THEGUARDIAN.Monday November7,2Oil
THE ENVIRONMENT 139
ActionAid expresses concern over Nigeria's development rating Development Report With the state of the/. : riationas sfiown ihthe.V." :currentindex,.ffis=obvK-" ous that-the nation is. sitting at the edge. This Tanking) according to :::j ActionAid, calls for sen-. 'o'Us concern, as it has: .; -.j shown a steep drop not-;" ;pn(y in the level of devel-;; op'ment but valueTor: : ;: ;1 liuman lives. .." .:. NE of the country's O development agencies, ActionAid has called on the
Nigeria government to quickly respond to the challenges of development in the country, which it described as "a time bomb". According to the Country Director of ActionAid in Nigeria, Dr. Hussaini Abdu, "the recently released United Nations' Human Development Index has shown that not only has the Nigeria government failed in its obligations to provide for the populace, it has put the poor in a precarious situation". The Human Development Index measures three dimensions of human development.These include living a long and healthy life, measured by life expectancy. Another dimension looks at being educated, measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level. The third dimension appraises having a decent standard of living. The current Index ranks Nigeria 156th out of 187 countries, a position which Abdu stated' does not give a comfortable and comforting picture of the state of the Nigerian nation. "Countries iike Libya ranked 64, Tunisia 94 and Algeria 96. Egypt and Syria, which have experienced social and political upheavals as well as violent eruptions, have fared better than Nigeria. With the state
Aerial view of a slum development in Nigeria...recently
of the nation as shown in the current index, it is obvious that the nation is sitting at the edge", said Abdu. This ranking according to Abdu calls for serious concern as it has shown a steep drop not only in the level of development but value for human lives. "For over 11 years, Nigeria has consistently designed and operatipnalised economic policies that have
not only underperformed but have also added no value to human lives in the country", observed Abdu who stated that "it is now imperative that we start thinking of alternate development strategies that not only present new routes to development but place human beings at the centre of development". The ActionAid Country Director while recalling
that the Finance Minister on resumption had admitted failure of the government efforts at revamping the economy warned that "there is no economy model anywhere in the world that works where people are not at the centre of such models". "Recent revelation by the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria that Nigerians spend isi billion
Naira on educating their children in Ghana alone, an amount that exceeds the nation's budget for education, is a further confirmation of the indicators from the Human Development Index. "Beyond the capital flight that may have being the concern of the CBN governor, this trend has greater implications for the country, as we are grooming a
new generation of Nigerians who would likely be disconnected with their country and would owe her nothing", Abdu warned. He, therefore, called on the Nigeria federal government to urgently look at the need for alternate development strategy and prioritise the correction of the state of inequality in the country.
Current efforts to mitigate climate change fall short of reaching vital goal, warns UN Climate Change INTERNATIONAL efforts to Imitigate climate change are insufficient to meet the goal of keeping global warming to below two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, a United Nations report warned, just a month before a major conference on the issue is held in Durban, South Africa. The report laid out a list of options to achieve the target, including more cuts in greenhouse gases from additional sectors, stronger accounting rules both within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and through other multilateral and domestic strategies, sharing mitigation efforts based on countries' capaci-
Scientists say that keeping to the two-degrees Celsius limit over the course of the 21st century is crucial to avert widespread dfsasters, from the disappearances of low-lying island nations under rising seas and searing droughts, famines, extreme storms and flooding, to the extinction of species. ties or contributions to the academics to design a cli- to the two-degrees Celsius problem, and legally bind- mate regime capable of limit over the course of the delivering adequate miti- 21st century is crucial to ing commitments. avert widespread disasters, The report, Building the gation. It is the latest in a long from the disappearances of Climate Change Regime: Survey and Analysis of series of UN warnings that low-lying island nations Approaches, was published world is falling behind in under rising seas and seardroughts, famines, by the UN Environment the battle against global ing, Programme fUNEP) and the warming. Just last month, extreme storms and flooding, to the extinction of at a Leaders' Dialogue on World Resources Institute (WRI), a global environ- Climate Change on the eve species. of the high-level session of "The analysis provided in mental think tank with the support of the Irish the General Assembly, this new report offers many Government. It reviewed Secretary-General Ban Ki- options that can happen more than 130 proposals moon urged governments either in the formal negotiput forward by govern- to show greater commit- ations or as complementary measures elsewhere, ments, non-governmental ment. Scientists say that keeping options that can assist the organisations (NGOs), and more than 190 United
Nations Member States move quickly to harvest the opportunities of a transition to a climate resilient, low-carbon, resource-efficient Green Economy," UNEP Executive Director AchimSteinersaid. The report highlights the need to mobilise a range of public and private sector groups at the international, national and sub-national levels, who can contribute to climate governance, emission reductions and adaptation investment, "Ac the upcoming climate meeting in Durban, countries have the opportunity to turn these ideas into action and start to bridge the ambition gap needed to truly have an impact," WRI Interim President Manish Bapna said, while Irish Environment Minister Phil
Hogan called the report very timely. The report stressed that the issue of legally binding commitments is central to debstes ahead of Durban and noted that it is possible to build upon existing UNFCCC processes to strengthen the climate regime and raise the overall level of ambition to reach the target. "Whilst a number of studies have d ?monstrated that the level of climate mitigation pledged to date is Insufficient to limit temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius, this paper clearly demonstrates that there are a range of good ideas and options available that could help correct the course and move toward a safer and more stable climate," UNEP said.