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THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015
THE NATION
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PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT
Lagos State Governor
Babatunde Fashola is
set to leave a legacy of
sustainable
environmental
management. One of
such is the state’s
yearly Climate Change
Summit, which ended
last week.The event
was dedicated to
examining
achievements in the
sector, reviewing
challenges and setting
agenda, MUYIWA
LUCAS reports.
LAGOS State has positioned itself
as a leader in safe guarding the
environment from the effects of
climate change. Last week, it concluded
its climate change summit, the
seventh. This year’s edition was remarkable
because it is the last one
Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN)
presided over as the state’s chief executive.
Fashola started the summit in 2009.
The theme of this year’s edition was
7 Years of climate change Governance in
Lagos State, Celebrating success stories,
reviewing challenges and setting future
agenda.
According to Fashola, since 2009,
the summit has been the principal
vehicle for attracting the required attention
to environmental challenges.
He stressed the need for humanity
to reflect on the threat posed by the
increasing world population to the
sustainable exploitation and use of
natural resources.
For the governor, the results of the
various climate change summits have
been very useful to the state government
in that it has helped in shaping
most of its actions and policies regarding
the environment.
Some of these include the Eko Atlantic
City Project, an adapted measure
against climate change-induced
sea level rise; improved waste management
and transportation; the
Lagos, Akute and Alausa Independent
Power Projects which are gas
fired, leading to the decommissioning
of over 400 diesel fuelled electricity
generators; the planting of
over five million trees; the creation
of over 100 parks and gardens across
the state; and the establishment of the
Lagos State Parks and Garden Agency
(LASPARK), among others.
Technical sessions
The lead paper titled: “Climate
change governance: Challenges and
opportunities” was delivered by Director
of Research Department on International
Politics, Aberystwyth
University, United Kingdom, Prof.
Richard Beardsworth.
He emphasised the importance of
purposeful leadership to the challenge
of climate change.
The summit had eight technical plenary,
with 26 papers delivered by experts
from Nigeria, Scotland, UK,
France, United States, South Africa,
Canada, Egypt, and Cameroon.
The papers covered various aspects
of celebrating success stories, reviewing
challenges and setting future
agenda. The papers included: Post
COP 20 Peru Climate Change Conference;
implications for Developing
Economy; Sharing Innovative Solutions
in Climate Change Mitigation
in Africa; From Waste to Wealth;
Sharing public private partnership
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Lagos: Counting the gains
of climate change summits
•From left: Fashola; his Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello and Prof. Beardsworth, at the summit.
PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE
(PPP)-PPP Experience in Establishing
and operating material
recovery facility in a developing
economy; the Lagos State
transportation policy and climate
change mitigation and opportunities;
mass transportation:
the panacea for climate
change mitigation in a developing
economy; public transportation:
role in responding to climate
change; adopting green
business for sustainability engaging
corporate lagos; climate
change mitigation: the role of financial
institutions; and environmental
sustainability in the
extractive industry: The case for
climate mitigation.
Other presentations include:
building resilience to climate
change impacts: batnf and small
scale farmers at the frontline;
african coastal cities climate
change vulnerability and adaptation
planning: status and future
plans; climate change policy
and sustainable development;
community energy as a vehicle
for sustainable development
and combating climate change;
offshore energy for sustainable
development in lagos state;
turning liability into assets: taming
the challenges of sea level
rise into a vibrant City.
The making of Eko Atlantic
City; Lagos State Master Plan:
Sustaining the Built Environment;
among others.
Observations
The summit observed that climate
change is a common global
problem in which all states
and people are involved as they
are all affected, irrespective of
the sources of Green House Gas
(GHGs). Besides, it also observed
that addressing the fundamental
challenge of climate change for sustainable
development and human
survival is borne out of the concern
that “nature does not need people,
people need nature.”
Other observations include that
sustainability is a new direction for
firms to effectively and profitability
show-case their environmental
consciousness; that there are many
opportunities in the future of sustainable
development that is imperative
for human existence and
survival; that green economy makes
a lot of business sense and going
green is a profitable business. It also
provides new opportunity for global
cooperation in the area of promoting
energy mix, including
renewables, for sustainable socioeconomic
and environmental development.
