The Nation Newspaper

Tag: climate change

  • ‘Tree planting can stop flooding, climate change’

    Tree planting can be used to combat perennial flooding and menace of climate change in Lagos State, the Executive Secretary of Agbado/Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, Hon. David Famuyiwa, has said.

    Speaking during the 2015 tree planting exercise held at the Ibari Junction in Alagbado on Tuesday, Famuyiwa said: “We must recognise the need to conquer environmental challenges such as flooding and climate change. Therefore, let us plant trees for a better, healthier and happier life.”

    He said the exercise was in line with the tree planting campaign of the Lagos State Government which started about eight years ago.

    Famuyiwa praised Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for sustaining the greenery campaign initiated by his predecessor, Mr Babatunde Fashola.

    “We cannot but commend the vision Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for embracing the culture of tree planting from the immediate past administration in the state in order to sustain the position of Lagos as the most greenery state with healthy environment,” he said.

    The council boss urged the people of the council area to discontinue activities that can “contribute to environmental degradation or habits that can further create unfriendly environment and endanger human lives.”

  • Is Tinubu responsible for climate change too?

    SIR: Aristotle, the great thinker, demonstrated his unparalleled understanding of the concept of justice when he opined with succinct clarity that justice, as we know it, should be about celebration of virtue – those who have distinguished themselves should be honoured without qualification. For, society is better off when men of good virtues are celebrated. Civilized climes over the years have cultivated this noble moral policy as part of their social practice. In doing so, envy, bias, ethnicity, blame game and the pull-him-down-syndrome were all relegated to their deserved abode – gutter. It then becomes clear that merit and positive development are at the core of statesmanship. But not so in this corner of the world, and definitely not so in my beloved Nigeria. Ours is a marked contrast of the civilized social practice. This is conscience-shocking.

    Asiwaju Bola Tinubu no doubt has paid his due in restructuring and sustaining the Nigerian project and this climaxed in the enthronement of the opposition party as the ruling party at the centre. For many, that was the grand slam. Without sounding immodest, it is doubtful if there is any leader in this generation that has sacrificed so much for the advancement of the country’s democracy. But in their typical nature, his traducers would have none of that. For them, this man must be decimated and at all cost.

    Even in his silence and tranquillity, they are still having sleepless nights, knowing full well that the lion is merely taking a nap, lest he roars with unmitigated ferocity. The late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo once told his cheerful audience, who had thronged his rally to witness the freedom of their revered leader, the story of a dog and a lifeless tiger. Hear him: “when a living dog is given the tail of a lifeless tiger, the dog would embark on a barking spree without anyone noticing until the dog eventually drop dead out of fear of his chief tormentor”. This is the dilemma of Tinubu’s traducers. Active or passive, they cannot sleep.

    Some people, in their warped understanding of life, believe that the only way they can reach the zenith of their political career is by destroying the legacies of others, which is why these men, in what appears to be a united front, have collapsed their structures and coalesced their strength with the sole object to obliterate this noble son of his fatherland. To them, whatever mischief that occurs in the country, Tinubu must be made scapegoat. He is responsible for that woman that had a stillbirth at Onitsha; he must account for the flood that destroyed the crops of Mallam Musa at Zaria; and should be prosecuted for the armed robbery that occurred at Abeokuta. On daily basis we are awash with news of how Tinubu did this or did that. Maybe the next headline would be: “Tinubu caused global warming”. These people have no shame. Elevating lies and propaganda to an art is what they have obtained PhD at. But time, they say, is the best judge, and history is replete with the end results of those who once traded that path.

    In the end the just would be vindicated and the blackmailers would realise the futility of their actions.

     

    • Alatise Taofeeq, Esq. 

    Asa-Dam, Ilorin.

     

  • Pope Francis and climate change

    Being a non-Catholic, I have not always followed nor even read papal encyclical until now. And was it an enormous surprise? The 184 page Pope Francis encyclical was a very powerful piece: extremely well written and with the authority of a great leader. It has great wisdom; it is sensitive, insightful, and lucid even when discussing very scientific and technical subjects.

