198 Nigeria News

Tag: countries

  • East African Countries Seek Cross-border Cooperation to Combat Wildlife Trafficking — Global Issues

    East African Countries Seek Cross-border Cooperation to Combat Wildlife Trafficking — Global Issues

    [ad_1]

    East African Countries Seek Cross-border Cooperation to Combat Wildlife Trafficking — Global Issues
    The Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC), the first-ever continent-wide gathering of African leaders, citizens, and interest groups, gathered in Kigali from Monday, Jul 18 to Jul 23 to discuss the role of protected areas in conserving nature. Rwanda hosted the conference in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). CREDIT: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS
    • by Aimable Twahirwa (kigali)
    • Inter Press Service

    Kigali, Jul 21 (IPS) – For many years, East African countries were considered wildlife trafficking hotspots. Now conservation organisations have started to mobilise all stakeholders to combat the illegal trade that targets animals – some to the edge of extinction.

    “A slight progress has been made in combatting the illicit trade of wildlife and their products, but Governments from the region still face grave challenges posed by the fact that they are mostly single-species focused on their conservation efforts,” Andrew McVey, climate advisor at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) from East African region told IPS.

    According to experts, while countries are committed to cooperation and collaboration to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking within the shared ecosystems, organised criminal networks are cashing in on elephant poaching. Trafficking ivory has reached unprecedented volumes, and syndicates are operating with impunity and little fear of prosecution.

    Delegates at the first Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) noted the lack of strict sanctions and penalties for illegal activities and limited disincentives to prevent poaching, trafficking or illicit trade impacted efforts to counter wildlife trafficking across the region. The gathering in Kigali was organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

    Fidele Ruzigandekwe, the Deputy Executive Secretary for Programs at the Rwandan-based Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC), told IPS that sharing information, community empowerment and enforcing laws and judiciary system were among crucial factors needed to slow the illegal trade of wildlife. The GVTC is a conservation NGO working in Greater Virunga Landscape across transborder zones between Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

    “There is also a need to rely on technology such as high-tech surveillance devices to combat wildlife poachers and traffickers,” Ruzigandekwe added.

    Elephant tusks are of high value in the Far East, particularly in China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia, where many use them for ornamentation and religious purposes. Both scientists and activists believe that despite current mobilisation, the demand is still increasing as transnational syndicates involved in wildlife crime are exploiting new technologies and networks to escape from arrests, prosecutions, or convictions

    Although some experts were delighted to note that countries had made some progress in cooperating to fight trans-border wildlife trafficking, estimates by NGO TRAFFIC indicate that about 55 African Elephants are poached on the continent every day.

    INTERPOL has identified East Africa as one of several priority regions for enhanced law enforcement responses to ivory trafficking.

    Reports by the INTERPOL indicate that law enforcement officials recently discovered an illegal shipment of ivory inside shipping containers, primarily from Tanzania. It was to be transported to Asian maritime transit hubs.

    Both scientists and decision-makers unanimously agreed on the need to mobilise more funding to support measures to tackle ivory trafficking.

    “Duplication of conservation efforts and inadequate collaboration among countries has been one of the greatest challenges to implementation,” Simon Kiarie, Principal Tourism Officer at the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, told IPS.

    To cope with these challenges, member countries of the EAC, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, South Sudan, and Rwanda, have jointly developed a Regional Strategy to Combat Poaching and Illegal Trade and Tra­cking of Wildlife and Wildlife Products which is being implemented at the regional and national levels.

    The strategy revolves around six key pillars, including strengthening policy framework, enhancing law enforcement capacity, research and development, involvement of local communities and supporting regional and international collaboration.

    During a session on the sidelines of the congress, many delegates expressed strong feelings that when the elephant population is threatened by poaching, local communities suffer too.

    “Through the illegal trade in wildlife, local communities lose socially and economically important resources (…) the benefits from illegal wildlife trade are not shared among communities,” Telesphore Ngoga, a conservation analyst at Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a government body with conservation in its mandate told IPS.

    The Rwandan Government introduced a Tourism Revenue Sharing programme in 2005 to share a percentage (currently 10%) of the total tourism park revenues with the communities living around the parks.

    The major purpose of this community initiative is to encourage environmental and wildlife conservation and give back to the communities living near parks, who are socially and economically impacted by wildlife and other touristic endeavours.

    Manasseh Karambizi, a former elephant poacher from Kayonza, a district in Eastern Rwanda, who became a park ranger, told IPS that after being sensitised about the dangers of wildlife hunting, he is now aware of the benefits of wildlife conservation.

    “Thanks to the income generated from tourism activities from the neighbouring national park, communities are benefiting a lot. I am now able to feed my family, and my children are going to school,” the 46-year-old father of five said.

    IPS UN Bureau Report


    Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

    © Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • ‘Nigeria, other West African countries’ investment in solar energy low’ — Technology — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

    ‘Nigeria, other West African countries’ investment in solar energy low’ — Technology — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

    [ad_1]

    . Renewable power to become a major energy source by 2050
    . Telcos facing several challenges in their roadmap to net-zero

    Renewable power is expected to become a major energy source by 2050, a report by Huawei has stated.

      
    Renewable energy is derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed. Sunlight and wind, for example, are sources that are constantly being replenished. Renewable energy sources are plentiful and all around us.
      
