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NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Government in partnership with Kenyan insurers, has announced payments to over 12,000 pastoral households under a breakthrough livestock insurance plan.The plan uses satellites to monitor vegetation available to livestock and triggers assistance for feed, veterinary medicines and even water trucks when animal deaths are imminent. This comes as an epic drought desiccates fields and forages in the Horn of Africa,To avert future losses, Willy Bett, Cabinet Secretary for the Agriculture Ministry, said Sh215 million ($2.5 million) in insurance payouts across six counties will be made by the end of February through the Kenya Livestock Insurance Programme," (KLIP)."Payments are pegged to measurements of forage conditions made via satellite for each area, and will range from Sh1,450 per pastoral household in areas that have suffered modest losses to Sh29,400 in areas where drought is particularly severe. The average payment is around Sh17,800 ( $170) per pastoral household, directly reaching about 100,000 people," Bett said.Pilot projects that preceded the program established payment levels linked to the state of grazing lands, with the goal of providing enough money to help pastoralists keep their animals alive until rains returns."This is the biggest livestock insurance payout ever made under Kenya's agricultural risk management program and the most important as well, because without their livestock, pastoralist communities would be devastated," Bett said.He added, "This insurance programme is not just an effective component of our national drought relief effort. It's also a way to ensure that pastoralists can continue to thrive and contribute to our collective future as a nation."Livestock are a major component of the Kenyan economy. Between 2008 and 2011, livestock losses in Kenya accounted for 70 percent of the US $12.1 billion in damages caused by drought. In response to these major droughts, Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has developed KLIP with technical assistance from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the World Bank Group, and Financial Sector Development (FSD) Kenya, as part of their national strategy to end drought emergencies. KLIP is administered as a public-private partnership with APA Insurance, which leads a consortium of seven Kenyan insurers – UAP, CIC, Jubilee, Heritage, Amaco and Kenya Orient, with backing from Swiss Re, a widely respected international reinsurer for agriculture."KLIP is intended to provide a safety net for Kenyan herders, who for centuries have grazed their animals across vast stretches of arid and semi-arid lands. KLIP began with two counties in the short-rains season of 2015, Turkana and Wajir, and now covers pastoralists in an additional four counties: Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo and Tana River," the CS said.KLIP is based on the internationally recognized "Index-Based Livestock Insurance" model, which was developed several years ago by a team of agricultural economists from ILRI, Cornell University, the University of California at Davis and the World Bank Group, working in close cooperation with pastoralist communities.The signature feature of this novel insurance scheme is the use of satellite data to generate an index for grazing conditions, so that payments are triggered when conditions…
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - The Rivers State Government in South-south Nigeria has set up a task force to investigate the disturbing black soot that has filled the atmosphere, following complaints by Port Harcourt city resident.The task force, which will be backed by technical experts will liaise with major stakeholders to resolve the environmental challenges posed by the black soot.Shortly after an Executive Council meeting, the Commissioner of Information, Dr Austin Tam-George told journalists that the resolution to form the task force was arrived at by the Commissioner of Environment, Professor Roseline Konya, following the preliminary results of Ministerial Investigations, and complaints from city resident. Residents who spoke to PAMACC News Agency said that their vehicles and washed clothes are now dotted by the substance just as some people have reportedly fallen ill possibly due to the effect of the spots. Another affected resident, Mr. Chris Okpala has threatened to sue the state government over the issue.Emmanuel Gawa, a resident in the city said that the soot was first observed in October 2016 adding that it has become a major source of environmental scare for the residents. In the meantime, the state branch of the Nigerian Medical Association has advised residents to close their windows and doors, mop the floor of their houses and possibly wear face masks.Adewale Ojo, an environmentalist observed that the soot falls more at nights and early hours of the morning. The source of the soot in the Niger Delta is believed to be from gas flares, burning of illegal refineries, crude oil, burning of oil spills by incompetent contractors and the burning of sundry wastes. Such soot has been highly linked to cancer and other deadly respiratory infections.Members of the task force to investigate the origin and the health impact of the black soot include the Commissioner of Environment, Professor Roseline Konya, the Commissioner of Special Duties, Emeka Onowu and the Commissioner of Information.
KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - African Union Commission has embarked on continent-wide training program to equip various government environmental experts with knowledge on guidelines of how to benefit from Africa Union grants for earth observation.The Coordinator of the Global Monitoring Environment and Security in Africa under AU, Dr Tidiane Ouattara said the training, which kicked off in Kigali, Rwanda involving environmental experts from the Eastern Africa region including the Indian Ocean Islands is the first in a series organized by the African Union Commission (AUC) to be conducted in five regions of the continent.“We are meeting in Kigali with delegates from the Eastern Africa and Indian Ocean Islands to provide them with information on grants for the Global Monitoring Environment and Security in Africa (GMES & Africa) initiative.The GMES & Africa is a cooperation initiative between Africa and Europe in earth observation. First launched in 2007, the initiative avails an opportunity for Africa to utilize Europe’s earth observation services. The initiative seeks to promote development of local capacities, institutional, human and technical resources for sustainable development in Africa.The earth observation initiative aims to provide sustainable, reliable, and timely space-derived environmental and security information to the public and policy-makers at national, regional and continental levels. Dr Tidiane Ouattara said, the initiative has nine thematic areas but aseries of consultation with stakeholders led to prioritization of three themes under two services which are Water & Natural Resources and Marine & Coastal Areas to be implemented in the first phase. GMES & Africa is a €30 million program with the EU providing €29.5 million while the AU will contribute €0.5 million. The coordinator noted that, €17.5 million is earmarked for grants and another part of the money will be paid to European institutions for their technical support and the reminder used for coordination of the program. The coordination unit advised participants that to access the grants, institutions should work together to gain more credibility. The projects accessing the grant are also required to have at least 20% in funds or other necessary materials for executing their projects.Grants will be awardedafter rigorous evaluationsusing AUC procurement procedures, to institutions that will act as regional outlets on the identified applications. Applicants encouragedto access the grants include academic, public and private institutions in the area of earth observation. Among the participants at the meeting is Dr Gaspard Rwanyizire, the Director of the Centre for Geographical Information System (CGIS) at the University of Rwanda. CGIS deals with disaster management and maps by analyzing and advice on land.“As far as Rwanda is concerned, these grants can support to solve problems related to disaster management through innovative technologies, underlined Dr Rwanyizire. “The negative effects of climate change in the region can also be addressed.”After the meeting in Kigali this weekend, the AU training team is scheduled to travel to other different regions of Africa. The West Africa region meeting will be in Dakar from 22 to 23 February; North Africa in Egypt from 27 to 28 February; Central Africa in…
BERTOUA, Cameroon (PAMACC News)—As night falls, scores of timber trucks line up at a weighing station outside the city center here, one of the last rituals before the long road trip to the port city of Douala, nearly 600km away.Every day, trucks like these, with logs of timber stream through bumpy earth roads onto the highway at the dead of night; and head to Douala, from where they are shipped to foreign markets.“The East region is very rich in timber,” says Andre Lepot, a resident in Batouri, a town that has become known for timber exploitation, more than anything else. “We have seen this happen since we were kids.”Timber is Cameroon’s second most important export commodity after crude oil. In the past decades, logging has increased, attracting Chinese, Lebanese, French, and other foreign companies.The country is one of the leading exporters of tropical timber to the European Union. “We have observed a surge in timber trade activities with the increased presence of foreign timber business operators especially from China and Indonesia in the sector,” says Bernard Njonga, coordinator of the Local Development Initiatives Support Service, an NGO in Cameroon.“Cameroon’s forest has continued to be logged to feed the country’s growing timber market.”Logging in Cameroon is shrouded in illegality. Illegal timber exploitation is severe and getting worse in the country, say officials and environmental protection workers.“Without being an expert, I can say that before exploiters fell only large trees,” says ZeVina, a resident of Ebolowa in the South region, another timber exploitation center. “But today we see timber of all dimensions transported away in trucks.”Ze describes Cameroon's timber sector as anarchic. Both legal and illegal exploiters are involved in unlawful activities, particularly harvesting timber below the legal size, and outside designated concessions, he says. Weak legal systems and deteriorating control mechanisms are fueling an unprecedented frenzy of illegal logging and wildlife trade that is fast depleting the nation's natural forest resources, PAMACC News found.“Illegal forest exploitation and logging business in the country has been compounded by ineffective and discriminatory law enforcement,” says Njonga. “This betrays the sincerity of the government in forest governance reforms.”In the East and South regions, vast expanses of forests now lay bare, one of the main consequences of rampant and illegal exploitation. According to Global Forest Watch, an online forest monitoring platform, Cameroon lost 657,000 hectares of forest between 2001 and 2014, with the annual rate of loss rising over the period to around 141,000 hectares in 2014.“The government does not respect its laws and many forest malpractices go unpunished,” Augustine Njamnshi, board member of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, PACJA told PAMACC News in an interview.“When laws are not implemented or are implemented selectively, then there is injustice, and this weakens the legal system in the country.” Dr. Joseph ArmatheAmougou, the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change Focal Point for Cameroon admits that the non-respect of forestry laws has to a large extent weakened forest governance reforms.“Cameroon is a state of law, and so…