Devising state-level climate change responses in Nigeria

Michael Simire the Independent Online (Nigeria): State governments in Nigeria appear to have taken up a campaign to address the impact of the changing global climate. If the outcome of a series of presentations at a recent forum in Lagos is anything to go by, indications are that a basketful of adaptation and mitigation initiatives has either been set in motion or in the pipeline waiting to be unleashed.

Faced with numerous environmental degradation measures (such as forest degradation, desertification, erosion, oil spillage, gas flaring and ocean surge) that have to a large extent aggravated the climate change phenomenon, no fewer than seven out of the nation’s 36 states have joined forces to turn around their fortunes. The states are Lagos, Niger, Cross River, Akawa Ibom, Delta, Anambra and Sokoto.

….According to Joseph Asuquo of the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources, possible climate change causes in the state are bush burning, improper waste management, deforestation, gas flaring, construction activities and emissions from mechanical generators. He lamented the heavy and prolonged rainfall and porous nature of the soil, which he said had aggravated soil wash and accelerated formation of gullies in the state….

A market in Sokoto, Nigeria, shot by Jens Buurgaard Nielsen, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license