    If you love elevated language, good turn of phrase, dialectics and syntax, Pope Francis’ encyclical met all of those and more. Unsurprisingly, the power of the argument contained in the encyclical, not less the subject matter, elicited global response. Days before the publication of the encyclical, the global media went into frenzied speculations on its content — in fact an Italian newspaper, L’ Espresso, leaked its content before the due day. Understandably, the reaction to the encyclical was mixed. Across the world except perhaps in Nigeria and Africa, the continent that incidentally is most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, there was scarcely any response! Elsewhere politicians, scientists, environmental activists etc, weighed in forcefully with their opinion.

    By Africa’s silence, the continent has further strengthened its reputation as a laggard that is animated only when issues of money arise. It appears on the matter of climate change, Africa’s agenda is money. Yet, as Pope Francis was eloquently formulating a position that underscores the plight of Africa’s dismal condition in the face of the ravages of climate change; the continent was missing in action. This is sad.

    As Nigeria and Africa sleep, in the rest of the world, various peoples and interest groups were taking positions on climate change. Three perhaps absurd reactions came from two American politicians—actually the three men are Catholics and belong to the Republican Party and they are all gunning for the American presidency in 2016. Rick Santorum wanted the Pope to leave science of climate change to scientists, but was reminded that Pope Francis was not actually ignorant on the subject, that he has a Master’s degree in Chemistry.    The other political figure was Jeb Bush, who waffled something to the effect that the Pope should not get into political issues since he is not a political leader. No one fully understood what Jeb Bush’s comments meant and it was dismissed as not making much sense. Marco Rubio shadow-boxed on this issue. The Republican Party is known for being very edgy on the issue of climate change.

    This is not difficult to understand. American big business establishment have always been reluctant to embrace climate change, because doing so will mean accepting responsibility that man and their business model is the source of climate change. A point, the papal encyclical highlighted over and over.

    Those who wanted to discredit the Pope labeled him anti-capitalist. Yet any objective reading of the encyclical would show that the document was not by any means anti-capitalism. Rather Pope Francis expressed his thoughts with a profundity expected of a leader of a major institution like the Roman Catholic Church, who is concerned about the world and the direction the world is going.

    For lovers of a better world and its future and those not blinded by material quest, Pope Francis clearly spoke their minds, when he said: “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish…Humanity is called to take note of the need for changes in lifestyle and changes in methods of production and consumption to combat this warming, or at least the human causes that produce and accentuate it. Numerous scientific studies indicate that the greater part of the global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases…given off above all because of human activity.”

    Pope Francis captured the total neglect of the environment, the poor human and health condition of a typical third world country like Nigeria, when he noted: “Some forms of pollution are part of peo­ple’s daily experience. Exposure to atmospheric pollutants produces a broad spectrum of health hazards, especially for the poor, and causes mil­lions of premature deaths. People take sick, for example, from breathing high levels of smoke from fuels used in cooking or heating. There is also pollution that affects everyone, caused by transport, industrial fumes, substances which contribute to the acidification of soil and water, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and agro-toxins in general. Technology, which, linked to business interests, is presented as the only way”.

    Pope Francis laments our inability to deal with this problem adding: “Regrettably, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental cri­sis have proved ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest. The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty.”

    While Pope Francis acknowledges the great stride science and technology have brought to the human society, he warns those who place their absolute trust in technology, explaining that: “Technology tends to absorb everything into its ironclad logic, and those who are surrounded with technology “know full well that it moves forward in the final analysis neither for profit nor for the well-being of the human race”, that “in the most radical sense of the term power is its motive – a lordship over all”. This bears repeating, technology’s ultimate objective is power.

