On June 6, beginning at dawn in the Pacific Islands and ending at dusk in the West Coast of the United States, citizens around the world will take part in the largest ever public consultation on climate change and energy.
This unique World Wide Views Day is in support of an ambitious new, universal climate change agreement that the nations of the world will conclude under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris, in December.
French President, François Hollande. Photo credit: telegraph.co.uk
Organisers Make Final Preparations to Bring the Voice of the People to the Paris Climate Agreement
Meanwhile, on April 13 and 14 in Paris, national organisations in the World Wide Views Alliance will meet at the European Space Agency HQ to discuss and continue their preparations for the main event.
On the day itself, June 6, groups of hundreds of citizens reflecting the demographic diversity of their countries will attend day-long meetings to discuss climate change and energy issues, express their views and make up their minds about what they want their governments to do to ensure a sustainable future.
Results to Give Policy Makers Unique Insights into Citizens Views
The results from the global event will be ready in June, giving everyone from policy makers to businesses, from civic leaders to investors a unique and timely insight into the views of citizens worldwide on the key issues that governments need to address in order to reach an effective new climate change agreement.
The results from World Wide Views will also be presented at the Paris COP21 UNFCCC climate change conference.
“We are very excited that the World Wide Views on Climate and Energy is being organised and happy to collaborate with such an important initiative. Bringing forward the views and the voices of citizens from across the globe can only contribute to a positive new universal climate agreement in Paris in December. In supporting this unique and novel approach, we believe we are also making an important contribution to Article 6 of the Convention as
it relates to education and public awareness,” says Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Managing Citizen Participation on a Global Scale
All the citizen meetings will be organised in an identical way in order to make the results comparable.
The results will be published immediately on a web platform as they are collected throughout the day. They will then be presented and distributed to the negotiating teams and shared with other policy makers and stakeholders not only at COP21 but importantly at key events leading up to the Paris conference.
This is the third time that partners in the World Wide Views Alliance have organised a global citizen consultation, but World Wide Views on Climate and Energy is on track to be the largest ever. Partners around the world are still signing up and over 50 countries are expected to participate.
The initiative has received France’s official COP21 label, and French President François Hollande praised it in his yearly speech to the French constitutional bodies, last January.
The project is initiated by the Danish Board of Technology Foundation, Missions Publiques, the UNFCCC Secretariat and the French National Commission for Public Debate in partnership with World Wide Views.
The project is funded by the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy (MEDDE), 14 French Regions and the City of Paris, the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP), GDF Suez, the Presidency of the French National Assembly, the German Federal Environment Agency, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), the Fondation de France, and the EE-LV group of the French Senate.
My last meeting with Oronto was barely a week before his passing. He had sent me a text message inviting me over to Abuja to discuss some issues. I had been planning to visit him, anyhow and was curtailed by his tight schedule which I abhorred disrupting. It was a delight to find this open space to see him. After spending some time with him, family and friends discussing the excellent step the President had taken by congratulating General Buhari for winning the election, we retreated into his bedroom for more private conversations.
The late Oronto Douglas. Photo credit: dailypost.ng
Oronto truly amazed me as he calmly talked about how Nigeria needs a strong environmental justice movement and why we must keep doing the best we can. He then went down memory lane about how we got to know each other, how we became friends and brothers. He recalled how he had to have an identity card from my architectural firm in the difficult early 1990s when being able to identify yourself in an acceptable manner could mean walking away free or being taken into the gulag by the jackboots. Not that ID cards kept us from suffering detentions and humiliations of those heady days.
We reminisced about how we started the Environmental Rights Action (ERA) and how he first served as Chief Field Officer before stepping up into the role of Deputy Director of the organisation. Until his passing in the early hours of 9 April 2015 he was a Trustee of the organisation as well as a member of its Board of Directors. I should add here that all through his days in ERA Oronto never received even one kobo as an allowance for his work. And he did work more than many others. In fact the organisation started on the principles that we would all live on the same plane as they people and communities we served. A strong foundation indeed.
Our conversation on ERA ended on the note that we must do all we can at all times to support and strengthen the organisation.
