By Bisola Adeyemo
Lagos state residents and all stakeholders have been urged for collaboration to achieve sustainable and resilient city with reduced carbon footprints to mitigate climate change impact.
The Lagos state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, made this call on Monday during the World Habitat Day celebration in Alausa, said the 2021 theme “Accelerating Urban Action for a Carbon Free World” was in line with his administration’s determination of implementing decisive climate actions.
Governor Sanwo -Olu who spoke through the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Folashade Jaji stated that unfriendly human activities caused imbalances resulting in water, air and land pollution, erosion, as well as depletion of the ozone layer, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports.
Sanwo-Olu said from 1950s to date, cities population around the globe had quadrupled with more than 4.2 billion people living in urban centres.
“Over the same period, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a key indicator of global warming, has risen by over a third, almost entirely due to human activity,’’he said.
He said that cities account for about 75 per cent of world’s energy consumption and responsible for 70 per cent of global greenhouse emissions.
Sanwo-Olu added that population are projected to rise by additional 2.5 billion people in the next 30 years to increase urban dwellers from 55 to about 70 per cent by 2050.
He said that the way cities are planned, built and managed would help in reducing carbon emissions and keeping global warming within specified limits set by the climate change agreement.
He said that Lagos has adopted resilience and innovative technology in housing, energy, transportation, waste management and other sectors towards reducing carbon footprints.
Sanwo-Olu said that environment friendly and energy saving alternatives were being adopted in all the sectors towards reducing carbon footprints in addition to tree planting and landscaping and promotion of waste recycling.
He said the recently signed N25 billion Green Bond Market in the state provided viable funding options for green construction economy as well as environment friendly employment opportunities.
“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the strategic position of Lagos State as Mega City, a gateway to international communities and a business hub, is maintained.
“To protect this competitive edge, it is incumbent upon us to cooperate with the government in the efforts to address climate change as the solution starts and ends with us,’’ he said.
While delivering his opening speech, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, said all hands must be on deck to ensure sustainable climate action.
Salako said the built environment was interconnected with other sectors like health, transportation, housing, safety, ecology and conservation, hence the need for stakeholders to jointly avert the danger of climate change and global warming.
“It is our belief that climate change adaptation and mitigation is achievable with all hands on deck as people are the centre, actor and beneficiaries of the Policy Reforms and Initiatives,’’ he said.
He reeled out statistics of projects that have been executed in line with Sustainable Development Goals 11, “to make cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable for scale-up’’.