By Chuks Oyema-Aziken, GLASGOW
Yobe State Government says it will continue to adopt nature based solutions in tackling the various environmental challenges in the state.
The State Commissioner of Environment, Hon. Sidi Karasuwa stated this on Wednesday at a WWF High-level Group of African Governments meeting to champion Nature Based Solutions across Africa and around the World at the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The meeting had as theme, ‘Nature Based Solutions for Climate Resilience’
According to him, “all what we have always been saying is the solution to desertification and some other environmental problems cannot just be achieved without adopting the nature base solution.
“And this nature base solution is about planting more trees, creating more natural things, like managing the wild lives and managing the watershed and controlling the desertification, developing our oasis, replanting the deforestation in forests and these are all activities that involve the nature base solution.
He said that the State Governor, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni is very determined to tackle the various environmental challenges in the state.
“And in Yobe, actually we are seriously affected, it is now we are talking about the impact of what has happened in terms of the climate change. The climate change is already there and the communities in the desert areas are already feeling it and we are feeling it generally in the state that the level of our rainfall has reduced and practically we are feeling the climate change impact.
“So as a way of mitigation and adopting the nature base solution, we are now coming back to more of reforestation, more of livelihood development of the communities who are already affected by this climate problem.
“So this nature base solution is actually one of our priorities in the state to ensure that all those climate impacts are being reversed to a solution of improving the livelihood.
“Another thing which interests me is that this meeting highlighted the situation where reforestation and what you have in nature base solution can also be counted as part of your GDP. So actually this is a very important.
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