Planet Policy Pals Podcast

Agriculture provides employment for roughly 25 million people in Pakistan and is the main income source for 34% and 74% of economically active men and women respectively in the country. The sector is taking hit after hit due to our rapidly changing climate and the resources for adaptation and mitigation are limited here, as they are in most developing nations, even though the country is considered a low emitter and contributor to the climate crisis. Our guest, Risham Amjad, is an environmental policy consultant who focuses on research to raise climate funding for the agricultural sector in Pakistan. Her experience studying impacts of climate change on rural economies, livelihoods and weather patterns in Pakistan, makes this episode exciting and enlightening!

Links used for references are below: 

https://www.ais.unwater.org/ais/pluginfile.php/232/mod_page/content/128/pakistan_murtaza_finalcountryreport2012.pdf

https://www.dawn.com/news/1624382

https://www.climate-refugees.org/spotlight/2021/7/30/pakistan

https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/CSA-in-Pakistan.pdf

http://www.mocc.gov.pk/ProjectDetail/M2QzOWJmMjUtZTU3MC00NmFkLWE4YmMtZDFhMmRlOGU2NGRh

https://pakistan.un.org/en/49847-planting-seeds-new-normal-rural-women-pakistan-amid-covid-19

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/11/1054809644/climate-change-cop26-loss-and-damage

Captions of transcript available on our YouTube Page

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An estimated 70–80% of the MSW generated in Africa is recyclable, yet only 4% of MSW is currently recycled. 5% of all textiles go to the dump every year, according to the World Economic Forum, enough to fill Sydney Harbor annually. In a state with growing businesses and clothes manufacturers, the issue of fast fashion that is quickly disposed of is adding to a dire solid waste management crisis. We speak with Ken Ajah, owner of fabrics by Nonso, on the solutions, what he sees happening with implemented government strategies, and where he thinks the future of waste management and sustainable fashion are headed in Abia state, and Nigeria as a whole.

Links used for references are below: 

Defeating environmental degradation in Abia

(PDF) Analysis of Post-Consumer Solid Textile Waste Management among Households in Oyo State of Nigeria

AfricA - Waste Management

Municipal solid waste management in Aba, Nigeria: Challenges and prospects 

Captions of transcript available on our YouTube Page

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The conversation with Mr. Pam, who is the head of the independent integrity unit at the GCF, continues in this episode. This time we talk about projects, the process for handling reports, the tools that ensure accountability and more. 

Links used for references are below: 

How can we meet the urgency of financing climate action in cities?

The broken $100-billion promise of climate finance — and how to fix it

Who Funds th e Fight Against Climate Change? - Means and Matters 

FP095: Transforming Financial Systems for Climate 

Captions of transcript available on our YouTube Page

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Mr. Ibrahim Pam, head of the Independent Integrity Unity (IIU) at the Green Climate Fund joins the policy pals to discuss how sustainable  projects can be financed with integrity. The GCF is currently the world’s largest dedicated multilateral climate fund and the main multilateral financing mechanism to support developing countries in achieving a reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions and an enhancement of their ability to respond to climate change. As such managing large funds across many projects requires major oversight and that is what we discuss with Mr. Pam in this episode.

Links used for references are below: 

The trillion dollar climate finance challenge (and opportunity) | | UN News

Green Climate Fund Update 

Green Climate Fund

Captions of transcript available on our YouTube Page

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Mrs. Semenitari is back for part 2 to get into the details of the causes behind the soot issue in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria. How effective are the government’s strategies? How valid are the claims of transitioning to greener energy? What do the people in the Niger Delta community get as a response to their worsening environmental issues? We tackle these difficult questions together and we want to hear what you think as well!

Links used for references are below: 

Africa's largest refinery, Nigeria's Dangote, to start operations in H2 2022: officials

Nigeria's Petroleum Industry Act: Addressing old problems, creating new ones

COP26: Nigeria To Reach Net-Zero Emissions By 2060, Says Buhari  

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There is a literal cloud hanging over the city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria that has existed for several years. For the local people of Port Harcourt, the soot has made life hell. In our first ever interview, Ibim Semenitari joins us to discuss an issue she and other members of her community are working to tackle. Mrs. Semenitari worked for over three decades as a journalist, in public service as Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Information and Communications, Rivers State, Nigeria as well as being a former Ag Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, an agency responsible for driving development in Nigeria's troubled oil-rich region. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Cosmopolitan where she serves as club advisor and was president of the group in 2020-2021.

Links used for references are below: 

Port Harcourt soot: Why is this Nigerian city covered in black soot? | CNN

Black Soot in Rivers State: 'Government Have Failed to Protect Citizens'

Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria

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The ozone layer filters out incoming radiation in the "cell-damaging" ultraviolet (UV) part of the spectrum. One example of ozone depletion is the annual ozone "hole" over Antarctica that has occurred during the Antarctic spring since the early 1980s. The effects of ozone depletion range include poor air quality, imbalance in bio-geo-chemical cycles, loss of biodiversity and a negative effect on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. However, tackling the issue of ozone depletion is one of the greatest environmental successes we have achieved on a global scale. Listen to find out how we did it, why we did it and what we can do to keep our very useful ozone layer intact.

Follow the link for show notes and references. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l4w_2I-32hoNZv1kyeDADjsNEpJe0EanILGoIVPTvQU/edit?usp=sharing 

Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page

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It has been 1 year exactly since we launched our first official episode and we are so grateful to all our listeners, so although we made sure to cover an environmental topic this week, we went real big picture and decided to just tackle the entire climate change issue in one go! LOL not even. It took nearly a century of research and data to convince the vast majority of the scientific community that human activity could alter the climate of our entire planet and still not everyone is convinced. In this episode, we discuss the history behind this division, the mechanisms and policy in place and the other effects of human impacts on the climate beyond rising temperatures. We also get real personal with our environmental preferences guys, it’s a good time.

Follow the link for show notes and references. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d1bkfeevNPW-NJZ26xadj28HOrj4iLzU82Jhx7qov5E/edit?usp=sharing 

Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page

In this episode, we continue our discussions on polar ice melting by shifting our focus to the Arctic and water. Changes to the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are of considerable societal importance, as they directly impact global sea levels, which are a result of climate change. Sea level rise will reshape coastlines as incoming water floods dry areas and erodes coastal features like beaches, cliffs and dunes. Policies and regulations governing this area are tricky because the region is a geographical area comprising eight countries including five coastal states with jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic Ocean. So, what will happen and what can we do? The pals get into it!

Follow the link for show notes and references. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13b-0dMeT4iqMXpU4jfxW6HQWUYZkts1aE7KA7LdgQ4c/edit?usp=sharing 

Captions of transcript available on our YouTube Page

In this episode we are going to talk about what happens when the polar ice caps melt, with a focus on effects seen in the earth’s crust and permafrost loss. Ongoing ice loss in West Antarctica has increased over the past few decades. Measurements since the 1950s indicate that the amount of sea ice in the Arctic has been declining. Permafrost in the Arctic alone is estimated to hold nearly twice as much carbon as exists in the atmosphere now, as well as a sizable amount of methane, and losing it turns what is one of the greatest carbon sinks on earth to a major emissions source. Since the retreat of a glacier can reduce stress loads on Earth’s crust underneath, impacting the movement of subsurface magma, this can lead to volcanic activity and other surface implications.

Follow the link for show notes and references. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O630cQPc-aUAWj3hRbufoK0aX4uP7xyzfAQpkoWbO84/edit?usp=sharing 

Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page