Stan Okenwa
5 November 2009
The Minister of Environment, Mr. John Odey has warned that climate change will drastically impact every facet of life in Nigeria if it continues to aggravate unabated.
He gave the warning in Abuja during a recent meeting of African Environment Ministers who sat to harmonise their presentation and preparedness for the upcoming United National Climate Conference in Copenhagen and Nigeria's readiness to take measure to adapt to the impact of Climate Change.
According to the Minister, "although the impacts of Climate Change are going to be global, reports have shown that Nigeria and the continent of Africa will be worse hit. This is in spite of the fact that Africa contributes least to the emissions responsible for Climate Change."
"The most important and globally accepted agreement to address climate change is the Kyoto Protocol. The processes leading to the Protocol commenced in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro when leaders of the industrialized nations met at a UN Climate Convention and agreed to stabilize their greenhouse gas emission concentration at a level that will not be inimical to the Climate System
"However, the Protocol has virtually failed to address the purpose for which it was signed. Since signing of the Protocol by over 184 countries, the green house gas emission situation has taken a turn for the worse as the industrialized nations have not been able to tame their emission level. The Protocol will span out in the year 2012 and the negotiations of the successor of the Protocol are due to be finalized in Copenhagen in December, this year.
"In preparation of our negotiation position towards Copenhagen, the ministry has taken cue from Mr. President's declaration that even though we are not one of the countries responsible for the emissions; we are prepared to be part of the efforts to arrest the effects.
"Nigeria's position, which was put together by this Committee in June this year, is very much in line with Common African Position following the resolutions at the African Union Summit in 2008 that in preparations towards Copenhagen Conference, African nations should build a common African Position.
"This position has taken special recognition of the fact that being an oil producing nation, our country seeks to benefit from funds that could be deployed for adaptation and mitigation measures as well as for the development of alternative sources of energy under the Clean Development Mechanism.
"For us in Nigeria, the up coming Conference in December is very crucial to our Development Agenda and our National Vision.
"Climate change scenarios for Nigeria indicate that the climatic variability currently being experienced is likely to increase and intensify. Droughts, floods and storms are likely to increase in both frequency and intensity. Changes in precipitation levels and patterns are also likely to occur thus having an impact on agriculture and food production.
"In coastal areas, sea level rise and rising sea temperatures will threaten coastal areas and fishing activities in the southern region. The prospective impacts on our society and the economy are huge and cross-cutting."
"In our efforts to promote low carbon economy in Nigeria, we have successfully increased the number of registered Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in Nigeria from one to three in the last one year. The first was the Kwale Gas Utilization Projects while the second and the third projects are the Pan Ocean Gas Utilization Project and the Save 80 Fuel Efficient Wood Stove respectively.
"This achievement is first of its kind in Africa and it has placed Nigeria ahead of every other African nation in the number of Certified Emission Reduction (CER) units. The projects would go a long way in reducing problems of deforestation and accompanying land degradation across the country. This achievement will also significantly compliment the objectives of Mr. President's nation-wide Afforestation Program.
"In order to build on this success however, Nigeria should seize the opportunity of the Copenhagen Conference to urgently exert its political muscle in and out of the continent to insist not only that Africa must be compensated for the impacts of climate change and opportunity lost"
A statement issued by the Special Assistant on media to the minister, Mr. Ajayi Rotimi said the meeting was attended by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Minister of Aviation, Minister of State for Agriculture, Minister of Special Duties, and Minister of Foreign Affairs amongst others.
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good to see some comprehensive of the climate change negotiations here - it is an issue of such an importance to Africa. my only concern is that the article says that the kyoto protocol: 'spans out in 2012.'
The Kyoto Protocol does not expire in 2012 or ever – in fact it includes a provision (Article 3 (9)) providing for its continued amendment. Its first commitment period ends in 2012 and countries are meeting in Copenhagen to finalise commitments for the second commitment period as is evident on the UNFCCC website: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/4577.php
Happy to send you more information about this if you want.