World Economic Forum: Civil Society wants investments shift from fossil fuels to renewables

For the first time, the latest edition of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risk Report identifies failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change as the greatest long-term risk the world faces in the short and long term (10 years). 

It took the destruction of forests, farmland, animals and peoples´ livelihoods in Australia and the Amazon and a devastating year of extreme weather events including typhoons and cyclones that killed thousands and ravaged Africa and Southeast Asia for the Forum´s network of business leaders, academics and NGOs to join the chorus in sounding the alarm on the climate emergency.

Yet, key speakers at the meeting came across completely out of tune with the WEF´s main topic this year: ‘Climate change and building a cohesive, inclusive and sustainable economy’.

Although the USA is the second largest global emitter of greenhouse gases, President Donald Trump delivered a re-election speech instead of focusing on what his government will do to tackle the climate crisis, the world´s greatest threat.

Additionally, Greenpeace International highlighted in a new report that 24 banks, regularly represented at Davos, have provided US$1.4 trillion to the fossil fuel industry since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015 through to the end of 2018.

The report also looks at how pension funds and insurance companies, whose CEOs go to Davos, have been propping up fossil fuels. In response to President Trump’s speech, Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan said, “It seems to escape the President that no money can be made on a dead planet - there can be no jobs, no economic growth.”

Against this backdrop, 2019 marked a series of summits that exposed the brazen lack of political will by large emitters to listen to the rising calls from scientists and people to act on the global emergency. These include the UN Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit in New York and the UN Conference (COP25) in Madrid.

Despite the highest ever carbon pollution by fossil fuels in 2018 and 2019 and three scientific reports in the last two years, delivered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), highlighting the best and newest science on potentially devastating impacts on nature and people, governments of rich nations try to muddle through. Added to that, millions of people, particularly youth flooded the streets of many cities, demanding climate and social justice to transform the present system. Yet highly polluting and rich governments still failed to deliver commitments to raise climate ambition and action to limit dangerous climate impacts.

While in 2018 the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C stipulated that limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all spheres of society, the UN Production Gap report released in December 2019 showed that governments are not committing to what they signed up for in Paris in 2015. They are, in fact, planning to produce about 50% more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with limiting global warming to 2°C levels and 120% more than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C.

The report makes clear that participants in Davos hold direct responsibility in tackling the climate crisis as it says that the “continued expansion of fossil fuel production is underpinned by ambitious national plans, government subsidies and other forms of public finance.”

Ironically, in the days leading to this year’s WEF where VIPs, royalty and others flocked in private jets to celebrate the Forum´s 50th anniversary and discuss climate change in Davos, Oxfam released its “Time to Care” report. The report makes clear that global wealth is increasingly founded on inequality. It concludes that just over 2,000 individual billionaires control more money than 60 percent of the world’s poorest population. This wealth is generated through the unpaid labor of the poorest women who are also in the front line of climate impacts in vulnerable countries.

In light of all this, civil society, supported by Greta Thunberg and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, demands that the world´s most influential business and political leaders convening in Davos immediately halt investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction, end fossil fuel subsidies and completely divest investment in fossil fuels.

Representatives of banks, companies, governments and other institutions currently participating in the WEF must respond to the emergency they acknowledge and build a cohesive and sustainable economy by investing in the energy transition and supporting the sustainable management of nature to achieve resilience.

The wealth owned by only just over 2,000 people is equivalent to 30 times the global annual investments into renewables. This shows how easy it would be to triple investments in renewables annually and start responding to the emergency.

"Those most responsible for the climate crisis in the first place were gathered at the World Economic Forum. Because of the power and the money represented at Davos this week, we’ve seen increasingly devastating climate impacts every year. These same wealthy people have stood as a wall separating governments and any real climate action,” said May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org. The climate movement is breaching that wall. It is because of the power of millions of people who took to the streets that these few billionaires are now feeling the urgency of tackling climate breakdown. As we enter the new decade, we need the world to know that the fossil fuel era is over. The financiers and industry leaders would be wise to see the writing on the wall and get out of this toxic industry in their own self-interest, if not in the interest of the planet as a whole."