Then we began to talk about books. Anyone who knows Oronto will agree that he was an intellectual militant in the most positive and pure manner. Right from our early years together we had reached the understanding that the ecological struggle must be fought with knowledge and from a holistic platform – seeing that our lives are deeply woven into our environment in a complete and interactive manner. From that time onward we resolved to encourage scholarship among the ranks of activists and also to encourage writing and documentation. A few years ago we talked about how CDLF, his non-profit organisation, would build libraries across communities in the nation so as to encourage scholarship. Some months back and also last week, we talked about his plans to build a resource centre in Lagos in memory of late comrades Chima Ubani and Bamidele Aturu. How the ranks of committed activists are depleting!
One of the greatest books on the Niger Delta environment is Where Vultures Feast: Shell, Human Rights, and Oil in the Niger Delta (2003)that he co-authored with Ike Okonta. It is noteworthy that Ike Okonta is also a member of the Board of Directors of ERA. Ike went on to write the highly seminal When Citizens Revolt– a study of the non-violent mobilisations by MOSOP and the Ogoni people. Oronto had earlier collaborated with Nick Ashton-Jones, an ecologist and ERA Board member and Susi Arnott to write the classic The Human Ecosystem of the Niger Delta – An ERA Handbook (1998).
Oronto was a man of ideas. He was a strategic thinker whose ideas you could confidently take the bank at any time. He was one of the main authors of the Kaiama Declaration of 1998. The launching of the Declaration by the Ijaw Youth Council including the Operation Climate Change that was pursued through the ogele (an Ijaw cultural protest dance) was harshly supressed by the Nigerian military. That repression inspired my poem We Thought It Was Oil but it Was Blood (1998) that was dedicated to Oronto and the youths of the Niger Delta.
His frequent counsel was: we must choose our fights. We cannot expend our energies on everything.
While his days on this side of eternity were ebbing away he was thinking of how to set things up into the future. He was a highly charismatic and inspirational leader. His ideas helped to shape and widen our campaigns and networks.
One of the last things we discussed together was his request that I find time to speak with a lady who is writing his biography. I was privileged to do that the following morning. During that conversation I was conscious not to slip into speaking about Oronto in the past tense. And we laughed over that. It was not time for speaking in that manner! I am saddened that now circumstances force me to speak of him that way.
We chatted on. Then Oronto brought up the issue of his health. His selflessness kept this aspect to the end of our private conversation that afternoon. Intermittently he would pause to apologise for calling me up from Benin City to Abuja. My protestations that opportunities to visit with him were a delight to me did not stop him from repeating it a few more times. As he spoke he took on a serious mien and for a moment I remembered visiting him in a San Francisco hospital years ago when he began the heroic fight against cancer. When he embarked on walking around the hospital floor, as part of his therapy, it took all my energy to keep up pace with him. He was a strong man. I recall that while on that hospital bed he kept on working and writing.
Oronto informed me that on his last visit to the doctors he was told they had done all they could do. And there was nothing more for them to do. It would be a matter of weeks they had told him. In his battle with cancer Oronto never evoked or solicited pity. He was a bold, strong person.
At this point we agreed that there was a higher Physician we could hand the case over to, God. When I switched into my role as a clergy and began to assure him of the promises of God as recorded in the Bible his eyes lit up and a smile played at the corners of his lips. As I write this short piece in his honour, which is the picture of his face that I remember. Oronto’s smiling face is etched indelibly on my heart. It helps to soothe the ache, somewhat. We held onto each as I prayed over the situation expressing confidence that the prognosis of the doctors could always be overturned. But things do not always go the way we desire or pray.
I confess that I felt diminished when my parents and parents-in-law passed on to eternity, but Oronto’s passing hit me in a deep emotional manner that cannot be captured in words. I was visiting Lagos with my wife and we were in bed that early that morning when a call came through from Akinbode Oluwafemi, another member of the Board of Directors of ERA. Before I took the call I sensed that this could not be good news. He managed to pass the information across and said he was heading to the airport for Abuja.
My wife hugged me tightly and without saying a word it was clear that our plans for the day were to be put on hold and I had to head to Abuja myself. I am glad that Oronto’s wife has remained strong and the children will find solace in the strength of their mother and the very solid footprints that their father has left behind.
