How to Transform UN’s Environmental Goals into a People’s Agenda for Africa By Dr Olukoya Obafemi

Dr Olukoya Obafemi is a Researcher, Brandenburg Technical University, Institute of Graduate Research: Heritage Studies. He is also affiliated with The Green Institute, Ondo, Nigeria. 
 
The UN will commemorate World Environment Day 2020 on Friday June 5

Responding to Climate Change. Credit UNEP

BRANDENBURG, Germany, Jun 3 2020 (IPS) - The COVID-19 insurgence has highlighted the need for multilateral cooperation among sustainability stakeholders. As the journey towards achieving Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is fraught with imminent global challenges, global environmental leaders agree that now is the time to act collectively for nature, leaving no one behind.

The shortage of sustainability knowledge in Africa is particularly appalling, and it seems the continent is oblivious to the world’s agenda. This is evident through the data-based analysis of Africa’s lack of progress towards achieving sustainability.

In response, Dr. Adenike Akinsemolu, educator, sustainability advocate, academic associate with SDSN, and a scientific committee member of the 2018 ICSD at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, swung into action.

She founded The Green Institute, a sustainability education organization in Nigeria, and authored an indigenous sustainability text, The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science (Springer, 2020).

The Green Institute confronted this challenge in Africa through the instrumentality of home-based solutions of education, innovation, and advocacy. One pertinent question arose and resonated with Dr. Akinsemolu all through her efforts towards bridging the knowledge gap of sustainability in Africa.

How can we bring the Agenda of Sustainability to indeed become the people’s Agenda in Nigeria and Africa? Having entered a new decade, unless Africa embraces a virtuous cycle of sustainability, she will decline in a vicious cycle of poverty, social injustice, and environmental degradation.

To change this, her organization went further by organizing a virtual summit aimed to mobilize sustainability leaders to share their expertise in the face of a global pandemic.

On June 5, 2020, the Green Institute, in collaboration with Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Qatar Foundation), will host Jeffrey Sachs (SDSN) and over 25 renowned sustainability experts from across the globe, at a virtual symposium Time #ForNature for World Environment Day, a United Nations awareness campaign for environmental protection, held annually since 1974.

Unsustainable agriculture practices are taking an incalculable toll on biodiversity. Credit: FAO/Giulio Napolitano

This hallmark event organized by a sustainability organization is a confluence of sustainability leaders in various fields endeavored at assembling individuals and organizations towards achieving sustainable development in Africa and beyond.

Armed with a plethora of speakers, the virtual symposium incorporates diverse fields of human endeavors ranging from sciences to arts, botany to engineering, health to et cetera.

The virtual symposium is also launching the indigenous sustainability text titled The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science, authored by Dr. Adenike Akinsemolu. “Everyday anthropogenic activities are responsible for the problems of our planet, and there is a need to salvage the situation through creativity, innovation, and critical thinking,” Dr. Akinsemolu stresses in her book.

She offers a detailed and step-by-step guide to understanding sustainability and discusses best practices to establish a more harmonious and balanced approach to living. In the words of Prof. Marc A. Rosen (Ontario Tech University), “The book enriches a global movement while highlighting efforts in Africa.”

Alongside the author is world-renowned sustainability leader Prof. Jeffrey Sachs who will be speaking on Building Resilient Health Structures to Combat Novel Diseases: A Case of COVID-19.

Sachs was twice named as Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders and was ranked by The Economist among the top three most influential living economists.

Among the topics discussed at the summit are biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, sustainable building, urban innovation, minimal living, eco-feminism, waste management, renewable energy and others.

Over a century of civilization, humans have founded and established values that regulate human societal behaviors. With a new sustainable agenda spanning for the next decade, Dr. M. Evren Tok will explain the impacts of values and morality in sustainable development.

As the Associate Professor at the College of Islamic Studies (CIS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Qatar Foundation), the Assistant Dean for Innovation and Community Development and Lead Project Investigator for a Qatar National Research Priorities Program on Localizing Entrepreneurship Education in Qatar, Dr. Tok has extensive experience in building disruptive mechanisms in education and learning in post-graduate studies.

He is the founder of the first MakerSpace in Qatar Foundation, built around the concept of Green Economies, Social Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.

The development of the world economy has consistently been at loggerheads with the environment. How can we simultaneously achieve economic growth and environmental wellbeing? Prof. Marc Rosen, Prof. Manfred Max Bergman (University of Basel), and Samson Ogbole (Farm Lab) strongly argue that both the environment and the economy could thrive simultaneously.

One of the essential directions for ensuring a shift in progress towards Agenda is education. The right to education is a fundamental human right that every nation aspires to fulfill. In an age of sustainability, what changes to our educational system are pivotal towards achieving sustainable development?

Ruba Hinnawi (Qatar Green Building Council) and Noah Martin (Georgetown University) will discuss the educational transformation that must occur if we are to transition towards sustainable development. The visual artist Data Oruwari will reveal the role that arts play towards achieving sustainability.

As the saying goes, “One is too small a number to achieve greatness.” The Green Institute has partnered with various international organizations that share the same commitment towards achieving sustainable development.

Organizations such as the Hamad Bin Khalifa University (a member of Qatar Foundation) and the Sustainable Solutions Development Network have been instrumental towards the success of The Green Institute.

The Nigerian organization behind the global summit believes that although SDG 17 is the last of the SDGs, it is by no means the least.

Ironically, it serves as an overarching framework for the successful implementation of the remaining 16 goals. To this end, The Green Institute continually extends its hand of partnership to collaborate with other organizations in achieving sustainable development.

The participating organizations include the UNEP, UNDP, Qatar Green Building Council, Qur’anic Botanic Garden, Farm Lab, Human Future, Springer Nature, Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, University of Basel, the Open University UK, TerraCycle, Design Future(s) Initiative of Georgetown University, United Nations Development Program, and the Green Maasai Troupe Doha Qatar.

For more information, full schedule and registration: www.greeninstitute.ng/wed2020

Restore Fundamental Human Dignity And See Attitudinal Change Towards Environmental Issues — Akinsemolu

Restore fundamental human dignity and see the attitudinal change towards environmental issues, is a profound statement made by ADENIKE AKINSEMOLU, the founder of Green Institute, a sustainability research and education institution, in this interview by PAUL OMOROGBE. She also speaks about making waste management in Nigeria effective, funding education from recycling and other issues.

There are quite a number of institutes in Nigeria teaching environmental studies. Why was yours set up?

Environmental studies could be seen as an autonomous discipline, yet to get the best out of it, a multidisciplinary approach must be applied. The environment exists as a component of society, together with other components, including people, animals, plants, microorganisms, and the economy. The Green Institute teaches the environment in conjunction with these components in the context of sustainability. As a social enterprise, The Green Institute outlines the benefits of sustainability education, which has the environment as a fundamental tenet. Sustainability education should lead to measures geared towards the adoption of the knowledge, skills, activities, and attributes necessary to use resources in a way that does not compromise future generations. This is what is meant by going green, the motivation for the Green Institute. Fueled by this motivation, the Green Institute deploys education and resources to empower people, drive innovation, and build resilient communities.

You recently held a World Environment Day event with several international speakers. What was the main take away from that event for you?

Global challenges like the coronavirus pandemic are real and should not be seen from a nationalistic perspective. While the coronavirus reminds us how fragile and unprepared we might be, the efforts deployed on a daily basis serve as a reminder of what we’re capable of when we work together towards a common goal. We must act together in solidarity #ForNature. There is mostly consensus on the need to develop proactive measures to protect and preserve the planet’s finite resources. This level of agreement on anything is rare, and we must not waste this opportunity to work together to solve our greatest problem(s).

Education leads to informed choices. Therefore, the epistemic community has a leading role in educating civil society and influencing government policies on sustainability. We can’t continue to stare at each other as the world burns. But action requires change, and change requires proper education, and this process must start now.

How has teaching on environmental matters been in a country where basic survival is foremost on people’s minds?

It’s been onerous. We can’t talk about environmental matters without ‘Going Green.’ You see, Going Green doesn’t come to us naturally as humans today as it once did. Today, it is a new and complex way of thinking. You are familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He arranges human needs in a pyramid from most basic and necessary at the bottom to more complex and life-fulfilling at the top.  The need for food and shelter comes first, then the need for love, relationships, and lastly, self-actualisation. Going Green falls under self-actualisation. When we have provided for ourselves all of life’s necessities, we put our energy toward leaving a legacy and doing something great. Some would argue that Nigerian society is at the basic level of this hierarchy. Hence, the urgency to eradicate extreme poverty in a country like Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. People are less likely to respond to environmental matters when the struggle between life and death is a daily occurrence. Restore fundamental human dignity and see the attitudinal change towards environmental issues. Though the journey to collective self-actualisation seems daunting, The Green Institute more than ever is propitious and confronting this issue by fixing her gaze on the youths. Despite survival challenges, the Strength, Energy, and Enthusiasm (SEE) of the youth cannot be underestimated. It is this ‘SEE’ that The Green Institute leverages on to give eco-vision and chart a promising course of sustainable development to the youth. We must think and act to self-actualise our aspirations.

Why should studying the environment be a priority for young people?

Young people are tomorrow’s leaders. The lessons from previous generations on environmental degradation cannot be overlooked. Aside from being custodians of the environment, youths should understand the imminent threat of climate change on their collective futures. To manage what is unavoidable (adaptation) and avoid what is unmanageable (mitigation), youths must prioritise environmental studies as fundamental to their education.

One of our goals is to change the attitudes of young people towards their environment. To achieve this, we have to start from childhood. We have to teach kids to be ‘eco-conscious’. In this time of gadgets and social media, kids are no longer kids; they are always online. Let kids go outside to play, to read, to discover new things. Let nature inspire them to create, to innovate. Let them feel the sun on their faces and count the stars at night. As a matter of fact, a recent study conducted by the Green Institute shows that kids that spend more time in nature are usually healthier and happier.

How has paying for studies from the proceeds of waste management work for your institute?

The Trash for Education initiative, as an innovation of The Green Institute, strives to simultaneously reduce waste and provide basic sustainability education for participants. Though a daunting innovation, Trash for Education has proven to be workable and scalable. The Green Institute has brought about the inclusiveness of locals by providing educational materials for students in the community. Moreover, the reduction of plastic wastes and scrap tyres in the community is a huge milestone of this initiative. These plastics and tyres are upcycled into other meaningful products with economic value. For example, the scrap tyres are used in making furniture that provides similar comfort to new furniture made from raw materials. Although still in its early stages, the Trash for Education initiative shows the propensity to drive social impact and generate returns from impact investing.

What’s missing in Nigeria’s approach to waste management?

Behavioral change. According to ‘The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science’, “the global technology revolution will transform the way people think regarding waste management.”   Until we change our thinking towards waste management, our behaviors will remain indifferent. We are yet to fully grasp and appreciate the dynamics of waste management. This is a typical scenario where benefits far outweigh the cost, but people are unable to see it due to behavioral indifference. When we become conscious of reducing waste from kitchens to households, and on the streets, it is only then they will realise the health, environmental and economic benefits of waste management.

The Earth’s Littlest Creatures That Play a Big Role in the Environment By Johanna Read

Don't let their size fool you: These creatures may be tiny, but they're certainly mighty!

FLORINTT/GETTY IMAGES

Small wonders

Humans often forget just how interconnected the world is—and just how much we rely on the work of animals to keep it healthy and buzzing along. As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. Still, when we do think about it, it’s pretty easy to see the effects that certain larger animals have on the environment. When beavers build dams, for example, they change the flow of rivers. But even the smallest creatures can make big changes and contributions, and without them, the world would be a very different place. Here are some of tiniest ones on the planet and the essential roles they play. When you’re up to speed, check out some of the biggest living animals in the world.the biggest living animals in the world.

FRUTTIPICS/GETTY IMAGES

Tardigrades

You may have first heard about tardigrades from Star Trek, with the USS Discovery using one of these creatures to jump through time and space. But tardigrades aren’t science fiction. The real ones, however, are rarely more than a millimeter in size. Live Science describes how tardigrades look a little like fat bears or piglets—hence their nicknames of “water bears” or “moss piglets”—except they have eight legs and a round telescoping mouth. National Geographic says there are about 1,300 different species of them, and they live everywhere from sand dunes to deep in the ocean. They can even live in the vacuum of space (but, as far as we know, can’t help spaceships fly). Tardigrades hold the title of the most indestructible species on the planet, but they need a layer of water around them to thrive or they’ll go into a kind of hibernation mode; this is why their preferred homes are mosses and lichens.

So, why are these tiny creatures such a big deal? Tardigrades are useful for the ecosystem because they’re a pioneer species, meaning they’re often the first creatures to inhabit an environment. They can survive where other multicellular organisms can’t, like in the deep seas or in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. They create carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, essential building blocks of life, and therefore attract microscopic animals and plants, which eventually become part of the food chain for larger animals. Scientists think tardigrades will play an important role as the Arctic’s permafrost melts and could even pave the way for colonizing Mars. They might also help researchers learn how to extend human life in extreme circumstances. Powerful and cute!

SCUBALUNA/GETTY IMAGES

Coral polyps

Coral polyps, small translucent creatures related to sea anemones and jellyfish, are essential components of coral reefs. They’re soft on top like jellies and anemones, but they have a hard skeleton made of limestone at their base, says zoologist Matthew Oldfield, cofounder of ZuBlu Diving in Asia. “As each polyp grows, it splits, budding off a clone of itself again and again,” he explains. Weirdly, coral polyps secrete their own skeletons, which are made of calcium carbonate. The skeletons protect the coral polyps from predators, plus give other polyps a hard place to attach themselves and grow. Eventually, a colony of genetically identical polyps creates a coral reef.