Climate Change, Tech Innovation, Urbanization and Migration affecting inequality trends

Growing inequality in both developing and developed countries could exacerbate divisions and slow economic and social development, according to a new UN report, the World Social Report 2020.

More than two thirds of the world’s population today live in countries where inequality has grown, and inequality is rising again even in some of the countries that have seen inequality decline in recent decades, such as Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

The impacts of inequality are being felt at the personal and national levels.  According to the report, which is produced by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, highly unequal societies are less effective at reducing poverty, grow more slowly, make it more difficult for people to break out of the cycle of poverty, and close the door to economic and social advancement.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, writing in the foreword, said, “’The World Social Report 2020: Inequality in a rapidly changing world’ comes as we confront the harsh realities of a deeply unequal global landscape.  In North and South alike, mass protests have flared up, fueled by a combination of economic woes, growing inequalities and job insecurity.  Income disparities and a lack of opportunities are creating a vicious cycle of inequality, frustration and discontent across generations.”

The report provides evidence showing that technological innovation, climate change, urbanization and international migration are affecting inequality trends. The Secretary-General added, “The World Social Report 2020 sends a clear message: the future course of these complex challenges is not irreversible.  Technological change, migration, urbanization and even the climate crisis can be harnessed for a more equitable and sustainable world, or they can be left to further divide us.”

The Sustainable Development Goals, unanimously adopted by countries in 2015, contains a specific goal aimed at reducing inequality. Embodied in the Goals is the principle to “leave no one behind”.  The Report found that the extraordinary economic growth over the last several decades has failed to close the “deep divides within and across countries.”

These disparities between and within countries, the report says, will inevitably drive people to migrate. The report notes that, if it is well managed, migration will not only benefit migrants, but it can also help reduce poverty and inequality.

With increases in migration from rural areas, more than half of the world population now lives in urban areas. While cities can drive innovation and boost prosperity, many urban dwellers suffer from extreme inequality.  In a world with high and growing levels of urbanization, the future of inequality largely depends on what happens in cities and the advantages that cities bring may not be sustained if high urban inequalities are not reduced.

Inequality erodes trust in government

The report found that inequalities concentrate political influence among those who are already better off, which tends to preserve or even widen opportunity gaps.  “Growing political influence among the more fortunate erodes trust in the ability of Governments to address the needs of the majority.”

Even in countries that have fully recovered from the 2008 financial and economic crisis, popular discontent remains high.

The growing inequalities are benefitting the wealthiest.  Top income tax rates have declined in both developed and developing countries, making tax systems less progressive. In developed countries, the top income tax rates fell from 66 percent in 1981 to 43 percent in 2018.

And in developing countries, children in the poorest households—and those from the most disadvantaged ethnic groups—have experienced slower progress in secondary school attendance than those from wealthier families, who are increasingly sending their children to better quality schools.  Disparities and disadvantages in health and education are being transmitted from one generation to the next.

Climate change exacerbating inequalities

Emissions are increasing, global temperatures are rising, but the impacts of climate change are not being felt uniformly around the world, with the countries in the tropics being among the most adversely affected.  According to the report, climate change has made the world’s poorest countries poorer, and if left unaddressed, it could cause millions of people to fall into poverty during the next ten years.  Climate change is also making things worse for the next generation, with the impacts likely to reduce job opportunities, especially in the hardest hit countries.

The report warns that, just as climate change can increase inequality, so can the policies designed to counter its effects.  As countries take climate action, it will be important to protect low-income households.

Technology creating winners and losers

The rapid and revolutionary technological breakthroughs in recent decades have been a boon to skilled workers and workers who can upgrade their skills.  But it has also taken a toll on low-skilled and medium-skilled workers in routine-intensive labor, whose jobs are increasingly being phased out or lost as technologies are being captured by a small number of dominant companies.

