CAER: Expert Urges IMSU To Collaborate With NDDC For Capacity Building, Development
The management of the Imo State University (IMSU) has been charged to work with the Government of Imo State to seek the support of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for further development and capacity building of the Centre for Atmospheric & Environmental Research.
This was disclosed by a former Director General of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) Dr Anthony Anuforom while delivering a public lecture,
titled, ‘Harnessing Climate Information for Sustainable Socio-economic Development of Niger Delta Region of Nigeria’ at the Imo State University (IMSU) organized by the Centre for Atmospheric and Environmental Research (CAER)
According to Dr Anuforom, State governments in the region should embrace the practice of integrating climate information in the design and implementation of infrastructure projects as it will increase the resilience of such infrastructure to climate change and achieve their durability.
Dr Anuforom advised that each of the states in the Niger Delta region should develop its Climate Change Response Plan collaborate among themselves and develop a Niger Delta Regional Climate Change Response Plan.
According to the former Nimet boss, the objective will include downscaling the various climate information resources from NiMet, especially the Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) and Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) from Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) to community levels in the region while funding for the program could be sought from the NDDC and state governments in the region.
“Among other things, the Climate Change Response Plan should aim at integrating weather forecasts and climate predictions into the indigenous climate coping practices”
Anuforom urged the Climate Change Education and Awareness Creation of the Imo State University to prioritise regular program of the university’s Centre for Atmospheric and Environment Research (CAER) with closer collaboration between NiMet and CAER of IMSU weather data generation and sharing ad Climate Information dissemination in the Region.
He noted that Climate Change was real and has become an existential threat to life on Earth, including life in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria adding that the impacts of climate change were not likely to stop any time soon.
Anuforom disclosed further that Climate Information can save lives and property and also supported Sustainable Socioeconomic Development.
Anuforom noted that the impacts of climate change were quite evident in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and were likely to continue in the coming decades stressing, that each year floods destroy houses, roads bridges, and other physical infrastructure that support socioeconomic activities in the region.
” Floods and sea level rise due to climate change destroy farmlands and disrupt both crop and animal production as well as fishing activities. These are the main traditional economic activities that provide employment and livelihood for most people of the communities in the region. In recent years, temperatures have also been persistently above normal in the Niger Delta region”
Dr Anuforom noted that these climate anomalies combine with environmental pollution due to oil spills and atmospheric pollution from gas flaring to make the challenges of socioeconomic development of communities in the Niger Delta region more complex.
“Climate information is an effective tool that could be harnessed to combat climate change and support sustainable socioeconomic development in the Niger Delta region. Using climate information, the resilience against climate change and adaptive capacity of communities in the region could be enhanced. This will reduce their vulnerability to flooding and other environmental challenges in the region”.
The former Nimet boss explained that Climate information was also a resource that could be harnessed to improve performance in agriculture, fishing and other economic activities in the Niger Delta region that were sensitive to, or dependent on, weather and climate.
He added that integrating climate information into socioeconomic policies of governments at all levels was a practice that ensured that Government programs and projects were hedged against the adverse impacts of climate change noting that the present-day realities of climate change made it imperative to climate-proof the design of physical infrastructure in the Niger Delta region.