Healthy coral reefs protect shorelines from storms and are an important place for young fish, which eventually form part of the food chain. According to National Geographic, coral reefs provide support to 25 percent of all marine creatures, though the reefs cover less than one percent of the entire floor of the ocean. But reefs are under threat from ocean warming and pollution, which could seriously harm underwater ecosystems. Don’t miss these powerful photos that show why oceans still need our help.

DEBRALEE WISEBERG/GETTY IMAGES

Butterflies

All butterflies are excellent pollinators, including the tiniest among them: the Western pygmy blue, which has a wingspan of no more than three-quarters of an inch. Pollination is essential to maintaining our food supply, and in fact, one-third of the food humans eat relies on pollinators like butterflies, according to Sciencing. Some butterfly species help us further by eating tiny aphids, the garden pests that like to destroy many of our crops. Creating the conditions to attract and support some types of butterflies is an environmentally friendly way to keep aphids at bay.

K_THALHOFER/GETTY IMAGES

Bees

Bees are another essential pollinator, and our food—including coffee!—is at risk because of the decline in bee populations from pesticides, climate change, and habitat loss. Honeybees are one essential species, but bees of all kinds are important to the world, and we’re learning new ways they can help us all the time. Mental Floss reports, for example, that a substance that bees use to create their hives, called propolis, has been effective in relieving human ailments like cold sores, cavities, and eczema.

Another weird bee fact: Bees have helped humans find abandoned landmines and identify toxic chemical spills. How? According to Nature Physics, trainers can actually teach bees to associate the smell of TNT and specific chemicals with food. Lasers are then used to track the parts of a potential minefield that the bees spend more time at. Because bees are so light, they can identify mines that might have gone off if a dog or rat was used to sniff them out. Find out some things we can do every day to help honeybees.

APISITWILAIJIT/GETTY IMAGES

Termites

While you don’t want termites near your house, these bugs do provide a very useful service in the forest: They eat decomposing leaves and other plant matter. Plus, the soil from termite mounds is rich in nutrients, and farmers use it as fertilizer. In fact, using termite soil on farms can increase crop yield by 300 percent, according to environmental microbiologist Adenike A. Akinsemolu, founder of The Green Institute and author of The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science.

Akinsemolu also says that termites are an inspiration to human architects. For example, termites inspired the design of the Eastgate Centre in Harare, the largest office and shopping complex in Zimbabwe. Rather than using conventional air conditioning, she explains, the architect used “biomimicry principles” so that the building’s environment could be regulated naturally, much like a termite mound. Termites might be quite proud of that fact, but here are 13 secrets termites don’t want you to know.

BILLBERRYPHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES

Hummingbirds

Unlike termites, it is nice to have hummingbirds around your house. They’re one of the smallest birds in the world. The tiniest, the Cuban bee hummingbird, weighs less than a dime and is only about two inches long. Despite their diminutive size, hummingbirds are powerful—they can hover in place, fly backwards, and fly at elevations where there’s almost no oxygen. That’s especially important when it comes to maintaining certain ecosystems. Science Nordic says that many plants rely on hummingbirds for pollination, especially in lowland rainforests and cloud forests, where flying insects like bees have trouble with the rain. And that’s not all: Because each hummingbird is adapted to drink from a specific flower, it’s thought that they’re an important part of plant biodiversity, too. Here are another 19 facts about hummingbirds you probably never knew.

IPGGUTENBERGUKLTD/GETTY IMAGES

Frogs

Frogs help us by keeping insect populations in check. Like canaries in coal mines, they can also indicate to scientists when water quality is poor. If their environment isn’t healthy, they will change their habits, leave ponds and streams, stop reproducing, get sick, and sometimes die. And, like many little animals, frogs are important for providing food for bigger animals. Birds; snakes; fish; and mammals like raccoons, otters, and foxes eat frogs. Some carnivorous frogs even eat other frogs!

Did you know that not all toads are frogs, but all frogs are toads? That’s one of these 10 interesting animal distinctions you probably get confused. Also, we bet you didn’t know that frogs have teeth but toads don’t!

TONAQUATIC/GETTY IMAGES

Plankton

Plankton is the name we give to all the tiny organisms (both plants and animals) that float in currents but aren’t able to propel themselves. An individual plankton organism is called a plankter. If you think whales are cool, give plankton a big thank you because huge baleen whales eat tiny plankton almost exclusively. If we didn’t have plankton, many animals throughout the food chain would starve. “The biodiversity of our planet is disproportionately enriched by small animals,” says Richard Smith, PhD, a marine biologist, conservationist, and author of The World Beneath.

Plankton also help break down organic material in the water, which creates both food for other organisms and oxygen for the entire planet. In fact, phytoplankton are responsible for creating about 70 percent of the world’s oxygen, reports National Geographic. One type of plankton, called prochlorococcus, is so small that there are millions of them in a single drop of water. Discover another 13 fascinating facts about the world’s oceans.

PUMPPUMP/GETTY IMAGES

Ants

Ants are the janitors of the forest, cleaning up dead stuff and making way for new life. They sometimes help spread seeds to grow new plants, too. When ants build tunnels in the soil, they aerate it and recirculate nutrients essential for plant growth. Ants are also social animals, notes Olav Rueppell, PhD, a biology professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “Social insects such as honey bees, wasps, ants, and termites not only provide many essential services by pollinating what we eat, preying on pests, and decomposing what we throw away, but also show us the power of cooperation and altruism,” he explains. Learn the truth about these  27 “facts” about animals that you have all wrong.

NOPADOL UENGBUNCHOO/GETTY IMAGES

Snails and slugs

There are all sorts of snails and slugs, some ugly (we mean you, banana slug), some kind of cute, and some just weird (check out this snail that creates its own shell of iron). But these creatures, like millipedes, worms, flies, woodlice, and even lobsters, are detritivores. That means they eat detritus, or organic waste composed of dead plants and animals. We know, it’s not the most appetizing thing in the world, but it’s incredibly important, notes chemical ecologist Heidi Appel, PhD, dean of the University of Toledo Jesup Scott Honors College and a professor of environmental science. “Tiny animals like detritivores make our lives possible,” she explains, as they recycle nutrients in the circle of life. “[Plus], without them, we’d be buried in dead stuff and starved for nutrients.” So while slugs might give you the creepy-crawlies, life would be even grosser without them. If you’re feeling inadequate compared to these creatures, find out some little things you can do every day to help the environment.

SIMON LINDLEY / EYEEM/GETTY IMAGES

Caddisflies

There are about 7,100 different species of caddisfly around the world, about 1,340 of them in North America. They’re usually found in lakes, ponds, and rivers, and the largest are only about one inch long. Think of the caddisfly as a water spider. In their larval stage, they produce nets of sticky silk to help them catch tiny particles of food that move through the water they live in. Their dinner preparations benefit the river by preventing the river gravel from flowing away downstream, which, in turn, reduces erosion. So maybe give the caddisfly a nod of thanks next time you take a walk by a beautiful river.

ROLF NUSSBAUMER/GETTY IMAGES

Lesser long-nosed bat

The three-inch-long lesser long-nosed bat spends its winters in Mexico and its summers in states like Arizona and New Mexico. They were declared endangered in 1988, but efforts to protect them were effective. In 2018, they became the first bat to be removed from the United States list of endangered species—not because they became extinct but because their numbers had improved. But now, their populations are decreasing again, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed them as “Near Threatened.”

Why are these little bats so important? They pollinate a lot of plants, and they’re vital for pollinating blue agave, the plant that gives us tequila. So, the next time you have a margarita, give a toast to the lesser long-nosed bat and all these tiny creatures that help the environment. Next, learn about more incredible animals that came back from the brink of extinction.

Noah Martin on World Environment Day, 2020: Teaching Ecology Beyond the Classroom: Unlearning the way we learn to relearn how we’re Suppose to

---

Noah Martin a double Georgetown University graduate speaks on Teaching Ecology beyond the Classroom: Unlearning the way we learn to relearn how we're suppose...

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Noah Martin is a double Georgetown University graduate completing a bachelor's degree in the Biology of Global Health and a Master's degree in Learning, Design, and Technology. Noah is the founder and creative director of FM-31.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Caleb is an environmental and energy lawyer with Templars. He is the founder and team lead at Earthplus, an environmental nonprofit organization delivering sustainable environmental solutions across Africa.

---

Q & A

Caleb Adebayo: With the rampage of the current pandemic, do you think it is time to transform our traditional learning modules? If so, how can we leverage technology to bring about impactful learning accessible to everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status?

Noah Martin: I think it is time to ask to rethink how we learn, how university, school rethink the way that we learn to try something different because we really need to rethink how we do education and learn an online platform. Tech is useful in extending access so as engage with your student more. You need to meet students and learners where they are in the process through the experience of engaging. This is one of the principles of learning core.

Caleb Adebayo: Ecology is among the oldest sciences of nature. What incentives are formulated to stir up the interests of the younger generation to become ecologists amidst competing career courses?

Noah Martin: It’s a problem that is not going to go away overnight and is going to be used in context for everybody engaging over the course of generation to come and getting younger generation to get on board with this, engage with this, getting the meaning and a lot of access to this is very important.

One of the ways to go about this is by trying to make sure that institutions of higher education align the work that they do specifically to the work of ecology and broaden the sustainability efforts. It’s important and necessary to centralize those giant global challenges in a central experience of a student going to university or college so that they can align and engage at some point in a meaningful way around the question of ecology and sustainability. Therefore, making sure higher institution educations are incorporating it in everything that they do is crucial. One of the ways to do this is to make sure when we teach about climate change, ecology, we should do it in a way that is multidisciplinary and this put ecology in all the path of the people in all this disciplines. So thinking of ecology as it relates to all other discipline helps especially in the hope of trying to get people to engage in.

---

Quotes

“we no longer have to convey the urgency (to change how we learn) to everyone…we need to build technology on a sense of community.”

— Noah Martin

“the role of ecology in climate change should be front and center in policy decision.”

— Noah Martin

---

Top Comments

Great session- T.D Roke

FURTHER READING

Brito, Rosa & Rodríguez, Columba & Aparicio López, José. (2018). Sustainability in Teaching: An Evaluation of University Teachers and Students. Sustainability (Switzerland).

Harte, Michael. (1995). Ecology, sustainability, and environment as capital. Ecological Economics.

---

Eve de la Mothe Karoubi on World Environment Day, 2020: SDG Progress in Africa

Eve de la Mothe Karoubi, a Senior Manager for the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network speaks on SDG progress in Africa on World Environment Day 2020.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Eve de la Mothe Karoubi is a Senior Manager for the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Previously, she worked for the OECD on capacity building in developing and emerging economies.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Caleb is an environmental and energy lawyer (Templars) and the founder and team lead (Earthplus) an environmental nonprofit organization delivering sustainable environmental solutions across Africa.

---

PRESENTATION

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Caleb Adebayo: With only ten years to the deadline of Agenda 2030, can you boldly say that Africa is on track towards achieving sustainable development? Give reasons for your answer.

Eve de la Mothe Karoubi: Sure yes, I actually had a few slides to share that can illustrate and support exactly what I'm saying. Essentially Africa is not on track to achieve the SDGs by 2030 not by a long shot. But there's also a lot of disparities and heterogeneity between African countries and I will like to share the results of some research that we've done in the context of our SDG index work. So just as a word of background, my organization the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. We operate under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General and we are led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs who will be speaking to this webinar a little bit later and our mission is to mobilize universities and specifically the scientific and technological and technical expertise to identify solutions for the SDGs. So we have a global network of knowledge institutions with almost 2,000 universities and research centers around the world all working on these issues of sustainable development. We also have an online teaching component called The SDG Academy which offers a number of free resources for teaching the SDGs and we also do policy analysis and this is the one that I'm going to be sharing some information about. So on policy analysis and SDSN has been leading thinking on many different aspects of an SDG implementation including financing, monitoring, getting started with the goals, and also long-term Pathways to achieve the goals. This is an example of some of the work we've done on monitoring progress on the SDGs. Our signature report is now called the Sustainable Development Report. It used to be known as the SDG index and dashboards report. We've had four global editions of that report and we've also developed a number of continental editions. So there's an Africa report, which I'm going to address in more detail an Arab region report, and the Latin America report, which is forthcoming. As well as a number of sub-national edition, looking at different cities and different states within countries and also within the European Union. 
So a few words on the Africa SDG index, it was first published in 2018. The 2019 report had a special focus on SDG implementation efforts in all African countries, and we also presented five case studies on best practices for SDG implementation. The 2020 report, we are just finalizing and it will be published in July. The special focus is on leaving no one behind and also on the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. To go back to the theme on implementation efforts. We conducted a survey across all 54 African States and we came up with these conclusions of where African governments stand in terms of implementing these goals. We've taken the angle of government implementation efforts because they are the primary stakeholders. It is government and Heads of States that signed on to these goals in 2015 and they have to really lead and set the stage for implementation. On the positive side, the SDGs have really been strongly endorsed by African Heads of State and really incorporated into the different National strategy and national development plans. So we see really good domestication, good ownership over these goals. Unfortunately, it sort of seems to stop there, where there has been not enough analysis on how far different countries are from actually achieving these goals and what kind of transformation is necessary to bridge that gap.

 The financial needs are also really important and there's been not enough analysis of actually how much it will cost in each country to successfully achieve the goal. Additionally, there has not been enough engagement of stakeholders. Whether it's Academia, Civil Society, or business. Governments having insufficiently reached out and involve them to raise awareness and get them involved in the implementation. 

