Lagos — Lake Chad, located on the North-East corner of Nigeria, is shrinking rapidly, experts say.

Providing water for irrigation and other economic activities to four countries (including Nigeria), the fear is that the lake may dry up very soon if urgent steps are not taken. Minister of Housing, Environment and Urban Development, Architect Halima Tayo Alao (Mrs.), recently spoke with newsmen on the lake and other climate change issues. Tunde Sanni was there

Climate change is a global phenomenon and I think this is the first time that we as humans all over the world have come to realise that our activities in one part of the globe could affect severally, the other people on the other side of the globe.

It (climate change) is mostly a human-induced activity, the pollution principally, due to burning of fossil fuel, carbon dioxide, monoxide emissions, greenhouse gases, about eighty per cent of which are basically carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have continued to warm up the globe, scientifically proving that the globe is warming and that climate is changing.

It is a fact, it has been proven and because the globe is warming, the glaciers in the north, the ice are melting and because those are melting, the sea levels are rising and it is being said that more than sixty per cent of the largest cities of the world are sited within the coastline areas.

Because the sea levels are rising, we are likely to have more flooding in those areas. And for a country like Nigeria, we are talking about areas like Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and all other low coastline areas that are likely to be at a disadvantage. Of course it is the whole country, just like the whole world.

The whole world is going to suffer the dire consequences of the climate change, but of course the developing nations, African region, Nigeria being part of the African region, are going to suffer more because we have the least ability to cope, because we have more stress conditions that we are still coping with.

Extreme weather conditions will also trigger some health problems. For example, malaria and other aligned fever are likely to be on the increase.

Of course, when you are looking at countries in the African region where malaria is a big issue and you have it contributing to quite a large percentage of child mortality, especially under-five, that calls for a lot of concern.

Identifying Danger Zones

Lake Chad which services four major countries, Chad, Cameroun, Nigeria and Niger, is already quite vulnerable to the impact of the climate change.

Statistics shows that in the last 35 years, Lake Chad has shrunk by about ninety per cent. In 1972, it was 25,000 km2 square. As at December 2007, it was only 1,500 km2 and that is almost another ninety per cent and this is the lake that we know sustains a lot of lives and livelihood for human beings, animals, irrigation and all of that.

Desert encroachment is said to be moving in at an approximately 0.6 kilometers now southward and 11 frontline states of the north (from Sokoto to Borno State) are having more of the severe effects of the drought and unpredicted rainfall, too little water somewhere, too much water somewhere; and these are all effects of the climate change.

In the coastal areas we have tried to do some shore protection, Lagos shoreline protection projects are ongoing and in the north there is a Greenwell Sahara Programme initiative.

It is an African Union initiative, a green belt of activity that is supposed to check the southward movement of the desert. It is also going to be a green belt from Mauritania, right through Djibouti, in the east of Africa and it is going to come through our country, in the 11 frontline states of the north. It is going to be an activity-packed area.

We are going to have trees, oases, a lot of income-generating activities, poverty-reduction programmes, and it is going to create youth employment and all of that.

The Federal Government places a lot of importance on that programme and we want to look at how we can turn desert to food and check issues of land degradation which are consequences of climate change; and look at how our laws of arable lands can be reclaimed and laws of bio-diversity.

Behavioural Change Quest

There must be some behavioural change in Nigerians where it concerns the environment, housing and urban development. In the environment sector, we must inculcate in ourselves the values of cleanliness.

It is said that more than fifty per cent of communicable diseases are attacking the environment. So if we have clean environment, clean sanitation, something as simple as washing your hands after using the toilet, we can drive away the diseases.

Most of the water-borne diseases are all because of bad sanitation and very poor environmental care. So, we can, as Nigerians, try to improve our health status and perceptions, even on climate change by keeping our environment very, very clean.

Even if we start to mitigate climate change today, because of the emissions that are existing already and the heating of the globe that is on, we would need a few more decades to be able to stabilise.

And so we must, as a continent Africa, and as a nation Nigeria look at adaptation, how we can check the risks that the climate change is posing already, while we are still looking at what we can do to mitigate it.

This is very, very important. There are things we can do to get adaptive in the issues of climate change while we are still looking at mitigation and how to stop the globe from warming up itself.

O the issue of behavioural change, when we look at issue of flooding, we could reduce the hazards and the loss of lives and the loss of properties if we do it well.