While new technologies such as digital innovation and artificial intelligence open up vast new opportunities for employment and engagement, the Report found that their potential to promote sustainable development can only be realized if everyone has access to them, which is not happening, creating new “digital divides.”  About 87 per cent of people in developed countries have internet access, compared to 19 per cent in developing countries.
Technological advances can exacerbate inequalities, by giving an edge to those with early access to those technologies and can widen gaps in education if they disproportionately help the children of the wealthiest.

Solutions

The report, using positive examples, presents concrete policy recommendations that can promote access to opportunity, allow macroeconomic policy to focus on reducing inequality, and tackle prejudice and discrimination.

Issued as the United Nations prepares to celebrate its 75^th anniversary, the report provides the analysis and policy recommendations to frame the global conversation on reducing inequality as a key condition for building the future we want.

Climate-smart Oil Palm Smallholders to boost agriculture and SDGs in four countries

The National Initiatives for Sustainable and Climate-smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS) has been launched by Solidaridad in Accra, Ghana.

NISCOPS is a five year strategic programme aimed to among others enable governments in key oil palm producing countries to support and work with farmers towards more sustainable, climate smart palm oil production as well as contribute to Paris Agreement, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) objectives and the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).

The programme is being implemented in Africa (Ghana and Nigeria) and Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia) with the initial funding support from the Government of the Netherlands.

The programme has an inception year (2019) with the implementation phase I from 2020 to 2023 and implementation phase II from 2024 and beyond.

The Regional Director, Solidaridad West Africa, Isaac Gyamfi during the launch of the programme in Accra, Ghana and the inauguration of the programme National Advisory Committee (NAC), said, “We make bold here to say Solidaridad is in term with the current global and local realities especially on climate change and agriculture and we are now using our over 50 years’ experience of both foot and brain on the ground through our works to contribute to shaping practices and policies at local, districts, national and global levels”.

Solidaridad has been in Ghana’s Oil palm landscape since 2012 promoting yield intensification at both the farm and mill levels through introduction of Best Management Practices (BMP) and improved processing technology respectively. 

The organization has also supported the revitalization of the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana (OPDAG). 

Solidaridad has also played a role in the establishment of the Tree Crops Development Authority.  These have been implemented under our Sustainable West Africa Oil Palm Program (SWAPP).

Analysis from SWAPP shows that an average farm yield of at least 12tons/ha/year for existing farms coupled with oil extraction rate of 18% will make Ghana self-sufficient in Crude Palm Oil (CPO) production. This can only be realised when among other interventions such as BMP, great attention is paid to the impacts of climate change on the sector as well as the contribution of the oil palm sector to climate change.

In his presentation during the event, Dr. Samson Samuel Ogallah, Solidaridad Senior Climate Specialist for Africa and the NISCOPS Technical Coordinator stated that the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the programme is built on the three pillars of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) of Productivity, Adaptation and Mitigation.

Dr. Ogallah added that the programme in addition to its contribution to the NDCs and SDGs of the four countries, aimed to further build capacity of smallholders (organizations) and local institutions to improve performance as well as support development of landscape level mechanisms to operate in ‘vulnerable’ landscapes prone to deforestation.

In her speech at the event, Katja Lasseur, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ghana, expressed the commitment of the Government of the Netherlands to the programme and call on other partners and stakeholders to come on board in order to achieve the laudable objectives of the programme.

The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr.OwusuAfriyieAkoto in his speech which was delivered on his behalf stated that Agriculture is the backbone of the Ghanaian economy. Achieving sustainable food security in a world of growing population and changing diets is a major challenge under climate change.

Climate change will have far-reaching consequences for agriculture that will disproportionately affect poor and marginalized groups who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and have a lower capacity to adapt.

Dr. Akoto added “I am happy to note that the overarching goal of NISCOPS is to contribute towards Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contribution of the Paris Climate Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals through; Building the climate resilience of smallholder oil palm farmers and oil palm processors; Promoting use of energy efficient cook stoves at the artisanal processing level and; Implementing community led adaptation and livelihood diversification programs.

