UN Report Warns Ecological Foundations that Support Food Security, Including Biodiversity, Are Being Undermined

 
Launched on World Food Day

UN Report Warns Ecological Foundations that Support Food Security, Including Biodiversity, Are Being Undermined

Damage to Ecological Basis Can Be Halted Through Sustainable Measures in Context of Green Economy

Nairobi/Hyderabad, 16 October 2012 – Nairobi/Hyderabad, 15 October 2012 – The aim of achieving food security across the globe will become increasingly elusive unless countries factor the planet's nature-based services into agricultural and related planning, a report released today from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says.

Safeguarding the underlying ecological foundations that support food production, including biodiversity will be central if the world is to feed seven billion inhabitants, climbing to over nine billion by 2050 argues the study Avoiding Future Famines: Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Food Security through Sustainable Food System.

Inefficiencies along the food delivery chain further complicate the challenge, and the report highlights that an estimated one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, amounting to 1.3 billion tonnes per year.

The debate on food security so far has largely revolved around availability, access, utilization and stability as the four pillars of food security, barely touching on the resource base and ecosystem services that prop up the whole food system.

The report aims to increase the focus on these crucial aspects, which are being undermined by overfishing, unsustainable water use, environmentally degrading agricultural practices and other human activities. It also frames the debate in the context of the green economy, calling for food production and consumption practices that ensure productivity without undermining ecosystem services.

“The environment has been more of an afterthought in the debate about food security,” said UNEP Chief Scientist Joseph Alcamo. “This is the first time that the scientific community has given us a complete picture of how the ecological basis of the food system is not only shaky but being really undermined.”

While pointing out the current challenges, the report also offers a clear way forward to shore up the ecological foundations and improve food security. It issues recommendations on the redesign of sustainable agriculture systems, dietary changes and storage systems and new food standards to reduce waste.

“The era of seemingly ever-lasting production based upon maximizing inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, mining supplies of freshwater and fertile arable land and advancements linked to mechanization are hitting their limits, if indeed they have not already hit them,” said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. “The world needs a green revolution but with a capital G: one that better understands how food is actually grown and produced in terms of the nature-based inputs provided by forests, freshwaters and biodiversity.”

The report, produced in collaboration with other international organizations including the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), took a holistic approach to analyzing the food system. Twelve scientists and experts authored the report, covering many different areas of expertise including food consumption patterns, agricultural production, marine fisheries and inland fisheries. They found that while agriculture provides 90 per cent of the world's total caloric intake, and world fisheries provide the other 10 per cent, these life-supporting industries face many threats, all of which are exacerbated by underlying driving forces such as population growth, income growth and changing lifestyles/diets linked to urbanization.  
The report identified the following specific threats to these systems:
Agriculture
·        Competition for water. Some experts believe that future food demands need to be met by additional irrigated land, but there is already strong competition from rapidly growing domestic and industrial water withdrawals.
·        Conventional agricultural practices have a variety of ecosystem impacts, such as a reduction of on-farm biodiversity and attendant increase in pests and disease, soil loss, eutrophication and contamination of ground water.
·        Traditional agricultural practices, if practiced inappropriately, can lead to severe land degradation.
·        Climate change and its impacts will compound the preceding threats to agriculture by shifting crop-growing zones and bringing an eventual decrease in crop productivity.

Marine Fisheries

·        Overfishing is the foremost force in undermining the ecological basis of fisheries. The FAO estimated that as of 2008, 53 per cent of global marine stocks are fully exploited, 15 per cent are either underexploited (3 per cent) or moderately exploited (12 per cent), while 32 per cent are either overexploited (28 per cent), depleted (3 per cent) or are recovering from depletion (1 per cent).
·        Loss of coastal habitat such as coral reefs and mangrove forests. At least 35 per cent of mangrove forests and 40 per cent of coral reefs have been destroyed or degraded over the last decades.
·        Bottom trawling, dredging and destructive fishing practices such as the use of dynamite and cyanide, which lead to habitat loss or modification.
·        Degradation of coastal water quality. Nutrient runoff causes coastal eutrophication, zones of severely reduced dissolved oxygen and depleted aquatic life. Over four hundred dead zones have been identified in coastal areas.
·        Climate change will lead to warmer water and a more acidified ocean, with many impacts on marine fisheries. The IPCC projects a global loss of 18 per cent of the world's coral reefs in the next three decades, shrinking a crucial fish habitat.

