Devising state-level climate change responses

State governments in Nigeria appear to have taken up a campaign to address the impact of the changing global climate. If the outcome of a series of presentations at a recent forum in Lagos is anything to go by, indications are that a basketful of adaptation and mitigation initiatives has either been set in motion or in the pipeline waiting to be unleashed.

Faced with numerous environmental degradation measures (such as forest degradation, desertification, erosion, oil spillage, gas flaring and ocean surge) that have to a large extent aggravated the climate change phenomenon, no fewer than seven out of the nation’s 36 states have joined forces to turn around their fortunes.

The states are Lagos, Niger, Cross River, Akawa Ibom, Delta, Anambra and Sokoto. 

Courtesy of the State Climate Change Dialogue (SCCD) facilitated by the Lagos State Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), state governments are being provided a platform for exchange of ideas and information on climate change and ultimately charting a course for synergistic sub-nationally driven interventions as the foundation for appropriate national response.

According to Joseph Asuquo of the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources, possible climate change causes in the state are bush burning, improper waste management, deforestation, gas flaring, construction activities and emissions from mechanical generators. He lamented the heavy and prolonged rainfall and porous nature of the soil, which he said had aggravated soil wash and accelerated formation of gullies in the state.

While disclosing that over N16 billion had so far been expended by the state government towards the documentation of gully erosion sites in the state, commissioning of consultants to study/design selected critical gully sites for intervention and carry out engineering/ biological control measures, Asuquo noted that a Climate Change Division had likewise been created in the ministry.

He added that an Independent Gas Powered Plant (IPP) had been embarked upon to generate 741 megawatts of electricity in the first and second phases and reduce gas flaring; a tree planting campaign commenced to plant two million trees annually for 10 years, establishment of 1,000 hectares of tropical hardwood forest plantation annually for the next 10 years, building ministry staff capacity on climate change issues, embarking in collaboration with NGOs on advocacy visits and awareness programmes in communities and schools, and printing of educational materials on climate change issues for public enlightenment.

Executive Director, Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Nwabufo Ijezie, submitted that, in the context of climate change, disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response were important components of disaster management. He added that, if properly articulated and implemented, they would contribute to climate change-related disaster management practices in Anambra.

Ijezie listed the state’s climate change-related programmes to include: assessment and identification of activities contributing to global warming, advocacy, public education and training, policy and legislation, implementation and enforcement of policy and legislation, surveillance/monitoring to ensure compliance, preventive interventions, discouraging indiscriminate tree cutting and bush burning, reforestation and tree planting projects.

Others are identifying and hooking onto alternative energy sources (solar power, micro-dams) and energy-efficient transport systems (electric motor cycles, cars, trains), embarking on pilot project on control of flood/erosion using bio-engineering, as well as pilot project on renewable energy.

Arikpo Arikpo of the Cross Rivers State Forestry Commission (CRSFC) disclosed that the state government took a major step towards the sustenance and strategic management of its vast forest reserves when last September Governor Liyel Imoke signed into law the State Forestry Commission Law.

“The law empowers the Forestry Commission to regulate the activities of ministries, parastatals, local governments, departments, organisations, statutory bodies, as they relate to forest and forest resources and wildlife conservation issues in the state. The law also enables the Commission to establish links with relevant national and international regulatory policy making and funding bodies for the benefit of bio-diversity conservation and sustainable forestry in the state,” he said.

Besides what he termed a “robust” Forestry Commission Agenda on Ecological Restoration, Arikpo emphasised that a programme to plant at least one million indigenous trees a year had commenced, as well as the inauguration of 14 forest protection and  compliance units.

He added that project proposal for REDD readiness was in progress, and a mission by UN-REDD partners (UNDP, UNEP and FAO) was recently conducted in the state.

Arikpo stressed that future climate actions would be undertaken via building capacity for development of adaptation measures in small local communities, understanding the nature of community vulnerability, identifying opportunities for strengthening the adaptive capacity of communities, promoting a combination of bottom-up and top-down mechanisms to implementation, supporting the engagement of local stakeholders at each stage of the assessment process, and  mainstreaming of adaptation into state development planning and local decision-making processes.

Permanent Secretary in the Delta State Ministry of Environment, William Riebelle, described the state’s vulnerability to climate change as three-pronged: land-, economic- and population-based.

Riebelle, a town planner, emphasised that, apart from a Climate Change Team (CCT) to coordinate climate change activities already in place, the state had likewise prepared a Draft Climate Change Policy Document. CCT members are drawn from Ministries such as Environment, Agriculture, Energy, Education, Health, Information, Commerce and Transport, as well as some NGOs, he added.

According to him, the Delta government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UNDP to develop the Territorial Approach to Climate Change (TACC), which is aimed at enhancing energy access and the creation of new economic activities through the development of clean production and consumption options.

