GEF made over 14,000 grants to civil societies

The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) over the years has made more than 14,000 small grants directly to civil society and community based-organisations, which amount to $634 million, about N95.7 billion.

The grants, according to sources at GEF, are in a bid to address global environmental issues and supporting national sustainable development initiatives.

The CEO and chairperson of the Global Environment Facility Monique Barbut, in a statement during the World Earth day, asserted the need to reflect upon how young the environmental movement.

The first Earth Day, NaijaAgroNet learnt was held forty-two years ago by citizen organizers and it brought about the first Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. 

"This June the environmental movement returns to Rio, bringing with it new priorities and a deeper understanding of the challenges facing our planet and how to address them," she said.

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Green ICT tops agenda ITU symposium

The advancement of green Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) agenda through awareness creation is one of the key agenda of the seventh edition of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change.

The symposium is to raise awareness about the power of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) in helping to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

ITU in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet revealed that the symposium was jointly organised by ITU and Canadian government, and hosted by Prompt, an R&D partnership developer and scheduled to hold between 29th and 31st May, 2012 at Montreal, Canada.

The symposium, ITU said, would also explore ways in which advance technologies could play a role in improving the environmental sustainability of the ICT sector itself, and how ICTs could help countries better tackle the effects of climate change and new strategies to help tackle e-waste. 

The event would form part of ITU’s activities in the lead up to the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), highlighting the key role played by ICTs as enablers in environmentally-sustainable economic development.

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12 countries partner EU, FAO on managing obsolete pesticide

European Union

Twelve countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia are to work with the European Union (EU) and UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in order to handle their stocks of obsolete pesticides.

NaijaAgroNet authoritatively gathered that about 200,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides could be found in 12 Soviet Union republics and are kept in tens of thousands of unprotected sites.

EU and FAO are making provisions for the sum of 7 million Euro, about N1.44 billion for the next four years to assist Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The funds will be used in managing obsolete pesticides and to also reduce the risks of current stocks.

A press release made available to NaijaAgroNet indicated that the obsolete pesticides pose a serious threat to the health of the people around them and to the environment.

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

The joint effort will also see to the building of capacity to reduce risks from pesticides used in agriculture and avoid build-up of additional stockpiles in future.

FAO Director-General, Graziano da Silva said that pesticides may be an important input for farming but need to be used responsibly while protecting human health and the environment from their adverse effects.

"In our quest for sustainability and to meet the challenge of feeding a growing population while preserving our environment, we also need to take a good look at the different options we have to protect crops and improve productivity. This includes using natural means to protect and improve crop yields through sustainable crop intensification, or 'save and grow' techniques as we call it at FAO," FAO boss added.

EU Ambassador, Laurence Argimon-Pistre affirmed EU's established policy dialogue and cooperation on environment related issues with its eastern neighbours and Central Asian partners. 

"In its new Neighbourhood Policy, the EU will continue to pursue a higher level of environment protection with its eastern partners and be committed to combat environmental degradation," she added. "This includes obsolete pesticides and other hazardous chemicals, whose environmental and health risks are not only at stake for the region but also for the EU".

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Germany supports West African governments with N10 billion

The Federal Republic of Germany has given a financial support of Euro50 million, about N10.38 billion to West African nations in support of climate activities, reports GhanaWeb.

Also, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the fund would be put to use by West Africa Science Centre for Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), whose creation's constitution was signed by 10 West African ministers last month including Nigeria.

The ministers from Ghana, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, Niger, Senegal, and Togo also signed the Cooperation of Agreement for WASCAL in Lome, Togo.

Further, NaijaAgroNet gathered that the funds were provided by German government in order to help West Africans to generate the knowledge and develop the analytical capability in the region on climate change and land resources to design resilient land use system. 

With the funds the science centre, WASCAL would offer research community in West Africa through the partnership of Germany expertise on climate change and adapted land management to strengthen the ability in the region to assess the impact of land management policies affecting the wellbeing of the targeted region. Read more

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Scientists call for GDP replacement

Top scientists has called on the government globally  to replace the Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) as a measure of wealth with metrics for natural, built, human and social capital.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet informed that 20 past winners of the Noble Prize for environment, the Blue Planet Prize made this call on Sunday.

They also called for an elimination of subsidies in sectors such as energy, transport and agriculture that create environmental and social cost, which currently go unpaid.

Governments, they also urged, to tackle over-consumption and address population pressure by empowering women, improving education and making contraception accessible to all.

The past Blue Planet Prize winners, NaijaAgroNet gathered presented a joint paper to government ministries from around the world at the United Nations Environment Programme's governing council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.

They highlighted in their position presented by a United Kingdom's Chief Scientific Advisor, Bob Watson noted that the current system is broken.

"It is driving humanity to a future that is 3-5°C warmer than our species has ever known, and is eliminating the ecology that we depend on for our health, wealth and senses of self" he said.

Watson equally said there is need to apply human solutions that decision makers must be bold and forward in their thinking to seize them as there is no assurance that technological fixes will come fast enough.

The paper further called for the conservation and placing of high value on biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as the creation of markets for them that could form the basis of green economies.

IIED Director, Camilla Toulmin, pointed out that sustainable development is not a pipe dream.

“It is the destination the world’s accumulated knowledge points us towards, the fair future that will enable us to live with security, peace and opportunities for all," she said.

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FAO to boost Afghanistan's traditional irrigation

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is working towards the boosting of technical support for the rehabilitation of Afghanistan's dilapidated traditional systems.

The organization in a press statement available to NaijaAgroNet, FAO revealed that dilapidated irrigation system is attributable to the decades of war and migration away from rural areas, and has left many farmers without sufficient water for their farmland.

The degraded irrigation system, FAO noted, had also led to the country's Ministry of Energy and Water to place a priority on water resources development within its National Development Strategy.

The UN agency also signed a $27.7 million, about N4.36 billion agreements with the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water to provide the needed technical assistance.

The agreement further covers expertise and training for implementation of the Irrigation Restoration and Development Project (IRDP).

Information available to NaijaAgroNet indicated that FAO is equally working to use the initiative to help Afghan by training personnel and assisting in the use of modern design and management methods.

“There will also be training for farmers in improved water management practices, and operation and maintenance of irrigation systems,” part of the statement read.

Pasquale Steduto, the Unit Head, Water Development and Management at FAO, affirmed that the irrigation systems has suffered over the past three decades as people moved away from the rural areas and this could not be attributed to lack of investment.

The migration, he said, left the maintenance of the traditional irrigation systems to younger generation.

“So, farmers in rural areas were not able to get enough water to cultivate their fields. As a result, they produced fewer crops," said Pasquale Steduto.

The project is primarily supported by a grant from the World Bank with an additional contribution from the government of Afghanistan.'Yinka Awosanya

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