The excessive consumption of fossil fuel like oil, gas, and carbon, and less attention on alternative energy source has led to a more increasing danger of the lives and properties of Nigerians.
By Charles Iyare
Nigeria is currently faced with adverse climate conditions that already have negative impacts on the welfare of millions of people.
There are persistent droughts and flooding, and excessive rains resulting in disaster around the country. The flood disaster in 2012 affected a lot of people in Nigeria especially women and children, while 363 people were killed, and over 2,100,000 were Internally Displaced.
Presently, the quest for self sufficiency in food production may be marred by the negative effects of climate change in agriculture.
Farmers’ expectations are met with frustration as a result of late arrival of rainfall and or excessive rainfall that results in heavy flooding.
Farmers across the country are yet to recover from the destructive effect of 2012 floods that led to loss of lives and high cost of food production.
The socio-economic consequences of climate change in the agricultural sector can be best imagined than experienced.
In the southern parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, seasonal rainfall patterns have changed; floods and erosion are now common.
Nigeria is not an exception as it experiences flooding and massive soil erosion on a yearly basis.
The excessive consumption of fossil fuel like oil, gas, and carbon, and less attention on alternative energy source has led to a more increasing danger of the lives and properties of Nigerians.
One of the biggest threats is growing climate unpredictability, which can make economic life difficult.
The increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, and timber harvesting in the tropics alone contributes 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere, representing about 20 percent of human-made greenhouse gas emissions and a source that could be avoided relatively easily.
Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) carrying out global warming research have predicted that average global temperatures could increase between 1.4 and 5.8 °C by the year 2100.
Changes resulting from global warming may include rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps, as well as an increase in occurrence and severity of storms and other severe weather events.
The Kyoto Protocol is an exemplary international treaty, which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, based on the premise that (a) global warming exists and (b) man-made CO2 emissions have caused it.
The Kyoto Protocol implemented the objective of the UNFCCC to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to ‘a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
Against this backdrop, Africa is becoming the most exposed region in the world to the impact of climate change.
In Sub-Saharan Africa extreme weather will cause dry areas to become drier and wet areas wetter; agriculture yields will suffer from crop failures; and diseases will spread to new altitudes.
By 2030 it is expected that 90 million more people in Africa will experience increase in malaria, already the biggest killer in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Meaning, the environmental effects of climate change will have a direct impact on the economic development of Nigeria, even as the largest economy of Africa.
There is increase in incidence of natural disaster, declining agricultural productivity, and a rising number of heat waves.
Also involved is the rate of declining rainfall causing increasing desertification, reducing the rich agricultural value that Nigeria is known for.
The incidence of the rising water that submerged several communities should be treated as a matter of urgent concern, to avert future dangers to the lives and properties of the people in the affected communities across the country.
Other negative impact of climate change is constant temperature rise, excessive and destructive rainfall, deep gully caused by heavy flooding, desertification leading to low agricultural yield, drying up of water bodies, intense agricultural land use, over grazing, bush burning, extraction of fuel wood and biotic, among other elements of environmental degradation.
Worse enough are women and children who are highly vulnerable and endangered in the devastation of our environment.
This will lead to the increase in poverty and crime, when looking at the unimaginable long term impact caused by climate change to our environment and cultural heritage.
While we burn up the planet’s coal, pumping out emissions from coal, oil and gas reserves, and expose forests reserves, greenhouse gases are pouring into the atmosphere.
The delicate balance of atmospheric gases that sustain life is thickening, trapping more and more heat and irreversibly changing our world.
Having critically analyzed the challenges of climate change currently experienced in the country, it is important to state the mandatory steps that are required to mitigate the problems of climate change in Nigeria.
As a way of proactive measure, government should ensure it carries out an environmental impact assessment in the devastated areas of the previous flooding and other vulnerable areas around the country.
Government should adopt the best global practice for the mitigation of global warming across the country.
There should be routine sensitization programme across communities to help mitigate the looming dangers of global warming/climate change to a significant level.
A mechanism for recycling of wastes, and replanting of every tree that is removed should be put in place.
Our municipal laws should be strengthened to moderate the emission of greenhouse gases resulting from industrial energy.
Finally, government must promote green revolution across the country. This includes forest and wild life preservation.
Charles Iyare is Monitoring & Evaluation Officer (Human Rights), Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ).
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