The first time I heard about Climate change
about ten years ago, I thought it was one of those folktale we heard while
growing up similar to the popular “tales by moonlight” program that was aired
every Sunday. This was one of my favorite TV shows in my childhood days. The
fact that the encounter happened outside Nigeria made me quickly conclude that
it was a trend that can only be experienced in the developed nations.
As the years went by and I progressed in my
environmental career, my analytical and inquisitive mind started thinking
through the impacts of climate change and I realized that it is already
happening in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa not just Europe, Asia or the
Americas.
With the understanding that significant climate
change occurs over a long period of time and that the changes can be eminent in
at least 30years, I was able to link the changes in the climatic conditions I
have experience from when I was a toddler to adulthood to this global scourge.
Man’s activities including actions,
technological advancement, lifestyle changes and inactions have made enormous
contributions to these changes leading to some impacts on the common Nigerian
citizen. Some of the impacts identified include: frequent change in weather
conditions - more annual rainfall; hydrological extremes causing flooding
mostly in the coastal states and droughts leading to food security crisis and
inaccurate prediction of the planting/ harvesting season by farmers; rising sea
levels leading to loss of recreational beaches in the coastal areas caused by
coastal erosion, health impacts such as increased spread of malaria and
introduction of new diseases in some areas, malnutrition of children; drinking
water scarcity and stress of accessibility and availability of water;
minimization of available landuse; loss of crop variety and saltwater
intrusion; Impact on livelihood depending on natural resources such as farming,
fishing and herding; human resettlement, migration and displacement of families
due to flooding.
These impacts have economic, social welfare,
environmental, natural and physical effects on the various sectors in the
country thereby influencing our way of life, altering the ecosystem and
threatening food and global security.
Most parts of the African continent are warming
up at a faster rate than the global average. There is an urgent need to take
action therefore all stakeholders including government; civil society, organizations
and individuals should get involved. So far the government is improving policy
reforms that address climate change issues; use of government agencies such as
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) use of meteorological data to create awareness among
the public on the flood prone areas and the measures to take to mitigate
effects. The government is also promoting individuals and organizations to
undertake emission reduction projects using the clean development mechanism to
earn carbon credits. Organizations have committed to reduce the gas flaring and
promotion to a sustainable and greener business. Individuals are adopting
greener lifestyles and adopting the sustainable ways of reducing carbon
footprints; schools are now adopting environmental subjects into their
curriculum.
Combating climate change in Nigeria is a journey
and it is imperative all stakeholders’ hop in this bus and get involved. The
time is “now” not later or in the future. If we don’t take action immediately,
we will gradually lose “our home” which is the earth that is been altered daily
by the devastating effects of climate. Let us all continue to promote this
awareness.
This is my story………………preserve our home and save
the earth.