CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION: A ROADMAP FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Take a moment to look out your window or step outside awhile wherever you are and appreciate your surroundings: the air, soil, trees, people, buildings; all you are, have, and every living or non-living matter outside yourself would be non-existent or floating in the deeps and darkness of outer space without the earth. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the clear blue skies and cream puff clouds, in the migration of birds, in the ebb and flow of sea tides, in the folded bud ready for pluming; the greens, blue waves, animals and livestock; the chemistry, diversity, variety, and balance dancing to the rhythm of evolution. Rachel Carson rightly captioned the moment when she wrote: ‘There is something infinitely healing in the natural reoccurrences of hope— the assurance that dawn comes after dusk, daylight after night, and spring after winter.’ However, a lot of this is rapidly becoming a utopia because of climate change.

Climate change has been defined by the United Nations as a long-term change of climate attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere. The 21st century brought with it an unapologetic era of science and technology orchestrated by man’s intelligence and knack for innovation, industrialization, and urbanization, inventing and creating an artificial world of his own at the expense of the natural order of the earth.

2.0 ESTABLISHING THE GRAVITY OF EARTH DESTRUCTION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Did you know that up to 2.22 billion tons of waste are produced worldwide each year? We produce about 1 million plastic bags every minute not minding the average working life of 15 minutes and the 100 and 400 years it takes to decompose into microplastics (Plastic Ocean, 2021).

The global race for economic dominance and world power has proven to be stronger than the forces preserving the earth’s integrity. We are in a vicious cycle of climate change and environmental degradation that are undermining the integrity of the earth. According to WorldinData, the world has lost 6 million km^2 of forest land larger than Europe since the seventeenth century (Ritchie 2021) and a recent UNEP report shows the degree of vegetative land degradation has reached more than 1964.4 million hectares (17 per cent of the world’s land) over the last 45 years, overgrazing, deforestation, poor farming methods and industrialization largely responsible. At this rate, about 3 billion people will be homeless by 2050 thus the need for further deforestation, exploitation, and depletion of mineral resources, farming of lands, consumption of water and food, and intensive expansion of cities, buildings, and industries (UNEP, 2019).

2.1 Unfolding the Future of Climate Change

According to the United Nations, Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reached a new record high of 57.4 gigatonnes in 2023. Scientific projections reveal an increasing trend in the global temperature, from 1.1°C in 2011 to the current 1.5°C and potentially beyond 2.0°C by 2050 (figure 1), capable of amplifying worldwide earth warming consequences— rapidly shifting habitats due to changing temperatures and precipitation patterns, unprecedented flooding, heat waves, wildfires, melting of Greenland ice sheet, and rise in sea levels.

Figure 1

Image Credit: Johan Rockstrom (2024); TED

Home to the over 7 billion human population, the earth has become a cocoon for the disproportional increase in human population (Guardian News, 2013). Meanwhile, technocrats like Elon Musk are considering the colonization of the planet Mars, terraforming, as the ultimate solution to the imminent human population explosion and depletion of earthly resources (Bensaid nd). Innovation is often considered a net positive because it solves human problems, but it is important that we innovate sustainably. Recent innovations in virtual space— NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and the ‘metaverse’— come at a great environmental cost with Bitcoin mining alone raising the earth’s temperature by two degrees and generating 38 million tons of carbon dioxide per year complementing the increasing trend of atmospheric CO2 and global land-ocean temperature mapped out by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in figure 2 (Digiconomist, 2018).

Figure 2: Atmospheric CO2 and Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index

3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS; YOUTHS AT THE CENTRE OF CLIMATE ACTION FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Climate models show that the ongoing catastrophic effects of climate change are culminations of human activities dating back to the Industrial Revolution (NASA 2023). Though this current reality will stretch into 2050 (1PCC 2022), our future survival depends on the choices we make today to protect the planet. Therefore, the onus is on youths of this generation and coming generations to contribute to the efforts to remedy climate change. Despite contributing positively to climate action, it is not enough to uphold the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle; make use of public transportation or bicycles as opposed to personal cars; or organize community sanitation to clean up and make the environment eco-friendly. The current rate of climate change and the magnitude of damage done call for radical mitigating initiatives and policies.

3.1 Radical Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability Initiatives

a.     Massive Enlightenment and Empowerment: The concept of climate change and environmental protection is one foreign to a vast number of Nigerians. As such, an appropriate course of action will be the active sensitization of the populace achievable through collaborations with the Nigerian government and environmental-related agencies, international bodies, Non-Governmental Organizations and interested parties to actively ensure people have the knowledge and decisiveness to protect the environment.

b.     Fostering Sustainability with Technology: According to the UN, ‘‘humanity must phase out global coal production/use by 2040 and reduce oil and gas production/use by three-quarters between 2020 and 2050’’ to maintain a liveable earth. Utilizing alternatives to fossil fuels– technologies from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicles and battery storage – is the way forward.

c.     Artificial Intelligence to the Rescue: AI is a potential solution to many existential threats capable of reinforcing climate actions. Research shows that AI can enable the accomplishment of 134 targets across all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The implication of achieving the SDGs in Africa, as predicted by the UN, could open $12 trillion in market opportunities and 380 million jobs by 2030 (NCAIR 2024). Nigeria can benefit from alternative clean power energy sources to fossil fuels like solar and wind power and transition to a low-carbon economy by using AI to predict energy generation patterns and improve grid management. Further applications of AI to address the UN’s SDGs are illustrated in the infographics by PwC (figure 3).

