Rio Tinto (RT) has finally shared a report from a field investigation in which the company concedes that partner QIT Minerals Madagascar (QMM) mining activities extended into the adjacent Lake Besaroy during the construction of its so-called “berm”. 

A buffer zone breach was first raised in The Ecologist in 2017 and a study of the extent of the violation, commissioned by the Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK), was published in 2018. RT promised the ALT UK last October that it would share its own findings.

Mine tailings

The berm was put in place to contain mine waste from entering the adjacent lakes and waterways. The company admits that this berm was constructed using mine tailings.

The mine tailings contain monazite, which contains radionuclides (uranium-238 and thorium-232). As a result, mine tailings would normally be buried at depths of approximately 15m according to Rio Tinto/QMM (Swanson, 2019).

The fact that mine tailings have been used for surface construction of the berm where the breach has occurred, means that they have entered the adjacent Lake Besaroy with the risk of toxic effects on local water sources.

Accidents happen

Rio Tinto/QMM is claiming the breach was an “unintended occurrence”. An accident by any other name requires serious attention and, when necessary, any remedial measures. 

Rio Tinto’s admission arrives just ahead of the release of the Andrew Lees Trust’s Independent Radioactivity Review conducted by Dr Stella Swanson, a radioactivity specialist with over thirty-five years of industry experience.

Using the only available data from QMM, Swanson’s study has identified elevated uranium levels in the local water as high as 50 times the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance for drinking water quality in some places. 

In its response to the findings, Rio Tinto/QMM claims the water has “naturally elevated levels of uranium” due to the pre-existing high background radiation levels in the area.

However, there is insufficient data to clarify what is natural background level and what is QMM related, in order to substantiate their assertion. 

Indeed, Swanson’s review highlights serious failings in QMM’s monitoring of radionuclides in the environment, and the resulting uncertainty enough to “trigger additional investigation”.

In particular, Swanson’s study finds QMM’s lack of monitoring of ingestion pathways such as water, soil, and fish, to be “unacceptable”.

Direct impacts 

The buffer zone’s purpose is to protect the local waterways from harmful impacts of mining activity; any breach can have a direct impact on local people.

There are some 15,000 people living around the Mandena mine site area and according to available data,only one quarter of all households in the Mandena area were reported to have access to drinking water in 2009 (ATW 2009).

This means a sizeable proportion of the population is harvesting water directly from untreated water bodies. 

Local people in rural Anosy are entirely dependent on local natural resources for their survival and livelihoods. The waterways and lakes next to the mine are also used for fishing, washing and gathering reeds for weaving. 

Therefore, rather than dismiss the concerns around uranium levels in the water, the Swanson review points to the need to identify and manage the source of toxicity. 

It also encourages Rio Tinto/QMM to provide safe drinking water for local people in the communities around the mine site.

Local people 

The recommendation comes at a time when civil society in Anosy has been concerned about and pressing for drinking water.  

Following local TV coverage in January that reported dead fish in Lake Ambavarano, situated adjacent to Lake Besaroy and the QMM mine, a local civil society platform demanded water testing by the National Centre of Research for the Environment (CNRE), a state body in the Ministry of Scientific Research.

According to local sources, a meeting was held on the 4 April to disclose the results of the research, but was not openly advertised. Some locals who attended the meeting found the presentation “very scientific” and difficult to understand, and documents were not shared.

The presentation by the CNRE did include recommendations for more water monitoring, including “rigorous” monitoring of the level of concentrations of heavy metals in the mining basin, which could impact the natural environment.

Meanwhile, the civil society platform has demanded  that the Malagasy President himself, Andry Rajoelina, assure drinking water, in line with his election promises.

QMM has installed water pumps in other villages for mine affected villagers (e.g. those displaced by the building of the nearby port for QMM’s mineral export), but not those most immediately affected by the mine itself.

Sustainability agenda

Provision of safe drinking water sources falls in line with Rio Tinto/QMM’s sustainability agenda and water targets, as well as fulfilling UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

So too does the requirement for effective engagement with local communities.

Alongside her recommendations for improved monitoring of radiation, the Trust supports Swanson’s demand for robust communications about radioactivity at community level. 

Both Swanson’s experienced guidance, together with an advisory paper from the Trust, has offered Rio Tinto direction on how to approach this challenge; participatory community monitoring of water quality has also been suggested.

Community monitoring is in line with International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) guidance on best practice for an industry setting out not just to do well, but “to do good”.

So far, Rio Tinto/QMM is making no commitments about the provision of safe drinking water to the communities next to its Mandena site.

Environmental regulation 

At the same time, it appears the company will face no sanctions or penalties for the breach of the buffer zone. 

According to Rio Tinto/QMM, Madagascar’s environmental regulator, the National Office for the Environment (ONE), has determined QMM’s violation of the buffer zone to be “negligible.” 

Such status fails to acknowledge that the breach violates legal agreements with the Malagasy state, national laws that protect the public domain (e.g. water bodies), and the risk of exposing local waterways to radionuclides from QMM’s mine tailings.

In contrast, when locals took to the streets in 2018 to protest against QMM’s inadequate compensation for their lost lands and livelihoods, and they blocked access roads to the mine site, QMM’s response was to take legal action resulting in the imprisonment of protestors (CRAAD-OI & TANY, 2018).

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that there is no even playing field in Anosy.