Inland Fisheries

·        Infrastructure developments such as dam construction in river catchments are destroying or modifying inland fishery habitats. More than 50 per cent of the world’s large rivers have been fragmented by dams on their main channel and 59 per cent on their tributaries.
·        Land-use change and removal of vegetation cover leads to increased runoff, erosion and sediment pollution of water. Human activities have increased sediment flow into rivers by about 20 per cent worldwide.
·        Agricultural expansion disrupts connectivity between floodplains and rivers – floodplains provide some of the most productive habitat for inland fisheries.
·        Agricultural runoff and domestic and industrial wastewater discharges are degrading the quality of many inland waters. Wastewater loadings to inland waters in Africa may increase by a factor of four to eight between the 1990s and 2050.



Biodiversity

The variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels are necessary to sustain key functions of the ecosystem. For example, a diverse range of soil organisms interact with the roots of plants and trees and ensures nutrient cycling.  

Many food production activities negatively impact on this supporting biodiversity, such as:

·        Fertilizer run-off, which causes eutrophication, poses a threat to the diverse life of lakes and coastal areas.
·        Excessive tillage – tilling to greater depths and more frequent cultivations – has an increased negative impact on all soil organisms, in particular organisms living in surface areas, such as earthworms.
·        Deforestation and pesticide contamination of lands adjacent to farmland degrade "off-farm biodiversity", impacting pollinators and natural pest control of crops.
·        Overfishing may result in the removal of important components of the ecosystem, such as algal-feeding fish in coral reef systems, with a consequence of altered biodiversity and ecological states that may be impossible to restore.
·        Aquaculture activities are also a source of pollution and biodiversity concerns as they may lead to the introduction of pathogens, strains and/or species that can alter marine habitats and diversity.
·        The destructive fishing methods mentioned above can disrupt marine ecosystems, and it may take hundreds of years for vulnerable habitats such as cold water corals and seamounts to recover from such practices.

While the problems are many and varied, the report issues a raft of recommendations that can shore up the ecological foundations and create the conditions for sustainable food production.

“The solutions are to be found along the whole food value chain - from the farms that need to grow food more sustainability, through the large companies that need to ensure that their products are from sustainable fisheries and farms, up to the consumer who needs to think seriously about switching to a sustainable diet and reduce food wastage,” said Prof. Alcamo.
“Of course, we have to deal first and foremost with all the socio-economic issues having to do with food security - questions of access and affordability of food, and so on,” he added. “But ultimately we won't have enough food to distribute unless we find out a way to produce it sustainably without destroying its ecological foundation.”

Recommendations
Among the key recommendations for ushering in more sustainable agriculture and fisheries are the following:
·        Build centralized storage and cooling facilities for small-scale farmers to help get their produce to market faster, thus avoiding food loss.
·        Promote sustainable diets so as to avoid unhealthy eating habits and the associated health effects, and reduce impact on natural resources. In particular, lower consumption of meat and dairy products in developed countries should be promoted.
·        Re-consider food quality standards that lead to unnecessary wastage.
·        Design sustainable agriculture, not only on individual farms, but scaling up to the landscape and national level. Examples include improving soil management, making agricultural water use more efficient and promoting integrated nutrient management.
·        Sustainable agriculture can be scaled up by supporting farmers, extending land tenure rights to farmers to encourage stewardship and rewarding farmers and farming communities for ecosystem stewardship.
·        Economic strategies consistent with green economy thinking are also fundamental to scaling up sustainable agriculture, such as:
o        Eliminating subsidies that contribute to overfishing (the global fishery sector receives up to US$25-30 billion) and habitat destruction, and redirecting funds into investment for sustainable fishery management and capacity building.
o        Providing incentives for sustainable fisheries such as beneficial subsidies for conversion of fishing gears to less-damaging alternatives.
o        Introducing fiscal measures such as taxation and levies on harvest volume and increased fines on illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing.
o        Draw small shareholders into the global food economy and make them part of the system of sustainable practices in agriculture and fisheries.
·        Where technically feasible, maximum sustained yields" of marine fisheries should be calculated and adhered to with enforcement arrangements and economic incentives. In poorer countries and for small-scale marine fisheries, a "co-management" approach can work in which fishers might agree to fish size or species limitations, seasonal closures of fisheries.
·        Establish networks of Aquatic Protected Areas.
·        Protect marine fisheries by reducing land-based pollution sources that lead to "dead zones" in coastal areas.
In summary, the scientists pointed out that to neglect the ecological aspects of food security would hamper efforts in its other four pillars. While we can’t avoid famine simply by making the food system environmentally friendly, neither can we go on producing food by wearing away its ecological foundation. In the end we’ll find – no foundation, no food, says UNEP Chief Scientist.
Additional information
The full report can be downloaded here: http://www.unep.org/publications/ebooks/avoidingfamines/
For media enquiries, please contact:
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Division of Communication and Public Information Acting Director and Spokesperson, +254 733 632 755, nick.nuttall@unep.org
Shereen Zorba, Head, UNEP News Desk, +254 788 526 000, unepnewsdesk@unep.org


