Lord, we will need more drips for 2017 oo

Dear Father:

Hahaha, ooh hahaha. I think we will really need a lot of reserved drips in this village to keep for the election oo, because the way I see plenty people hallucinating around here when reality sets in after the voting it will na be easy.

Are you for real my son?

But Father, what I should say na, for the past two voting we have done in our village this year own pa, da na small people want position.

The other day I went to my friend them radio station, I could not even find a place to pack my jalopy. When I asked what was going on, my friend told me that the people who want be chiefs at the Traditional Council oo.

You know, Father, the reason why I say the people should bring in more drips is because I can see many of the people who want to be chief at the Traditional Council getting heart attacks.

The plain and simple truth is that some of them are not even chief material and instead of taking that their little money to go and invest in some kind of business for they and their families, they want spend it on campaign.

Can you imagine Father there are some of them who are also transporting people from one fiefdom to another in our village?

What kind of person who wants to be a chief in a particular village will do such a thing?

Father, trust me; these are the conned artists who have failed miserably and know fully well that the people in those fiefdoms will never vote them there again. They are the ones now faring people to their fiefdom to register and vote for them.

And you know what Father; these shameless people go around boasting that even if some town criers are willing to be trucked in their fiefdoms they are willing to take them there. But for me Father, you know I am not freaked out by that.

There is a saying that he, who laughs last, laughs the best. And quite honestly, what dog cares about family planning? If they like they should go and burn the sea.

But one thing, I am sure of is there is going to be a lot of frustration around here after the 10th month of this year.

And Father, let me use this forum to warn all my friends them, if you know your fallback positionna strong and you go put your hand in wanting to be chief, when they people chop your money don’t come crying poor to me.

I know ehn. So what about the other people who making all the big mouth around here saying that they get plenty money to spend?

Father, just leave them, we are packing plenty drips around here.

Opinion

The Fight for Ocean Health

By José MaríaFigueres, Pascal Lamy, and John D. Podesta

NEW YORK – The ocean is changing – and not for the better. Well-established scientific evidence shows that it is becoming emptier, warmer, and more acidic, putting marine life under serious pressure. But there is good news: evidence also indicates that the ocean can regenerate, and the world has already agreed to enable that outcome.

The Sustainable Development Goal for the Ocean (SDG 14) was adopted by world leaders in September 2015 as part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It includes vital targets, such as mitigating ocean acidification, securing habitat and species protections, reducing pollution substantially, and ending illegal fishing and subsidies that lead to overfishing.

Ultimately, SDG 14 promises to preserve the ocean and ensure its sustainable use in the future. But it can be realized only with bold and urgent action, buttressed by solidarity among governments, citizens, and business.

This week, governments and experts are gathering in New York to begin crafting a global “call for action” to implement SDG 14. The call, which will be launched in June, at the UN’s first-ever Ocean Conference, should include a firm commitment to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030, and ensure that the remaining 70% is sustainably managed. UN member states must also pledge to secure the extension of legal protections to high-seas biodiversity by closing the gaping governance loophole that exposes the ocean to plunder.

There is one more priority area that the call for action must address: climate change. In fact, a healthy ocean will be impossible to secure without also addressing this pressing global challenge. Achieving SDG 14 therefore demands that the international community reaffirm its commitment to the Paris climate agreement, and to announce concrete steps toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

To avoid more empty promises, all commitments must be backed up by a clear financing plan and subjected to regular accountability checks. Governments, the UN, and other actors should set a schedule for monitoring and check-ins, to keep delivery of the targets transparent, funded, and on schedule.

To support these efforts, we urge UN Secretary-General AntónioGuterres to appoint a Special Representative for the Ocean, tasked with improving ocean governance and ensuring that the full potential of SDG 14 is realized. Such a representative must be given sufficient resources to do the job.

The ocean has suffered decades of abuse and neglect. It has been treated as a free-for-all garbage bin and race-to-the-bottom buffet. We have financed its destruction, with no regard for the consequences. But those consequences have become impossible to ignore. While we, as previous global ocean commissioners, had to campaign hard in 2014 for the ocean to have its own dedicated global goal, it is now hard to believe that the ocean’s position in the SDGs was ever in question. That is the sense that we should have in 2030, when the targets of SDG 14 are fully met.

The only way to get there is through concerted effort – and not just by the likes of ocean commissioners. People everywhere must stand up and demand real action to ensure the ocean’s regeneration. In short, the ocean must become everyone’s business.

To kick-start that process, we have joined the Ocean Unite network, which is galvanizing conservationists, business leaders, young people, and activists to take advantage of growing interest in these issues and create coalitions that can drive ocean health to the top of political and economic agendas worldwide.

Such efforts are already having an impact, with citizens mobilizing to defend the ocean and policymakers beginning to respond to their calls. Now, it is the business community’s turn to step up.

Business has a clear interest in reversing the decline in ocean health. The GDP derived from the ocean amounts to $2.5 trillion, or 5% of the world’s total GDP. That’s equivalent to the GDP of the world’s seventh-largest economy. The ocean is also the world’s biggest employer, directly supporting the livelihoods of more than three billion people, and is a source of food for over 2.6 billion. Restoring the ocean thus amounts to an unparalleled business opportunity.

But the ocean’s value goes far beyond economics. It provides half of the air we breathe, governs our weather, and helps to support peace and prosperity. The ocean’s future is the world’s future.

At a time when politics threatens to undermine cooperative action on the environment, fighting for our shared global environment is more important than ever. Our responsibility for the ocean’s health is as deep, fundamental, and permanent as our dependence on it. No political consideration can compete with that. Now is the time for all of us – citizens, business, and government – to unite and fight for our ocean.

José MaríaFigueres, former President of Costa Rica, is Co-Chair of the Global Ocean Commission. Pascal Lamy, a former director-general of the World Trade Organization, is a Global Ocean Commissioner. John D. Podesta, Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2001, is the founder of the Center for American Progress.