    Elaborating further Pope Francis expresses his deep mistrust of man’s capacity to control so much of the power technology confers on him. “There is a tendency to believe that every increase in power means “an increase of ‘pro­gress’ itself”, an advance in “security, usefulness, welfare and vigour; …an assimilation of new values into the stream of culture”, as if reality, goodness and truth automatically flow from tech­nological and economic power as such. The fact is that: “contemporary man has not been trained to use power well”, because our immense tech­nological development has not been accompa­nied by a development in human responsibility, values and conscience. Our freedom fades when it is handed over to the blind forces of the un­conscious; of immediate needs, of self-interest, and of violence. In this sense, we stand naked and exposed in the face of our ever-increasing power, lacking the wherewithal to control it. We have certain superficial mechanisms, but we can­not claim to have a sound ethics, a culture and spirituality genuinely capable of setting limits and teaching clear-minded self-restraint.”

    This is a truly frightening insight, which no reflective man should ignore. Pope Francis’ powerful comments should set every human being thinking. I hope it does. I hope we can sit back and rethink the world for our sake and the future of unborn generations. This is by no means a call to abandon technological evolution—far from it. The point is that power without restraint even, technological power is troubling and there is need for caution.

    • Odili was formerly Delta State Green Economy Project Lead

  • Nigerians warned against climate change activities

    The Federal Government has urged Nigerians to be mindful of environmental challenges.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Nana Fatima, said the consequences of over-exploiting ground water resources would affect the hydrological balance of the affected areas.

    She urged Nigerians to adopt sustainable agricultural systems, plant appropriate tree species to protect the soils, and explore forest resources more sustainably.

    Mrs. Fatima spoke during activities marking this year’s World Desertification Day (WDD). She said the government would continue to update relevant sectoral policies, legislation and regulations for environmental management.

    According to her, the WDD is targeted at giving human face to environmental issues, empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development, and promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues.

    She advocated a partnership that will ensure that all nations and people enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

    “It is my belief that the people will begin to take issues of sustainable land development far more seriously than we have ever done in the past,” she said.

  • Multidisciplinary research needed on climate change

    Multidisciplinary research needed on climate change

    How can researchers in sub-Sahara Africa benefit from climate change finance? It is by undertaking multidisciplinary research in fields related to climate change adaption and mitigation strategies, says Director, Africa Climate Change Adaptation Initiative (ACCAI) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) Prof Antonia Achike. In an interview with CAMPUSLIFE on climate change, she said climate finance referred to funds set aside by national, regional and international bodies for climate change projects and programmes.

    She lamented the inability of Nigerian researchers to access climate finance.

    Prof Achike said: “Over 25 per cent of the finance for the sub-Saharan Africa has been directed to South Africa since 2003. Nigeria is not in the list of top 10 countries benefitting from the funds. Majority of the projects undertaken in Nigeria has been seen as inconsequential and some which are deemed relevant were initiated by the government in conjunction with international development agencies.”

    According to her, researchers and students can easily attract climate finance when their research works are designed to recommend strategies that would lead to low-carbon mitigation options or interventions designed to reduce carbon emissions.

    She listed some of the potential research areas to include conservation in agriculture, agro-forestry and sustainable rice intensification, reduction of natural gas flaring and the use of efficient pumps for oil extraction, promotion of energy-efficient lighting and power generation from renewable process.

    She said researchers interested in climate change could have access to finance by participating in international research grants competitions, submission of well-packaged proposals to national governments and multinational organisations.

    On the activities of her centre, Prof Achike said ACCAI is running a postgraduate course on Climate Change Economics, Policy and Innovation Programme (CCEPI).

    She said: “We also offer various short-term training to government workers and individuals on climate change and other topical issues on environment.”

    Commending the Open Society Foundation for funding the Centre’s activities, Achike urged the Federal Government to articulate its vision on low carbon development and give more support to climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes.

     

  • UNILAG starts N39m climate change research

    UNILAG starts N39m climate change research

    The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has embarked on a palynological research project worth N39 million to determine the status and effects of climate change on coastal regions of Lagos State.

    A pre-project workshop for the research, which is sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) National Grant Scheme in collaboration with UNILAG, held at the Julius Berger Hall of the university on Tuesday during which the requirements and progress of the project were spelt out.

    Principal investigator of the project, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said it would provide an alternative way for the Lagos State government to predict climate change in the state for the next 20 years, which would help in planning and development of the state.

