Use women groups to promote coffee production, Coffee producer organizations have been asked

BY SAMUEL NABWIISO.

Coffee producer organizations have been asked to make use of women groups to promote the production of coffee to speed up production.

The call was made by AgaPeters Kubasu, from Fairtrade at the launch of Butonde coffee beans and beverage that will be sold directly to EU markets.

 Butonde coffee products were produced by three cooperatives also known as Small Producer Organizations, having gone through training by Fairtrade and Africa Coffee Academy for some time so as to bring a quality product on the market.

Woman harvesting coffee beans from her garden Fairtrade wants more Women to be brought on Board  in Coffee  production 

The three cooperatives that came together to produce the product include Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union Limited, Banyankole Kweteerana Cooperative Union and Kibinge Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Society Limited.

According to Kubasu for the three groups to maintain the production of quality coffee they will have to work more closely with women groups, help them understand the best farming practices and handling of coffee right from the field to the collection points.

“That way, there will be assured quantities for trade both in country and in regional markets that have already been secured since the produces are Fairtrade certified,” he said.

Apart from producing coffee alone, he said through the same groups, domestic consumption will be natured just like it is in Ethiopia where most of the coffee produced is consumed locally.

“By pioneering this approach, farmers are expected to realize value for money as there is likely to be an increase of price at farmgate level, which will improve their incomes, both individually and as groups,” he added.

The development of the product was supported by Fairtrade Africa, through the Growing Resilient Enterprise Agricultural (GREAN) project, in partnership with Vi Agro forestry at a tune of 40000EUROs from the Nordic Climate Facility (NCF). 

 

The GREAN project is providing an opportunity for the coffee producing  organizations to own a new Fairtrade coffee brand, thus engaging them from production and processing, to packaging and marketing – an innovation of owning more of the coffee value chain and retaining the benefits of value addition for their farmer members.

Officiating at the launch of the product in Mbarara recently,Tumwesigye Robert, the Regional Manager for S.Western region at the  Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), the Regional Manager for S.Western region advised farmers to stick to quality parameters set aside by UCDA to maintain the quality and the available market.

Francis Atukunda the district commercial officer for Mbarara reported that farmers still have challenges of post harvest management, adding that many still harvest immature coffee beans and force them to dry, a practice he said compromises the taste and aroma of the final product.

Water level in Lake victoria to Rise , communities to suffer ,NEMA warns

BY MOSES  KIDANDI

Waters in Lake Victoria are expected to rise by about 4 meters a situation which may come along with Environmental consequences especially to the communities staying on lake shores, Government through Environment Agency has warned.

According to the Executive director of the National Environment management Authority (NEMA).Dr.Tom Okurut the levels will rise by 4 meters in 2021 there by raising an alert to all landing sites across the country and surrounding villages living closer to the lake to adjust to the growing conditions.

Okurut Interacting with the local 

Okurut made the remarks as NEMA embarked on a demarcation exercise of lake shores in mayuge district to pave way for resettlement of 48 villages that were displaced by the National Forestry Authority NFA from the South Basoga central forest Reserve in 1998.

NEMA is demarcating 200 meters off the lake shore for conservation as the Government plans to gazette part of the forest reserve to settle affected locals from the 48 villages.

The resettlement is President Musevenis order directing NFA to hand over five hundred Hectares which is part of the Bukaleeba Forest Reserves to over thirty thousand families that had been evicted.

Naome Karenkaho the manager public and corporate affairs at NFA advised people living in the fishing villages in Mayuge to shift from the low lying areas near the lake to avoid possible catastrophes. 

During the meeting the local applauded government for considering the local people who were chased away by NFA many years

locals inthe meeting 

"We were told to leave the forest reserves this affected our livelihoods but we thank the president for being on our side” Said one of the local who attended the meeting

improved nutrition can save the world

Improved nutrition targeted at young women can reduce poverty. But it's not enough to look at improving what they eat. We must also focus on guaranteeing respect for their rights and those of future generations.

