According to Dr Daniel Ichangi, the Chairman of APSEA said the recent discoveries of oil, coal, titanium and other minerals necessitate the need to have an overriding law.

Currently, the country has separate laws governing various sectors of the natural resources. There is law on forestry, wildlife, water and land.

But the situation, according to Dr Ichangi, the situation does not augur well for the country.

“What is needed is a coordinated management of natural resources,” he said.

Benjamin Washiali, the vice chairman of the parliamentary committee on natural resources said the MPs are aware of the sensitive of the Chapter 5 of the constitution which deals with land and natural resources and plan to engage with each other over the matter.

Dr Ichangi said the APSEA is engaging MPs knowing that the efforts are coming late given that each key sector of the natural resources have their own laws, which at times appear contradictory to one another.

“Kenyans are yet to benefit from the abundant natural resources because of lack of proper laws,” he said.

At the meeting in Mombasa, the APSEA chairman said unless the laws are harmonized, the country may not avoid resource-related conflicts that have bedeviled man African countries.

He attributed resource-based conflicts to poor management formula.

John Kioli, Chairman of the Kenya Climate Change Working Group said it is a good thing for the APSEA to initiate the process at the time before the country comes up with another law governing climate change.

He said his organisation’s presence at the meeting was to offer lessons learned from their efforts to develop the Climate Change Bill but supported the need to have a consolidated law that would govern these cross-cutting issues.

Last week, Dr Wilbur Ottichilo, MP for Emuhaya tabled in the Kenya’s Parliament the Kenya Climate Change Authority Bill. The bill seeks to establish an authority to handle issues on climate change.

The Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) is an Association that brings together professional bodies of diverse disciplines.

Currently, the Association has thirty three (33) corporate members in Kenya constituting all major professions in the country including medicine, law, accounting, engineering, geology, architecture, food science, public and corporate administration, veterinary science, planning, procurement, and marketing among many others.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

Students attend the launching of a book on Climate Change for Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Servants of God through their network of Faith Based Organizations, the Inter-Religious Council for Peace Tanzania (IRCPT), have resolved to find a common ground in matters of Climate Change.

Behind this initiative was the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), which has sponsored not only the conference that took place at Kebby’s Hotel in Mwenge on Thursday last week, but also has sponsored similar gatherings on the subject and the publication of two books in the topic.

During the opening session Stephen Reith the Resident Director of KAS said that religious leaders are closer to their congregations which make it easier to disseminate the message on Climate Change.

“We are proud that through KAS now clerics can deal with the subject more confidently, the IRCPT have brought people from different religious affiliation even more closely,” remarked Rev Sistus Mallya from the Pentecostal Churches of Tanzania (PCT).

Eelier KAS sponsored the publication of a book on Climate Change for secondary schools and the second one was this for the Faith Based Organizations.

The conference not only expanded knowledge to the servants of God, but also it proved that serious pertinent issues could replace divisive sentiments which are always calculated to work for a certain political agenda.

During the conference it was decided that there was a need to prepare a special curriculum that will be used to disseminate knowledge on Climate Change by the clerics to their congregations.

Six people were appointed to determine what should appear in the curriculum and they represented the different religious sects namely Baahai, Muslims, and Christians.

Representative of the Roman Catholic Church Fr Benedict Shemfumbwa who represented the Tanzania Episcopal Council (TEC), said his church has deiced to’ walk the talk’ by embarking on a major tree planting scheme.

We have started by planting trees at Segera Senior Seminary because all priests must undergo training through such an institution which means many people will benefit from this education,” he commented.

Sheikh Ali Saidi Mosse from the Ahmadiya-Tanzania Islamic wing said that there was a need to standardize the curriculum of the education that will be provided to Christians and Muslims because in essence they do share goals on this topic.

A senior official from the KAS Mr Erasto Ndeuka warned that there must be a balance between planting of trees for Climate Change purpose and the cultivation of food crops.

Coincidently Tanzanian journalists, policy makers and researchers obtained week long training in Climate Change at White Sands Hotel in Dar es Salaam, starting from Sunday last week.

The training was convened by FANRPLAN in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), and it brought together farmers, the private sector, experts in agriculture and policy makers and journalists across the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

Standing for Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network, it has conducted training for various groups from inside and outside Tanzania meeting to share matters of mutual concern on this matter.

