Addressing Climate Change Challenges

Global leaders are coming together for the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 to 18 November 2022. This year’s conference is gathering leaders in government, civil society, industry, and finance from around the world to raise ambition and accelerate action to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
COP27, as the summit is usually called, comes at a critical moment in the fight against climate change. The UN COP27 summit is happening on the frontline of the converging climate, food, energy, health, and debt crises. This presents a need and opportunity like never to galvanise immediate, on-the-ground action in the countries that most need it. This summit needs to push countries, the private sector and local governments to deliver on promises already made.
Egypt’s summit theme is “Implementation”. It aims to shift the focus from negotiations and planning to action on the ground, where it is most needed. It seeks to ramp up adaptation to climate change impacts in parallel with emission reductions. Likewise, it also hopes to highlight both Africa’s need for immediate climate action and its role in facilitating and mobilising action at scale.
The summit is holding in a year of new weather extremes, food shortages, fossil fuel price spikes and a rising cost of living, with Russia’s fossil fuel-financed war on Ukraine further stoking the crises. So far this year, Africa has seen floods and storms kill hundreds of people across the continent, triggering electricity shortages, disrupting freight operations and devastating homes and livelihoods.
COP26, which was held in Glasgow in 2021, saw a wave of new promises from countries, the private sector and local governments. Yet, commitments still fall short of what is needed to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C. The UN should ensure that decisions at that conference are quickly implemented to meet the ambitious targets of the Paris climate agreement and stave off some of the worst consequences of global warming.
COP27 needs to deliver on five key areas to galvanise action. They include finance, emission cuts, crisis support, fulfilment of Glasgow promises, and stocktaking. The conference must establish a clear, transparent and honest global assessment process involving the private sector, regions and cities, civil society and youth. The stocktake should send signals that policymakers can use and apply at home.
This summit should pay special attention to African countries that are on the frontline of climate change. Extreme weather and disasters are stalling progress towards food security, social well-being and economic development in the continent. In food and agriculture, for example, the impacts of climate change are already causing shifts in growing seasons and increased dry spells and heavy rainfall, according to the Global Center on Adaptation. Evidence shows that climate change has stalled the productivity growth of maize.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is the latest African leader to weigh in on the issue. Speaking at the summit, he said African leaders were frustrated by what he called Western hypocrisy. Buhari stated that Western development had unleashed climate catastrophe on Africa and that part of Nigeria was submerged under the surface of water caused by severe flooding that affected 34 of Nigeria’s 36 states and displaced 1.4 million people.
President Buhari’s charge was very timely. This is the first time African leaders beyond the negotiating room are putting up forceful opinions and statements about what they believe, and it is coming from a point of what they have witnessed at different levels in their respective countries. It is embarrassing that Western governments repeatedly have failed to honour a 2009 agreement to pay $100 billion for climate adaptation and mitigation in developing nations.
With the turn of the 21st Century and the technological age, there is a heightened awareness of the devastation destined for humankind. However, while there is increased global momentum to generate understanding, effect changes, and propel action in our communities, Nigeria is relatively silent. Countless coastal communities have got fully submerged by water, yet, the government has no reliable report on the lives and infrastructure lost. It does not adequately cater to the needs of those most affected.
Many states are severely impacted by climate change. With all our communities built around and near the coastline, the daily pushing of water closer to our land sadly means disaster for us. Despite the alarming trends of rising temperatures and sea levels, unpredictable weather, and mass, we are still investing a large amount of money in infrastructure which is bound to disappear unless urgent action is taken.
The Federal Government must ensure that our country develops and implements a comprehensive plan for climate action at the federal, state, and local levels. The government must constructively invest time and money into urban renewal projects, including developing greener environments, urban and rural resilience and sustainability interventions to address flooding, droughts, and erosion.
Nigeria’s climate change policy should be activated to tackle the human causes of climate modification in a multifaceted way. The policy contains a set of rules, regulations, and standards for agencies and individuals to abide by to achieve the policy goals. Our lawmakers should enact laws to ban human activities that contribute towards the depletion of the ozone layer.
There should be public awareness campaigns through media channels to educate Nigerians on the negative impact of their activities on the environment. Teachers should teach children environmental education in schools to empower them early about the dangers of climate change and their role in mitigating it. Importantly, the Federal Government should enforce resolutions at the conference without delay. We all have critical roles to play in averting a looming disaster.