Date Published: 09/04/09

President's Address in Geneva on Climate Change

President Umaru Musa Yar Adua has called on the International Development Organizations and Development Partners of African nations to help develop and strengthen three centres of excellence for gathering and computation of data on Climate and Climate related variables in the continent.

President Yar Adua made the call in Geneva yesterday while addressing delegates to the World Climate Conference organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ahead of the December Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

According to the President, whose address was presented by the Minister of Environment, John Odey, unless Africa nations are equipped with proper and adequate information on  the Climate, the continent may not benefit from solutions being sought to the Climate problems.

He said, “there is at the moment, severe deficit in the knowledge base on climate change in Africa.  A sound platform of climate science is imperative.  Without climate data, the behaviour of the climate system cannot be properly quantified or understood. 

“The existence, extent, longevity and frequency of droughts, for example, would remain unknown in the absence of data.  The climate modelling and observing system in Africa is in an abysmal state and it is deteriorating.  This creates key gaps in our understanding of the risks we face and limits the ability for effective planning and response strategy.  Without the level of resources needed to provide value-added information to support national planning, the region may not benefit from the endowed innovative capacity of our scientists to create the solutions we need.

“climate change needs to be mainstreamed into development policies.  This requires a better understanding of the implications of climate change on the economy from local to global scales.  Such an understanding would lead to enhanced development models, and thus minimise unintended negative consequences of specific practices.

“The Government of Nigeria recognises that sustainable development and climate change are inextricably interwoven.  We are therefore committed to integrating climate information and services into strategic national development planning and decision-making at all levels as a basis for ensuring that national sustainable development targets are not missed.

“The challenge is to devise appropriate means to understand evolving scenarios for emissions and impacts pathways, combined with possible scenarios for mitigation and adaptation.  To attain this would require concerted efforts by all, based on the agreed common but differentiated responsibilities.

“These principles are also required for adaptation, especially considering the fact that the world’s developing countries which contribute very little to the current GHG emissions are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with very little capacity for adaptation.

“It is my hope therefore that this conference would address the dire requirements of our institutions such as the need to refurbish, expand and strengthen national observational networks, provide modern infrastructure to support modelling in all areas, and create the requisite information management systems for climate and climate related variables.

“Nigeria calls on our development partners for support which would enable African countries to strengthen and expand regional observatory networks with real-time data archival and retrieval capabilities, supported by enhanced computational facilities for regional climate modelling and fo benefit from the endowed innovative capacity of our scientists to create the solutions we need.

“Nigeria calls on our development partners for support which would enable African countries to strengthen and expand regional observatory networks with real-time data archival and retrieval capabilities, supported by enhanced computational facilities for regional climate modelling and forecasting for climate and impacts prediction indices. 

“We also solicit the strengthening of three centres of excellence in the continent to serve as a hub for the generation and dissemination of information and knowledge on the evolution of the climate system, as it relates to the African region.

“Inadequacy of resources is at the heart of the inability of many developing countries to respond effectively to climate change, especially with regard to water resources, desertification and other poverty related challenges.  Given Africa’s massive infrastructure deficit, added to the challenges of endemic poverty and huge disease burden, it is absolutely essential to agree on the innovative mechanisms for funding a science and information based adaptation.

“While adaptation remains an immediate key challenge to most developing countries, the fact that the population growth rates of these countries remain the highest in the world, shows that a framework to assist them to attain low carbon development is critical to attaining the ultimate objective of the UNFCC, which remains key to the survival of man on our planet.

“This Conference affords us the opportunity to decisively face up to the challenge of knowledge gap confronting African Continent. In dealing with this challenge, there is urgent need to address other critical issues facing the continent, such as, endemic conflict, lack of capacity to meet the millennium Development Goals and seemingly insurmountable poverty and disease.  All these are compounded by the impact of climate change.”