 As part of our survey also, we asked people to identify what they thought were the most significant challenges to achieve the SDGs both to implement the SDGs and also to track and monitor implementation, and the lack of funding and resources was really raised across the board as the biggest challenge. So again, just to go back to the most committed areas that come out here. There are official statements in almost 90% of countries, three-quarters of countries have launched processes to map the alignment, and two-thirds of countries have identified key national priorities. So these are the most committed areas on the part of African governments with regards to SDG implementation. 

And the main challenges as you can see, 11 countries of these are of the ones that answer to be the qualitative questions. Really, the lack of adequate financial resources emerged, as well as, lack of capacity among civil society, as well as, civil service and a lack of data also emerged as a big challenge for monitoring. I wanted to talk a little bit about the methodology that we use to draw these conclusions and to explain the context for what I'm about to share in terms of where African countries stand today. We have global indicators that we've retained for the Africa Index but we've also added many indicators that are Africa specific. Some of which are also touching on the 2063 agenda. So for example, we've taken a number of indicators on regional integration and continental integration. We have a criteria and not only on the coverage but also on the quality of the sources, we take official data that's been internationally harmonized but also nonofficial data from academia and leading international research centers. For example, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Transparency International, and others. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts. They're still insufficient data availability and coverage, not only for certain countries but also for certain issues. In the 2019 edition, Libya and the Seychelles, we were not able to include them because of insufficient data and are out of the ranking and unfortunately, many of the data points are also out of date. Because we're counting on household surveys that are run by International organizations on an irregular basis and so we don't have the most timely data but we're doing the best with what we have available. So these are the results of the index ranking here. We have just the top 10 countries. So again, we have ranked all African countries except for Libya and the Seychelles. That's why Libya appears in Gray here. The top-ranking country in 2019 was Mauritius followed by Tunisia, Algeria. Morocco and Cape Verde. The score in there are all sort of in the in the mid-60s. This is a score from 0 to 100. 100 signifies all the SDGs have been achieved and zero is not a single at SDG has made any progress on. It's not surprising that the lowest-ranking countries on the Africa index are countries like South Sudan and the Central African Republic, Somalia that has faced a lot of internal conflict over the years. But the best-performing countries even Mauritius and Tunisia, you know, they're very close at 66 the score. They're still only 2/3 of the way to achieving the SDGs and a lot of what we're measuring here is the existing status of the country. There's still quite a bit of a way to go before we are close to achieving the goal. We also present in the report a dashboard where you will find a color for each goal. It is using a simple traffic light system. Where green means you've achieved the goal, red means you're seriously off track, and then orange and yellow are signifying, you know, varying degrees of challenges. Overall, I mean, it's difficult to see the details of it on this slide, but what's important to retain is that overall it does look very red and very orange and for 13 out of these 17 goals, there is not one single country that has achieved green, as you can see for just from the overall Impressions here. You can see that goals 12 and 13 as well as 15 are the ones that sort of overall the continent is doing the best on and the goals that we really have the biggest challenges on are, good health and well-being SDG 3 Education SDG 4, Gender Equality 5 SDG and also SDG 16 on Peace and Justice.

In the 2019 Report, we were also able to include a trend analysis for the dashboards that I just shared a really about where country stands today. And this is really a projection of whether by 2030 these countries will have achieved these different goals and unfortunately and this goes to your question, Caleb. Right now what we're seeing the most frequently observed trend in the 2019 edition is stagnation, that means that there's not enough progress less than 50% of the needed progress to achieve each goal by 2030 and that's really the majority of the dashboard that we're seeing and sharing here an example of the Nigeria dashboard in honor of our host, The Green Institute. So you'll see the top of the screen is the current assessment, that is where Nigeria stands today on these different goals as you can see we have six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11 goals that are red that means major major challenges on all those said goals. Goals 4, 8, and 10 also are significant challenges, and the three remaining goals the 12 13, and 15 are only in yellow. So there is still, you know real challenges that remain and no goal that is currently marked in green.

What's interesting is when you analyze the current assessment with the trend. So that's the dashboard and that is below, you can see that on goal 13. It looks like the Nigeria is actually on track to achieve goal 13 by 2030. However, if you look at goal one, this chat is the situation right now, is a major challenge and you can see the trend is decreasing. That means Nigeria is seriously off track on SDG 1 on the poverty goal and otherwise, the assessment that we made over all of stagnation also holds trigger the majority of the arrows that we're seeing here are just showing a situation of stagnation. So I just wanted to share that, this information from this report and invite you all to go on our website, which is africasdgindex.org where you can explore the data for your country and download the report. If you're interested also in reading a little bit more about our implementation assessment and you're welcome to also email me if you have any questions, so I'll turn off my slides now and come back so we can have a bit more of a chat.

Caleb Adebayo: Africa is home to the largest number of youths in the world. What does this mean for Africa to achieve sustainable development? How can the government engage this youthful population to embrace sustainability?

Eve de la Mothe Karoubi: I think there's a role on both sides and I think this youthful population is a huge Advantage. They can only serve Africa and the future, the continent as you said is overall the youngest continent around the world and we need to harness that youthful energy. I think you know, we've seen such a transformation since the SDGs have been adopted, that young people are really taking ownership of the agenda and identifying ways that they can make changes in their community and that needs to be encouraged and supported. And the number one way we can also support youth is to educate them about this agenda. So real investments in education and investments in education for sustainable development. So that maybe young people who aren't yet aware of the role that they can play, understand and are educated about these issues and understand how they can make an impact. It can be as small as the choices that you make in your everyday life, to as big as you know, starting a movement in your community or in your country.

Caleb Adebayo: In the future trend of Africa, as highlighted by Dr. Akinsemolu in The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science, does focusing on the Common African Position (Agenda 2063) support sustainable development, or is it another regional partisan politics?

Eve de la Mothe Karoubi: I think there are a lot of partisan politics in the 2063 agenda. I think there's also a lot of parts of it that are difficult to measure and difficult to track. But there is overall a great deal of alignment between the sustainable development goals and the 2063 agenda. Though they do have very different timelines and I do think it's important to keep that in mind. I think the blueprint for me around the world should be yes to SDGs because 2063 agenda does have some gaps when it comes to the pillars of sustainable development. But there's a lot of things that are specific to the continent such as regional integration, free movement of people. These are the things which are important for the continent to be able to develop.

---

Quotes

“We’ve seen such a transformation since the SDGs have been adopted, that young people are really taking ownership of the agenda and identifying ways that they can make changes in their community and that needs to be encouraged and supported. ”

— Eve de la Mothe Karoubi

---

FURTHER READING

Africa SDG Index and Dashboards Report

Ahenkan, Albert. (2014). Achieving sustainable development in Africa: Progress, challenges and prospects. International Journal of Development and Sustainability.

---

Lois Afua Okyerewaa Damptey on World Environment Day, 2020: Furthering your Education through Scholarship

Lois Afua Okyerewaa Damptey a passionate STEM advocate and also a doctoral researcher in the Department of Engineering and Innovation at the Open University,...

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Lois Afua O. Damptey is a passionate STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) advocate and doctoral researcher of Engineering & Innovation at Open University, UK.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Chibuike Jigo is a Communication Strategist Intern at The Green Institute. He holds a B.Sc. in Zoology and Environmental Biology from University of Nigeria Nsukka.

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Chibuike Jigo: What role should the government of developing countries play to effectively assist indigenous students in order to be able to secure scholarship?

Lois Afua Okyerewaa Damptey: One of the key role is being able to set out a very well developed plan or strategy in a terms that should be partnering with developed countries of which the SDGs have set out clearly an SDGs for quality education. Creating this environment enables empowerment of our local people or indigenes to be able to study in developed countries.

Another is that they need to create an enabling environment for them to come back to impact the knowledge they have studied out there. All these can be done by creating centre of Excellencies just like what the Green Institute is doing. 

Christopher Oghenekevwe: How do we manage information overload when applying for scholarship?

Lois Afua Okyerewa Damptey: One of those things that really worked for me was creating a Microsoft excel, writing the scholarships based on the earliest deadline and the document that is required of me, opening them portal by portal and then putting them down. So scan every documents that is needed like the essays and the things you need to upload and start your application now. Always start it because there are some that the requirements come up portal by portals. Also write along the line where you are and is required of you, keep an inventory specifically for your scholarship portals so that you don’t miss the deadlines. 

---

Quotes

“one of the things you should know when applying for scholarships is that you should never give up”

— Lois Afua Okyerewa Damptey

---

FURTHER READING

Gen Tenade & Kelly Tanade. (2020). How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay: 30 Essays That Won Over $3 Million in Scholarships. Supercollege, Llc. 3rd edition.

---

Walter Spearheart on World Environment Day, 2020: The Rhythms of Nature

Walter Spearheart a Music Therapist and Pioneering Harpist in Nigeria performs and speaks on Rhythms of Nature during World Environment Day 2020 Virtual Symp...

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Walter Spearheart (full names Walter Kolade Spearheart) is mostly known as a musician, composer and music therapist.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Linda Moss is a handcrafted jewellery maker and the owner of Nzuri Gems, a handmade jewellery company.

---

Q & A

Linda Moss: What impact has music had on the conservation of nature and what is the way forward?

Walter Spearheart: It is difficult to think of music without thinking about the lifestyle of people who are playing that music or performing the music. So when you think of music, you could naturally think of folklore and then culture. I would not like us to think of music alone but to think of music, folklore as one of the heritage of people and also think of culture. I would say that Africans have naturally had a sense of conservation when it comes to nature and so in their songs, folklore, folktales they use many elements like trees, rivers, animals to tell their stories and to describe things even in the music and this goes a long way to show their high natural respect and regards for nature. Having said that I think that it would be helpful to find something profound in our music, a relationship between our music, folklore, culture, something that is truly indigenous and that would go a long way in increasing the consciousness of the need to have regards  or respect for nature and the forces in nature.

Linda Moss: In The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science, Dr. Akinsemolu posited that social sustainability is instrumental in measuring 'soft' indices, like happiness in a community. What role has your genre of music played in elevating individual and communal happiness?

Walter Spearheart: To answer that question, I would like to tell some stories, experiences of mine as a harp music therapist. I have had the opportunity, privilege to play music at the hospital, to elderly people, people with dementia, people recovering from some illness or the other. The music is generally very soothing, helps to keep people calm, and gives people great sense of hope. It’s so effective in the area of hospital care and palliative care. It’s accepted and utilized around the world for this purposes. It’s generally happy music most especially for the harpist.

---

Quotes

“I would say that Africans have naturally had a sense of conservation when it comes to nature and so in their songs, folklore. ”

— Walter Spearheart

---

Top Comment (s)

Love this session-Foluke Arijeniwa

FURTHER READING

Kagan, Sacha & Kirchberg, Volker.2016. Music and sustainability: organizational cultures towards creative resilience – A review. Journal of Cleaner Production.

Jennifer L. Publicover, Tarah S. Wright, Steven Baur & Peter N. Duinker .2018. Music as a tool for environmental education and advocacy: artistic perspectives from musicians of the Playlist for the Planet, Environmental Education Research.

---

Adenike Akinsemolu on World Environment Day, 2020: VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH: The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science

Adenike A. akinsemolu the author The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science, the first sustainability text to deal exclusively with sustainability is...

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Adenike is a passionate environmental educator and author of numerous studies in sustainability. Her most recent book, The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science She holds a Ph.D. Environmental Microbiology and a P.D in Education.

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).

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Jason Mcsparren: Today, we celebrate World Environment Day 2020. And in doing so, we recognize the wealth of natural resources provided by our planet. These natural resources are consumed across the global society. These natural resources are often referred to as ‘the commons’ because they are shared resources that are not regulated by law. Specifically, we consider the ‘commons’ to be resources such as the atmosphere, our oceans, rivers, the fish stocks and animal stocks we eat, among many others. In 1968, Garrett Hardin wrote an essay explaining the ‘Tragedy of Commons’ phenomena. Could you elaborate on this concept and give examples of cases?

Adenike Akinsemolu: Conceptually, the Tragedy of Commons describes a situation where individual users of a resource act independently out of self-interest. This behavior contradicts that of common good users since it depletes and spoils that resource. Examples of Tragedy of the Commons are mining in South Africa,Artisinal Mining in Ghana. Overgrazing among the Maasai of Kenya and the Fulani Pastoralists in Nigeria.

About fifty years ago, the Fulani pastoralists who are nomadic herders had long lived in relative harmony with sedentary agriculturalists before the recurring droughts within arid and semi-arid land regions. The droughts have resulted in desertification, which minimizes the arable land for farmers and cattle to graze. As a result, the Fulani have migrated to the Guinea savanna and tropical areas leading to competition with other farmers.  So, cattle grazing on farmlands sometimes occurs while managing the herd and driving cattle, leading to the destruction of crops and becoming a source of conflict, ultimately limiting to loss of biodiversity. Overgrazing has been one of the contributing factors to the overuse of available resources, alongside farming and climate change.

Taking Nigeria as an example, Nigeria's implementation of the land use act of 1978 allowed the state or federal government to assign and lease land and gave indigenes the right to apply and be given a certificate of occupancy to claim ownership of their ancestral lands. This placed the pastoral Fulani in an awkward position because most did not apply for lands of occupancy of their grazing routes, and recurring transhumance movement led to encroachment on the properties of others. The Nigeria government designed some areas as grazing routes, but this has not reduced clashes.

From 1996 to 2006, about 121 people lost their lives in Bauchi, and Gombe states Nigeria as a result of conflicts between pastoralists and farmers. Thousands of people have been killed since 2016 in clashes between farmers and semi-nomadic herders. About 24 hours ago, Sahara reporters confirmed that suspected Fulani herdsmen had invaded the Tudun Doka community under the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing dozens of persons in the process, mostly women and children who were hacked to death with machetes by the attackers.

