To make substantial strides in conservation, we must consider biodiversity as more than a commodity

We must first recognize that all life is interconnected. Nature is not something separate from us. We are a part of nature.

By Olivia May Galloway Contributor
Mon., Dec. 27, 2021

Considering Canada’s recent COP26 pledge to allot 20 per cent of climate funding to address biodiversity loss, we must revisit the reasons why this issue is substantial.

Defined as the variety of life on earth, biodiversity underpins the health of our planet. When it comes to biodiversity loss, most arguments only mention natures “usefulness” to humans. We must step away from this anthropocentric, materialistic world view and toward considering ourselves a part of nature to invoke meaningful change.

Certainly, there are practical ways to understand why biodiversity loss is important. Global health implications mean millions of people face a future where food is limited and more vulnerable to pathogens. It means freshwater will be in short supply, and we will see more frequent health epidemics. Not to mention that ecosystems and biodiversity have an economic value more than 100 times greater than what it would cost to conserve them. However, biodiversity is more than a commodity.

We must first recognize that all life is interconnected. Nature is not something separate from us. We are a part of nature. We must consider nature as our home, not just a place we visit. Until we realize that we are one part within a larger whole, we will keep failing to preserve our planet for future generations.

All species play a critical role. Some are larger, such as keystone species and ecosystem engineers, and some are smaller, such as contributions to the food web, like seed dispersal or pollination. A diverse abundance of species supports essential ecosystem functions. When biodiversity is lost, we see cascading ecosystem failures and a loss of resilience.

Life on earth has existed for millions of years before humans. In centuries, we have caused considerable harm to the planet. Biodiversity is one of the myriad ways the universe evolved, and we should be the part that admires it. We can learn about the past from nature. Lake sediments provide insight into the climate and ecosystems of the past. Some reptiles have been around for thousands of years before the dinosaurs. Fossils are snapshots of history, showing how species evolved. Alas, the geological legacy of humans will be causing this planet’s sixth mass extinction.

Everything has a right to exist outside of the ability of humans to commodify it.

We are lucky to coexist with nature. Beautiful, strange, and diverse species of plants and animals invoke feelings of wonder and connection to the natural world. Nature provides enrichment that makes life meaningful.

Humans are not the central, most important entity in the universe. We do not exist among disposable resources created for us. Canada has taken a step in the right direction, but more action is needed than planting trees and funding “nature-based” solutions. Biodiversity must be conserved for its intrinsic value, not only for the resources it provides.

“Only when the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize that we cannot eat money” — Indigenous proverb

Olivia May Galloway is a biology student at the University of Ottawa.

 

Protected areas not enough to save South-East Asia's forests

by SciDev.Net

Logging in Malaysia. A new study says forest cover is being lost in South-East Asian protected forest areas at almost the same rate as non-protected areas. Credit: Stephen Codrington CC BY 2.5

Forest cover is being lost in South-East Asian protected forest areas at almost the same rate as non-protected areas in many countries amid ballooning populations, says a new eight-country study.

Forests play an integral part in the carbon cycle, support livelihoods and supply goods and services that can drive sustainable growth according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The IUCN defines a protected area as an area of land especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity. Protected areas now cover more than 17 million square kilometers, or 15 percent of the earth's land area.

Yet results of the study published December in Nature show that protected areas in Indonesia lost just four percent less than unprotected regions.

That's significant because regional deforestation trends in South-East Asia are influenced largely by Indonesia, where about 40 percent of protected areas are located and where over half of the region's forests remain.

While the overall rate of forest loss across South-East Asia was three times lower inside protected areas during 2000—2018, the period studied, than in unprotected landscapes, there are significant variations.

Malaysia's protected area network performed the best, saving a sixth of the amount of forest cover which would have otherwise been lost, when compared to non-protected regions. Protected areas also helped Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam save over a tenth more forest cover than non-protected regions.

However, at the other end of the scale, protected areas in the Philippines lost more forest cover than in unprotected areas, due to the fact that the protected regions see high levels of human activity, a trend particularly evident on the island of Palawan which suffered more forest loss than expected, the study said.

