Sales of Nkambe Council Land Sparks Controversy

The Nkambe Council is in a state of commotion following a decision by the Senior Divisional Officer for Donga Mantung Division, Nzekie Theophile to allocate part of the Council land to some elite. According to information at our disposal, the hullabaloo started when council staff spotted people planting pillars on what they understand to be part of Nkambe council land. What followed immediately was the seizure and confiscation of the pillars which almost resulted to the arrest and detention of council staffs. In a bit to uncover the truth, staffs of the council were shocked to realize that the authorization to place pillars on the said piece of land was from the Senior Divisional Officer for Donga Mantung Division. The land which according to the administration falls within the category of state land has become the center of controversy yet, council officials say “it is an obnoxious act to deprive the Nkambe council of it property which they cannot watch it happen”.  When contacted, the SDO for Donga Mantung Division refuted allegations that he was selling council land. He however told this reporter that in his capacity as the Senior Divisional Officer, he only allocated the plot for elite who wanted to develop the land and it is the duty of the Minister of Land Tenure and State Property to take the final decision. He cited the case of the Catholic Church which was approved from Yaounde. He however referred the issue to the law of 1976 which clearly states that assets of the council which are not registered in conformity to that law automatically belong to the state. Accordingly, the SDO also said that the area in question needs a certain standard of houses and that if an elite want to use the land properly, it is the duty of the state to allocate rather than allow it for farming of crops. “We need modern houses, hotels and others and that area is good for such structures” he argued. It is even alleged that the Divisional Delegation of Land Tenure has already designed a map and the plots have been apportioned without the knowledge of the Nkambe Council. More, the present location of the Nkambe Council has been named as "Government Station New layout". 

On his part the Mayor of Nkambe Council Mangoh Jones Tanko decried fault and added that in 2004, former SDO for Donga Mantung Division by then Nasseri Paul Bia carried out a similar act and gave part of the council land to the military. Mangoh Jones said he was shocked to see that even the Nkambe Council forest may be taken over by the state without him being aware. He said the law on decentralization doesn't provide such premise and added that Chapter Three (section 14) of the Law No 2004 of 18 July 2004 states that " Lands considered as National land may, as and when necessary be registered in the name of the council especially to serve as a basis for public utility projects". He emphasized on the word "may be registered" and not must be registered as it made to believe with the distribution of land by the Senior Divisional Officer.
He said “we were taken aback when council staff moved to that part of the forest and they were chased away by the military. It was thanks to my intervention that it didn’t generate to fighting”. Mangoh Jones like many others are of the opinion that Nkambe Council land is not for distribution or sale giving that with the ongoing decentralization, the council needs land to put up befitting infrastructure to better serve the population. He said measures have been put for elite to acquire plots at the Nkambe new layout at affordable prices. On the 1976 law on council assets, Mangoh Jones said it is not the fault of Nkambe Council and many others in the country that all the documents that were sent to Yaounde for the councils to acquire land titles for their plots got burnt. He however said that the fact that the council doesn’t have a land title doesn’t mean that it property should be shared without them being aware. He however vowed that anyone who thinks he/she can pass through the administration to deprive the council of it property should consider his/herself in a state of sin. Elite, he said should protect the Nkambe council property and not contribute to it destruction. Public opinion in Nkambe is so stained on the issue. Many are of the opinion that if the procedure continues, the population should move to the street. Another school of thought holds that the council should never award a building permit to anyone found in any of its plot yet, majority of those who spoke to us are of the opinion that the matter be taken to the street. “We have observed that the administration continue to act as if the Council not a state institution or it is because we are in border that people turn to do what pleases them”, John Kilo questioned. To Kargong James, if the administration wants that they should decry the matter in the street, it would be done for Yaounde to understand what Nkambe has been undergoing. Kimbi Nsakwa on his part was astounded and wondered why elite who are suppose to meet traditional rulers to have land for free should be running after the administration for land in a bit to create disorder. He said anyone elite worth of salt is suppose to have land for construction for free (To be continued)

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

Bernard Njonga Emerges Again as ACDIC President

 By Fai Cassimando

Members of the association for the Defence of Collective Interest-ACDIC meet in a General Assembly in Yaounde. The 2012 AGM which took place at the Faculty of Theology at Nlongkak in Yaounde gave members the opportunity to take stock of past actions of ACDIC and also to adopt new orientations. Coming at a point in time when the Permanent Secretary General Jacob Abongaha and Deputy Secretary General Tarkang Yvonne left for greener pastures, there was also an urgent need for new impetus into the national bureau. ACDIC which was created in the year 2000, with Founding Fathers like Njonga Bernard, Jacob Abongaha, Fai Cassian Ndi, Isaac Njifakwe, Dr. Atahanas Bopda, Roger Nkabong,  Doh Kehbila, etc etc…., the association today has over a hundred thousand members spread over the national territory. Yet, it founding fathers are aghast with Bernard Njonga for transforming the association into an extraordinary affair and a family estate. In other words, Bernard Njonga during the past years succeeded in manipulating the Chart of the Association and redefining who is supposed to be a founding member to suit his caprices. An action that angered many founding members who endorsed the birth certificate of ACDIC to the point that some does not even care to attend meetings like the General Assembly.  Bernard Njonga started scheming ACDIC founding members when he masterminded that a vote of no-confidence be passed on the first President of ACDIC, a former national Coordinator of FIMAC in an extraordinary General Meeting. Little did others new that the very illness that would kill coffee is the same that will attack cocoa.  When he was finally handed the Presidency of ACDIC, all those who questioned certain actions were pushed out of the scene to the point that ACDIC finally became an extraordinary affair. Since then, Bernard Njonga consolidated his grip of ACDIC. His re-election doesn’t come as a surprise to many. As a matter of fact, ACDIC is just like a hill that looks greener from afar.