Younger Girl serving herself plate of fruits 

In order to prevent malnutrition from being passed to the next generation, we need to improve the nutritional status of adolescent girls. 

This cannot be done through better nutrition alone, but can be achieved by working in areas such as education, water, sanitation and hygiene, increasing young women's access to resources and empowering their economic independence in order to delay marriage and pregnancy.

Invest more in Environmentally Sound Technologies, UN Environment Report cautions Developing States

BY SAMUEL NABWIISO

Developing Countries have been urged to venture into trading in environmentally sound technologies that can foster new industries thus creating new, jobs, and income growth in developing countries, a new global study suggests.

The research, featured in the report 'Trade in Environmentally Sound Technologies: Perspectives from Developing Countries’, highlights the importance of developing countries for future trade in environmentally sounds technologies and the need for their increased involvement in mitigating climate change .

Environmentally sound technologies, often also referred to as “clean technologies”, are a subset of environmental goods, defined as goods that directly contribute to environmental protection and climate change mitigation.

Solar pannesl ready for production , the report wants Developing Countries to invest in such technologies in order to protect the Environment 

Good example of such technologies includes solar power plants Electrical vehicles among other technologies that release no green House in the Atmosphere. The UnEnvironmnet report comes at a time when the whole world is battling with the effects associated with climate change.

 The report identifies developing countries that have transited from net importers to net exporters of clean technologies by embracing international trade and investment, which has enabled them to build up their technology and production capacity.

As a result, new green industries have emerged as well as growth in incomes and job creation, thus demonstrating how trade in environmentally sound technologies can offer a triple win for the environment, economy and society.

The research suggests other developing countries have the potential to achieve similar outcomes with the necessary domestic policies and technological effort. In this respect, the report recommends that initiatives to support the trade in clean technologies at the international level should be supported by measures at the domestic level, including through capacity building and technical assistance.

“The findings from this study offer important insights that can support and enable developing countries to objectively assess and understand the opportunities, benefits and challenges of liberalized trade in clean technologies. Investing in trade, innovation and use of clean technologies can drive sustainable development by tackling climate change, building resilience and supporting the achievement of the Global Goals and the Paris Agreement” said Anja von Moltke from UN Environment said

The report, published by UN Environment’s Environment and Trade Hub, Oxford University’s Technology and Management Centre for Development and the Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology suggests that building knowledge and capacity is critical to support developing countries in assessing the opportunities and challenges of the trade in clean technologies.

According to the report, this can help inform decision makers of the potential benefits of participating in specific trade negotiations. The analysis also points to the importance of reducing or eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers to catalyze greater participation by developing countries’ in value chains, thus bolstering economic and environmental resilience and driving sustainable development.

“Through trade in clean technologies, developing countries also have access to the technologies and other intangible intellectual capital which are embedded in and transferred through the trade in these technologies,” explained Professor Xiaolan Fu of Oxford University.

The Reports comes at a time when   Some Developing Countries especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa are on the course to embrace environmentally sound technologies such as adopting the utilization of solar power as an alternative to Biomass, the latest to join   the group is Uganda; the Kampala Government has tried to encourage   investors to invest in solar Energy.

President after the commissioning of the Gomba solar power plant  

Recently President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Launched a 20MW plant which costed the Invest about UGX200 Million. The Gomba plant is the second to be commissioned in the Country the first mega solar power plant was commissioned in Soroti District in the Eastern Part of the Country.

Helping enforcement catch up with environmental laws

 When Pakistani customs officers last year refrigerant—a powerful ozone-depleting substance and greenhouse gas—it showed how strong enforcement of environmental laws can make a real difference to protecting the planet.

In the largest seizure of its kind for Pakistan, customs authorities confiscated 18,000 kilograms of the refrigerant at Karachi Port in October 2018. The bust came when a customs officer, Rahmatullah Vistro, received a tip about the smuggling plans.

