US embassy cable - 03LAGOS1034

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 001034 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SECSTATE FOR OES/FO (SPOVERMIRE); INFO AF/PD 
(AAMIRTHANAYAGAM); ABUJA FOR CPAO 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, EAID, KSCA, KPAO 
SUBJECT: PAS LAGOS CELEBRATES EARTH DAY 2003 
 
 
REF: State 086844 
 
 
1.   SUMMARY: On April 24, PAS Lagos organized a 
  lecture and panel discussion at our auditorium to mark 
  the 2003 Earth Day celebration.  Two panelists 
  delivered addresses on the occasion, the PAO and CAO 
  each introduced short films on the environment, and the 
  IRC distributed colorful Infopacks to provide guests 
  with additional material to stimulate deeper reflection 
  and discussion.  Earth Day posters, the 10-year 
  anniversary series as well as the 2003 set, adorned the 
  lobby and the auditorium.  We awarded Earth Day posters 
  to our first 15 guests.  END SUMMARY. 
2.   Approximately 70 guests attended the PAS Lagos 
  Earth Day event.  With help from the Educational 
  Advising Center (EAC) staff, we were able to reach a 
  younger audience.  Ten students, both high school and 
  undergraduates, were in attendance.  A large delegation 
  from the Lagos State Government attended, including the 
  Director of Environmental Services and a 1997-98 Hubert 
  H. Humphrey fellow.  EXXON/Mobil's Director of External 
  Affairs, academics and journalists also participated in 
  the program.  The bulk of the audience came from the 
  NGO sector. 
3.   PAS invited Melissa Cline, the ECONOFF who holds 
  post's environment portfolio, to be one of the featured 
  panelists.  Recently returned International Visitor 
  Folashade Jaji was the second panelist and in part 
  shared what she had experienced during the "Sustainable 
  Economic Development and Environmental Protection" 
  program, which took place in January 2003.  Jaji 
  currently leads the Lagos State Ministry for Women's 
  Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.  Given her portfolio 
  and recent IV experience, Jaji has briefed the State 
  Ministry for Environment on key issues. 
4.   Cline spoke on land use and regulation, at times 
  comparing critical issues in Lagos to those in her 
  hometown, Washington, DC.  She presented a clear five- 
  point plan to help NGOs, planners and other 
  stakeholders best achieve their goals for sustainable 
  and successful development.  Cline emphasized that all 
  stakeholders (i.e., government, NGOs, businesses and 
  academics) must develop a common agenda in order to 
  achieve a measure of success. 
5.   Jaji spoke about the spirit of volunteerism that 
  she witnessed in the U.S. and how it that spirit has 
  empowered American society, especially in the areas of 
  sustainable development and environmental awareness. 
  Jaji then re-capped her recommendations to Lagos State 
  on how to encourage safe growth in such a rapidly 
  expanding urban area.  "Smart Growth", she remarked, 
  did not necessarily mean "no growth."  In one 
  potentially controversial comment, Jaji also urged the 
  Nigerian government to remain open to genetically 
  modified foods, insisting that they are not detrimental 
  to one's health.  Her brief explanation of Lagos 
  State's Waste-To-Wealth program helped demonstrate how 
  byproducts of construction need not be dangerous to the 
  environment. 
6.   A very lively discussion took place after the 
  panelists' presentations.  One guest raised the 
  challenges of raising the environmental consciousness 
  of the poor when they are confronting basic survival 
  issues such as clothing, feeding and housing their 
  families.  Many participants urged the USG to 
  "pressure" the Nigerian government to respect 
  internationally recognized best practices in 
  environmental management.  Ms. Cline opined that 
  Nigerian NGOs were much better placed to undertake a 
  sustained environmental advocacy campaign. 
7.   BACKGROUND: Nigeria has ten cities with over 1 
  million inhabitants and as such, the nation's urban 
  environmental challenges are unique in sub-Saharan 
  African.  Nigeria's urban population now equals its 
  rural population; this is an entirely different reality 
  from just a few years ago.  Lagos is not the only city 
  in Nigeria with severe waste and urban sprawl problems, 
  but with a population approaching 15 million, it 
  unquestionably represents the most acute.  PAS 
  deliberately asked panelists to focus on urban issues, 
  and Lagos turned out to be an ideal city in which to 
  hold the event. 
8.   COMMENT: It was interesting to note how many 
  participants, from panelist Jaji to a high school 
  student to an NGO representative, seemed to glorify 
  "the good old days" of environmental awareness under 
  the former military regimes which ruled Nigeria until 
  1999.  Many of them reminisced about the time when 
  Saturdays were dedicated to home clean-ups and 
  Thursdays dedicated to market clean-ups.  Audience 
  members seemed to appreciate the discipline that the 
  past military regimes required from the population on 
  cleanliness and orderliness and counted these two 
  attributes as losses under the current dispensation. 
9.   PAS launched this event as a "celebration" of 
  Earth Day and was not certain how it would turn out. 
  However, PAS was pleased that despite the Easter 
  holiday, election season and rains that morning, 
  turnout was encouraging, and even more reassuring, 
  participants were extremely interested in talking about 
  these issues.  The program ran a half-hour over the 
  programmed time because several participants insisted 
  on making their points.  Many guests requested copies 
  of the speeches delivered, and others extolled the 
  importance of networking, all guests' contact 
  information be circulated.  In response to this, the IO 
  circulated copies of Cline's speech as a press release 
  as well as making it available the next day on the 
  Embassy's website.  The CAO also started an email list 
  of all attendees and encouraged them to work together. 
10.  While our Earth Day celebration was a success and 
  PAS will certainly plan events for future years, it 
  might be helpful if more resources are made available 
  for Posts.  While the announcement cable on Earth Day 
  was comprehensive, the websites were not greatly 
  helpful, and PAS had to scramble to find any audio- 
  visual material that was appropriate, in the end using 
  a clip from a 1995 VOA-produced film to at least 
  explain the origins of the day. 
11.  CONCLUSION: Top officers from the Lagos State 
  Government made commitments to do more to ensure a more 
  environmentally -friendly Lagos.  Participants thanked 
  Post for bringing the environmental issues raised to 
  the their attention and for providing a forum for them 
  to learn from the U.S. experience and form a network to 
  protect the Nigerian environment.  NGOs shared valuable 
  information.  Participants agreed to work towards a 
  healthy and sustainable environment in Nigeria and 
  mentioned planning to have a follow-up program. 
 
 
HINSON-JONES