Before attending the training scribers underwent one day training from Mr Ben Rootman from South Africa who coached them on getting the right angles of the stories to be covered.

In cooperation with Mr Martin van Niekerk also from South Africa, they exposed journalists to the various strategies to communicate messages in Climate Change through print, electronic, online, and social media.

Introducing the subject matter to journalists the Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda said that it was important that scientists, journalists and other experts work together in order to attain food security.

An expert in food and bio-fuels Dr Wyanand van Walt said that there were many benefits of biofules all there one cannot deny the requirement of large portions of land.

Expertise in Climate Change started with Dr Amy Sullivan who discussed on how strategies to adapt Climate Change and agriculture must be balanced so that people gets to know how they can mitigate and adapt for the same.

“It is important to acknowledge the fact there are many associated factors to the extent that all must be given due consideration, otherwise the communities might end up in unending conflicts,” she commented.

Dr Sullivan said that the subject entails the components of resource management, but also taking into consideration protection of water sources and food production for the communities.

Moreover journalists and other attendants in the workshop were exposed to various methods targeted at Strengthening Evidence-Based Climate Change Adaptation (SECCAP). The discussion was based on the Limpompo Basin as a case study.

Mr Kudzai Ndizadzano discussed the potential threats and resources variations caused by Climate Change including HIV/Aids spread due to demographic shifts as well as possible conflicts due to the fight for resources.

For his part Nkulumo Zinyengere warned that it was important to analyze a combination of facts like which kind of crops are more applicable, and the kind of fertilizers to be used when the land become warmer and warmer.

AUTHOR: Elias Mhegera
URL: http://mhegeraelias.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: mhegeraelias [at] yahoo.com

Addressing participants at the ongoing Alliance of Religions and Conservation conference in Nairobi, Mr Goumandakoye said “the responsibility taken by the faith groups and their long-term commitments for a living planet will help shape the beliefs, behavior and actions for a greener and better Africa and the world”.

He said this commitment by the faith groups in environment conservation for human well-being are among the driving forces for positive change as humanity is grappling with challenges of colossal consequences.

Mr Goumandakoye disclosed that many scientists now agree that the world has entered a new geologic time, the anthropocene era that is characterized by human deep alteration of earth, by massive impact on the planet.

“What science is telling us is that collectively, we have crossed several of the most prominent bio-physical tripping points at the planetary level,” he said.

He added that resources exploitation already exceeds the earth biological capacity by 25 per cent and that humanity increased its global ecological footprint from 0.5 earth planet in 1950 to 1.25 now. “If the trends continue, very soon we will need two planet earths to satisfy our needs,” he added.

For example, he said, the challenge of climate change alone continues to grow with an increase of carbon dioxide of about 40 per cent above pre-industrial levels.

At a recent African Ministers of Environment meeting in Arusha, Tanzania noted with concern that developed countries continue to increase their emissions.

The ministers expressed concern that the current inadequate mitigation pledges by developed countries are likely to lead to an increase of the global average temperature of greater than 2 degrees celsius and possibly 5. This, said Mr Goumandakoye will have a global impact and more so Africa due to its high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and low adaptive capacity.

Kenya’s Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, Mr Ali Mohamed said in a speech read on his behalf by Richard Mwendandu that environmental conservation is usually about moral values.

He said understanding the inter-dependence of the planetary systems, inter-dependence between living organisms and between living and no-living organisms are essential in maintaining the natural balances.

Mr Mohamed however said that this balance has over the years been affected through human action with the resultant effects manifesting in diverse ways that are yet to be fully understood.

“While governments around the world continue to respond to these challenges through policy, law and regulatory measures, the size and the complexity of the challenges continue to grow,” he noted.

He cited the destabilizing climatic systems, the loss of biological diversity, depletion of oceanic stocks and pollution of water systems as challenges that continue to baffle the global community.

“The problem, says Martin Palmer, Secretary General, Alliance for Religion Conservation, the UN and global governments’ approach to these problems is way out of touch. He adds that despite the many Conferences of Parties by the UN and many resolutions by governments, “no agreement is on sight”.

