Climate Change: Northwest States Signs Declaration on Climate change
By Abdullahi Jalalalluden
The seven Northwest states of Nigeria, comprising of Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states have signed a declaration on Climate Change.
The signing took place at the Northwest Commissioners Summit on Climate Change, organized by Surge Africa, held at Bristol Palace in Kano .
Speaking at the event, the founder of Surge Africa, Nasreen Al-Amin, underscored the need for government and stakeholders’ collaboration on climate change and the importance of the summit.
“The summit revealed the readiness of states to collaborate with civil society organisations (CSOs) and development partners to advance state initiatives.
“Not only is the Summit timely in terms of the critical issues that were discussed, it also presented a unique opportunity for CSOs to partner with state actors in scaling tangible climate solutions.
” This is also where Surge Africa plays an integral role, by bringing together key stakeholders to discuss strategic frameworks such as the State Climate Action Plan and Climate Fund that needs to be developed to integrate climate adaptation at state level,”
In his remarks, the Kano State Commissioner for Environment and Climate Change, Nasiru Sule Garo disclosed that the state government had taken measures or strategies to tackle the climate change issues.
According to him, the measures include changing the name of the ministry of Environment to the ministry of Environment and Climate Change, reviving the operations and mandate of Water Shed Erosion and Climate Change Management Agency, WECCMA, to its full operations by assigning the Executive Secretary to man the mantle leadership.
He added that part of the commitment was the improvement in activities of Refuse Management Sanitation Agency, REMASAB, and The ACReSAL as well as organising a two days workshop for climate change policy by WECCMA in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders among other interventions by Kano State government.
The Commissioner expressed appreciation for selecting Kano as the host for the summit.
The state governments, partners and relevant stakeholders had expressed strong support for Surge Africa’s proposals for the adoption of a State Climate Action Plan and State Climate Fund, acknowledging the importance of these frameworks in fostering a sustainable and resilient future for the region as enshrined in the Kano Declaration on Climate Change and Environment.
Radio Nigeria reports that the declaration underlined the seven Northwest states’ pledge to the conservation of biodiversity, rural integration, enhanced collaboration and partnerships, adaptation finance, sustainable development, climate security among others in the region.
