CSOs demands for climate justice

The Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP), in collaboration with Civil Society Organisations, have called for concrete action to address climate change for climate justice in the country.

Mr David Terungwa, the Executive Director of the GIFSEP, gave the call at the Africa Climate Caravan and Art competition by 19 schools in the FCT on Tuesday.

The event was organised by the GIFSEP and supported by Oxfarm.

Terungwa said that the demand for climate justice became necessary, considering the upcoming UNFramework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COP27.

The convention would take place from Nov. 6 to 18 in Egypt.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the UNFCCC, COP27 was a conference where countries come together to take action towards achieving the world`s collective climate goals and its impact.

The Executive Director said that the climate caravan was an initiative of Oxfam in Nigeria.

The initiative is part of the African Climate Caravan, bringing CSOs and climate impacted communities together, demanding for concrete climate action.

Terungwa said that the climate justice was all about inclusive and protection of the right of those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Furthermore, he said that the climate justice was to promote equity and ensure access to basic resources and for young people to live, learn, play and work in healthy and clean environment.

The aim of the event is to unite all the CSOs in Africa to show that it is important that we demand for climate justice, considering the impact of climate change on the continent.

This is a very important issue, the art competition displayed by the students shows that the students are not ignorant of the climate change impact in the country.

We call on the government to go beyond signing agreements and policy statements without real action on the ground.

We lost over 600 people to flood, with farms and farm lands washed away, so many households are still living in Internally Displaced Camps, with very slow response.

It is an issue of climate finance, enough funds need to be released during the international negotiations, COP27, to tackle all of these challenges, he said.

Also,the executive director said that the government had been signatory to the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and had signed the Climate Change Act into law, adding that it was a great achievement.

However, he said that Nigeria was lacking action and strong implementation of policies.

Terungwa said that more than a hundred African CSOs were currently traveling across 28 countries, including Nigeria to Egypt, to present their joint declaration.

He added that the country’s participants were expecting their heads of state and government to defend the interests of their own populations.

In particularly, by supporting the agro-ecological transition and protecting the rights of farming communities.

We must as well emphasise on the request for promoting better representation of youth and women in decision-making bodies.

We are also calling on the developed countries to live up to their climate commitments from the Paris Agreement,’’ he said.

Mr Kenneth Akpan, the Climate Justice Coordinator for Oxfarm, said that the programme was a collection of CSO’s across each countries in African.

There was a need for coming together to have a unified opinion to approach the climate change table, to amplify the voices of Africans, particularly the vulnerable.

We all know that Africans suffer more of this climate change which has been leading to loss of lives and damage of property, he said.

According to Akpan, Nigeria needed at least, N100 billion to approach and tackle the flood issues.

He added that there were many commitments by the government to put in place, so as to ensure that the climate change law was being implemented but there were still more efforts to be done.

A student from Government Girls School, Dutse, Miss Oluomachukwu Okafor, while speaking on behalf of other students, said that the art work displayed by the schools was all about the effect and impact of climate change in the environment.

The art shows that climate change is living already with us and must have urgent attention to address it effectively,’ she said.