The Maasai used to live harmoniously with nature by cherishing Enkai, a higher spirit. Enkai would bring about life within the savannah and ensure that grass sprouted again for the livestock to feed after the dry seasons. Today, however, many of their stories and wisdom have disappeared and been overtaken by the desire to fit in and adapt to modern life. Overpopulation of the Maasai has made land sparse, while hunger has also become more frequent. The lack of knowledge over resource conservation has contributed to overgrazing that harms water resources and the land and has partly contributed to the destruction of the wilderness.

A report by World Wildlife Fund in 2016 highlights that people are using more natural resources than the planet can produce and this ultimately would lead to biodiversity loss.Certain flora and fauna are becoming scarce resources and could become extinct unless we intervene and change our behavior. The examples of the Tragedy of Common, such as the mining in South Africa and Ghana, have contributed significantly to the contamination of soil and water bodies through the release of heavy metals such as lead into our water bodies, soil erosion,loss of biodiversity, land degradation, deforestation, and diverted waterways.

These have several deleterious effects for the ecosystem as well as the environment on which humans, plants, and animals and of course the microorganism tribes, they depend on this.And this is where the concept of Going Green could be propitious.

So in the chapter one of my book, I talked about The five principles of Green are Reduction of pollution, conservation of resources, conservation of energy, reduction of waste, and protection of the ecological balance of the Earth. These principles, if applied judiciously/sagaciously/astutely, is crucial for avoiding Tragedy of the Commons.

Jason Mcsparren: Finding solutions that address problems related to the ‘tragedy of the commons’ and the transition to renewable energy generation is a multistakeholder endeavor. The state must work with business firms and civil society organizations to develop sustainable solutions. From your perspective, what sustainability capacities need to be prioritized and strengthened to improve governance and promote sustainable political economy. What should be done by communities, their leaders, and coalition agencies?

Adenike Akinsemolu: The government is understandably focusing on the present crisis, but they must heed the dangers in reacting to threats and remember one of the gravest in the world is climate emergency not just COVID-19. Implementing an ambitious ‘green’ package, with clear pathways for businesses and organizations to build aligned strategies and for investors to direct capital into ‘green’ projects at scale is now matter of necessity and no longer a matter of choice."

A government can also promote the utilization of best practices include recycling of e- equipment, the development of complex systems for renewable energy development, reduction of toxic contaminants in the use of materials, and encouraging the use of certain fuels other than hydrocarbons. Rwanda in Africa is among the countries that developed measures to ensure that eco-friendly practices are embedded in government activities.

As a country, they support private and public environmental projects. Rwanda's Green Fund (FONERWA), the largest of its kind in Africa, is a ground-breaking investment fund focused on environment and climate change. Essentially, it supports public and private projects that champion a green economy and have the potential for transformative change. So, I think we can learn from Rwanda. So far, it has committed investments of just under $40 million to 35 projects, created more than 137,500 green jobs and has reduced the equivalent of 18,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions - and that’s just since 2012.

It is possible to live without single use plastic bags. A decade ago, Rwanda imposed an outright ban on all single use plastic bags. Not only can you not use them, travellers are not allowed to bring them into the country. In fact, it’s illegal to import, produce, use or sell them at all. Considering the UK only implemented a plastic bag charge in 2015, I found this pretty inspiring. Rather than using plastic carrier bags, businesses use paper alternatives and a few times while shopping I was handed my newly purchased items in reusable woven carrier bags. By doing this, water pollution, soil erosion and animal deaths have all seen a reduction, the most noticeable benefit was how clean the country is - not a roadside rubbish heap or plastic bag hanging from a tree branch in sight.

Rwanda is working towards banning plastic entirely and that’s the goal. With a clear vision to achieve a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy by 2050, President Paul Kagame has a firm stance on sustainability. Everyone I encountered on my trip highly praised Kagame and the country’s efforts towards maintaining a clean and healthy environment. What’s more, the Government hopes to build on the already present plastic bag ban and prohibit plastic bottles, straws and cutlery. The aim is to become the world's first plastic-free nation.

The government is really big on advancing sustainability. In building a sustainable economy, the roles of the government entail funding basic science that is required for renewable energy and technology, using the tax system for steering capital towards investment in sustainable technologies and businesses, investing in sustainable infrastructure, and minimization of ecosystem destruction. The government also has a role to play in implementing Climate Action. Community leaders need to come up with a Climate Action Network meetings open to everyone in the community. Everyone able to suggest and conduct project ideas and initiatives that can address climate change. Everyone needs to be able to start action at home and the local level and this would form cohesion in the process and build Confidence in the group’s vision. There is a quote that says “One is too small a number to achieve greatness”. Using the Green Institute which is located in one of the rural area of Nigeria and the program you are seeing right now is being broadcasted from this community, so it’s the willingness of the people to act, inspire change or greatness to everyone. A lot of programs we do at the Green Institute is not funded, it just takes passion and willingness for us to know that nature is something that we don’t joke with because we can’t exist without nature. Taking away the government roles. Individuals have a lot of roles to play in their various community.

---

Quotes

“
The government is understandably focusing on the present crisis, but they must heed the dangers in reacting to threats and remember one of the gravest in the world is climate emergency not just COVID-19.”

— Adenike Akinsemolu

“The five principles of Green are Reduction of pollution, conservation of resources, conservation of energy, reduction of waste, and protection of the ecological balance of the Earth.”

— Adenike Akinsemolu

“Certain flora and fauna are becoming scarce resources and could become extinct unless we intervene and change our behavior.”

— Adenike Akinsemolu

---

---

Top Comment

Brilliant!- Olamide

An Awesome session that was. Looking forward to the next-Simmie

The time to start is NOW!-Elizabeth

FURTHER READING

Adenike Akinsemolu. 2020. The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science. Springer Nature

Adenike Akinsemolu. 2018. The role of microorganisms in achieving the sustainable development goals. Journal of Cleaner Production

Jeffrey Sachs on World Environment Day, 2020: Building Resilient Health Structure to Combat Novel Diseases: A Case of COVID-19

---

Summary of the Event

The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

Audio Block

Double-click here to upload or link to a .mp3. Learn more

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University .He is also the Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development.

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).

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Jason Mcsparren: Dr. Akinsemolu, mentions in her new book, The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science that the ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE is practicing and promoting sustainable public health as it works to prevent infectious disease outbreaks. Can you offer the audience some insight into how the One Health Initiative has minimized the outbreak and spread of diseases in developing countries?

Jeffrey Sachs: The idea of the ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE which is an excellent idea is that we face the ever present risk of new diseases spreading from animal reservoirs to humans and we are in the middle of that pandemic right now with COVID-19. This is a disease where the virus has its host especially in bats, and spread to humans either directly through interaction between bats and humans or from bats to some kind of intermediates mammal species available to humans. We should be taking care of this kind of risk because we keep experiencing this kind of zoonotic transmission from animals to humans. The ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE is trying to draw awareness and preparedness, clearly we haven’t succeeded. COVID pandemic is worldwide and it is killing vast number of people. When politicians ignore science like Trump does, people suffer and die.

Jason Mcsparren: Your latest book, Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (Columbia University Press, 2020) Takes readers through a series of seven distinct waves of technological and institutional change throughout human history, starting with the original settling of the planet by early modern humans through long-distance migration then progressing to your reflections on our globally networked modern society. What reflections would you like to share with us about our global-human society and the challenges of environmental sustainability?

Jeffrey Sachs: We have been interconnected as a species from the start over vast human distancing. In other words, from the first dispersal out of Africa until now we have been communicating, moving, and trading goods over huge distances. The whole has been for the benefits of humanity but also carries great risks too like the spread of infectious diseases or war and violence when the trade is not in goods and services but in movement of armies and trade of the killing. This is another side of Globalization, so the book is really a reflection on this interconnectedness, how they get the best of Globalization and how to avoid the worst. We have tried even in modern times at various points to stop Globalization, that has been a disaster but we have to learn how to cooperate too and how to cooperate at a global scale. That’s why I’m a big believer in the United Nations (UN) as vital force and that’s why extreme nationalist who are very arrogant and chauvinistic like Trump don’t like the UN because it would have the United State obey international rules not simply the President whims. This is  all the more reason why we need the UN, when we see such an unstable person in power we need rules not just the discretion of individual with their armies under their command.

Jason Mcsparren: Great point, great point, yes, I would have to agree with you, I also support the idea of multilateralism in the United Nations and all of the other transnational organizations that, you know, the states around the world have put together, you know, the World Health Organization, et cetera, to protect citizens. And we are seeing a little bit of a fracture in that cooperation. So we are at some sort of an inflection point in not only our current society at home in the US, but also globally.

Jeffrey Sachs: I would say it's more than a fracture. It is an attempt by Trump and others to destroy these institutions, to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization, to pull the United States out of the Human Rights Council. They want to break these institutions because they think that the world belongs to the powerful. They also think they're powerful. I'm not so sure, but they are destructive. And that's what they're trying to do, is to destroy these multilateral institutions.

Jason Mcsparren: OK, yes. Yes, that is an interesting observation. I really do hope and I think that our institutions are strong. They are under stress, and we'll see, you know, what the future holds for them. However, there are a lot of people watching us today that feel similarly to to you along those lines and really do support the UN in other transnational organizations.

Jason Mcsparren: Dr Sachs, I have another question for you. This one relates to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The UN Sustainable Development Goals were inaugurated in 2015 about five years ago. Can you remind us of some notable achievements in the healthcare system across sub-Saharan Africa, and what are the challenges of health coverage in the high-income countries since the declaration of the SDGs? And, what are some remaining challenges?

Jeffrey Sachs: The idea of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is that everybody should be able to enjoy the benefits of modern technologies and economic progress and to live in an environmentally safe planet. We are obviously far from this. The SDGs are goals. They are aspirations and are not our current reality but they are also an inspiration for action. The SDG 3 calls for Universal access to health care and even in difficult circumstances in Africa, there has been an expansion of access to basic health care often through very creative means such as deploying Community Health Workers (CHWs) backed up by good information technology because CHWs can play a huge role in monitoring the health of the community and helping to connect people in need, suffering from illness, for example pregnant women with the health systems to get antenatal, safe delivery in child birth or to fight the battle of malaria. This is a very positive side and it’s these CHWs that are now in the front line of the fight against COVID-19 in Africa. This epidemic spreads easily, very dangerous, creates lots of deaths, it needs to be fought and the Africa’s health systems needs to be guided urgently so that this epidemic is contained.

---

Quotes

“Development aid and tax reform are the two most important ways to help poor countries to close their budget deficit”

— Jeffrey Sachs

“We face an ever present risk of new diseases spreading from animal
reservoirs to humans.”

— Jeffrey Sachs

---

Top Comments

Inspiring and Insightful conversations- Gideon

---

FURTHER READING

Jeffrey D. Sachs (2020) The Ages of Globalization Geography, Technology, and Institutions. Columbia University Press.

Jeffrey D. Sachs (2015) The Age of Sustainable Development. Columbia University Press.

Peter J Hotez, David H Molyneux, Alan Fenwick, Jacob Kumaresan, Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, Jeffrey D Sachs, Lorenzo Savioli (2007) Control of neglected tropical diseases. New England journal of medicine. Massachusetts Medical Society.

Marc Rosen on World Environment Day, 2020: Ramping up Renewable Energy for Sustainable Economic Growth

Marc A. Rosen, Ph.D., a Professor at University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Canada speaks on Ramping up Renewable Energy for Sustainable Ec...

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Marc A. Rosen, Ph.D., is a Professor at University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Canada, where he served as founding Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Segun Adaju is the CEO, BlueOcean Nigeria and Consultant/ Financial Advisor to SolarNigeria Programme funded by DfID. Segun has provided expert services as a consultant.

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Segun Adaju: How can multinational corporations ramp up renewable energy in developing countries and what government policies could incentivize the transition of multinational corporations to renewable energy?

Marc Rosen: In many ways they are really well suitors to help multinationals by the nature of their work, do a lot of work and when they are involved in energy and renewable energies they bring strong expertise to the table. The expertise will develop the expertise that makes the biggest economic profit for them at that time. But once they have that expertise it is easy to extend it, to share it, to use it in other places where it wouldn’t have been a first choice. Multinationals can take new technologies development like solar, wind, the new geothermal, and apply in different areas where they do work, have relations and find ways to make those technologies work. They could maybe find ways to make economic implements that works or maybe environmental incentive that makes more sense to take advantage of those and tailor the work they have done in one country to work in another.

Governments need to help in government policies. They need to have incentives where it’s in the long term interest of the country to have renewable energies but maybe short term difficult like prices making it not economically useful or beneficial right now but in the next 20 years that won’t be the case and we want these renewable energies to come on board. Equally in terms of issues like Climate Change, the more the government can do to allow sharing of credits for work done.

Segun Adaju: What is the role of private investment in accelerating the growth of renewable energy?

Marc Rosen: In some ways it extends on the previous answer. Private investment is interesting. Dealing with companies big and small, they are much more careful because it is their money, they don’t want to put their money out unless there is something beneficial coming back to them, otherwise they can’t answer to their bosses, owners or stakeholders depending on how the structure of the companies is set up. When it comes to helping, private companies are also very good at looking for the beneficial opportunities so that their consent make sense for them and they don’t need to worry about the world or country, they look for their own interests and they often have unique features where certain renewable energies make sense. It might be a type of renewable energy in a particular environment and the private company is suited to say we see an opportunity for us.

Private companies can often look for revenue for at most 2 years for an investment when they are willing and this is not easy looking long term but where they see investment pays off for 5 or 10 years which is often necessary for renewable energy resources that have larger front capital cost. Private companies can decide that we are willing to wait, we see the investment benefit and understand the benefit for the company and they can move quite aggressively on opportunities where they think it is the long-term interests for the company.