    He said: “This is our own contribution in determining the effects of climate change in Nigeria and Lagos State in particular. This is not somebody coming from abroad to now start modelling something for us. We are doing this one ourselves and this is the first time we are having a research like this in Nigeria and I want to say that the climate change summit of Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Fashola, last year inspired this project.”

    Ogundipe said the project would bring together scholars and students – undergraduates and postgraduates – from various departments of the university as well as related agencies across the country like the Nigerian Institute of Meteorological Science for a joint effort to get accurate statistics on climate evolution.

    He said results of the project would help in regional planning, conservation and sustainability of the environment, biodiversity, issues of Greenwich areas in Lagos, as well as influence other state governments in the country to show more concern for the environment.

    One of the principal researchers of the project, Dr Temitope Onumiya, a lecturer in the department of Botany, said the project is about using pollen grains and climatic data to assess changes that have occurred around the Lagos coastal environment over the years, through a comparison of vegetation that existed from the past 10,000 years to now.

    She encouraged Nigerian higher institutions to expand their interests and involvement in research works that would promote the status of the nation and reduce the country’s dependency on developed countries.

    She said: “For UNILAG, we are a solution-proving institution where we make research in order to help solve national problems. This is what every higher institution is expected to do. We are not just there to train people; we are also there to provide solutions.”

    Speaking at the workshop, Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Rahamon Bello said the project was one of two projects being funded by the TETFund in the institution and urged individuals and groups in the country to tap into the TETFund scheme to broaden their horizon.

    He said: “There is no longer limit to research funding because even if the university’s research funds cannot carry your researches, the TETFund research grants and TETFund National Grant Scheme would lift you.”

    He urged them to attend to more proposals and come up with their own research proposals to promote their career and the nation.

  • Lagos: Counting the gains of climate change summits

    Lagos: Counting the gains of climate change summits

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola is set to leave a legacy of sustainable environmental management. One of such is the state’s yearly Climate Change Summit, which ended last week.The event was dedicated to examining achievements in the sector, reviewing challenges and setting agenda, MUYIWA LUCAS reports.

    Lagos State has positioned itself as a leader in safe guarding the environment from the effects of climate change. Last week, it concluded its climate change summit, the seventh. This year’s edition was remarkable because it is the last one Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) presided over as the state’s chief executive.

    Fashola started the summit in 2009.

    The theme of this year’s edition was  7 Years of climate change Governance in Lagos State, Celebrating success stories, reviewing challenges and setting future agenda.

    According to Fashola, since 2009, the  summit has been the principal vehicle for attracting the required attention to environmental challenges. He stressed the need for humanity to reflect on the threat posed by the increasing world population to the sustainable exploitation and use of natural resources.

    For the governor, the results of the various climate change summits have been very useful to the state government in that it has helped in shaping most of its actions and policies regarding the environment.

    Some of these include the Eko Atlantic City Project, an adapted measure against climate change-induced sea level rise;  improved waste management and transportation;  the Lagos, Akute and Alausa Independent Power Projects which are gas fired, leading to the decommissioning of over 400 diesel fuelled electricity generators; the planting of over five million trees; the creation of over 100 parks and gardens across the state; and the establishment of the Lagos State Parks and Garden Agency (LASPARK), among others.

     

    Technical sessions

    The lead paper titled: “Climate change governance: Challenges and opportunities” was delivered by Director of Research Department on International Politics, Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom, Prof. Richard Beardsworth.

    He emphasised the importance of purposeful leadership to the challenge of climate change.

    The summit had eight technical plenary, with 26 papers delivered by experts from Nigeria, Scotland, UK, France, United States, South Africa, Canada, Egypt, and Cameroon.

    The papers covered various aspects of celebrating success stories, reviewing challenges and setting future agenda. The papers included: Post COP 20 Peru Climate Change Conference; implications for Developing Economy; Sharing Innovative Solutions in Climate Change Mitigation in Africa; From Waste to Wealth; Sharing public private partnership (PPP)-PPP Experience in Establishing and operating material recovery facility in  a developing economy; the Lagos State transportation policy and climate change mitigation and opportunities; mass transportation: the panacea for climate change mitigation in a developing economy; public transportation: role in responding to climate change; adopting green business for sustainability engaging corporate lagos; climate change mitigation: the role of financial institutions; and environmental sustainability in the extractive industry: The case for climate mitigation.

