Date Published: 08/01/09
PRESS RELEASE 31 ST JULY, 2009
AFFFORESTATION AND REFORESTATION KEY TO CLIMATE CHANGE -ODEY
The Federal Government has said that “part of the concrete plans to mitigate impact of climate change is the plans to embark on extensive carbon sinking through aggressive afforestation and reforestation campaign.”
The Minister of Environment, Mr. John Odey stated this today when he granted interview to some journalists in his office in Abuja.
The Minister who noted that intensive afforestation program has the potential of reducing the atmospheric concentration of carbon in Nigeria said the presidential initiative has a two pronged advantages, to arrest desertification, through afforestation not just through the usual tree planting sessions, saying, “this exercise will involve the planting of economic trees which in turn will provide employment for the youths.”
Mr. Odey also said that government is also trying to ensure a total stoppage to gas flaring with the plans to pipe gas for utilization both domestically and to countries along the west coast, adding that this would generate more foreign exchange into the economy.
In addressing the threat of Climate Change , he said government is currently focusing on the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and other Climate Friendly projects in the country. These projects are being executed on public-private-partnership basis. Already many i nvestors, including some of the country’s big banking institutions, have indicated interest in some of the CDM projects ranging from afforestation and forest degradation programs to capturing of associated gas in the course of petroleum exploration.
According to him, “governments’ intention of keying into the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was to open opportunities for Investors, and luckily for Nigeria, 2 projects have been listed and another 2 are in the process of being listed as part of the CDM projects.” He said that in the sub-Sahara, Nigeria is ahead in terms of countries listed to benefit from the CDM projects and it is hoped that soonest Nigerian investors would start benefiting from the CDM projects.
He emphasized that these action plans constitutes a practicable framework for embarking on concrete, effective and targeted initiatives to reduce environmental degradation and above all develop the necessary partnership with the three tiers of Government and the civil society to promote sustainable development in Nigeria.
Odey added that climate change impact, if unabated, could pose great dangers to life and property, especially on the nation’s vulnerable coastal regions which could suffer from sea level rise and repeated ocean surge with high level social consequences, such as family dislocation, loss of properties and lives.
