Will the oil and gas sector ever fully recover?
Unlike many that have written and published the obituary of the oil and gas industry, we professionals in the field know that the future of the sector remains exceedingly bright. The industry has been through, and survived, similar periodic downturns in the past, ranging from the 1973 oil crisis (first oil shock) in which the price of oil increased 400 per cent, leading to scarcity in some countries; then the 1979 oil shock when prices increased 100 per cent and the third oil crisis in 1990s, which contributed to global economic recession of the early 1990s and the most recent one.

This recent downturn has hit all of us hard due to failure to government’s properly utilise proceeds of the glorious years, when oil sold over $100 per barrel, to develop our infrastructure and to vitalise other key sectors. I have worked in the oil and gas countries in the Middle East such as, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, and they are, for example, not in recession as we speak, due to years of proper utilisation of oil proceeds. For an oil and gas giant like Nigeria to ever be in recession is a great shame.

The US shale boom is another potential game changer, which has, and will continue to alter the demand for our oil and nudge us to an uncertain future outlook. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has for example predicted that the United States would overtake Saudi Arabia to become the world’s leading oil producer by 2020 and, together with Canada, would become a net exporter of oil around 2030. These are tough predictions for Nigeria, as our main oil customer will itself become a leading supplier. This is why this is the time for Nigeria to start diversifying its economic base to shift to mining, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. This is what Qatar and a number of the Middle East giants are investing time and resources on, in order to stay ahead in the face of a changing energy outlook.

As we speak, I am currently leading a funded research project for the government of Qatar on this issue of low carbon energy transition. These are smart oil and gas producing countries that have accelerated their paths to energy and economic diversification. Wide scale economic diversification is the key for Nigeria to remain strong and competitive in the league of frontier energy jurisdictions.

What do you think is the most important step in diversifying the Nigerian economy at this challenging time?
Nigeria is very rich in energy. We only tend to focus excessively on oil and gas. Nigeria has strong comparative strengths in renewable energy, an area that the Nigerian Government has yet to fully develop.

Over the last five years, renewable energy has gained global prominence as the new oil and gas. Last year alone, worldwide investments in renewable energy amounted to more than US$214 billion with countries such as, Canada, China and the United States heavily investing in wind, hydro, solar and biofuel infrastructure projects. Apart from private sector investments, the United Nations, World Bank, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and other development agencies have established special Clean Funds through which governments at federal and state levels can access funds to develop renewable energy projects ranging from conversion of biomass or waste to energy; biofuels from agriculture; geothermal, mini-hydro, solar and wind energy projects. Renewable energy projects funded under this platform focus on ways to reduce energy poverty; generate clean jobs; and produce sustainable and renewable energy in developing countries. They can also be the key to solving Nigeria’s electricity challenges.

Nigeria’s potentials as a significant source of renewable energy have never been in doubt. From the water intensity of the Osun River in my home state, Osun; to the expanse hectares of arable land in many parts of Nigeria; and the sunshine intensity in the North, have led to several scientific conclusions that Nigeria could be one of the richest countries on earth in terms of solar, wind and hydro energy. Unlike oil and gas, these are clean, cheap, inexhaustible sources of electricity, meaning they never end. They also come with less environmental problems such as pollution or spillage.

Nigeria has infinite potentials to be the leader in renewable energy sources in Africa. Renewable energy can directly contribute to poverty alleviation programs by attracting international development funds for renewable energy projects; boosting internally generated revenue by attracting global and public private partnership investments in renewable energy projects; creating new energy jobs for youths; providing alternative energy supply for businesses; and deploying clean cooking stoves and household stand- alone solar solutions in rural communities.

Given these enormous economic advantages of renewable and alternative energy, how can government move this forward?
One key problem we have in this area is lack of sustained policy action by successive governments. On May 05, 2015, the Federal Government of Nigeria officially adopted the National Policy on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, which aims to increase renewable energy investments to generate electricity and to address climate change problems. The policy also aimed to establish a federal agency on renewable energy like many other countries in the world have done. However, this program was launched in the last few weeks of former President Goodluck Jonathan administration. Since 2015, not much has been heard about the renewable energy programme. I have personally been leading scholarly agenda aimed at getting the current government to revisit this lofty energy diversification and electricity generation program.