When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa

An Estimated 50 Per Cent of Wetlands Lost During the 20th Century Report Reveals

   


Vital Economic and Environmental Role of Wetlands Must Be Recognized to Avoid Further Degradation and Losses

An Estimated 50 Per Cent of Wetlands Lost During the 20^th Century

Hyderabad (India), 16 October 2012 – The key role that rapidly diminishing wetlands play in supporting human life and biodiversity needs to be recognized and integrated into decision-making as a vital component of the transition to a resource-efficient, sustainable world economy, according to a new TEEB report released today.

Water security is widely regarded as one the key natural resource challenges currently facing the world. Human drivers of ecosystem change, including destructive extractive industries, unsustainable agriculture and poorly managed urban expansion, are posing a threat to global freshwater biodiversity and water security for 80 per cent of the world’s population.

Global and local water cycles are strongly dependent on healthy and productive wetlands, which provide clean drinking water, irrigation for agriculture, and flood regulation, as well as supporting biodiversity and propping up industries such as fisheries and tourism in many locations.

Yet, despite the high value of these ecosystem services, wetlands continue to be degraded or lost at an alarming pace, according to The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) for Water and Wetlands report, released for consultation today at the 11^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention for Biological Diversity.

Half of the world’s wetlands were lost during the twentieth century – due mainly to factors such as intensive agricultural production, unsustainable water extraction for domestic and industrial use, urbanization, infrastructure development and pollution. The continuing degradation of wetlands is resulting in significant economic burdens on communities, countries and businesses.

The report also highlights that the restoration of wetlands and their water-related services, also offers significant opportunities to address sustainable and cost-effective solutions to water management problems.

“Policies and decisions often do not take into account the many services that wetlands provide – thus leading to the rapid degradation and loss of wetlands globally,” said UN Under-Secretary General and UN Environment Programme Executive Director Achim Steiner.

“There is an urgent need to put wetlands and water-related ecosystem services at the heart of water management in order to meet the social, economic and environmental needs of a global population predicted to reach 9 billion by 2050,” he added.

The report – initiated by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands with financial support from the Norwegian, Swiss and Finnish Governments and developed by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), together with the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Wetlands International, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – lays out a raft of recommendations that would slow and ultimately halt the degradation of wetlands.

Taking account of the value of water and wetlands in public policy and private decisions; fully integrating the management of wetlands and securing their wise use in water management; and prioritizing the further loss and conversion of wetlands through strategic environmental assessments are among the many steps that must be taken, according to the report.

“In 2008 the world’s governments at the Ramsar Convention’s 10^th Conference of Parties stressed that for water management carrying on ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option”, said the Ramsar Convention’s Deputy Secretary General, Nick Davidson.

 “This report tells us bluntly just how much more important than generally realized are our coastal and inland wetlands: for the huge value of the benefits they provide to everyone, particularly in continuing to deliver natural solutions for water - in the right quantity and quality, where and when we need it. If we continue to undervalue wetlands in our decisions for economic growth, we do at our increasing peril for people’s livelihoods and the world’s economies,” he added.

