Thursday, June 2, 2011 THI~DAY, Vol. 16, No. 5883, Page 47

development

''Deat Nigerians~ the time for lamentationis ov~r. This jsthe ~ra of transformation. This is the time for action. But Nigeria can only 'be transformed if we ali play our parts with commitment and sincerity. We all need to give Nigeria , . anoQIer chance"

- President Goodluck Jonathan, speqking in an address at his swearing-irias the newly-ele~ted President a/Nigeria in Ahuja

Rising Food Prices Increase Squeezes on Poor - Oxfam

Rising food prices are tightening the squeeze on pop­ulations already struggling 10 buy adequate food, demanding radical refonn of the global food sys­tem, Oxiam has warned,

By 2030, the average COSI of key crops could increase by between 120 per cenl and 180 per cenl, the charitY forecaslS, according 10 a BBC News report,

It is the acceleration of a (rend, wruch has already seen food prices double'in the last 20 years, Half of the rise 10 come will be caused by climate change, Oxiam prediclS. It calls on world leaders 10 improve regulation, of food markelS and invesl in a global climate fund .

"'The food system must be overhauled if we are to oven:ome the increasingly pressing challenges of climate change, spirnlling food prices and the scarcity of land, warer and energy," said Oxfam's chief executive. Barbara Slacking.

World food prices have already more than doubled since 1990, according 10 Food and Agriculrural Organisation (FAO) figures , and Oxiam prediclS thaI this trend will accelerate over the next 20 years.

In ilS report , 'Growing a Bener Future' , Oxfarn says predictions suggest the world's population will reach 9bn by 2050 bul the average growth rate in agricultural yields has almOSI halved since 1990.

According 10 the charity'S research, the world's poor­est people now spend up 10 80 per cent of their incomes on food - with those in the Philippines spending propor­tionately four times more than those in the UK, for instance - and more people will be pushed inlo hunger as food prices climb. .

The report highlighlS four ' food insecurity hOlSpolS", areas, which are already struggling 10 feed their citizens: Guatemala, where 865 $XX) people are said 10 be al risk of food insecurity because of a lack of state investment in smallholder fanners who are highly dependenl on importe<l food; and India, where people spend more than twice the proponion of their income on food than

Others are Azerbaijan, where wheat production fell 33 per cent last year because of poor weather, foh:ing the country 10 import grains from Russia and Kazakhstan; food prices were 20 per cent higher in December 2010 than the same month in 2009; and East Africa, where eighl million people currently face chronic food shortages because of droUghl, with women and children among the ,

By Chinazor Megbolu with aK"'" "parl,

hardest hit. Among the many factors continuing to drive rising

food prices in the Coming decades, Oxiam prediclS thaI climate change will have the most serious impact. Ahead of the UN climate summil in South Africa in December, il calls on world leaders 10 launch a glob­al climate fund, "so that people can prolecl themselves from the impaCIS of climate change and are bener equipped 10 grow the food they need".

The World Bank has also warned thaI rising food prices are pushing millions of people inlO extreme poverty. In April , il said food prices were 36 per cenl above levels of a year ago, driven by problems in the Middle East and North Africa.

In ilS repOrt, Oxfum says a ' broken' food system causes "hunger, along with obesity. obscene waste. and appalling environmental degradation'. It says llpower above all detennines who eats and who does nOI", and says the present system was "constructed by and on behalf of a tiny minority - ilS primary purpose to deliver profit for them".

II highlighlS subsidies for big agricultural produc­ers,powerful investors "playing commodities markelS like casinos". and large unaccountable agrilxlsiness companies as destructive forces in the global food system.

Oxfam wants nations [0 agree new rules to govern food markeIS, 10 ensure the poor do not go hungry. II said world leaders must "We are sleep-walking IOwanls an avoidable age of crisis,' said Ms SlQCking. 'One in seven people on the planet go hungry every day despite the fact that the wprld is capsble of feed­ing everyone. n

However, th~ report's emphasis on the importance of small fanners was challenged by Nicola Horlick, a leading British investtnem fund manager who has invested in fumlland in Brazil, in a debate with Ms SlOCking on the BBes Today programme.