I wish to assure you of Government support to create the enabling environment for the successful implementation of the programme in selected vulnerable communities in order to replicate it in other sectors of the economy to mitigate the impact of climate change”

A nine-member National Advisory Committee (NAC) to advise the programme was inaugurated. The NAC members comprised of Public and Private sector representatives from the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana, Oil Palm Research Institute, Ministries of Food and Agriculture; Trade and Industry; Local Government and Rural Development; Land and Natural Resources; Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (Environmental Protection Agency and Forestry Commission).

NISCOPS is implemented by Solidaridad in Ghana and Solidaridad in partnership with IDH in Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria.

Civil action against Ghana government over plans to mine bauxite in the Atewa Range Forest

A civil action has been instituted against the government of Ghana over its plans to exploit the Atewa Range Forest for bauxite. 
 

The action intends to protect and safeguard the environment pursuant to the constitutional duty imposed on us under Article 41(k) of the Constitution of Ghana, 1992.

A coalition of NGOs and individuals, led by A Rocha Ghana, filed the notice with the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Gloria A. Akuffo, in pursuant to Section 10 of the State Proceeding Act 1998, Act 555.

Several institutions including EcoCare Ghana, Ghana Youth Environment Movement and Save the Frogs Ghana have affirmed their support to ensure governments, both now and in the future, respect the right of Ghanaians to a safe and healthy environment.

“It is unfortunate that we have to fight our own government to protect the environment,” said the groups in a statement.

“We being good citizens, support government’s quest to develop Ghana and, as part of such efforts, to raise funds through various endeavours including exploiting the country’s resources. However, it is the case that Ghana does not need to exploit the Atewa Forest bauxite reserves since there are far richer bauxite reserves according to information available to government and to the entire Ghanaian populace. Also, considering the critical importance of the Atewa Forest Range to Ghana’s water supply system, biodiversity and natural climate change adaptation, it would be best not to exploit the Atewa Range Forest”. 

The Atewa Forest has long been recognized as a nationally important reserve because its mountains contain the headwaters of three river systems – the Ayensu, Densu and Birim rivers – which serve as the source of domestic, agricultural and industrial water for communities in parts of Accra, Oda, Kade and Koforidua.

The Densu River Basin has an area of 2,490km2 and spans 11 local government assemblies in the Central, Eastern and Greater Accra regions. There are about 200 settlements situated along the Basin with a total population of over 600,000, equivalent to 240 persons per km2 whose livelihoods depend directly or indirectly on the resource.

A number of local and international civil society organizations have in the past embarked on series of campaigns to steer government away from its decision in mine in the area.

In the same spirit of environmental protection, a petition has been presented to both the Presidency and Parliament but the Government of Ghana consistently demonstrates no interest in these actions.

The notice for civil action has been served bearing in mind several constitutional actions to draw government’s attention to the fact that mining in the Atewa Forest would be very detrimental.

The intended Reliefs of the notice include:

1. Declaration that the right to life and dignity as enshrined in the Constitution of Ghana, 1992 which includes (a) the right to a clean and healthy environment and (b) the right to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations.

2. A declaration that mining bauxite in the Atewa Forest violates the right to life and dignity enshrined under articles 13 and 15 of the Constitution.

3. An order, compelling the Government of Ghana and its agents to take the necessary steps to protect Atewa Forest Range in accordance with constitutional obligations as contained under article 36(9) of the constitution.

4. An order, restraining the Government of Ghana, its assigns and agents, servants, workmen, allottees and guarantees whatsoever and howsoever described from undertaking mining and its related activities in the Atewa Forest Range. 

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

African Governments Must Not Take Desert Locust Invasion Lightly, PACJA

Desert Locusts are causing havoc in parts of Africa.

Mithika Mwenda, Executive Director of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), in an article, has urged African governments to fight the locusts’ invasion to avert food security crisis on the continent.