    Other presentations include: building resilience to climate change impacts: batnf and small scale farmers at the frontline; african coastal cities climate change vulnerability and adaptation planning: status  and future plans; climate change policy and sustainable development; community energy as a vehicle for sustainable development and combating climate change; offshore energy for sustainable development in lagos state; turning liability into assets: taming the challenges of sea level rise into a vibrant City.

    The making of Eko Atlantic City; Lagos State Master Plan: Sustaining the Built Environment; among others.

     

    Observations

    The summit observed that climate change is a common global problem in which all states and people are involved as they are all affected, irrespective of the sources of Green House Gas (GHGs). Besides, it also observed that addressing the fundamental challenge of climate change for sustainable development and human survival is borne out of the concern that “nature does not need people, people need nature.”

    Other observations include that sustainability is a new direction for firms to effectively and profitability show-case their environmental consciousness; that there are many opportunities in the future of sustainable development that is imperative for human existence and survival; that green economy makes a lot of business sense and going green is a profitable business. It also provides new opportunity for global cooperation in the area of promoting energy mix, including renewables, for sustainable socio-economic and environmental development.

    Importantly, participants observed that Lagos, as a coastal city, is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change while rapid and unguided urbanisation, poor institutionalisation of public mass transportation with unsatisfactory commuter/freight demand are responsible for rapidly growing use of private vehicles in Lagos, even as mass transit is a key panacea to the poor transportation system in Lagos State, given the rapid rate of population growth and the desire of dwellers to own their own motor vehicles.

    The summit did not end without applauding the tree planting initiative of the Fashola administration. Participants restated that tree planting is an effective mitigation measure against the impact of climate change. Urban reforestation, in particular, is a laudable approach to improving carbon sequestration and mitigating climate change-induced urban heat island.

    Also, it was observed that climate proofing agriculture and its resilience to variations in climate is critical for sustainable food security in the state.

    More importantly, the Eko Atlantic City Project was applauded as potentially an effective adaptive response to mitigate the impact of climate change on the coastal city of Lagos, and the use of only private sector resources for the execution of the Project is an innovative way to ensure its sustainability; just as an effective town planning is critical to sustainable urban development and making cities climate resilient. The absence of a legally binding policy and action plan on climate change at the state level, participants further noted, is of concern.

     

    Recommendations

    Twenty-five recommendations were made at the end of the event. These include: that government should continue to invest in climate change to promote environmental sustainability and assured future for human existence in the state; that Lagos as mega city must commit to addressing greenhouse gas emissions reduction; including introducing Controlled Parking Zones to deter the use of private vehicles and establishment of carbon registry to monitoring GHG emission levels, among others; that Lagos State should further enlarge its mass transit programme to transit it into an integrated, coordinated and functional public mass transport system, complimentary road furniture’s and a comprehensive urban transport policy driven by empirical research study; that urban development should be controlled through appropriate measures that will reduce dependency on motorised vehicles and reduce the increasing need for urban infrastructure; that Lagos State should continue to showcase the benefits of its tree planting initiative, as a climate change mitigation and adaptation measures to other parts of the country; that the State should look into the feasibility of enriching its remaining forest areas in the context of REED+ to create financial value for carbon stored in forest, address the drivers of deforestation, enhance its carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation, and even provide additional means of livelihoods for the concerned communities; that the State should develop a climate change information management system in which all research outputs are catalogued and widely disseminated on a regular basis; that technology should be put in place to reduce GHG emissions from waste in the State; that youths should be encouraged and involved in the development of climate change mitigation technology; that the State should pursue a strategic alignment with the private corporate organisations in the State in its fight against climate change and promote research, development, demonstration and deployment (RDD&D), particularly in the development of technological response to the challenge.