Men like Oronto Natei Douglas do not die. They may no longer be visible, but their ideas, passions and inspiration live on. He lived a truly unforgettable life. He was a friend, brother and comrade. I cherish that smile from an unbreakable spirit.
By Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation – HOMEF)
Nigeria’s international climate diplomacy on Friday in Bonn, Germany received a boost when its representative, Mr Peter Tarfa, emerged vice-chair of the Adaptation Fund Board’s Project and Programme Review Committee (AFB-PPRC).
Chair of the PPRC, Ms. Yuka Greiler of Switzerland with the Vice-Chair, Mr Peter Tarfa of Nigeria
Under the new capacity, Tarfa, who is a deputy director in the Department of Climate Change (DCC) in the Federal Ministry of Environment, will be responsible for evaluating and recommending submitted project and programme proposals to the Board for approval.
“This is a critical position and an added feather for Nigeria in international climate diplomacy,” remarked a source close to the DCC. Nigeria is representing Africa under the dispensation.
Tarfa will work closely with the new chair, Ms. Yuka Greiler from Switzerland – representing Western European and other Groups. The pair were elected during the 25th Meeting of the AFB (AFB25) holding in Bonn.
Tarfa said: “The achievement is certainly for all of us in the climate change family. I could not have achieved this without everyone’s support.”
Regarding the preparation of the nation’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), he stated: “National efforts have started and we will soon host a national stakeholders’ meeting.”
The Adaptation Fund (AF) is a fund established under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in eligible developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to impacts of climate change. Nigeria is eligible.
A concrete adaptation project/programme is a set of activities aimed at addressing the adverse impacts of and risks posed by climate change. The activities shall aim at producing visible and tangible results on the ground by reducing vulnerability and increasing the adaptive capacity of human and natural systems to respond to the impacts of climate change, including climate variability. Adaptation projects/programmes can be implemented at the community, national, regional and transboundary levels. Projects/programmes concern activities with a specific objectives and concrete outcomes and outputs that are measurable, monitorable, and verifiable.
At present, up to US$10 million per country can be granted for projects and programmes and over US$165 million has been approved to date. This implies that the sum of US$10 million is available for Nigeria at the AFB subject to designating a National Implementing Entity and approval of submitted concrete project or programme proposal either through a National Implementing Entity (NIE) or a Multi-lateral Implementing Entity (MIE).
For a country to access the Adaptation Fund, it must be a party to the Kyoto Protocol; must be a vulnerable developing country; must designate a National Authority that will endorse country submission; and must submit project or programme proposals through a National Implementing Entity (NIE) or Multi-lateral Implementing Entity (MIE) such as UNDP, World Bank, FAO.
The Adaptation Fund has a direct access modality, which means that an accredited national institution manages granted funds and has responsibility for project implementation, monitoring and evaluation. An accredited national institution is called a National Implementing Entity (NIE). The Bank of Industry (BoI) has been proposed as Nigeria’s NIE and its application is under consideration by the Fund’s Accreditation Panel.
To become a NIE, an institution must meet the fiduciary risk management standards set by the AFB and be endorsed by the country’s Designated Authority (DA). The DA in Nigeria is the Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment. The fiduciary risk management standards cover three areas: financial management and integrity, institutional capacity and transparency and self-investigative powers
“I assure all foreign governments that Nigeria will become a more forceful and constructive player in the global fight against terrorism and in other matters of collective concern, such as the fight against drugs, climate change, financial fraud, communicable diseases and other issues requiring global response” (GMB, 1 April, 2015).
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Photo credit: informationng.com
I felt highly gladdened when I listened to the first national speech of the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (GMB), after collecting his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and thought that I heard the two words of my life “climate change” mentioned as an issue of challenge for the incoming administration. The words “Climate Change” have become rare in presidential speeches in recent years in Nigeria. I was so pleasantly surprised that I decided to wait and read printed copies of the speech in case I did not hear well because of the excitement that God used our incumbent President to ensure a peaceful election-based transition. Behold, I heard clearly and, as stated in the quote above, climate change has been looped with other global challenges that the country faces, and which will be squarely addressed by the incoming administration.
