By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
Minister of Environment, Malam Balarabe Lawal on Wednesday charged stakeholders in the sector to redouble their efforts towards mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change.
He gave the charge at the closing ceremony of the 17th meeting of the Council of Environment in Abuja.
“Climate change is threatening ecosystems, livelihoods, and biodiversity, environmental degradation disproportionately impacts marginalised communities, exacerbating inequalities and perpetuating social injustices.
“We must redouble our efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, embrace renewable energy solutions, and foster sustainable practices across all sectors.
Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Salako in his welcome address stressed the need to galvanise more financial windows for environmental sustainability efforts is not just an aspiration but a commitment that would define our era.
“In our drive to build a sustainable future for our generation and the ones yet unborn, mobilising funding for climate and environmental actions is a core imperative.
“In doing this, we need to emphasis our areas of comparative advantages and present such to the global community as our contribution to addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Salako urged stakeholders not to loose touch with nature based solutions that offers natural advantages and possess a higher potential to reduce capital flight and improve the livelihoods of the people.
“The Federal Ministry of Environment at COP 28 in Dubai December 2023 championed and launched the Ministerial Alliance for Ambition on Nature Finance.
He said that the launch was to give Nigeria a voice to prompt an ambition on biodiversity finance in global south countries like Nigeria where most of the biodiversity performing critical ecosystem services for the entire world is located.
“As the developed world comes around with their technologies and carbon credit schemes where they almost exclusively determine the pricing, let us also put forward our rich biodiversity worth trillion of dollars.
“Let us remain dedicated to the cause of environmental sustainability in the firm conviction that our collective efforts can pave the way for a healthier and cleaner planet earth,” the minister advised.
