We now live in a world where temperatures are rising, natural resources are being depleted, and species loss is accelerating. Agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to Green House Gas (GHG) emissions; yet it is greatly affected by climate change. Sustainable agriculture is the way to go if we are to mitigate the effects of climate change. According to Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, "Sustainable Agriculture is a productive, competitive and efficient way to produce agricultural products, while at the same time protecting and improving the natural environment and social / economic conditions of local communities."

Rainforest Alliance (RA) certification is one of the certifications that promote sustainable agriculture practices. The RA works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour. I had a chance to be involved with Rainforest Alliance certification while working with a tea growing and export company in Uganda as a Standards Coordinator. We decided to pursue RA certification to improve overall sustainability in the tea estates having been alarmed by a recent report released by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture entitled "Future Climate Scenarios for Ugandas Tea Growing Areas" which revealed that climatic suitability of much of Ugandas tea-growing areas would decline significantly by 2050 due to climate change.

Rainforest Alliance certification hinges on the Sustainable Agriculture Network Standard represented by the following ten principles:

1. Management System
2. Ecosystem Conservation
3. Wildlife Protection
4. Water Conservation
5. Working Conditions for Workers
6. Occupational Health and Safety
7. Community Relations
8. Integrated Crop Management
9. Soil Conservation
10. Integrated Waste Management

A patch of forest adjacent to a tea estate

Patches of natural forests (bio-corridors) are maintained within the tea estates. This helps in crop care as forests are sources of natural predators, and helps in maintaining soil health and preventing erosion. It is also one way of conserving biodiversity and for this matter there are numerous fauna and flora on the tea estates.

With an internal control system as part of management system, documentation helps in the prediction of long-term tea production patterns. International tea buyers are also showing a preference for RA-certified teas, one of them being Lipton (a Unilever brand), which is committed to sourcing all of their tea from Rainforest Alliance certified estates by 2015.

With RA certification, the company is playing its part in making sure consumers of their tea worldwide enjoy a cup of tea without compromising the needs of future generations. 

Sustainability -- like so many things in life -- is a journey, not a destination and every company should be in it for the long haul.

In 1939 Walter Lowdermilk, one of the pioneers of resource conservation said:

"Thou shalt inherit the holy earth as a faithful steward, conserving its resources and productivity from generation to generation.

Thou shalt safeguard thy fields from soil erosion, thy living waters from drying up, thy forests from desolation and protect hills from overgrazing by the herds, that thy descendants may have abundance forever.

If any shall fail in this stewardship of the land, thy fruitful fields shall become sterile stony ground of wasting gullies, and thy descendants shall decrease and live in poverty or perish from off the face of the earth."  

You can contact Denis Twinamatsiko at denistwina@gmail.com

 

Denis Twinamatsiko

The Nigerian Medical Students Association (NiMSA) is the umbrella body of all Medical Students (over 60,000) in the thirty-eight Colleges of Medicine across all the states of the Federation and the FCT. NiMSA is also affiliated to the Federation of African Medical Students (FAMSA) and the International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA). The parent body of NiMSA is the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).

The Standing Committee on Environment and Population Activities (SCOEPA) is the arm of the NiMSA saddled with the arduous task of following the Environmental trend as well as the Population of the Nation.

A two day international Summit on environment with Theme Climate Change; A global menace that can be halted locally, comes up between 6th 7th of September, 2012 in University of Abuja Teaching hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja. This will gather international participants and over 500 hundred medical students across the member medical schools in the nation.

This will go a long way to:

1. Enlighten the populace on ways and means of population control.
2. Train peer educators and activists.
3. Advocate to both the Government and Policy Makers on the need to institute and implement good environmental friendly policies.
4. Work with the media in ensuring every issue on environmental and population abuse is well covered and properly addressed.

 

Contact:

ETUK, ENO-ABASI ETIM

SECRETARY, STANDING COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND POPULATION ACTIVITIES,

NIGERIAN MEDICAL STUDENTS ASSOCIATION.