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. The risks that it already poses has necessitated global discourse and the need for nations to work together to mitigate its impacts and adapt to potentially new environmental conditions that we may find ourselves. With the commitment of the incoming administration, as reflected in the above quote, Nigeria will be putting itself in a strategic position to play its much desired leadership role, particularly in Africa, to ensure that the world comes up with a new global climate change agreement that will be equitable and just in Paris at the end of the year. Nigeria will also be in position to look deeply into a number of job-creating technology-based development opportunities existing in global response to climate change to craftily create jobs for the teeming population of its unemployed youths.
With the optimism and hope offered on the issue of climate change by the President-elect, I have decided to start putting out a series of short non-technical articles on climate change and the imperative for a climate-resilient approach for sustainable human development in Nigeria in this widely read news media. The articles will start with the clarification on what climate change is and what it is not. The factors and causal mechanisms of climate change will be explained, as well as its impacts on various sectors of the national economy. The country’s vulnerability will also be highlighted. In the final analysis, we shall assess the country’s response so far before coming up with critical policy and practical options for making Nigeria climate resilient.
Welcome to the series on Making Nigeria climate-resilient.
By Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo (Climate Change Specialist and Adjunct Professor, Department of Geography, University of Lagos, Nigeria. olukayode_oladipo@yahoo.co.uk)
The Secretariat of UNFCCC communicated the negotiation text of the Climate Change Agreement in Paris in December 2015 to Governments on 19th March 2015 in all six official languages.
Prince Lekan Fadina
This communication, according to the UNFCCC, means that the formal, legal and procedural requirements to allow countries to adopt a legal instrument under the UNFCCC have been fulfilled. Governments are set to agree a global climate change agreement which will come into effect in 2020.
As part of the agreement, every country is expected to contribute now and into the future based on their national circumstances to prevent global warming rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to adapt societies to existing and future climate change. This is the primary purpose of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) which every country is expected to send to the UNFCCC.
The UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres made this clear when she said that the INDCs Report allowed early considerations of the emerging consensus and the options now on the table by all concerned government ministries so countries can conclude successfully in Paris. She went on to say that Paris needs to put the world on a recognisable track to peak global emissions as soon as possible, achieve a deep decarbonisation of the global economy and reach a climate neutral world in the second half of this century at the latest.
The negotiation text covers substantive content of the new agreement including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, capacity building and transparency of action and support. Another step towards the goal of COP 21 has been achieved with the negotiating text to all governments. The road will see intense effort towards the Agreement and formal negotiations will continue on the text at the next UN Climate Change sessional meeting in Bonn from 1st to 11th June, 2015.
It is expected that the Bonn meeting will be a useful platform for countries to demonstrate flexibility and willingness to come to an early resolution of the outstanding issues and to seek common ground on unresolved issues. Itis expected that further sessions will provide opportunities to converge on and resolve issues in advance of the Paris Conference in Bonn from 31st August-4th September and from 19th to 23rd October 2015. There will also be series of top-level meetings that will include climate change on their Agenda and contribute to convergence on the key political choices. Major Economic Forum with up to four sessions tentatively scheduled for this year, The Petersburg Climate Dialogue (17th-19th, May 2015), the G7 and G2 0meetings.
These sessions, according to Ms Figueres, will provide opportunities that will help to ensure that countries can inject the right level of political energy and direction. She further said that “what is needed now is that the views of the Heads of State, Ministers and negotiating teams reflect a consistent view of ambition and the means to achieve it”.
The negotiating sessions will be interesting and challenging especially with the launching of the complete version of the Synthesis Report that concludes the instalment of the 5th Assessment Report (AR5) of the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCCC).
The Report, written by over 800 scientists from 80 countries and assessing over 30,000 scientific communities knows about the scientific basis of climate change, its risks and options for adaption and mitigation. It will serve as useful information for negotiators to advance strong basis for their positions and the interest of their regions and countries.
The train to COP21 is moving fast and, as the clock ticks, we must all ensure that we move with the tide. Itis good news that the in-coming administration through the President-elect has given a signal that climate change, international diplomacy is a priority area for the government. We welcome this and as we have said in our series Nigeria has the responsibility to lead Africa and all of us must key into this olive message because we must move towards the path of low carbon economy and tap on this to get “buy-in” by all Nigerians. Climate Change is real and we must also be advocates.
