Nigeria Will Be World’s Best Example In Emission Reduction – President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria will be one of the world’s best examples in emission reduction.

The President made this known on November 15 in his statement at the 22nd Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) taking place in Marrakech, Morocco.

A statement issued in Abuja by Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, said Buhari outlined Federal Government’s plan toward aligning with the global objectives on climate change and ensuring inclusive growth and environmental sustainability.

President Buhari, therefore, declared the resolve of government to ensure that policies put in place to address climate change would make the country emerge as one of the world’s best examples of how reducing emissions could benefit the environment and the economy.

Buhari in Marrakech, promises 30GW on-grid power capacity by 2030 - Sweetcrude

President Muhammadu Buhari has announced plans to increase Nigeria’s on-grid power capacity to 30 GigaWatts by 2030 from the current level of about 5 GigaWatts adding that 30 per cent of the capacity would be generated through renewable energy technologies.

This is even as he disclosed that the 2017 capital budget would be a green budget that would reflect the country’s efforts at realising Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) despite a drop in federal revenue.

He stated this at Africa Day in Marrakech, Morocco on the sideline of COP22, organised by the African Union (AU) in collaboration with Nigeria and Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), with the theme: “Moving from Commitment to Action with the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) and the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI).”

Read More

Global Warming Fight Advances Despite Trump’s Skepticism - Bloomberg

• Countries took steps in Morocco to carry out Paris accord
• China, Saudi Arabia among previous opponents now vowing action

More than 190 nations including the U.S., China and Saudi Arabia vowed to step up their efforts to fight global warming despite concerns that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will pull the richest polluter out of the process when he takes office next year.

Envoys and more than 50 national leaders in Marrakech, Morocco, agreed early Saturday to a roadmap for developing a rulebook by 2018 that will strengthen the landmark Paris Agreement signed last year to limit fossil-fuel emissions and keep temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

“We’ve fulfilled the job we came here to do,” European Union Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said in an interview immediately after the talks wrapped up. “The message this sends to America is that there is full commitment from the global community, that climate change is such a big challenge, that it’s much more important than countries and their elections.”

Read More

Northeast Nigeria to get $600m solar power plants

Credit: Clean Technica

Consortium of German renewable energy companies led by Nigus has concluded plans with the Federal Government to build five solar power plants worth N183bn ($600m) in some North-Eastern states in Nigeria

According to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council and the consortium, each of the solar power plants will have capacity to generate 100 megawatts of electricity.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting between the council and the consortium in Abuja on Tuesday, the Head, Overseas Operations, NIPC, Mr. Abubakar Yerima, stated that the decision to build the power plants in the North was reached after several meetings with the investors. 

Read More

Onitsha one of the world's two most polluted cities - WHO Report

The new WHO database of worldwide air pollution measures it in two different ways, and as a result two cities – one in Iran and another in Nigeria – can lay claim to the unenviable title of world’s most polluted city.   John Vidal and Saeed Kamali Dehghan of Guardian (London)  report on  Thursday 12 May 2016 

It all comes down to which minute particles, or particulate matter (PM), in the air are being measured. These particles are between 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter, roughly 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

The coarser PM10s include dust stirred up by cars on roads and the wind, soot from open fires and partially burned carbon from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and wood. The particles are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs.

But the ultra-fine particles known as PM2.5s can only be seen with microscopes and are produced from all kinds of combustion. These are small enough to get from the lungs into the blood supply and are possibly more deadly because they affect the cardiovascular system.

Many cities in developing countries traditionally monitor only PM10s. But increasingly PM2.5 pollution is seen as the best measure of how bad air pollution is for health. Richer countries usually have higher levels of PM 2.5s, while low income countries have higher levels of PM10s. Both, says the WHO, are deadly.

World Malaria Day 2016: “End Malaria for Good"

Today April 25 people around the globe mark the World Malaria Day with various activities. The theme for this year is “End Malaria for Good”.  There is indeed already a sign of this being possible.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a year after the World Health Assembly resolved to eliminate malaria from at least 35 countries by 2030, World Malaria Day report shows this goal, although ambitious, is achievable. 

In 2015, all countries in the WHO European Region reported, for the first time, zero indigenous cases of malaria, down from 90 000 cases in 1995. Outside this region, 8 countries reported zero cases of the disease in 2014: Argentina, Costa Rica, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Paraguay, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates.

Another 8 countries each tallied fewer than 100 indigenous malaria cases in 2014. And a further 12 countries reported between 100 and 1000 indigenous malaria cases in 2014.

However, despite this seeming success story, about 3.2 billion people (almost half of the world population) are at risk of the disease.  This shows it is not yet hurrah especially in the third world countries.

According to the WHO in Nigeria, about 300,000  children die of  malaria yearly. While the WHO reports a 71% drop in mortality rates for African children under 5 years, they are especially at risk from the disease, with UNICEF naming malaria as a main death cause

Malaria is an infectious disease, caused by the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito. Its symptoms include fever, headache, chills and vomiting, which may be initially hard to diagnose as malaria. According to WHO, if not treated within 24 hours, the disease can turn to severe illness, often leading to death.

Earth Day 2016: Trees for the Earth

Today April 22 is marked globally as Earth Day. The very first event for Earth Day was held in the United States in 1970  following a devastating oil spill.  It is credited as the beginning of the modern environmental movement.

The theme for this year is Trees for the Earth. According to the orgainsers, this year event is to campaign  for planting 7.8 billion trees for the Earth, divesting from fossil fuels and making cities 100% renewable.  This is aimed at taking the momentum from the Paris Climate Summit and build on it

During the Paris talks world leaders agreed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, with developed countries providing $100 billion of public and private finance to help developing countries by 2020.