Experts urge use of greener technologies to combat climate change
A United Nations Environment Assembly meeting which was held in Nairobi from March 11-15 considered whether to start assessing, and setting rules on, technologies that could pull carbon out of the atmosphere or block some of the Sun’s warmth to cool the Earth.
Delegates debated a proposal from Switzerland, backed by 10 other countries, to begin examining geo-engineering technologies, which backers say could help fend off the worst impacts of runaway climate change, africanews.com wrote.
If adopted, the proposal could lead to the highest-level examination yet of the controversial technologies, which have gained prominence as efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions fall short.
“This UN Environment Assembly has decided to take on the most pressing environmental challenges in generations, steadily committed united and determined to seek a sustainable path for future generations. This is the moment and time that will define us, we have the scientific evidence, we have the policies now it’s time for action,” said UN Environment Assembly president, Siim Kiisler, in an address to delegates.
Opponents said the technologies present huge potential risks to people and nature, and could undermine efforts to cut emissions, not least because many are backed by fossil-fuel interests.
Businesses that make products which promote sustainable development were invited to showcase their innovations and join in discussions away from the main hall.
Achenyo Idachaba Obaro runs an organization that trains communities in Nigeria to make diverse goods from hyacinth.
Water hyacinth has choked off large parts of water bodies on Africa, including Lake Victoria, a fresh water lake that straddles Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Environmentalists have been raising the alarm about its rampant spread for decades.
“Of course the environment is key to any and everything that we do. For us as an enterprise and what we do, we have a global problem on our hands water hyacinth is not just a Nigerian problem it’s not a Kenyan problem we have 50 plus countries in tropical and sub tropical zones that are affected by water hyacinth at this stage, and I think this is a good platform to showcase that you know the same way we look at things there is a hash tag clean seas, there should be hash tag water hyacinth transformed.
“Whereby there is a consulted effort to look how we can actually transform this renewable resource into beneficial use on a scalable platform,” said Obaro.
Environmentalists are pushing for rapid slashing of emissions through use of greener power, preserving forests and similar measures to promote sustainable development and combat global warming.
Newton Owino, a Kenyan who makes leather products from fish skin also exhibited his work at the conference’s exhibition space.
Owino said he started his business after realizing that fish factories were polluting the environment with waste that he could process.
“Though I would wish that we could have more and more people coming up, to innovate based — to come up with innovations based on the water resources, actually this would help us promote the conservation activities along the water bodies. Like for example right now am doing the fish skin now those who are killing the reptiles like crocodiles for skin can now have an alternative and this a way of conserving actually the marine ecosystem,” said Owino.
Global exploitation of natural resources — from water, sand and timber to oil, coal and gemstones — has more than tripled in 50 years, the UN said warning of devastating environmental impacts unless demand is reduced.
Surging consumption of natural resources — 92 billion tons in 2017 — accounts for half of the world’s planetheating greenhouse gas emissions and over 90 percent of the world’s biodiversity loss, the Global Resources Outlook 2019 found.
If resource use doubles by 2060, as predicted based on current trends, a further 10 percent of forests and 20 percent of habitats, such as grasslands, will disappear, it said.
“We have had commitments from parties, from multi lateral organizations including the World Bank committing to work with countries like Kenya and other African countries who are badly impacted by climate change. And I think that’s a positive step in the right direction, and if other friendly countries and multinational institutions can take similar steps that would help in addressing the urgent need of mitigating and adapting to the impact of climate change,” said Blama Nathenian, a delegate at the conference.
Experts warned that without more responsible, efficient natural resource management, achieving global targets on climate change like the Paris Agreement and or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) on protecting biodiversity will be difficult. The European commission has called for action over the risks posed by pharmaceutical chemicals discharged into the environment.
In the EU, 90 percent of pharmaceuticals found in the environment are excreted by people and animals, and come from urban wastewater, sewage sludge and manure, the commission said, chemistryworld.com wrote.
Emissions from manufacturing and the disposal of unused pharmaceuticals are the next largest sources.
There is growing evidence that the levels of some pharmaceuticals found in soil and water pose a risk to wildlife, partly because they are designed to act at low concentrations. For example, endocrine-disrupting chemicals may affect the reproduction of fish. There are also concerns that the release of antimicrobials may be contributing to the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
The six areas identified by the commission include actions to raise awareness and promote ‘prudent’ use of drugs, improve training and risk assessment, gather monitoring data, incentivize ‘green design’, reduce emissions from manufacturing, and reduce waste and improve wastewater treatment. The commission’s plan emphasizes sharing good practices, cooperating at international level and improving understanding of the risks.
“This topic has caused considerable anxiety for almost 20 years,” said Andrew Johnson at the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology.
“We are aware that some pharmaceuticals, such as ethinylestradiol, can cause effects on individual organisms in the aquatic environment. However, as far as the freshwater environment goes, we do not have evidence that these compounds are harming wildlife populations. So there is an argument that the situation is not damaging our freshwater ecosystem as a whole.”
Antimicrobial resistance is a concern, he added, but it is less clear that the water route is a major issue for human health.
Many of the commission’s recommendations are small incremental improvements, Johnson said.
“The most attractive to me is improving public access to environmental risk assessment results — hopefully those held by the companies. More and better targeted monitoring would also have its merits. It is a shame that more research effort is not proposed into looking at whether pharmaceuticals really harm wildlife populations.’
In a statement, the Association of the European Self-medication Industry, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and Medicines for Europe, which represents generic drug manufacturers, welcomed the publication of the commission’s strategy, particularly the ‘holistic lifecycle approach’ to minimizing the impact of pharmaceuticals on the environment and facilitating exchange of best practices.
They point out that industry has already identified most of these areas to reduce possible environmental risks. But it welcomed the strategic focus on improving water management and on expanding monitoring of environmental impact on specific elements of the environment, such as the gathering of relevant data in effluents from potential hotspots.