Long overdue

Rio Tinto/QMM has told the Anosy citizens for more than twenty years that there is no risk of radioactivity from the mine.

At Rio Tinto’s 2017 AGM, the CEO Jean-Sebastian Jacques said: “Water is constantly monitored and no pollution had been noticed. QMM also monitors radioactivity”.

In a July 2017 email Rio Tinto told the Andrew Lees Trust that: “Risk assessments and monitoring of the minerals has consistently indicated they (uranium and thorium) exist in the environment in concentrations which are orders of magnitude below any scientifically proven level to pose health risks.”

 Rio Tinto/QMM is yet to provide adequate data to substantiate its claims, even if its expectation is that incremental doses to the public will meet international exposure limits of 1 mSv/year.

The Swanson review concluded: “There is insufficient data to come to any confident conclusions in this regard, particularly with respect to ingestion. The dust inhalation pathway may also contribute to an important portion of total incremental dose.”

Improving standards

Rio Tinto has committed QMM to an action plan to verify the berm design and remedy any gaps in the design before the end of 2019. It has also committed to a new radiation study in 2019 in line with Swanson’s recommendations. 

It must now improve practices and radiation monitoring systems in the local environment, in line with international standards.

At the same time, QMM needs to build trust with local people through open communications, and by demonstrating that it is managing the mine’s radiation pathways effectively. 

QMM also has the opportunity to begin working with local and international water experts to immediately address the need for safe drinking water for its closest communities around the Mandena site.

These lessons and improvements must surely apply if the mine expands into St Luce and Petriky over the next thirty years.

This Author 

Yvonne Orengo is an independent communications practitioner and director of the Andrew Lees Trust, a British charity set up following the death of its namesake in Madagascar in 1994. Yvonne has followed the evolution of Rio Tinto’s QMM project for more than 20 years. She will be speaking at an event hosted by London Mining Network about Rio Tinto’s mine tailings, on Tuesday 9 April 2019 in London.

Image: Fishermen from Andrakaraka examine their catch. © Antonie Kraemer.

Right of Reply

A spokesperson for Rio Tinto provided the following statement to The Ecologist: “We note the independent report recently issued by ALT UK, which Rio Tinto and QMM supported, providing data and input as requested. The report makes a number of recommendations, many of which we have found to be constructive, and, we have begun an in-depth assessment of how best to address these.

“It is important to note that the report concludes that it is highly likely that exposures to naturally occurring radiation in the area surrounding the QMM mine do not exceed IAEA dose limits. We recognise that available monitoring data does not currently allow us to prove this conclusively, especially in terms of the ingestion pathway, and this is an area we are looking into. The safety of our employees and the communities in which we operate will always be our top priority.

“On the issue of naturally occurring uranium in community water sources, we recommended to ALT UK that they maintain the standard embodied in World Health Organisation guidelines when communicating about this issue, and have advised them to engage with the appropriate government agencies. It is disappointing that they appear to have chosen not to do so.

“It is critical to ensure that the sensitive issue of drinking water is managed appropriately to avoid encouraging any incorrect understanding among the local community that this report demonstrates a heightened health risk. We will meet with the regulator to support them in reassuring the communities and to take any appropriate actions – including any further monitoring or studies relating to the mine’s impact.”

Most people never consider that what they wear started life on a farm. But over 50 percent of the clothes sold in the UK are made of cotton, grown by the 100 million cotton farmers across the globe.

Every year they produce 29 million tonnes of cotton – the equivalent of 29 t-shirts for everyone on earth.

But not all cotton is created equal. A spotlight is being shone on an industry that contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined, as the dark realities of the global fashion industry become harder to ignore. Change is on its way, and organic cotton is at the forefront.

A thirsty crop

Working with nature rather than fighting against it, the approach to organic cotton farming is fundamentally different to the damaging impact of conventionally produced cotton.

Cotton is a notoriously thirsty crop and about 3 percent of all water consumed globally is used growing cotton – it takes an estimated 10,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton, often in countries where access to clean water is already limited. In contrast, a peer-reviewed life-cycle analysis found that organic cotton uses 91 percent less water, requires 62 percent less energy to produce, and overall results in 46 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than its conventionally grown counterpart.

A key practice in organic production that helps to reduce inputs is crop rotation. This is when different crops are grown each season to break cycles of pests and disease and to naturally boost soil fertility.

This helps to create vibrant, healthy soils, meaning that crops can cope better in floods and droughts – something which is becoming even more important as climate change brings more extreme and unpredictable weather patterns.

Crop rotation also means that farmers grow a diverse range of crops alongside cotton. These other crops, grown without hazardous artificial sprays, can be a vital source of food that’s safe for farmers and their families to eat, or it can be sold to provide an alternative income. Because of this, organic farming plays an important role in food security, something recognised by many NGOs, governments and the UN.

Climate change

Organic cotton also helps combat climate change. It all starts with the soil. Organic farmers plant crops that naturally fix the nitrogen from the atmosphere – they don’t rely on artificial nitrogen fertilisers that are highly energy intensive to produce and are damaging to soils.

Organic soils have been proven to be better at locking in carbon from the atmosphere, and in this way, farming organically has a lower impact on the ground as well as helping to mitigate climate change.

The majority of conventionally grown cotton globally is genetically modified. Despite the hype, however, GM has failed farmers around the world.