    The report, “Huawei Digital Power Introduction,” which noted that in South Africa, carbon neutral would be realised by 2050, estimated a peak value of 2025 with 16 per cent renewable energy. It said that in Nigeria, carbon neutrality would be realised by 2060 but GHG emissions would be reduced by 2050, while there is a 43 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. In Kenya, Huawei said carbon neutral will be realized in 2050, while there is currently 90 per cent renewable in the country.
       
    Huawei noted in the report that there is huge interest in solar power utilities in Africa. It stressed that the continent’s solar energy resource is almost 40 per cent of the global total, but has only one per cent installed capacity of the globe.
       
    The report claimed that Africa’s solar energy is estimated at 60, 000,000 TWh/year. In the African solar power market, Huawei claimed only two per cent of PV-related funds had been invested in the African market in the past 20 years.
        
    While the world’s investment in solar power rose to $2.25 trillion and cumulatively $2.84 trillion as of 2020, the report said Africa has $55 billion and cumulatively $60 billion investment in the period under review. The breakdown put North Africa’s investment at $17.5 billion; West Africa at $3.9 billion; East Africa’s $9.7 billion; Central Africa at $1.3 billion and Souther Africa at $22.4 billion.  
      
    MEANWHILE, TelecomTv analysis has revealed that the biggest challenge on operators’ pathway to a net-zero future is the lack of clear methodology for their suppliers to report carbon emissions. This is according to analysts from telecoms consultant, STL Partners, who have stressed the need for telcos to collaborate much more if they are to tackle value chain hurdles.
      
    During a webinar presentation, the company shared findings based on discussions it held with 40 telecom operators worldwide regarding their sustainability efforts. It discovered the main challenge to improved environmental sustainability is around data capture and methodology for Scope 3 emissions (indirect, produced within the value chain).
       
    Principal Analyst at STL Partners, Amy Cameron, said: “That’s difficult because you’re depending on all of your partners and suppliers across your entire value chain to report – and many companies are not reporting this very well yet.”

    “In fact, Scope 1 emissions (direct, made by the company’s facilities, fleet, etc) and Scope 2 emissions (indirect, covering the purchase of electricity for the company’s own use) were found to constitute around 20 per cent of telecoms operators’ carbon footprint, while emissions produced in the supply chain (Scope 3) serve as the biggest contributor to environmental pollution.”
      
    According to the company, there is a need for telcos to express their sustainability demands when working with suppliers. “One key thing is having really strict stipulations on suppliers, making that part of the decision-making process and framework when it comes to selecting partners you would work with, instead of it just being around cost,” recommended Grace Donnelly, senior consultant and sustainability practice lead at STL Partners. Another option is for telcos to stipulate that 20 per cent to 30 per cent of a contract be based on whether the supplier can provide transparent reporting on their own emissions.

      
    Cameron concurred, adding that there is a need for industry and regulatory collaboration on standardisation, otherwise the ability to capture and reduce Scope 3 emissions wouldn’t be possible.
      
    The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN Alliance) and Rakuten Symphony have recently shared ideas for a methodology to assess the quality of sustainability of telco equipment and third-party activities.
      
    Another significant challenge outlined by telcos who were surveyed by STL Partners relates to the acceleration of the circular economy, which is closely linked to Scope 3 and finding ways to reuse or recycle elements in the value chain.
      
    Interestingly, operators were also found to lack clarity around how 5G and virtualisation will affect carbon emissions, despite numerous claims by analyst bodies and telco players that the next-generation mobile network is much more energy efficient than earlier generations.
      
    Some telcos, STL stated, encounter difficulties with securing buy-in from key stakeholders when it comes to enhancing their sustainability credentials. Here, Cameron argued that environmental sustainability cannot be the responsibility solely of teams focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR) but needs involvement from every person and level within an organisation. On that note, she suggested that the bonus structure for employees should not just be about hitting financial, operational or customer engagement targets, but “should also be about hitting some sustainability targets.”

     



    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Africa: UNCTAD Calls On African Countries to Diversify Exports

    Africa: UNCTAD Calls On African Countries to Diversify Exports

    [ad_1]

    Geneva — A new United Nations report says African countries must diversify exports if they are to survive economic shocks.

    A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, calls on African countries to broaden their exports beyond commodities if they are to escape poverty.

    UNCTAD’s economic development in Africa report for 2022 says that global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine war threaten African countries’ economies. It says millions of Africans already struggle to make a living in the middle of a rapidly rising food and energy crisis.

    U.N. economists say Africa will not get out of its poverty trap if the continent remains dependent on exports of primary products, mainly in the agricultural, mining, and extractive industries. They note commodities still account for more than 60% of total merchandise exports in 45 of Africa’s 54 countries.

    UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan says 1 out of 2 Africans, more than 600 million people, are severely vulnerable to food, energy, and finance shocks. She says Africa must diversify its economy to become more resilient.

    “The report makes clear the great potential for African countries to transform their economies through services, supporting the continent’s long-standing economic diversification goals, boosting productivity and development,” Grynspan said.

    UNCTAD says knowledge-intensive services, such as information and communication technology, or ICT, and financial services, could be a game-changer for Africa. However, they note the sector currently accounts for only 20% of the continent’s services exports.