“Yet the religious groups have the answer,” he said adding that the religious groups have practical steps that can be emulated across many villages, regions and countries with action-oriented grassroots projects and programmes whose impacts are seen. “They are also more trusted by their local communities in ways that governments are not,” he added.

“With 90 per cent of Africa’s population being either Christian or Muslim, the way to the heart of Africa is through faith. And faith is at the heart of these plans,” said Mr Palmer.

He said faith groups all around Africa are rediscovering how the mandate to protect the richness of God’s Creation is clearly set out in their holy texts and this is leading to profound practical action – everything from restoring habitats and planting trees to reducing energy use and training young people in environmental care and protection.

He said many COPs are attended by people who do not believe in the processes they are involved in. “many of those delegations are either attending these COPs to help save their governments from paying money or make sure that their governments do nothing about climate change and conservation.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

The study, authored by William Anderegg of Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University and Jeffrey Kane and Leander Anderegg of Northern Arizona University, reviews dozens of scientific papers dealing with the ecological impacts of climate change on forests.

Although forests reflect more light and decrease local temperatures, there are a host of other issues that are exacerbated by global warming. Forests reduce the impacts of climate change by sequestering carbon and releasing oxygen, however, less trees means more carbon and less oxygen. This constitutes a dangerous feedback loop. Declining forests are being impacted by global warming and this is interfering with the natural processes that mitigate climate change.

As reviewed in a Mongabay article, “Forests cover 42 million square kilometers or 30 percent of Earth’s land surface…Forests store 45 percent of the carbon found in terrestrial ecosystems and sequester as much as 25 percent of annual carbon emissions from human activities, helping mitigate a key driver of climate change…clear-cutting of forests in the tropics accounts for 8-15 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.”

As stated in Science Daily, “From an ecosystem perspective, forest die-off will also likely affect hydrological processes and nutrient cycles…decomposition of fallen trees releases carbon into the atmosphere, thus producing a warming effect…Debris from fallen trees could also increase a forest’s fire risk.”

These impacts have a very real economic costs. Forests account for trillions of dollars of annual economic activity. Mass tree mortality will incur substantial losses to the timber industry and could cause declines in real-estate property values.

Forests cover 42 million square kilometers or 30 percent of Earth’s land surface. Every continent on Earth is being impacted by forests loss with the exception of Antarctica. In the US, there has been an increase in the incidence and severity of forest fires since 2000. A wide range of forest are being impacted including the Redwood forest in Marin, CA. Rainforest in Borneo. Forests in Southeast Asia, the Russian Far East, and the Amazon has been particularly affected by drought over the past 20 years. Roughly a million hectares of Amazon rainforest suffered from severe drought stress in 2010.

Although more research is required, the study suggest a troubling global trend that could cost billions of dollars and substantially accelerate climate change.

AUTHOR: Richard Matthews
URL: http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com
E-MAIL: smallbusinessconsultants [at] gmail.com

Policy and governance concerns are priorities atop geoengineering preference scale for now. The science, though upcoming, is easily overcome by findings of different sort, but dealing with processes & results as policy issues, and control as governance issues appear to be more important since one earth is involved and the biosphere also is.

Deployment of geoengineering and the form it will take have pegged serious and possible concerns for the earth, biodiversity and agreements. Geoengineering is some headache and its capabilities are fearful, it is not coming because scientists want to test their climate tinkering prowess, but because of situations surrounding a global mitigation agreement.

Geoengineering is unlikely to be deployed anytime soon, but tests and research are expected to grow. Tests can be controversial in that they might appear as deployment because of scale or may appear like acting alone – to prompt others to. Geoengineering deployment is not taken off the table, as the world in reality, cannot earmark 2% of annual global GDP for climate change anytime soon.

Climate change tipping point or indubitable moment for large scale deployment of geoengineering comes when there are series of devastating events around the world, with extremes everywhere affecting everyplace in one year or so. The situation will get the world to convey to act fast and tinker with the climate to save a little while caution goes to mitigation and possibilities are laid with geoengineering.

Aerosols can quickly be injected for this in a huge way, and to continue in the next year and subsequently at reduced scale. As such, a 10-year plan for aerosols with droplet radius of around 0.1µm, injected initially at 3.5Tg S can be reduced to 1Tg S over the next 10years, to stay further climate change catastrophe and save from new ones, due to geoengineering.