Victoria Graham, an author of the study and researcher at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, says that as human pressure intensifies, protected areas become less effective at conserving biodiversity, unless there is adequate investment.

"Protected areas in the Philippines have higher levels of human pressure than other countries. This, coupled with diminishing forest cover in unprotected landscapes across the country, means that protected areas must withstand escalating deforestation pressure due to a lack of choice in available forest resources," Graham said.

Overall, the expanding South-East Asian human population has contributed to the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its forests over the past decades, according to World Population Prospects, 2019, a UN publication.

The Philippines alone could lose almost a third of a million hectares of forests by the end of the decade unless there is a "transformational change in the country's approach to dealing with deforestation", says a separate study published November in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.

Geetha Gopinath, environmental educator and assistant professor at the Central University of Hyderabad, India, says that higher levels of management resourcing are necessary for greater reductions in carbon emissions and protection of South-East Asia's forests. "Good governance, sound design and plans for effective management are notable yardsticks to assess the standard of successful conservation outcomes," she said.

Macquarie's Graham added that stronger forest protection and conservation efforts are needed in South-East Asia's existing protected areas to avert projected trajectories of forest cover and forest carbon loss estimated by 2050.

"Achieving more widespread conservation objectives in protected areas across South-East Asia is possible with scaled-up investment, specifically in parks with threatened biodiversity," she said.Global study reveals effectiveness of protected area

More information: Graham, V. et al, Southeast Asian protected areas are effective in conserving forest cover and forest carbon stocks compared to unprotected areas, Sci Rep (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03188-w

Bernard Peter Daipan, Patterns of forest cover loss in the terrestrial Key Biodiversity Areas in the Philippines: critical habitat conservation priorities, Journal of Threatened Taxa (2021). DOI: 10.11609/jott.6904.13.13.20019-20032

Journal information: Nature 

Provided by SciDev.Net

KURDISTAN

No justice for Roboski massacre victims after 10 yearsThe case is closed, and no one has been jailed for the massacre.
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

Victims wrapped in blankets lay on a rural road while relatives wait for tractors to take them to the village of Roboski in the Kurdish province of Sirnak, Dec. 29, 2011. (Photo: DHA)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Tuesday is the 10th anniversary of the Roboski massacre when Turkish airstrikes killed 34 civilians. Even though a decade has passed, nobody has been charged, held responsible, or punished.

On Dec. 28, 2011, the Turkish Air Force bombed 40 civilians who were smuggling goods on mules from the Kurdistan Region to the northern side of the border, killing 34 of them.

Read More: In letter from Turkey prison, Kurdish leader commemorates Roboski massacre

For the past decade, families of the victims have been waiting for justice in Turkey and through the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), but no one has been punished to date.


Since the necessary documents submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) were sent too late, the ECHR rejected the application in 2018.

The case is closed, and no one has been jailed for the massacre.

The only ones who have been jailed or prosecuted are family members of the massacre victims.

Veli Encu, who lost his brother Serhat in the airstrike, and Barış Encu, who lost his brother Nevzat, are in prison for protesting the massacre, the Kurdish ANF agency reported.

Former politician of the pro-Kurdish HDP (People's Democratic Party), Ayhan Bilgen, told Kurdistan 24 that it's not acceptable the case was closed and no one punished for the massacre.

"Roboski is an open wound that bleeds and causes great trauma," he said.

The HDP in Europe tweeted that the government was responsible for the massacre.

"It's 10 years since the war planes of this government bombed and massacred 34 people in Roboski, the majority of them children," it said. "Neither Roboski, nor the massacres perpetrated in other cities to be forgotten."

Levent Gök, an MP for the Republican People's Party (CHP), recalled that incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said he would not allow the case to be forgotten. Erdogan was the prime minister when the Roboski massacre happened.

"But there is currently no mechanism in the judiciary, the state and under the auspices of parliament to handle this case," Gök told Kurdistan 24.

"This is because all government and state officials have a hand in this incident. The case is closed and lost," he said.

