THE GUARDIAN, Monday November 28,2011
THE ENVIRONMENT |57
Beware of climate change risk from air con, fridge gases, warns UN
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i he Environment From Leo Sobechi. Ahakaliki
WaterAid in Nigeria Head of People and Organisational Development. Grace Ezigbo (left); Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Reng Ochekpe and Acting Country Representative of WaterAid in Nigeria. Timeyin UwejamomerB at the launch of WaterAid's global IIagship repon on Sanitation.
IITA teams up with Leventis on forest restoration Conservation By Tunde Alao
A NEW'road map' charted to .iiprovide leadership in forest conservation ancf sustainable development may have been recently adopted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) towards beefing up the nation's climate change adaptation measures. The new partnership is being backed by Leventis Foundation for the purpose of regenerating plants that are nearly in extinction due to climate change and human activities. Beyond the move for forest preservation, the Institute has also expressed concern on the extinction of birds, butterfly and other living things that add value to man's existence. Beyond forest restoration and preservation, the institute is also embarking on restoration of endangered plants by way of seedlings, especially medicinal plants, which offer a potential source for revenue generation, employment opportunities and enhancement of health condition of
Apart from the dearth of birds, butterfly, games and others, cutting of trees, either for domestic usages or commercial purposes have done an incalculable damage to environment, but the situation could be reversed through forest preservation. Nigerians. Speaking at the sensitisation programme organised for school students within the Ibadan and its environs by the IITA in conjunction with a non-governmental organization (NGO), Nigeria Field Society (NFS) Young Explorers, held at the ItTA, Ibadan, Oyo State Capital last week, experts said that one of the trees that are seriously affected is Irokp tree. "Being a hard wood, this specie suffered serious threats from both the local furniture makers and wood exporters without any concerted efforts to replenish them and this is unacceptable." The IITA Project Coordinator, Mr. John Peacock, also a consultant to the institute, who conducted the students around the lakes within the Institute's environment, lamented the extent of damage done to the forest in Oyo state in particular and oilier
parts of south west of Nigeria through deforestation by man's activities. According co Peackock, among the African countries, Nigeria has a notorious record of deforestation. "Apart from the dearth of birds, butterfly, games, cutting of trees either for domestic usages or commercial purposes have done an incalculable damage to environment", said Peacock, adding that the situation can be reversed by inculcate into the young minds, the importance of trees arjd its preservation. An American, Dr. Peter Kulakow, who is the Cassava Breeder Specialist, condemned the paceatwhich forest is disappearing in the country. The disappearance of forest, Kulakow noted, is inimical to climate change adaptation and such situation is capable of affecting agricultural sec-
tor. To him, Nigeria has great potential in cassava cultivation "if the right thing is done the right wajr, but cautioned that for a successful agricultural development, trees and forest in genetal must be protected. President of NH, Professor Funsho Adeniyi, noted that climate change and its effects are starring Nigeria at the face. Adeniyi was full of concern over tie pattern of rain in the recent times in Nigeria. In his address, the newly appointed Director General of IITA, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga said his focus is to improve upon research into strategic areas of utmost importance. Accord ing to d i recto r ge n eral, apart from improving on the agricultural products, which is the core function of IITA, he said deforestation, if not properly handled is capable of making mess of the organisation's activities.
Nigeria off-trackin meetingMDGs sanitation target, says WaterAid Sanitation ANEW report released /•recently has warned that unless urgent action is taken, nearly all governments,in Sub-Saharan African will fail to meet the .Miliennium Development . Goal (MDG) pledge halve the proportion of people without sanitation by 2015.
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The report, which was launched in Nigeria by the Minister of WaterResources in. conjunction with WaterAid in Nigeria, shows that on the current trajectory, it will take over two. centuries for Sub-Saharan Africa to meet its sanitation MDG target. What is more, only20 countries in theregion are on track to meet the water MDG target by 2015. All of this has massive consequences for
child mortalitymAfricaj-"-:1 Nigeria's MDu target is to supply 74 per cent of the.population with safe water: by 2015 and 69 per cent of the popula? don with adequate sanitation. :Yet only 58 per cent havewater and:32-per cent have .sanita-. tion. In total, 63.6 million people do not have access to safe drinking water (42 per cent of .the.population) in Nigeria, while 1O3 million do not have access to sanitation (68:.per cent of riie population),-: . - . At current rates of progress: the water taiget will be missed . byl8years(2033)andthesaniration tareetis currency corripleteryofftrack, coverage having Men from 37per cent in I990to32percentin2008, The World Health Organi . The sanitation crisis is something we can no longer sit
back and watch",- said the Minister, of .Water Resources, /Sarah Reng Ochekpe. "Ifs time for us to be up ana about and" take action. The Minister noted a drop in standards from the Nigeria, of 40'years ago-when people were more conscious of sanitation and. living in dean environments, to. the present day Nigeria where unsanitaty conditions and practices are rampant. The Minister appeafe^ to aD wives of State Governors to take up the cause of ensuring open defecation free communities in their respective States; saying. : Jne WaterAid report shows Nigeria Government spending on water and sanitation as onry OJ8 percent of GPP. So Nigeria is far from meeting the 2008 ethekwini and Sharm el