Rapid Wetland Loss

Inland wetlands cover at least 9.5 million km² (about 6.5 per cent of the Earth’s land surface), while inland and coastal wetlands together cover a minimum of 12.8 million km².

Between 1900 and 2003, the world lost an estimated 50 per cent of its wetlands, while recent coastal wetland loss in some places, notably East Asia, has been up to 1.6 per cent a year. This has led to situations such as the 20 per cent loss of mangrove forest coverage since 1980.

The main pressures on wetlands come from:

·        Habitat loss, for example through wetland drainage for agriculture or infrastructure developments, driven by population growth and urbanization;
·        Over-exploitation, for example the unsustainable harvesting of fish;
·        Excessive water withdrawals for use in, for example, irrigated agriculture;
·        Nutrient loading from fertilizer use and urban waste water, which can lead to eutrophication – the excessive growth of algae that deprives other species of enough oxygen and can create dead zones;
·        Climate change, which can alter ecosystem conditions through rising temperatures;
·        Pollution, remarkably through extractive industries, invasive species and siltation.

Such pressures threaten wetlands’ natural infrastructure, which delivers a wider range of services and benefits than corresponding man-made infrastructure at a lower cost.

The Benefits of Wetlands

Water

Wetlands are a key factor in the global water cycle and in regulating local water availability and quality. They contribute to water purification, denitrification and detoxification, as well as to nutrient cycling, sediment transfer, and nutrient retention and exports. Wetlands can also provide waste water treatment and protection against coastal and river flooding.

For example, The Catskill / Delaware watershed provides about 90 per cent of the water used by New York City citizens. In 1997, a study showed that building a new water treatment plant would cost between US$6 and US$8 billion, whereas ensuring good water quality through measures to reduce pollution in the watershed would only cost US$1.5 billion. This study led to programmes to promote the sustainability of the watershed.

Food Security

Wetlands play a key role in the provision of food, and habitats and nurseries for fisheries. One example is the Amu Darya delta in Uzbekistan where Intensification and expansion of irrigation activities left only 10 per cent of the original wetlands. Yet a pilot restoration project initiated in the delta – with the support of community, government and donors – led to increased incomes, more cattle, more hay production for use and sale, and an increase in fish consumption of 15 kilogrammes per week per family.

Job Security

Wetlands can be important tourism and recreation sites and support local employment. For example In the Ibera Marshes in Argentina, conservation-based tourism activities have revived the economy of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, near the Ramsar Site “Lagunas y Esteros del Iberá”, creating new jobs and allowing local inhabitants stay employed in the town rather than migrate to cities to look for work. Around 90 per cent of the population now works in the tourism sector. In order to favour local employment, the site managers provide local rangers and guides with training on working with guiding tourists. In addition, local communities receive support to establish municipal nature trails.

Biodiversity

Wetlands are some of the most important biologically diverse areas in the world and provide essential habitats for many species. Coral reefs, peatlands, freshwater lakes, waterbirds, amphibians and wetland-dependent mammals such as hippopotamus, manatees and river dolphins are among those examples of biodiversity covered by the global Ramsar Convention network of “Wetlands of International Importance”, which comprises over 2,000 sites covering over 1.9 million km.

Examples of major wetlands in the Ramsar network include: the Danube Delta in Romania and the Ukraine; the Pantanal wetlands across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay; and Lake Chad across Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

Climate change

Wetlands provide climate regulation, climate mitigation and adaptation, and carbon storage – for example in peatlands, mangroves and tidal marshes.

Peatlands cover 3 per cent of the world’s land surface, about 400 million hectares (4 million km2), of which 50 million hectares are being drained and degraded, producing the equivalent of 6 per cent of all global Carbon Dioxide emissions. While vegetative wetlands occupy only 2 per cent of seabed area, they represent 50 per cent of carbon transfer from oceans to sediments, often referred to as ‘Coastal Blue Carbon’.

Recommendations

At the global level there is a need to ensure that the role and value of water and wetlands are integrated into implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, the Ramsar Strategic Plan 2009-2015, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Millennium Development Goals, among other international agreements.

The report also issued specific practical recommendations for actors at all levels, some of which are detailed below.

