ABUJA – An environmentalist, Mr Atayi Babs, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to include plan of actions on how to stop gas flaring in the country’s Intended National Determined Contributions (INDCs).
Babs told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday that the country should take proactive measures to curb gas flaring.
He said that Nigeria should beat the October deadline for submission of the INDCs to outline its national targets on how to address the challenges of climate change.
The INDCs, under UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), require countries across the globe to be committed to creating a new international climate agreement by the conclusion of the Paris Climate Summit in December 2015.
During previous climate negotiations, countries agreed to publicly outline what actions they intend to take to address climate change under a global agreement before the Paris Summit by March.
The environmentalist said that Nigeria had been focusing on adaptation programmes, noting that the country should come up with mitigation compliance INDCs.
“The Ministry of Environment should make it a core issue beyond that, mitigation strategy needs to come on board.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
“We know the sources of our emission because we are still contributing to the warming of the planet and one major area we are doing so is in oil and gas.
“Nigeria is among the leading countries when it comes to gas flaring and we must take proactive measures to curb it, “ he said.
He said even though the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) encompasses some plans to curtail gas flaring in the country, it will not be sufficient to address gas flaring.
He said that the country should look beyond the bill and also come with a plan to address oil spillage which, he said had wrecked many communities in the Niger Delta.
Babs, who is also the National Network Coordinator for Climate Change Sustainable Development, a Non-Governmental Organisation (CSDevNet), urged the media to give adequate coverage to environmental issues.
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He, however, said that one of the member organisations of CSDevNet, Journalists for Climate Change, said that the group would soon establish the first West African online newspaper on climate and environment issues.
“This online newspaper is going to be the first in our region; it is going to cover issues on climate change and environment across West Africa.
“The online platform is coming to give West African reporters the lead way, the avenue to publish stories that the traditional media will not be able to public.
“It will do a lot of investigative piece on climate change advocacy, adaptation and mitigation strategy across the sub- region on the impact, success and failures of our government in accessing climate finance.
“It will also do in-depth analysis and interviews on every aspect of climate change that is going on and there will be a page dedicated to road to Paris.
“ It is timely because it will be an avenue for West Africa to be carried along on the way to the 21st Conference of Parties (COP) on Climate Change in Paris,’’ he said. (NAN)