Segun Adaju: Dr. Akinsemolu in The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science enumerated emerging renewable energy technologies to include; solar glass, thorium nuclear reactors, cellulosic ethanol, space-based solar power, and fuel-cell electric vehicles. How can these technologies be subsidized, and their scalability increased?

Marc Rosen: I have read Dr. Akinsemolu’s book and I found it actually very fascinating, incredible good book and I enjoyed it very much. She does points out those emerging technologies and some of those are the toughest. I think they need subsidizes, researching development to bring them to commercial potential. All of these have a worth benefit and are worth looking at, the researches is how we look at them and determine whether the negatives kill them or outweigh them in the long run or whether the positive prevail and the negative can be off set, may have been somehow managed. Then we look at scalability, can we commercialize it, make many of them, drive the prices down and have many implementation sites (that is different countries that find them beneficial). And with that I think that subsidizes are needed for renewable energies not infinite but have to be proportional to the benefits of these technologies present and where they don’t plan out, the subsidize from ancient can be cut off but where they have huge benefits we need to create a commercial market. Of course subsidize maybe necessary but that’s a standard way for the government to kick start any new technology that shows benefits for the society.

---

Quote

“When it comes to energy, there is no perfect solution,if there was… we would have taken advantage of it and everybody would have been using it 100%... ”

— Marc Rosen

“ When it comes to helping, private companies are also very good at looking for the beneficial opportunities..,”

— Marc Rosen

---

FURTHER READING

S K Sansaniwal, K Pal, Marc Rosen, S K Tyagi. (2017). Recent advances in the development of biomass gasification technology: A comprehensive review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Marc Rosen. (2012). Exergy: energy, environment and sustainable development. Newnes

Marc Rosen, I Dincer, M Kanoglu. (2008). Role of exergy in increasing efficiency and sustainability and reducing environmental impact. Energy policy

---

Walid Machrouh on World Environment Day, 2020: What Is the Role of the Youths in Achieving Sustainable Development

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Walid Machrouh is a Youth activist, social entrepreneur, and mind challenger. He's particularly focusing his efforts in enabling creative thinking, entrepreneurship, and innovation for the common social good.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

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

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Dugyu Sever: Sustainability and the youth…how do you read the relationship between the two? What are the roles of the youth in the green growth and in the transition towards sustainable systems?

Walid Machrouh: I think discussing it is really relevant in the fact that when we talk about sustainability we talk about sustaining resources, opportunities, and something for the future. And talking about youths, they are big components of the society, like people of the age of 30 years old are presently more than 1.8 billion people which is a huge big number and 5, 4, 3, 16 years are the ones who are going to manage the resources. So we should sustain the resources so that they can manage it and also this should be part of their production and first reflection. This is why it is important to match these two topics, sustainable development and the youth. We make a big mistake in thinking it is just good to sensitize young people, to tell them that it’s good to preserve the environment, be responsible towards the society etc. and that makes us now in a supporting mode not in a change maker mood. And after 5 years we expect from them to be the change makers. There is this big contrast that says we are out of the future but they are out of present now and we should learn from the past, have the skills and abilities to analyze the good practices and the bad practices that we had. We keep doing it from the past to the present so that they can build with us together this future and a sustainable future.

Dugyu Sever: What is the knowledge level of the youth with regards to sustainability? How do we fill up the knowledge gap about sustainability among the youth? What institutions and platforms are available to educate the youth on sustainable development? (I merged questions 2and 3 here, I think this would also create a space to talk about all your innovative projects linking sdgs and the youth).

Walid Machrouh: Before the COVID era, I would say that there is only a minority of young people who are interested by this sustainable development and they know what they should do and how they should contribute. Before it’s like they don’t feel that sustainable development is a must to have but only on the state of it’s nice to have. They see it as a luxury thing like having only the basic needs such as food, drinks, having a good place where we can sleep, dreaming about their career, how they can succeed professionally etc. and they forget. Although it is the responsibilities of government, institutions, and schools to give them these big highlights, showcasing the importance of sustainable development. I have worked with so many youth organizations, each year as we support more than 6,000 students, we can see the values, change, progress, the soft care which is the important thing. It’s the soft care because we don’t give them the fire sure resources, an open door but we give them the trust to experiment and to fail. And I think that’s what we should expect from young people If we want them to be included on this reflection and to feel that they are concerned. They should start by trying to experiment why it is important to preserve the natural resources, think about an inclusive ecosystem, and care about prosperity and not having social inequalities. And this reflects to the pandemic, with the pandemic, as a human being we feel all together that we are equal, that we have to manage all the diseases, negative impacts, and if we don’t collaborate together and start by initiating a small initiatives. Subsequently, we as young people create opportunities we got to just assume that what is happening in the world, we just like consume it with no reflection and feedback.

And with the project we are working on with HBQ called Design Post-COVID normal and its idea is to have the participation of young people from 24 countries that they think all together about how they are affected, how they can switch the roles from an affected victim persons to the ones who created and think about the solutions. We are having so many amazing individuals. The UN are also doing a great job by having the youth envoy, the campaign relating to the UN 75 that engaged young people all over the world. Also all the initiatives related to technologies and advanced technologies or to the community resilience, they were initiated by young people in their countries because they want to see something change positively in their communities and that is how we can really build a good connection and the good bridge between young people and sustainable development.

---

Quotes

“when we talk about sustainability we talk about sustaining resources, opportunities, and something for the future. ”

— Walid Machrouh

“Before the COVID era, I would say that there is only a minority of young people who are interested by this sustainable development and they know what they should do and how they should contribute. ”

— Walid Machrouh

---

FURTHER READING

Bastien, Sheri & Holmarsdottir, Halla. 2017. The Sustainable Development Goals and the Role of Youth-Driven Innovation for Social Change.

K. Murthy, Ranjani. 2017. Sustainable Development Goals and the Youth.

---

Michael Waas on World Environment Day, 2020: Integrated Waste Management System: Redesigning the way we Manage Waste

Michael Waas the Global Vice President of Brand Partnerships at TerraCycle speaks on Integrated Waste Management System: Redesigning the way we Manage Waste,...

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

Audio Block

Double-click here to upload or link to a .mp3. Learn more

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Michael Waas is the Global Vice President of Brand Partnerships at TerraCycle, an international leader in recycling difficult-to-recycle waste and the circular economy. .

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Amina holds a B.Sc. (Architecture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, an M.Sc. (Environmental Design of Buildings, Cardiff University) and a PhD in Archit-ecture from Newcastle University both in the UK.

---

Q & A

Amina Batagarawa: According to Dr. Akinsemolu in The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science, challenges of waste management in developing economies are exacerbated by issues of governance. What corrective measures should be taken in these countries by individuals, businesses, and society to check these issues of governance?

Michael Waas: In developed economies there is a highly standardized, formalized waste management sector. In most emerging economies and in most of the world that is an informal sector and so we see communities and waste pickers cohort emerging to fill the void which is important to realize that provides an important waste management function and economic function, and that provides income for many farmers globally. In creating guidelines and governance, it’s crucial to provide safe guards and measures that allow the enfranchisement and the ability to regulate the waste management industry in a way that provides for public and address this public health and safety measures that also acknowledges the critical role that the informal waste economy plays in waste management globally. Recently, 18 months ago, Terracycle Global Foundation was launched which focuses on taking many of the learning that terracycle has gathered over the last 20 years of doing this work and seeks to make them available to emerging economies and communities in the world.

Amina Batagarawa: What policies should be enacted to incentivize the waste management sector as a viable platform for job opportunities?

Michael Waas: There is a great example of legislation that was passed in Brazil some years ago. The National Solid Waste Law that mandated companies to recover through recycling at a percentage of waste compared to the production and it required the important stabilization that are percentage of that volume be collected through collapse which is part of the informal waste economy in Brazil and so in that way this National Waste Law includes the informal sector which is a crucial part of the waste management economy in Brazil as part of the formal Federal Law. I think that is a model that can be used in other regions because it includes an allocation and focuses on including that important sectors while addressing waste issues.     

---

Quotes

“what we found truly as waste is a modern invention ”

— Michael Waas

“...throughout the entire history of the natural world, there was no waste because it doesn’t exist in nature the output of every system becomes the input for another.”

— Michael Waas

---

FURTHER READING

Wilson, David & Velis, Costas & Rodic-Wiersma, Ljiljana. (2013). Integrated sustainable waste management in developing countries. Proceedings of the ICE - Waste and Resource Management.

Vidyadhar Durgekar. (2015).Towards Sustainable Waste Management through Technological Innovations, Effective Policy, Supply Chain Integration & Participation. Elsevier.

---

Ruba Hinnawi on World Environment Day, 2020: Transitioning to Green Schools for better Learning Experience

Transitioning to Green Schools for a Better Learning Experience

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

As a technical Specialist at Qatar Green Building Council, Ruba has managed and prepared a variety of sustainability oriented programs, workshops, guidelines and initiatives to promote sustainability and green practices.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Olukoya Obafemi is an architect with many years of professional practice in architecture and construction. He obtained his PhD in architectural heritage conservation from Brandenburg Technical University, Germany.

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Olukoya Obafemi: Green schools arose in the wake of achieving sustainability. How can stakeholders make them universal and accessible?

Ruba Hinnawi: We want Green School to be remotely as mentioned and we are open to everyone to participate in transforming any school into a green school. A green school doesn’t have to be designed from the beginning to be a green school. This is a good room and opportunity for every stakeholders to participate in this. So, private company, NGOs, government, anyone can participate in this, they can help a green school to become by corporate social responsibility organization (CSO) doing more to a green school, initiating a new project or helping to influence through funding any initiative the school is launching.

Olukoya Obafemi: Green School promises a holistic learning experience for children and young adults. In what ways does this differ from regular schools that have been a major contributor to both national and global development?

Ruba Hinnawi: There is a big difference between a regular school and a green school because, what we are focusing on is not just increasing the networking in curriculum and relation to environment education. We need to provide hands on activity, we need to engage students, reflect on all what they have studied in the book about the environment and caring about the environment into real time project so that they can see the impact of the activities or of their actions on the environment. And this is the main important difference between regular school and green school.

Olukoya Obafemi: The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science by Dr. Akinsemolu talks about the usage of “community-integrated entrepreneurial learning,” citing the Green School in Bali. How can educators incorporate this learning model to achieve sustainable development?

Ruba Hinnawi: Of course, community has a great role in sustainability. A Green school aim to include everyone in this green journey and disseminate the message to the whole community. It can be of help actually for any sustainable environment current activities. Meaning that the school can help in this for workshops, sessions that allow people to know about being sustainable. They can allow their neighbors or neighborhood to use their recycle bins or could use the school ground in an indirect way to engage the community to be more healthy and more active. The school can be an attracting point of sustainability. To fund a school initiative is another way to engage the community. For instance, a school trying to launch a composting project where the whole neighborhood can utilize and contribute to as it is open to community to try to play a part in the initiative or role in the program. Green School values the connection as the community is part of the school, the school is part of the community and so is a win win relationship.

Rakesh Verma (Audience): How can my school eco-club members participate in lockdown on sustainability as they could when school was open?

Ruba Hinnawi: I should mention and this is very important that what you really need is not just only an environmentally sustainable students but we need this student to disseminate this message back to their family and friends. So, in that way we also want to drive a social impact. This is a great opportunity for students during the lockdown to take all the knowledge, all they’ve learnt and probably achieved at their school back to their homes and implement them. They could start a garden at their homes, start planting, re-growing fruit from fruit-seeds or composting project.

---

Quotes

“Green School gives a great consideration to site connectivity and to nature”

— Ruba Hinnawi

“There is a big difference between a regular school and a green school.”

— Ruba Hinnawi

---

Top Comments

I believe your Qatar experience in a request to be spread to other countries- Hala Abosotah

FURTHER READING

Gough, Noel & Gough, Annette. (2019).The Green Schools Movement around the World.

Somwaru, L. (2016).The Green School: a sustainable approach towards environmental education: Case study. Braz. J Sci Technol.

---

Samson Ogbole on World Environment Day, 2020: The Role of Agriculture in Sustainable Development

Farmer Ogbole Samson the Lead trainer for Farm lab speaks on The Role of Agriculture in Sustainable Development on World Environment Day Virtual Symposium.

---

Summary of the Event

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Farmer Ogbole Samson is the Lead trainer for Farm lab. Farmer Ogbole Samson has a B.Sc. Biochemistry Igbinedion University; M. Sc. Biochemistry, Ibadan, and a Biochemistry PhD candidate, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Nigerian born, American raised Opeyemi ‘Ope’ Awe is a perpetually curious, globetrotter with a passion for governance and economic development in Nigeria. Ope was awarded the prestigious Posse Scholarship to attend Grinnell College.

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Opeyemi Awe: Tell us about your journey specifically in Nigeria, what role does seasonality play in food production experience in Nigeria. Also has your experiences being focused in Nigeria or globally?

Samson Ogbole: For seasonality, using tomatoes, the most consumed crop in Nigeria. The price of Tomato is going to crash in a week or two plus buying a basket of tomato for about #4,000-#5,000 because that period s when farmers are able to produce more than enough. Unfortunately, as the price of tomato crashes as farmers produce more than enough but majority of the tomatoes goes to waste. The price of tomato goes back up during October, November, and December that is because of seasonality in production.

The seasonality of food production is one of the major reason why food itself is super expensive. The gap I am trying to fill is having a technology that can produce a crop all year round for the cheapest price of a crop in its season so that the price becomes cheap all year round. However, there is a need to ensure the technology is climate smart in order not to burn the planet while feeding people therefore, winning in one area and loosing in the other areas.