In India, the world’s largest producer of cotton, widespread crop failures have resulted from pest infestations because target pests have quickly become resistant to the GM crop, or other pests have attacked the cotton.

This has led to dire consequences, with widespread suicides after farmers become trapped in cycles of debt linked to the high cost of GM seed and the chemical treadmill needed to respond to the pest problems that GM was supposed to fix. This has had a devastating impact on families and rural communities across the country and is far too high a price to pay for our clothes.

Working conditions 

Farmers are at risk from toxic chemicals in the field – around 14 percent of all insecticides sold worldwide are used on cotton (despite cotton only using 2.5 percent of the world’s arable land). Many of these are hazardous to humans and wildlife and applied by people who can’t afford equipment to protect themselves.

And the problems within the textile industry don’t stop at the farmgate. Workers can also be subject to horrendous working conditions in garment factories, while toxic dyes and inks can seep into rivers and wells, poisoning drinking water and the natural environment.

But organic is different. The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) requires factory workers to be treated according to strict social criteria based on the International Labour Organisation conventions, including minimum wages, working hours, child labour and freedom from harsh of inhumane treatment.

Under GOTS, only low impact dyes and inks can be used, and all water needs to be treated before being released into waterways, protecting the living world and local communities.

At times, the scale of conventional cotton production can make the problems associated with it seem insurmountable. But change is happening across the textile sector.

Global initiatives 

Major brands like Superdry and Stella McCartney are committing to only using organic cotton and across the globe ground-up solutions are helping to improve the fashion industry’s impact on the environment and the communities that rely on it.

In the last few years, global initiatives have sprung up to find positive solutions to the challenges posed by the textile industry.

The Sustainable Cotton Challenge commits brands and retailers to source 100 percent sustainable cotton by 2025, and while there are a number of improvement and best practice schemes that fall under the banner of ‘sustainable’, already 10 percent of the brands signed up to the Challenge have reached their target of 100 percent organic cotton.

And for individuals wanting to reduce the impact of the global fashion industry, a huge step in the right direction is to buy organic cotton, preferably carrying the GOTS logo. GOTS is the gold standard for organic textiles globally, so by shopping for clothes with the GOTS logo, you can be sure you’re buying clothes with at least 70 percent organic cotton, manufactured using low impact dyes and inks and made in factories that meet strict social and environmental criteria.

The challenges posed by the global textile industry can appear daunting. But they can be overcome. Organic offers a positive solution that’s gathering momentum across the globe. By buying organic textiles, be it clothes, homeware, or personal care products, UK citizens can know that they are part of a solution that offers a kinder, cleaner and better future for people and the planet.

This Author 

Sarah Compson is International Standards Manager at the Soil Association, the UK’s largest organic food and farming charity, and has helped to shape international standards on organic cotton and textiles.

World Animal Protection’s disaster response teams have arrived in Mozambique and Malawi and are providing urgent care to up to 200,000 animals that have been affected by the floods that have devastated Southern Africa.

One team has arrived in Chimoio, close to Beira, among the worst affected disaster zones. They are equipped with veterinary kits, including antibiotics, pain killers and hoof rot medicines to treat as many as 2,500 animals including cattle, pigs, dogs and cats in just one day.

People have been forced to abandon their animals, which they rely upon as livestock, as well as much loved family pets, while being evacuated by the government and humanitarian organizations. Around 30,000 families should benefit from our intervention, as WAP saves the lives of their animals.

Essential care

Response teams have also provided inductions for 25 veterinarians from four provinces in Mozambique, on how to handle and treat animals in disasters. WAP has also recruited a team of volunteers to assist in providing essential care for animals in need over the coming days.

Another expert team of vets has been on the ground providing medical assistance to animals in Malawi since Friday, and we are also on standby to respond to Zimbabwe.

Staff on the ground have been providing care to herds at Clifton Meadow, a dairy farm responsible for 94 percent of all milk production in Mozambique. Staff there said that they had lost animals, mainly calves, which had been crushed against the fence by the winds.

Gerardo Huertas, World Animal Protection Programme Director, Animals in Disasters said:   “Our priority is helping the animals who are in desperate need – those that are injured, starving or dehydrated and at high risk of disease, so they do not become a second wave of victims.

“Animals are often the forgotten victims in disasters. But local communities who survived this catastrophe will only suffer more if they have no animals or livestock to help them long after the aid has gone, for their livelihoods, transport, food and company.”  

 Lasting effects 

Ondela Voorslag, Manager, Clifton Meadows said:  “It was chaotic. The animals were running up and down the hills, desperately trying to get away from the wind, but there was no escape.

“The roof was lifting up and down and the walls were wet on the inside, so I was afraid. I have never experienced anything like this before.”

Dr. Edwin Nkhulungo, a government veterinary officer responsible for southern Malawi, said:  “The floods in these areas may have longer lasting effects on animals, especially with regard to disease incidences and widespread destruction.”

More than 750 people and thousands of animals have died from the disaster, and hundreds of thousands more have been affected.

Exact numbers are still unknown, but WAP anticipates hundreds of thousands or even millions of animals affected. Following such a destructive cyclone as Idai, we know animals will often be left injured, stressed, separated from their owners, vulnerable to disease and lacking access to clean food and drinking water.

Disaster response 

Sadly, millions of animals suffer in disasters each year. Previous experience of cyclones and floods tells us that owners are often unable to care for their animals.