In 2015, the Executive Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, invited me to help develop a policy programme that could help Osun State attain leadership in implementing a robust renewable energy and energy efficiency program over the next decade. However, this unfortunately coincided with the time our State had problems with protesting workers so we had to halt this plan. I do hope to revisit this ambitious plan in the future at State and Federal levels. For example, if well developed, we could generate electricity from solar, hydro and wind sources, making it possible for each state to be self sufficient in terms of generating adequate amount of electricity for domestic and industrial use.

How serious do you think Nigeria is in addressing the issue of Climate change?
Nigeria will need to move from bureaucratic rhetoric to more concrete and holistic action to address climate change. In the Paris Agreement, Nigeria pledged to reduce its GHG emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 and 45 per cent by 2030. These are ambitious targets, which on the ground, we have done little in terms of laws, institutions and policies to actualise.

As of today, we have no climate change law, no climate change federal agency and no national action plan on GHG reduction. I was personally excited when the current government appointed the immediate past Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, as Minister for Environment. However, she had to leave to become the United Nations Deputy Secretary General.

We need to revisit some of the lofty blue prints she developed on climate change mitigation and adaptation in Nigeria. The environment is too serious an issue to be left at the periphery of decision-making. Climate change should not be viewed as a threat alone, it is also a great economic opportunity for Nigeria to develop a green economy that encourages new jobs in recycling, waste management, green buildings and clean transportation. We can get there. We only need to start first.

How can you assess Nigeria’s readiness to achieve the SDGs?
As you rightly noted, on September 25, 2015, countries, including Nigeria, adopted a set of targets and goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all, over the next 15 years. In other words, by the year 2030, the plan is that our world will be on the path of comparable and holistic social, economic and environmental development.

For these ambitious goals to be reached, we must ask, how can we avoid the same pitfalls and mistakes that made it impossible for us to attain the MDGs that expired in 2015. Everyone needs to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and people like you and I, to avoid the same false start. As of today, Nigeria has not done much to correct the same pitfalls, which centre on lack of sustained governmental action to pursue the sustainable development agenda.

By attaining the rank of full professor of law in 2015 at the age of 32, you became one of the youngest law professors in Nigeria, what are the challenges you faced in achieving that feat?
Well, I am humbled and honoured to follow the remarkable path of Nigeria’s current Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo. SAN who I understand also attained full professorship at the age of 33. I am very fortunate to have tapped into the visions of the President and Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, OFR, LL.D, CON, who is well known to be one of the most successful lawyers in Nigeria’s history and a leading advocate for university reform. Working closely with him challenged me to be the best in my teaching and research. Babalola’s accomplishments, from very humble beginnings, is enough motivation for every one associated with ABUAD to push for the greatest heights, break existing records and set new ones. The university and college of law provided the right atmosphere and resources for me to achieve this feat. Without the support and best wishes of everyone, ranging from the president and founder of the university, to the senior management of the university, the DVC and provost of the College of Law, Professor Smaranda Olarinde, to my head of department, and my students, this attainment would have been highly impossible. I faced no barrier; all I saw was motivation, encouragements and opportunities.

You are an alumnus of the Harvard and Oxford University, how did you achieve these?
I owe these achievements to the divine grace of God. How else could a young lad from Igbajo, Osun State, end up at these famous institutions? After achieving first class honours from the university, and another first class from the Nigerian Law School, I was double charged to follow the paths of the likes of ILA President, Professor Fidelis Oditah, QC, SAN who after making first class degrees from UNILAG and the Law School, also got scholarships to study at Oxford. Luckily, I was still at the Law School when I received a full scholarship from the Government of Canada to pursue LL.M in energy law at the University of Calgary in Canada.

Given these enormous economic advantages of renewable and alternative energy, how can government move this forward?
One key problem we have in this area is lack of sustained policy action by successive governments. On May 05, 2015, the Federal Government of Nigeria officially adopted the National Policy on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, which aims to increase renewable energy investments to generate electricity and to address climate change problems. The policy also aimed to establish a federal agency on renewable energy like many other countries in the world have done. However, this program was launched in the last few weeks of former President Goodluck Jonathan administration. Since 2015, not much has been heard about the renewable energy programme. I have personally been leading scholarly agenda aimed at getting the current government to revisit this lofty energy diversification and electricity generation program.