Therefore, there is need to ensure that as the food production  is going on at the same process at the same time it does not have a negative impact on the environment. Balancing technology adoption with profitable is very important with local farmers as they do not want to spend so much money for nothing, which is seen via efficiency and productivity. So farmers are willing to adapt to technology that increases productivity and efficiency.

Opeyemi Awe: What would some of the infrastructure, institution of challenges of working in a place like Nigeria bring about?

Samson Ogbole: Urban and Peri-urban farming has been what we’re trying to push for about 3-4 years now because by having farmers in urban and peri-urban area. Soiless farming (growing crops without the use of soil is one that we’ve been trying to push) such that urban centers will have farm literally in their cities. With that it won’t be necessary to harvest down based on the market you are expecting.

Therefore to a large extent, the issue with transportation is also taken care of. However, we advise farmers to focus on crops that are non-perishable like cocoa, cashew because the values doesn’t depreciate regardless of the time it takes to get to the market. Having a proper dialogue with government requires a successful microscale with data to backup productivity in order to mitigate the problem to bring solutions because no one would want to fix a problem that doesn’t bring money to the table or contribute to the economy.

Opeyemi Awe: How did you end up in agriculture and why it’s important to you?

Samson Ogbole: First I started off with medicine at Madonna University and my passion was to study something that was really tangible. In the course medicine in my 5th year or so, I got in touch with top guys in medicine that said if truly you want to make change, you need to study a course that actually affects people live. Medical Doctors are awesome and great but they are more at the end of the delivery system. You won’t hear something like a medical doctor has discovered this drug or that   drug.

Fortunately for me, my school had issues with accreditation, so it was  easy for me  to switch to biochemistry, so I left Madonna University to Igbinedion, finished up with Biochemisty, During my NYSC year, fortunately I was posted to IITA for my compulsory  one year service. When I got there, I was fortunate to work with Dr Nobert Vamoma, the head of yam improvement for income and food insecurity in West Africa while I was with him, he showed me agriculture from a different perspective.

Opeyemi Awe: What is one challenge that you would like to the community to help you think about and What are you very about this year 2020 and looking forward to professionally and personally? 

Samson Ogbole: The major issue right now is how to translate the message we have into local dialect because of the language barriers so that they can understand.

That’s the fact that when we started soilless farming, people called me wizard, it was abnormal but now it is no longer a question of are you breaking nature? Going against God, it’s much more of how much money can I make. So I have won the fundamental part by moving in their direction.

---

Quotes

“Food Production should not be seasonal because hunger itself is not seasonal.”

— Samson Ogbole

“One of the ways to ensure that we can drive down the price is to ensure non-seasonality in food production.”

— Samson Ogbole

---

Top Comments

I think the youth need to haer more of this from you Ogbole Samson- Augustina

FURTHER READING

Kalantari, Fatemeh & Nochian, Ashkan & Darkhani, Faiza & Asif, Nayeem. (2020). The Significance of Vertical Farming Concept in ensuring Food Security for High-Density Urban Areas.

Kalantari, Fatemeh & Mohd tahir, Osman & Akbari Joni, Raheleh & Fatemi, Ezaz. (2017). Opportunities and Challenges in Sustainability of Vertical Farming: A Review. Journal of Landscape Ecology.

Samson Ogbole.( 2016). Seed yam production using single node vine from plants in aeroponics.

Sharanaiah Umesha, Honnayakanahalli M.G., Manukumar, Bhadvelu Chandrasekhar. (2016). Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture.

---

Evren Tok on World Environment Day, 2020: Impacts of Values and Morality in Sustainable Development

Evren Tok an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the MA program in Islam and Global Affairs M. Evren Tok Hamad bin Khalifa University and the fou...

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. M. Evren Tok is the Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the MA program in Islam and Global Affairs at the College of Islamic Studies (CIS) and the Assistant Dean for Innovation and Community Development.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

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

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Dugyu Sever: How do you think we can establish and sustain social values and morality despite differing cultures, beliefs, and ethnicities?

Evren Tok: In terms of values and moralities within this type of multicultural, multiethnic and multinational and complex environment which are actually globalised and also same time transnational, translocal, we can see there are different types of identity that are in place. So it is not really a motivation as to think of a common approach to design a project. In reality we can actually look for how there can be areas that we can identify common denominators and all these denominators can be tri-discussed in a deliberate confession and afterwards this can actually resolve in distilled into certain kind like of not responses or behavior that area quite localized. It’s been kind of a cliché that people are saying I’m global but is saying I’m local but  I’m saying I’m global but act local. How individuals, groups, communities regardless of their race, nationality, gender, age, we are all in the same box, is one thing that has been learnt in this time of corona. One way of showcasing that we are really in the same boat is by creating those scales of action, space that we can act jointly. This is the section that values and morality comes into the picture because we don’t often realize the commonality but we often star the differences. I believe in order to act together or start a prolific action whether it is COVID-19, environmental change, climate change, global warming or racism, any kind of action requires core beliefs and values at the initial stage, even though there are a lot of differences, so that the difference can build on commonalities.

Dugyu Sever: What is the morality in terms of areas of inequality, food, electricity, health care in sustainable development?

Evren Tok: Morality in Turkish, Arabic it intertwine with the term ‘Ethical Behavior’ Morality is what people see as the right thing to do from a person standpoint. In my view, morality is more like a path or a dynamic process between what the individual considers as right or wrong and what the surrounding ,like the environment, society, institution, social, culture and religious environment that the individual is embedded in institute as right or wrong. Morality is more like multidimensional, continuous discussion or corporative kind of process that is always continuously redefined.

Sabika Shaba (Audience): Do you believe the level of moral consciousness in the world is rising or falling in your own opinion? Why could this be?

Evren Tok: Making reference to the famous study of UNESCO, the citizen education because morality is more embedded in this study. The fourth element for sustainable development in the report of the citizenship education emphasizes on is the ‘values formation’ which they divided into two areas, most important one is the early family socialization and cultural grouping like taking your children to specific event, giving them training on planting trees because when we are young our brain are like sponge, it kind of absorb everything. So this is one way to instill values to the youth. These three elements; social, emotional, and behavior that is basis of the moral consciousness.

---

Quotes

“One way of showcasing that we are really in the same boat is by creating those scales of action, space that we can act jointly.”

— Evren Tok

---

FURTHER READING

Evren Tok. (2017). Sustainable Development and the Rule of Law: A Policy Perspective from Qatar. MEI Rule of Law Insights.

Ha-Brookshire, Jung & McAndrews, Laura & Kim, Jooyoun & Freeman, Charles & Jin, Byoungho & Norum, Pamela & Lehew, Melody & Karpova, Elena & Hassall, Lesya & Marcketti, Sara. (2017). Moral Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring Morally Challenging Business Situations within the Global Supply Chain Context. Sustainability.

---

Data Oruwari on World Environment Day, 2020: The Role of Virtual Art in Sustainable Development

Data Oruwari a Nigerian raised and Brooklyn based Virtual Artist speaks on The Role of Virtual Art in Sustainable Development on World Environment Day 2020 V...

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Data Oruwari is Nigerian raised and Brooklyn based visual artist and user experience designer who is passionate about “Creativity” and it's role in shaping society.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Linda Moss is a handcrafted jewellery maker and the owner of Nzuri Gems, a handmade jewellery company. She also works in one of the foremost PR companies in Nigeria.

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Linda Moss: The role of the Visual Arts towards achieving sustainable development has been quiescent. Where do the arts fit in towards our trajectory to sustainable development, and how can we make its impacts more pronounced?

Data Oruwari: In terms of virtual arts and its role in sustainable development, art has been a very active race in the sustainable development of nature and environment from time immemorial. This is because if we think of old painting from the roman and classical era where artist painted like landscapes, painted things about nature, things about animals. The virtual art role is that it made people appreciate the beauty of nature and animal life. And it’s the reason why people are being called to action, to actually protect these beautiful things. Images like nature, animals, and landscapes are very powerful in helping people to want to protect part of the environment. The goal of the virtual art has been to uplift human mind to that which is necessary for humanity, that which is uplifting, spiritual and would return us back to who we are truly as human beings and our existence. If artist are able to immerse on current environmental issues, we can contribute to help sustainable development conversation.

Linda Moss: With rising unemployment rates and recent job losses due to COVID-19, what is the economic advantage of the Virtual Arts, and how can it contribute to a country’s GDP?

Data Oruwari: In COVID, Every industry is taking the hit even the art industry not only countered by the virtual art but also the fine art. Everything in term of art, the coronary art, music art performance, visual, everything that has artis taking a tank right now but the beauty about fine art and art in general is that while there is the economic and monetary aspect of values, there is also the cultural aspect that is building values based on telling stories about human existence which as well what fosters company GDP. But right now, everything might take a hit but virtual art can play a role in these that this is a time for artists to actually be producing a lot of cultural values, so when the economy decide to pick up once COVID is over, we have quite an assets because art is something that never depreciate but appreciate overtime. This is the best time to support artist because a lot of them have had to cancel exhibitions and all.

Linda Moss: Dr. Adenike Akinsemolu, in her book The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science, pointed out the role of science in innovation and invention. How can we maximize the gains of an interfaculty approach towards achieving sustainable development?

Data Oruwari: One thing that comes to mind is something like NASA that started working with virtual art to express concerns about earth and space.

The best invention, the most creative ideas don’t come from people who have a narrow and focused mindset. It comes from when you have diversity and diverse mindset and skillsets. Science can be better and innovative when they learn to work with people who are not scientist, having some level of diversity. For Instance, Bill gates is one of the most innovative thinkers.

---

Quotes

“Arts have been a very active race in the sustainable development of nature and the environment from time immemorial.”

— Data Oruwari

“The virtual art role is that it made people appreciate the beauty of nature and animal life.”

— Data Oruwari

---

Top Comments

I am a big fan, really love your art works-Oluwaseunfunmi Adeeko

---

FURTHER READING

Özsoy, Vedat. (2016). Arts and design education for sustainable development. Global Journal on Humanities and Social Sciences.

Salzburgglobal. (2016). Beyond Green: The Arts as a Catalyst for Sustainability.

Eva Andriyash on World Environment Day, 2020: Impact Investing and Impact Entrepreneurship: The new rule for a new world

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Eva Andriyash is the CEO, Co-founder, BoD at IxD Capital; Founder at POSITIVE DIALOGUE Management Company; Co-Founder, BoD at Impact Investors Association.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Byron E. Price, Ph.D. is a professor of public administration and the former Dean of the School of Business at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York in Brooklyn.

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Byron Price: What is the role of investors in supporting Impact entrepreneurship and how does entrepreneurship facilitate sustainable development?

Answer: You know investors have to invest in a profitable ventures and enterprises, so we have to adhere to high rate of returns. Another concept of impact investing that actually facilitate the whole process of shifting to sustainable development  because sustainable development  is a very global concept that means we can actually create, lead the road up to us to the next generation with at least the same parameter. The next generation could live with the same conditions we lived in, so investors need to take into accounts the fact that don’t have planet B, from one point of view  we talk about philosophy of investing, mindset, it’s not only about returns. Traditional investors should look at impact investing and supporting projects.

Byron Price: What role can colleges play to get students more involved in impact investment or do impact investment companies try to get colleges involved in impact investment?

Answer: Colleges can be seen as evangelist of that transition to a zero carbon economy. They mind introduce some innovative approaches to educational system and in their subjects. But at the same time, the practice is what makes it perfect. So, I think colleges should connect with the social enterprise and organize activities that would entail the communication between the students and the founder of the social enterprises of sustainable projects, so they could really understand what it means to be an entrepreneur and find the bridge between theory and practice.

Byron Price: In an age of sustainable development, what is the correlation between impact entrepreneurship and green entrepreneurship?

Answer: Impact Entrepreneurship is a broad concept, it actually includes green entrepreneurship because, Green Entrepreneurship is where we talk about businesses that operate in the green sector that minimizes carbon footprint, at maximum they produce green product, services and green processes. But impact entrepreneurship in overall is the entrepreneurship that entails making a contribution to achieving one or several of the 17 sustainable development goals. We can talk about increasing income, gender equality and fostering innovations. This is a broader concept I must say.

---

Quotes

“Colleges can be seen as evangelist of that transition to a zero carbon economy. ”

— Eva Andriyash

“impact entrepreneurship in overall is the entrepreneurship that entails making a contribution to achieving one or several of the 17 sustainable development goals.”

— Eva Andriyash

---

FURTHER READING

Jessica Jones. (2019).The Demand Side of Impact Investing. Elevating the perspectives of local entrepreneurs in the impact sector. Oxfam research backgrounder.

Höchstädter, A., & Scheck, B. (2015). What's in a Name: An Analysis of Impact Investing Understandings by Academics and Practitioners. Journal of Business Ethics, 132(2), 449-475. Retrieved June 17, 2020.

---

Jonathan Reichental on World Environment Day, 2020: Understanding the Role of Data in Urban Innovation

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

---

Summary of the Event

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene.The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Speaker such as Jeffrey Sachs, Adenike Akinsemolu, Marc Rosen, amongst others share their insights on our path towards sustainable development.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Jonathan Reichental is the CEO of Human Future, a global business and technology education, advisory, and investment firm.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Olukoya Obafemi is an architect with many years of professional practice in architecture and construction.

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Olukoya Obafemi: How has the global positioning system (GPS) engendered urban innovation towards sustainable development?

