Nigerian Environment Weekly

LAGOS CAUTIONS RESIDENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

As the environment is becoming dusty and hazy, the Lagos State government has urged residents to be cautious of fire and environmental hazards.
The State commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, who gave this advice during an interactive session with newsmen in Alausa, Ikeja, stressed that it was necessary to enlighten Lagosians to show utmost love to their environment, even as they celebrate the Christmas and New year.

Durosinmi-Etti, urged Lagosians to respect the environment, bear in mind that a lot of waste would be generated during the Christmas and New Year celebrations and dispose of animal waste properly as well as bag their refuse and put at designated points.

He assured Lagosians that the State Government was redoubling efforts through the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to ensure a cleaner and healthier state for the benefit of all residents of the state. He urged Lagosians to desist from acts that could have negative impacts on the environment, reduce their waste and think of the environment first as they make their yuletide preparations.

The Environment Commissioner advised Lagosians to guide against the outbreak of epidemics, saying that residents must always ensure that they handle waste in the most appropriate way by properly bagging them and placing them strategically in front of their buildings.

Meanwhile, Durosinmi-Etti also urged Lagosians to be cautious of naked fire in ci******es, firewood, cooking stoves among other sources, in order to reduce the incidents of fire outbreaks, especially during this harmattan season.His words: “as our environment is becoming dusty and hazy with dryness affecting everything including trees, wooden items, leaves and furniture, we urge residents to be extremely careful with fire so as to prevent outbreaks because fire is nobody’s friend.”

He advised Lagosians to take precautionary measures by making sure that they avoid bush and solid waste burning during this period as this may lead to fire outbreak, while urging all to install fire extinguishers in their homes, cars, offices, market places and motor parks.

The Commissioner stated that motorists should ensure that they have fire extinguishers in their vehicles, maintain speed limits and observe road signs.

Durosinmi-Etti advised residents to make use of the Lagos State Parks in their neighborhood but be mindful of their activities in parks and gardens by obeying the Public Smoking Law and avoid bringing inflammable objects to the gardens.

He advised Lagosians against the storage of petrol and other inflammable materials at homes, offices, shops and markets as their storage could aid fire outbreak, especially at this Harmattan period when virtually all objects in the environment are dry.

EXPERT REITERATE THE URGENT NEED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PROPER WASTE DISPOSAL AND GAS FLARING.

By Uchegbu Samuel arinze, An Environmental Educator,
Reporting from Abuja.

Environmental experts have called for increased efforts geared towards public awareness on the dangers of poor environmental management systems in the country.

They want government at all levels to shun lip service on implementation of policies that could guarantee healthy waste disposal and pollution management practice.

Leading the call at the 6th edition of the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Pollution Mitigation (SETPOM) International Conference and Fellows Award Conferment held in Lagos, President of SETPOM, Dr. Fumilayo Doherty, warned that if nothing drastic is done to mitigate the nation’s current waste disposal and gas flaring pattern, the earth would reach a point of no return summarized by increased temperature, unpredictable climate and inundation of coastal cities.

According to her, there is an urgent need to take responsible actions, to create awareness of the hazards in the environment especially amongst young people so that they can protect against and preferably find solutions or remedies to the hazards.

She noted that the conference themed: “Environmental advocacy, policies and sustainable pollution management”, is coming at the right time when there are lot of issues surrounding the state of waste management in Lagos.

Doherty explained that successful environmental management pattern involves structured planning and resources for developing, implementing and maintaining policy for environmental protection.

Stakeholders, she said, need to come together to find lasting solutions to the problem of waste, sustaining living and changing the orientation of people towards the environment.

“The country is still far in terms of environmental sustainability and waste management, if we don’t have the political will to enforce some of the laws that we have, we will continue to run into problems as waste are being disposed anyhow across the federation without anyone being punished or held accountable. From the point of generation wastes ought to be sorted out, the plastics can be recycled while serving as employment opportunities to the youths”, she said.

UN to investigate banned ozone substances emissions

Few weeks after a study released in Nature indicated that emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)-11 had unexpectedly increased in recent years – despite a global ban on production since 2010 – investigations by the independent Environmental Investigation Agency and the New York Times are pointing to eight factories in China as a primary source of these new emissions.
In response to these latest findings, UN Environment issued the following statement: “Illegal production of CFC-11 is nothing short of an environmental crime, which demands decisive action. At the same time, we must continue to dig deeper.

Based on the scale of detected emissions there is good reason to believe the problem extends beyond these uncovered cases of illegal production.

“These investigations are part of a wider body of scientific verification taking place with all parties to the Montreal Protocol.
These, taken together, will establish a clear and actionable picture of the quantities and precise locations of violation, as well as the possibility of other scientific explanations.

“It is in these moments that the mechanisms of the international community are more valuable than ever. The focus on this issue is intense, and thankfully we have strong support from all member states.

We are engaged in an ongoing dialogue with all parties to the Montreal Protocol, including close collaboration with China, to ensure any illegal activities so far detected are investigated and immediately halted.”

CFCs, which were once found in aerosols, refrigerants, solvents and other products, were banned in 1996 under the Montreal Protocol. Aside from their ozone impact, they are potent global warming agents.

The scientific assessment panel of the Montreal Protocol (SAP), which monitors the state of the ozone layer, is set to examine the findings and report to national representatives by the end of the year.

“We know it is coming from East Asia,” said Paul Newman of NASA and co-chair of the SAP.

But Newman warned against leaping to the conclusion there had been illegal production. The emissions could be a byproduct of an industrial process or leaked from transit or waste sites.

Li Shuo, a campaigner with Greenpeace China, told Climate Home News it would be hard to produce CFC-11 illegally.

“You do need a proper factory with sizable upfront investment for its production. It is not a business you can shut down overnight, hide, and pop up tomorrow.”

He added: “There were only a handful of installations in China, concentrated in the wealthier eastern side of the country which tends to have a better compliance record. These installations were regularly inspected.”

Researchers are expected to narrow down the rogue sources within the next year.

“What needs to happen is that countries in the region (and the most obvious being China as a major producer) need to do some studies to pinpoint the source of the emissions,” said Clare Perry, climate campaigner at the Environmental Investigation Agency.

After the SAP has reviewed the evidence, it will be for countries signed up to the Montreal Protocol to negotiate what to do about it.

Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, said the country responsible for the emissions needed to find the source and shut it down.

If that did not happen, other countries could impose trade sanctions, starting by cutting support available through the Montreal Protocol, he added.

“The (Montreal Protocol) regime is our hero. It has solved the first great threat to the global atmosphere, and put the stratospheric ozone layer on the path to recovery by 2065.

It also has done more to protect the climate than any other agreement,” said Zaelke.

“The world cannot afford to have the MP fail.”