I continue to wish the Committee on COP 21 every success, as we all look forward to the end product. We assure them of our support and pray that God will grant them wisdom and grace to succeed.
By Prince Lekan Fadina (Executive Director, Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management and Environment (CISME). (He is a member of the Nigeria Negotiation Team, Africa Group of Negotiators and member, AGN Finance Co-ordination Committee). Website: www.cismenigeria.com. Email: cismevision@gmail.com
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Community Based Resource Management, Niger Delta has disbursed N26. 7 million to Youth in Agriculture Foundation in Akwa Ibom State.
Youths involved in farming. Photo credit: smeonline.biz
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Godwin Afangideh, presented the cheque to the Chairman, Commodity Apex Development Association (CADA) in Uyo on Thursday.
Afangideh, who was represented by the Director of Agriculture in the ministry, Mr Okon Nsungwara, urged the youths to see agriculture as a business that would enhance their living standard.
He said that agriculture has gone beyond being only for subsistence but a business enterprise that could provide them with sustainable means of livelihood.
The commissioner charged the youths to take agriculture to their communities and work hard to encourage other youths to embrace the message of going back to the farm.
“Nigeria before today lived and survived through agriculture and business, not oil. The price of oil has fallen below expectation and very soon oil will be exhausted.
“We will not achieve agricultural revolution in the country except the youth and women embrace agriculture. Carry the fire of agriculture to the land and produce the food we need in this country.
“Make your farms your office and your tools your pen and extend the benefits of agriculture to other youth in the state and provide food for the teeming population,” he said.
In his remarks, Mr Ernest Nwogu, the IFAD Senior Technical Adviser, said that the programme was designed to improve the living standard of people in Niger Delta, especially youths and women.
The technical adviser disclosed that the IFAD’s community based resource programme in the nine states of Niger Delta would exit by September 30, 2015.
He said that plans had been put in place to ensure that the rural farmers were not abandoned after the exit of the programme. Nwogu said that they have established for the farmers what they called Commodity Apex Development Association (CADA).
He explained that this rural institution would take care of farmers after the end of the IFAD programme in the region. He said that CADA would continue with the standard set through formation of cooperatives to collect revolving loan to farmers.
The technical adviser said that IFAD community based natural resource management programme has taken a lot of farmers out of poverty.
Earlier in his opening address, the state Programme Officer, Mrs Essien-Uwe Bassey, said that the Youth in Agriculture Foundation was established to stem youth unemployment and restiveness.
Bassey added that the programme had also encouraged youths to engage in profitable agriculture in a way that would attract investors.
She said that the youths had been trained in agri-business anchored by small Holder Foundation in collaboration with Songhai Centre at the instance of the National Office.
The highpoint of the event was the inauguration of executive council of the Youth in Agriculture Foundation in the state.
The New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has described the United State’s climate action plan – the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) – as grossly inadequate. It also sees US, which has a history of being the world’s largest polluter of the environment, as doing less to address climate change.
Barack Obama. US President
A release issued by CSE on April 1, 2015, observed that the INDCs was a replication of “its earlier pledge made in November 2014, which is “neither fair nor ambitious, and way short of what is needed to keep global warming under 2 degree centigrade.”
According to experts at CSE, “In its mitigation-centric INDC, the US commits to cutting greenhouse gases by 26-28 per cent by 2025 against the 2005 level. What this essentially means is that the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the US in 2025 will be 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Its per capita emissions would be 14 tonne CO2e in 2025. In comparison, in 2025, India’s total emissions will be about 4 billion tonne and its per capita emissions will be less than 3 tonne.”
CSE further observes that although the US mentions Clean Air Act, Energy Policy Act, and Energy Independence and Security Act, “it has no data on sector-wise emissions and the INDC is thin on details on how the target is going to be achieved.
“The US INDC is even less ambitious than what was pledged in Copenhagen when the US had said they would be on the pathway to a 30 per cent reduction in 2025 and a 42 per cent reduction in 2030. This pledge falls short of even that weak target. And this is when the world is witnessing extreme weather events and unprecedented calamities attributable to climate change.” Sunita Narain, director general of CSE said of US.
