The National Conservation Foundation has warned that rising sea levels in Nigeria will get worse due to the rate of climate change and global warming, except efforts are made to preserve ecological resources.
The foundation gave the warning during a panel discussion at the 20th Chief S.L Edu Memorial Lecture held to celebrate its 40th anniversary with the theme, ‘Only one Earth’.
Speaking during one of the sessions, Chairperson of NCF National Executive Council, Chief Ede Dafinone recalled that years ago, there were several warnings that the environmental problems were going to get worse.
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“At the time, those who gave the warning were considered prophets of doom,” he said “But today, we see the statistics proving them right, beyond any doubt, that things are getting worse and they will continue unless something is done to stop it.”
Dafinone explained that the NCF has been contributing its quota to conserving the Nigerian environment, especially with regard to forests, which were a major support to the Nigerian ecosystem.
He, however, regretted that the continuing reduction in our forest cover has dropped from 35 per cent to four per cent today and continues to fall, adding that in response to this, the NCF started an initiative a couple of years ago called the Green Recovery Nigeria. “Our aim is to take the forest covering of Nigeria from its present level of 4 per cent to a level of 25 per cent by the year 2047.
“The NCF initiative seeks to harmonise different approaches and views of different stakeholders from the government to NGOs to the private sector to bring all of them to bed in restoring and conserving the forest covering in Nigeria,” said Dafinone.
On plans by the British Council to support Nigeria in its transition to green recovery, Deputy British High Commissioner, Ben Llewellyn Jones said, “When we think about conservation in Nigeria, we think of smart agriculture which is fundamental to Nigeria. So, we are working on unlocking finance to create the physical infrastructure needed to prevent floods in Nigeria.”
Story was adapted from Punch.