Knowing what amount can be used or distribution size of aerosols or best positions or rate of deployment, require research. Lab models can help to many extents, theories and studies of natural equivalent can be useful but field test cannot be taken away. Issues with the field test aside appearing like deployment or unilaterally done, is for others to do theirs in what may be more dangerous than some of the initial and carefully considered ones.

This calls for answers on asked questions on geoengineering research regulation. It is necessary to worry so much about policy and governance concerns over deployment, but that is somewhat far, and time & situations can evolve to reveal answers. But quite urgent is research regulation because geoengineering for now is at the research level and largely within the academe.

Regulating field tests was necessary after the suspension of SPICE test last year (and cancellation this year).  SPICE test, to certain people tell of the extent to which geoengineering has gone and how they are left behind or how they can do their own thing. SPICE also had issues with climate activists expressing their concerns about the test before a major UNFCCC.

Avoiding this sort of chagrin in the future calls that the ‘small class’ involved in geoengineering begin work on research regulations. This should not be extremely difficult because it is pundits aboard pundits about the academe. Going rogue at this level is not so expected and since the environment belongs to all, it is necessary that the class in front, open up well to let others see and do same in future.

Having informal meetings to work something out and later a major meeting — within this class and a little more from without that have shown interest — for research regulation is necessary within the next year.   Talk of letting research methodologies accessible; involving colleagues both near and far; ensuring that the work is ‘sort of insured’ by a counter climate process, such that solar radiation is reduced during summer; having the process live on video with information for folks to follow; suggesting tests at territories that may be testy and making friends in many places whose government will depend on for geoengineering decisions are points with research regulation.

Professor David Keith mentioned of an SRM test in a recent interview. His years of work on geoengineering and reputation let most people trust him and assured on his checks before the decision and research. He also understands the policy part of the subject and knows the good the research may do. The issue then is, if he does this successfully, publishes the report and opens further conversation, can some others from some other place be stopped if they decide to try?

Avoiding conflict in careful steps at present is necessary to undercut issues that will pare down a promising subject or limit its growth with further studies. Getting all the concerns and questions together and finding answers informally, is becoming necessary even as more questions are raised in new locations. Questions cannot just continue to grow, and control of the research cannot be left undecided, it should be decided fast.

The New York Times Columnist and Princeton University Professor, Paul Krugman stated in a recent blog post – Europe’s Great Illusion – that “the point is that the prospect of disaster, no matter how obvious, is no guarantee that nations will do what it takes to avoid that disaster”. This is true of response for mitigation by nations, but should not be for scientists and policy makers in regulating geoengineering at the research level, before things get out of hand while within control.

Geoengineering research regulation is extremely important. It should be attended to quickly, as it is the one thing needful.

AUTHOR: David Stephen
URL: http://www.trpns.com
E-MAIL: Stephen [at] trpns.com

Similar looking back to history in COP 15 2008, when Prime Minister Baburam Bhattrai attended the conference he opined,” Climate change and sustainable development as an ‘anti-development agenda’ and ‘imperialist propaganda. He expressed his staunch belief that Nepal needed to be fully industrialized at all cost and work on its economic growth rather than focus on ‘environment issues’ that hindered economic growth.”

With high controversy and interest surrounding the issue of global warming and climate change, it has become a huge interest for political leaders not in regards to issue but with the question of international exposure and recognition. It may seems a question of incompetence but the head of the state who lack to understand the issues, represent the country on behalf of forecasting and bargaining the deal for climate change effects and agendas. May be that is the reason why we get the least of what is offered on the table. The go green campaign has become a political agenda in synchronizing and interpreting its meaning questioning the relevancy and effectiveness of the whole visit and barging at the international table. Anyone can imagine the state of mind and result with such intellectual capabilities as ultimately it comes down to the person leading the team, so what to expect with leaders, who lack to understand the potency of such summit.

Opposition parties and Nepali congress activists have announced that they will show black flags and prevent the PM from going to the summit. Likewise, in September 2010, then Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had called off his trip to New York to take part in the 65th UN General Assembly owing to his caretaker status and domestic political.