Livestock and pets are left exposed in the immediate days and weeks after a disaster, often to standing water and sun or heavy rains which pose health risks from disease and prolonged stress. Specifically, animals can become affected by foot rot, digestive and respiratory diseases as well lack of access to clean drinking water. 

While disaster response rightly prioritizes people’s immediate needs, the long-term recovery from disasters is inextricably linked with the well-being of their animals. 

Communities  in this area heavily rely on agriculture to make ends meet and in this critical stage, saving animals affected by the flooding will provide stability for their future.    

WAP will provide updates from the field as they come in here through our social pages – Twitter: @MoveTheWorldUK Facebook: WorldAnimalProtectionUK.

This Article. 

This article is based on a press release from World Animal Protection. If you want to find out more about this work and donate to help life-saving efforts in Southern Africa, please visit WAP’s website. 

Africa is experiencing a dramatic loss of biodiversity. By the end of this century, climate change alone could cause the loss of over half of African bird and mammal species, and a significant loss of plant species.

The livelihoods, wellbeing and food and water security of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Africa are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation of wildlife and fisheries, and the spread of non-native invasive species.

Yet, paradoxically, African leaders could also hold the key to protecting the world’s wildlife and wild places.

Bold action

Namibia and Botswana have already protected 30 percent of their land. Rwanda’s mountain forests are fully protected in law. Ethiopia is investing significantly in reforestation. Bangweulu in Zambia is a unique, community owned protected wetland, home to 50,000 people who retain the right to sustainably harvest its natural resources and who depend entirely on the richness the park provides.

Fish stocks have significantly improved, poaching has been reduced, bird populations are up and Bangweulu Wetlands is the largest employer in the region.

If other  African governments follow these examples and take bold action to protect nature, there is a real chance of achieving a new international agreement to halt biodiversity loss. 

Last week, environment ministers, policy makers and scientists met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at what is known as the Regional Consultation on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework for Africa. These regional consultations – which often go under the radar – are important steps in the consultation process towards a global deal for nature which will be hammered out at the next meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2020.

African nations are being urged to support the Campaign for Nature by working for a global deal to protect at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030.

Crucial moment 

The Addis Ababa regional consultation is a crucial moment for African nations to show leadership and help bring the global community together around new, more ambitious goals to protect and responsibly manage the world’s lands and oceans.

Of course, Africa is not alone in experiencing an alarming loss of biodiversity. Around the world, nature is under serious threat. Species are becoming extinct up to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate.

Global wildlife populations have declined by 60 percent since 1970. Nearly two-thirds of the earth’s wetlands and half of all rainforests have been destroyed in just a century. 30 percent of the world’s fish stocks are over-exploited.

The forthcoming global assessment report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) – due to be published in early May – will confirm this depressing trend.

Written by 150 leading international experts from 50 countries, the report predicts widespread species extinctions, catastrophic deforestation and runaway land degradation. Species extinction is now ranked as one of the six most important global risks in terms of impact on humanity by the 2019 Global Risks Report of the World Economic Forum. The impacts on human health and wellbeing are only too easy to imagine.

Facing extinction 

Thankfully, there is still time to take bold global action to save nature. Moves are already underway for a global accord to tackle biodiversity loss in the same way that the Paris agreement aims to tackle climate change.

But that won’t happen without bold leadership at the national and regional level – that’s why these regional consultations are so significant.

As Dr. Donald Kaberuka, former President of the African Development Bank, wrote recently: “Unless African politicians and leaders learn the lessons of others to protect nature now, the consequences will be far worse than people realise.

“For a collapse in biodiversity across the planet does not just mean that we face an extinction of plants and animals, but a collapse in clean water supplies, food security and the health of humans.”

In terms of social, economic and environmental development, Africa stands at a crossroads. By 2050, the continent will be home to around one billion young people with aspirations for jobs, decent livelihoods, health and wellbeing.

Sustainable development 

Not long ago, Africa was viewed as the world’s economic and environmental basket case, but with wise sustainable development it could instead become the world’s bread basket, and a shining example of how to row back against environmental degradation. 

No-one pretends this will be easy. As well as the immense task of persuading the world’s leaders to get behind a global deal for nature, there is a huge cost involved. 

The CBD estimates up to 440 billion US Dollars are needed annually, yet the current spend is only 52 billion US Dollars a year. However, the cost of inaction is much greater than the cost of action.

Scientists estimate the total value of the services provided by nature to be about 125 trillion US Dollars per year. By degrading these systems, rather than protecting them, people around the world will end up paying a higher price – which could include our very survival. 

Even the World Bank – an organisation not always noted for its green credentials – recognises the economic case for protecting nature and is investing in watershed management, integrated coastal zone management and protected areas.

Together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank is ploughing some 360 million US Dollars into 50 projects in several African countries including Mozambique, Gabon, South Africa and Tanzania.

Indigenous knowledge

It’s not just political leaders and global institutions who are taking action. Local communities with indigenous knowledge and centuries of living in harmony with nature can help create protected areas, tackle illegal fishing and forestry activities, protect cultural sites and monitor the impacts of climate change.

In Kenya, community conservation programmes have protected some commonly held lands for wildlife, and in turn are generating eco-tourism revenues. Community-based natural resource management in Namibia now covers more than 166,000 km2, home to around 228,000 people.