He said the CHP would set up an investigation in the parliament to investigate the incident.

Additional reporting by Vural Erişmiş.

Female politician sworn in as first Kurdish lawmaker in Iceland’s parliament

 Wladimir van Wilgenburg 

Lenya Rún Taha Karim is sworn in as the first Kurdish member of Iceland's parliament, Dec. 27, 2021. (Photo: Twitter/Icelandic Parliament livestream)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Lenya Rún Taha Karim, a 22-year-old law student, was sworn in as the first ethnic Kurdish lawmaker on Monday in the Icelandic parliament, known as the Alþingi.

Karim was third on the libertarian Pirate Party’s list for the Reykjavík North district and was initially celebrated as the youngest person to win a seat in the Icelandic parliament.

Read More: Kurdish woman becomes youngest person to win seat in Icelandic parliament

However, the Guardian reported her victory was short-lived and overturned by the recount, and in the ensuing weeks it has taken her to be sworn in, she has instead become the fifth-youngest MP in Icelandic history.

“These were a good nine hours,” said Karim in a tweet in September.

Moreover, the recount also ended the female majority in the parliament on Sunday.

The Grapevine reported that both Karim and fellow MP Gunn­hildur Fríða Hall­gríms­dóttir were called in to replace Pirate MPs Björn Leví Gunn­ars­son and Andrés Ingi Jóns­son.

"I got a seat in parliament because the MP above me needed to be replaced temporarily so I’m the one who replaces him," Karim told Kurdistan 24.

"My focus in parliament so far has been on improvements in our judicial system so that victims of sexual assault can feel safe and their cases will be taken care of timely and professionally," she added. "I’m focusing on the legal angle of this matter and I want to make changes to the laws which apply to sexual offenses."

Karim’s mother moved to Iceland in 1996 and her father in 1993, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RUV) earlier reported.

The family moved to the Kurdistan Region in 2013 and then returned to Iceland three years later.

“I live with the privilege of having been born and raised here in Iceland and speaking good Icelandic,” Karim told RUV in February.

Kurdish photographer comes in third place for UNICEF Photo of the Year Award

“They are the hidden victims of society who, in fact, cannot experience many of the beauties of life, they will grow up without the true love of their father.”

 Wladimir van Wilgenburg 

Mustafa and his grandchildren

 (Photo: Younes Mohammad/Middle East Images agency).

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdish photographer Younes Mohammad from the Middle East Images this year won the third prize in the UNICEF Germany’s Photo of the Year Award for his photography depicting the difficult life of children whose fathers were injured in the ISIS war.

For this long-term project, Mohammed spoke with several hundred wounded Peshmerga, taking portraits of them and their families. He documented their struggle and difficult lives after the conflict.

Some of the Kurdish girls and boys portrayed by Younes Mohammed are still babies, others are between four and 16 years old.

“In some cases, they are simply too young to be traumatized by the scars of war, but they are already part of the story of their fathers, which will also become their own,” UNICEF said.

“Mohammad has portrayed the great strength of children when it comes to dealing with the fates of their families, to accepting the disabilities of their fathers, to loving and to smiling,” it added.

“He also wants to show a feeling of security that can be stronger than all the suffering experienced. And the confidence of the injured, which comes from their children.”

Mohammed told Kurdistan 24 that the real award should go to the heroic Peshmerga of Kurdistan and their families who “sacrificed their lives for the sake of security and freedom of their homeland.”

“I soon realized that children are the biggest victims of the war and no one names them,” he said. “They are the hidden victims of society who, in fact, cannot experience many of the beauties of life, they will grow up without the true love of their father.”

Salman and his kids

 (Photo: Younes Mohammad/Middle East Images agency).

“Their fathers cannot hug them or play with them or go with them to the park and other places, and these children have actually lost the present and the future at the same time, and no one knows how and with what difficulty they will grow up and what will be their destiny,” he added.

Mohammed hopes that this award will make the children of injured Peshmerga in Kurdistan “more visible for the world.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNICEF award ceremony wasn’t held this year and only published digitally. However, the photo’s of the winners will be shown in the German parliament for four weeks from Dec. 21, and then shown in other German cities.