She said large mechanised fanns still provided some job opportunities for local workers and created spiJH>ff industries. She said the markel worked because shortages increased potential profilS from investing in food, which would in time being supply and demilnd back into balanoe.

Explore Minerals for Sustainable Devt, Experts Urged

Reclor of the Kaduna Polytechnic, Dr. (Mrs.) Yuwana Mivanyi, has charged experlS in the solid minerals seclor to explore ways in which the abundant mineral resources could be used

for sustainable growth, development and poverty alleviation.

[n a keynole address at the Teams Meeting of the Centre of Excellence for Solid Minerals Research and Development, which held in ' Kaduna, Dr. Mivanyi noted that Nigeria is endowed with sub­stantial variety of mineral resources, which, if prop­erly harnessed, could boost the nation's soun:es of revenue and reduced the heavy dependence on oil.

She stressed the need for effective participation of aU stakeholders in the seclor in order to promote research and development of the mineral sector, stressing Ihal this would go a long way in optimising the contribution of mineral resources to s~stalnable

From John Shiklam in Kaduna

development and poverty.reduction: According to her, the collaboration of the

research team members from the universities, the polytechnics and the private sector, will bring. about syrrergy, which will support efforlS aimed al boosting the solid minerals seclOr.

The Centre for Excellence for Solid Minerals Research and Developmenl is being funded by the World Bank under the Science and Technology Education Project at the post- Basic (STEP-B) project.

The team members were drawn from Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, the Nigerian Instirute of Geosciences, l os, the Federal University of Technology, Yola, the Federal Polytechnic , Nasarawa and the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede.

Health Insurance Scheme for Communities Soon - NHIS

The National Health [nsurance scheme (NH[S) has confirmed that soon the scheme will inlroiluce a Community Social Health Insurance Scheme that would cover those

livi ng in the local communities. The Deputy General Manger Enforcement of

Ihe Scheme Dr. Kabir Mustapha, stared this while talking to newsmen at a workshop organ­ised for the stakeholders of NH[S on the aClivi­ties and enforcemenl of the scheme HMO for the north east region in Bauchi , saying rhat this is in view of Ihe growing acceplability of the NHIS among Ihe people. '

He said NHlS has registered over six mil­lions Nigerians, in Iheir quest for accessing good health care services and promolion of Iheir heallh system.

Dr. Muslapha said Ihe introduction of Ihe scheme by the federal government has con­tributed immensely in alleviating the suffering of civil servants of the heavy burden of funding heailh care services in [he country.

He sa id. "reports across [he p.ation indicate th i.J l the implementatio n of the scheme has so

From Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

far been successful", adding that "many states across the counlry are yearning to embrace the health insurance system for the overall benefit of their cilizens".

Mustapha said Ihat the Act establishing the scheme would soon be amended by the National Assembly towards addressing loopholes in the implemenlation df the scheme 10 reach oul to all 'the segments of the society '

He then appeal 10 enrollees to always have the courage 10 report short coming from the part of health ~roviders HMO to NH[S for necessary aCtion and imprOVed service delivery.

Al so speaking , the North-East Zonal CoordinalOr of the scheme Alhaji Abdullsalarn Bala , urged stales that are yel to join Ihe scheme to do so for the benefit of the citizenry. He also asked HMOs 10 main­rain the spirit of delivering good health ser­vices to people .

~ ' . ,tEssONSrnOM OlliER LANDS

LL~E,!!!,~.!!~d~~~ ~~r.~~,1 become a new weapon of chOlce If governmenl aquifer syslem, covering some two milli, n square \ forces opllO starve coastal cities that heavily rely on kilometres and estimated 10 CQntain 150,000 cubic free flowing freshwater. kilometres of groundwater. .

