By Angela Atabo
Connected Development (CODE), a civil society organisation, says there is need to sensitise people and build their capacity on climate change issues to mitigate its effects.
Msย Hyeladziraย James, Programme Manager, CODE, expressed this viewย at a documentary screening organised by the group on Friday in Abuja, to shed more light on the impacts of climate change in communities.
She spoke on the value of protecting the environment and urged Nigerians to always take actions to minimise carbon footprint and build a more sustainable future for both themselves and future generations.
According to James, climate change educationย helps people understand and address the impacts of the climate crisis, empowering them with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed to act as agents of change.
She said that Nigeria faced severe climate impacts, affecting lives, livelihoods, and the economy; hence CODE, alongside OXFAM, decided to work toย address it through the Community Media Collaboration for Climate Justice (CMC-CJ) Project.
โIn light of this, CODEย organised a documentary screening with stakeholders, shedding light on the livelihoods, challenges, and advancements within our frontline communities.
โThis documentary will illustrate the detrimental impacts of the climate crisis on frontline communities, as well as the progress made by CODE through the CMC-CJ project over a year.
โThe event also included a sustainable fashion runway, a green-themed photo booth, and a panel discussion.
โWe have to use fashion to tell the story because we do not want to make it boring; we want people to come and see that nothing is a waste.
โYou can turn anything into an up circle product, make sales out of it and in that way reduce your carbon footprint in the society.โโ
James said that CODEย and Oxfam had been implementing ย the CMC-CJ campaign in Rivers and Awkwa Ibom to improve public awareness and understanding of frontline solutions to climate change.
This, she said, was because of the adverse effects of climate change ย on humanity .
โLast year, Nigeria experienced one of the worst cases of flood where lives and properties were damaged; ย we went to the two states we are ย working onโ Rivers and Akwa Ibom to assess the impact of these floods.
โWe formed the CMC-CJ because we at CODE believe in sustainability; so, we are empowering them and building their capacity by teaching them how to track climate change budgets using our follow the money model to engage the government.
โThe call to action, especially now that COP28 is ongoing, is for people to ensure to do everything within their capacity ย to educate each other about climate change and global warming,โโ she said
Mrs Raya Schifferle, a Sustainability Advocate and Spouse of the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Switzerland, said climate change had become a very significant topic to pay attention to.
Shifferle said that climate change was a very importantย topic not only for the government but also for everyone as citizens of Nigeria and the world because it is affecting everybody.
โEvents like these are important especially as the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai is on-going where ย ย governments are discussing.
โIt is a big event bringing these issues of climate change to light so that everybody can have a think about how it is affecting ย people and what we can do to be more active ,โโ she said.
Shifferle said that the impacts of climate change were becoming more obvious not only to scientists but to everybody; adding that it was up to everyone to keep abreast with the knowledge and work to address it.(NAN)
Edited by Chijioke Okoronkwo