Eight states allocate funds for climate change, 24 others without policy

• Thirteen states, FCT establish climate change action plans

ANEW study has found out that only eight states, namely include Nasarawa, Plateau, Yobe, Jigawa, Anambra, Ebonyi, Ondo, and Ogun have budgetary allocation for climate project programmes and activities last year, while 13 states and the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) have climate change action plans.

According to the study ‘ Mapping Climate Impacts, Policies and Actions at the Subnational Level in Nigeria’ promoted by the Society for Planet and Prosperity, in collaboration with the Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment and Nigeria Governors Forum, only seven states have climate policy documents that can be found online.

They include Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Lagos, Osun, Rivers, and Yobe. Amongst them, Rivers and Ebonyi States have upgraded their policies to Climate Change Law/ Act. Eight States seem to have climate policies or some related documents that are not fully finalised or adopted. These include Akwa- Ibom, Anambra, Enugu, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, and Ondo.

These include Nasarawa, Yobe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Anambra, Ebonyi, Niger, Bayelsa, Cross River, Rivers, Lagos, Osun and Ondo. Lagos State has the most ambitious Climate Action Plan ( 2020- 2025) to transform “the State into an emission- neutral city by 2050”. About 24 states have no evidence of a climate policy in the states, according to the desktop review of existing subnational climate policies in Nigeria.

The project was conceived as a first step to galvanise awareness for climate action at sub- national levels in Nigeria and ensure improved climate change action and resilience among the state actors.

While measuring the extent of climate change awareness and action in the 36 states of the federation including the FCT, aimed to map the impact of climate change in the 36 states; map the nature of climate policies and actions in place in the states; and gain a better understanding of the kind of support needed by the states to domesticate climate policies and attract climate finance and investments.

On awareness of climate issues, the research review shows that states with high online visibility, in terms of climate change awareness, functional websites and internet mentions of climate change activities include Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau and Taraba. The states with low visibility are Ekiti, Kogi, Benue, Abia, Bayelsa and Jigawa States, as well as Zamfara, Katsina, Imo, Rivers and Edo States.

With the recent gains from COP28, Nigeria now has an opportunity to incorporate subnational action plans and state policies on climate change. As the Federal Government progresses on their national commitments, there is a need to ensure their actions are mainstreamed into the state level and tracked consistently, such as through the enactment of climate policies and allocated budget and action plans on climate change programmes, projects and activities, including highlevel climate education and intentional capacity building.

A total of 1,306 participants responded to the survey across all states ( study area) and FCT; of which about 90 per cent of respondents agree that climate change is a big issue amongst the subnational; with 91 per cent of the survey participants concurring that their states are vulnerable to climate change induced environmental challenge and impacts. Respondents, who were mainly from the relevant state government civil service, were asked to rank their knowledge of climate change.

The climate knowledge rating of the 1,306 respondents shows that 61.3 per cent of the respondents claimed to have an average knowledge of climate change, while 33.1per cent claimed to have a high- level knowledge of climate change. Only 15.6 per cent said they have low knowledge of climate change.

Climate impacts vary across the states in Nigeria. States within the same or similar ecological zone share broadly the same climate impacts and vulnerabilities. In the North- central region, flooding, desert encroachment, farmers/ herders’ clashes, and drought are the dominant climate impacts in the north- central states of Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Plateau, FCT, and Niger.

These impacts, in addition to Heat extreme and loss of crop yield, are also attributable to the other 12 States of the North- west and Northeast regions. The main impacts of climate change in the South ( South- east, South- west, South- south) include gully erosion, loss of crop yield and arable land, farmer/ herders clash, flooding, coastal erosion, sea level rise, and heat waves.