National and international policy makers should:

·        Integrate the values of water and wetlands into decision making – for policies, regulation and land-use planning, incentives and investment, and enforcement;
·        Regulate to protect wetlands from pressures that do not lead to improvements in public goods and overall societal benefits;
·        Regulate to ensure that wetland ecosystem services options and benefits are fully considered as solutions to land- and water-use management objectives and development;
·        Commit to and develop improved measurement and address knowledge gaps – using biodiversity and ecosystem services indicators and environmental accounts.

Local and regional policy-makers should:

·        Assess the interactions between wetland ecosystems, communities, man-made infrastructure and the economy, and integrate this knowledge into river basin and coastal management;
·        Ensure participation of communities, including indigenous peoples, and ensure that traditional knowledge is duly integrated into management solutions.

Researchers should:

·        Systematically contribute to filling the gaps in knowledge on the values of water and wetlands, on improved governance solutions, and on measures and tools to support the development of environmental accounts;

The development cooperation community should:

·        Integrate the appreciation of the multiple values of wetlands and potential cost savings to meet the objectives of development cooperation.

Businesses should:

·        Assess the dependency of their businesses on water- and wetlands-related ecosystem services from the short to long term;
·        Assess the risks to operation inputs, eventual liabilities, risk to reputation, and license to operate from both resource availability and impacts, including pollution pressures.


About TEEB

The UNEP-hosted Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) is a major international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward.  TEEB is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

About the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

The Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) – called the "Ramsar Convention" – is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the "wise use", or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories.

Notes to Editors:

The executive summary of the report can be downloaded at: www.teebweb.org
 
The full report is available at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/cop/cop-11/information/cop-11-inf-22-en.pdf.

Media Contacts:

Bryan Coll, UNEP Newsdesk (in Hyderabad) on Tel. +254731666214 or E-mail: bryan.coll@unep.org / unepnewsdesk@unep.org

Anita Beck, TEEB Communications Officer (Geneva) on Tel. +41 22 917 8763, E-mail: anita.beck@unep.org

Oana Barsin, Ramsar Secretariat Communications Officer (Switzerland) on Tel. +41 22 999 0170, E-mail: barsin@ramsar.org





When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa

Christianity, Mushroom Churches and Struggle of Prosperity Gospel

 By HRH Fon Benchep Nfor Adamu (King of Binka Village in Donga Mantung Div.)

It had never occurred to me to address all Christians of the world, but here I am obliged to do so. The many different names, equally given to different groups of Christians worshiping God together, either in large buildings, small or lofty opened air theaters, called churches equally practice differently from each others. I have observed that in a small locality of not more than 100 people, there are not less than three to five different denominations worshipping the same God. The names vary as well for example: The Church of God, Full Gospel Church, Baptist Church, Presbyterian Church, The Mountain of Fire, The True Church of Christ, Christian Assembly of God, Synagogue House of Prayers, etc etc……. As the names differ so too are the symbols that differentiate them from others. In other words I have often heard people describing some of these churches that do not have a congregation of more than ten people as mushroom churches. Whether it is an aberration or a fact, the number of churches in Cameroon is becoming a cause for concern. Creating a church seems to be easier than setting up an educational institution. Ironically, youths of the ages below 25 years have been able to set up churches and may be God’s name is the easiest to riches. We have seen and heard of families that have created their own churches, prayers groups transformed to churches, churches divided amongst themselves, and the numerous anointed men of God who preach prosperity gospel. It is a mad, yes indeed; the mad rush for prosperity gospel the world over seems to portray a different notion of Christianity. As if to say when God came with the anointing powers, some people were asleep and those who were fortunate to be awake grasped the perspective. In this world where we all belong, the Bible, the Church and the words of God are the food that the soul needs and if the body is overdosed, it could easily lead to constipation and overfeeding.