TEL: 08037794575

Email: scoepa.ng@gmail.com

Our colleagues from Building Energy, one of our partners for Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day, arrived in Washington this week, ready to build the first-ever solar field on the National Mall, the power source of our Alcantara Magic Garden-Connect4Climate Pavilion. Thats right. Instead of using fossil fuels to light the overhead lights and electrify our computers, this Earth Day attraction will be powered by the sun.

The 3,000 square feet solar fieldthats about as big as a basketball courtlies right by the Washington Monument, a wonderful juxtaposition of symbols that remind us both of history and the future.

The National Mall isnt the only place where Building Energy is constructing solar fields. In fact, this visionary independent power producer headquartered in Milan, Cape Town and Washington DC has a fantastic story. Theyve made their mark by expanding into international markets where renewable energy sources off the greatest potential.

In five short years, Building Energy has developed 230 photovoltaic plants around the world, in places such as Dubai, Panama, and Belgrade. Their office in Cape Town, South Africa, is particularly busy; theyve secured projects in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, and Lesotho. Theyve also constructed 30 projects in South Africa, including one in Kathu in the Northern Cape, which is now the biggest solar park on the continent. A subsidiary of Building Energy will also be constructing the first, and largest, biomass plant in Africa in Kwala Zulu Province that will be fueled by the combustion of sugar cane tops!

Building Energy’s solar panels are set to power the Alcantara Magic Garden-Connect4Climate pavilion on the National Mall. Come join us April 17 – 19! Photo by Leigh Vogel/Connect4Climate

With their visionary plans and intuition, Building Energy is an ideal partner for us at Connect4Climate. We can only imagine how productive our relationship will be in the future.

Find our more of what we are doing as we #TakeOn climate change.

[video:https://vimeo.com/106893756]

 

Connect4Climate joined the People's Climate March with Rachel Kyte, former Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change at the World Bank Group.

Days before world leaders gathered at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York, the People’s Climate March inspired more than half a million people to participate in public demonstrations. “Action, Not Words,” was the core message of marches and solidarity events worldwide, calling for leaders to take ambitious and immediate action to mitigate climate change.

166 countries

2,808 solidarity events

630,000+ social media posts about the NYC march alone

600,000+ people marching

Connect4Climate is very excited to announce our new partnership with Whos Good: The Institute for Sustainable Development, an innovative, cutting-edge web platform to provide dynamic data on Environmental, Social, and Governmental (ESG) risks for companies.

Based in Korea and the United States, Who's Good allows corporations and companies to identify and manage the Environmental, Social, and Governance issues thus enabling them to monitor risk over time by identifying trends and create customized watch-lists and tailored alert services.

Who's Good believes that because businesses are key components of any society, corporate responsibility is fundamental. Environmental, social and governance issues have an impact on economies and financial markets. Thus, ESG factors must be incorporated into financial factors and the investment process of any company. By helping companies do this, they limit future risks by minimizing harm to people and planet.

We, at Connect4Climate, are thrilled to learn more about social responsibility practices for accountable companies. We welcome this innovative entrepreneur to our partnership team and look forward to joining forces to find ways to shift to a more sustainable future!  

We at Connect4Climate are very excited to announce our new partnership with Orange Fiber, an innovative and cutting-edge textile company based in Italy that makes sustainable fabric from fruit. Thats right. Fabric from fruit.

This companys concept for textiles is just plain genius: Take the "waste" from citrus transformation - what happens to the orange peels when producers make orange juice, anyway? - and turn it into sustainable textiles. Cellulose is extracted from the leftovers that would normally be discarded after pressing an orange, then treated with a special process using nanotechnology and essential oils, and applied to fabric. Wearing products made out of Orange Fiber is like wearing a vitamin cream; its nourishing for the skin - and the effects are guaranteed for twenty washes - for now. Orange Fiber creators are working on a way to refresh the textiles with softeners.

 

The idea is the brainchild of Sicilian Adriana Santanocito, who wrote about creating a vitamin-enriched textile from citrus waste in her university dissertation while she was studying fashion design at the Afol Institute in Milan. She shared her idea with Enrica Arena, a fellow Sicilian and communications postgrad, and they began Orange Fiber. In 2013, they patented the innovation in Italy and, in 2014, received their international patent. With help from investors, they opened for business and now have two headquarters one in Catania, on the east coast of Sicily, and one in Rovereto, in northern Italy.

