Daily Independent (Lagos) Nigeria: Streamlining Lagos Laws to Address Climate Vagaries

AllAfrica.com , Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Correspondent : Michael Simire
Because of its susceptibility to climate change effects, Lagos should fashion relevant laws and policies which could find ready models in the 2008 Climate Change Act of the United Kingdom and the 2009 Climate Change Act of The Philippines. The laws must be sufficiently balanced in protecting the short term competitiveness while harnessing opportunities.

This call forms the fulcrum of a package of recommendations put forward by participants at a recent forum wherein officials of ministries, departments and agencies, as well as academics, representatives of civil society and media explored the status of policies, programmes and research on climate change in the state.

The event was organised by Lagos State Ministry of the Environment in collaboration with Policy Advocacy Project Partnership on Climate Change in Lagos State

Participants described climate change as a major threat to the state's socio-economic stability, requiring concerted collaborations between governments and non-state actors with other stakeholders in the civil society.

It was observed that although Lagos State has been forthcoming in striving towards evolving mitigation and adaptation strategies, a lot still needed to be done by reviewing existing laws as well as reforming institutions to keep track with the challenges posed by mitigation and adaptation. In particular, inter-ministerial coordination is urgently required to make for optimum result, the gathering noted.

They lamented an absence of policies and legal frameworks that concretely address the consequences of global warming, and meeting the demands of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Participants thus underlined the need to streamline laws on the environment to make them handy and less cumbersome in terms of implementation and conformity with emerging trends and realities.

Apart from creating effective emergency relief measures to cope with undesirable effects of climate change, the need to intensify education on global warming and climate change issues as well as necessary measures aimed at fostering mitigation and adaptation such as tree planting campaigns and reduction in carbon emission was likewise stressed.

Accusing fingers were pointed at the Federal Government, which was accused of policy inconsistency. The cited the scrapping and revival for no fewer than 13 times in the past 20 years of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology as an example.

"Governments in this country have hardly reckoned with the reality of feminisation of disasters informed by climate change. The need for governments at both the national and sub-national levels to be attentive to climate change issues becomes more imperative after no strong commitments emerged from Copenhagen."

The state government was then called upon to institute an inter-ministerial working committee on climate change to facilitate interaction and networking between MDAs in the state towards incorporating climate change impact in their policies, programmes and actions.

Additionally, governments and citizens were enjoined to rise up to the challenge of ensuring a combination of mitigation and adaptation measures that should cut across the academia, local and international communities and the civil society.

Participants also agreed on the need for the formulation of robust policies and legal frameworks that will concretely address and meet the demands of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Such policies, they added, must have embedded in them the provision for yearly review that fine-tunes with changing needs.

Similarly, they want tree planting intensified to reduce the impact of desertification and gully erosion that might result from torrential rainfall.

The state's pace and approach towards addressing climate change issues, it was recommended, should be complimented by the Federal Government in its efforts towards achieving comprehensive but state specific development needs.

In fact, the gathering declared that the state and the Federal Government must as a matter of urgency encourage gender specificity in the design of responses to climate change-induced crisis and challenges.

Describing food insecurity as an inevitable consequence of climate change with Lagos State as a major victim of the development, the state government was implored to as a matter of urgency commence unprecedented investment in agriculture with a clear study and position on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Environment Commissioner, Muiz Banire, gave the keynote address which highlighted and asserted the state's commitment to addressing climate change issues from various sectors in the state. This was duly complemented by "situation reports" from relevant government departments.

Similarly, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Infrastructures, Ganiyu Johnson; Permanent Secretary, Economic Planning and Budgeting, Mrs. Aluko; Managing Director, Lagos State Waste Management Authority(LAWMA), Ola Oresanya; Director of Forestry in the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, Mrs. Adeoba; and Chief Engineer, Project Implementation, Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC), Mr. Ogunshola, gave updates on their respective domains in relations to climate change phenomenon. The session also received goodwill message from UK-DFID.

The current situation updates of the first day of the two-day event were followed with presentations by the experts on the second day. Prof. Ademola T. Salau spoke on "Key Issues after Copenhagen: Clean Technology and the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy for Nigeria" while Prof. Oyelowo Oyewo of the University of Lagos spoke on the "Overview of Laws and Policies Promoting Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Lagos State."

Ms Titi Akosa spoke on "Effective Climate Change Policy in Lagos State: Addressing the Gender Dynamics," even as the Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of Lagos, Prof 'Lanre Fagbohun made a presentation on "Developing Legal Framework for a Comprehensive and Ambitious Climate Change Regime."

On his part, Dr. Ganiyu Akolade of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin addressed the issue of "Climate Change and Food Security: Evolving a Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Adaptation and Mitigation."

 
SOURCE : http://allafrica.com/stories/201005240847.html
 


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