Date Published: 10/26/09

OPENING REMARKS OF THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AT THE INTER- MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE ON CLIMATE CHANGE DATE: 26 TH OCTOBER 2009 VENUE: SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, CONFERENCE ROOM, GROUND FLOOR, FEDERAL SECRETARIAT, PHASE 1, ABUJA

PROTOCOL

It is a rare honour and privilege for me to welcome you all to this very important meeting today. This meeting is being held to consider very crucial challenge of Climate Change which will have tremendous impacts on us as a nation. Although the impacts of Climate Change are going to be global, reports have shown that Nigeria and the continent of Africa will be worse hit. This is inspite of the fact that Africa contributes least to the emissions responsible for Climate Change.

It is as a result of the magnitude of the impacts that global attention is now being given to finding collective agreement to the problem. The importance of Climate Change in the scheme of global attention was evidenced at the recent G8 Summit and the just concluded United Nations General Assembly, where climate change was the foremost issue over and above the issue of economic recession.

Distinguished Colleagues, the most important and globally accepted agreement to address climate change is the Kyoto Protocol. The processes leading to the  Protocol commenced in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro when Leaders of the industrialized nations met at a UN Climate Convention and agreed to stabilize their greenhouse gas emission concentration at a level that will not be inimical to the Climate System.   

By 1997 the industrialized nations agreed under the Kyoto Protocol to take legally binding targets on Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by 2012. Thus, the Protocol set a binding emission target for 37 industrialized nations. However, the Protocol has virtually failed to address the purpose for which it was signed.  Since signing of the Protocol by over 184 countries, the green house gas emission situation has taken a turn for the worse as the industrialized nations have not been able to tame their emission level. The Protocol will span out in the year 2012.

As a result of the topical nature of the impacts of Climate Change, a 2009 deadline was given two years ago at UN Climate Convention in Bali to complete the negotiation of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.  The negotiations of the successor of the Protocol are due to be finalized in Copenhagen in December, this year.

My duty today therefore is to brief you on the progress we have made so far towards the Conference in Copenhagen, with barely 2 months to go. Being the 15 th in the series and as a result of its importance, the Conference is expected to come up with a new deal which could be ratified by parties from 2010 to 2011 before its commencement in 2013. Already, a number of conferences and regional meetings devoted to successful negotiation of the new deal have been holding around the World. Nigeria has participated effectively in these meetings. The last of these is expected to hold in Barcelona Spain between November 2nd and 6 th this year.

In preparation of our negotiation position towards Copenhagen , the ministry has taken cue from Mr President’s declaration that even though we are not one of the countries responsible for the emissions, we are prepared to be part of the efforts to arrest the effects. As a result, Nigeria’s position, which was put together by this Committee in June this year, is very much in line with Common African Position following the resolutions at the African Union Summit in 2008 that in preparations towards Copenhagen Conference, African nations should build a common African Position.

This Group’s position has taken special recognition of the fact that being an oil producing nation, our country seeks to benefit from funds that could be deployed for adaptation and mitigation measures as well as for the development of alternative sources of energy under the Clean Development Mechanism.

Distinguished Colleagues, in January 2007, at the 8 th ordinary session of the African Union Assembly, member states were urged to integrate climate change into their respective development negotiations.  This was to give Africa an opportunity to demand for compensation for damages caused by global warning.

It should be noted that under the Kyoto Protocol, Africa and other developing countries were exempted from any legally binding mechanism while they are to press for Climate justice under the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Capabilities. Since Africa is already facing many development challenges related to climate change and will continue to do so, African Ministers for Environment meeting in Nairobi in May 2009, agreed among others things, to press for compensation funds in order to assist the continent to adapt to climate change.  This decision was later endorsed by the African Heads of State Summit in July, 2009 in Sirte , Libya .  The Summit also endorsed the demand for a Special Climate Fund for Africa .

Other key decision made at the summit include the formation of the Committee of African Heads of States on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) comprising Algeria, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda. Ethiopia has just recently, been pronounced to lead the African negotiation team on behalf of the continent for COP 15.

In the 1 st session of CAHOSCC the key messages on climate change from Africa were encapsulated in Adaptation, Mitigation, Finance, Technology Transfer, Capacity building and Compliance. These building blocks are critical to the dire situation of Africa in respect to Climate Change.

For us in Nigeria, the up coming Conference in December is very crucial to our Development Agenda and our National Vision. The Climate change scenarios for Nigeria indicate that the climatic variability currently being experienced is likely to increase and intensify. Droughts, floods and storms are likely to increase in both frequency and intensity. Changes in precipitation levels and patterns are also likely to occur thus having an impact on agriculture and food production. In coastal areas, sea level rise and rising sea temperatures will threaten coastal areas and fishing activities in the southern region. The prospective impacts on our society and the economy are huge and cross-cutting.

In our efforts to promote low carbon economy in Nigeria, we have successfully increased the number of registered Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in Nigeria from one to three in the last one year. The first was the Kwale Gas Utilization Projects while the second and the third projects are the Pan Ocean Gas Utilization Project and the Save 80 Fuel Efficient Wood Stove respectively. Both were registered by Executive Board (EB) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in February and early this month respectively. This achievement is first of its kind in Africa and it has placed Nigeria ahead of every other African nation in the number of Certified Emission Reduction (CER) units. The projects would go a long way in reducing problems of deforestation and accompanying land degradation across the country. This achievement will also significantly compliment the objectives of Mr. President’s nation-wide Afforestation Program.

In order to build on this success however, Nigeria should seize the opportunity of the Copenhagen Conference to urgently exert its political muscle in and out of the continent to insist not only that Africa must be compensated for the impacts of climate change and opportunity lost, but also that the compensatory funds be channeled as a matter of emergency, directly to Africa through the African Development Bank. Fortunately for us and Africa, Nigeria is a member of the Committee of Heads of State on Climate Change. Thus in view of Nigeria standing in the global arena and taking into consideration the huge impacts Climate Change will have on us, there is a great need for high level participation of Nigeria at the Copenhagen Conference.

I thank you all for your attention.