Younes Mohammad was born in Duhok in 1968. He lived as a refugee in Iran from 1974 until 1998. There, he studied at the University of Tehran, where he also received his master’s degree.

It was not until 2011 that he was able to begin a career in photography. He played a major role in covering the Kurdish fight against ISIS.

He has already received numerous awards for his work in the US, Australia, India, South Korea and several European countries. For his Peshmerga project alone, he has won over 10 awards.

KURDISTAN

PHOTOS:

Erbil hosting chocolate, coffee exhibition Furthermore, more coffee shops and vendors have opened in Erbil in recent years as the Kurdish capital’s youth look for entrepreneurial initiatives to secure an income.

 Halgurd Sherwani 

The exhibition will last for three days in Erbil, Dec. 29, 2021. 

(Photo: Rebaz Siyan/Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region capital Erbil launched a chocolate and coffee exhibition on Wednesday.

The three-day-long exhibition, situated at the entrance of Shanadar Park, will begin each day at 10 am until early evening, organizers told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday.

The exhibition features several brands of chocolate and coffee from various regional and international brands.

A resident walks by a coffee pavilion at the exhibition, Dec. 29, 2021.

 (Photo: Rebaz Siyan/Kurdistan 24)

The most popular caffeinated drink in the Kurdistan Region and its capital is black tea. However, the number of coffee drinkers in the autonomous region increased in recent years as more international brands entered its markets.

Furthermore, more coffee shops and vendors have opened in Erbil in recent years as the Kurdish capital’s youth look for entrepreneurial initiatives to secure an income.

Coffee pots on display at the exhibition, Dec. 29, 2021.

 (Photo: Rebaz Siyan/Kurdistan 24)

Before the influx of coffee shops and Western-style restaurants, the Kurdistan Region’s tea houses were the favorite rendezvous for many to discuss pressing societal issues.

Despite the influx of Arabic and other international coffee brands, Kurdish people have recently embraced drinking terebinth coffee, locally known as “Qazwan”.

A woman pours coffee into a small cup, Dec. 29, 2021. 

(Photo: Rebaz Siyan/Kurdistan 24)

A Kurdish university lecturer recently argued that the beverage should be called “Kurdish coffee” as it was originally produced in the Turkish Kurdistan’s Bitlis region before the establishment of the Turkish republic.

University lecturer calls for renaming terebinth coffee ‘Kurdish coffee’ The Turkish name of the coffee is Menengiç.

 
 Halgurd Sherwani 2021/12/26 12:06

Demitasse of terebinth coffee (right). 

The cover of the French company's brand of the beverage (left). 

(Photos: Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A university lecturer in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil province has argued that the original name of terebinth coffee was “Kurdish coffee” until it was renamed Menengic by the Kemalists in Turkey in the 1930s.

Karwan Sabah Hawrami is a lecturer at the Salahaddin University-Hawler. In a Dec. 22 Facebook post, he argued that coffee has a history that dates back to 1635.

The coffee is made from the terebinth berries of Kurdistan’s mountains.

A French company was marketing the coffee in Europe before the Kemalists forcibly changed its name to “Turkish coffee”, Hawrami wrote.

The Turkish name of the coffee is Menengiç.

Locally, the coffee is now called Qazwan (terebinth) by people in the Kurdistan Region and is served under that name in restaurants and coffee shops.

Hawrami calls on the government, coffee shops, and restaurant owners to name it “Kurdish coffee” instead of “Qazwan”, as the former is the “original” moniker.

Hawrami is an expert in hydrology and geography.

Terebinth berries are roasted to extract the paste of the fruit for making the coffee, which is mixed with milk and served in demitasses. It is a popular drink in the Kurdistan Region.

NOT ENOUGH FOR ECOCIDE

Mauritius Oil Spill - Captain and First Officer Get 20-Month Jail Terms

International Maritime Organization
IMO continues to support international efforts to respond to the oil spill in Mauritius, following the break up of the MV Wakashio. IMO and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) have jointly deployed an expert, who is advising the Government of Mauritius on the mitigation of the impacts on the environment and coastal communities.

