Climate Watch: UNIPORT lecturers launch project on climate change adaptation for women

Despite directly impacting our communities, health and livelihood, climate-related reports usually take a back seat to dominant news beats like politics and business. Climate Watch aims to ensure you never miss important stories on climate change and actions being taken towards limiting its impact.

Here is a round-up of last week’s climate stories:

• There has been constant conversations by individuals, groups and government on the need to adopt alternative sources of energy that are less harmful to the environment and human lives. But, what happens when these alternative energy sources become rather exorbitant for the average Nigerian to even afford? In recent times, the price of buying gas and its cylinder has been on an upward trend. Bassey Essien, executive secretary of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), tried to explain last week that naira devaluation and huge supply gap is what has caused the surge in cooking gas prices. Essien disclosed the association’s intentions to distribute 5,000 6kg cylinders with burners to Nigerians free of charge before the end of the year. Find out who would be the beneficiaries here. 

•  To adequately tackle the impacts of climate change, all hands need to be on deck to ascertain how it affects different aspects of society, lives and livelihoods. This is why a team of science lecturers at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) last week launched a project, themed ‘Gender-responsive Climate Change Adaptation Initiatives in Nigerian Agriculture Project’. The 12-month research project seeks to increase female participation and contribution to responses to climate change. Clara Ifeanyi-Obi, the lead researcher, said the project will be carried out in the 17 southern states and will focus on integrating gender into climate adaptation efforts and addressing issues that hinder climate change adaptation in agriculture. Find out more about this project here.

•  COP26 was postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, however, a physical conference has been fixed for November this year. Ahead of the conference, the United Nations (UN) launched the online registration portal for the conference last week. According to the UN, the early registration is to allow interested participants to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as that would be a criteria for attending the conference. The conference which brings together countries that are signatories to the Paris agreement to deliberate on ways to tackle climate change will be held in Glasgow, United Kingdom this year. Find out more about the conference here.

• In a bid to combat climate change impacts like desertification, Edo state ministry of environment said the state will plant 10 million tree seedlings in the next 10 years. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Nigeria has an annual deforestation rate of about 3.5 percent, which means on average the country loses between 350,000 and 400,000 hectares of forest cover every year. Lucky Wasa, permanent secretary, Edo ministry of environment said the rate of depletion of natural resources causes harm to the environment and advised Edo residents to plant trees in their areas. The tree planting programme would be executed in partnership with Rongtai Wood Company, a Chinese firm. Read more about this here. 

• On June 21, a federal high court in Abuja directed Mobil and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to pay the sum of N81.9 billion to Akwa Ibom communities as damages for oil spillage. Following this development, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) called out the companies last week, asking that they obey the court judgment and do what is expected of them for the communities affected. Godwin Ojo, executive director of ERA/FoEN, who made the call said the judgment is significant for the drive towards environmental justice and protection of the environment and livelihoods. Read all about this here.