Rayamajhi.jpg”>AUTHOR: Shreedeep Rayamajhi
URL: http://www.rayznews.com
E-MAIL: weaker41 [at] gmail.com

According to the report — Southern voices on climate policy choices: civil society advocacy on climate change— civil society advocacy efforts have influenced international processes, donors and multilateral organisations such as the World Bank, and in some cases the private sector.

The report received support from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and CARE through the Climate Capacity Consortium.

“Many of even the world’s poorest countries now have active civil society coalitions that work on climate change, and they are increasingly influential,” says the report’s editor Dr Hannah Reid of IIED. “These coalitions can play an important role as bridges between vulnerable communities and those with the power to enact policies that can protect people from the impacts of climate change. This report will help these coalitions learn from each other as many operate in isolation.”

In Zimbabwe, for example, the Climate Change Working Group has successfully advocated for a new national climate change strategy. And as a result of advocacy activities by the Cook Islands Climate Action Network, a climate change unit has been established within the office of the Prime Minister to ensure that the issue falls within the portfolio of the highest government officials.

William Chadza from the Civil Society Network on Climate Change in Malawi says: “It is interesting for us to see how colleagues in countries as distant as Vietnam work with vulnerable communities as they adapt to climate change and strive to ensure their government can address these people’s concerns.”

“While some governments in industrialised nations seem to ignore climate change, this report shows how in the global Southern civil society organisations are working hard to promote solutions and climate justice for those affected.”

In Kenya, the Kenya Climate Change Working Group has lobbied and advocated for favorable national policies on climate change.

The report also describes some of the challenges experienced by these coalitions. Many acknowledge that they lack the skills and resources they need to meet their advocacy objectives. And where relations between government and civil society are weak, civil society involvement in key policy making arenas has not been adequate.

The report includes contributions from more than 20 climate networks and their member organisations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific. The networks work together in the Southern Voices on Climate Change programme, which is funded by the Government of Denmark through the Climate Capacity Consortium, comprised of four Danish NGOs, Climate Action Network International and IIED, with CARE Danmark as the lead agency.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

The time has come for you to see

The Uncomfortable Truth  by NNEKA

This is a reworked old post. I hope that it did not lose it’s ‘punch’ in 15 months while it gathered 2657 page views in Think About It Water. I am inspired by Somnath’s comment in my last post ‘Eradicate Excess Wealth alongside Poverty‘ where he suspected my content as hard core communism, almost Pol Potish.

Any suggestion about examining limits of personal wealth is decidedly unlikable. Pol Pot is a fair measure of such distaste. Possibly communism as well.

But at least I can place a perspective. Wealth is not money in bank – it’s the power of consuming common resources depriving others. I shall take water as one such resource.

Water divides world into two compartments.

1. Ones who do not need introduction to water scarcity, water related diseases, ones who have no or restricted access to water, no or almost non-existent sanitation, ones who live and perish through droughts and famines. Ones who do not need any awareness programs, media campaigns or blogs to know how life is without clean, safe, free and adequate water. They are poor, marginalized and exploited.

2. Ones who are still enjoying the gift of water, can still demand, buy, negotiate or win useful water to live with some degree of comfort. Some of them somewhat understand the value of water, remain informed about increasing water scarcity, water stress, feel bad about it and wish to do something about it. That something may be turning off the running faucet during brushing of teeth or can be debating about it, talking, exchanging, knowing the impacts of living in a world of lesser and lesser water, more and more water bills, becoming aware about the strife and indifference around water and dream about influencing the world, country, city, village or neighborhoods to be sustainable with water. Some of them do not want go beyond turning of the faucet, where as some look for activism and bring about a change fast and immediate.

Only you know which compartment you are in.

The official dogma about water crisis is it’s increasing scarcity. The scarcity of safe, clean and free water within easy reach of all people on earth, which is enshrined in MDG 7C:  Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. The task, as per World Water assessment Programme by UNESCO is: “One billion people lack access to safe drinking water, 2.4 billion to adequate sanitation. To achieve this target, an additional 1.5 billion people will require access to some form of improved water supply by 2015, that is an additional 100 million people each year (or 274,000/day) until 2015.”

I find one thing very interesting. Of the 8 MDGs, Environmental Sustainability (clean and drinkable water being a part of that goal) figures at 7. If the order of goals is indicative of priorities, that’s where you are.