27 DECEMBER 2021
Deutsche Welle (Bonn)

Captain Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar admitted he had been drinking alcohol as cargo ship Wakashio ran aground in July 2020, spilling more than 1,000 tons of fuel into the Indian Ocean.

The captain and first officer of a cargo ship that crashed into a coral reef off Mauritius, resulting in the Indian Ocean archipelago's worst ever environmental disaster, were handed 20-month prison sentences on Monday.

The Wakashio cargo ship was sailing from Singapore to Brazil when it struck the coral reef on July 25, 2020. Some 1,000 tons of oil began spilling into the pristine waters on August 6, prompting the Mauritius government to declare a state of "environmental emergency."

"The court took into consideration the fact that both defendants pleaded guilty and apologized. The sentence handed down is 20 months in prison," said magistrate Ida Dookhy Rambarrun.

Navigating under the influence

The freighter's captain - Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar, who was convicted by a court in the capital, Port Louis, last week - admitted drinking alcohol during an onboard birthday celebration.

He and the Japanese-owned bulk carrier's first officer - Hitihanillage Subhoda Janendra Tilakaratna - were found guilty of "endangering safe navigation."

"The captain and his second in command were irresponsible and did not deliver as they should on their 'navigational duties'," the magistrate added.

The captain said he had given instructions to approach Mauritian waters so the crew could acquire cellphone coverage and have the opportunity to get in touch with their families, but then disaster struck.

"The sea was bad, but the visibility was clear and it was safe to navigate," Nandeshwar explained. "At one point, the ship could not move and had touched the sea floor."

"Since I had had a few drinks, it did not seem worthwhile to intervene and it did not occur to me that we were sailing that close."

jsi/dj (AFP)

Mauritius oil spill: Ship's captain admits to partying onboard, gets jail sentence

About 1 000 tonnes of oil spilled from a Japanese tanker, the MV Wakashio in August 2020, after it ran aground near Mauritius.
GALLO IMAGES - GETTY IMAGES

The captain and first officer of a dry bulk carrier, which triggered the biggest environmental disaster in Mauritius, have been sentenced to 20 months in prison in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar, the captain, and Subodha Tilakaratna, the first officer of the MV Wakashio were sentenced in the Intermediate Court of Mauritius on Monday. Both pleaded guilty on December 20 to the charge of endangering safe navigation.

Since the two men have been in police custody for almost 16 months and the guilty plea means leniency in the sentencing, the length of imprisonment are deemed to have been completed.

“If we take into account the time spent on remand and remission for good conduct, the sentence may be seen as served,” Amira Peeroo, lawyer for Tilakaratna said in a phone interview from Port Louis, after the sentencing.

Mauritius battled widespread pollution following the oil spill, which threatened the livelihoods of communities that depend on the ocean, and the Blue Bay Marine reserve, popular with snorkelers. The Mauritian economy relies on tourists who flock to its white-sand beaches is also reeling from the coronavirus fallout.

The 300m long Japanese ship was en route to Brazil from China when it veered off course in the evening on July 25, 2020 and hit a coral reef. Two weeks later, fuel oil started leaking with about 1 000 tons reaching the shores. The vessel then broke into two and sunk.

Nandeshwar admitted to drinking and partying. He agreed that the vessel sailed close to the Mauritian shores so that they could get mobile phone signals, according to media reports.

Mali's Military Government JUNTA - 

Russia Sends Trainers, Not Mercenaries

Mark Fischer/Flickr
A view of Bamako, Mali with the Niger River in the background.

28 DECEMBER 2021
Voice of America (Washington, DC)

By Annie Risemberg

Bamako — Mali's military government has denied hiring Russian mercenaries from the controversial Wagner Group, which has been sanctioned by the European Union for rights abuses. France and 15 other Western nations last week condemned what they said was Russia's deployment of Wagner fighters to Mali. Mali's transitional government says it is only engaged with official Russian military trainers. Analysts weigh in on Russia's military involvement in Mali as French troops are drawing down.

