…As Nigeria launches national logo
The Federal Government has restated its commitment to tackling challenges affecting climate change in the nation, saying it would also collaborate with other African countries in its quest to achieve its emissions reduction targets.
The Minister of Environment, Barr. Mohammed Abdullahi made this statement during a ministerial press briefing on Nigeria’s preparation for the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) Session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The 27th session of the UNFCCC COP will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to 18, 2022.
“The global climate has been changing with devastating effects as a result of human-induced activities causing emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This is evident through increased temperatures, irregular rainfall patterns, rise in sea level and flooding, drought and desertification, land degradation, more frequent extreme weather events, declining freshwater resources and loss of biodiversity.
“We are the worst hit by the impacts of climate change, due to limited adaptive capacity to cope with these impacts.
“Recently, increased flooding has been experienced in Kogi, Nasarawa, Abia, Jigawa states and in some other parts of the country. This is largely due to high intensities of rainfall. A sad corollary to these events is decreased agricultural food production, loss of properties, health challenges and heightened insecurity. To say that these developments are a result of climate change is to state the obvious,” he stated.
The minister posited that the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that “delaying action is a luxury we can no longer afford” and “unless countries expeditiously boost climate action and ambition on mitigation and adaptation, we would be facing a future of 2oC or more.
“To jointly address climate change and its impacts, the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Conference of Parties (COP) – which is the supreme decision-making fora of the UNFCCC – convenes parties to the convention annually.
Nigeria became a party to the UNFCCC in 1994 and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2004.
“In 2015, Nigeria joined the global community in adopting the Paris Agreement, a binding mechanism for all countries in addressing the challenges of climate change. With the ratification of the Paris Agreement, Nigeria committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions unconditionally by 20 per cent and conditionally by 45 per cent which was reviewed to 47 per cent in our updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
“At the 26th session of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP26) and Outcomes in Glasgow, Scotland, the Glasgow Climate Pact (GCP) was adopted. The pact calls on countries to submit revised NDCs and long-term strategies by 2050, aiming for a just transition to net-zero emissions around the mid-century, which Nigeria is committed to achieving by 2060 and has commenced its implementation.
In response to the outcome of COP26 and in meeting the requirements of achieving net zero emission by 2060, Nigeria has,” he added.
Abdullahi stated that Nigeria will launch a COP27 national logo which represents the alignment with the ideals and objectives of COP27 at the briefing.
“The hosting of COP27 in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh this year marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In these 30 years, the world has come a long way in the fight against climate change and its negative impacts on our planet. We are now able to better understand the science behind climate change, better assess its impacts, and better [to] develop tools to address its causes and consequences.
“COP27 is a rare opportunity for parties and observers to come together and grapple with a challenge that is impacting all of humanity and to showcase unity against an existential threat that we can only overcome through concerted action and effective implementation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recent report has made it clear that we are now in extraordinarily dangerous territory. With every small delay to proportionate action, we move closer to irredeemable damage to the climate and its ability to sustain the human population. This urgency is recognised in the convening of countries at COP27 and in the call for countries to revise their NDCs ahead of the conference.
“Also, it is expected that the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management will hold a side meeting to showcase the impact of climate change on migration and livelihoods of the people affected by conflict and loss of agrarian habitat around the Lake Chad region, the arid landscape of northern Nigeria and coastal flood and erosion in the southern part of the country,” he added.