I am very confused about how poverty eradication (Goal 1) is achievable before developing global partnership for development (Goal 8), or how primary education can be universalized (Goal 2) for a child who accompanies her mother to fetch water from couple of miles away on a daily basis (Goal 7).

This world is too smart for me because there is constant reference to people living with $2 per day (presumably $2 per day is the poverty line) but there is no talk at UN about people living with 600 liters per day. Is that too touchy an issue? Personally I do not feel like jumping with joy if in 2015 half of world population gets safe drinking water while that absurdly high personal consumption of water continues at any corner of the world. I constantly wonder why there cannot be an MDG of eradication of absurd wealth.

The unofficial truth about water is its forced asymmetry of use over the globe. There is occasional admission of it but no international management plan. I constantly come across people who feel guilty about using so much water as Internet flashes pictures of scorched lands and thirsty, hungry faces. But that guilt appears to be too personal for one to go beyond considering closing of faucet during brushing of teeth.

“ …whereas to truly combat the emerging or existing global water crisis on an international level and in the context of industry, agriculture and climate change, there is little a private person or household can do right now which will help on that level. That requires fighting battles on much bigger and broader scales. Boycotts of foods and products, boycotts of companies, boycotts of cities, countries, sporting events, concerts, and that is just the beginning. Changing of lifestyles, eating habits, living habits, and so much more. This can also be taken to extremes. I personally, do not feel that I am ready to go to these extremes.” Cfender, commented on the blog post “Exercise 2: How much are you wasting without knowing it?” by fellow blogger Mamen Salas Burquete.

I can understand Cfender’s point. Will an Ethiopian child understand it?  To her it may sound like too personal resolution of a water rich person to avoid a personal guilt trip, like say, I have done my bit and I can now go about my business (gosh those developing country pictures of kids…). To a proud water stressed Cypriot it may sound like a charity.

The official truth about water is the Water-Energy-Climate Change Nexus and our unwillingness to get to the bottom of it. We will never understand or appreciate it if our contributions remain limited to saving daily use of water. While 600 liters a day sounds like extreme luxury to 1 billion people of the world, saving half of it will not set right the stark disparity of water and that’s an uncomfortable truth.

The water disparity is much more than drinking and sanitation water. Water is deeply connected to every aspect of our growth or lack of it.

1. Food grains: The irrigated agriculture is extremely water intensive.
2. Meat: The index of affluence and a regular diet of the developed world is very water intensive.
3. Clothes: The jeans with which the west is obsessed and the rich east is coming close on heels are destroying whole rivers of China.

I cannot take anyone as serious about contributing for water balance if he/she prefers not to think about these uncomfortable truths just because the water involved is virtual.

The whole discourse boils down to some much known pattern of resource exploitation in the growth obsessed world. Water is ultimately connected to Energy in a nexus of overuse and abuse. All forms of traditional energy exchanges are linked with use of water, be it cooling plants, water extraction, purification, supply, distribution, storing, pumping, waste water treatment, power plants, irrigation, desalination.  In a world where demand of energy is steadily increasing, water demand is also increasing steadily. If I equate the energy consumption by an individual how can it escape the water involved in the process? How can a society of 18,000 watts per year per capita expect to contribute in saving water by closing a water faucet?

The third axis of Water Energy nexus is Climate Change. The more energy production the more green house gas and more Climate Change.

On a personal level a contribution towards water saving will therefore mean a radical change of life style with less purchase of goods, less meat on plate and less energy consumption. And that is anti-growth, or at least traditional concept of growth. If this appears extreme to anyone and not relatable to daily life, you can kiss goodbye to water in a 9 Billion people world.

The idea of eradicating poverty without radically rethinking ethical and sustainable personal wealth is a pipe dream. Earth simply does not have enough resources to support 1 % super rich and 99% happy middle class.

I have not spoken about food, health and housing at all.

If this sounds like hard core communism or Pol Pot-ish, my friend Somnath will need to talk to Elinor Ostrom

AUTHOR: Pabitra Mukhopadhyay
URL: http://pabitraspeaks.com
E-MAIL: mukhopadhyay.pabitra [at] gmail.com

Nigeria in the past few days has experienced a series of heatwave that runs from sunny afternoons through the night. This has drawn government’s attention, leading them to give safety tips to the people and emergency helplines in the case of accidents.