Jonathan Reichental: Isn’t GPS incredible, it’s impossible to imagine a world without it. The GPS satellite allows the pinning of information from the satellite down to the receiver. The receiver then knows its position. Using GPS, we can observe and understand what happens with natural disaster like flooding, earthquake, oil spillage, sessimic activities. The GPS infrastructure has been used in managing the very sad logging going on in the world where rich, beautiful forests are been turned down, GPS can be used to understand if it’s been done in a fair way or excessive way that could cause problems. GPS is used in understanding the migration of animals as we can track endangered species or poaches. Then we can do remedation activities if it is seen that group of animals are shrinking or moving to where they shouldn’t be, that’s an indicator of climate and environmental issues. Finally, GPS is used for understanding the health of our planet vegetation. So, GPS becomes a very rich and mature technology for us to build into and utilize for better understanding and manage the environment.

Olukoya Obafemi: In her text The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science, Dr. Adenike briefly explained the importance of sustainable cities in achieving economic growth. How can these cities accelerate urban innovation, and what is the role of data in building these cities?

Olukoya Obafemi: First of all, in every endeavor the first starting point is to have vision. A bold journey you want to go with a desired out. You’ve to choose to have that vision. Do you understand why it is, why it is needed? Secondly, we need leadership, the problem of the world today would have been solved if we choose to solve them and that’s leadership decision we need to make. We can use data more, first by choosing that pathway and then leaders to support it throughout because a successful project depends on the consistency of the leader. Identify the data you have and then understand what kind of data it is, is it protective data? Once of the decision is made, make it available. Another way is for the city to create an innovative lab.

Finally, make the budgeting information of the plans available to your community in order to let communities know how their money is being spent. Fortunately, they would have better understanding of what is going on and they might have something to say. Bringing your community into the budgeting process through data is a way to foster flourishing urbanization.

Courtey (Audience): How do we trust Government with data? Transparent it is difficult

Jonathan Reichental: This is a deep question and a difficult one to solve. The best way to manage dishonesty is to shine a light on it. With people when things are transparent, it’s harder to get away with stuffs. Transparency to open up data, a health journalist community is good to reveal whether there are problems and organizations are doing the right thing.

---

Quotes

“GPS becomes a very rich and mature technology for us to build into and utilize for better understanding and manage the environment.”

— Jonathan Reichental

“Bringing your community into the budgeting process through data is a way to foster flourishing urbanization.”

— Jonathan Reichental

---

FURTHER READING

Jonathan Reichental. (2020). Smart Cities For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)). John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Thakuriah, Vonu & Tilahun, Nebiyou & Zellner, Moira. (2015). Big Data and Urban Informatics: Innovations and Challenges to Urban Planning and Knowledge Discovery.

---

THE GREEN ROOM (Episode 2): Jeffrey Sachs on Building Resilient Health Structure to Combat Novel Diseases: A Case of COVID-19

---

Summary of the Event

Various factors determine a country's infectious diseases' death rate: the quality of leadership, the consistency in government's response, the availability of a responsive health care system, the extent of international travel, and the population's age structure. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs shares insights on how to judiciously manage and respond to future infectious disease threats through an integrated and resilient process.

---

LISTEN TO PODCAST

---

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University .He is also the Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development.

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).

---

Q & A (SELECTED)

Jason Mcsparren: Dr. Akinsemolu, mentions in her new book, The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science that the ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE is practicing and promoting sustainable public health as it works to prevent infectious disease outbreaks. Can you offer the audience some insight into how the One Health Initiative has minimized the outbreak and spread of diseases in developing countries?

Jeffrey Sachs: The idea of the ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE which is an excellent idea is that we face the ever present risk of new diseases spreading from animal reservoirs to humans and we are in the middle of that pandemic right now with COVID-19. This is a disease where the virus has its host especially in bats, and spread to humans either directly through interaction between bats and humans or from bats to some kind of intermediates mammal species available to humans. We should be taking care of this kind of risk because we keep experiencing this kind of zoonotic transmission from animals to humans. The ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE is trying to draw awareness and preparedness, clearly we haven’t succeeded. COVID pandemic is worldwide and it is killing vast number of people. When politicians ignore science like Trump does, people suffer and die.

Jason Mcsparren: Your latest book, Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (Columbia University Press, 2020) Takes readers through a series of seven distinct waves of technological and institutional change throughout human history, starting with the original settling of the planet by early modern humans through long-distance migration then progressing to your reflections on our globally networked modern society. What reflections would you like to share with us about our global-human society and the challenges of environmental sustainability?

Jeffrey Sachs: We have been interconnected as a species from the start over vast human distancing. In other words, from the first dispersal out of Africa until now we have been communicating, moving, and trading goods over huge distances. The whole has been for the benefits of humanity but also carries great risks too like the spread of infectious diseases or war and violence when the trade is not in goods and services but in movement of armies and trade of the killing. This is another side of Globalization, so the book is really a reflection on this interconnectedness, how they get the best of Globalization and how to avoid the worst. We have tried even in modern times at various points to stop Globalization, that has been a disaster but we have to learn how to cooperate too and how to cooperate at a global scale. That’s why I’m a big believer in the United Nations (UN) as vital force and that’s why extreme nationalist who are very arrogant and chauvinistic like Trump don’t like the UN because it would have the United State obey international rules not simply the President whims. This is  all the more reason why we need the UN, when we see such an unstable person in power we need rules not just the discretion of individual with their armies under their command.

Jason Mcsparren: Great point, great point, yes, I would have to agree with you, I also support the idea of multilateralism in the United Nations and all of the other transnational organizations that, you know, the states around the world have put together, you know, the World Health Organization, et cetera, to protect citizens. And we are seeing a little bit of a fracture in that cooperation. So we are at some sort of an inflection point in not only our current society at home in the US, but also globally.

Jeffrey Sachs: I would say it's more than a fracture. It is an attempt by Trump and others to destroy these institutions, to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization, to pull the United States out of the Human Rights Council. They want to break these institutions because they think that the world belongs to the powerful. They also think they're powerful. I'm not so sure, but they are destructive. And that's what they're trying to do, is to destroy these multilateral institutions.

Jason Mcsparren: OK, yes. Yes, that is an interesting observation. I really do hope and I think that our institutions are strong. They are under stress, and we'll see, you know, what the future holds for them. However, there are a lot of people watching us today that feel similarly to to you along those lines and really do support the UN in other transnational organizations.

Jason Mcsparren: Dr. Sachs, I have another question for you. This one relates to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The UN Sustainable Development Goals were inaugurated in 2015 about five years ago. Can you remind us of some notable achievements in the healthcare system across sub-Saharan Africa, and what are the challenges of health coverage in the high-income countries since the declaration of the SDGs? And, what are some remaining challenges?

Jeffrey Sachs: The idea of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is that everybody should be able to enjoy the benefits of modern technologies and economic progress and to live in an environmentally safe planet. We are obviously far from this. The SDGs are goals. They are aspirations and are not our current reality but they are also an inspiration for action. The SDG 3 calls for Universal access to health care and even in difficult circumstances in Africa, there has been an expansion of access to basic health care often through very creative means such as deploying Community Health Workers (CHWs) backed up by good information technology because CHWs can play a huge role in monitoring the health of the community and helping to connect people in need, suffering from illness, for example pregnant women with the health systems to get antenatal, safe delivery in child birth or to fight the battle of malaria. This is a very positive side and it’s these CHWs that are now in the front line of the fight against COVID-19 in Africa. This epidemic spreads easily, very dangerous, creates lots of deaths, it needs to be fought and the Africa’s health systems needs to be guided urgently so that this epidemic is contained.

---

Quotes

“Development aid and tax reform are the two most important ways to help poor countries to close their budget deficit”

— Jeffrey Sachs

“We face an ever present risk of new diseases spreading from animal
reservoirs to humans.”

— Jeffrey Sachs

---

Top Comments

Such an amazing conversation with Prof Jeffrey Sachs- Deborah

---

FURTHER READING

Jeffrey D. Sachs (2020) The Ages of Globalization Geography, Technology, and Institutions. Columbia University Press.

Jeffrey D. Sachs (2015) The Age of Sustainable Development. Columbia University Press.

Peter J Hotez, David H Molyneux, Alan Fenwick, Jacob Kumaresan, Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, Jeffrey D Sachs, Lorenzo Savioli (2007) Control of neglected tropical diseases. New England journal of medicine. Massachusetts Medical Society.

Jeffrey Sachs (SDSN), Adenike Akinsemolu (Green Institute), and other notable Sustainability Leaders on World Environment Day virtual symposium.

The Green Institute just concluded her first ever virtual symposium in collaboration with Dr. Adenike Akinsemolu’s book launch. Prior to the event, a series of cascading global occurrence made the world to rethink its trajectory towards development. Would it be a continuation of business as usual (BAU) or would there be a transition to sustainable development? Prominent among these is the menace of the Coronavirus whose spread confirmed that the human population is interconnected beyond physical borders. As the annual June 5th World Environment Day drew nearer, The Green Institute under the leadership of Dr. Adenike, reminisced on the recent happenings and pondered on how she can show solidarity. What began as a concern for humanity transformed into taking action with humanity. As swiftly as the ideas rolled in, The Green Institute took to planning and preparation on how to convene world renowned sustainability leaders to share their insights on our path towards sustainable development. Drawing from a vast wealth of experience from diverse fields, The Virtual Symposium hosted over 25 renowned sustainability leaders, environmentalists, researchers, specialists on health, botanic conservation, resource management sustainable agriculture and building from around the world. Among our list of amiable moderators include: Caleb Adebayor, Jason McSparren, Opeyemi Awe, Dyugu Sever, Segun Adaju, Busola Olaposi, Amina Batagarawa, Bryon Price, Olukoya Obafemi, and Chibuike Jigo.

The event kicked off at 7am GMT with a morning yoga video performed by Adriene. The yoga was centered on vulnerability- learning to build awareness, strength and confidence on the mat and then going on to implement them in life situations. This session lasted for an hour during which excited audience couldn’t hold back but kept the discussion room engaged with conversations. Next in our line of event was a brief history on world environment day. The Institute felt the need for individuals to not only become acquainted with history, but to trace an identity and become a part of it.

World Environment Day History

The welcome address was given by Prof. Damilola S. Olawuyi, who warmly welcomed everyone and spoke elaborately on the need for all of us to take responsibility as custodians of the environment. Prof. Damilola, a leading advocate in the extractive industry commended the efforts of The Green Institute towards hosting the event. In his words, Prof. Damilola stated accordingly, “the World Environment day is an important initiative of the United Nations; it sets aside a day for the whole world to protect all aspect of the environment from degradation and pollution…we are all part of a complex web or chain that is so interdependent…any attempt to place humans above any other component is speciesism and the result is what we are witnessing…you do not have to wait until you are rich, until you’re powerful, until you’re the president before you can protect the environment. If we all want to protect the environment, we all have significant roles to play”

At 9am GMT, the session tagged NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPE begun, highlighting past and present sustainability advocates who stood in the face of opposition to pioneer sustainable development. Among these leaders were Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Carson, Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vandana Shiva, Al Gore, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs and Dr. Adenike Akinsemolu, to mention but a few. Our next line of event was alternative teaching methods of ecology, Teaching Ecology beyond the Classroom: Unlearning the way we learn to relearn how we’re supposed to. How can we transition to an inclusive learning module that is transformative and holistic? Noah Martin, a senior program designer at Georgetown University was our host speaker for this session. He took us on a meaningful exploration towards the need for transformative learning and how ecology plays its role in sustainable development. According to Noah,

“We are way overdue to be rethinking about the way we should have been thinking about education… ”

— Noah Martin

“…we no longer have to convey the urgency (to change how we learn) to everyone…we need to build technology on a sense of community.” Noah emphasized the need for story telling in the community context for advocacy of sustainable development. He further emphasizes the need to have a multidisciplinary approach towards ecology in the hope of trying to get the younger generation and more people engaged in it. He reiterated the need for government to give teachers more space by refraining from too much oversight in order to be effective. When asked about the role ecology has to play in government policies, Noah answered, the role of ecology in climate change should be front and center in policy decision. He had no doubt about the centrality of ecology in policy making to combat climate change.

The virtual launch of Dr. Adenike Akinsemolu’s indigenous text, The Principles of Green and Sustainability Science was among the highlight of the event. Dr. Adenike, the founder of The Green Institute marked a milestone in her career by launching her first text in sustainability. The text discusses sustainable development from an African perspective introducing concepts such as the “Tragedy of Commons” where resources are shared not for the common good but for one’s selfish interest. According to Dr. Adenike, Conceptually, the Tragedy of Commons describes a situation where individual users of a resource act independently out of self-interest…Examples of Tragedy of the Commons are mining in South Africa, Artisanal Mining in Ghana, Overgrazing among the Maasai of Kenya and the Fulani Pastoralists in Nigeria…  The five principles of Green are Reduction of pollution, conservation of resources, conservation of energy, reduction of waste, and protection of the ecological balance of the Earth.” These five principles are the framework upon which the science of green and sustainability is founded.

“The five principles of Green are Reduction of pollution, conservation of resources, conservation of energy, reduction of waste, and protection of the ecological balance of the Earth.” ”

— Adenike Akinsemolu

The virtual symposium was honored to have on the platform Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to discuss on Building Resilient Health Structures to Combat Novel Diseases: A Case of COVID-19. According to Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, the One Health initiative is challenged with an ever present risk of new diseases spreading from animal reservoirs to humans. He highlighted the danger the human population face when politicians refute scientific evidence about global pandemic. He pointed out emphatically by saying, “when politicians ignore science like Trump does, people suffer and die”. When asked about his new book, The Age of Globalization, Prof. Sachs recounted the relationship of the human species before civilization. According to Prof. Sachs, “we have been interconnected as a species from the start over vast human distances…we have to learn how to cooperate on a global scale”. Prof. Sachs affirmed his belief in multilateral organizations as opposed to nationalistic views by stating,

“Extreme nationalist who are very arrogant and chauvinistic like Trump don’t like the United Nations because it will have the United States obey international rules not simply the president’s whims.”

