GAIA Africa Hosts Media Briefing to Mobilise African Journalists in Support of an Ambitious Global Plastics Treaty GAIA Africa hosted an online media briefing for African journalists ahead of the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) on the Global Plastics Treaty. Held on July 24, the session emphasised the critical role of journalists in amplifying the key priorities of African civil society, urging governments to adopt an ambitious position against plastic pollution, and unpacking the treaty’s regional implications. Africa has played a leading role in the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, beginning with the adoption of AMCEN Decision 19/2 —a landmark mandate by African ministers that firmly established the continent’s priorities. This decision solidified the African Group of Negotiators’ (AGN) common position, committing the region to advocate for a legally binding global treaty that addresses plastic pollution across its entire ...
The Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) has urged the National Assembly to expunge sections of the Land Use Act that grants governors limitless powers to revoke and expropriate lands at will, insisting that practical examples have shown them to be inhibitors of development. EDEN made this demand and a host of others at the just-concluded zonal public hearing on the proposed alteration to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. Other demands that EDEN made included a call for enforcement of environment protection to serve as pivotal support for life and livelihoods, citizens’ participation in the budget and the need for independent electoral bodies, among others. In a memorandum to the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution the group said that under the Land Use Act as currently enforced here is overreach on the part of the governors hence Sections 21, 26 and 28 of the Act should be expunged. T...