The African Sahel Great Green Wallinitiative is being delivered by local communities from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. 

African leaders have a crucial role to play in the run-up to the 2020 CBD meeting. They can demonstrate the political will needed to achieve the Campaign for Nature’s ambitious global deal to protect 30 percent of the earth’s land and oceans by 2030, then scaling up to 50 percent by 2050.

I urge them to take the lead not only for Africa, but for the world. 

This Author 

Abiodun Jacob Aderibigbe is a member of the the Sustainable Environment Food and Agriculture Initiative (SEFAAI) in Nigeria and works at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management at the University of Agriculture, in Abeokuta. He specialises in the sustainable use of natural resources through education, advocacy and research.

Image: Nyungwe National Park. Rwanda Government, Flickr. 

Africa is experiencing a dramatic loss of biodiversity. By the end of this century, climate change alone could cause the loss of over half of African bird and mammal species, and a significant loss of plant species.

The livelihoods, wellbeing and food and water security of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Africa are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation of wildlife and fisheries, and the spread of non-native invasive species.

Yet, paradoxically, African leaders could also hold the key to protecting the world’s wildlife and wild places.

Bold action

Namibia and Botswana have already protected 30 percent of their land. Rwanda’s mountain forests are fully protected in law. Ethiopia is investing significantly in reforestation. Bangweulu in Zambia is a unique, community owned protected wetland, home to 50,000 people who retain the right to sustainably harvest its natural resources and who depend entirely on the richness the park provides.

Fish stocks have significantly improved, poaching has been reduced, bird populations are up and Bangweulu Wetlands is the largest employer in the region.

If other  African governments follow these examples and take bold action to protect nature, there is a real chance of achieving a new international agreement to halt biodiversity loss. 

Last week, environment ministers, policy makers and scientists met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at what is known as the Regional Consultation on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework for Africa. These regional consultations – which often go under the radar – are important steps in the consultation process towards a global deal for nature which will be hammered out at the next meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2020.

African nations are being urged to support the Campaign for Nature by working for a global deal to protect at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030.

Crucial moment 

The Addis Ababa regional consultation is a crucial moment for African nations to show leadership and help bring the global community together around new, more ambitious goals to protect and responsibly manage the world’s lands and oceans.

Of course, Africa is not alone in experiencing an alarming loss of biodiversity. Around the world, nature is under serious threat. Species are becoming extinct up to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate.

Global wildlife populations have declined by 60 percent since 1970. Nearly two-thirds of the earth’s wetlands and half of all rainforests have been destroyed in just a century. 30 percent of the world’s fish stocks are over-exploited.

The forthcoming global assessment report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) – due to be published in early May – will confirm this depressing trend.

Written by 150 leading international experts from 50 countries, the report predicts widespread species extinctions, catastrophic deforestation and runaway land degradation. Species extinction is now ranked as one of the six most important global risks in terms of impact on humanity by the 2019 Global Risks Report of the World Economic Forum. The impacts on human health and wellbeing are only too easy to imagine.

Facing extinction 

Thankfully, there is still time to take bold global action to save nature. Moves are already underway for a global accord to tackle biodiversity loss in the same way that the Paris agreement aims to tackle climate change.

But that won’t happen without bold leadership at the national and regional level – that’s why these regional consultations are so significant.

As Dr. Donald Kaberuka, former President of the African Development Bank, wrote recently: “Unless African politicians and leaders learn the lessons of others to protect nature now, the consequences will be far worse than people realise.

“For a collapse in biodiversity across the planet does not just mean that we face an extinction of plants and animals, but a collapse in clean water supplies, food security and the health of humans.”

In terms of social, economic and environmental development, Africa stands at a crossroads. By 2050, the continent will be home to around one billion young people with aspirations for jobs, decent livelihoods, health and wellbeing.

Sustainable development 

Not long ago, Africa was viewed as the world’s economic and environmental basket case, but with wise sustainable development it could instead become the world’s bread basket, and a shining example of how to row back against environmental degradation. 

No-one pretends this will be easy. As well as the immense task of persuading the world’s leaders to get behind a global deal for nature, there is a huge cost involved. 

The CBD estimates up to 440 billion US Dollars are needed annually, yet the current spend is only 52 billion US Dollars a year. However, the cost of inaction is much greater than the cost of action.

Scientists estimate the total value of the services provided by nature to be about 125 trillion US Dollars per year. By degrading these systems, rather than protecting them, people around the world will end up paying a higher price – which could include our very survival. 

Even the World Bank – an organisation not always noted for its green credentials – recognises the economic case for protecting nature and is investing in watershed management, integrated coastal zone management and protected areas.

Together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank is ploughing some 360 million US Dollars into 50 projects in several African countries including Mozambique, Gabon, South Africa and Tanzania.

Indigenous knowledge

It’s not just political leaders and global institutions who are taking action. Local communities with indigenous knowledge and centuries of living in harmony with nature can help create protected areas, tackle illegal fishing and forestry activities, protect cultural sites and monitor the impacts of climate change.

In Kenya, community conservation programmes have protected some commonly held lands for wildlife, and in turn are generating eco-tourism revenues. Community-based natural resource management in Namibia now covers more than 166,000 km2, home to around 228,000 people.

The African Sahel Great Green Wallinitiative is being delivered by local communities from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. 

