Climate Facts: Nigeria among top 7 gas flaring countries — nine years in a row

The complexities of climate change and its associated jargon can make it difficult to digest. TheCable’s climate facts will help to demystify these climate concepts through easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point explanations.

Here are some to keep at the tip of your fingers:

1. Nigeria, Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, and Venezuela are responsible for 40 percent of the world’s oil production.

2. The seven countries have also been among the top seven gas flaring nations for the past nine years. According to the World Bank gas flaring tracker report, they account for two-thirds, about 65 percent, of global gas flaring.

3. The last five years were the warmest years on record with 2016, 2019, and 2020 topping the list.

4. Drylands are not barren but are actually productive lands, with unique ecosystems and a tree cover equalling 1.1 billion hectares of forest, according to a dryland assessment report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

5. Forests provide more than 86 million green jobs while products obtained from the forest provide around 20 percent of income for rural households in developing countries, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and UN Environment Programme (UNEP).