The Federal Ministry of Environment has announced that it is collaborating with Denmark as part of efforts to advance the green economy and climate change mitigation for economic growth and environmental sustainability.
Dr Iziaq Salako, the Minister of State for Environment made this known on Monday at a high-level meeting between Nigeria and Denmark on the green partnership, the green transition of the economy, climate change adaptation, and the upcoming 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties.
In his address, Salako said that Nigeria and Denmark have a long history of cooperation and have a lot to learn from each other. He noted that Nigeria’s economy is majorly dependent on oil, adding that Denmark which used to be dependent on oil has navigated its economy to be less dependent on oil over the years.
“And that is one important lesson Nigeria can learn from Denmark- how we can transit to a green economy without increasing energy poverty or increasing hardship for our people,”he said
He noted that the current government led by President Bola Tinubu has identified eight key priority areas that the administration will focus on and some of the priority areas cut across anti-corruption, and inclusivity, adding that beyond those priority areas, the Ministry of Environment has identified at least five of those priority areas that require climate action for them to be achieved.
“If we are talking about food security, there is a climate angle to it because if the land is degraded, there can’t be food security and we need to ensure that we stop degradation of our lands,”he said. “If we are talking about poverty eradication, disasters are one of the drivers of poverty and the ministry wants to ensure that we prevent disasters like floods,”.
Speaking further, he said “If we talk about economic growth and job creation, some of our initiatives are to ensure that as we transition to a green economy, we use that to create jobs for our people.”
In his remarks, Dan Jorgenson, the Danish Minister of Development Cooperation and Global Climate Change Policy, commended the government for setting progressive goals for environmental sustainability, and growth.
He said, “We are both extremely ambitious countries coming into the final negotiations of the COP28. So the Nairobi declaration following the climate summit a few months ago was clear progress and I can say for sure that Denmark and the European Union are very much aligned with the opinions and declarations of the African leaders.
“I think there is a great opportunity for us to work together and fight climate change, meaning we need more mitigation, especially from the biggest emitters on the planet, in financing both with regards to supporting the mitigation and for climate adaptation.
Story was adapted from Punch.
