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Government grooms MDAs on greenhouse gas inventory reporting

By Chinedum Uwaegbulam
12 November 2018   |   3:02 am
In a bid to provide foundation for coordinating all climate reporting efforts in the country, the Federal Government has begun the training of national experts on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory processes.

Participants at the international greenhouse gas Quality Assurance Training for Nigeria organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)Secretariat, in collaboration with FAO, UNDP and UNEP Global Support Programme on National Communications and Biennial Update Report (BUR) held at Ikeja Lagos.

In a bid to provide foundation for coordinating all climate reporting efforts in the country, the Federal Government has begun the training of national experts on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory processes.

The aim is to put in place an integrated national system that is capable of enabling Nigeria to meet its international reporting obligations such as National Communications every four years and preparing Biennial Update Reports (BUR) every two years as well as provide evidence to support climate mitigation planning at all levels.

The national and foreign technical experts met in Lagos under the Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quality Assurance Workshop organized by the Department of Climate Change (DCC), Federal Ministry of Environment with assistance of the United Nations Development Programme, Regional Office in Lome, Togo and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Lagos recently.

DCC Director, Dr. Yerima Tarfa explained that the training is required for developing countries-Non-Annex I countries under UNFCCC-to improve their capacity to estimate and track their GHG emissions.

According to him, a complete and transparent national GHG inventory is an essential tool for understanding emissions and trends, projecting future emissions and identifying sectors for cost-effective emission reduction opportunities.

“Under the Paris Agreement, there is an aspect that wants our report to be qualitative and transparent. To be able to do that, we need assurance on the quality of the data we are generating.

“We have been engaging consultants in the preparation of our National Communications and BUR, among others. We as government are responsibe for ensuring that what is submitted to the international community is factual and transparent and verifiable,” he said.

Tarfa said, “Nigeria was selected because of its contributor to global emissions; socio-economic development and population, as well as level of industrialization. If we get it right, it is going to have a major input on the economy, and in meeting obligations under the agreement.” 

The Manager, Mitigation and Transparency Support, UNFCCC, William Agyemang-Bonsu disclosed that the greenhouse gas inventory brings developmental benefits such as reduction in health impact and informs policy-making as well as builds capacity through technical support to enhance data collection for estimating GHG emissions and sinks for agriculture, forestry, and other sectors.

Besides, he said that the training will assist the country establish a comprehensive national GHG inventory system that prepare a national inventory report (NIR): collect and verify sectoral greenhouse gas statistics and establish a GHG statistics database for the systematic management of national and corporate GHG emission factors and statistics as well as prepare grounds for emission trading.

DCC Deputy Director who doubles as the Coordinator of the Greenhouse Inventory, Mrs. Iniobong Abiola-Awe noted that Nigeria is striving to ensure its development is in harmony with the environment. “We will continue to raise the issue of environmental consciousness in the minds of Nigerians and interface with the global best practices.”

She said that DCC has supported the formulation of enabling policies and also the nationally Determined Contribution to help the nation reduce its GHG emissions and also boost green growth. “That why we have put together this effective mechanism for understanding the national Inventory Reporting system and tools to be able to develop strategies as well as plans that will effectively address the issues of climate change,” she said.

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