Sheikh commitments cate05per cent of GDP to sanitation. - - .=-" , ... The report states that" to get the sanitation .and water MDGs back on track, countries in sub-Saharan Africa. need Co spend at least 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP); on these services. The reportalso calls on donor countries to double. global aid-flows-to water, sanitation and hygiene by prioritising an additional WaterAid's Acting Country Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Timeyin Uwejamomere, said: "Every year thousands of chil.dren die in Nigeria .due to a lack of adequate sanitation and clean watec This is the true cost we bear from the failure to ensure basic water and sanitation services. "
QOARING use of man-made Jgases used in refrigerators, airconditioners and fire extinguishers risks speeding up global wanning and industry should adopt alternatives, a UN report said on Monday. In the most dire forecast, unless governments and industry act to limit the growth, the annual emissions of hydrofluoro carbons, or HFCs, by 2050 could equate to pumping nearly nine billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — about a third of mankind's C02 emissions now. HFCs have been phased in since the 1990s to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have damaged the Earth's protective ozone layer and are also very powerful greenhouse gases. On average, HFCs survive in the atmosphere for 15 years and are about 1,600 times more potent in napping heat in the air than CO2, underscoring growing alarm about these compounds. Combined with rapidly growing C02 emissions from fossil fuels, this will make it even harder for mankind to try to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius — a threshold that risks dangerous climate change, scientists say "In the future, HFC emissions have the potential to become very large. This is primarily due to growing demand in emerging economies and increasing populations," said the report by the U.N. Environment Program released in Bali, Indonesia. New middle-class consumers in major develop ing countries
such as China, India, Erazi! and Indonesia are driving demand for new refrigerators and airconditioners. HFCs are also used to make insulating foams and aerosols. A global pact called the Montreal Protocol, widely regarded as one of the world's mo<t successful environmental treaties, led nations to phase out CFCs from the late 1980s. Production quickly plunged, cutting the equivalent of billions of tons of CO2 annually HFCs do not damage che ozone one layer, which shields the planet from cancer-causing anet fro ultra-violet radiation. Global consumption has doubled in a decade to just over 400,000 tons in 2010 and consumption of some HFCs is growing 10 percent a year, threatening to undo the climate benefits of tlie Montreal Protocol. "If HFC emissions continue to increase, they are likely to have a noticeable influence on the climate system," said the report, released duringa meeting of Montreal Protocol signatories. There are options, though. These include developing and rarrping up production o'f HFCs that survive only a matter of days in the atmosphere or using different gases aitogedier to chill food and drinks or keep the car cool on a hot day For example, some manufacturers are already using hydrocarbons, CO2 and ammonia for industrial refrigeration and airconditioning plants while fire-fighting systems can use foams, dry chemicals and inert gases. Increasingly, household refrigerators are using hydrocarbons in compressors, the report says.
Ibadan flooding: Oyo seeks N43lb for infrastructure provision roei with PresidentGoodluck Jonathan on the need for urgent intervention of the Federal Government, saying fly Tunde Alao that the president had promTTIREE months after cities of ised to help the state through Aoyo State in Nigeria were the release of ecological ravaged by flood due to heavy fund. rainfall, the state governAccording to the Task Force ment has said that it needs a Chairman, "the flood that sum of N4.3lb to replace risen to about 1875 mm, the infrastructures that were highest in the city since 1951, destroyed in the state capital. led to the community disrupAs at the last count, a total tions and immobilization, number of 2,105 buildings of with several social dislocadifferent shapes and cate- tion, causing grief, fear gories, apart from a good among the people, caused numbers of went under as a serious damage to urban result of the downpour. The infrastructure", heaped the rains, according to investiga- disaster on what he tions, affected infrastructure described as the flagrant disthat include bridges and cul- regard for urban and regionverts in place. al planning law, as well as the Estimate to construct 25 lack of master plan for the bridges and culverts in a)] the city of Ibadan. affected areas across ail then Wahab also expressed worlocal government areas of ries over the rate at which the the state capital, is put at residents of the state capital N43ib. dump refuse and solid Chairman, Oyo State Task wastes in gutters, rivers and Force on Flood Prevention streams, build shops along and Management, Dr. Bolanle flood plains, stressing that Wahab, who disclosed this the activities of land speculalast week in Ibadan said apart tors did not also help matfrom lives thatwere lost, over ters. Nioo billion worth of proper- He called for the immediate ties were equally destroyed enforcement of the proviby the flood. sions of the state Urban and To ensure availability of Regional Planning Law, 2O01 funds, the Oyo State and [o fashion out a master Governor, Senator Abiola plan for the development of Ajimobi, who admitted that the Ibadan metropolis alwell huge funds would be as the completion of the required by the state govern- Ogunpa channelization. ment to address the environGov, Ajimobi, while receivmental problems bedeviling ing the report, decried the the Ibadan city, said that he penchant for disregard for would contact some develop- urban and regional planning ment partners to come to the law, particularly by the resiaid of the state. dents of Ibadan, which he Besides, he said that he had said aided the flood disaster.
Infrastructure