However, as a lobbying and advocacy association, ACDIC has stood the taste of time in addressing burning issues. The fight against the importation of frozen chicken is one of the successes of the association as well as the study unleashing corrupt practices in the Ministry of Agriculture, such as scandal surrounding the distribution of Indian tractors, the embezzlement of funds allocated to maize farmers etc. Several of its actions have led to the arrest of members. In 2010, this reporter was also arrested and detained in Yaounde alongside other ACDIC members for participating in a protest march urging government to create a farmers bank. Even though the bank was created two days after, it had never gone functional.

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

Donga Mantung Adminstration Resolves Land Crisis at Mbawrong (Mbaw Plain)

 By Ricky Baweson

An atmosphere of stale familiarity which was looming in the Mbaw plain over a disputed farm land at Mbawrong as been cleared. Before the matter was cleared, there  was tension between Njirong and Ntumbaw villages (in Ndu Sub Division) over patches of farmlands located at Mbawrong which according administrative documents and even testimonies is part and parcel of Njirong village.  The land crisis which started as far back as 2004 resurfaced again between the two villages and almost resulted to confrontation recently.. Yet, the disputed area doesn’t have common boundary with Ntumbaw reasons why the fon of Ntumbaw was mute when asked to justify how he came to own land far off. Sources hinted that the matter which was laid to rest in 2004, resurfaced when the Cameroon Development Corporation-CDC is said to have visited the locality in search of land to set up a palm plantation and that strangers were spotted selling large pieces of land which they were not supposed to do so. More so, some farmers are also said to have transformed themselves to land owners and sold out large portions to the detriment of the peace loving people and the fon of Njirong, HRH Fon Ngahjoh who is said to be the custodian of the land. According what Donga Mantung SDO told this reporter when accosted, the people of Njirong village in a solidarity invited the fon of Ntumbaw to come and farm rice with them and gave him part of their land. Since crops were doing well, farmers from Ntumbaw also followed their fon to cultivate crops and after many years, those who begged land to cultivate crops are selling it. Today, the fon of Ntumbaw say he only shares boundary with the people of Ntem and Mbonso, meaning that entire Mbawrong is his land. When the SDO for Donga Mantung Division, Nzekie Theophile visited the area, ready to fight youths from Ntumbaw invaded the area and were threatening that they will not allow the administration to take their land and hand to Njirong village. But the SDO and his team were logical to have proven to the people of Ntumbaw that they have no right over the said piece of land. They were told to stop the sales of land and only farm their crops because the land do not belong to them. More so, the Fon of Ntumbaw was also told to write a lterre of apology to the Fon of Njirong. There is reported to have dancing and merrymaking at the Njirong Fons palace over the weekend to celebrate the success. Sources hinted that Njirong people for their hospitality have not been hostile as after all the intrigues, accepted that the people of Ntumbaw should continue to cultivate crops on the said land. SDO Nzekie Theophile applauded the levelheadedness of the elite of Njirong and added that they have proven that dialogue and mutual co-existence is the prerequisite for any successful society of good people.He however told the people of Ntumbaw and the fon that they have three months to apologize to the people of Njirong. Nzekie Theophile continued that if by December 31st, 2012 the said apology is not submitted, the people of Ntumbaw will face the rage of the law. Before leaving Mbawrong, he acknowledged the fact that the two villages accepted dialogue. But added that when the apology is submitted the people of Njirong and Ntumbaw will be referred back to the 2004 land resolution on the disputed piece of land.
It is alleged that during the stormy meeting of October 18, 2012, the fon of Ntumbaw could not provide documents which clearly justifies that the piece of land belongs to his fondom. Acting on the 2004 administrative decision and following recommendations from the Nkambe Court of First Instance, the SDO and his team of experts recommended that no person from Ntumbaw should henceforth sell land at the disputed area. However, sources from the disputed area say there is calm and serenity as the people of Njirong are looking at the administration to settle the dispute for once and for all.