With'only five per cenl of the country gelling alleasl Fossil water is groundwalerthat has been lrapped in 100 millimetres of rainfall per year, Libya is one of the underground fossil aquifers for thousands or even mil­driest countries in the world, according to an Inler Press Uons of years. Unlike most aqUIfers me NSAS is a Service (IPS) , report in Cairo. non-renewable resowce, and over extraction or ~/ater

His~ric~y, ~taI aquifers or ~ation plan~ mining could cause rising sea levels. located Ul Tnpoh were pf poer quality due 10 conlalru- With an estimated cost of nearly 30 billion dollars , . nation with sall waler, resultin~ in undrinkable water in the GMMR's network of nearly 5$XX) kilometres ,'f, many ClUes ux:luding Benghazi. pipeline from moro;.than 1,300 wells drilled up 10 5(X~

Oil exploration in the southern Libyan desert in the metres deep inlO' the Sahara was also intended 10 mid-1950s revealed vasl quantities. of fresh" clean increase Ih\' amount of amble land for agricultural pm-groundwater - this could meet · growing national duction. !' demand and development goals. ScientislS estimate thaI In the Middle Easl and North Africa (MENA) water nearly 40 $XX) years ago when the North African climate has created a growing regioi\aJ crisis and could be an was temperate, rainwater in Libya seeped underground imperus for further unrest. Demand is increasing as forming reservoirs of freshwater. populations s~)'IOCkel - reserves are rapidly depleting,

In 1983,Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi initiated a and food inflation has taken ilS loll on cash-slJ1lpped ' huge civil water works projecl known as the Great Man- countries dependenl on imported food staples. Made River (GMMR)-a massive irrigation project that Last month, Libyan officials warned that'NAlU drew upon theundergrourid basin reservesof.the Kufra, airstrikes on the GMMR's pipelines could cause a Sine, Morzuk, Hamada and the Nubian Sandstone humanuanan and envIronmental disaster. But pro­Aquifer - to deliver more than five million cubic. metres government forces could also disrupt the GMMR's of water per day to cities 'IIong Libya's coastal belt. flow if th~y WISh, leav~g o~posmon-held regiOns III I

Lying beneath the four African counaies Chad, the east With, only the Ajdablya reservOir -thIS holds Egypt, Libya and Sudan, the Nubian SandsloneAquifer JUSI a month s supply of water. , \

Sierra Leone: Planting Trees for Nature

As the World Environment Day draws closer on according 10 Ishmael IGndanla DU,mbuya .. June 5,2011, the Sierra Leone Environment The head of [nfomlatron Educatron and Prolection Agency and the School Nature Communication al the Environment. Proleclion Clubs in the city in collaboration with the Agency, Mr. Bendu , said the tree planung exetClse

Environment Forum for Action undertoOk the plant- started at the Sugar Loaf and IS expecled 10 be ing of 500 Gmelina-aborea trees along the Western extended at vanous lacatrons III a way 10 help pm-Area Peninsular Forest Reserve on May 28, 2011 . teel the Western Area Perunsular Foresl Reserve.

The tree planting ceremony comprised of officials He also added that by the end of the eXetClse, they from the Environment Prolection Agency, the are gOUlg 10 plant more than five thousand trees Ul ENFORAC and school pupils from the Ani Walsh the western area forest. Mr. Bendu also noted that If M . I S' ~.n' Sch I Ii S odary I the Western Area Pentnsular Forest Reserve IS

emona eco~~~ 00, reel0wr:' eco I' afforested with trees,itwill add 10 thesecurityoflh\: School for Guls, Prince of Wales, Samt Edwards city and give benefilS 10 the communilies around the Secondary. School, Ahmadiyya Secondary School peninsular and the country as a whole. and the Samt Josephs Convent. It lOOk place al the [I could be recaJled that the Western Area Sugar Loaf mountain; few meters from the Regenl Peninsular Forest Reserve is presently facing extinc-Settlement. . . : tion and il has caused the government of Sierra

The EnvlrOnmenl scbool nature clubs tS com- Leone and the international partners on the environ-posed of vanOllS school children belllg. sportSOred , menl a whopping sum of €3 .1 million projecl for and nurtured by the EnVIrOnment Proteebon Agency the preservation and reslOration of the lust nature in 10 undertake issues of the environment in the future, 2014.