Importantly, participants observed
that Lagos, as a coastal city, is highly
vulnerable to the impact of climate
change while rapid and unguided
urbanisation,
poor
institutionalisation of public mass
transportation with unsatisfactory
commuter/freight demand are responsible
for rapidly growing use
of private vehicles in Lagos, even as
mass transit is a key panacea to the
poor transportation system in Lagos
State, given the rapid rate of population
growth and the desire of
dwellers to own their own motor vehicles.
The summit did not end without
applauding the tree planting initiative
of the Fashola administration.
Participants restated that tree planting
is an effective mitigation measure
against the impact of climate
change. Urban reforestation, in particular,
is a laudable approach to improving
carbon sequestration
and mitigating climate changeinduced
urban heat island.
Also, it was observed that climate
proofing agriculture and its
resilience to variations in climate
is critical for sustainable food security
in the state.
More importantly, the Eko Atlantic
City Project was applauded
as potentially an effective
adaptive response to mitigate
the impact of climate change
on the coastal city of Lagos, and
the use of only private sector resources
for the execution of the
Project is an innovative way to
ensure its sustainability; just as
an effective town planning is
critical to sustainable urban development
and making cities climate
resilient. The absence of a
legally binding policy and action
plan on climate change at the
state level, participants further
noted, is of concern.
Recommendations
Twenty-five recommendations
were made at the end of
the event. These include: that
government should continue to
invest in climate change to promote
environmental
sustainability and assured future
for human existence in the
state; that Lagos as mega city
must commit to addressing
greenhouse gas emissions reduction;
including introducing
Controlled Parking Zones to
deter the use of private vehicles
and establishment of carbon
registry to monitoring GHG
emission levels, among others;
that Lagos State should further
enlarge its mass transit
programme to transit it into an
‘The Eko Atlantic City Project was applauded as potentially
an effective adaptive response to mitigate the impact of climate
change on the coastal city of Lagos, and the use of only
private sector resources for the execution of the project is an
innovative way to ensure its sustainability’
integrated, coordinated and functional
public mass transport system,
complimentary road
furniture’s and a comprehensive
urban transport policy driven by
empirical research study; that urban
development should be controlled
through appropriate measures
that will reduce dependency
on motorised vehicles and reduce
the increasing need for urban infrastructure;
that Lagos State
should continue to showcase the
benefits of its tree planting initiative,
as a climate change mitigation
and adaptation measures
to other parts of the country; that
the State should look into the feasibility
of enriching its remaining
forest areas in the context of
REED+ to create financial value
for carbon stored in forest, address
the drivers of deforestation,
enhance its carbon sequestration
for climate change mitigation,
and even provide additional
means of livelihoods for the concerned
communities; that the State
should develop a climate change
information management system
in which all research outputs are
catalogued and widely disseminated
on a regular basis; that technology
should be put in place to
reduce GHG emissions from waste
in the State; that youths should be
encouraged and involved in the
development of climate change
mitigation technology; that the
State should pursue a strategic
alignment with the private corporate
organisations in the State in
its fight against climate change
and promote research, development,
demonstration and deployment
(RDD&D), particularly in
the development of technological
response to the challenge.
Other recommendations include
that the Lagos State Green Fund
(inspired by the Lekki Free Trade
Zone) should be created to leverage
funding from all sources –
state, federal, bilateral and multilateral
financial institutions - to
promote green employment generation,
investment, and innovation;
that the State should establish
a Lagos Green Eco-Innovation
Forum that will be mandated to
spearhead efforts to promote and
intensify Nigeria’s (and African)
efforts to meet climate change targets
and goals through entrepreneurship
and philanthropy; government
should continue to support
the African Coastal Cities Climate
Change Vulnerability and
Adaptation Planning Project towards
making Lagos more resilient;
Relevant stakeholders should
be involved on a continuous basis
in the execution of the Eko Atlantic
City Project to ensure
sustainability, and the Lagos State
should ensure continuity in the
implementation of the model city
plan within the existing legal
framework to further climate
proof Lagos, while putting in place
a positive, innovative, policy environment
and strengthen existing
regulatory framework, including
tax incentives and governance
mechanisms which will promote
public and private investment in
climate change mitigation projects
in Lagos state
Participants at the summit also
recommended that the state government
should explore the possibilities
of developing a framework
for the construction of energy efficient
houses for both low and
middle income earning residents
of the State, urging the government
to look into the feasibility
of an Energy-Poverty Alleviation
Fund to help provide modern energy
services to the poor and the
needy in the state.