The heatwave also meant more, than at other times for people with power shortages in certain areas, making the impact felt during their night rest. This shot rumblings about the heatwave up and led people to conceive some reasons as the cause of the heatwave.

Climate change topped other reasons, from many who spoke about the matter to the media. Climate change is believed by many in Nigeria to be responsible for most weather anomalies in recent times and alarm is raised by ‘concerned’ people about risks it holds for the country and its environment.

Climate change was also tied to the storm that wrecked parts of Lagos in February, and it is tied to the intensity of rainfall this year, as predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. Climate change is a global problem and Nigeria can only do a little with regards to solving it (mitigation) but can do more with regards to adaptation for safety of its people and environment.

The Lagos government as one of those showing the most concern to this, holds an annual summit on climate change, to submit directions in that year for climate change in Lagos and in Nigeria. The summit draws its theme from experiences in Lagos and their relation to climate change.

The one for this year holds next week from 10th – 12th and the theme is Vulnerability and Adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria: Lagos State Agriculture, Industry and Health Sectors in Focus.  The theme covers aspects that have not been the focus of past summits and new directions Lagos seek to improve in relation to climate change.

The knowledge and level of Lagos in the area of climate change is massive, and expectation by now, for Lagos on this, has grown beyond local lines to what should make Lagos be called on for related matter elsewhere, and should also let Lagos structure its local climate change challenges for simple and complex solutions to be adopted from the short to the long term respectively.

Geoengineering, a topic now considered, hotly, in developed economies as a way to plug global warming through artificial means, should begin to get talk time in Lagos environmental forums and summits. Issues like agriculture, health, traffic, industries, and the way they affect climate change should also be in discussions for an outlook to plunge them in the possible future.

Climate change or changing climate is a challenge facing Lagos and its hold as Nigeria’s economic racer. The coming summit will send attention to the themed areas, for solutions, but major challenges Lagos face from climate change and poor adaptation will remain.

The Lagos government has the vantage to spread solutions thoroughly to more areas, even without a summit of this magnitude. With forums and non-media moves, Lagos can see beyond climate change.

AUTHOR: David Stephen
URL: http://www.trpns.com
E-MAIL: Stephen [at] trpns.com

In this article suggestions have been given to the government of India in context to its draft National Water Policy 2012 towards water resource planning, development and management in the Mountains of India. This policy document talks about national level water related issues like; legal, usage, climate change adaptation, availability, management, pricing, infrastructure, planning, R & R policies, disaster preparedness, institutional arrangements, among others.  It has been advised that the national Policy needs to be constructed considering various ecological principles in terms of judicious use and equitable development.

The Government of India intend to revise the National Water Policy (Link: Draft National Water Policy India Feb 2012 ) after almost ten years and asked for comments. After reading the national water policy 2012, I am proposing specific comments in regards to mountain states of India.

The mountain regions of India need enough attention due to their very different topography and geomorphological settings. Mountains occupy 24% of the surface area on Earth and have ecological, aesthetic, and socioeconomic significance, not only for the people who derive their daily subsistence from mountain resources, but, also for the estimated 40% of the global population depending indirectly on these resources for water, hydroelectricity, timber, biodiversity, and other niche products (A. Schild 2010). Himalayan glaciers are the source of the great Asian rivers on which about 2 billion people depend for drinking water and irrigation for their crops.

In 2008, the UN General Assembly adopted the Resolution 62/196 on sustainable mountain development, which specifically emphasized on sustainable development of the mountain region regions by recognizing the global importance of mountains as the source of most of the Earth’s freshwater.

Of the total 50,000 glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region the Indian Himalayan region contains 9575 glaciers and feeds 19 river systems, which includes the major rivers like Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra. The glaciers in the Indian Himalayan region are spread across above 1 million Sq. km of mountain area with a total of about 23 thousand Sq. km glacial area.

In the above context, though the present Water Policy discusses coastal the regions of India (covering 11 Indian states) and the impact of climate change, but, equal importance has not been given to the 12 Indian mountain states. We need to think about this in terms of mountain specific water resource planning and budgeting. Our mountains store water in the form of snow, glaciers, permafrost, wetlands, and rivers, and they supply watersheds by providing ground water recharge. The communities who live in mountain areas benefit from these services, but the main beneficiaries of this huge water storage capacity are the multitudes who live in the vast basin areas downstream.

