By Kingsley Adegboye

Participants at the just concluded 7th Lagos State Summit on Climate Change have advised the state government to continue to invest in climate change in order to promote environmental sustainability and assured future for human existence in Lagos.

The three-day annual forum which had in attendance over 700 stakeholders, maintained that Lagos as mega city, must commit to addressing greenhouse gas emissions reduction; including introducing controlled parking zones to deter the use of private vehicles and establishment of carbon registry to monitor GHG emission levels.

These recommendations were in a 24-point communique issued at the end of the summit.

Mass transit programme

The stakeholders further advised the state to enlarge its mass transit programme to an integrated, coordinated and functional public mass transport system which will have complimentary road furniture and a comprehensive urban transport policy driven by empirical research.

They noted that urban development should be controlled through appropriate measures that will reduce dependency on motorised vehicles and reduce the increasing need for urban infrastructure.

While calling on the state government to continue to showcase the benefits of its tree planting initiative, as a climate change mitigation and adaptation measures to other parts of the country, the summit enjoined the state to look into the feasibility of enriching its remaining forest areas in the context of REED+ to create financial value for carbon stored in forest. This measure, the stakeholders said, would address the drivers of deforestation, enhance its carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation and even provide additional means of livelihoods for the concerned communities.

The participants equally called on the state to develop a climate change information management system in which all research outputs are catalogued and widely disseminated on a regular basis. In the same vein, technology should be put in place to reduce GHG emissions from waste and youths should be encouraged and involved in the development of climate change mitigation technology.

They also called on the state to pursue a strategic alignment with the private corporate organisations in its fight against climate change and promote research, development.

Calling for the creation of Lagos State Green Fund (inspired by the Lekki Free Trade Zone) to leverage funding from state, federal, bilateral and multilateral financial institutions to promote green employment generation, investment and innovation, the summit said the state should establish a Lagos Green Eco-Innovation Forum that will be mandated to spearhead efforts to promote and intensify Nigeria’s efforts to meet climate change targets and goals through entrepreneurship and philanthropy.