ngrclimatereports September 28th, 2009
By: Etim Imisim (Abuja)
Experts from ECOWAS member states are meeting today in Abidjan to revalidate an industrial policy for West Africa. Heads of state and government of the sub-region will meet later to adopt the policy.
The three-day meeting is about how to implement the West African Common Industrial Policy (WACIP). A statement from ECOWA said the meeting will move the region towards establishing an economic community. The participants are drawn from regional experts and manufacturers associations of 15 member states.
It will be recalled that ECOWAS held a two-day meeting in Lome, Cotonou, preparatory to Copenhagen in December. Participants at the mid-September meeting adopted a human rights approach to climate change. They noted that ECOWAS citizens have the right to aspire to dignity and a better future. Conflicts arising from the depletion of natural resources were not only threatening this right. Negative impacts of climate change further infringed on it right, especially among displaced persons. Continue Reading »
ngrclimatereports September 28th, 2009
IFPRI
By: Etim Imisim (Abuja)
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is releasing a study Wednesday which will assess the impact of climate change on agriculture. The prognosis covers up to year 2050.
A statement from IFPRI head of communication, Mr. Michael Rubinstein, said the assessment is the most comprehensive of its kind to date. It creates two scenarios for food production in the next forty years. One is with climate change and the other without it. Within that context, the report predicts trends for crop yield, food prices and compares the number of calories which will be available for children in the next forty years, the statement added. Outcomes for key food commodities as well as costs for overcoming the negative effects of climate change are parts of the projections. Continue Reading »
ngrclimatereports September 23rd, 2009
United Nations
(Summit on Climate Change, convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon September 22, to mobilize the political will and vision needed to reach an ambitious, agreed outcome based on science at the UN climate talks December 2009 in Copenhagen. Live updates and guide courtesy www.guardian.co.uk)
1.30pm
It could be one of the most important UN general assembly meetings for years. Climate change, the Middle East crisis and the global economy are all high on the agenda and many of the key players will be attending including Barack Obama, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Hu Jintao, the first Chinese president to attend the meeting for 40 years.
Ban Ki-moon is due to open the UN’s climate change summit in New York today, with a speech at 2.15pm (9.15am local time), closely followed by Obama and the Chinese president, Hu Jintao.
That’s just for starters. As Suzanne Goldenberg writes, Obama’s schedule today “stacks up as a whirlwind tour of the most urgent global issues”. Continue Reading »
ngrclimatereports September 21st, 2009
United Nations
By: Etim Imisim (Abuja)
Nigeria is celebrating UN day on disbarment and non-proliferation with the rest of the world. A UN resolution of 2002 made September 21 an international day for peace.
One of the activities marking the event today in Abuja is a public lecture, organized by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, an organ of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is to be delivered by Prof. Nuhu Yaqab, former vice chancellor of the University of Abuja. First Lady and chairperson of African First Ladies Peace Mission, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, is making a peace statement.
A statement from the institute, signed by Mr. Sam Abi, said the event is important for Nigeria because the country is active in conflict management in Africa and globally. Continue Reading »
ngrclimatereports September 18th, 2009
By: Etim Imisim (Abuja)
UNESCO
Stakeholders from West Africa yesterday held consultation over the establishment of UNESCO-International Hydrological Programme (IHP) in Nigeria. A sub-regional workshop in Abuja deliberated on the road map for the centre.
Participants attended from Cameroun, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, and Liberia, The Gambia, Senegal and Togo. Continue Reading »
ngrclimatereports September 16th, 2009
World Bank Out with Smart Climate Report (1)
By Etim Imisim (Abuja)
Blogging on the World Bank website, Julia Bucknall wrote yesterday that the world needs to be reminded of effects of climate change.
She said farmers are seeing their crops die. Harvest was 28 per cent of normal amounts. Rains were failing for four conservative seasons. And water was a tenth of their normal levels on 80 per cent of the land. Continue Reading »