    Other recommendations include that the Lagos State Green Fund (inspired by the Lekki Free Trade Zone) should be created to leverage funding from all sources – state, federal, bilateral and multilateral financial institutions – to promote green employment generation, investment, and innovation; that the State should establish a Lagos Green Eco-Innovation Forum that will be mandated to spearhead efforts to promote and intensify Nigeria’s (and African) efforts to meet climate change targets and goals through entrepreneurship and philanthropy; government should continue to support the African Coastal Cities Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Planning Project towards making Lagos more resilient; Relevant stakeholders should be involved on a continuous basis in the execution of the Eko Atlantic City Project to ensure sustainability, and the Lagos State should ensure continuity in the implementation of the model city plan within the existing legal framework to further climate proof Lagos, while putting in place a positive, innovative, policy environment and strengthen existing regulatory framework, including tax incentives and governance mechanisms which will promote public and private investment in climate change mitigation projects in Lagos state

    Participants at the summit also recommended that the state government should explore the possibilities of developing a framework for the construction of energy efficient houses for both low and middle income earning residents of the State, urging the government to look into the feasibility of an Energy-Poverty Alleviation Fund to help provide modern energy services to the poor and the needy in the state.

  • Climate change summit: What impact on the environment?

    Climate change summit: What impact on the environment?

    Climate change is still a global challenge. Over the last six years, the government of Lagos State has held summits to tackle the phenomenon. Its seventh edition is scheduled for next week in Lagos. How impactful have these summits been? MUYIWA LUCAS asks.

    WHEN the Governor Babatunde Fashola administration in Lagos State introduced a summit aimed at addressing pressing issues on the climate, not many agreed less that it was a step in the right direction.

    Following six successful editions of the forum that sought to explore the challenges and opportunities of climate change in the state in particular and the world in general, its organisers are now attempting to evaluate its gains with a view to charting a way forward.

    Analysts say the fact that the seventh edition of the summit is coming towards the end of the tenure of the administration of its originator, Fashola, is an indication that the summit has come to stay.

    Partcipants at the previous editions say it has been impactful, especially as it has given room for policy makers to plan for unforseen occurrences.

    For instance, at the maiden edition of the summit in 2009, the governor had lamented that it become difficult to draw a line between the rainy season and dry season, just as farm harvests were no longer predictable and bountiful. Aqua life, he added, had been depleted to the extent that certain species of fish were no longer available on the  table. These, he said, were the effects of climate change.

    Events that unfolded after 2009 seem to have proved him right. For example, on July 10, 2011, for 16 hours non-stop, Lagos experienced a torrential rainfall. This justified the concerns of Lagosians and also served as a wake up call to the reality of climate change and the need for stakeholders to proffer solution to its menace.  To date, that July 10 rainfall remains unprecedented in the history of the state.

    The government has since embarked on proactive measures to combat flooding by developing an all-year construction, maintenance and dredging of canals and drainage channels. This has, for the third year, elicited the commendation of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) as the only state in the federation to come up with a comprehensive drainage/de-flooding programme.

    The maiden summit, attended by over 700 participants drawn from various stakeholder groups in both the public and private sectors, raised public awareness as well as trained the trainers on issues of climate change and the danger it poses to human development.

    The summit also provided a platform for national and international experts to exchange ideas on best practices in mitigation and adaptation measures to address the challenge of climate change, essentially also to agree on joint action by all and sundry.

    At the summit, Fashola  urged the Ministry of the Environment to ensure the continuity the summit as well as the full implementation of all its outcome, particularly the mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change impacts in the state.  The 2009 Summit had ten Plenary Sessions during which papers were presented and Panel Discussions held on Global Climate Change Overview: Challenges and Prospects; Governance and Climate Change; Climate Change and Public Health; Climate Change, Sea Level Rise and Coastal Adaptation as sub-themes.

    Others include Climate Change and Food Security; Climate Change and Energy; Climate Change and Waste Management; Climate Change and Urban Development; Climate Change and the Imperative of Adaptation, and Partnership in Climate Change Adaptation: Prospects for a German (Bavarian) -Lagos State Collaboration.