In 2015, the Executive Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, invited me to help develop a policy programme that could help Osun State attain leadership in implementing a robust renewable energy and energy efficiency program over the next decade. However, this unfortunately coincided with the time our State had problems with protesting workers so we had to halt this plan. I do hope to revisit this ambitious plan in the future at State and Federal levels. For example, if well developed, we could generate electricity from solar, hydro and wind sources, making it possible for each state to be self sufficient in terms of generating adequate amount of electricity for domestic and industrial use.

How serious do you think Nigeria is in addressing the issue of Climate change?
Nigeria will need to move from bureaucratic rhetoric to more concrete and holistic action to address climate change. In the Paris Agreement, Nigeria pledged to reduce its GHG emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 and 45 per cent by 2030. These are ambitious targets, which on the ground, we have done little in terms of laws, institutions and policies to actualise.

As of today, we have no climate change law, no climate change federal agency and no national action plan on GHG reduction. I was personally excited when the current government appointed the immediate past Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, as Minister for Environment. However, she had to leave to become the United Nations Deputy Secretary General.

We need to revisit some of the lofty blue prints she developed on climate change mitigation and adaptation in Nigeria. The environment is too serious an issue to be left at the periphery of decision-making. Climate change should not be viewed as a threat alone, it is also a great economic opportunity for Nigeria to develop a green economy that encourages new jobs in recycling, waste management, green buildings and clean transportation. We can get there. We only need to start first.

How can you assess Nigeria’s readiness to achieve the SDGs?
As you rightly noted, on September 25, 2015, countries, including Nigeria, adopted a set of targets and goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all, over the next 15 years. In other words, by the year 2030, the plan is that our world will be on the path of comparable and holistic social, economic and environmental development.

For these ambitious goals to be reached, we must ask, how can we avoid the same pitfalls and mistakes that made it impossible for us to attain the MDGs that expired in 2015. Everyone needs to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and people like you and I, to avoid the same false start. As of today, Nigeria has not done much to correct the same pitfalls, which centre on lack of sustained governmental action to pursue the sustainable development agenda.

By attaining the rank of full professor of law in 2015 at the age of 32, you became one of the youngest law professors in Nigeria, what are the challenges you faced in achieving that feat?
Well, I am humbled and honoured to follow the remarkable path of Nigeria’s current Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo. SAN who I understand also attained full professorship at the age of 33. I am very fortunate to have tapped into the visions of the President and Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, OFR, LL.D, CON, who is well known to be one of the most successful lawyers in Nigeria’s history and a leading advocate for university reform. Working closely with him challenged me to be the best in my teaching and research. Babalola’s accomplishments, from very humble beginnings, is enough motivation for every one associated with ABUAD to push for the greatest heights, break existing records and set new ones. The university and college of law provided the right atmosphere and resources for me to achieve this feat. Without the support and best wishes of everyone, ranging from the president and founder of the university, to the senior management of the university, the DVC and provost of the College of Law, Professor Smaranda Olarinde, to my head of department, and my students, this attainment would have been highly impossible. I faced no barrier; all I saw was motivation, encouragements and opportunities.

You are an alumnus of the Harvard and Oxford University, how did you achieve these?
I owe these achievements to the divine grace of God. How else could a young lad from Igbajo, Osun State, end up at these famous institutions? After achieving first class honours from the university, and another first class from the Nigerian Law School, I was double charged to follow the paths of the likes of ILA President, Professor Fidelis Oditah, QC, SAN who after making first class degrees from UNILAG and the Law School, also got scholarships to study at Oxford. Luckily, I was still at the Law School when I received a full scholarship from the Government of Canada to pursue LL.M in energy law at the University of Calgary in Canada.

From Calgary, I received another full scholarship to go to Harvard University for another LL.M, and while still at Harvard, I received the prestigious Clarendon Scholarship and the Queen’s Overseas Research Scholarship to study for a PhD at Oxford University. After this, I was called to the bar in Canada and then practiced energy law at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada for a while. This is a remarkable story of divine grace from God. Having received so much support and mentoring from institutions abroad, what I have done with my career so far is to utilise these knowledge to serve my nation and to motivate young and upcoming lawyers.