In a similar story, the population of Nkambe town is also said to be aghast with the Donga Mantung administration over the allocation of land belonging to the Nkambe District Hospital to the Catholic Church and part of the Nkambe Council land to some personalities without consultation with local authorities. The population is questioning whether with a growing population, the Nkambe District hospital could not be expanded in the nearest future reason why they are against the fact that the piece of land allocated for the hospital has been handed over to the church. More so, the Donga Mantung Community Radio is located in part of the land which implies that the radio may likely be transferred whereas at it present location, it air weaves get to the entire division. By so doing, many have argued, the population shall be deprived of information.

(Coming Up: How Tempers are flaring in Nkambe over the Distribution of Nkambe Council Land by the SDO, Reactions from the population and other stakeholders)

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

Elections Cameroon in Double Illegalities

Hon. Ayah Paul

By Hon. Ayah Paul Dr fonkam Samuel Azu’u, the board chair of ELECAM, has told the world through CRTV radio programme – “Cameroun Calling” – that they of ELECAM “are under the law” and that they “apply the law as it is and not as it ought to be”. Earlier on, the Director General of Elections had told the universe that ELECAM was not under the law due to “force majeur”, (vis major). Also had a certain Minang arrogantly and unabashedly announced to the galaxy that the fact that the law provides that registration of voters lasts from January 1 to December 31 “does not mean that registration cannot be done outside that period”. In other words, the legal provision in his learned thinking is discretionary.
We can forgive the Director General of Elections and Mr. Minang for grappling with legal issues that tantalize them. It is presumed that they are lay men in the legal realm. Evidently, the Director General of Election is uninformed that vis major consists in an act extraneous to the conduct (i.e. outside the doing of) of the person invoking vis major. To put it otherwise, laziness, ignorance or omission fall out of the realm of vis major. Vis major leans on an unforeseeable event: an unpredictable occurrence, beyond human control, an act of God for example.
Dr fonkam by contrast, holds a termal degree in law. He surely is possessed of the fact that the law as it is provides that registration of voters in Cameroun takes place from January 1 to August 31 every year. Any registration between September 1 and December 31, as LECAM is currently doing, is not the law as it is. It is blatant illegality! That is one illegality!
Again, by the law as it is, registration runs continuously from January 1 to August 31; subject only to the calling of the electorate to the poll. The calling of the electorate to the poll is the sole prerogative of the President of the Republic. Putting an end to registration on February 28, 2013, as the Director General of Elections has decreed amounts to usurpation. So it is because the Director General of Elections has not the capacity to amend the law as it is, much less to legislate. Mr. Director’s action smacks of reprehensible conduct that is aggravated by his arrogant attitude of might is right.
Dr Fonkam on the other hand, for his position, and especially his level, never can be imagined to be ignorant about the law in the ordinary course of things. One is therefore in the right to hold that Dr Fonkam’s pronouncement is deceptive and malicious. Some bold jurist could even call it fantastic.
Everyone consistently gets away with illegality in Cameroun today from our having been indoctrinated by the ruling class that the truth and the good example come from the top. I do strongly feel vindicated in my holding steadfast that a taste of the forbidden is a second transgression. It would be remembered that Fon Gorji Dinka asserted in the 1990s that the President of the Republic was “going from illegalities to illegalities”, and cautioned that it was urgent to stop him. Even as he was promptly thrown in jail, time has proved him right. The President today is clearly above the constitution to the point where the constitution has lost its binding authority. To illustrate that assertion with a single example, Cameroun is sixteen years today without the Senate, the Constitutional Council, Regional Councils…And even as we claim that we are fighting against corruption, the application of Article 66 of the constitution remains illusory. The constitution apparently is treated as confering only discretionary powers in Cameroun today.
Also are cases legion where judgments of the Full Bench of the Supreme Court are lying in waste in ministers’ drawers, one should add. The provocation and oppression from those overbearing illegal powers are fast building up to a situation of total anarchy with the complacency and/or complicity of lawyers – the very bulwark against lawlessness elsewhere.
We should submit just again that there is no relative or minor illegality. We do know, for instance, that the massacres and confusion on our roads these days can be traced to a presidential malpractice that many may have dismissed as de minimis. We have seen on television time without number how the presidential convoy on a completely deserted road got to a roundabout and took left. This good example from the top has been copied by every driver to a point where road signs no longer have any meaning for anyone. You may wish to count the dead on our roads!
As the top is deified, it cannot be seen to have infringed the law. The solution now is to embark on the building of 20 million speed breaks for the physical restraint of drivers. Camerounese are in the circumstance portrayed as wild animals that need chains to be contained. What is more, quite apart from the discomfort occasioned by those speed breaks and the faster depreciation of our second-hand vehicles, (the only ones within the reach of ordinary Camerounese), the speed breaks compel vehicles to slow down with the result that they almost invariably fall into ambush laid by highway men. Wounding, maiming and killing of Camerounese are not any less here. A predicament that would have been averted had there been just little observance of the law.
One may confidently conclude that even the many slow learners we have in Cameroun these days would learn the lesson that the slightest infringement of the law can lead to disaster. Therefore have we not totally lost hope that ELECAM will some day come to learn that it is theft, be it a penny or a pound, a bicycle or a trailer!

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

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





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