Arising from the challenges occasioned by the recent economic recession experienced in the country, government is seeking to diversify the economy by unlocking the opportunities in the environment sector. The economic downturn has been attributed to the nation’s reliance on oil as its single foreign exchange earner.

This year’s edition – and the 11th in the series – of the National Council for Environment will address the issue, in the light of government’s policy thrust. The forum is themed: “Unlocking the Investment opportunities in the Environment sector towards Nigeria’s Economic Recovery, Diversification Growth and Sustainable Development”.

Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, who made the submission in Abuja on Friday, October 13, 2017 at a media briefing, said: “Globally, the green economy has become a veritable tool for economic growth and diversification in countries that are not even as endowed with natural resources as ours. It has become a fulcrum of national economic advancement as it cuts across every aspects of a nation’s economy. Our challenge at this point is how to harness and leverage on the huge opportunities in the environment sector.

“With proper harnessing and leveraging on our natural resources, the root of our economic recovery will be faster when we consciously support the green economy by investing in the environment sector to increase other sources of revenue in the Nigeria economy. These opportunities include repositioning of the National Agency for Great Green Wall (GGW), Environment Sound of Chemicals Management, Watershed Management, Renewable Energy, Eco-Tourism, Green Bond, Afforestation/Reforestation, Implementation of the UNEP Report and the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project.

The minister noted that, since his assumption in office, government has vigorously pursued and sensitised the Nigerian citizens towards going green and achieving toxic-free environment.

“It is my sincere wish that, after this National Council meeting, the decisions reached will be such that is capable of re-engineering the sector to expand the frontiers to meaningfully contribute to a speedy economic recovery,” stated, adding:

“In spite of the challenging times, this government has demonstrated complete political will and commitment in the cause of reviving the ‘Nigerian Project’ by dealing with immediate issues of improving security, tracking corruption, and revitalising the national economy. It is in the light of this that government recently launched the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), 2017-2020 economic blue print.

“Pursuant to the ERGP’s policy objectives on the Environment Sector, our deliberations during the council meeting would be guided by our present challenges, aspirations and the policy direction and focus encapsulated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which defines and determines the new narrative and vision of the present administration for the sector. To this end, I urge our distinguished delegates to the meeting to be objective when considering the merits and demerits of submitted Council Memoranda by applying the stated criteria especially as they relate to the ERGP set targets.”

The 11th National Council on Environment (NCE) holds from Monday, October 16 to Wednesday, October 18, 2017 in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The Greenpeace ship, “MV Esperanza”, on Friday, October 13, 2017 docked at the port of Douala in Cameroon on the first leg of its tour in Central Africa. For four weeks, the Esperanza will sail through the waters of Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Congo to engage with local communities and raise awareness on the importance of the Congo Basin forest. The tour has been named “Give the Congo Basin forest a chance”.

“By bringing our ship to Central Africa and in Cameroon for the first time, Greenpeace Africa seeks to emphasise its commitment to working with local communities and stakeholders in addressing issues of industrial agriculture and logging that have plagued the Congo Basin region for decades,” said Lindlyn Moma, Greenpeace Africa Programme Director.

The Congo Basin forest is the second largest rainforest in the world. More than 75 million people and a wide range of endangered species depend on it for survival. However, logging and exploitative agribusiness has often contributed to forest loss and land grabbing. This often means local and indigenous communities loss the customary rights to their lands to logging companies.

During the ship tour, local communities will undertake a range of activities to show their support for the protection of the Congo Basin forest. Greenpeace Africa will seek to amplify these voices locally and internationally. The voices of these communities will be heard in the form of traditional dances, forest fashion parade and a wish tree capturing wishes of communities for their forest. These wishes will be handed to world leaders meeting in Bonn, Germany during the COP23 climate change conference. Open boats and guided tours of the ship will also be available to the public.

“We are excited about the opportunity to engage with Cameroonians on the issue of forest protection. Forest destruction is a major threat to the global environment which depends on the Congo Basin forest to regulate carbon compound in our atmosphere. It is imperative that collaboration between the states be reinforced to promote land use planning. We also must encourage ecotourism and community forestry to guarantee the protection of our forest for present and future generations,” said Sylvie Djacbou, Greenpeace Africa  Forest Campaigner.

