As global efforts to combat climate change gain momentum, Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and biggest importer of fossil fuel-powered generators, has an important role in keeping global warming below 1.50c, ‘FEMI ASU writes
In 2015, 195 countries stated their commitment at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C, above pre-industrial levels.
The commitment also involved efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impact of climate change.
According to a recent study, more than a quarter of the planet’s surface could become significantly drier if global temperatures rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
The study suggests that many regions may face an increased threat of drought and wildfires, adding that limiting global warming to under 1.5°C will avoid extreme changes for two-thirds of these areas.
“Aridification is a serious threat because it can critically impact on areas such as agriculture, water quality, and biodiversity,” a co-author from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen China, Chang-Eui Park, says.
African countries, including Nigeria, are said to account for 3.8 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming, compared to 23 per cent of China, 19 per cent of the United States and 13 per cent for the European Union.
But no continent will be struck as severely by the impact of climate change as Africa, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
The UNEP says, “By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people on the continent are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change. In the same year, in some countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 per cent.
“Global warming of 2°C would put over 50 per cent of the continent’s population at risk of undernourishment. Projections estimate that climate change will lead to an equivalent of two to four per cent annual loss in the Gross Domestic Product in the region by 2040.”
The 2014 World Climate Change Vulnerability Index classified Nigeria as one of the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries, and Lagos as the 10th most vulnerable city in the world.
“It is possible to keep the climate below 1.5 degrees of warming but unlikely if we continue the way we are doing things now,” the Chairman, Lekki Urban Forest and Animal Sanctuary Initiative, Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, tells our correspondent.
He says, “A few of the really catastrophic weather occurrences that happened last year are indicators of what happens when we allow it to go beyond what it is meant to be; it is already one degree above average and we are seeing unprecedented types of weather occurrences all over the world.
“The process of reducing our carbon footprint requires some very fundamental attitudinal changes from us.”
Nigeria became a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1994 and ratified its Kyoto Protocol in 2004.
The country submitted its First National Communication in 2003 and a Second National Communication in February 2014.
In September 2012, the Federal Executive Council approved the Nigeria Climate Change Policy Response and Strategy, whose strategic goal is to foster low-carbon, high-growth economic development and build a climate-resilient society.
In November 2015, Nigeria submitted its new climate action plan, Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Under a business-as-usual growth scenario, consistent with strong economic growth of five per cent per year, Nigeria’s emissions are expected to grow to around 900 million tonnes per year in 2030, which translates to around 3.4 tonnes per person.
The country says it will make an unconditional contribution of 20 per cent below BAU that is consistent with the current development trends and government policy priorities.
The policies and measures that will deliver these savings, it said, included improving energy efficiency by 20 per cent, 13,000 megawatts of renewable electricity provided to rural communities currently off-grid, and ending gas flaring.
“The role that we can play in Nigeria is to first and foremost persuade ourselves of the utmost importance of controlling global warming. The environment is our life support system; it is our children’s life support system, and it is entrusted in our hands,” Majekodunmi said.
The renowned environmentalist, who is promoting natural climate solutions such as reforestation and forest protection in Nigeria, notes that the continued flaring of natural gas in the country has contributed to global warming.
He says it is a big embarrassment that many Nigerians “are still using firewood for cooking, whereas other nations are importing our gas and using it.”
The total volume of natural gas flared by oil and gas companies in the country rose by 17.46 per cent year-on-year to 287.59 billion standard cubic feet in 2017, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The Federal Government has said that eliminating flaring by 2030 can save around 64 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
Majekodunmi says, “Equally embarrassing, or maybe more embarrassing, is that Nigerians are using generators to give themselves electricity in their houses and businesses. It is a major contributor to our carbon footprint.
“As if that isn’t bad enough, we are busy destroying the little remaining forest that exists; forest is a carbon sink.”
The continued heavy reliance on fossil fuel-powered generators in Nigeria by government institutions, businesses and households for electricity supply constitutes a major threat to the nation’s climate change plans.
In Nigeria, diesel or petrol generators have become the primary source of electricity for most businesses and households, as supply from the national grid remains abysmally low.
According to the 2015 African Progress Panel report, Africa cannot afford to stand on the sidelines of the renewable energy revolution, and can play its part in the revolution and tackle the challenges of transitioning away from fossil fuels.
It says low-carbon technologies can be rapidly deployed to expand power generation and to extend the reach of energy systems.
The Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, says Nigeria should not be left behind “as the world is moving away from dependence on fossil fuel,” adding, “So, the best thing we have to do is to move ahead to renewable energy.”
According to him, the impact of global warming is very obvious in Nigeria, with increased desertification, erratic rainfall pattern, serious coastal erosion, part of which can be attributed to rising sea levels and the degradation of natural barriers on the coastal lines.
“We need to switch to energy sources like solar and hydro power. Any source that will not raise the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is a better alternative,” the Director-General, Africa Clean Energy Summit Group, Dr. Victor Fakorede, says.
Majekodunmi stresses the need for the country to encourage massive reforestation across the country and curb agricultural emissions as part of efforts to fight the effect of climate change.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment, Nigeria annual rate of deforestation is 3.5 per cent approximately, 350,000 to 400,000 hectares.
“We can no longer continue to be so much a part of the problem, and we have to decide to be a part of the solution. We should acknowledge that this problem if not stopped will become unstoppable and catastrophic in few years time. Unstoppable in the sense that spontaneous releases of other greenhouse gases would have been provoked,” he says.
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