The state has reportedly paid $1million seed investment for the implementation of TACC, and has commissioned a consultant to develop the TACC document which is currently being reviewed.

Riebelle said that, in partnership with the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC), the state recently embarked on the Delta Beyond Oil programme, which is aimed at developing a global green economy initiative, and demonstrate how SMEs can benefit from a low carbon economy. Similarly, the state has commissioned a team of United States experts to develop a 50-year oil damage assessment and 2020 restoration and sustainability plan.

“The way forward is to stop gas flaring, ensure the preparation of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) document before every project /programme implementation, restore degraded land and water bodies, as well as adopt a low carbon economy while creating green jobs,” he said.

Lagos Environment Commissioner, Muiz Banire, listed strategies aimed at tackling climate change in the state to include public awareness creation, as well as mitigation and adaptation programmes.

He said, “The School Advocacy Programme is an outreach programme whereby students of primary and post primary institutions in the city of Lagos are educated on the issue of climate change and environmental management by specially trained instructors. 

“The idea is to catch them young and use them as agents of change in reaching out to the larger society. Under the arrangement, the climate change club has been established in virtually all primary and post primary institutions in the state with specially trained instructors engaged to educate them on all aspects of environmental protection.”

According to him, government would utilise wind and solar energy in all parks and gardens in the state, explore business opportunities in carbon trading courtesy of the National Carbon Credit Desk established in Lagos, and take up business opportunities in green economy and renewable energy resources.

Director, Flood and Erosion Control Department in the Sokoto State Ministry of Environment, Ibrahim Umar Gatawa, stated that, based on the fact that the state is agrarian and agriculture one of the areas being critically affected by climate change, the state government in collaboration with UNDP developed the “Farmers guide on climate change” to inform farmers on how to go about their work. The document was translated in Hausa for wider use and circulation among rural dwellers, it was gathered.

Shedding some light on the pilot adaptation project, he said, “The project was implemented in three communities, each selected from the three senatorial districts. As suggested in the ‘Famers Guide,’ farmers were made to understand the role of tree planting as a strategy in addressing climate change challenges. A consultant facilitated the establishment of community nurseries in those selected communities with high rate of deforestation. They were trained on how to raise seedlings, manage and nurture them until they are ready for planting.

“The communities are now equipped with the skills of raising tree seedlings, and are now doing it themselves, providing trees (mainly economic trees) to farmers and their neighbouring communities, while generating funds for sustainability of the project.”

On achievements so far, he explained, “Government has established a Special Climate Change Unit in the Ministry of Environment. The unit is responsible for the coordination of climate change activities in the state. The state government has also made it mandatory for all the local government councils to at least plant a two-km shelter belt annually, to serve as a vegetative cover which will sequester the CO2 in the atmosphere.”

On the state’s plan for the future, Gatawa said, “We plan to extend the adaptation strategies on establishment of more community seedling and nursery centres for the provision of more economic trees for planting at the community level. Also, a new project on alternative and renewable energy is also being planned in order to reduce deforestation in the state.”

In a related presentation, Deputy Director, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Okon Ekpenyong, described energy production and utilisation as the main source of environmental degradation. He added that the solution involved making major changes in the choice of energy supply mix and developing new energy supply and demand strategies for a better environment.

Ekpenyong, an engineer, recommended the setting up of awareness creation and extension programmes for the widespread dissemination and use of environmentally sound alternative energy technologies.

He added that the ECN was intensifying research, development and production in clean energy technologies like renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation, clean fossil fuel technologies, including especially, technology adaptations, resource data acquisition and mapping.

He said, “Besides promoting efficient transport system in cities and encouraging the use of vehicles with minimum exhaust emission standard, the ECN was carrying out training and manpower development for the design, production, installation and maintenance of clean energy components and systems. The body is also providing adequate incentives to promote the demand, supply and local manufacture of sustainable, alternative energy components and systems.

“It will provide basic engineering infrastructure for the local manufacturing of sustainable energy components and systems, while establishing appropriate institutional framework focusing on renewable energy development, energy efficiency and conservation in Nigeria.”

Workshop facilitator, Emmanuel Oladipo, warned that land loss due to climate change-induced sea level rise could put facilities worth about $12 billion in jeopardy in the country.

“Niger Delta could lose up to 15,000 km2 by 2100; while Victoria Island and Lekki (both in Lagos) up to 584 km2 and 602 km2 respectively,” he said, listing other climate consequences as: increase in storm intensity and flooding, complications in water supplies, and changes in deltas and estuaries ecosystems.

He called on the authorities to ensure a future of gas capture rather than flaring, urging the

promotion of clean energy by requiring that at least 50 percent of electricity comes from its abundant renewable sources such as water, solar, certain types of bio-fuels, wind and energy efficiency by 2020.

Oladipo described the SCCD as part of the UNDP support to encourage inter-state interactions for significant awareness creation and advocacy for climate change in Nigeria.