Africa: Lessons in Bicycle , 'P

Olilicians may tell us that bicycles are a sign mentati~n of bicycle ,?rganisatiQn Zambikes' inno­thaI we are not advancing:' says Patrick vallve zambulance. trailer proJect) , and save

' Kayemba, managing director of the First money III South Africa (and everywhere else, of , African Bicycle Infonnation Organisation course.) Dusbn McBnde, who runs. Zamblkes III t

in Uganda, "bul we ourselves have seen that cycling L~saka, Zambulances, says these bicycle ~Iers t is a socio-economic 1001. [I works now - we don't WIth a mattress and pnvacy curtatn save one hfe for I have to wait fOI someone to rescue US wilh bener every nine days in which they are used. I'

public transport, belter this, or bener that .. . " The.re's no doubl that for utili ty cyclislS in much Bicycles areexpensivecommodities, however,so of Africa, ~people who cycle as a means of trans­

Kayemba's orgaru'sation operates a bicycle tTU,'cro-.. port), cyclUlg IS nol a step backward but a step for- ~ credit scheme in Uganda as well as a bicycle boda ward. Artd as Gil Penalosa, Ultemauonal hveable boda savings scheme. (Boda boda also refers 10 ClUes consultant, pomlS oul, Copenhagen and "". molOrcycie taxis - but enterprising Ugandans also Amsterdam are among the wealthiesl cities in the use pedal-powered two-wheelers, with a pillow on world, and the~ have . the highesl wban cycling the carrier for the passenger's comfort.) rates. In these Ctues, bicycle transport has neither

Like Ugandans, most Namibian cyclislS also rely "loser" nor "elite" Starus; it's simply the cheapest on affordable, refuIDished 'second-hand bicycles, and most convenient way in which 10 get amutld. donated by international agencies and distributed As Cape Town commuter Edward Zozi explains, via local organisations, according to an Inter Press he rides because "I save a lot of money. Five hun­Service (IPS) report in Cape Town. dred rand per month (80 dollars). Before, I used a

The Bicycling Empowermen'l Network of (minibus) taxi ... each and every day. Now I'm sav-. Namibia, which faciiita/eS importation in that coun- ing aU that."

try, bas implemented 25 local disaibulion stores Commuter W~liam Jim, in his 50s, bas been rid-across the . cOuntry, known as Bicycling ing bicycles for "maybe five years:' · he says'

j Empowennent Centres (BECs). Conceprualised by "Before that [ was using taxis. BUI the taxis were : Michael Linke and Clarisse Cunha-Linke, BEN 100 expensive . . . " .: Namibia bas now imported almost 20,000 bicycles, Similar success stories can be found in Malawi. ~ : and is able to teU mOltiple stories of how bicycles Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania,. Botsw-.ma and r have changed the lives of the recipients for the bet- Zimbabwe: bicycles bave an immediate cost-sav-ter. ing,life-enhancing and poverty-reducing impact on

Michael Linke, from the Bicycling , the lives of everyone who rides them. Empowennent NetwOtk of Namibia, describes an There are also shaned challenges. The roads are HIV/AIDS support group in Walvis Bay, which dangerous, aUlhorities don'l wke Ihe needs ofbicy­runs a Bicycle Empowennent Centre - the cle commurers inro account, and new bicycles are WelwilSChia Bicycle Shop - and uses the profilS 10. priced beyond the pockel of lhose who need Ihem. support members with small enterprise funding.

Bicycles save lives in Zambia (through the inlple- • Compiled by Abimbola Akosile