Although the fight against climate change continues to gain traction, it has become apparent that the fight can only be won by deepening collaborations among stakeholders; BENJAMIN UMUTEME writes.
While globally, the issues around climate change continue to gain traction, however, in Nigeria that is not the case as citizens are yet to understand its implications in their everyday lives. From Borno to Enugu, Lagos to Sokoto, many are more interested in hearing about issues that relate to their daily living.
However, unknown to them, climate change impacts them more than issues of good roads, fuel, and insecurity. All these, experts say, are directly or indirectly linked to climate change.
According to the United Nations, climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.
These shifts may be natural, but since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil and gas), which produces heat-trapping gases.
Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.
The main greenhouse gases that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for example. Clearing land and cutting down forests can also release carbon dioxide. Agriculture, oil and gas operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land use are among the main sectors causing greenhouse gases.
As it stands, human action is responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. Human activities are causing greenhouse gases that are warming the world faster than at any time in at least the last two thousand years.
The average temperature of the Earth’s surface is now about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s (before the industrial revolution) and warmer than at any time in the last 100,000 years. The last decade (2011-2020) was the warmest on record, and each of the last four decades has been warmer than any previous decade since 1850.
Many people think climate change mainly means warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a system, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others.
The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.
Closer than we think
In the last couple of years, what many thought can only happen in foreign land is now closer than they think. Experts say the evidence of climate change is before everyone’s eyes.
For instance, the lives of people and natural resources in northern Nigeria and the seven other African countries that rely on Lake Chad for survival are under serious threat as the climate change challenge facing the Lake worsens.
The shrinking of Lake Chad, which provides food for over 40 million people in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad and the disappearing natural resources of the water, has become a global calamity. This has led to displacement of millions of families that have relied on the water body for the survival of their families. This, also, experts say, is one of the reasons for the unending Boko Haram insurgency in the region. Even the River Niger has not been spared in this onslaught.
All this is seen in the noticeable decline in rainfall quantity and a change in the pattern thereby leaving farmers at the mercy of the elements. This has resulted largely in poor crop yield thereby worsening the already existing food crisis in the African continent.
Climate change has also been significantly linked to increase and modification of crop pests, which has led to massive destruction of farms in several cases.
Another dimension to the climate change challenge is the drying up of water-bodies that hitherto served as drinking source for herders, thereby forcing herders further down south in search of water and pasture. This has fueled a lingering crisis between farming communities due to the constant conflict situations that occur, leading to needless loss of lives and properties.
In a bid to address what is clearly a catastrophe waiting to happen, countries worldwide came together to adopt a strong position on the issue which is threatening to wipe out some countries if urgent action is not taken quickly. This was seen with the Paris Agreement. The Agreement which is a legally binding international treaty on climate change was adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in December 2015. However, it came into force in November 2016.
Part of its goal is to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
However, in recent years, world leaders have stressed the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century.
Global commitments
The global action to address climate change has not been by speeches only; there have been financial commitments also. For instance, the Bank Group continues to be the largest multilateral financier of climate action in developing countries.
According to the Washington based lender, it delivered a record $31.7 billion in 2022 to help countries address climate change issues. This is a 19 per cent increase from the $26.6 billion in 2021.
For the International Monetary Fund (IMF), more of its efforts have been on mitigation. This includes advice on measures to contain and reduce emissions through policies—such as increasing carbon taxes, reducing fuel subsidies and improving regulation—and providing tools to help countries achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions. The United States invested a total of $44.9 billion in discretionary budget authority to tackle the climate crisis in 2022, $16.7 billion more than 2021.
Some analysts have argued that the 2030 deadline set by the UN in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs-13) is a tall order.
Experts’ views
In a chat with Blueprint Weekend, the co-chair of Catalyst 2030 Nigeria, Dr. Kelechukwu Okezie, said there was a need for partnerships and collaborations from all stakeholders if the UN’s 2030 target is to be achieved.
Dr. Okezie added that sustaining the tempo of collaboration and partnership was critical to achieving the 2030 target.
He said, “Climate change is a global issue. And you know it’s in the forefront of global discourse. You know a lot of resources; a lot of technical skills, manpower development is being put into.
“You know, negotiations in the global region are also going on to cut down those activities that pollute the environment, reduce global emission because when the climate is violated, it has a wide range of effects on the other sectors.
“Climate change is becoming a global concern and there are global commitments and funding that is now dedicated to address issues of climate change. And that is why many countries are coming up with climate policies, agricultural policies that were hitherto not available. They are now being urged to look into those policies that affect our environment.
“Of course, you know in Nigeria we have these issues of flooding, issues of herders-farmers clashes, are all climate induced challenges and each country is being forced to make commitments, to invest in climate funding. So, if they sustain the tempo through the abilities of the NGOs and other partners, we will achieve the target.”
For Odunayo Aliu, the co-chair of Catalyst 2030 Nigeria, there is not enough commitment globally on climate action.
Speaking with this reporter, she said there hasn’t been enough awareness on climate change and its effects on society. According to her, there is a need for more awareness if the fight is to be carried out.
“There is not enough commitment from even the government. What are the government policies towards illegal cutting down of trees? Are those policies being implemented? And climate change is affecting education as well.
“Some of the communities we work in, many families have had cause to relocate to much farther places because they lost their farmlands due to inconsistent rain patterns because people have cut down trees.
“The issue of climate change cuts across everything that we do as a people and we need to pay attention to it.
“You know a lot of people don’t even know what climate change is? And I can say it categorically, as well especially in rural communities where they ask you that in Nigeria we are still trying to survive, and you are talking about climate change? Have I eaten? You see people cutting down trees just for survival,” she said.
While oil majors have spent billions of dollars as part of efforts to cut down on emissions on the one hand, analysts say their action on the other hand does not portray they are willing to cut down on fossil fuel related investments.
For energy expert Dana Drugmand, the fossil fuel industry seems to be talking out of both sides of its mouth. According to Drugmand, the industry spends nearly $115 million a year opposing climate policy.
In his view, a climate scientist, Michael Mann, believes the oil and gas industry is playing a double game thinking they can have it both ways.
“They wanted to have it both ways. When you’re downplaying the level of confidence in the science and exaggerating the level of uncertainty, you’re really not accepting the science. You’re looking for a way out,” Mann said.
But Dr. Okezie thinks differently.
He opined that it might not be possible for the fossil fuel industry to cut down immediately, but they have to reduce it, it should be a gradual process.
Dr. Okezie, who is also the founder of N.E.W Foundation, said that was just an energy transition, especially moving from fossil fuel to renewable energy.
Okezie said, “You see that the whole world is moving towards renewable energy. In the next ten years, fossils will not be the in-thing. And you know these companies have been in existence for a long time, they can’t just stop operations. Stopping operations will have other effects.
“But they need to gradually set targets, reduce the emission to five per cent and three per cent this year. That is the global target that is being set this year for them so that the transition will be smooth.
“With political will, citizen engagement, cooperation and push by CSOs, we will see a transition that is just and an environment that protects all that is living in it.”