You have been recently shortlisted for by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) for the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria under the academic category. Do you intend to set up a law practice soon to mentor young lawyers?
I am very humbled and honoured to have been shortlisted for the SAN award. It is also a positive reinforcement for young academics and scholars that with hard work and diligence, recognition will come some day. But as you know, the SAN award is a privilege, not a right. While I have earnest hope for a successful final outcome, I would not like to think just too far yet about next steps. I like to take it one step at a time. To have been shortlisted is a great attestation to the integrity and transparency of the process, let us wait and see what follows.

What is your advice for students?
As I tell my students, a great lawyer knows a little about everything. My advice for them is that they should take the opportunities of being students to learn more about everything: politics, sports, music, current affairs, society, language, religion and of course law. Push the boundaries by reading more from books, newspapers, law reports, and every other available material on the subject in the library. Such mental curiosity and desire to know more is the secret of success in this profession, whether as a practicing lawyer, legal academic, university administrator or even politician. As Thomas Huxley once remarked, a good student “Tries to learn something about everything and everything about something.”

Source : Yetunde Ayobami via The Guardian

Breaking Free from Fossil Fuels, Nigeria's Best Friend

“The argument is over. Anyone that doesn’t believe that climate change is happening doesn’t believe in science.”

— Leonardo DiCaprio (Actor, Activist, U.N. Messenger of Peace)

Solemnly, global warming, a cause of climate change, is one of the most important issues facing all of humanity today. Many environmentalists and climate scientists are of the opinion that the rise and proliferation of large scale industries in First World countries blew up the issue of global warming. Today, the significant effects of this industrialization on climate systems and patterns have swayed more towards less developed countries: changing weather patterns, rising sea level, more extreme weather events, and disruption of national economies and lives! Nigeria comes into this global problem at this point - a truth that can not be disputed. Hence, there is a dire need for the Republic of Nigeria to take sustainable actions, to move to a low carbon economy amongst other things.

The Nigerian society has been in an age long, paradoxical relationship with fossil fuels: this energy resources the nation while the ecosystem is damaged. Still, they remain best friends. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources occurring in three (3), major forms; coal, oil or petroleum, and natural gas. On the history of energy sources in Nigeria, Olayinka explains:

Imported coal was first used in 1896, but it was not discovered in Nigeria until 1909 and was first produced in 1916. Although oil exploration started in 1901, it was first discovered in commercial quantity in 1956 and produced in 1958. Oil thereafter took over the energy scene from coal until 1969, when hydro energy was first produced.[1]

It would not be right if I completely paint Nigeria in a bad light with regards to environmental sustainability. Interestingly, 16% of the total energy in Nigeria comes from fossil fuel, and another 1% of it is generated from hydropower. The rest comes from waste and biomass.[2]

This is a good indicator, somewhat; it shows that dependency on fossil fuels have reduced - a step in the process of finally breaking free from them. However, the use of alternative and most importantly, renewable energy sources, is still deficient. As Oliver Twist asks for more, I am asking that more be done, that the Nigerian energy sector completely break free from fossil fuels, and prioritize generating solar and hydro energy. This would be a leapfrog to a cleaner, more resilient economy. I do this with the planet and people in mind.

Some individuals suggest that since fossils fuels are easily available and sourced, the nation should continue harnessing energy from them. I do not stand with this opinion. They must be reminded of the exponential increase in population which has increased the consumption of energy: the stock of fossil fuels has become limited, fast approaching its end. Others might raise issues of low cost and simplicity of harnessing energy from these fuels. Considering the serious health hazards and risk of air pollution – in the short and long term - associated with the combustion of fossil fuels, would it be humane and justifiable to put financial objectives before securing human life?'.

The US solar industry now employs three times more workers than coal mining or oil extraction.[3] Wow! Job creation is also a proof renewable energy generation. The Federal budget should support renewable energy instead of subsidizing the oil industry. Nigeria can completely break free from fossil fuels!

Sources:

1. Ogunsola O.I. (1990, 2007). History of Energy Sources and their Utilization in Nigeria, Energy Sources, 12 (2), p. 181. 