Read his full article below:

The Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) is greatly alarmed by the invasion of desert locusts now affecting residents of several counties in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, as well as pockets of Djibouti and Eritrea.

The skies are stuffed, the grounds littered and ugly, while what was to be beautiful vegetation and easy access to crops and pasture, thanks to the return of rains in some previously arid or semi-arid areas, has now left a bad taste and sight, for many residents. Besides, the worry that the desert locusts might not leave soon, and the fact that many may be faced with dire food situation after their crop and pasture is destroyed, cannot be overemphasized.

In other words, the Horn of Africa is under siege from the insect described by the Sciencedaily as “an invasive species that is both well-known and feared because of the large-scale agricultural damage it can cause”.

This is a sad situation, a serious threat to food security for the continent, especially the Horn of Africa that is facing its worst locust invasion in 25 years, according to United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The sad thing about this looming disaster is that there have been warnings and updates by FAO in its forest locust disaster watch from as early as June 2019, when the invasive and destructive insects affected parts of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and moved further South of the Red Sea.

FAO stated in the desert locust watch that the insect actually had a field day, undetected, between June 2018 and March 2019 in the Empty Quarter of the Southern Arabia Peninsula following heavy rains that gave favourable breeding grounds for at least three generations of the insects.

Here, we can say, all were caught off guard.

The world should have, however, woken up to this threat when, in January 2019, the insects spread from the Empty Quarter of the Southern Arabia Peninsula and attacked Yemen, Saudi Arabia and later parts of Iran, where longer lasting heavy rains had also created a favourable environment for their multiplication and migration to larger areas of the stated countries until June.

The trend continued, and, the insects went far and wide, affecting Indo-Pakistan (from Iran) and further to the African continent through Somalia and Ethiopia (from Yemen) between June and December 2019.

Since then, there have been warnings for the African states, including Kenya, where the invasive desert locust has begun to damage crops, occupy the air space, litter the environment and just be a nuisance and distraction to the daily goings on of citizens.

Besides Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, Eritrea and Djibouti have had their share of the plague. Sudan has not been spared. South Sudan and Uganda also risk this invasion.

Somalia’s case has worsened this whole issue because insecurity limited proper response to invasion, and the desert locusts had a field day. It tells us how key peace can be, even in times of disaster.

The direct link of this disaster to climate change is the unpredictability of rain patterns. The rains are heavier and lasting longer than usual or expected, and the ensuing greenery is what entices the otherwise slow breeding insects (in calm deserts) to be more active and fast in reproduction.

The need for the world to take the climate crisis seriously cannot be gainsaid; action needs to be taken right now.

The desert locust disaster is coming at a time Africa is still reeling from other effects of climate change that include disastrous landslides, floods, drought and cyclones. These have dragged the affected economies, as beside massive loss of lives, infrastructure is destroyed, families split when migration is unavoidable (always affecting the education of many children), economies are strained because finances have to be diverted to emergencies and rehabilitation, and momentum for growth slowed down as attention shifts to the disasters. Following heavy rains in Kenya’s Kerio Valley last December alone, more than 50 human lives were lost, families displaced and livestock killed as a result of mudslides. The heavy downpour also saw three irrigation schemes – Weiwei, ESP Tukou Sangat and Marich pass - destroyed. Now attention has to shift to resettlement of the displaced, rehabilitation of water canals and other social amenities and other systems destroyed. This is not the worst that the eastern part of the continent has suffered.

There is no more time to waste, but to take our lives and environment seriously, as this invasion is likely to worsen an already bad food security situation.

The need for research and follow-up on their recommendations, plus implementation is essentially important. Close monitoring and preparedness for any event of the locusts’ invasion must be sustained. Had the relevant authorities been keen on the FAO warnings, there could have been better planning for the army of insects, which would have reduced the extent of invasion or just destruction in agricultural areas.

