Climate crisis: Africa earning admirable progress

The western media has long portrayed Africa as being in a climate crisis.

The negative press is so suffocating that conscious efforts are urgently needed to change the narrative by bringing to the fore some of the amazing measures being taken by governments and non-governmental bodies across the continent to tackle climate change impacts.

Nigeria, being the most populous African nation, is indeed responding to the devastating impacts of climate change.

On September 18, 2019, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report revealed that vulnerable developing nations were taking the lead in response to climate change. The report noted that at least 112 countries, including many of those most vulnerable to climate change and least responsible for its causes, planned to update their current plans, known as ‘nationally-determined contributions’ or ‘NDCs’ by 2020.

The onus therefore rests on us to tell Africa’s positive climate change narratives as opposed to the negative press from the western media.

In January 2023, Nigeria adopted new Methane Guidelines that include mandatory measures for oil and gas companies (such as leak detection) to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The country also enacted the Climate Change Act in 2021 as a legal framework for the country’s quest to achieve its climate goals, long-term social and economic sustainability, and resilience.

The Act came immediately after former President Buhari made a commitment during COP 26 in Glasgow to achieving net zero by 2060. Under the Act, the government is mandated to set a National Climate Change Action Plan and a five-year carbon budget with quantified annual objectives. It also creates the National Council on Climate Change, which is saddled with implementing the National Climate Change Action Plan and managing the newly-instituted Climate Change Fund.

According to the Act, any private entity with 50 or more employees is mandated to put in place measures to achieve the annual carbon emission reduction targets in line with the National Climate Change Action Plans. Each private entity is also to designate a climate change officer for reporting. Failure with regards to the above attracts fines. 

Apart from legislation, Nigeria was among the few developing countries to set an economy-wide target. Its Nationally Determined Contributions were updated in 2021 with a pledge of an unconditional contribution of 20% below business-as-usual by 2030 and a 47% contribution conditional on international support. The updated NDC followed the realisation of Nigeria’s leading role in ensuring that the aims of the Paris Agreement are achieved in Africa.

Apart from these, the World Bank in October 2022 noted that more than 12 million people have benefited from the USD900 Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), a World Bank-assisted project designed to reinforce the country’s ability to fight climate change-induced erosion, natural hazards, and disasters. 52,000 jobs were created in the sectors directly or indirectly promoting climate adaptation through the first sovereign green bonds. A 2022 feature story on the World Bank’s website also indicated that 23 states adopted innovative integrated approaches for adaptive development based on community participation.

2012 National Climate Change

Besides, the 2012 National Climate Change Policy had been reviewed to accommodate evolving issues around climate change. The reviewed National Climate Change Policy 2021–2030 now takes care of the opportunities and challenges of reducing emissions on a sector-by-sector basis, the required adaptation strategies in view of the growing impact of climate change, particularly the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and the integration of climate change into the national development process for an effective response to the challenge.

Apart from policy and law, several campaigns and activities have been mounted across the country by the Federal Government, all aimed at mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change.

The country’s afforestation programme has successfully forested 6,191,363 hectares of land through the Green Bond Project implemented by the Forest Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW), the Department of Desertification, Land Degradation, and Drought Management, the National Parks Service (NPS), non-governmental organisations, state governments, private planters, and international stakeholders.

Besides, the government said a total of 6,550,056 seedlings were raised, distributed to state governments and institutions, and planted by FRIN, the Federal Department of Forestry, the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), and tree restoration and planting companies in 2020 under the forestry trust fund initiative.

The immediate past Minister of State for Environment, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, made the disclosure at a ministerial press briefing, noting that “the most significant action taken towards playing our role in climate change mitigation and adaptation is the signing of the Climate Change Bill into law by the President in November 2021. Another priority area was erosion and flood control. Soil erosion and degradation represented some of the most serious environmental and health problems facing us today in Nigeria”.

According to her, “The ministry has since its inception executed over 2,000 erosion and flood control projects and other smart climate-related ecological interventions in various states”.

NGOs are also doing their bit. Climate Change Network Nigeria (CCN-Nigeria) is a not-for-profit, non-governmental national coalition of over 150 diverse civil society organisations from across Nigeria, working on promoting climate-friendly Nigeria and sustainable development. They work towards ending or drastically reducing deforestation through massive tree planting and a sensitization campaign. Many of them focus on the adoption of renewable energy and a healthy relationship between humans and the environment.  

The National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), earlier in the year announced plans to unveil a carbon tax policy that will align with the Energy Transition Plan earlier approved by President Muhammadu Buhari. The carbon tax, according to the DBG Group, will take two forms: an emissions tax based on production and a tax on goods or services that are generally greenhouse gas (GHG)-intensive.

NCCC’s Director-General, Salisu Dahiru, explained that the Federal Government will set a price for emitters of GHG emissions, while the NCCC will create a framework for a carbon tax system and trading, which will help the government generate revenue and encourage consumers to switch fuels and reduce emissions as the surest way to avoid paying the tax.

Commendable as the above measures are, attention must be drawn to the country’s continued reliance on the oil and gas sector, which offers a risk of locking Nigeria into emissions-intensive infrastructure. This, in the long run, is feared to drive up national emissions. Therefore, Nigeria must rapidly pursue the uptake of renewable energy.

The 2021 Climate Change Act must be implemented, while elements of the net zero target, such as emissions coverage and the role of carbon removals, must be clarified. The country must avoid locking in high-emission fossil gas infrastructure projects, such as the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline and additional LNG export capacity.

According to International Energy Agency (IEA), no new oil or gas field development is needed to reach net zero emissions (NZE) in 2050. The agency’s 2022 update of its NZE scenario indicates that African oil and gas production needs to decline by 41% and 13% below 2021 levels by 2030, respectively, and 82% for oil and 78% for gas by 2050.

In other words, expanding the availability of oil or gas in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world is inconsistent with limiting warming to 1.5 °C and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. While one acknowledges efforts made so far to fight climate change, much more is urgently solicited from the government, NGOs, and the private sector in the days ahead.