100 GEO members reiterate to unleash open data on global challenges

NaijaAgroNet:

Over 100 members of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) concluded its 12th Plenary session and fourth Ministerial Summit in Mexico City with reiteration to unleash the power of open data in effort to address global challenges, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as they have also adopted a 10-year Strategic plans to run between 2016 and 2015 in addition to a Ministerial Declaration that focuses on harnessing critical environmental observations to enable leaders to make better-informed decisions for the benefit of humanity at a time of rapid global change.

Arising from the weeklong meeting of over 400 delegates from 41 GEO governments and 39 partner organizations, and included Ministers of Environment, Science and Natural Resources, held at the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (INEGI), Mexico City, the leaders reaffirmed resolve to share data on earth observations at a time of exponential data growth, human development and climate change.

These decisions are coming on the heels of recent adoption of the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and an anticipated global agreement on climate change, GEO launched several bold, new initiatives, including “A global Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON), including an Arctic to Antarctic network linking coastal observing centers in the Americas to measure species distribution and habitat.”

Also GEO resolved that AmeriGEOSS, a regional programme to share Earth observation data for agriculture; disaster risk reduction; water; and biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring.

The United States Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said, "As we near the historic Paris climate talks, it’s clear open data and international collaboration are key to countries moving the needle on climate change. We can and should share Earth observation data to help address climate challenges because science and open data are critical to understanding land, water, wildlife & climate change. They must be at the heart of every policy decision - no country can solve it alone."

European Commissioner Carlos Moedas said, "We have reached a tipping-point where GEO has to move its focus towards successful societal delivery. We should not underestimate this formidable challenge. The European Union, through its Horizon 2020 and Copernicus programmes will continue to be a driving force to help GEOSS reach its full maturity – a GEOSS which is designed for and accessible by all contributors and all users."

Communications Manager at Group on Earth Observations, Katherine Anderson informed NaijaAgroNet that GEO welcomed new Members Ecuador, Kenya, Somalia, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe, bringing the number to 100 nations; five new Participating Organizations: the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (BSC), International Research Center on El Niño (CIIFEN), Future Earth, Research Data Alliance (RDA) and The World Bank (IBRD/IDA); and four new Observers:  European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL), Inter-Islamic Network on Space Sciences and Technologies (ISNET), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UN Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM).

She also said that the Thirteenth GEO Plenary will be held in St Petersburg, Russia in November 2016.

  
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Legumes important crops for food security - FAO boss

NaijaAgroNet:

The Director General, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, has said that legumes are important crops for food security of a good part of world population, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Silva made this statement while announcing 2016 as International Year of Legumes, with beans in the leading role. Under the slogan Nutritional Seeds for a Sustainable Future, it will deal with an international campaign to raise awareness of its benefits and promote its production and trade, besides encouraging new and more intelligent uses in all the food chain for their protein content and its health benefits.

According to FAO there are hundreds of varieties of legumes all over the world and says the most popular of its dry bean varieties like the haricot beans, Lima beans and little beans, besides chick peas and coupes.

Graziano da Silva underlined the fixing nitrogen properties of legumes that can improve soil fertility, increasing at the same time the productivity of arable lands, which also raises productivity of the lands and eliminates dependency on synthetic fertilizers, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

Such conditions lead to a lesser trail of carbon and, indirectly, to less emission of greenhouse gases, he assured.

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in a communique read in his name during the ceremony of presentation, NaijaAgroNet learnt, expressed the view that legumes may contribute significantly to treat hunger, food security, malnutrition, environmental challenges and human health.

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VC decries nation’s unemployment rate

NaijaAgroNet:

The Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Akure (FUTA), Prof. Adebiyi Gregory Daramola, has decried the nation’s unemployment rate which he puts at between 21 and 30 per cent with 23 million unemployed youths, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The Vice Chancellor who was represented by Prof. Taiwo Amos, NaijaAgroNet gathered, spoke over the weekend in Ikorodu, Lagos as guest speaker at the 15th Memorial Lecture of Prof. Anthony Adegbola organised by Ikorodu Division Human Resource Development Board (IDHRDB),

He added that agriculture had gone beyond the primordial struggle of the past as it has become a high employment-creating and income-generating avenue, urging the youths to look into the entrepreneurial aspect of the sector which he listed to include product supply, farm production, product processing and product distribution.

Daramola urged development-oriented agricultural policies to make the sector address the malaise head-long. He contended that if the sector was made workable, the issues of rural-urban migration, conflicts, poverty and increased criminal activities which were associated with joblessness would be effectively tackled.

According to The Guardian Prof. Daramola, called on the three tiers of government to enthrone a conducive environment for agribusiness as a most variable platform to creating jobs for the teeming unemployed youths with a view to addressing the ‘alarming’ rate of unemployment plaguing the country, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

Delivering a lecture titled ‘‘Agriculture: A Panacea for youth employment in Nigeria,” Daramola urged stabilisation of power supply to enable existing industries produce to their optimal level, just as he called for further strengthening of the nation’s school curriculum to make the youths agriculture-enthusiastic.

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FAO’s trade-weighted index rose by 3.9%

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO’s) trade-weighted index which tracks prices on global markets of five major food commodity groups, rose by 3.9 per cent over the previous month of September, NaijaAgroNet reports.

According to FAO information portal, the agency cut its forecast for world production of grains, including rice, this year by 4.7m tonnes to 2.53bn tonnes, reflecting in the main “less buoyant expectations” for corn output in Asia and Ukraine thanks to dry weather.

The FAO, NaijaAgroNet gathered, said the forecast reduction reflects “dimmer expectations” about maize crops in India and Ukraine due to recent adverse weather.

Intensifying concerns that El Niño may hamper next year’s palm oil supply in Indonesia, coupled with slow progress in soybean plantings in Brazil, due also to unfavourable weather, spurred a 6.2 increase in the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index,

Global cereal stocks are expected to stay at a reasonable level since wheat inventories worldwide are continuing to rise, now standing at their highest level seen in 15 years.
The FAO’s sugar price index rose 17.2 per cent from September because of fears of heavy rains in the main sugar-growing regions of Brazil and concerns of drought in India and Thailand.

On the other hand, NaijaAgroNet  learnt, the agency said prices of rice remained low although the cereals sub-index increased modestly by 1.7 per cent month-on-month, adding that meat is an extension of overall price stability that has been evident since March of this year.

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