World Earth Day is observed on April 22 every year to raise awareness about the severe environmental problems we face. From the climate crisis to air pollution, oil spills, toxic waste disposal and deforestation.
According to national geographic, Earth Day honors the achievements of the environmental movement. It also raises awareness on the need to protect natural resources for future generations.
The theme for Earth Day 2021, “restore the earth”, reasserts the need to reduce the influence of destructive human actions on the earth as we recover from the effects of Covid-19.
Since Nigeria’s economy is dependent on climate-sensitive and climate-impactful industries such as agriculture, forestry and extraction, we have seen human-induced environmental degradation ranging from gas flaring, oil spillage, agriculture and deforestation. These activities have led to an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate change, and the destruction of the earth. A review of Nigeria’s greenhouse gas emission data published by Climate watch shows a steady increase in GHG emissions from 2009 to 2018.
Nigeria’s greenhouse gas emissions(Mt COe) from 2008 to 2018
The data shows the quantity of GHG emitted in 2018 to be 357.52 metric tonnes. This represents more than a 5 per cent increase over the 2017 figure. According to Bank of the West, one metric ton is equivalent to 1,000KG or 200 pieces of 50kg bag of rice. GHG emissions are responsible for global warming and subsequent climate variability such as floods, heatwaves, drought, which has increased across the world.
On 15 June 2017, Nigeria joined other countries worldwide in an agreement known as the “Paris Climate Change Agreement” to combat greenhouse gas emissions. The Agreement seeks to address the challenge of global climate change by keeping global temperature rises well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels this century and to follow measures to keep temperature rises even lower at 1.5 degrees Celsius. And as a signatory to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, Nigeria can contribute to restoring the earth by restoring its environment in the following ways;
Reduce the quantity of greenhouse gas emission from the energy sector
Nigeria’s GHG emission data reveals that the energy sector is the country’s largest source of GHG. GHGs are emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas for petroleum production and electricity generation in the energy sector.
Greenhouse gas emission (Mt COe) by sector in Nigeria (2008 to 2018)
The growth of Nigeria’s oil industry, combined with a population explosion and a lack of environmental regulation, has resulted in significant ecological damage in Nigeria, especially in the Niger-Delta region, the country’s oil-producing heartland.
For example, the widespread flaring of natural gas in the Niger Delta during oil extraction is the primary cause of carbon emissions in Nigeria. According to the data available on the Nigerian gas flare tracker, 106.7 million tonnes of CO was emitted into the atmosphere due to gas flaring at individual flaring sites between 2016 and 2020.
The quantity of CO emitted by gas flaring contributes significantly to the total greenhouse gas emission by Nigeria. Nigeria’s data on greenhouse gas emission shows that in 2018, 47.3 % of the GHG emissions in Nigeria came from CO.
Increased carbon emissions are also a product of natural gas burning for electricity production. And Nigeria pledged in its 2017 national climate plan to “work towards” building 13,000MW of solar power as one of the main steps required to reduce its carbon footprint. However, little progress has been made in the production of solar power or other renewable energy sources. Therefore, there is a need to rechannel subsidies and incentives from crude oil to renewable energy as a strategy to meet the solar power commitment of attaining 13,000MW solar power.
Ensure proper cleanups of oil spillage sites
Like gas flaring, oil spillage also causes many environmental degradations, especially in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. In the last five (5) years, there have been three thousand and thirty (3030) recorded cases of oil spillage, according to the oil spill monitor of NOSDRA. These documented cases have resulted in one hundred and sixty-four thousand seven hundred and three (164, 703) spilt barrels of oil, equivalent to eight hundred and twenty-four (824) trucks of fully loaded oil. Reports have shown that these spillages contaminate the air, land and water, giving rise to devastating effects on resident’s health and livelihood.
Oil spill record in Nigeria (2016-2020)
Kadafa Ayuba, in his article, “Environmental Impacts of Oil Exploration and Exploitation in the Niger Delta of Nigeria”, notes that vast areas of the Niger delta’s waterways and mangrove swamps which makes up one of the most diverse ecosystems in the region have been destroyed or put at risk by oil spillage. He further opines that farmlands have been cloaked in oil, contaminating crops and exposing people to high levels of heavy metals such as chromium, lead and mercury.
Godwin Ojo, an Environmental Rights Action campaigner with Friends of the Earth Nigeria said: “After nine years of promises without proper action and decades of pollution, the people of Ogoniland are not only sick of dirty drinking water, oil-contaminated fish and toxic fumes. They are sick of waiting for justice, they are dying by the day. The Nigerian government should acknowledge this project has been a failure and reinvigorate HYPREP (Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project) with technical skills and strategic thinking, fully involving the community.”
According to Colin Roche, climate justice and energy campaigner with Friends of the Earth Europe, “While oil companies like Shell spend millions greenwashing their image, tens of thousands of people (in Nigeria) continue to suffer from their pollution and negligence” Colin goes further to call on “European governments like the UK, the Netherlands, France and Italy must act to support a truly effective clean-up and ensure these companies are held accountable for the devastating pollution of the Niger Delta.”
Nigeria needs to reduce the quantity of greenhouse gas emission from the agriculture sector.
Further review of Nigeria’s GHG emission data shows that the agriculture sector is the second contributor to Nigeria’s GHG emissions in the past five years, after the energy sector.
However, in contrast to energy emissions, agriculture emissions come in methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), cattle belching (CH4) and the addition of natural or synthetic fertilisers and wastes to soils (N2O) represent the most significant sources, making up 65 percent of agricultural emissions globally. Smaller sources include manure management, rice cultivation, field burning of crop residues, and fuel use on farms. At the farm level, the relative size of different sources will vary widely depending on the type of products grown, farming practices employed, and natural factors such as weather, topography, and hydrology.
In their article, Robert Winterbottom and Chris Reij suggested that one of the ways to reduce GHG emission at no cost is to improve fertiliser management and conservation tillage. In one of their reports, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) proposes rotational grazing, altering forage composition and reduction in beef consumption as potential strategies for reducing GHG emissions from agriculture.
Preservation of Natural forest
Nigeria has a warm climate and a thick rainforest which is home to over 1,000 bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species. The Ibadan malimbe, Sclater’s monkey, and Niger Delta red colobus are all indigenous to Nigeria. However, much of Nigeria’s tropical forest has already been destroyed.
According to the Global Forest Watch, an online forest monitoring website, Nigeria had 10.9 million hectares of natural forest in 2010, covering over 12% of its land area. However, by 2020, it would have lost 97.8 thousand hectares of natural forest, equating to 22.3 metric tonnes of CO.
Forest Lost in Natural Forest in Nigeria (2001-2020)
The online forest monitoring platform further revealed that from 2001 to 2020, Nigeria lost 1.04 million hectares of tree cover, equivalent to a 10% decrease in tree cover since 2000 and 243 metric tonnes of CO₂ emissions.
And 15% of the tree cover loss occurred in areas where the dominant drivers of loss were wildfire, shifting agriculture, forestry, urbanisation and commodity-driven deforestation.
Although Nigeria has committed to restoring 4m hectares of forest under the Bonn Challenge, there is a need for more efforts to preserve Nigeria’s natural forest and reduce deforestation-related GHG emissions.
In the long run, climate change caused by human activities has the potential to trigger extreme weather events and limit economic growth in specific sectors. As such, Nigeria needs to concentrate on natural systems, new green technology, and creative thinking as a strategy to restore Nigeria and the world’s environment, as the theme of the 2021 Earth Day suggests.