African leaders have a crucial role to play in the run-up to the 2020 CBD meeting. They can demonstrate the political will needed to achieve the Campaign for Nature’s ambitious global deal to protect 30 percent of the earth’s land and oceans by 2030, then scaling up to 50 percent by 2050.

I urge them to take the lead not only for Africa, but for the world. 

This Author 

Abiodun Jacob Aderibigbe is a member of the the Sustainable Environment Food and Agriculture Initiative (SEFAAI) in Nigeria and works at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management at the University of Agriculture, in Abeokuta. He specialises in the sustainable use of natural resources through education, advocacy and research.

Image: Nyungwe National Park. Rwanda Government, Flickr. 

Africa is experiencing a dramatic loss of biodiversity. By the end of this century, climate change alone could cause the loss of over half of African bird and mammal species, and a significant loss of plant species.

The livelihoods, wellbeing and food and water security of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Africa are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation of wildlife and fisheries, and the spread of non-native invasive species.

Yet, paradoxically, African leaders could also hold the key to protecting the world’s wildlife and wild places.

Bold action

Namibia and Botswana have already protected 30 percent of their land. Rwanda’s mountain forests are fully protected in law. Ethiopia is investing significantly in reforestation. Bangweulu in Zambia is a unique, community owned protected wetland, home to 50,000 people who retain the right to sustainably harvest its natural resources and who depend entirely on the richness the park provides.

Fish stocks have significantly improved, poaching has been reduced, bird populations are up and Bangweulu Wetlands is the largest employer in the region.

If other  African governments follow these examples and take bold action to protect nature, there is a real chance of achieving a new international agreement to halt biodiversity loss. 

Last week, environment ministers, policy makers and scientists met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at what is known as the Regional Consultation on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework for Africa. These regional consultations – which often go under the radar – are important steps in the consultation process towards a global deal for nature which will be hammered out at the next meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2020.

African nations are being urged to support the Campaign for Nature by working for a global deal to protect at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030.

Crucial moment 

The Addis Ababa regional consultation is a crucial moment for African nations to show leadership and help bring the global community together around new, more ambitious goals to protect and responsibly manage the world’s lands and oceans.

Of course, Africa is not alone in experiencing an alarming loss of biodiversity. Around the world, nature is under serious threat. Species are becoming extinct up to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate.

Global wildlife populations have declined by 60 percent since 1970. Nearly two-thirds of the earth’s wetlands and half of all rainforests have been destroyed in just a century. 30 percent of the world’s fish stocks are over-exploited.

The forthcoming global assessment report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) – due to be published in early May – will confirm this depressing trend.

Written by 150 leading international experts from 50 countries, the report predicts widespread species extinctions, catastrophic deforestation and runaway land degradation. Species extinction is now ranked as one of the six most important global risks in terms of impact on humanity by the 2019 Global Risks Report of the World Economic Forum. The impacts on human health and wellbeing are only too easy to imagine.

Facing extinction 

Thankfully, there is still time to take bold global action to save nature. Moves are already underway for a global accord to tackle biodiversity loss in the same way that the Paris agreement aims to tackle climate change.

But that won’t happen without bold leadership at the national and regional level – that’s why these regional consultations are so significant.

As Dr. Donald Kaberuka, former President of the African Development Bank, wrote recently: “Unless African politicians and leaders learn the lessons of others to protect nature now, the consequences will be far worse than people realise.

“For a collapse in biodiversity across the planet does not just mean that we face an extinction of plants and animals, but a collapse in clean water supplies, food security and the health of humans.”

In terms of social, economic and environmental development, Africa stands at a crossroads. By 2050, the continent will be home to around one billion young people with aspirations for jobs, decent livelihoods, health and wellbeing.

Sustainable development 

Not long ago, Africa was viewed as the world’s economic and environmental basket case, but with wise sustainable development it could instead become the world’s bread basket, and a shining example of how to row back against environmental degradation. 

No-one pretends this will be easy. As well as the immense task of persuading the world’s leaders to get behind a global deal for nature, there is a huge cost involved. 

The CBD estimates up to 440 billion US Dollars are needed annually, yet the current spend is only 52 billion US Dollars a year. However, the cost of inaction is much greater than the cost of action.

Scientists estimate the total value of the services provided by nature to be about 125 trillion US Dollars per year. By degrading these systems, rather than protecting them, people around the world will end up paying a higher price – which could include our very survival. 

Even the World Bank – an organisation not always noted for its green credentials – recognises the economic case for protecting nature and is investing in watershed management, integrated coastal zone management and protected areas.

Together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank is ploughing some 360 million US Dollars into 50 projects in several African countries including Mozambique, Gabon, South Africa and Tanzania.

Indigenous knowledge

It’s not just political leaders and global institutions who are taking action. Local communities with indigenous knowledge and centuries of living in harmony with nature can help create protected areas, tackle illegal fishing and forestry activities, protect cultural sites and monitor the impacts of climate change.

In Kenya, community conservation programmes have protected some commonly held lands for wildlife, and in turn are generating eco-tourism revenues. Community-based natural resource management in Namibia now covers more than 166,000 km2, home to around 228,000 people.

The African Sahel Great Green Wallinitiative is being delivered by local communities from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. 

African leaders have a crucial role to play in the run-up to the 2020 CBD meeting. They can demonstrate the political will needed to achieve the Campaign for Nature’s ambitious global deal to protect 30 percent of the earth’s land and oceans by 2030, then scaling up to 50 percent by 2050.

