The House of Representatives has called for the development and adoption of local strategies to tackle climate change.
The Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Environment, Terseer Ugbor, made the call on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Development Agenda in collaboration with the Environmental Media Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday.
The theme of the conference is “Climate Change and COP28: The Way Forward for Nigeria” as the 28th Conference of the Parties tagged COP28 is scheduled to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.
Ugbor said everyone needs to look inward and adopt things that could help the country to take action “on our own” before thinking of attracting international support.
“We need to look inward and develop local adaptation strategies; every one of us should take a stand and make efforts personally so that in our own little way we contribute to climate change adaptation.
“Wipe the energy system and other models that can help us to reduce climate issues in our environment.
“If we have this mindset and put our money where our mouth is we may not need international support,”he said.
Ugbor who said that Nigeria has several laws on climate change emphasised that with the establishment of Nigeria Climate Council, there is hope for a climate change adaptation in the country.
On his part, Executive Director of Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation, Mr Michael Terungwa, urged the media to hold international organisations accountable for their financial commitment to developing nations on climate change adaptation.
Terungwa, who identified climate financing as a big challenge to Nigeria and Africa as a whole, expressed concern that climate change adaptation has not been financed.
According to him, there was a need to connect climate change and its local impact down to the grassroots.
He challenged the media on the implementation of policies on climate change issues.
Terungwa urged the media to intensify awareness on climate change at the local level.
He said that a lot of people at the grassroots are unaware of the implication of some of their activities to the environment
“There is a need for awareness. We need to frame climate change as a bipartisan issue and sustained enlightenment programme at the grassroots,” he said.
SOURCE: PUNCH