2. "Nigeria: Overview". U.S. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved 8 April 2016

3. Climate Council

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher Oghenekevwe Oghenechovwen , a B.Tech student of Meteorology and Climate Science (FUTA), is a decolonized African, environmentalist and ready volunteer. He is 2013 Citizenship and Leadership Certified by CLTC, Nigerian Federal Ministry of Youth Development, a 2015 UNESCO & Athabasca University student on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue, 2015 Senior Category Gold Winner of The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition, and youth correspondent at yourcommonwealth.org . His growing passions lie within the circle of Climate Action, Media and Information, IT, Youth Education and Leadership. Apart from volunteering with Earthplus, The Green Campus Initiative, and doing creative writing, Oghenekevwe loves to connect with people. Invite him for a healthy conversation via chrischovwen@gmail.com

Diverse Opinions: Is Nigeria Really Green?

Before finally putting the threads of this article together, I wondered for a while on how the Nigerian public might respond if they were asked ‘is Nigeria really green’? 

Since, I cannot conduct a poll to answer this question, let us look at some narratives on Nigeria's eco sustainability as it relates to air, land, and water 

First, is the issue of gas flaring. Gas, a major cause of human and environmental health issues in the Niger Delta, has been flared in Nigeria since the 1950's.

When crude oil is extracted from onshore and offshore oil wells, it brings with it raw natural gas (eg CO2) to the surface. In Nigeria, a vast amount of this is burned directly into the atmosphere, resulting in the acidification of waterways and rainfall. This in turn damages vegetation, insect and animal life. Its effects are also associated with cancer, neurological defects, deformities in children, lung damage and skin problems. 

Many oil and gas companies argue that as transportation, pipelines and infrastructure are lacking, flaring gas as a waste product is the cheapest option. I see this argument as both uncivil and inhumane! What possible justification can be given for directly or indirectly causing life-threatening hazards? Financial implications? 

The best the federal government and Minister of Petroleum Resources have been doing since 1984 is to grant written permission to these companies to slowly kill our air, and   penalize with a fine, other companies that destroy our waterways, without giving them prior notice. Financial implications again! Over the years, they have forgotten that alternative options exist, for example, using this so called waste products as materials for the synthesis and production of plastics.

To be considered also are the present plights of the people of  Oloibiri (Bayelsa State) and Ogoni Kingdom (Rivers State) - I do remember them most solemnly. These are areas that have undergone devastating environmental degradation: presence of oil blowouts, spillages, oil slicks, and general pollution. Once rich rivers have become empty; fish, if any remain, die in their waters. Same is the case on the already infertile lands; rabbits  now hide in their burrows. Yet many cry, 'there is black gold, oil enriches'. How sad! Is it the oil that cannot be used by the Ogonis to anoint their foreheads, or the oil that the people of Oloibiri cannot use to fry their stew?

Do not get me wrong at this stage, I am not out for the oil companies, or negatively inclined. I just think that the above narratives have a voice- and this matters.

Of course, Nigeria and her federal government had taken some quite remarkable steps in promoting Climate Action and environmental sustainability, over the last few years. Key examples are the Great Green Wall Project, Nigeria Erosion Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), Climate Change Department, and the proposed Global Climate Change Commission.

At the end, the answer to the question lies with us. 

Is Nigeria really green?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher Oghenekevwe Oghenechovwen , a B.Tech student of Meteorology and Climate Science (FUTA), is a decolonized African, environmentalist and ready volunteer. He is 2013 Citizenship and Leadership Certified by CLTC, Nigerian Federal Ministry of Youth Development, a 2015 UNESCO & Athabasca University student on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue, 2015 Senior Category Gold Winner of The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition, and youth correspondent at yourcommonwealth.org . His growing passions lie within the circle of Climate Action, Media and Information, IT, Youth Education and Leadership. Apart from volunteering with Earthplus, The Green Campus Initiative, and doing creative writing, Oghenekevwe loves to connect with people. Invite him for a healthy conversation via chrischovwen@gmail.com

REPOST: The Childless Woman (Spoken Word for the World)

In one of his thought provoking post on facebook, he wrote ‘Think Global Even When You Live Local’. Olayinka Ojo is undoubtedly one of the young promising Nigerian youths who believes geographical location is not a barrier to global impact. Based in the ancient city of Ondo, he rose to global prominence when he made it to the top 8 Spoken Word Artist in the world, who by their art is inspiring the world to take action on climate change.