I urge them to take the lead not only for Africa, but for the world. 

This Author 

Abiodun Jacob Aderibigbe is a member of the the Sustainable Environment Food and Agriculture Initiative (SEFAAI) in Nigeria and works at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management at the University of Agriculture, in Abeokuta. He specialises in the sustainable use of natural resources through education, advocacy and research.

Image: Nyungwe National Park. Rwanda Government, Flickr. 

Africa is experiencing a dramatic loss of biodiversity. By the end of this century, climate change alone could cause the loss of over half of African bird and mammal species, and a significant loss of plant species.

The livelihoods, wellbeing and food and water security of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Africa are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation of wildlife and fisheries, and the spread of non-native invasive species.

Yet, paradoxically, African leaders could also hold the key to protecting the world’s wildlife and wild places.

Bold action

Namibia and Botswana have already protected 30 percent of their land. Rwanda’s mountain forests are fully protected in law. Ethiopia is investing significantly in reforestation. Bangweulu in Zambia is a unique, community owned protected wetland, home to 50,000 people who retain the right to sustainably harvest its natural resources and who depend entirely on the richness the park provides.

Fish stocks have significantly improved, poaching has been reduced, bird populations are up and Bangweulu Wetlands is the largest employer in the region.

If other  African governments follow these examples and take bold action to protect nature, there is a real chance of achieving a new international agreement to halt biodiversity loss. 

Last week, environment ministers, policy makers and scientists met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at what is known as the Regional Consultation on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework for Africa. These regional consultations – which often go under the radar – are important steps in the consultation process towards a global deal for nature which will be hammered out at the next meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2020.

African nations are being urged to support the Campaign for Nature by working for a global deal to protect at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030.

Crucial moment 

The Addis Ababa regional consultation is a crucial moment for African nations to show leadership and help bring the global community together around new, more ambitious goals to protect and responsibly manage the world’s lands and oceans.

Of course, Africa is not alone in experiencing an alarming loss of biodiversity. Around the world, nature is under serious threat. Species are becoming extinct up to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate.

Global wildlife populations have declined by 60 percent since 1970. Nearly two-thirds of the earth’s wetlands and half of all rainforests have been destroyed in just a century. 30 percent of the world’s fish stocks are over-exploited.

The forthcoming global assessment report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) – due to be published in early May – will confirm this depressing trend.

Written by 150 leading international experts from 50 countries, the report predicts widespread species extinctions, catastrophic deforestation and runaway land degradation. Species extinction is now ranked as one of the six most important global risks in terms of impact on humanity by the 2019 Global Risks Report of the World Economic Forum. The impacts on human health and wellbeing are only too easy to imagine.

Facing extinction 

Thankfully, there is still time to take bold global action to save nature. Moves are already underway for a global accord to tackle biodiversity loss in the same way that the Paris agreement aims to tackle climate change.

But that won’t happen without bold leadership at the national and regional level – that’s why these regional consultations are so significant.

As Dr. Donald Kaberuka, former President of the African Development Bank, wrote recently: “Unless African politicians and leaders learn the lessons of others to protect nature now, the consequences will be far worse than people realise.

“For a collapse in biodiversity across the planet does not just mean that we face an extinction of plants and animals, but a collapse in clean water supplies, food security and the health of humans.”

In terms of social, economic and environmental development, Africa stands at a crossroads. By 2050, the continent will be home to around one billion young people with aspirations for jobs, decent livelihoods, health and wellbeing.

Sustainable development 

Not long ago, Africa was viewed as the world’s economic and environmental basket case, but with wise sustainable development it could instead become the world’s bread basket, and a shining example of how to row back against environmental degradation. 

No-one pretends this will be easy. As well as the immense task of persuading the world’s leaders to get behind a global deal for nature, there is a huge cost involved. 

The CBD estimates up to 440 billion US Dollars are needed annually, yet the current spend is only 52 billion US Dollars a year. However, the cost of inaction is much greater than the cost of action.

Scientists estimate the total value of the services provided by nature to be about 125 trillion US Dollars per year. By degrading these systems, rather than protecting them, people around the world will end up paying a higher price – which could include our very survival. 

Even the World Bank – an organisation not always noted for its green credentials – recognises the economic case for protecting nature and is investing in watershed management, integrated coastal zone management and protected areas.

Together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank is ploughing some 360 million US Dollars into 50 projects in several African countries including Mozambique, Gabon, South Africa and Tanzania.

Indigenous knowledge

It’s not just political leaders and global institutions who are taking action. Local communities with indigenous knowledge and centuries of living in harmony with nature can help create protected areas, tackle illegal fishing and forestry activities, protect cultural sites and monitor the impacts of climate change.

In Kenya, community conservation programmes have protected some commonly held lands for wildlife, and in turn are generating eco-tourism revenues. Community-based natural resource management in Namibia now covers more than 166,000 km2, home to around 228,000 people.

The African Sahel Great Green Wallinitiative is being delivered by local communities from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. 

African leaders have a crucial role to play in the run-up to the 2020 CBD meeting. They can demonstrate the political will needed to achieve the Campaign for Nature’s ambitious global deal to protect 30 percent of the earth’s land and oceans by 2030, then scaling up to 50 percent by 2050.

I urge them to take the lead not only for Africa, but for the world. 

