It has been observed that the non-implementation of environmental laws and policies has continued to serve as a major setback in the fight against climate change in Nigeria.
This was observed by stakeholders at the end of a Youth Climate Incubation Hub held recently in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Health of the Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF).
The hub, which was held to further strengthen Nigeria’s position as a member country of the United Nations’ Youth Engagement and Public Mobilization track at the Climate Action Summit in September 2019, had 60 youths in attendance from the South-South states.
They said issues of climate change call for emergency responses in Nigeria and that proactive measures must be put in place by the Nigerian government to tackle them, noting that policy implementation, stopping gas flaring and converting the emitted gas must be done.
While recommending eco-friendly technological solutions, including Apps to map vulnerable and non-vulnerable areas to climate change impact, they called for mangrove reclamation and tree planting, especially indigenous and economic crops.
They said there should be generation of biogas from household biodegradable waste and bio-digester and that effort should be made on recycling as regards plastic bottles collection and reuse, conversion to other products and also waste segregation and separation.
Meanwhile, an Environmental Justice Advocate and Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, has said the hub underscored the importance of the Youth Roundtable on Climate Action, which is to unlock youth innovativeness in Nigeria’s climate action.
He said young people have the brightest ideas for solving problems of climate change in the country.
Also, the Senior Scientific Officer at the Department of Climate Change, Sa’adatu Gambo, said the department is always eager and ready to welcome creative ideas from young people on how to solve problems of climate change which have become a serious global threat.
They, however, agreed that there is need to create more awareness among the Nigeria citizenry, financial investment and transfer of technology to build human capacity and groom basic ideas that will mitigate climate crises in the country.
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