The statement compared the 26-28 percent reduction over 2005 as amounting to 15-17 percent over the 1990 levels. “In comparison, the European Union will reduce its emissions by at least 40 percent (by 2030) – more than double that of the US.”
CSE however estimated that to meet the 2°C target, “US emissions should be at least 50-60 per cent below 1990 levels, considering its historical responsibility of causing climate change and its present capability of solving it.”
The Centre observed that the actual reduction of emissions by the US would be much lesser than the 26-28 percent reduction because “the US target involved all greenhouse gases as well as offsets from CO2 absorption from sinks such as forests and land use changes.”
It also lamented the non-reference in the INDC as to how the US planned to fund its pledge of USD$3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, which is aimed at supporting the climate change plans of developing countries. “The Fund has received less than one percent of the promises made till date.
“Ironically, even these shallow commitments on the part of the US lack support domestically and the Republicans are strongly opposed to policies and Acts for climate change; particularly the rules on curbing pollution from power plants and federal policy on renewable energy,” CSE stated.
It decreed the Republicans and industry groups’ attempt to undercut proposed US Environmental Protection Agency power plant regulations as well as pursuing court challenges and by urging states not to comply.
“The shoddy efforts to cut corners on the part of countries historically responsible for and with the maximum capacity and resources to deal with climate change, only mean that it is certain that the world will go over the 2 degree C target. Thanks to countries like the US, the world would be forced to gear up for more catastrophic and irreversible climate change impacts,” Chandra Bhushan, deputy director-general of CSE concluded. By Abdallah el-Kurebe (Regional Editor, Newswatch Mag., +2348065887777; Skype: damyiloh)
“The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society.” – The board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter
Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea, and heat stress
Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy-use choices can result in improved health, particularly through reduced air pollution – World Health Organisation (WHO)
Agriculture in Africa is rain fed and thus vulnerable to climate change. Photo credit: osundefender.org
Almost all African countries are vulnerable to climate change. This is owing to their low adaptive capacity, including ever-growing dependence to on such resources that are sensitive to changes in climate.
Resulting from this, climate change threatens to inflict suffering on African nations as well as reverse the development gains that have been recorded over the years.
For example, Nigeria’s economic growth is principally based on oil, which is a climate-sensitive sector. Mining and agriculture are some others.
The WHO’s projection of an “approximate 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea, and heat stress” as a result of climate change means a retardation of development efforts in Africa.
Nigeria’s population figure as at 2013 173,615,000. The bulk of this number belongs to the poor class many of who are rural farmers.
According to Africa Adaptation Knowledge Network (AAKNet), 96 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population is dependent on rain-fed agriculture. In some countries, crop yields are predicted to fall by 50 percent by 2050.
Arable land is predicted to decline by six percent, which means that “food security and access to food will be severely compromised by climate change and poor rural communities and poor countries with the least financial, institutional and technological capacity to adapt will face the worst impacts.”
The introduction of agroforestry in agricultural systems will help, in no small measure, in mitigating climate change impact for rural farmers.
Deforestation, land degradation are contributing to trees disappearance from agricultural landscape and AAKNet says that “around 17 percent of all CO2 emissions are caused by deforestation and land degradation.
“An increase of arid and semi-arid land of five to eight percent is projected for Africa by 2080,” is stated.
Although the actual percentage of Nigeria’s land degraded by desertification is not ascertained, it is estimated that 43 percent of the total land area is suffers from the environmental menace.
For example, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states are characterised by sandy soils and low annual rainfall.
It is therefore imperative for “a multi-tier approach to be employed in order to build capacities of governments and communities in Africa to effectively respond to and adapt to climate change.”
The Network recommends that: “the assessment of social and economic vulnerabilities needs to be strengthened so as to inform processes for identifying adaptation priorities.
“There is a need for national adaptation policies that provide clear guidelines for integration and implementation of strategies, programmes and activities.
“Mainstreaming climate change into economic frameworks and sectoral policies is of paramount importance in order to ensure integrated adaptation responses,” and
“There is a need for increased adaptation funding at local and national levels with priority to such vulnerable groups as smallholder farmers, etc. By Abdallah el-Kurebe (Regional Editor, Newswatch Mag., +2348065887777; Skype: damyiloh)
