BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
In line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), experts in the environment sector have called on State governments to develop green projects in collaboration with development partners for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
This was contained in a communique issued at the just concluded 15th National Council on Environment (NCE) meeting in Abuja with theme, "Appraisal of the Emerging Challenges and the Opportunities in the Environment Sector: A Call for Actions towards the Environment of our Dream".
The 21st edition of Conference of the Parties (COP 21) which took place in Paris, December 2015 was a breakthrough for obtaining international commitment in addressing climate change.
It produced the landmark 12-page Paris Agreement that mandated all 195 negotiating countries to limit the global temperature to well below 2°C and make efforts to limit it to 1.5°C pre-industrial levels.
This is even as President Buhari signed the Paris Agreement on behalf of Nigeria on 22nd September, 2016 on the sideline of the UN General Assembly in New York since the country accounted for 0.57 percent of global emissions.
As a signatory to the agreement, Nigeria has updated its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC's) by including additional sectors, targeted at reducing Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions.
The experts however requested that all proposed major developmental projects in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) should be subjected to the provisions of EIA Act CAP EI2 LFN 2004 and other extant laws, and must be supervised by the federal Ministry of Environment.
They sought for the adoption of Public Private Partnership (PPP) in addressing emerging environmental issues that threatens humans and development, given the paucity of funds in the sector.
The environmentalists enjoined states to close open dumpsites and establish sanitary engineered landfill, just as they pleaded with states to domesticate the national policies on solid and plastic waste management.
On tank farms, the experts urged town planning departments and agencies to synergise with the ministries of petroleum resources and environment to forestall indiscriminate siting of petroleum tank farms and other oil and gas facilities.
They urged the federal government to improve its strategies in tackling flooding and erosion, which had resulted to loss of lives and valuables, and called for the resuscitation of 14 community herbal heritage centers established in 1992 nationwide.
The communique was unanimously adopted by members of the council following a motion by the Commissioner of Environment, Kano State, Dr. Kabir Getso, which was seconded by Commissioner of Environment, Kogi State, Hon. Victor Omafaiye.
The meeting was attended by 612 participants including state ministers of environment, permanent secretaries, chief executives of federal and state ministries of environment, development partners, Non–governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), academia and the media.
Minister of State for Environment, Barr Sharon Ikeazor, who was also the chairman of council, presented a total of 169 memoranda after which 40 were approved, 93 were stepped down and 36 were categorised as 'noted'.
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