Environment
Ministry To Focus On Deforestation, Green Industry
The Federal Ministry of
Environment has said it would focus more on the issues of deforestation, green growth and green industry in 2015.
The Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Mallam, who led other officials of the ministry, disclosed this at the Reviving the Climate Change Donor Group meeting held in Abuja.
Mallam solicited more support from the development partners, saying that the ministry needed their support to address environmental challenges facing the country.
“We want you to join hands with us, collaborate with us and help us to build a healthy Nigeria,’’ she said.
The minister told the meeting that the Federal Executive Council had approved some policies that would help to address the impact of climate change in the country.
Mrs Nana Mede, the Permanent Secretary, said the ministry would prioritise the issues of deforestation to create awareness on the dangers of trees felling.
Mede said that President Goodluck Jonathan had recently inaugurated the Great Green Wall (GGW) Project aimed at tackling deforestation in the 11 frontline states.
She said the 11 frontlines states were Kebbi, Zamfara, Gombe, Yobe, Jigawa, Adamawa, Bauchi, Katsina, Borno, Sokoto and Kano states.
“The minister will be in Katsina on Wednesday to inaugurate the GGW project, which will make people aware of the dangers of felling trees, burning of bushes and the need to plant trees.
“We also want to focus on the green growth and green industry.
“To this end, we realise we have to collaborate with other agencies; I want to inform you that we have started talking with the other key line ministries to achieve our focus.
“We have started talking with the ministry of water resources – in terms of developing irrigation infrastructure; ministries of trade and investment, health and power.
“We are collaborating with the ministry of power because the issue of renewable energy is critical; so there is already a committee set up at ministerial level to look at some of these issues,’’ she said.
The permanent secretary added that the ministry had also developed a plan on the involvement of the private sector, saying “this is where we need awareness, advocacy and campaign.
“We have designed a plan, which we intend to present at the next meeting; the kind of campaign we need on the electronic media, print, bill board and other media.
“We also need to sensitise Nigerians on how their activities can contribute to climate change; we hope to increase awareness on these issues,’’ she said.
Mede solicited the support of the development partners to contribute to the 21st Conference of Parties (COP) on climate change coming up in Paris, France later in the year.
She said that Nigeria wanted to shine at the conference and represent Africa very well, adding that work had already started in that direction.
She explained that, however, technical support from development partners was needed to achieve that goal.
Also speaking, Ms Francoise Marie-Nelly, the World Bank Country Director, said the organisation had in 2014 conducted two important studies in Nigeria on climate change.
The two studies, according to her, are on Climate Resilient Development and Assessing Low-Carbon Development in Nigeria.
Marie-Nelly called for effective collaboration with other key line ministries in addressing climate change and other environmental challenges in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that meeting reviewed the achievements and challenges in the sector in 2014.
There were also discussions on methodology to capture and track donor programmes and to agree on the priorities areas for 2015.
Some stakeholders in Okoroagu community in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers state have blamed the perennial erosion in the community on the poor conditions of their road.
They are therefore calling for the rehabilitation of their road.
They said this in an interview with The Tide, at okoroagu.Speaking to The Tide,the Ochimba of Okoroagu community, Eze Marcus Amadi said the poor conditions of their road has retarded the growth and development of the community.
According to Eze Amadi,”The government has neglected us, they have forgotten about us, we have been writing letters to the government, both to the NDDC to come and repair our road for us, we are on our knees pleading to them to come help us out, at least they should just dredge the road for us”
Continuing he said”If the government comes today to repair our road, nobody will say they shouldn’t.
“Nobody will obstruct them. We have been shouting and crying that our road is not good, the road is affecting the community economically and socially in the sense that, there is no way we can carry our crops out because of erosion.
“Erosion have taken over the road, making it difficult for us to access other communities especially during rainfall you see people falling down and getting injured inside the river which we call Mmiri Ehe in our language, which reaches our waist line during raining season. Our people can not go to other market to sell their products due to the bad road”he saidAlso speaking,Chairman Community Development Committee( CDC )Okoroagu , Hon. Elvis Nwaobasi decried the situation of the road, stressing that economic activities are being affected as movement of goods and services have gradually slowed down in the area.
” The road have affected our women so badly, they are no longer going to the other neighboring markets to sell their Agric produce because of the nature of the road.
“This road has also affected us in many ways, it has affected our educational system, security system, it has also affected our health system, because with the nature of that road, people cannot access our health facilities in the community, with the nature of that road, people cannot access our school, with nature of the road, people cannot come in and do business in our community, we cannot access the road because of the neglect of the road.
“People are using our road for excuses to come in and invest and do businesses. People who come to our market to buy our products are no longer coming because of the nature of the road.” I am pleading with the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayig Fubara to please come to the aid of Okoroagu and repair our road. I am pleading with the Rivers State House of Assembly, we are suffering too much because of this road. We have been neglected and abandoned for years, the government should please come to our aid” he said.Also the women leader of Okoroagu community, Mrs. Anthonia Nweke blamed some politicians from the area for abandoning the people of Okoroagu
“Our road has been abandoned, overlooked, with no attention, mostly the higher politicians of the place, we have been abandoned for years”
In furtherance to the commitment of the Federal Government through the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation (HYPREP) to the full implementation of the recommendations of the UN Environment Programme Report on Ogoni Environment, the Project has commenced processes to designating Ogoni Wetland as a Ramsar Site.
Labaran Ahmed, National Focal Point for Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Environment, who is leading the process for collection of field samples, said the move will converse biodiversity, enhance livelihood, attract ecotourism and further earn global recognition for Ogoni Wetlands.The UNEP Report envisages that this would provide the Government with a roadmap for restoration and sustainable management of the Ogoni wetland, bring the site unto international among others.Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, represented by Director Technical Services, Professor Damien-Paul Aguiyi said the project further attests to the Federal government’s commitment through HYPREP to implementing the UNEP Report simultaneously.Nigeria is a signatory to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction(BBNJ) Agreement for how research on marine genetic resources must be conducted and documented, ensuring transparency and the equitable distribution of benefits.
Environment
Tribunal Acknowledges losses in Rare species Across the globe …urges for government Action
It was noted that the choice by the Brazilian government to host COP30 serves as a symbol of the importance of the Amazon. They denounced the current and future impacts of the expansion of the extractivist frontier, deforestation, fossil fuels and large-scale mining. It was urged that the Amazon, with its ecosystems, animal, plant species, and rich biodiversity, natural medicines and its vital and reproductive cycles, should be considered as a subject of rights together with the Indigenous Peoples, and other communities that inhabit it.
The co-president and judge of the tribunal, Nnimmo Bassey, while delivering the verdict, noted that the defence of the rights of Nature is the right way to carry out real climate action and that there is no climate justice without the rights of Nature.
The tribunal stressed the need to phase out fossil fuels and quickly move to renewable energy as a way that protects both communities and ecosystems from false solutions that merely benefit financial speculators and compound climate injustices. The Tribunal also urged the United Nations to adopt the pledge as a blueprint for international environmental law.
A copy of the declaration obtained by The Tide revealed that,Judges at the Tribunal included Ana Alfinito of Brazil, Nnimmo Bassey ( Nigeria), Enrique Viale (Argentina), Shannon Biggs (USA), Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation, USA), Tom Goldtooth (USA), Princes Esmeralda (Belgium), Cormac Cullinan (South Africa), Patricia Gualings (Ecuador), Francesco Martone (Italy) Tzeporah Berman (USA), Ashish Katharine (India), Osprey Orielle Lake (USA), Pooven Moodley (South Africa) and Felicio Pontes (Brazil)