My worry is why are they many denominations with different practices from others whereas they all serve the same God? And besides, I have also observed that each of the Christian denomination always claim to be more superior to the other thus looking to others as the underdogs. And when one of the groupings invites others for ceremonies, there is always reject in many cases. To me, such behaviors make them to fail short of the light of God. Within the month of September 2012, many exotic phenomena took place in different parts of the world. We saw the world’s water causing havoc and ravaging lives like during the time of Noah in the Bible. And in all these happenings, the church was always there to comfort victims with prayers. Yet, the world has remained black and dark in face of all these prayers. I do not know whether the great prophets of our time don’t pay enough attention to the words of God or it is the church that is. John 17:20- 23 teach us that and I quote: “I do not pray for this only, but also for those who believe in me through their words……… That they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also maybe one in us, so that the world my believe that thou hast sent me……….. The glory which thou hast given me I give to them, and that they maybe one even as we are……….. I in them, and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me”

To me, the above quotes, I have just discovered that the faculty in our brain-lobes lucidly examines the lack of unanimous practice amongst the Christians churches the world over. The numerous churches today, as per my observation have made a lot of changes in the Holy Bible as they have translated, modified, added, subtracted and published by different groups of Bible “reformers” of nowadays. All this has one goal, to suit their preaching in accordance with their practices. The alteration in certain words, phrases, statements and languages misrepresents the order and the original meaning of certain portions of the Bible. For instance in the Holy Bible, Psalms 133:3 the original Greek translation was reads as follows: “ for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, world without end”. For you to understand where I am driving to, the new edition of the same Psalms 133:3 now reads “for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life for evermore”.  Empirical analyses have demonstrated that the translated versions of the Bible today have all lost their original etymologies. For instance the New and Old Testament RVS by WM Collins Son and Co Ltd. The Bible Society, The Good News Bible, Today’s Good News Bible, American Bible Society New York etc. in others, the statements in them remains docile and yet the Christian practice the reverse. For instance, 1 Corinthians 14:34 reads: “ The woman should keep silence in the churches, for they are more permitted to speak, but should be subordinate as even the law says”. (See verses 35-36)

In a practical perspective, today we hear of some astronauts who went to the moon and returned back to earth that while on the planet moon, they saw the earth very black whereas other two places were bright and shinning. According to Sunita Williams, through her telescope she discovered that the only two bright places on planet earth are Mecca and Medina (the Holy Ground of Islam). It therefore implies that the religious debate which we can question is a general issue, such as: does it mean that Mecca and Medina are the chosen places and the only place on Earth where the people of God live? Is it because in those areas there is only one religious grouping unlike in other areas of the world? It is now left for the Christian world to pay attention to the God they worship. As a matter of fact, the facto ipso could only be identified in the weigh of the preaching, practice, attitudes, deeds, decencies, instructions, law, prayers and beliefs. And I may likely draw a conclusion that it is obvious to learn from the little things we see and hear around us so that we can make the world a better place for all.

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa

Collapse of Africa Democracy Emitted as Mo Ibrahim Prize for Good Governance Finds No Winner

 No Winner for There is no winner this year for the world's most valuable individual prize - the Mo Ibrahim prize for good governance in Africa Mo Ibrahim sources say. Pundits are of the opinion that this is a serious signal and challenge for African leaders. It is also an indicator that the so called democracy in Africa is a cacophony of the first order.
The $5m (£3.2m) worth prize is supposed to be awarded each year to a democratically elected leader who governed well, raised living standards and then voluntarily left office. From all indication, that specie of leader is becoming a rare commodity in Africa.  The panel said no candidate had met all of the criteria - as in 2009 and 2010. For three years now, no such leader has been found on the African continent.  The last of such a species of leader was  Cape Verde President Pedro Verona Pires who won the prize. He led the fight against Portuguese colonialism, introduced multi-party politics and was praised raising for living standards.
The $5m prize is spread over 10 years and is followed by $200,000 a year for life.
'No compromise'
Announcing the decision, Mar Ibrahim said: "You make your bed, you have to lie on it. If we said we're going to have a prize for exceptional leadership, we have to stick to that. We are not going to compromise."
"We are not just in the business of positive messages - we would lose our credibility," the AFP news agency quotes him as saying. "The prize committee reviewed a number of candidates but none met all of the criteria needed to win the prize," said committee member Salim Ahmed Salim.
The two other winners in the six years since the prize was launched were Botswana's President Festus Mogae and Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano.
Earlier this month, Mr Ibrahim's foundation announced a special $1m award to Archbishop Desmond Tutu for "speaking truth to power".
The London-based body called the cleric "one of Africa's great voices for justice, freedom, democracy and responsible, responsive government".
Sudan-born telecoms entrepreneur Mr Ibrahim says the good governance prize is needed because many leaders of sub-Saharan African countries come from poor backgrounds and are tempted to hang on to power for fear that poverty awaits them when they leave office.

