LDC Group says urgent action needed on climate change

NaijaAgroNet:

The Chairman of the Least Developed Countries Group at the UN climate change negotiations, Mr. Prakash Mathema has said that the latest science tells us that we could limit global temperature increases to a level that will save the poorest countries in the world, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He told NaijaAgroNet that all that is required is the will to do it, adding that “if we don’t act urgently the world’s poorest will suffer.”

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the two new reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in the last three months, present alarming realities for the world’s poorest.

“Extreme temperatures, rainfall and drought, increase in aridity, more intense tropical cyclones, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification are among other adverse effects of climate change,” he said. Pointing out that these effects will lead to declining crop yields, undernourishment, injury and ill-health, and a number of other socioeconomic and development challenges.


“It is still technically and economically feasible to limit temperature increases to below 1.5°C, but only if we all work together to resolve the climate change problem. If some countries advance their own interests and ignore the need for international cooperation, then we are doomed,” he said.


The LDC Group, further said, has arrived in Bonn, Germany to continue discussions at the UN on reaching a universal, legally-binding agreement on climate change and called for urgent action to ensure that we reach a new legal agreement in Paris by December 2015.


“Governments must make substantial progress in their talks in the period leading up to this date. We hope that we will have a negotiating text to discuss in the major climate change meeting later this year in Lima, Peru. This means that this June session of climate change talks is critical. We cannot be delayed by procedural discussions. We must put our heads together and start writing a new agreement,” he said.

Mathema insisted that as a sign of commitment to addressing climate change, the LDC Group is already choosing low-carbon and climate-resilient development pathways; to show that everyone has a role to play.


“We stand ready to engage proactively and progressively in the negotiations for a new agreement. We have demonstrated our leadership as the ‘moral voice’ in difficult negotiations. We sincerely hope that all nations will join us in this quest. Reaching a strong conclusion in Paris is crucial for us; it is about the very survival of our communities and future generations. If there is no progress, we stand to lose the most,” Mathema said.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Prep-eez Tech partners World Bank on 24/7 free call e-extension

The Chief Executive Office, Prep-eez Tech Limited, Mr Kow Sam, has said the company is partnering the World Bank and the West Africa Agricultural Production Programme on piloting the e-Agriculture and extension programme, reports NaijaAgroNet.

He also revealed to NaijaAgroNet that they are up-scaling services to cover the entire Ghana in the next couple of months, covering over 11 languages and also executing similar projects in Nigeria, La Cote D'Ivoire and other West African countries.

The programme, he told NaijaAgroNet is to expand a free multi-lingual interactive voice response system and audio conferencing and free messaging services across the region.

As said by him, the service has currently attracted over 40,000 active subscribers and an average daily usage of 2,000 accessing each day on their standard mobile phone with languages, including Twi, Ga, Ewe, Nzema, Dagbani and Frafra.

"The company is also building a multi-lingual call-centre that is toll-free at the Ghanaian Ministry of Food and Agricultural (MoFA) resource centre," he said, stressing that this would allow direct access to information in real time from subject matter specialist as well as experts to farmers through standard phones at zero cost to the farmer.

In addition, Sam said three e-resource centres are being established in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale to help build ICT agricultural resource, where MoFA staff, extension officers, women and youth in agriculture would learn to build business plans, research and experimentation, cash flow and productivity and performance analysis for effective output.

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Dubai hosts World Food Security Summit

Expecting was high at the commencement of the World Food Security Summit in Dubaia with hundreds of international experts and government in attendance, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking on the summit, the Minister of Water and Environment Development, who will be speaking at the summit. Dr Rashid bin Fahad, confirmed to NaijaAgroNet that

 the region is entering a new period of economic growth, underpinned by a burgeoning population with a high dependence on imported food.

“Food security is an immediate priority,” Fahad said, stressing that execution of a core food security strategy is essential to provide a sustainable growth platform.

“More and more consistently over the last six to seven years, the GCC states are trying to develop a strategic intervention on food security,” said Zahra Babar, the associate director for research at the Centre for International and Regional Studies at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar.

“Globally, when institutions talk about food security, largely, they’re identifying countries where access to food is something that is difficult. The most insecure part of the world tends to be in sub-Saharan Africa so, traditionally, you don’t think of Gulf states as insecure as they have some of the highest GDPs in the world and they can easily meet their food needs.”

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Make milk, dairy products more accessible to vulnerable FAO told governments

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in its latest publication urged government to make milk and dairy products more accessible to vulnerable households so as to improve on livelihoods of hundreds of millions of poor people across the world, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The new FAO publication launched at the weekend, according to NaijaAgroNet inquiries shows that the book, Milk and Dairy Products in Human Nutrition, demanded of governments to invest more in programmes that make milk and dairy products available to poor families and help them in production of milk at home.

FAO Senior Nutrition Officer Ellen Muehlhoff, who also co-edited the publication, affirmed to NaijaAgroNet in a public statement endorsed by Fiona Winward of FAO’s Media Relations in Rome that as part of a balanced diet, milk and dairy products could be an important source of dietary energy, protein and fat.

“They are also rich in micronutrients critical for fighting malnutrition in developing countries where the diets of poor people are often starch or cereal-based and lack diversity,” she said.

Muehlhoff underscored the fact that a combination of food is necessary for a healthy diet, and milk and dairy products are not the only sources of essential nutrients.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that in a landmark decision the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) endorsed the new Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security on 11 May 2012. 

Also, FAO launched a major fund-raising campaign with the aim of securing USD 20 million to translate into action the guidelines, aimed at helping governments safeguard the rights of people to own or access land, forests and fisheries and others to help the focus on improving the lives of millions of smallholder farmers and their families.

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Pix: Cover of the latest FAO publication on Milk