From Esther Akaa, Lafia
Stakeholders, comprising of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nasarawa State have been urged to advocate for strong government policies in addressing increasing changes in the environment towards protecting the ecosystem for the benefit of mankind.
The charge was given at a one-day sensitisation workshop, organised by Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP), in partnership with OXFAM and support from Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of the Netherlands and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), held on Monday in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.
The Executive Director, GIFSEP, Mr David Michael who gave the charge said his organisation was implementing the “African Activists for Climate Justice Project (AACJ),” aimed at amplifying and uniting voices in Africa that are demanding for the rights and inclusion of women, youth and local communities in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia and South Africa.
According to him, the project will help citizens defend and realise their human rights and live a decent and dignified life in a healthy and sustainable environment, within the context of the climate emergency.
He said the AACJ project was targeted at building strong and inclusive African movement that would mobilise citizens, companies and government to advance climate justice for the benefit of mankind.
“The sensitisation workshop is aimed at bringing Civil Society Organisations together in the state to build their capacity so that they can begin to build resilience to climate related issues. This is because climate change is affecting agriculture due to the issue of shortage of water and unpredictability of rainfall. Therefore, there is a need for farmers to build resilience.
“This project will teach CSOs from the 13 LGAs of the state how to train farmers on climate smart agriculture, giving them the timely and early weather information to enable them plan ahead. We need to teach farmers to improve their soil fertility through organic means of farming and not over dependence on chemical fertilisers.
“We want to reach to the grassroots so that the talk on climate will not be only at the federal level. We also want the state to have climate related policies in the Ministries of Environment, Agriculture and Women Affairs and Social Development because climate change affects women the more.
The executive director noted that with the signing of the Climate Change Act by President Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria, opportunities were available for state government to access, saying states can get funding from international organisations to finance climate related projects in the country.
He therefore, called on the state government to come up with climate related projects inthat will enable them to access grants from donor agencies across the globe.
Speaking on the topic “Climate Action: The Role of CSOs in Nasarawa State,”
Barr Dangana urged CSOs to track government budgets allocation on climate related issues and make case for increase in budgetary allocation of climate issues in the state.
“CSOs should be able to gather and mobilise support for climate actions. There are a lot of opportunities that will be utilised by members of the community, particularly those who are into climate related organisation.
“We are entitled to approach any of the government institutions to demand for accountability and certain information on how certain things are done. Where they are judiciously utilised, we can make for an increase in the funding of climate related activities, and where they are under utilised or misappropriated, we can make case for necessary actions to be taken, including investigations and possible prosecution,” he said.
He therefore, called on participants to sensitise their communities on how to protect their environment, as well as push for new laws and policies relating to the environment.
Earlier, the Project Officer of AACJ, Mr Joseph Ibrahim, who gave an overview of the AACJ project, said GIFSEP was implementing the project in the state for a period of five years.
“We are hoping that the budgetary allocations for climate action in the state will increase as a result of different activities that we have lined up for this project,” he said.
The Voice reports that participants at the workshop were drawn from a coalition of CSOs in the state, selected across the 13 LGAs of the state.