Mali's transitional government this month denied what it called "baseless allegations" that it hired the controversial Russian security firm the Wagner Group to help fight Islamist insurgents.

Western governments and U.N. experts have accused Wagner of rights abuses, including killing civilians, in the Central African Republic and Libya.

The response came Friday after Western nations made the accusations, which Mali's military government dismissed with a demand that they provide independent evidence.

A day earlier, France and 15 other Western nations had condemned what they called the deployment of Wagner mercenaries to Mali.

The joint statement said they deeply regret the transitional authorities' choice to use already scarce public funds to pay foreign mercenaries instead of supporting its own armed forces and the Malian people.

The statement also called on the Russian government to behave more responsibly, accusing it of providing material support to the Wagner Group's deployment, which Moscow denies.

The Mali government acknowledged what it called "Russian trainers" were in the country. It said they were present to help strengthen the operational capacities of their defense and security forces.

Aly Tounkara is director of the Center for Security and Strategic Studies in the Sahel, a Bamako-based think tank.

He says it's hard to tell if the Russian security presence is military or mercenary but, regardless, would likely be supporting rather than front-line fighting.

This could allow the Malian army to have victories over the enemy that will be attributed to them, says Tounkara, which was not the case with the French forces. He says the second advantage is that victories over extremists could allow Mali's military to legitimize itself. We must remember, says Tounkara, that one of the reasons for the forced departure of President Keita, was that the security situation was so bad.

Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown in an August 2020 coup led by Colonel Assimi Goita after months of anti-government protests, much of it over worsening security.

Goita launched a second coup in May that removed the interim government leaders, but has promised to hold elections in 2022.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been pushing Mali's military government to hold elections.

ECOWAS in November expressed concern over a potential Wagner Group deployment to Mali after unconfirmed reports that the military government was in talks with the mercenary group.

Popular protests in Bamako have called for French forces to leave Mali and last year some protesters were seen calling for Russian ones to intervene.

Since French forces first arrived in Mali in 2013, public opinion on their presence has shifted from favorable to widely negative.

The French military has been gradually drawing down its anti-insurgent Operation Barkhane forces from the Sahel region.

French forces this year withdrew from all but one military base in northern Mali, saying the Malian armed forces were ready to take the lead on their own security.

But analysts say one consequence of the French leaving is that the Malian army is seeking other partners.

Boubacar Salif Traore is director of Afriglob Conseil, a Bamako-based development and security consulting firm.

"Official Russian cooperation would be very advantageous for the Malian army in terms of supplying equipment," he says. "Mali, and many African countries, notably the Central African Republic, have concluded that France does not play fair in terms of delivering arms. Every time these states ask for weapons, either there's an embargo or there is a problem in procuring these weapons. Russia can provide these weapons without constraints and it's precisely that which interests Mali."

In September, Mali received four military helicopters and other weapons bought from Russia.

The Malian transitional government's statement Friday did not elaborate on what the Russian trainers would be doing in Mali.

When asked to comment, a government spokesman would not elaborate and referred questions to the ministry of foreign affairs, which does not list any contact numbers on its website.

NEO COLONIALIST BRAIN DRAIN

 In 2021, Nigeria Witnessed 'Unprecedented Exodus of Health Professionals'


Pixabay
(file photo).

28 DECEMBER 2021
Vanguard (Lagos)By Obinna Chima

... Says holistic reform of health sector overdue

No doubt that the health sector has been eventful throughout 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic in particular has disrupted every aspect of life and equally exposed massive gaps in Nigeria with its relatively weak health systems.

As the end of the year approaches, Good Health Weekly spoke to Dr Casmier Ifeanyi, a health analyst and renowned Medical Laboratory Scientist and a former National Publicity Secretary of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN.