Santanocito and Arena view Orange Fiber as a continuation of Italian tradition. "We want to transform citrus wastecurrently valuing 700,000 tons just in Italy - into a sustainable and vitamin - enriched textile that would represent a brand new opportunity for Italian tradition in high quality textiles and fashion", they write on their website. They are also using one of the most familiar products of their homeland of Sicily - oranges! Each year more than 25 percent of Italys oranges are not even harvested because the cost of collection exceeds the sale price.

Connect4Climate is thrilled to have such innovative, socially responsible entrepreneurs on our partnership team and we look forward to joining forces to help them with their effort towards creating a more sustainable fashion industry.

Oranges being used for Orange Fiber process. Photo by Orange Fiber

New York, NY--Straight from the mind of “The March of the Penguins” creator comes a project you should definitely investigate. Luc Jacquet, the director and writer behind the informative, jaw-dropping, and downright adorable Oscar-winning film about Antarctica’s most famous residents, has envisioned and created a way for students—and students-at-heart—to learn about climate change in a way he can best teach it—through gorgeous film shot around the world.

Jacquet has created a multimedia project through his nonprofit Wild-Touch NGO. Called Ice & the Sky, it offers something for people of all ages curious about how our planet’s temperatures are changing – videos, animated films, storyboard diagrams, and interviews with leading scientists.“We have to break the walls between science, entertainment, and education and bring them all together.” All elements on the website can be used as teaching material, or viewed solo. 

We hosted Oscar-winning director Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins) and his Wild-Touch team in our offices before the first screening in the United States of his latest film, Ice & the Sky. We're exploring ways to work together to tackle climate change.

Jacquet’s latest film, “Ice & the Sky,” focuses on French glaciologist Claude Lorius, who began researching in Antarctica in 1957 when he as 23. After 32 expeditions to frozen continent, the 82-year-old now looks back at his work—told through amazing archival footage—particularly at his breakthrough discovery of measuring carbon bubbles in ice, which reveal temperatures when they were formed. A collection of ice cores allowed the researchers to see the changes in temperatures throughout the ice ages and warmer periods, demonstrating that in the last 100 years, mankind’s role in releasing greenhouse gases has significantly altered the planet’s climate. Lorius was one of the first scientists to talk about global warming. “Ice & the Sky” closed the renowned Cannes film festival this year, and received a standing ovation nearly 10 minutes long.

Connect4 Climate was lucky enough to attend the first U.S. screening, held on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Jacquet spoke after the film, emphasizing his quest to help the younger generation understand what is happening and help them find solutions: “My duty is to do something for the planet. If everyone does something within their own professions we can move quickly.” Jacquet says his contribution to the climate movement is through the storytelling mechanism he knows best—film.

We will be sharing more details of Jacquet's exciting efforts soon. Stay tuned!

Such a simple action, one night out that changed my life forever. As a University of Maryland (UMD) student this past spring, I attended the Connect4Climate Right Here, Right Now event at The World Bank in Washington, DC, to celebrate and recognize artists around the world who had participated in a competition to link conversations about global climate change to the local actions of our daily lives. I had no idea at the time what an impact this would have on me. 

Our professor, Dr. Leszek Sibilski, had explained that along with the excellent opportunity of attending this event, a couple of students from another class were working on a video assignment and needed a little extra help. So a few of UMD students came together and had an excellent evening producing video clips and listening to The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Sustainable Development Network Vice President Rachel Kyte, External Affairs Vice President Cyril Muller, Africa Vice President Makhtar Diop, the Global Environment Facilitys CEO and Chairperson Naoko Ishii, and the Italian Minister of the Environment Corrado Clini speak and celebrate youth engagement in creative climate action. Good music, good food and a tour of the World Bank Headquarters left us curious, concerned and inspired to do more. Later I found out that The World Bank, the Italian Ministry of Environment, and the Global Environment Facility in collaboration sponsored that event with more than 150 partners.

