The Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, Terseer Ugbor has called for the development of local strategies on climate change adaptation.
Ugbor made the call on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Development Agenda in collaboration with the Environmental Media Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday.
The theme of the conference is “Climate Change and COP28: The Way Forward for Nigeria.”
The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) is scheduled to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12.
Ugbor said everyone needs to look inward and adopt things that could help us to take action “on our own” before we think of attracting international support.
“We need to look inward and develop local adaptation strategies; every one of us should take a stand and make efforts personally so that in our own little way we contribute to climate change adaptation.
“Wipe the energy system and other models that can help us to reduce climate issues in our environment.
“If we have this mindset and put our money where our mouth is we may not need international support,” he said.
Ugbor who said that Nigeria has several laws on climate change emphasized that with the establishment of Nigeria Climate Council; there is hope for a climate change adaptation in the country.
According to him, he expects that we have a unified focus to be able to attract as much investment as possible.
On his part, the Executive Director of Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation, Mr Michael Terungwa urged the media to hold international organisations accountable for their financial commitment to developing nations on climate change adaptation.
Terungwa, who identified climate financing as a big challenge to Nigeria and Africa as a whole, expressed concern that climate change adaptation was not been financed.
According to him, there was a need to connect climate change and its local impact down to the grassroots.
He challenged the media on the implementation of policies on climate change issues.
Terungwa urged the media to intensify awareness on climate change at the local level.
He said that a lot of people at the grassroots are unaware of the implication of some of their activities to the environment.
“There is a need for awareness. We need to frame climate change as a bipartisan issue and sustained enlightenment programmes at the grassroots,” he said.
