As the nation battles the challenges of climate change, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Mr Funso Babarinde, on Tuesday, charged the National Orientation Agency (NOA) on the need to design an effective framework for advocacy in local languages to tackle the scourge.

He also called for a stronger partnership between communities, media and relevant stakeholders in raising awareness on the negative impacts of climate change on agriculture and other critical sectors.

Babarinde gave the charge in Ede during a summit organised by the Youth in Agroecology and Restoration Network (YARN) in conjunction with NET HOPE and Ushahidi from Kenya, alongside community-based organisations focused on climate change and renewable energy, including farmers and affiliated government ministries.

The summit titled “Amplifying Community Voices on Climate Change in Nigeria”, focused on dialogue around current local climate realities, co-designed approaches to data collection and community engagement for the action plan.

Babarinde, the guest speaker at the summit, shared the vision of the Osun State government regarding climate change, renewable energy, and a circular economy policy framework, stressing that the active participation of the youth in advocacy and training programmes was crucial to winning the war against climate change.

He stated, “I want to use this opportunity to call on the DG of National Orientation Agency to work with the Federal Ministry of Information and the state ministry of information to design a framework for advocacy at the grassroots, most especially in rural communities.”

“Advocacy and programmes should be done in local languages, the media community should be trained in climate change reporting, the entertainment industry, especially those in Nollywood and the music industry, should be co-opted into the advocacy programmes for effectiveness and sustainability, “Babarinde posited.

While challenging the participants to take responsibility and be agents of climate change, he contended that “if we are not all involved, there might not be a place for our children in the future to be called Earth again at the rate the effects of climate change are ongoing all over the world.”