Statement by Friends of the Earth Africa at her Annual General Meeting held at Accra, Ghana, 7-11 July 2008
Members of FoE Africa from Ghana, Togo, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius, Tunisia and Swaziland met for five days in Accra, Ghana reviewing issues that confront the African environment. A particular focus was placed on the current food crisis and agrofuels on the continent.

FoE Africa groups deplored the characterisation of Africa as a chronically hungry continent; and rejected the projection of the continent as an emblem of poverty and stagnation and thus as a continent dependent on food aid. FoE Africa reiterated the fact that the agricultural fortunes of the continent have been dimmed by externally generated neoliberal policies including Structural Adjustment Programmes imposed on the continent by the World Bank, IMF and other IFIs.

Climate Change is accepted today even by die hard sceptics as a real crisis that must be urgently tackled for the preservation of the earth in a form that would sustain human and other life forms. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the best known body of climate scientists who accepts that most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations due to human activities...

...One of the key failures of the Kyoto protocol is that it did not unambiguously pin the blame for the problem on hydrocarbons. As long as this was the case, the frameworks for handling the problem were fundamentally flawed. Conventional wisdom instructs us to tackle the root causes of problems rather than the symptoms if we wish to radically pursue long lasting solutions. 

(Excerpts from a paper presented by Nnimmo Bassey at a recent Media Training Workshop in Benin.) 

Click here to read/download the full article  

Hesperian , non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care has recently launched a new publication, A Community Guide to Environmental Health. This book brings together explanations, stories and actions that individuals, families, and communities can take to combat the environmental problems that threaten good health.

The book is a collaboration between Hesperian and 120 communities located in over 33 countries. ERA was involved in the review and testing of the chapter on Oil.

Click here to download a free digital copies of extracts from the publication.

Tobacco Control Gets Church Endorsement
It was a big endorsement for tobacco control in Nigeria with a seminar organised on May 25, 2008 by a Parish of the largest church in the country, the Redeemed Christian Church of God(RCCG). The church is also said to be the fastest growing Church in the world with presence in over 200 countries. The Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) in collaboration with Doctors Against Tobacco Nigeria(DATN), used the seminar to create awareness about efforts at domesticating the FCTC and to get the support of the religious body for the effort.

Religious leaders are vital to policy issues in Nigeria. They have long played a critical role in addressing the nation's declining morals and social challenges, especially in helping to focus government's attention on critical areas of development that includes public health . Thus, supporting effort to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of disease and death around the world , is a natural extension of these efforts.

The sixteenth session of the United Nations' Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD16) kicked off yesterday at the UN headquarters in New York, USA.

The issues being discussed are very much on the top burners of concern in the world today: agriculture, drought, desertification, land, water, sanitation and Africa.

There is a sizable team of NGOs present at the meetings among which is ERA, represented by Nnimmo Bassey.

Click here to read the first edition of daily NGO newsletters (from the Sustainable Development Issues Network, SDIN) that will emanate from proceedings at the meetings.