Ministry Explains National Environment Policy

The national policy on environment is  seeking to promote good environmental practice through education and promotion of awareness, a director in the Ministry of Environment, Mrs Olabisi Jaji, has said.

Jaji, who is the director of Policy Analysis, Monitoring and Inspectorate, disclosed this in a paper she presented at the 2nd edition of Nigeria ECO- Fair 2011 in Abuja last Friday.

Jaji said the goal of the national policy on the environment is to ensure environmental protection and conservation of the nation’s natural resources for sustainable development.

She said that issues addressed by the policy included air and water pollution, waste management, biodiversity protection and the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species.

The policy, she said, also included communication of environmental issues as well as defined a framework for the environmental governance of Nigeria.

“As a framework document, it articulates a management structure to achieve this objective, Jaji said in the paper, entitled: “ Policies for Achieving Sustainable Development of Ecological Project”.

She said the policy “prescribes the sectorial and subsidiary components needed to undertake or execute tasks necessary for the attainment of the ideals encapsulated in the doctrine of sustainable development’’.

Quoting from the latest report of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Jaji said land degradation constituted one of the greatest ecological problems facing Nigeria, adding that the country also had high level of air and water pollution.

She said that efforts by the government to reduce the high rate of depletion of the country’s natural resources and desertification had yet to yield significant results.

The fair, organised by Ecological Fund Office, has “ECO Solutions for Sustainable Develop ’’ as theme.