Review existing policies, legal frameworks on climate change, CAPPA tells FG
By Folalumi Alaran in Abuja
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Monday, called for a review of existing climate change policies and legal frameworks that prioritise foreign interests over domestic concerns and hinder the progress of pro-people climate finance initiatives.
The executive director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi ,said this became necessary because Nigeria, like every other country in sub-Saharan Africa. is classed as a vulnerable country considering its exposure to climate risks.
Akinbode at the Second National Conference on Climate Change, themed “Creating an Agenda for Sustainable Climate Finance For Nigeria,” organised the Corporate Accountability & Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), in Abuja stated that the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) cautioned that about 178 local government areas (LGAS) in 32 of the 36 states in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory fall within the highly probable flood risk areas.
He said the agency stated that more than 830 kilometres of coastline areas and communities in Nigeria are increasingly threatened by floods, erosion, water, and air pollution.
He said communities in the Niger Delta states bordering the Atlantic Ocean have lost or fear losing their homes and farmlands due to the eroding bedrock shielding the shoreline.
“In the Northern part of Nigeria, desertification is encroaching on arable lands, affecting roughly 580,841 square kilometers out of 927,892 square kilometers, with approximately 62 million Nigerians now directly or indirectly impacted.
“Climatic fluctuations, deforestation, extensive cultivation, overgrazing, marginal land use, bushfires, firewood harvesting, faulty irrigation systems, and urbanisation have all been identified as major contributing factors to this phenomenon.
“Climate finance in Nigeria has relied exclusively on concessional debt which is about 46% and non-concessional debt at 25%.”
