The South American city that experiences four seasons in 24 hours

Quito, ECUADOR: It is generally expected that a new season will always spring up after a few months giving way to a newer weather pattern.

This gives way for people in an area for people to adapt to weather changes like dress appropriately for each season.

However according to residents and experts this is not the situation in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito.

The weather is so unpredictable that all four seasons in this city can be experienced in 24 hours.

 “In the morning you can wake up and it is very chilly. Then as the day progresses the weather shows spring characteristics, then summer is experienced in the afternoon where the sun is very hot. Then it rains afterwards. After the rain comes the fall,” Silvia Benitez, the Freshwater Manager from The Nature Conservancy told Baraka FM.

Ms. Benitez reiterated that due to climate change the four seasons experienced in a day could be too much to handle as you would need to carry a jacket and an umbrella even if it is sunny just in case it pours.

“Over time the weather has been dramatic. More intense rains occur within shorter times and droughts last longer. This is as a result of climate change,” Ms. Benitez said, at the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, where Habitat III was taking place.

She said that high rainfall would be dangerous as it would resonate to flooding in Quito.

“That is why we are looking on how the city can adapt to this situation,” she said.

Becoming resilient to handle climate change in Quito

The city has a natural ecosystem called paramo found in the Ecuadorian mountains, which captures the rain when it pours heavily and help in releasing the water when it does not rain.

“This is a really great feature in Ecuador in the high mountain grasslands as it act as a sponge. It captures water which is released when need arises,” Ms. Benitez remarked.

“We are protecting our paramos and natural ecosystem which is our natural reservoir, and a source of water, from destruction by human activities. We ensure planting of trees along rivers which cleans water as it flows. Within the city we are using green solutions like planting trees that regulate temperatures, capture water and prevent floods,” she remarked.

This makes Quito to have a better adaptation towards climate change with the ecosystem based strategy.

Sustainable Development Goal SDG goal 13 advocates for urgent actions to be taken to combat climate change and its impact.

“In the past few years we have realized that as the climate is changing and the global population continues to grow, we are looking at 3 out of every 4 people living in a city by 2050. We need to work in cities if we need to protect our resources. There needs to be more nature and biodiversity protection in cities to provide for needs of people living here,” Misty Edgecomb, Communications Manager, Nature Conservancy, told Baraka FM during Habitat III. 

100 Resilient Cities

According to Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 resilient cities Quito’s resilience has been tested many times. 

The metropolitan district faces risk on a daily basis due to massive seismic movements, floods, and forest fires and in 2012 alone 2,600 forest fires were reported. 

In 2011, nearly 144 landslides during the rainy season resulted in many deaths and damage to housing in the most vulnerable sectors of the city. 

The poor are also most at risk in the event of a high-magnitude earthquake, which would devastate the city’s irregular, unplanned settlements in steep-slope areas.

“A resilient city is one which can manage its challenges efficiently and effectively,” Maxwell Young, the Global Vice President Marketing and Communication, 100 Resilient Cities Initiative, told Baraka FM.

SDG 11 calls for cities and human settlements be made inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Hope to eliminate Ebola virus as vaccine is almost ready to be released

Pharmaceutical giant company Merck is in talks with the World Health Organization WHO to ensure a roll out of Ebola vaccine rVSV-EBOV to fight spread of this deadly virus.

“The vaccine had to undergo clinical trials. Phase 1and 2 trials proved to be very successful. During Phase 1 tests were made on a small of group of people to see whether it was safe,” Dr. Samuel Oti, Senior Program Specialist at International Development Research Centre IDRC, told Baraka FM.

Dr. Oti said that the first trial was conducted in a laboratory in Canada, to check for any side effects and the right doses that should be used in case need arose.

 “Further tests were done in Guinea and the vaccine was proven safe for consumption, hence the Phase 3 trial in Guinea showed 100% efficacy,” he explained.

Based on the success of these outcomes Merck bought the license for this vaccine.

“Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, has invested to support Merck to take the vaccine through the last stages of testing. Now it’s all about getting ready to roll it out as a proper vaccine and be scaled up for mass consumption,” Dr. Oti remarked.

He added that late stage clinical trials will be done so that the vaccine can get licensed and be given the final approval by WHO which would signal that it is ready for use.

“Hopefully by 2017 the world will be able to access the vaccine,” remarked Dr. Oti.

Despite the ray of hope he said that developing the vaccine was not a walk in the park.

“There was a lot of pressure mainly because there was an outbreak which had already started killing people. Vaccines are not a cure, they only prevent disease and protect those not affected. For those who were infected and showing Ebola symptoms a vaccine would not help much. Vaccine development takes time and it is not something that can be rushed,” he said.

According to the Centre for Disease Control CDC countries mostly affected by the Ebola virus in 2014 were Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Nairobi the green resilient city under the sun

QUITO, ECUADOR: Kenyan capital Nairobi seems to be on the fast track in achieving Sustainable Development Goal SDG 11 after it was named one of the 100 resilient cities in the world.

“Despite the challenges we face Nairobi has made tremendous efforts to offer services because most of Nairobi’s population lives in informal settlements. The government needs to be given credit for focusing on providing services to the largest number of Kenyans living in Nairobi,” said Prof. Judy Wakhungu, Head of the Kenyan Delegation at the Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador.

Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities told Baraka FM that being resilient would mean that a city stays focused during good and tumultuous times and striving to be better.

“Nairobi is at the beginning of the resilience process. We announced Nairobi as resilient in May this year and we will have a big engagement with the city in December. That process would mean bringing a variety of people from the city to get a better sense of what the challenges are,” Maxwell Young, the Global Vice President Marketing and Communication of 100 Resilient Cities remarked.
Young said that when choosing the 100 cities, they picked cities they believed had a strong leadership process and would reach out to their populations.

Meanwhile Kenya has announced the embracement of the New Urban Agenda through encouraging a participatory approach in slum upgrading.

“This is important because one of the challenges we will face in future as Kenya is the problem of urban settlement, not only in the main cities, but in the secondary cities,” said Prof. Wakhungu who is also the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources.

Prof. Wakhungu said that population pressure is catching up with the country and mitigations need to be carried out in managing the urban populace.

“Our urban population is growing at 4.3 percent .That is extremely high. That means that in 2050 more than half of Kenyan’s population is going to be urban. If you look at the reality today we have unplanned settlements in our cities,” she said.

“We have inadequate housing, our services are overstretched. And urban poverty is a reality we have to face. If we do not deal with these problems now, then the future is very bleak.”

In a previous separate interview National Council of Population and Development, Deputy Director Peter Arisi, said that for sustainable development Kenya needed to have a smaller growth rate.

“In order to eradicate poverty and have a world without slums, we now bring the New Urban Agenda. This will help to plan for urbanization as people keep migrating to towns and cities. We need to utilize this political commitment, and turn into reality a situation whereby there are no shanties,” said Dr. Aisa Kacyira, the Assistant Secretary General, UN Habitat.

In 2015 United Nations Member States embraced the SDGs and Goal 11 agrees that the members’ cities and human settlements be made inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030.
“Target 1 of goal 11 says that by 2030 we ensure access for all, to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services for all .The target also advocates towards slum upgrading,” Dr. Kacyira concluded.