By Fatima Saka
The minister of Environment Mohammed H. Abdullahi said that “there is no better time to reset our relation with nature than now”, calling on the urgent need to work collectively with concrete actions irrespective of social status, religion, political status for drastic restoration of our God-given natural ecosystem is crucial.
Abdullahi made this call on Thursday in Abuja, at the roundup of the 16th meeting of the National Council on Environment which lasted for three days, with the theme: pursuit of Zero Emission: A New Trajectory towards Global Environment Renaissance.
The Minister further decried that the entire world is being confronted with such enormous challenges that can be best described as unprecedented and that the government on their part will not fail to provide every necessary support required to ensure a successful journey to zero emission while we all live in harmony with nature with brighter hope of sustainable development.
Abdullahi lamented that Climate change constitutes serious threats to nature and its inhabitants, and human activities and natural disasters have exacerbated the impact of this global phenomenon in recent years.
He also commended scientists on their reports that helped in reaching out for urgent remedial actions, however the impact of global warming caused by deforestation, desertification, biodiversity loss, climate change, COVID-19 pandemic and other environmental and social factors which has left negative impact on both the terrestrial and aquatic systems, with consequences on the planet and humanism.
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“Nigeria’s forest ecosystems exist within a context in which the ripple effects of population and economic growth in the country drive the rapid and massive depletion of forests at an annual rate that is estimated to be in the range of 0.72% – 2.38%.
“The forest sector’s GHG emissions in Nigeria mainly stem from deforestation and forest degradation from land use conversion and the key drivers are small scale and commercial agricultural expansion, heavy reliance on wood fuel particularly firewood and charcoal, unsustainable timber extraction, urban expansion, grazing, bush burning, large infrastructure development and mining.
“Land-use change accounts for 23% of global emissions, whilst forests and land-use related actions have the potential to deliver up to 30% of the emissions reductions needed for 1.5 degrees. Ecosystems aid efforts to adapt to climate change through securing and regulating water supplies and protecting communities from flooding, storms and erosion.
“These activities are currently significantly under-resourced and under-leveraged; for example, they currently receive less than 5% of global climate finance. Many countries and other stakeholders have stepped forward with ambitious programmes and commitments. Yet progress globally does not yet reflect the critical importance of forests to achieving global climate, biodiversity and development goals’ he added.
Also speaking, Mallam Muhammad Musa, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who represented by Olusola Olasade, Permanent Secretary expressed delightfulness and congratulated the ministry of Environment for a successful gathering of the highest decision making body in the nation’s environment sector.
The FCT minister added that the “credence to our efforts of making Abuja a Conference tourism hub not just in Nigeria but also on the African continent, while we continue to plant trees and encourage residents to do the same across the Territory”.
