Experts offer strategies for NDC implementation

To achieve goals of the Paris agreement, environmentalists have listed strategies for a successful implementation of Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

They say, the key factors for the realisation of ambitious climate policies are political buy-in, stakeholder engagement and scientific analyses, and technical support and development of a financial strategy.

The experts spoke at a Roundtable on the Way Forward for Nigeria after the Katowice Climate Package, organised by Centre for Climate and Development, Alex Ekwueme, Federal University, Ndufu-Alike (AE-FUNAI), Ebonyi State in collaboration with the Department of Climate Change of the Federal Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Setting the tone of the programme, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba said, the creation of the Centre for Climate Change is an indication of the university’s interest and involvement in the climate change challenge, which has become a global concern.

He further emphasized that the roundtable was staged to sensitize the participants and the entire Nigeria community on climate change, and possibly proffer solutions to its challenges and the effects of global warming in Nigeria and the world at large.

The key facilitator and Professor of Climatology at the University of Lagos, Emmanuel Oladipo, who led the discussion on the topic: Implementation Process of The NDC and Practical Actions and Activities Needed to Enhance Its Implementation, explained that Nigeria’s first NDC outlines the country’s change priorities for post 2020 period including targets and strategies for addressing the causes of climate change and responding to its effects.

He identified five sectors that are critical for Nigeria to be able to contribute to the goal of keeping the global temperature increase to well below 20C.  The five sectors according to him are: agriculture and land use, energy, industry, oil and gas and transport.

He said that political leadership and commitment (political buy-in) is an essential component for implementing the NDCs. For ambitious climate policies to succeed, leaders need to advance the implementation of NDCs with willpower and conviction, and with the right instruments at hand.

According to him, the materialisation of ambitious climate policies critically depends on creating the necessary buy-in from political leaders.

The presentations by the numerous scholars in attendance, highlighted the actions and inactions that constitute threat to the environment, especially the gas flaring and emissions, indiscriminate felling of trees, use of generators, fossil gas, bush burning, and deforestation among others.

Prof Chukwumerije Okereke of the University of Reading, who is joining AE-FUNAI emphasized the need for a holistic understanding and approach to climate change in Nigeria and the world, and called for the establishment of the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable development (ICCSD) in the university.

Earlier, the Acting Director, Centre for Climate and Development, Dr Robert Onyeneke, explained that the roundtable discussion was born out of the need for experts to interact face to face and chart a way forward for climate change matters in Nigeria.