Figure 3: AI Applications in Global Crisis

d.     Building Domestic/International Collaborations: By seeking joint solutions to environmental problems the dissemination of information from existing programmes should be facilitated and encouraged among interested countries and local institutions.

3.2 Insights from International Best Practices and Policies

i.      Seeing the SDGs through the Lens of the International Human Rights Law; Upholding the Right of Nature: For climate action to be taken seriously, the SDGs should be elevated from the status quo of being agenda that can or cannot be achieved to a more respectable status as binding rights and regulations that must be adhered to. One of the earliest academic recognizers of this postulation was Christopher D. et al (1974). In his acclaimed publication, “Should Trees Have Standing- Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects” he asserts that over the course of history, corporations, women, black people, and children have been granted legal rights; as such, it should not be far-fetched to embrace nature’s rights. By this course of action, there would be worldwide endorsement, encouragement, and propagation of the Rights of Nature. This proposes a much-needed albeit drastic rethink of humanity’s relationship with nature. The Rights of Nature are “the rights of non-human species, elements of the natural environment and inanimate objects to a continued existence unthreatened by human activities” (Boyd 2017). This is in close relation with the eco-centric and bio-centric environmental protection perspectives, the preservation of biodiversity, animal rights, and the environment as opposed to anthropocentrism, which centres on human primacy.

ii.              Legislation Against the Indiscriminate Cutting of Trees: Professor Gerd (1989) opines that we are entering the fourth phase of mankind’s relationship with nature, one where humans must act decisively and develop legal frameworks to sufficiently manage the damage we have caused to our planet.

Laws should be put in place to guide the cutting of trees and programs aimed at protecting the ozone layer implemented. Trees naturally release oxygen into the atmosphere which is an essential need of man and on that note, people should rather be encouraged to plant trees. Environmental Protection Policy 2020 in Western Australia is one of such ozone-protecting programs developing countries like Nigeria could draw insights from. These ideals must be adopted and implemented by authority figures at international, national and municipal levels, through effective regulations and development of coherent cross-sectorial policies.

iii.            UN’s SDGs and the Paris Agreement: With the vision of peace and prosperity of man, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provided a framework towards the earth's stability through the 13th, alongside 14th and 15th, out of 17 sustainable development goals. In the same vein, the Paris Agreement of 2015 obligates 195 member countries— especially developed nations like the United States, United Kingdom, China, and France— to commit to zero emissions by 2050 such that by 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be reduced by 50% keeping global temp below 1.5°C. Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement could save about a million lives a year worldwide by 2050 through reductions in pollution and infectious diseases like malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, etc (UN, nd).

Nigeria for example, belonging to the category of least developed countries with minimal emissions but more casualty and susceptibility to climate change, can salvage the millions of residents currently being affected by the devastating heatwaves, torrential rain, and massive flooding in Northern states— Maiduguri, Borno, Kano, Jigawa— with significant records of death, water-borne diseases, disruption of lives and properties and the cases of food insecurity following the displacement of thousands to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.

While Principle 1 of the Final Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (COP20) confers on us the fundamental right to freedom, equality, and adequate improvement of life in an environment that permits a life of dignity and well-being, it also holds us responsible and accountable for the protection and improvement of the environment.

3.3   Bringing it Home; Revising the Nigeria Climate Change Policy Response and Strategy (NCCPRS) for Socioeconomic Growth

The NCCPRS is Nigeria’s roadmap towards the UN’s net zero agenda by 2050 outlining pertinent plans and strategies. These policies are designed to fulfil Nigeria’s National Demonstrable Commission's goal of reducing its GHG emissions intensity by 20% in 2030. Of particular interest to this essay is the plan to adapt to climate change because adaptation is necessary to protect people, homes, businesses, livelihoods, infrastructure and natural ecosystems.

Given Nigeria’s few resources to cope with climate hazards, decentralizing climate action for multisectoral sustainability in Nigeria is fundamental for us to adapt to global climate changes. While the different SDGs were originally founded to be equal, SDG 13 is more prioritized and dominant across industries. This idea of climate change imperialism is counterproductive because it fails to recognise the peculiarity of other SDGs in certain regions worldwide. For instance, though climate change/action is pertinent to the global North, it does not address more critical SDGs— poverty, education, and healthcare, etc — particular to regions of the global South like Africa with minimal GHG emissions. On this note, the NCCPRS should be revised to accommodate mobilizing funds for multisectoral sustainability/socioeconomic growth relevant to the Nigerian context.

4.0 CONCLUSION

While we gravitate toward becoming a technologically advanced global village, tingling our insatiable curiosity and intelligence by leaving artificial fingerprints on the earth-- industries, highways, plastics, greenhouse-gas-emitting energy that turn the blessings of mother-nature into curses, desecrate landmasses with wildfires, intoxicate the air we breathe, and stuff waters with refuse and synthetics-- let us not forget that when all trees are exploited, rivers dried, and animals extinct, man will not be able to eat money.

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