For the next four weeks, Greenpeace’s Esperanza will host stakeholders in the region to increase the urgency required to deal with the current unsustainable approach to forest management. These activities will also help imbue a sense of pride and conservation in the youths of the region.

Hundreds of millions of people will be affected by climate change impacts and their implications for health or migration already within the next few decades, sectors that so far often get overlooked in this context. This is one of the insights of the Impacts World Conference organised by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany this week.

About 500 scientists from 67 countries gathered at the conference with the title “Counting the true costs of climate change” to push climate impact research to the next level by better integrating socio-economic factors. At the same time, the institute celebrated its 25th anniversary hosting this meeting of the global impacts research community, in the spirit of its mission followed for a quarter century: further advancing scientific progress and communicating insights to stakeholders.

“We need you,” Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), addressed the scientists assembled at the conference. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary, she highlighted the outstanding role of the Potsdam Institute’s scientists and its founding director, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber:

“It is hard to describe just how important your contributions are to humankind,” she said. “Our struggle is not about ideology, it is about urgency and about wellbeing. We have a lot of work ahead.” Espinosa is one of the driving forces behind the UN climate summit to be held in Bonn in less than a month, the first since the US has announced to withdraw from the historic Paris Agreement on climate stabilisation.

Unabated global warming would cause high economical costs, but also damages that cannot be counted in Dollars or Euros, the conference showed. The researchers identified scientific challenges still lying ahead – like better understanding the processes behind climate-induced migration following for instance extreme events such as droughts, or longer-term destabilisation of livelihoods – to integrate them into the next generation of comprehensive computer simulations of possible futures under different climate change scenarios. Possible effects on health, like productivity losses of parts of the workforce as well as warming related kidney and lung malfunctions, were also discussed intensely.

“With its interdisciplinary research, PIK has an outstanding value for Brandenburg,” said the state’s Minister for Science, Research and Cultural Affairs, Martina Münch. She called PIK “an extraordinary institute”.  Just like the UN climate chief she added: “We really need you and your research!”

Thomas Rachel, Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research stressed that, today, some political forces are trying to distort or deny science. “Those who ignore the science will fail in the long term – only those who face the facts will be successful. The scientific community has to be very clear about this,” he said.

Addressing PIK he added: “For many years you have been setting standards – climate policies have to be based on solid science.” Together, the state of Brandenburg and the Federal Government of Germany are the main funders of PIK. “This money is well invested,” Rachel said.

“Climate change is risk number one,” said Klaus von Klitzing, Nobel Laureate for Physics, praising the participants of the conference for their relentless work. He contributed to the appeal by 79 Nobel Laureates that helped in making the historical Paris climate summit a success. He quoted the first man on the moon, astronaut Neil Armstrong, who said that seen from outer space, Earth looks fragile. “Maybe all politicians should be shot to the moon before taking office,” von Klitzing said jokingly.

Poor countries are hit hardest by most of the impacts of climate change. “We’ve come a long way – but today it is acknowledged that climate change and development are closely linked,” said Leena Srivastava from The Energy and Resource Institute in India. “Energy is at the centre of the sustainability challenge.”

The ambitious renewables target in India brought down prices of solar and wind power below prices of power from coal, she pointed out. Yet, even if greenhouse gas emissions are limited, huge adaptation efforts are needed to enable sustainable development.

“It is really gratifying to see that the cream of the global research community exploring climate change impacts is coming together in Potsdam for the second time now, after our 2013 conference,” said PIK’s director, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber. “The results of this meeting now will become a major influence on the forthcoming IPCC reports.”

The co-chair of the working group on climate impacts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Hans-Otto Pörtner, was scheduled to join the conference on Friday. “There have been many days in my live when I thought all is lost,” said Schellnhuber. “But after this anniversary celebration and the wonderful contributions of friends and allies I know that we’re going to save the world.”