But the desert locusts’ invasion has exposed our worst in terms of preparedness for disasters and response. We watched and waited as the insects flew into the continent in their droves, only to welcome them with claps, whistles and gun shots that have not done much to scare them away. We have heard of clangs of stones against pans, honking horns and chants. There have even been mentions of tear gas being used on the insects. They must be getting entertained!

The aerial spray that a lot of affected nations are now applying, though unfriendly to the environment, may work. A lot of the other methods only help to push the insects to other regions where weather conditions aid environments that favour their survival and multiplication.

Since the desert locusts are an agricultural shock, the African continent might soon be staring at a serious food crisis right in the face. Agriculture is the backbone of many African economies, a source of food for every nation, and an enabler of several other sectors. Look at it this way; if the locusts mess food crops and pasture for a community, then planting may not happen immediately because not all rely on irrigation, but watch seasons to plant. If talking about cash crops such as wheat, rice, khat, coffee, cotton or tea, then clearly industries will be affected. On a more smaller scale, when hunger hits, a child will be forced to forego school to search for pasture for the family’s livestock or go to search for wild fruits. Some may be forced into child labour to help fend for their families. A woman will be forced to work harder to put food to the table, while her husband, not willing to see his cows and goats die of hunger, may invade someone’s watering point, where he might be caught and a conflict begins. This is not all.

Yesterday, reports indicated that an Ethiopian Airline B737-700encountered the locusts’ swarm on approach to Dire Dawa Airport (HACR), and the pilots had to divert to Addis Ababa. The sight of the plane’s nose was ugly.

In dealing with the locusts, we should first accept that we have been caught flat footed and forge ahead with an intensive multi-thronged response. If declaring the invasions a national disaster could help nations give it more attention, then that should happen faster. Politics can be put on hold and relevant departments and ministries made to give the problem the attention it deserves. This is critical.

Countries and sub-national entities can join hands and tackle the problem, especially around border points. This is already happening in Kenya, where one Laikipia County is already working with affected units like Samburu and Isiolo to forestall invasion. They have enlisted the services of airlines to see the work done. This can be done between nations, for the good of all. Dealing with the insects is an expensive affair, and joining hands would help lessen the burden.

The scary facts about the desert locusts should remind us of the danger at hand. The insects, according to studies, can devastate agriculture because of their ability to change breeding patterns based on their environment. For the desert locusts, good food and shelter will automatically lead to high survival. They also attack fast. For the period they have invaded Ethiopia and Somalia, more than 70,000ha under crop has been destroyed. In a day, the locusts can destroy food enough to feed at least 2,500 people, according to studies.

The insects can also cover very long distances in a short time. FAO says swarms can travel up to 130km (80 miles) per day - a kilometre-wide (half-mile-wide).One swarm, the UN organisation says, can contain up to 80 million locusts.

One remedy to the invasion would be to harvest the hoppers, process and export them to places where they are a delicacy. It is said that the insects, as food, are good for the heart, as they contain sterols that have cholesterol-lowering properties that reduce heart diseases. But since we have been ambushed, even this may not be an option.

Let us not take lightly the locusts’ invasion, because a generation may just be affected in a way that we might forever regret. The comical ways in which Kenyans responded to their Agriculture Minister Mwangi Kiunjuri’s calls for citizens to post images of the deserts locust, if spotted for the Government to confirm, should be a statement that Africans want seriousness on matters touching their lives.

The Kenyan, Ethiopian and Sudanese governments should, however, still be commended for the work already done, through ground and aerial control operations to ward off or destroy the desert locusts. They must, however, be encouraged to heed this call by FAO: “All efforts are required by national authorities to undertake regular surveys, timely reporting and efficient control, and to upscale these activities in the coming weeks and months”.

This is our continent. Let us save it from preventable disasters such as this desert locust invasion.

About the writer: Mithika Mwenda is one of the founders of PACJA, an organisation that is present in 45 African countries. He is the 2019 winner of the International Earth Care Award and has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy by Apolitical.