This Author 

Abiodun Jacob Aderibigbe is a member of the the Sustainable Environment Food and Agriculture Initiative (SEFAAI) in Nigeria and works at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management at the University of Agriculture, in Abeokuta. He specialises in the sustainable use of natural resources through education, advocacy and research.

Image: Nyungwe National Park. Rwanda Government, Flickr. 

It’s no secret that the earth’s forests are shrinking at an alarming rate. According to the World Bank, an area larger than South Africa (502,000 square miles) was lost between 1990 and 2016. 

Agriculture is one of the largest drivers of this deforestation and the role of cocoa farming in particular has become the focus of much public and private debate.

Anyone within the cocoa industry is acutely aware of the delicate challenge at hand: creating sustainable livelihoods for communities who rely on cocoa farming for their survival whilst preserving forest landscapes for future generations. 

Collective action

Undoubtedly, the cocoa industry has been part of the problem but we’re also catalysts for change. 

The Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI) is a prime example of the impact collective action can have on combating deforestation in the world’s two largest cocoa producing countries of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

As head of sustainability for Olam Cocoa – a signatory to CFI and a leading supplier of sustainable cocoa – I know that we need to go even further to end deforestation from cocoa on a global scale.  

Olam Cocoa is focused on future risk and preventative action to protect the trees that are still standing. In line with our ‘Living Landscapes Policy’ – which is framed around putting more back into food and farming systems than is taken out – we’ve developed the Forest Loss Risk Index (FLRI).

This works on the basis that we first need to have a transparent picture of our global cocoa supply chain in order to identify risks of forest loss and prioritise our actions accordingly. We start with GPS mapping our entire cocoa supplier network and combine this with historic deforestation rates, existing forest cover and national park boundaries.

Targeted intervention 

From this mapping we can highlight deforestation risk hotspots and assign an individual risk weighting to each supplier. 

It sounds deceptively simple. But committing to GPS map, assessing risk and taking targeted action across a sourcing network of 650,000 cocoa farmers in 11 countries is a considerable task.

We have already mapped 100 percent of our supplier network in Ghana, Indonesia, Brazil and Cameroon and expect to have completed this process in Côte d’Ivoire, Papua New Guinea, Ecuador and East Africa by mid-2019.

We will then be in a position to analyse the vast amounts of data to make sure we are monitoring the areas that are most at risk.

Once we have this deeper insight, we can better target our interventions and get ahead of deforestation before it happens.

Chanelling resources

For example, better awareness of farmers who are operating in high risk areas means we can channel resources into one-on-one, anti-deforestation coaching and continue to support their progress every year.  

Cameroon is one cocoa growing region in particular where this approach could have a pre-emptive impact. The country has the second largest intact dense tropical rainforest in the world but is at high risk of deforestation.

By assigning a high-risk category through the FLRI, we can take action on the ground to prevent future tree loss. 

There is more impetus than ever amongst agribusiness to keep the world’s forests standing. Within Olam Cocoa, we recognise that our position in the supply chain means we need to keep pushing for this impetus to become impact. 

This Author 

Simon Brayn-Smith is the head of sustainability for Olam Cocoa. During the past two years, Simon also headed the development of the Olam Farmer Information System, a pioneer smallholder farmer tool designed to work both as an integrated farmer group management system and a data collection, analysis and application tool. 

Trees for Cities recently planted our millionth tree. This of course is a huge achievement –  but it also  strikes a chord, and reminds us that there is much more to do. 

The millionth tree, a disease resistant elm, has found its home on the ground of St Thomas’ hospital, Westminster.  Around 100,000 have helped us plant the 999,999 trees before this one.  

Standing opposite the Houses of Parliament, this tree is a symbol of what can be done by people wanting to make a positive change.

Cause for celebration

This was a milestone worth celebrating. Sir Michael Palin came along to plant the tree with us, over 20 years after he planted his first in Gospel Oak.

Palin said: “By planting these trees we celebrate something we all love and cherish. Something that brings communities together, and actively works to address pollution, and the stress of living in our cities. This is something we can all agree is a good thing, so let’s celebrate the millionth good thing!”

Straight after it was planted, we got onto the millionth and first. One generation passed the baton to another, with pupils from Dormers Wells Infant School planting the first of a new breed of urban trees in the hospital playground.

The trees stand as a reminder that when today’s children are growing into the future leaders and decision makers that will take on responsibility for the planet. 

And they’re already taking the mantle. In 2018, Greta Thunberg spearheaded the first school strike for the climate, outside the Riksdagshuset, the house of Sweden’s parliament.

New generation

On 15 March, only a few months after Greta’s first strike, she was joined by over a million more young people in 2,000 cities across the globe. Together they marched to make it clear that “we need to treat the climate crisis as a crisis”

When air quality is declining, temperatures are rising, and a water shortage predicted to befall us in as little as 25 years, action is needed, and there is room to make it happen.

Recent research has found that there is space on the earth’s surface to plant 1.2 trillion new trees that could absorb more carbon than humans produce each year.

On top of this, these trillion trees would improve biodiversity, providing a home to countless species, ease soil erosion in parts of the world where local communities depend on farming, curb a water shortages, and so much more. We need more trees, so we will keep planting them. 

This Author 

Devika Jina is Marketing and Communications Manager at Trees for Cities, the only UK charity working at a national and international scale to improve lives by planting trees in cities.