http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=37571

 

The build up to the seventeenth conference of parties (COP17) to the United Nations framework Convention for climate change scheduled to hold in Durban, South Africa from Nov28-December 9 may have reached an appreciable level for many participating countries.

It is, however, disturbing that Nigeria, one of the participating countries at the conference is yet to establish a climate change commission that would negotiate and coordinate the countries activities at the conference.

This is an irony as, a bill intended to bear the Climate change commission has already been harmonised by the country's senate and federal house of representative. But the president could not assent to it before the end of the last session.

But there is still hope, as the president can exploit the provision of the bill passed by last Senate which enables bills to be carried over to the next administration and assent to it.

The implication of non-assent to the bill by the president is that while other countries would be coordinated by a climate change commission, Nigeria's participation would remain at the ministry level with no bite for implementation.

The proposed climate commission is supposed to be an independent body under the presidency charged with the coordination of existing institutions, policy priority setting, and development of action plans and expansion of international cooperation.

The Nigerian Senate had passed the bill to establish the National Climate Change Commission on July 22,2009. The commission is saddled with the responsibility of managing the effects of global warming throughout the country. 

The then Chairman of Senate Committee on environment and Ecology, Senator Folashade Bent described the passage of the bill as landmark achievement.

"We have achieved a major landmark in our effort to tackle the menace of climate change in Nigeria. We can now go and negotiate with them and bargain since we have a laid down structure," Bent had said with excitement .

The bill stipulates that 10 percent of Ecological Funds and certain percentage of funds from the Consolidated Revenue Account will be given to the commission for the discharge of its duties.

The Commission will comprise of the department of Multilateral and Bilateral Programmes, Statistics, Planning, Research and Policies, Administration and Services, Vulnerability, Adaptation and Mitigation, Monitoring and Regulation.

The Commission was also been designated as the National Authority of Nigeria to attend international agreements surrounding the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. 

Other responsibilities include strengthening and coordinating resources, policies and actions on climate change, such as developing a national strategy for the reduction of Green House Gas emissions and advising the Federal Government on climate change policies and priorities. It is also anticipated that climate change commission would reposition Nigeria to explore the environment market, which rakes in over $200 billion annually on the global stage. While Climate change is known to pose threats to countries, it also offers business opportunities in such areas as renewable energy, technology transfer, transport management and carbon trading from which many developing nations are already benefitting.

Unfortunately, two years after, Nigeria is still without a climate Commission and her participation at COP 17 would lack implementation because of the absence of a coordinating agency as such.

In Durban, while other countries would be making representations on how to tap into the carbon market and access funds to fight climate change, Nigeria would be another spectator. Usually, at the ministry level, government officials are after what they can get, not what to do for the country.

As at the last count various countries have begun competition on how to access climate finance. Already, several of these countries have been making representations on the effect of climate change to their country as a leeway to access climate finance. For instance, Colombia has begun intensive campaign to access climate finance.

There are ongoing campaigns to convince industrialised nations that climate finance would reduce vulnerability to climate change.

The truth is every country is looking at how to access the $200billion annually that industrialised nations had agreed to make available by 2020 at the COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico.

Hence, without a climate change commission, Nigeria would find it difficult to access this fund and the country would continue to lag behind in fight against climate change.

Chairman of Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change, Dr.K. Pachauri  had warned about the dangers of climate change  and insisted that it is a phenomenon that must be tackled.

 "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global sea level," Pachauri had warned.

Pachauri warned that Africa would be the most hit by climate change.

"In Africa, by 2020, between 75 and 250 million people are projected to become exposed to water stress due to climate change. By the same year, in some countries of Africa yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50%. The impacts of climate change would be disproportionately severe on some of the poorest regions and communities of the world. My own analysis suggests that at least 12 countries are likely to tend towards becoming failed states, and communities in several other states would show potential for serious conflict due to scarcity of food, water stress and soil degradation," Pachauri warned.

Hence, scientists warn that unless President Goodluck Jonathan takes the bull by the head and assent to the bill, Nigeria may be for a rough ride with Climate change.