Students of the University of Maryland Contemporary Social Problems Class working on iChange competition videos with Professor Leszek Sibilski.
Source: connect4climate.org

Our friends at Education Africa, Model UN South Africa and UNIC Pretoria put together this primer on the origins of the climate change debate ahead of the Model UN debates kicking off October 21st through 24th. This is a helpful resource for those of you engaging with us during AVCC week (October 24-31). While this primer doesn't address all the details of all the climate change agreements since 1992, it does provide a little bit of insight into where this conversation began and just how far the parties are on getting to an agreement on this very complex issue of climate change.

During AVCC week, we would like to hear what regular Africans (and policy-makers if possible) have to say about climate change and their local community and country. For Africa to develop, it will require massive amounts of energy. How developing regions access and generate that energy is a major component of this debate. How is Africa expected to develop without access to energy? What are some ways in which the continent can develop clean energy systems in enough capacity to address growing populations and an emerging middle class that is consuming resources at an alarming rate. Does the consumer bear a certain responsibility in changing their consumption habits? If so, how?

As you can tell, there are many angles to this debate. And that is why AVCC matters. Take part, and engage in the debate. What is your climate change story? What are some solutions? More importantly, share with us what YOU as an individual are doing to address the problem. Stories matter, and they begin with yours.

On today's topic of how climate change affects health, lets start where we left off yesterday, with the role of women in rural communities. How climate change impacts health varies by landscape, location, and how the environment is used or misused by the people in that particular community. I wanted to reference the role of women in rural communities because of how they use the environment to provide for their families. 

As discussed yesterday, women on the continent play a central role in domestic activities in the home, which include cooking and taking care of children. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that acute respiratory failure from breathing indoor cooking smoke from charcoal and firewood is the number one killer of children under the age of 5, as referenced in the above video from Amy Smith. In adults, respiratory problems can manifest themselves as lung disease or bronchial asthma.

The linkages between the various categories become clearer and clearer. In this instance, there is a direct correlation between degradation of forests for energy, and the impact on respiratory health. The World Health Organization recently put a number to the premature deaths related to cooking fires causing compromised respiratory systems:

Although the danger has received scant public attention, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than two million premature deaths annually are caused by exposure to smoke from traditional cookstoves and open fires, with women and children the most afflicted. That makes it one of the top five overall health risks in poor, developing countries, and the cause of twice as many deaths as malaria. 

The toxic emissions are blamed for low birth weights, pneumonia in young children, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, cataracts and other health problems in adults. Half of all deaths among children under age five from acute lower respiratory infections are due to indoor air pollution from household solid fuels, according to WHO.

Another phenomenon of climate change impacting health is the prevalence of mosquitoes in areas where they didn't usually survive. As average global temperatures rise, mosquitoes are able to survive at altitudes where they previously didnt have a presence.

Nina Chestney wrote recently for Reuters, "As mosquito species spread due to climate change, the transmission rate of diseases like malaria will increase, engulfing countries like Zimbabwe from 2025 to 2050".

Malaria is the most prevalent vector born disease that currently doesn't have an effective vaccine and is single-handedly responsible for reducing Africa's populations by 1 million each year. Malaria statistics from our partner organization, UNICEF paints a pretty grim future if solutions to mitigate climate changes threat to global health:

Malaria kills a child somewhere in the world every 30 seconds. It infects 350-500 million people each year, killing 1 million, mostly children in Africa. Ninety per cent of malaria deaths occur in Africa, where malaria accounts for about one in five of all childhood deaths. The disease also contributes greatly to anaemia among children - a major cause of poor growth and development.

While rainy season signals an increase in malaria infections, flooding from too much rain is also another threat to global health. Unpredictable flash floods serve as a vector for spreading waterborne diseases.

The Natural Resources Defense Council lists some of the waterborne ailments flood-stricken communities have to contend with:

Exposure to pathogens from sewage and unclean water can sicken vulnerable communities with illnesses like cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, and norovirus (which cause diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, headache, and fever).

Human activities, like hillside deforestation, compound the effects of floods. This once again points a finger at human activity as one of the main factors worsening disasters related to climate change. Perhaps we need to consider that if we are the architects of our own demise, it is because we are not making the linkages between our actions and the natural disasters that befall us.

What do you think? What needs to be done in order for us, stewards of the environment, to actively work towards mitigating climate change? If climate change affects all of us through a fabric of human connectivity, how can we build stronger, smarter threads that form a better picture for our global health?