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa

Fonkam Azu’u on Crusade to Sensitize NW on Biometric Registration

 By FC Ndi

Fonkam Au'u

The Board Chairman of Elections Cameroon has kick-started a Regional tour that will enable him to meet stakeholders to give ample information on the ongoing biometric recompilation of voters register using the biometric system. Talking to the Press in Bamenda a fortnight ago, Dr. Fonkam Azu’u ELECAM Boss said after the official launching in Yaounde, his team will tour the seven divisions of the Northwest Region to meet stakeholders in the process. He told the press that in the process, the identity card and thumb prints must be presented before registration. When quiz by journalists whether the system also made provisions for people without fingers or the blind, he responded that all necessary measures have been put in place to make sure that everyone is included in the process. On double registration, Dr. Fonkam Azu’u warned that anyone want caught trying to register more than once will be dealt with accordingly in conformity with the law.  On whether measures have been put in place to ensure that localities without electricity will not pay the price of not being relegated, he told media men and women that special generators were acquired to ensure a smooth registration everywhere. When also asked why registration could start at the same time, day and date nationwide, he replied that the kits were not sufficient enough for all the 360 councils. On the out cry on the violation of the electoral law especially section 74 (2) he said, ELECAM had seek the opinion of political leaders, civil society and others before taking such a decision, yet further explained that voters registration could begin on January as indicated by the law because of the lack of financial means. According to Fonkam Azu’u ELECAM could not respect the law which states that registration begins in January and ends in August every year but he however failed woefully to demonstrate which laws were used in that effect. Meaning, the electoral laws were being violated with the complicity of the civil society and political leaders.on the single ballot paper, he said it is complicated and disadvantageous in Cameroon where there are more than 200 political parties. For example, what this reporter observed was that during the SDF Convention counting was tedious, and consumed time alot. 

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa

Two American Companies to Setup Oil/Gas Refinery in Cameroon

 

Courtesy of Richard Finlayson, International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)
The Cameroon government has signed a memorandum of understanding with International Refinery Consultants (IRC) (Spring, Texas) for the construction of an oil and gas refinery in the coastal town of Kiribi in the south region of the country. The agreement was signed last week
between the Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Dr. Basile Antangana Kouna, and the President and CEO of IRC, Michael Eppler.
The agreement permits the U.S. company to perform extensive studies for the construction of a modern, high-capacity oil refinery with the draft code name "Cameroon Atlantic Refinery Project." Stakeholders in the project said that the refinery will initially process at least 200,000 barrels per day (BBL/d). This capacity will be followed by negotiations for a second train that will provide for a total capacity of 350,000 BBL/d.
A project profile estimates that 5,000 jobs will be generated in the construction phase, and 1,400 for the initial operational phase and this number will increase as the project progresses. The project will
be financed by IRC in collaboration with a second Texas company Refinery Technology Incorporated (Houston, Texas), with the companies' financial partners under a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) agreement. The overall investment required was not disclosed as studies are currently in progress.
The refinery project also will provide for housing estates, a hospital, a school, an orphanage, recreational facilities, and a training center for local engineers and technical personnel and other
staff.
Minister Kouna said at the signing that although Cameroon has the Sonara (Societe Nationale de Raffinage) Limbe refinery, built in 1981, which currently processes 2.2 million tons of oil annually and has plans to increase annual capacity to 3.5 million tons, having another refinery will reinforce Cameroons's independence as far as petroleum product and gas is concerned, reported the Cameroon Tribune.
"We find ourselves in a position where we have to import petroleum products sometime from very far in Europe with all the consequences of supply, financial and quality constraints," said the minister.
"Although this refinery will be essentially export oriented, it will be obliged to satisfy our internal supply at anytime the need arises."
IRC said that the project can be fully executed and operational in 30 months from the signing of the BOOT agreement, the allocation of approximately 500 hectares of land from the government and the issuing of pertinent permit and authorizations. The project has been designed for immediate implementation, and the site does not necessarily require any initial local infrastructure

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