Vistro is one of many customs officers around the world who have received UN Environment training to identify ozone-depleting substances smuggled by methods such as misdeclaration and mislabelling—as was the case with this shipment.

Countries are phasing out hydrochlorofluorocarbons like R-22 under the Montreal Protocol, the treaty that protects the ozone layer. According to the latest Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion, stratospheric ozone has been recovering at a rate of 1 to 3 per cent per decade since 2000, thanks to actions taken under the Montreal Protocol.

R-22’s destructive impacts on the ozone layer are compounded by its huge global warming potential—over 1,800 times that of carbon dioxide. The greenhouse gas emissions from this shipment would have been equivalent to burning over 132,000,000 kilograms of coal.

Even so, demand for controlled substances is still high in some places where alternatives are expensive or don’t work as well at extremely high temperatures. The illegal trade in ozone depleting substances is worth almost US$70 million per year, according to the latest estimates.
Such successes show that enforcement of environmental laws is possible, even if it is not yet the norm. 
UN Environment’s first-ever global assessment of environmental rule of law, the result of exhaustive research throughout 2018, found weak enforcement to be a global trend that is exacerbating environmental threats, despite a 38-fold increase in environmental laws since 1972.

“This report solves the mystery of why problems such as pollution, declining biodiversity and climate change persist despite the proliferation of environmental laws in recent decades,” says David Boyd, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment

. “Unless the environmental rule of law is strengthened, even seemingly rigorous rules are destined to fail and the fundamental human right to a healthy environment will go unfulfilled.”
Strong institutions can enforce environmental laws and ensure more eff­ective management of natural resources. UN Environment works with countries to strengthen enforcement and compliance by promoting a rights-based approach to environmental management and by strengthening capacities to enforce legislation and combat violations.

“We have the machinery in the form of laws, regulations and agencies to govern our environment sustainably,” says Joyce Msuya, Acting Executive Director of UN Environment. “Political will is now critical to making sure our laws work for the planet.”

UN Environment works to build public support for the fight against environmental crime, thus encouraging governments and authorities to crack down through the laws already in place. For example, the Wild for Life campaign has mobilized millions of people in the fight against wildlife trafficking since its launch in May 2016. In 2018, the campaign’s advocacy helped bring greater protection for the snow leopard when the Government of Mongolia revoked mining licenses in Tost Nature Reserve.

UN Environment and partners also encourage further action through recognizing and awarding those who enforce laws.

For example, when a Thai court in 2018 sentenced wildlife kingpin Boonchai Bach, a 41-year-old Thai-Vietnamese national, to two years in prison for smuggling 11 kilograms of rhino horn, worth US$700,000, it was a major coup worthy of recognition. The team that delivered the evidence—the Thai Customs, the Royal Thai Police, and the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation for their work.

“I just dream about how to achieve a big goal like this, to hit the top of the syndicate,” says Klairong Poonpoon, a director in the Wildlife Conservation Bureau of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. “We wanted to do something that can have an impact on the region.”
   SOURCE  UN ENVIRONMENT

Three Nigerian poachers arrested in Niger with massive haul

Source Guardian,

Three Nigerian poachers were arrested in Niger with a massive haul of slaughtered game from W National Park which straddles the borders of Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin, officials said Sunday.

Forestry agents discovered elephant tusks, giant snake skins and the carcasses or heads of various animals including buffalos and monkeys loaded into two vans in Niger’s southwestern Dosso region bordering the park, a statement said.

According to report by Guardian, they also seized a dozen hunting rifles, machetes, six bicycles and various chemical substances, it said.

Dosso state governor Moussa Ousmane praised the operation as “an unprecedented… exploit for our agents”.

The park, a UN World Heritage site covering some 10,000 square kilometres (nearly 4,000 square miles), contains a vast wealth of fauna and is an important migration sanctuary.

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