In lieu of signing the climate change agreement in Paris, the United Nations asked poets all around the world to submit a poem for the Spoken Word For The World Competition. Olayinka Ojo made it as the only African to rank among the top 8.  His metaphoric expressions and futuristic projections will make anyone an addict to his poems. Because of his passion and belief in poetry as a tool for social change, he started the Purpose Driven Poets Movement, 12 seasoned poets who are committed to changing the world with their art. In search for these poets, he organised a spoken word audition that took place in Ondo Kingdom which received a lot of response.

He is working hand in hand with the Green Institute which was founded by an Ondo born woman, Adenike Akinsemolu in advocating for a green Nigeria. Visit www.greenthecampus.org, Olayinka Ojo is also a seasoned photographer whose works speaks volume, he is the convener of the Ondo 10hours photography seminar and workshop.He also co-anchors a radio program with Adenike on dexterity radio(south Africa) titled ‘Let’s go Green. Though he is not an environmentalist by certificate, he is undoubtedly wired with an environmental sense. He believes in humanity before the society, hence the reason for his global mentality. More of Olayinka Ojo’s work will in no time inspire the world. Don’t watch him, join in him in the process of changing the world in your own little way.

Article Source: Ekimogun Mirror

Green 101: The Three R's

We are at a critical juncture in shaping the future of this planet in terms of how we interact with its limited resources. Future generations will look back and either laud us for what we did, or chastise us for what we failed to do. Climate change is real. More importantly, we are increasingly more responsible for it. It’s not all gloom and doom though. There are things that we can still do to curb the debilitating effects of climate change. I fully recognize that we are limited in initiating a macro-level change in how we interact with our environment (that would have to come from the top of the pyramid), but there are little things that we can do to impact our local environments and hopefully inspire others in the community to do the same.

The Three R’s are often evoked in environmentalism. By doing our minimal best to follow these three principles, we can in some capacity impact our environment for the betterment of future generations.

REDUCE:

You’ve probably heard the phrase “man is an insatiable animal” in your economics class. It’s true and often, that insatiable nature leads to waste. Most people have no clue how much food and other resources they waste every day (really, check your local landfills to fully grasp this!). The problem then is that when these resources break down, they turn into harmful gases which then contribute to climate change. By buying less food and having a strict regimen for your menu, you can make a big difference to the environment. Be resourceful. Don’t immediately throw food products away simple based on the expiration label. Most of those dates are guesstimates and most products are still viable long after that. Also, donate foods you plan not to eat, freeze your vegetables and fruits, and when you do go the supermarket, try walking or riding a bicycle if you can.

REUSE

Reusing resources makes economic sense. It also has a lot of environmental benefits. Instead of throwing away your old materials, simply pass it on. Remember “one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure”. Do your best to reuse disposable cups and dishes after parties as opposed to throwing them away. Donate your clothes to charity or hand them down to your younger siblings and relatives (granted, they are sure to hate this idea). Again, be resourceful. Try finding new ways to use old products. And lastly, engage the community. You could try to collectively host a communal yard sale. Not only would this create a market for used products, you have the added benefit of bringing the community together for a justifiable cause.

RECYCLE

Recycle, recycle, and recycle. Don’t throw everything you use in the trash. Most products can usually be remade into the same thing or a similar product. In fact, most companies would even appreciate this as it reduces the cost of production. Do your best to buy products made from recycled materials. That sends a message to manufacturers that there is a market for such goods. Try to engage the community in a recycling drive to stress the importance of recycling. Label trash cans and recycling bins to make people more aware. You’ll be surprised how big these little efforts make. Materials that can be recycled include aluminum cans, cardboard papers, electronic equipment, glass, magazines, metal, newspapers, etc. Try to find resources with a comprehensive list of recyclable materials; you’ll be surprised at how much materials are needlessly wasted.

Notice how all these three distinct principle share a common theme. They all include efforts by YOU. Choosing to be a more responsible and environmentally conscious citizen solely relies on you acting- on you changing your habits. Curbing climate change is a communal effort. Try to involve your friends and relatives. Build a community out of it and be a force for change in your community. In the meantime, please follow the Green Institute on Facebook and check back regularly to keep up to date on the ever evolving world of Greening.