A grassroots and climate change advocate, Mr Tunde Enitan, has called for grassroots participation in tackling climate change and environmental challenges.
Enitan, Founder and Executive Director of the Mushin to the World Foundation, an NGO, made the call in an interview with reporters on Wednesday.
He spoke on the sidelines of the Mushin-Odiolowo Climate Change Conference (MOCCC) 2026.
The theme of the conference is “Beyond the Crisis: Building a Climate-Ready Mushin and Odi-Olowo.”
He said the conference was conceived to take the climate change conversation beyond high-level forums to local communities where many environmental challenges originate.
According to him, climate change conferences are often held at high levels, with dignitaries, world leaders and other stakeholders discussing global environmental challenges.
He said, however, that there was a need to recognise that many of the challenges discussed at such forums started from the grassroots.
“The Lagos State Government has been organising the Lagos International Climate Change Conference for about 11 years.
“There has been a gap in taking similar climate discussions to the local government and Local Council Development Area (LCDA) levels.
“Lagos has 57 local government councils and LCDAs, making it important to take climate action and awareness to communities across the state.
“We felt it was time to take the climate change conversation to that level,” Enitan said.
He explained that addressing environmental challenges at the grassroots would help prevent them from becoming bigger problems requiring intervention at the state level.
“That is why the Mushin-Odiolowo Climate Change Conference, MOCCC 2026, was conceived,” he said.
The founder said one of the major objectives of the conference was to localise climate change issues and make them easier for ordinary residents to understand.
Enitan said climate change was often presented in broad and technical terms, making it difficult for some members of the public to understand its direct impact on their lives.
He therefore stressed the need for effective communication and feedback between policymakers, experts and residents at the grassroots.
According to him, local residents should understand concepts such as climate resilience, flooding, increasing heat intensity, recycling and the circular economy.
“For instance, a market woman should understand what we mean when we talk about resilience, flooding or the increasing intensity of heat,” he said.
He said residents should also understand the causes of environmental challenges and the practical actions they could take to address them.
Enitan identified proper waste management as one of the areas requiring greater public understanding and participation.
He said recycling and the circular economy were important components of environmental sustainability, but residents needed to understand their relevance.
“When people hear these terms without understanding them, they can easily lose interest,” he said.
The executive director said poor communication could result in weak feedback from communities and undermine efforts to address environmental challenges.
He said meaningful climate action required contributions from all members of the community, including market women, students, street traders, transport workers and other stakeholders.
Enitan also urged residents to adopt environmentally responsible practices, particularly in waste management and the reduction of plastic pollution.
“My advice is that everything we want to achieve regarding climate change and environmental sustainability starts with each and every one of us,” he said.
He said students and other members of society had important roles to play in building resilience and reducing activities that contributed to climate change.
According to him, recycling remains one of the practical ways residents can help reduce pollution from plastics and other materials.
He encouraged residents to adopt reusable shopping bags instead of relying heavily on nylon bags.
Enitan also advocated small-scale urban farming, saying residents could cultivate food within their compounds where space permitted.
“People can also establish small farms within their compounds where possible. We do not have to rely entirely on the market for everything we consume,” he said.
He said there were several opportunities for communities to convert waste into useful resources and create economic value.
“There are many ways we can turn waste into wealth, and all these actions are as important as the air we breathe,” Enitan said.
He urged residents to see climate change and environmental sustainability as collective responsibilities rather than issues reserved for governments, experts and international organisations.
