resilience

Climate change is a harmful environmental phenomenon that is causing enormous concern across the world. These concerns are backed by the evident rise in temperatures and sea levels, including natural disasters. However anthropogenic activities largely contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which increase global temperatures. This therefore means that the global community needs to find ways of building resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The United State Agency for International Development (USAID) defines a greenhouse gas emission as a gas released into the atmosphere that traps heat and contributes to climate change. The main types of GHG emissions are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases. According to Our World in Data, 37.12 billion in annual carbon emissions are projected to accelerate in the coming years.

The advent of civilization and industrialization led to an increase in activities such as burning fossil fuels for energy, mining and deforestation. These activities, thereby, increasing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. The scientific consensus is that these actions interrupt the carbon cycle and contribute to long-term increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting in heat waves, heat strokes, displacement of people resulting from floods, etc.

Building resilience to the impacts of climate change implies proactive, sustainable and robust actions taken towards mitigating the risks that this phenomenon poses. Countries like the United States and Sweden have taken steps towards building resilience against climate change. The United States encourages climate action participation among its states through the advancement of the Paris Agreement which commits most of the world’s governments to address climate change. These United States climate action policies include: establishing goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prompting the state of California to set a target to reach carbon neutrality by 2045. Other approaches are signed legislation that ramp up renewable energy and accelerate policies for zero emission vehicles (ZEVs).  

In 2017, Sweden adopted a new climate policy framework. The framework consists of a climate Act, climate targets and a climate policy council for building resilience towards climate change. Sweden hopes to achieve net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2045. This framework is an effort by the country to comply with the Paris agreement. Sweden also has a Climate Policy Council established as an interdisciplinary expert body tasked with providing independent assessments of national climate targets. The council consists of members with high scientific competence in the fields of climate, climate policy, economics, social and behavioural sciences.

Nigeria is not immune to the ravages of climate change. Floods, droughts, and heat waves are among the list of numerous fallouts experienced. More so, climate change impacts the economy negatively and pushes the nation off the track of growth and development; hence, why it is important that the government takes steps to build resilience to the impacts of climate change in the country. 

Nigeria hopes to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. The government took a step towards achieving this goal by launching the Energy Transition Plan (ETP) in August. However, the nationwide implementation of the ETP could be challenging without a tier-by-tier adoption. That is, the ETP needs to be implemented across federal, state and local governments. Without adequate implementation of the ETP and other frameworks, the country cannot meet its targets.

In building resilience to the impacts of climate change, citizens should first be sensitized about the effects of climate change and their role in being a part of the solution.  In addition, the government should channel more resources towards research to find decarbonization strategies that align with the country’s resources and projected economic growth.