In his appraisal, Ifeanyi notes that 2021 is more of a carry-over of years of numerous challenges that have long bedevilled the health sector. He regretted tthe rampant effect of brain drain on the nation's even amid the COVID-19 pandemicc and called for comprehensive and systemic repositioning of the health sector. Excerpts:

The Nigerian health sector in the year ending 2021 has been relatively eventful. This 2021 is more of a carry-over year of the numerous challenges that have long bedevilled the health sector. The preceding year 2020, was the onset of the Global COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. That global public health challenge caught the country very much ill-prepared for the response and containment of the pandemic.

The nation's health sector ever since has been struggling. Of course, before the pandemic, our health systems were rather in shambles, and had been roundly adjudged as frail and dysfunctional.

Our hospitals were in disrepair, dilapidated and the workforce ill-motivated. Notwithstanding the situation of the country's health sector, it proved very resilient when confronted with the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Nigeria Health sector managed the COVID-19 response commendably considering our limited resources. Credit must be given to President Muhammadu Buhari who spared no resource towards reactivating and revamping the health system including the health infrastructure.

Unfortunately, in spite of all the huge investments, not much has changed in the sector up to the end of the year. The sad narrative is that most of the dilapidations and systemic decay subsist.

How health sector fared in all aspects

The Nigerian health sector faired poorly in the year under review. Despite enhanced budgetary provisions, the huge sums appropriated and released, it is unfortunate that the health sector is yet to better serve the Nigerian people. There were the usual episodic inglorious industrial unrest and strike especially the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD. The 2021 NARD strike was the most protracted in recent time and it crippled the Hospitals across the country. The issues in dispute that led to the strikes are yet to become fully resolved. Again, imagine that the Federal Government released the sum of N1 billion each to almost all the 36 States and the FCT, and another tranche of about N950M each was released to all Federal Tertiary Hospitals as special Covid-19 Intervention fund, regrettably, there are virtually little or nothing in most of these hospitals commensurate to such humongous investment in the health sector in 2021.

In the year ending, Nigeria witnessed unprecedented exodus of healthcare professionals of all categories out of the country to other climes for greener pasture.

It was a matter of national embarrassment when it trended that Dubai and many other countries set up centres in hotels and in many other undisclosed places in Abuja and Lagos to massively recruit Nigerian healthcare professionals for their home countries.

Rather than address the root cause, the Nigerian Government reactionarily resorted to clamping down on such centres. Even this December, young and vibrant Nigerian healthcare professionals, the critical mass of the health workforce are still leaving the country in droves.

You cannot point to any tangible infrastructural intervention in the health sector in 2021 to support the much-touted Government interest to revamp the health sector and systems and to bring it up to par so as to meet the prevailing health challenges the nation and her people are grappling with.

Just recently, the Minister of Budget visited the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital for an on-the-spot assessment of the utilisation of their own N950 million Covid-19 intervention fund.

The Minister could not hide his disappointment as he was not shown anything substantial and he left threatening that Federal Government will invoke the anti-graft agency to probe how the fund was used. Managers of the Nigerian health sector are yet to make the most of the lessons derivable from the COVID-19 experience.

Candidly, the Nigerian health sector did not fare better during the year under review. The health systems are not revamped yet; the health systems are not reformed yet. To help reposition the health sector, there is the need of urgent holistic reforms.

Effect of pandemic on the medical lab sector

Under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, there has been steady improvement of budgetary allocation to the health sector. Even though we are yet to attain the 15 percent Abuja Declaration, the country has hovered between 4 and 5 percent and that is commendable progress.

If increment on the annual appropriation to the health sector. It is worrisome this budgetary improvement has not translated to an enhanced medical laboratory services provision for the Nigerian People.

To date, no medical laboratory in the public hospitals in Nigeria has any form of "third party" accreditation for the testing being performed in these hospitals. Many of the public medical laboratories are poorly equipped and resourced to provide cutting edge diagnosis.

Not much was done in the year under review to revolutionise medical laboratory services in Nigeria. The ability of a country to detect disease is a function of its capacitated medical laboratory structure and workforce.

The willful underdevelopment of the medical laboratory sector in Nigeria has continued to fester. Apart from the modest efforts of the management of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, the country's ability to detect disease timeously particularly diseases that we are endemic in our country which has continued to take a huge toll on our country has remained very rudimentary.

