The maiden edition of Edo Climate Summit under the auspices of Connected Advocacy for Empowerment and Youth Development Initiative holds on Wednesday 5th of June, 2019.
Organised in collaboration with the Climate and Sustainable Development Network of Nigeria (CSDevNet) and Pan African Climate Justice (PACJA), the summit is co-hosted by the Edo State Ministry of Environment.
The summit which is being held in commemoration of the United Nations World Environment Day on June 5th has as its theme: The Role of State and Non-State Actors in Co-creating Strategic Reforms for Mitigating Climate Change.
This comes as part of the United Nations recommendation under the Paris agreement for individual countries to safeguard the health of the public and environment by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, thus combating global warming through commitments and actions.
According to Prince Israel Orekha, Executive Director of Connected Advocacy, “the Edo climate summit comes on the backdrop of the fact that if States and non-state actors collaborate by putting together realistic strategies to address climate change and other environmental issues, the impacts of climate change can be addressed.”
“We are very hopeful that Nigeria is beginning to enjoy a new dawn, especially with the recent rectification of the Paris Agreement in which President Mohammed Buhari has made commitment for Nigeria to reduce GHG emission by 20% and conditionally 45% by 2020. This has placed Nigeria once again in the forefront of leading efforts in Africa,” Prince Orekha added.
Edo State like other States in the Niger Delta, is currently threatened by climate change with growing evidences resulting into extreme temperature that results to excessive heat, decline in annual rainfall, floods, etc.
The unpredictable weather conditions, air pollution, energy poverty, frequent flooding incidence has further widened the poverty gap in the State and now undermining the State’s contribution to both local and State development including the well-being of the people in the Niger Delta region.
Edo climate summit is aimed at bringing together experts from the industry both private and government, the academia, civil society organizations, the media, as well as the Ministry of Environment, SDG desk office and other key stakeholders to discuss the vulnerability of the region in relation to threats on environmental issues and balance up by developing realistic mitigation plans that best suits the State.
It aspires to also develop clear action points that will determine individual sector contributions to greenhouse emission reduction and to domesticate the Nationally Determined Commitment (NDC) towards implementing the Paris Agreement in Edo State and other Niger Delta states as part of the Presidential commitment.
The summit will provide opportunity for plenary sessions, exhibition ,Tree planting and questions and answers sessions.
Connected Advocacy for Empowerment and Youth Development Initiative (CAEYDI), a civil society group in Nigeria (Africa) with the mandate of ensuring that the voices of the marginalized are heard, is a member of Climate and Sustainable Development Network of Nigeria (CSDevNet).