     

    Recommendations

    At the end of the summit, the communiqué asked the state to develop a State Climate Change Action Plan with a vision to drive the major changes that would be necessary to combat change in climate; the government should partner with and support the private sector to encourage them to capitalise on the opportunities under climate change mitigation and adaptation options to transit to the low carbon (green) economy.

    Others are that the state’s approach to climate change should integrate closely with national actions and promote progressive and forward-looking, growth-oriented policies tailored to the  state’s specific development needs; all levels of government in the state should be involved in raising awareness that Lagosians can take to combat  the  impact of climate change.

    It was also recommended that the state government should establish and fund mechanisms for research and studies on climate change and its impacts on all sectors of the state’s economy in order to provide required data and knowledge to drive intervention strategies. Such shall include partnering with private sector and research institutions as appropriate; the state government should embark on upgrading existing, and installation of up-to-date real-time weather monitoring, prediction instruments and early warning systems for the state.

    It also asked the government to institutionalise a comprehensive assessment of the impact of climate change on its development activities, adding that  the government should build capacity to take advantage of the opportunities provided in climate change mitigation and adaptation, particularly in the energy, service, building and transportation sectors, financial services and water sector. The state government, it was also recommended, should initiate steps to incorporate climate change issues in schools curricula at all levels particularly for children and adolescence and should collaborate with international partners for technology transfer on climate change, mitigation  and adaptive strategies.

    The forum also urged the state to develop and implement an energy policy in which a substantial part of electricity is from renewable sources, especially solar, wind and biogas from waste

    Furthermore, it was recommended that the BRT system should be expanded to cope with increased demand and promote further emission reduction; intensify eco-friendly and “green” waste management technological approach and support the private sector for similar initiatives. Appropriate  policies should also be put in place to drive these initiatives and to move towards zero waste, among others.

    The fifth edition of the forum had Vulnerability and adaptability to climate change in Nigeria: Lagos State transportation, housing and infrastructure in Focus as its theme.

    Fashola said the only way to fight and win the war against climate change and global warming was through adaptation and a change in lifestyle.

    Participants focused on measures that would aid adaptation and mitigation, and recommended that the Federal Government should create the enabling environment for the private sector to aggressively tackle climate change through mitigation and adaptation initiatives in the interest of green development. The participants, drawn from different sectors of the economy, charged governments at all levels to properly mainstream climate change into their infrastructural development agenda for sustainability.

    In a communiqué at the end of the 2013 summit, participants recommended that the state should ensure a multi-disciplinary approach to the planning, design, construction and management of urban infrastructure.

    “To make our urban infrastructure climate-resilient, the Lagos State government should continue to pursue the development and implementation of a long-term strategic and inclusive vision that is embedded into the current planning, especially land use allocation, and promote infrastructure with integrated design solutions,” the communique read in part.

    It also encouraged the government to “further strengthen the capacity of its electricity board to pursue its energy conservation initiative; governments at all levels should promote climate-smart agriculture and strengthen capacity of small-holder farmers to mainstream climate change impacts into their activities for the attainment of national food security.”

    Fashola assured that the state government was putting policies and strategies in place to mitigate the effects of climate change in the areas of transportation, housing and infrastructure, and urged everyone to adopt clean development mechanisms.

    The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said the objectives of the summit was to promote and sustain an infrastructural system that was environmentally friendly and geared towards reduction in carbon emission.

    It was also aimed at analysing policy instruments for easy adaptation to climate change and mitigation of greenhouse gases’ emissions as they affected transportation and the housing sectors.

     

    Talking shop?

    With the seventh edition in the series kicking off, has the forum become a mere talking shop for policy makers? How well has the state keyed into the benefits of previous editions? What impact have they had on the environment and the citizens? How has the forum immuned the state from the imminent effects of climate change?

    Bello said the achievements in the past six editions of the summit are many.

