Gabriel Enenche —
Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Environment, Hassan Musa, yesterday during the opening ceremony of the 16thNational Council on Environment said the government is not only fully committed to the ideals of good governance, but very mindful of the goals of environmental sustainability, which is one of the major objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Environews quoted Musa as saying that the mindfulness is based on the global consensus that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of the extreme weather and climate events that are threatening human existence.
With its focus on the “Pursuit of Zero Emission: A new trajectory towards global environment renaissance,” he disclosed that the theme was carefully chosen to reflect the reality of what seems to be an unnecessary hype by a layman yet with fundamental consequences already routing various communities at such a catastrophic dimension that the continuous comfortable existence of humanity is already being threatened.
That threat, he explained, is what has necessitated this wake-up call for action the world over for conscientious efforts towards pursuing a systematic and continuous reduction of greenhouse gas emissions until a possible achievement of a net zero emission in the world is achieved.
“It is well established that if left unattended,” Musa warned, “climate hazards will increase poverty, worsen inequalities, exacerbate food insecurity and cause health problems, amongst others.”
Nigeria’s high reliance on climate-sensitive natural resources is one of the nation’s greatest risks of climate hazards, the PS noted.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to him, is a testimony to the global commitment to building climate change resilience for sustainable development by addressing all major forces that exacerbate this gradually evolving damning challenge as efforts are made toward ensuring that all production forces are preserved and resources resilience is built for sustainable national development.
For this purpose, the ministry’s most senior public officer restated the government’s commitment to expanding the landscape of reasoning and generating policy frameworks capable of confronting these emerging menaces frontally.
To achieve this, he implored the participants to seize the opportunity to jointly address these issues through our submitted memoranda and other matters that may arise during our engagement.
“I look forward to a robust engagement to the end that we will be able to secure our environment, grow our economies and have a habitable world for all,” Musa concluded.
