WED: FCT Minister, SCI, children rally support to combat desertification, drought, others

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

In commemoration of the Work of the 2024 World Environment Day,

the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Save the Children International (SCI), Nigerian and Children Parliament have called on

all stakeholders to combat deforestation, drought and all climate related challenges.

While speaking at the event tagged; ”Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience”, Wike said this year’s theme revealed “not just the importance of protecting what we have but also the need to restore and rejuvenate our agricultural landscape”. 

He said this is in order to ensure food security and to sustain a healthy  ecosystem for the future generation. 

 The Minister reiterated that the  action resonates deeply with this administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda aimed at sustainable development and environmental stewardship.

He emphasized that even though there are challenges, the government has done a lot towards restoration of the environment, saying much work still needs to be done. 

On their part, children called for  the development of robust early warning systems and community-based disaster preparedness strategies to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events.

They also called for promotion of community-led initiatives in waste management, reforestation, pollution control,

and sustainable livelihoods to build resilience against climate impacts.

“ We need to  advocate climate-resilient infrastructure in schools and health facilities, ensuring they

can withstand extreme weather events and maintain essential services.

“There is need to encourage the active participation of children and youth in climate advocacy and action, empowering them to be leaders in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.”

While delivering his lecture, Save the Children’s Country Director, Hervey Duncan, identified deforestation as the most pressing environmental issues in Nigeria.

Duncan, who was represented by

Ifedilichukwu Ekene Innocent, Advocacy, Campaign, and Policy Manager/Survive, said deforestation is driven primarily by agricultural expansion, logging, and urbanization.

“Deforestation not only contributes to habitat loss and biodiversity decline but also exacerbates climate change by reducing carbon sequestration and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The loss of forest cover undermines ecosystem services, such as water regulation, soil fertility, and climate regulation, impacting local communities and ecosystems.”

Speaking further, he said recent detailed climate vulnerability mapping of the arid and semi-arid northern Nigeria indicated that Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kano and Yobe States have high vulnerability to climate change, while other States like Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara States have medium vulnerability.

“Kaduna and Taraba States are areas of low vulnerability to climate change, relative to other parts of the arid and semi-arid northern Nigeria. There is increased recognition that the causes and impact of climate change as well as the policies, strategies, and the capacity to respond to or address it are not gender neutral. Climate change and gender inequality are inexorably linked; they both create obstacles to achieving poverty reduction and have strong potential to reverse development gains. The centrality of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) to achieving all the SDGs is not in doubt. There is evidence that just like gender inequalities exacerbate the effect of climate change, climate change also makes existing inequalities worse and generally slows progress toward gender equality.”