Nigeria: McEnies promotes climate-health resilience through WISER project - NaijaAgroNet

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McEnies Global Communications is supporting efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s climate resilience through the Weather and Climate Information Services for Resilience (WISER) Health Project, an initiative aimed at improving how weather and climate data are used to address climate-sensitive health risks.

The project, led by the UK Met Office in collaboration with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Rockefeller Foundation, seeks to enhance the accessibility and use of climate information across Nigeria’s health and emergency response sectors.

Nigerian women are resilience, dogged says Senator Tinubu - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Senator representing the Lagos-Central. State, Lagos State in the red chamber fo the National Assembly, under the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Oluremi Tinubu has described Nigerian women as resilience, powerful and doggedness, reports NaijaAgroNet.

In her message to the celebration of the International Women's Day (IWD) 2019, Senator Tinubu declare she celebrates with Nigerian women all over the world on the occasion of the International Women’s day, 2019.

"Beyond the recognition of the struggles and achievements of womenfolk, it is a celebration of womanhood – her strength, resilience, power and doggedness," she declared.

Tinubu also said that this year, there are two themes in commemoration of International Women’s Day - ‘Balance for Better’ and 'Think equal, build smart, innovate for change.' 

She noted that while both themes may appear to be at variance, they are both pointers to the way forward in the quest for the protection of rights of women and a reminder that we must devise new strategies in the pursuit of gender equity and balance.

"It is apparent that to adequately entrench the rights of women, abrogate gender based violence and ensure equal opportunities for all, men have a role to play. Conscripting men into gender based discussions and actions will enable us address issues of gender disparity, equality in every strata of life, ensure gender balance in government, employment, remuneration of employees and wealth creation," she said.

Hence, she enjoined men to speak up in support of women, stressing that gender balance will benefit humanity and nationhood generally.

In addition, she said, women must rise up and equip themselves to fill gaps in politics, public office, and management. 

"This can only be done if we are all ready to make a difference, speak up for worthy causes and impact on our immediate communities, the type of change we wish to see," she said.

Senator Tinubu went on to congratulate women all over the world and Nigeria in particular, assuring of her unwavering commitment to the empowerment of Nigerian women.

Isaac Oyimah/Editor

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Pastoralists tenure rights key to community resilience - Study

NaijaAgroNet:

A new Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) guide has offered pointers to protect a sustainable mobile lifestyle with special land-use skills, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to FAO, assuring adequate tenure rights to land is an important step in improving food security for millions of people in developing countries, but safeguarding tenure is not so straightforward when it comes to the way land is used by mobile pastoralist communities.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that over 500 million people on the planet rely on livestock herding, often steering their animals around various landscapes to reach water and pasture sources and avoid drought, animal disease and civil conflict.

In order to adequately address the inherently more complex needs of pastoralists, NaijaAgroNet reports that many of whom rely on covering vast territories in opportunistic ways, just as FAO, with the support of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Commission on Environmental Law and the Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy, has produced a technical yet accessible guide on how to establish viable tenure arrangements for the often-marginalized people who use around a third of the earth's surface.

The guide, NaijaAgroNet reports, posited that improving governance of pastoral lands is part of a series of publications offering insight on how to implement the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, a landmark initiative whose global endorsement in 2012 was begun and brokered by FAO.

The coordinator of IUCN's Drylands Programme and lead author of the Technical Guide, Mr. Jonathan Davies, noted that the world's pastoralists engage in a wide variety of practices and include a great number of cultures in such diverse settings as Mongolia, Niger, Spain, Kenya, Norway and the United States of America.

Pastoralists, he said, inhabit rangeland areas, many of which are arid or semi-arid, and they employ a highly adaptable livelihood strategy that is poorly understood by outsiders, stressing that their adaptability relies on access rights that often jar with classical notions of property rights.

"Pastoralism is a system of livestock production that takes advantage of both the diversity and the seasonality of natural resources in the rangelands. It is based on large-scale, carefully planned movements of livestock, which demands high levels of coordination between multiple users. This has led to the emergence of customs and institutions that enable decisions to be effectively made and enforced by local communities," he said.

Progress in ecological science and increasing pastoral voices in global fora have galvanized increasing attention to ways of life now seen as flexible and resilient rather than obsolete.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Climate adaptation, resilience vital for achieving Sustainable Development Goals

NaijaAgroNet:

Evidence is increasing that climate change is taking the largest toll on poor and vulnerable people, and these impacts are largely caused by inequalities that increase the risks from climate hazards, according to a new report launched by the United Nations.

The World Economic and Social Survey 2016: Climate Change Resilience—an Opportunity for Reducing Inequalities (#WESS2016), found that governments can play a significant role in reducing the risks of climate change to vulnerable populations. Through transformative policies,  the report shows that governments could address the root causes of inequalities and build climate change resilience.

While there is considerable anecdotal evidence that the poor and the vulnerable suffer greater harm from climate-related disasters, the report determined that much of the harm is not by accident, but that it is due to the failure of governments to close the development gaps that leave large population groups at risk.

In the past 20 years, 4.2 billion people have been affected by weather-related disasters, including a significant loss of lives. Developing countries are the most affected by climate change impacts. Low-income countries suffered the greatest losses, including economic costs estimated at 5 per cent of GDP.

“Sadly, the people at greater risk from climate hazards are the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized who, in many cases, have been excluded from socioeconomic progress,” noted United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the report. “We have no time to waste—and a great deal to gain—when it comes to addressing the socioeconomic inequalities that deepen poverty and leave people behind.”

The report argues that while climate adaptation and resilience are overshadowed by mitigation in climate discussions, they are vital for addressing climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

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Berlin Green Week’14: WFO says resilience, the keyword

NaijaAgroNet

The Executive Director, World Food Organisation (WFO-OMA) Mr. Marco Marzano, has said that resilience is the keyword the Berlin Green Week 2014 gets underway within the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), NaijaAgroNet reports.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the International Green Week in Berlin, which began at the weekend, would last till January 26, 2014 is reputed as the world's biggest fair for food, agriculture and horticulture.

Marzano also disclosed that the commencement of Global Forum for Food and Agriculture that it represents a unique opportunity for different stakeholders of the agricultural sector, including government representatives, United Nations (UN) agencies, governmental development agencies,  to meet and discuss about the latest challenges affecting the sector.

“This year title, Empowering Agriculture: Fostering Resilience – Securing Food and Nutrition, already contains the seed of a possible solution for overcoming some of the threats,” Marzano said, stressing that resilience is the keyword, adaptation the way out.

“We all work for having food and nutrition security as the final result” the Executive Director said.

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