    He said they include the Draft Lagos State Climate Change Policy Document and Action Plan, Lagos State Adaptation Strategy Documents produced to reinforce actions to address the challenges of climate change; the heightened collaboration with various non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Vulnerability Study on Coastal Areas to Climate Change in the state in conjunction with the United Nations International Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Eko Atlantic Project, Shoreline Protection of the Bar Beach and Rehabilitation of the Drainage Infrastructures in Lagos.

    Others, he observed, include the introduction of Mass Transportation Systems, including Bus-Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Project, School Advocacy Programme, Yearly School Exchange Programme to Germany (where students from Lagos State public schools, are sponsored to join their counterpart abroad), as well as participation of various government officials at international climate change conferences and events. Additional achievements of the summit include the establishment of waste-to-wealth programmes (such as Nylon Buy-back, Waste-to-Compost and Waste-to-Energy), Annual Tree Planting Campaign, Car Horn-free Campaign, the Greening Programme, and passing of laws to protect the environment.

    “For example, it is now an offence to fell a tree in Lagos, as doing so attracts a fine and the planting of five trees for every fallen tree. Amid the enactment of fresh laws (such as on noise pollution), environmental laws are likewise being harmonised, even as the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) has been elevated to the status of an Agency to enforce environmental laws,” Bello said, adding that  the previous summits have clearly shown that the state’s commitment to the development and evolvement of a climate change conscious society so as to lay the foundations necessary to counteract the global threat.

    Fashola takes delight in these feats, saying that the input of the state government in environmental regeneration and infrastructural development are in furtherance of sustainable environment.

    “In  Lagos, we  have continued to landscape and beautify hitherto open spaces and loops that were then hideouts for miscreants. We have also modernised parks and gardens, as well as established an agency named the Lagos State Parks and Gardens (LASPARK) whose major role is to oversee the parks and gardens in the state and to continue the greening initiatives in order to assure modern town planners that the state is methodically planned with all its resources for an enviable regional national development,” he explained.

    Ths year’s conference has Seven years of Climate Change Governance in Lagos State: Celebrating Success Stories, Reviewing Challenges and Setting Future Agenda as its theme. It holds between April 21 and 24 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The summit has, so far, addressed various measures of combating climate effects through various mitigation and adaptation actions, shared best practices across boundaries, and explored inherent business opportunities.

    Also, the vulnerability and adaptability of climate change in major facets of life have been focused upon.

  • Climate Change: Saraki tasks UN on adequate funding

    The Chairman Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Bukola Saraki, has appealed to the United Nations Development Program for adequate funding to combat Climate Change in Nigeria.

    Areas requiring intervention in Nigeria, according to the lawmaker representing Kwara Central in the upper legislative chamber include environmental sanitation, degradation, forestry, agriculture, power and other related climate change problems in the country.

    Saraki represented by the Clerk of the Committee, Fatai Jimoh and his Senior Legislative Aide, Kingsley Amaku spoke at the UN framework convention on climate change otherwise known as Conference of Parties in Lima, Peru.

    The Special Assistant, Media and Advocacy to the Senator, Bamikole Omishore, in a statement in Abuja, said Saraki promised to collaborate with his colleagues in the National Assembly to establish a UNDP/NASS multi -sectoral committee on climate change that will seek for additional funds to support the Federal government’s efforts on the endemic problem of climate change in Nigeria.

    The committee, if established, Saraki said would ensure judicious allocation and utilization of any grant released to the country.

     

  • Climate change: German to spend N10b in West Africa

    German government is to spend over N10 billion in 10 West African countries for research and training of experts on global issues on adaptation to climate change, impacts and mitigation in the sub-region.

    The countries are Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and The Gambia.

    Other countries are Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

    The Executive Director of West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), Dr. Laurent Sedogo, disclosed this at the Federal University of Technology (FUT, Minna, on Wednesday.

    The occasion was the graduation ceremony of the first batch of 10 Masters Research students on climate change.

    He said similar amount would be expended on South African version of the scheme by the German government.

    Under the scheme, the participating countries would be involved in climate service and research programmes in order to provide science-based advice to policy makers and stakeholders on climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation measures.