In Nigeria, medical laboratory diagnosis of diseases such as Lassa, fever, meningitis, cholera and other childhood killer diseases remain a huge challenge. So, one key area in the Nigerian health sector needing and deserving attention is building capacity for the medical laboratory sector. We need to capacitate our medical laboratories in the tertiary health institutions, specialist hospitals and secondary health instituatons.

Supportive medical laboratory systems for timeous disease diagnoses and disease notification systems are not in place in Nigeria.

Way forward

I want to appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to consider for 2022 a holistic reform of the Nigerian health sector as it is long overdue.

The hegemonic structure of the sector is its major impediment of the health system. Government should improve funding and track its investment in to ensure value for money and to curb corruption.

That is one effective intervention that we can help mitigate medical tourism. Government must urgently put measures in place to mitigate the ugly mass exodus of healthcare professionals occasioning brain drain.

Though not enough, the Nigerian President, a couple of days ago had directed for some interventions to assuage the agitation in the health sector.

President Mohammadu Buhari recently directed that the arrears of all the withheld salaries of health workers that embarked on strike previously, for whom the no work, no pay rule was evoked be paid. Relatedly, the National Income, Salaries and Wages Commission, this December released the approved revised hazard allowances for all categories of health workers.

Although there are misgivings about what was approved, that is also commendable because something better than N5000 has been offered by the government. That is commendable.

The government needs to do more. One of the things I expect in the new year is to resolve the issues about pay disparity, parity and relativity in the remuneration of Nigerian healthcare workers that will encourage retention and help mitigate brain drain of healthcare professionals.

The government should make it mandatory for the Chief Medical Directors and the Medical Directors of the various federal tertiary hospitals and specialist hospitals to holistically adopt the Quality Management System (QMS) and hence pursue, and attain international accreditation such as JCI and ISO for the services they render.

This is the most effective way of turning around our health system and repositioning them to better serve the Nigerian people. Everything is not about funding.

ECOCIDE

Nigeria: Pipeline Vandalism, Sabotage, Others Culminate in Shutdown of 8 Oil Terminals - Report

Amnesty International
(file photo).

28 DECEMBER 2021
Vanguard (Lagos)By Ediri Ejoh

Pipeline vandalism, sabotage and other factors have culminated in the shutdown of eight oil terminals, according to data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

The eight oil terminals, including Forcados, Bonny, Odudu, Brass, Yoho, Urha, Ajapa and Aje, were shut between August and October, 2021, leading to losses and deferred crude oil production valued at about N556 billion at the official exchange rate of N411.95 to the dollar.

As a result, deferred/lost production in October alone was to the tune of 4,824,946 barrels of oil, the lowest among the figures posted during the three-month period. Losses and deferment in August, September and October were put at 6,680,620 barrels; 6,362,700 barrels; and 4,824,946 barrels respectively.

Already, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, has put Nigeria's oil output at 1.273 million barrels per day, mb/d in November 2021, indicating a shortfall of 300,000 below its 1.5 mb/d quota. The latest output also showed a drop of 4.2 percent compared to 1.329 mb/d, excluding condensate, produced in the corresponding period of 2020.

The organisation which disclosed this in its December 2021 Monthly Oil Market Report, MOMR, obtained by Vanguard, noted that the output was based on data obtained from direct sources.

However, the report did not provide reasons for the declining output during the period, but Vanguard investigation pointed to factors, such as pipeline vandalism, oil theft and illegal refining.

Also, in its latest report obtained by Vanguard, Shell stated: "While the Shell Petroleum Development Company joint venture (SPDC JV) is not responsible for preventing illegal oil refineries, it is committed to preventing attacks and breaches of its pipelines and well heads. In 2020, 92 percent of oil spills were caused by sabotage and theft - similar to previous years.

"Sabotage incidents often occur in remote areas of the Niger Delta where access is difficult. The SPDC JV works closely with government agencies, non-governmental organisations and communities to proactively minimize spills from illegal activity.

This involves using simplified zonal pipeline maps to enhance targeted response and prevent incidents from occurring."