Nigeria formulates climate response agenda
Nigeria has commenced moves to fashion out a plan of action to effectively adapt to the burden of the variability in global climatic conditions.
The decision was reached after the nation’s First National Communication (FNC) reported that natural and agricultural ecosystems as well as freshwater and coastal resources were highly susceptible to the effects of climate change.
Long-term activities and strategies to moderate the ensuing harmful effects or exploit inherent beneficial opportunities are now being devised under a scheme classified “national priority.
Climate change framework
The FNC was submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2003.
The project has so far produced a consultative document of the National Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action (NASPA), in respect of which a draft was recently put up for stakeholder review and discussion.
Produced by Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change (BNRCC), an initiative being executed by the Nigeria Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), CUSO-VSO and ICF Marbek, and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the NASPA will seek to minimise risks, improve local and national adaptive capacity and resilience, leverage new opportunities, and facilitate collaboration with the global community towards reducing the nation’s vulnerability to negative climate change impacts.
It is being developed via a multi-stakeholder advice-giving process led by NEST, the Special Climate Change Unit (SCCU) of the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME), Nigeria Climate Action Network (NigeriaCan) and the Heinrich Boell Foundation.
The NASPA, which will likewise provide a framework to help Nigeria respond to the climate change adaptation challenges, is based on a five-year implementation time-frame, implying that the full strategy will be reviewed in detail every five years.
A source said; " the five-year review cycle coincides with the timing of a number of other important events in Nigeria."
Future reveiws
The first review of the NASPA in 2015 would allow Nigeria to incorporate NASPA experience into the 2015 review of Nigeria’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Also, with elections to be held in 2015, the first NASPA review will provide recommendations of value to a new administration at the start of its mandate.
Looking further to the future, the 10-year time-frame for the second NASPA review cycle is in line with the time-frame of the Vision 20:2020.”
Some imperatives supposedly characteristic of the NASPA were identified. They relate to: government, private sector and civil society providing strong and visionary leadership; the central government providing overreaching policy and legislative leadership; states and local councils leading in regions and at the local councils; organised private sector hedging against climate change and seizing opportunities presented; civil society organisations playing the role of a catalyst at the adaptation frontline; and Nigeria partnering with the international community and enhancing institutional capacity for adaptation.
Others entail raising awareness and knowledge of climate change adaptation; integrating adaptation strategy in the national agenda; basing adaptation strategy on knowledge and research; mainstreaming gender as well as incorporating local knowledge and experience in adaptation strategy.
The NASPA consultative document is supported by a separate technical document written by local experts. Supported by the BNRCC project, it is titled: Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Technical Report (CCASTR).
Guardian/Qasim
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