Beyond the Kano Declaration

By Ismaila Umaru Lere

Seven northwestern states in Nigeria recently signed the Kano Declaration on Climate Change and Environment to address the climate crisis in the region.

The representatives of the states of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara made the commitment at the North-west Commissioners Summit on Climate Change hosted by the Kano State government.

Convened by Surge Africa, a non-profit organization, the summit was aimed at promoting dialogue, collaboration, and fostering inter-state strategies on climate change in the North-west region of Nigeria.

The Kano declaration underlined the states’ pledge to the conservation of biodiversity, rural integration, enhanced collaboration and partnerships, adaptation finance, sustainable development, and climate security among others in the region.

The summit had the state commissioners and other stakeholders from the seven states in Nigeria deliberate on vital issues that intersect climate change, sustainable development, and climate security, and also develop action plans and climate funds to drive the actualisation of the commitments.

During the summit, Nasreen Al-Amin, the founder of Surge Africa, harped on the need for the government and stakeholders to collaborate on climate change.

 She said governments at sub-national levels should collaborate with civil society organisations (CSOs) and development partners to advance state initiatives.

“Not only is the summit timely in terms of the critical issues that were discussed, it also presented a unique opportunity for CSOs to partner with state actors in scaling tangible climate solutions,” she added.

By bringing together key stakeholders to discuss strategic frameworks such as the State Climate Action Plan and Climate Fund that needs to be developed to integrate climate adaptation at the state level, the summit organizers have set the ball rolling on the court of the state governors.

With the escalating climate crisis in Nigeria and the passage of the Climate Change Bill into law, it is believed that state governments must urgently increase their ambitions around mitigating the social, economic and environmental crises exacerbated by climate change, especially in fragile ecosystems like Northern Nigeria.

By signing the Kano Declaration on Climate Change and Environment, the seven northwestern states have taken a significant step forward towards addressing the climate crisis in the region. The declaration reflects a shared commitment to combat climate change, protect the environment, and promote sustainable development in the region. It recognizes the urgent need for collective action and outlines key strategies to address the climate crisis.

Most significantly, the Kano Declaration recognizes the importance of forest conservation and reforestation efforts in combating climate change and preserving the region’s biodiversity. The northwestern states are now initiating projects to renew and protect existing forests, restore degraded areas, and promote sustainable forestry practices. These initiatives are aimed at reducing carbon emissions, enhancing ecosystem services, and preserving critical habitats for wildlife.

 Towards the successful implementation of the reforestation agenda in the climate change initiatives, the Kano State government last week unveiled a grand plan to plant 10 million trees in the state by 2027.

The first phase of the massive reforestation plan was flagged off with the planting of three million trees across the 44 Local Government Areas of Kano state.

This ambitious, landmark initiative is part of the move by the federal government to launch a national campaign for planting five billion trees in Nigeria by 2030.

The tree planting campaign embarked on by the Kano State Government is in collaboration with the Agro- Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL), a World Bank program in the country.

To flag off the four year project, Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, who planted a tree at the gate of Government House, said the essence of his action was to symbolically encourage residents to come out and participate in the tree planting exercise across the state.

His words: ‘’The exercise will be along the major roads across the metropolitan Local Government Areas of the state, to encourage the people to come out en-masse to start planting trees in their houses, on the roads as well as all the other places.’’

He added: “Most of the trees that are old in the state have been cut off by so many users, and to ensure that the older ones are replaced in conjunction with ACReSAL, a World Bank programme, we purchased many seedlings. “So far, we have chosen about three million seedlings that will be distributed across all the 44 Local Government Areas of the state, he said, adding that the largest share of about 1.2 million will be distributed across major streets in the metropolitan areas.’’

After Kano, Kaduna State is set to join in the tree planting spree with equally similar ambitious steps taken by its northwestern neighbour. In a conversation with this writer, the State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Hon.  Abubakar Buba, said Kaduna will launch its own version in June this year to coincide with the World Environment Day with a plan of planting 2.5 million trees annually till 2027.

“Kaduna will hold its tree planting launch in June this year to coincide with the World Environment Day which comes up on June 5. We are engaging all the 23 local government areas in the state in this project which will see the planting of 2.5 million annually for a period of four years, making it all-in-all a total of 10 million trees,” he said. Averagely, each local government will plant slightly over 100,000 trees yearly and efforts are already underway to sensitize the public and engage all stakeholders as well.

Hon. Buba also disclosed that arrangement has been concluded by the state government to unveil the Kaduna State Climate Action Policy, which will be the first in northern Nigeria.

“This underscores the commitment of Kaduna State government under the leadership of Governor Uba Sani to create institutional frameworks and policy to strengthen climate governance. In addition, we have established a climate change department in the Ministry and installed climate data collection and analysis equipment for weather monitoring,” he said.

Few months ago, the Kaduna State government installed in the premises of the Environment Ministry a weather station, with its meteorological networks and data collection systems to enhance understanding of local weather patterns and improve forecasting accuracy. Data on the weather and air quality are churned out at every hour daily. This information helps the authorities to anticipate and mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events, such as storms, heatwaves and droughts.

So far both Kaduna and Kano states have taken concrete steps to mitigate the impacts of climate change and protect their environment in line with the Kano Declaration on Climate Change and Environment. We hope to see more commitment by the other northwestern states towards quickly addressing their own climate challenges. Indeed, the efforts being undertaken by the pioneering states through enhanced climate resilience, forest conservation, strengthened climate governance and public awareness provide a strong foundation for a sustainable and climate-resilient future for the region. However, continued commitment, adequate resources, and effective implementation are crucial to ensuring the success of these initiatives and achieving long-term sustainability goals.