A recent Task Force Report of the Planning Commission of India (in 2010) on the hill states specifically emphasized that the mountains have profound effect on the climate of the Indian subcontinent and Tibetan plateau. It states that the water resource in the Indian Himalayan region are under threat due to diminishing discharge of springs and lowering water table, high silt load, water pollution and reduced water flow from big hydropower projects.

Following are the specific recommendations of the Task force in the context of mountain water:

1. In the Indian hill regions there should be provisions for water recharge zones and spring sanctuaries, rainwater harvesting and community owned network of small hydropower generation.
2. The ground water potential of different states of the Indian Himalayan region should be considered while planning for water security of the region.
3. There is a need for workable and community supported solutions to the discharge of polluted water for human habitation and agro-horticulture and industrial operations.

The Hindu Kush Himalayan mountains are a major source of stored water in the region. Water is retained in the form of ices and snow in the high mountains, as well as being stored in natural lakes, wetlands, and ground water aquifers, and behind constructed dams.  It is evident that the temperature and precipitation in the form of rainfall and snow largely determine the hydrological cycle, including runoff. The changes in these factors will thus impact freshwater supplies from mountain areas and have implications for water availability in the lowlands.

The High altitude wetlands are important ecosystems in the Himalayan region (form 16% of total area of HKH) and the ground water aquifers are important for water storage.

Given that the Water Policy 2012 contains all the possible elements of water resource planning, implementation and management, but in my view it should adopt a more pragmatic approach in putting and defining them. Following suggestions should be considered by the policy making team in context to mountain regions specifically, and in general:

1. Water storage based on local practices, should be encouraged.
2. It should have solutions that consider shorter and erratic rainfall, to store massive quantities of water for dry spells.
3. There is a need to understand the potential of water storage for climate change adaptation in mountain regions, and, therefore, it is necessary to look at the natural storage systems in the cryosphere and biosphere, as well as examining constructed systems (The natural systems in the cryosphere include snow, ices and glacial lakes, while the natural systems in the biosphere include soil, moisture, ground water aquifers and natural water bodies and wetlands. The constructed systems include artificial ponds and tanks, as well as small and large reservoirs.)
4. The Policy should look in the existing National Action Plan for Climate Change that emphasizes water resources in terms of adaptation and mitigation measures.
5. While the Policy talks about the ‘low public consciousness’ on water security and its economic value, we need to incorporate the specific provisions of larger and comprehensive IEC (information, education, communication) campaigning through all possible means to save water and I would say that the proposed authorities should take stock from the national campaign – the Polio Eradication programme.
6. While we covered the human, social and economic needs of water in planning, development and management, equal emphasis has not been given to the ecological need, and payment for ecological services (PES).
7. Provisions to fulfill the data gap in the Indian Himalayan region in the context of complete data set on temperature and rainfall pattern will help in future planning.
8. We can’t afford to have the private sector taking charge of water in the states due various reasons and this issue should be dealt with cautiously through a separate debate, considering the environmental and ecosystem issues.
9. In water pricing I see that provisions have been made selectively on volumetric basis, if this is the case then we must think that the water used by big hydropower projects, due to which many ecosystems in the river basins get affected should be charged for holding huge amount of water for the electricity generation. We should think in terms of natural and man-made storage systems, so for obvious reasons when we are using a definite volume of water for productive purposes or business like industrial operations, hydro-power generation or tourism, etc. the cost of using that water should be borne by that business on a volumetric basis.
10. Special emphasis should be given to research areas like GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods), and high altitude wetlands.
11. Given that in practice different aspects of water use in India fall within the purview of several ministries, line departments and institutions, at both the central and state levels a cautious and practical approach needs to be adopted by applying the IWRM principles for water development and management.

Photo Credit: Mr. Dinesh Mahtolia, Nainital, Uttarakhand (India)

AUTHOR: K. N. Vajpai
URL: http://vajpai.org and http://chimalaya.org
E-MAIL: knvajpai [at] climatehimalaya.net