Federal Government has put in place regulations, policies, building codes that we expect would be abided by; and we expect that the states, in giving out planning approvals, will ensure that drains are not blocked, people are not building on waterways and that buildings have proper drainage and that all codes are properly looked at.

Overcoming Constitutional Obstacles

There are some key sectors of the economy and there must be synergy; there must be a way by which things can be done collectively in order to achieve positive results.

In the environment sector, environment is on the concurrent list. While the federal has her responsibilities, also the state and local governments. And because of distinctions of these responsibilities you could have some handicap in ensuring that you have a good grip on how things are done at all of the other tiers of government.

Former Reform Strategies

The Federal Ministry of Environment was created in 1999 because of very crucial issues of the environment that were so identified as being in need of attention, critical attention.

In 2003, there was the Federal Ministry of Housing which was excised from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, also to be able to give importance to housing delivery to Nigerians.

Towards end of 2006 that was when we had the two harmonised and it became the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban Development.

There were quite a few reform activities that took place before the expiration of that administration. The NOSDRA (National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency) is an agency of this ministry charged with the management of oil spill.

It was within that period that agency was put in place and also the NESREA that is the National Environmental Standards Regulation Enforcement Agency was also put in place within that period of time.

The agency is actually to monitor and also ensure compliance with environmental standards and regulations. The bill was one of the very first that was assented to by President Umaru Yar'Adua on assumption of office.

So there were quite a number of standards, regulations, guide-lines that have been put in place by a federal institution, expected to be utilised effectively by states and local governments in ensuring that environmental and housing issues are properly addressed.

Environmental Action Plan

We have looked very critically into the strategies; erosion and coastal management, on pollution waste management, global issues, issues that must be integrated fully into our national strategies and national development as a country. We have to be part of the global movement, what is happening in climate change.

We are looking critically also at the issues of pollution, especially industrial pollution; the effluents that come out of industries, the need for proper abatement facilities and the need to control the effluents so that they do not continue to pollute water which people drink. Those are the areas we have looked at, especially in the environment sector.

In the housing sector, affordable housing has continued to be of paramount importance. The President has put in place two principal presidential committees that have to do with this ministry.

There is the presidential committee on the policy on affordable housing, chaired by the Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development; and the presidential committee on land reform, chaired by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

We have come up with very concrete plans and it is the first time that the housing issue is being looked at holistically. We have looked at the housing issue; some all of the perspectives and we have looked at the laws.

We have identified laws on issues of affordable housing and many of them are being reviewed to be submitted to the Federal Executive Council and forwarded to the National Assembly for proper enactment.

We have looked at issues of taxes and incentives, what needs to be done so that in paying for your house, you don't get further impoverished; what are the kinds of incentives that developers can have that will encourage them to go into production of more houses. We have looked at the issues of building materials.

We believe that materials available in the country are cheaper and more acclimatised to our own kind of environment and they should be used more. We have been able to identify them and also the research institutions that can develop them and further upgrade them so that they can be available in the quantity that can be accessible and affordable to all Nigerians.

The issue of skill is very important and until we can get the right skill in the right number it will continue to be difficult to have affordable housing.

Pollution Monitoring Efforts

Pollution is in various forms. We have pollution of land, of water and pollution of the air. The water pollution, most often, is from industries.

Most industries just discharge into streams and these flow through many communities and could become hazardous to their health. I have made a few inspections to some industries to check what we call the pollution abatement facilities.

We realise that we must improve ourselves economically and that our industries are key to economic development, but in doing that they should not trade that with the lives of our people.

Industries must urgently put in place pollution abatement facilities to ensure that their pollution effluents are well treated before they are being discharged into streams or wherever they are being discharged.

These streams serve as drinking water to some communities somewhere. Chemicals are also now calling for global attention. Nigeria also ratified the Basel Convention, which looks at trans-boundary movement of hazardous chemicals.

On air pollution, Nigeria also signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol sets emission standards for all of the nations that have signed.

Basically in setting standards, you must keep the air clean. We share one globe, one atmosphere and every nation has a limit. It is being said that African region, put together, emits just about three per cent of the total global emission that is warming up the globe.

But the industrialised nations contribute about 87 per cent and the Kyoto Protocol gives everybody an obligation. There are obligations for the developed nations which they have to meet in assisting the developing nations to be able to cope with the consequences of climate change.