— Jeffrey Sachs

“This is all the more reason why we need the United Nations when we see such an unstable person in power we need rules not just the discretion of individuals with their armies under their command”.

Obviously, the path to sustainable development, especially in developing countries is plagued with challenges which the sustainable development goals seek to address. With remaining a decade to Agenda 2030, Prof. Sachs’ thought on the SDGs were: “The idea of the sustainable development goals is that everybody should be able to enjoy the benefits of modern technology and economic progress and to live in an environmentally safe planet…. The SDGs are goals, are aspirations, they are not our current reality but they are also an inspiration for action”

The privatization of health care in developed countries, precisely the United States has led to a high cost of medical services in the region while unavailable health care services in developing countries has led to the spread of infectious diseases. When asked for a solution to this dilemma, Prof. Sachs recommended universal publicly financed access to health care. Emphasizing on developing countries, he was quoted as saying, “Development aid and tax reform are the two most important ways to help poor countries to close their budget deficit”

In his closing remarks, Prof. Sachs concluded: “thank you for your excellent questions and thank you for your leadership which is very important now. We have to act together, act sensibly, act sustainably and act on the basis of science and against the whims of corrupt politicians like Trump”

Sequel to Prof. Sachs exposition on Building Resilient Health Structures, Prof. Marc A. Rosen, a professor of Engineering Ontario Tech University, Canada spoke on Ramping up Renewable Energy for Sustainable Economic Growth. Prof. Marc Rosen talked about the need for government to incentivize for renewable energy that has long term advantage for the country. When asked about the recently released documentary of Planet of the Humans, he responded: “I find it fascinating and interesting to watch, I can understand how it raises skepticism, I can understand suspicion flowing from it and downright feelings that there are conspiracies within the renewable energy sector, yet overall, I find it entertaining but not factual in so many ways….I think the movie exaggerates negatives that we are all aware of and understand…we can use renewable energy badly, that applies to conventionals (fossil fuels) as well as renewables. If we handle them well, I don’t think we will run into those problems...but in the long term the benefits of renewable energy where they exist are there, companies look past that, government look pass that… and in the long term they will probably prevail”

The challenges of renewable energy in providing intermittent supply of energy has questioned the integrity and long term positive impacts of renewables. Prof. Marc expressed his thoughts thus saying; “When it comes to energy, there is no perfect solution, there is no ideal, if there was… we would have taken advantage of it and everybody would have been using it 100%... In the longer term, I still think the benefit of renewable energy will prevail.”

In response to the impact covid-19 has on the renewable energy sector, Prof. Marc humorously said, “People are so concerned with covid-19 that they are not thinking about other things... …The other big problem here is uncertainty.  The covid-19 situation basically is unprecedented everyone tells me... Industry hates uncertainty, they love making investments where they can foresee that this is profitable over 10 years…”

Acting Executive Secretary for the Convention on Biological Diversity Elizabeth Maruma Mrema stressed that the time has come for us to stand together in solidarity and care for each other and our planet in which we live. She gave this clarion call to humanity in response to the covid-19 pandemic that has caused unprecedented deaths in a short period of time. She reiterated that returning to normal would be a worst case scenario, but rather we need to build better resilient structures and avoid destruction of biodiversity. She commemorated World Environment Day by concluding that,

“It is time for urgent international sweeping cooperation to preserve nature, conserve biodiversity and protect human health for generations to come”

— Elizabeth Maruma Mrema

A popular mantra by leadership expert John Maxwell states, “Everything rises or falls on leadership”. What Is the Role of the Youths in Achieving Sustainable Development as global leaders rally round in achieving sustainability? Walid Machrouh, youth activist for United Nations program was our distinguished speaker for the session. Walid began the discussion with the opening phrase; “When we talk about sustainability, we talk about sustaining resources, sustaining opportunities, sustaining so many things for the future and when we are talking about youths, we are talking about a big component of the society…”

Walid affirmed the dearth of sustainability knowledge amongst youths and highlighted the need for us to form partnerships in order to take active roles in sustainable development. In his words, “Before the covid-19 era I would say that there is only a minority of young people who are interested by sustainable development and they know what they should do and how they can contribute…If we don’t collaborate together, if we don’t start by initiating small initiatives, we as young people create opportunities, we’re going to assume what’s happening in the world, we’re going to just consume it with no reflection and also with no feedback.”

Michael Waas, Global vice president of brand partnerships Terracycle, was going to educate us on Integrated Waste Management System: Redesigning the way we manage waste. It is no news that the waste sector has been viewed as one of the most unattractive economic sector in the state. However, the need to manage waste effectively is among the five principles of sustainability. Michael believed that the concept of waste is another human invention. In his words, “The concept of building a circular economy and of promoting circular product streams seems like a new conversation, but what we found truly is waste is a modern invention throughout the entire history of the natural world, there was no waste because it doesn’t exist in nature the output of every system becomes the input for another”

How then do we combat the problem of rising waste? Michael answered by saying, “The easiest way to solve the global crisis of garbage is to start manufacturing everything from gold” Therefore, we have to rethink our design model to achieve the concept of a circular economy where no waste exists.

The transition to sustainable development will be sabotaged without corresponding institutions to facilitate this transition. Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) a non-profit, membership-driven organization was selected to share insights into Transitioning to Green Schools for Better Learning Experience. At Qatar Green Building Council, Ruba Hinnawi, a technical specialist was nominated to be our guest speaker for the auspicious event. Qatar Green Building Council is providing leadership and encouraging collaboration in conducting environmentally sustainable practices for green building design and development in Qatar.

Ruba opened the session from her power point presentation by quoting Nelson Mandela who said that, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” According to Ruba, the three main objectives of Green Schools are: to improve the health and wellbeing of its occupants, to minimize its environmental impact and to use all of its physical features as a dynamic teaching tool. Green School minimizes its environmental impact because it gives a great consideration to energy and water, indoor environment quality, sight and surrounding, and to transportation. Ruba was generous enough in highlighting the Green School features which include; Efficient Operation, Sight and Nature, Building Envelope, Comfort, Transportation, Active Building, Material and Waste, and innovation.

The role of agriculture in enhancing sustainable development cannot be over-emphasized. We were joined by Farmer Samson Ogbole, the lead trainer for farm lab who was speaking on The Role of Agriculture in Sustainable Development. Samson Ogbole expressed his belief that “food production should not be seasonal because hunger is not seasonal” Samson talked on urban and periurban farming reiterating that our problems should not be left for the government to solve. He suggested, “There is a need to ensure that as farmers, we have to come together and ask ourselves what solutions we can proffer by ourselves such that when we have tangible results, those in power by default will want to key into it; and the way that works is by having farms in urban and periurban areas” He regrettably pointed out the attitudes of individuals and governments towards farming and farmers, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. Unless such attitudes are changed, agriculture which is one of the pillars of civilization will continually decline into a vicious cycle rising and falling.

The roles of values and morality in civilization is non-negotiable. As humans embrace the era of sustainable development, what are the Impacts of Values and Morality in Sustainable Development? Dr. Evren Tok Assistant Dean for Information and Community Development Hamad Bin Khalifa University was the selected speaker for this session. Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF), was founded in 2010 to continue fulfilling QF’s vision of unlocking human potential. HBKU is a homegrown research and graduate studies University that acts as a catalyst for positive transformation in Qatar and the region while having a global impact.

Dr. Evren cut to the chase by pointing out, “I believe one of the things we are learning in the time of Corona is how individuals, groups, communities, regardless of their kind of race, regardless of their nationality, regardless of their gender, their age whatever, we are in the same boat and one way of showcasing that we are really in the same boat is to create those kind scales of action, those space where we can act jointly… We don’t often realize the commonalities, but we often spot the differences… In order to act together, in order to start any kind of collective action, whether it is covid-19, whether it is environmental change, climate change, global warming or racism, any kind of collective action, require certain core beliefs and values at the initial stage so that differences can build on these commonalities”

“I believe one of the things we are learning in the time of Corona is how individuals, groups, communities, regardless of their kind of race, regardless of their nationality, regardless of their gender, their age whatever, we are in the same boat.”

— Evren Tok

Our next speaker, Eve de la Mothe Karoubi, a Senior Manager at United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was going to enlighten us about SDG progress in Africa. Africa’s track progress towards sustainable development has been overshadowed by inadequate data. However, having a speaker whose work has been centered on Africa and the SDGs would indeed be an eye-opener. When asked whether Africa was on track towards achieving sustainable development by 2030, Eve came out blunt by saying that “Africa is not on track to achieve the SDGs, not by a long shot.” Her response points out the need for African governments to revisit the drawing board that employ workable policies to achieve sustainable development.

The goal of quality education is among the top tier goals of the SDGs occupying the fourth position. The rising rate of illiteracy is not only alarming in itself, but acts as a catalyst towards socio-economic vices. One major challenge of attaining higher education is the lack of monetary support especially in developing countries. For the symposium, The Green Institute could select none other than Lois Afua Damptey - a Ghanian has been the beneficiary of numerous scholarships. She defined scholarship as a “monetary gift” given to beneficiaries for the purpose of advancing their education. After explaining briefly on the structure of scholarship and how to apply, she left her audience with the following nuggets,

“one of the things you should know when applying for scholarships is that you should never give up”

— Lois Afua Damptey

“…there are no seasons for scholarship because scholarships are all year round…it is very important that you yourself write your own essays and be drawn by your own inspiration…don’t use social media for any other thing rather than your own personal and career development…the time is now for you to be intentional about your education and career development.”

According to Lois, Nigeria is a very high recipient of commonwealth scholarships. Therefore, there is no excuse for anyone serious about furthering their education not to advance in their field of study.

With an intermittent display session of arts and entertainment, we had a presentation by poet Tosin Gbogi who opened with a poem titled Aridity of the Moment, and performance by indigenous harpist Walter Spearheart. Walter highlighted the role of music as therapeutic in relieving stress and distress. According to Walter, “It is difficult to think music without thinking about the unique way of life, the lifestyle of the people.” The virtual artist Data Oruwari expounded on the role of visual arts in achieving sustainable development. In sharing her thoughts, she said: ‘I think the visual arts has its role in sustainable development. Arts have been a very active race in the sustainable development of nature and the environment from time immemorial, and I say so because if you think of old paintings from the Roman and classical era where artist painted things like landscapes, they painted about nature, animals…the visual arts role is that it has made people appreciate the beauty of nature and animal life, and it is the reason why people have been called to act to actually protect this beautiful things.” When asked about the inter-relationship between science and the arts towards achieving sustainable development, Data said,

“The best inventions and ideas don’t come from people who have a very narrow mindset. It comes from where you have an opportunity for diversity and diverse mindset and diverse skill sets.”

— Data Oruwari

“ so I think that science can get better at innovation when they learn to work with people who are not scientists. I think that is where you have some level of diversity.”

The entertainment dance session was performed by The Green Maasai Troupe from Qatar Doha. The Green Maasai Troupe is an organization of African culture that promotes cultural integration by performing to foreign cultures. Their aim is to bridge the wall of divide that exists amongst us and achieve sustainability through cultural inclusivity.

Economic activities such as businesses, entrepreneurship and investment do have identifiable role to play in our journey towards sustainable development. For the purpose of this symposium, we had Eva Andriyash, CEO of IxD Capital inform us about Impact Investing and Impact Entrepreneurship: The New Rule for a New World. Eva highlighted that Impact Investing and Impact Entrepreneurship are motivated by the 17 SDGs adopted by the UN. She further highlighted the key objectives for all investors and entrepreneurs to include; joining forces to face the challenges of covid-19, strengthening innovations in various sectors, implement the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and maximize the positive impact of private capital    

Manfred Max Bergman

Businesses and the environment could work harmoniously when the skills of sustainability are applied. This is the strong position held by Prof. Max Manfred Bergman as he spoke on How Does Sustainability Intersect with Business and Society in a Globalized World. Prof. Bergman reinforced the need to have business models that will not only hit home runs, but whose design is connected to environmental wellbeing and social inclusion. As a people, we are getting connected on a daily basis due to the revolution of technology. Prof. Bergman opined that we should therefore leverage on this technology to bridge the gaps of our differences. That is the only way to achieve true sustainability.                                                                                              

Jonathan Reichental

Jonathan Reichental spoke on Understanding the Role of Data in Urban Innovation as the symposium came to a close. According to Reichental, “our world is now running on data as if it is a new type of natural resource like oil, it has enormous value in how we make decisions, private organizations and increasingly in government…we create 2-half quintillion bytes of data everyday.

 Dr. Reichental impressed on the usefulness of GPS in monitoring and regulation. We can observe and understand what happens during a natural disaster such as flooding, mudslides, oil spills, seismic activity et cetera. It is also used to manage indiscriminate logging going on in different parts of the world. GPS is used for understanding the migration of animals. We use GPS to understand the health of our planet vegetation.

As the event drew to a close, The Green Institute looked back from the beginning of planning and preparation to the culmination of the event and appreciated all her speakers and moderators for honoring her invitation. To her viewers on the different social platforms, she stands in solidarity and encourages them to act for nature consistently and continuously.

The just concluded virtual symposium shared great insights on sustainable development. However, what should be the response of stakeholders towards sustainable development? Once more, sustainable development is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need. What events will unfold in a post-covid 19 era? These are likely questions springing in the minds of the people as they watch the government’s response to the pandemic. The need for world governments to revamp the economy after the debilitating impact has shifted focus from Agenda 2030. With environmental laws pushed to the sidelines, companies have indirectly been given license to run amok in their emission of carbon. As leaders continue to blame multi-lateral organizations, the platform for collaboration towards achieving the SDGs is threatened. The question remains, have we drifted from the path to sustainable development in a bid secure temporary solutions? Are we still on the trajectory towards sustainable development?