Despite Nigeria's large delegation at COP 28, the country's indifference to climate change is evident in its absence from crucial international legal discussions. This apathy persists even as Nigeria grapples with severe local impacts like flooding and drought. To address these urgent challenges and advocate for equitable solutions, Nigeria must actively engage in global climate justice efforts.
People say that nothing in Nigeria comes as a surprise, yet to be a Nigerian is to be ready for a surprise. Nigeria’s showing at COP 28 by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the UAE was an 'unsurprising surprise’. Delegates from Nigeria summed up to 1,411 as confirmed by UNFCCC, making Nigeria the country with the highest overall delegates from Africa and tied for the third highest in the world.
Commentary around this in Nigeria tended towards lamentations, especially at a time when the government was constantly pleading with Nigerians to manage the harsh economy, liking it to the biblical period of ‘trial and waiting’ sure to yield a bounteous harvest. You can imagine the disappointment when the UNFCCC attendees list was discovered. The government, in a patchwork of explanations, confirmed the attendance of only 422 delegates on the budget of the government as if to appease already embittered Nigerians.
Concern moved from the shock of a long list of attendees in a national period of austerity to the identities of the delegates themselves. Sons, brothers and allies – many with portfolios not directly concerned with climate change were included. Moving beyond these valid concerns, an important question is the why. Why does Nigeria not seem to care about climate change or emergency? If we cared, we might have had a modest list of people whose role in government can implement the outcomes from the COP in Nigeria. Why is climate change seen as secondary to the myriad concerns we grapple with? Why has the Ministry of Environment been silent on Nigeria’s next steps since COP 28?
International Law and COP
Nigeria is a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. All parties to the Convention are bound to protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations by taking precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or minimise the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects. One of the essential commitments undertaken by State Parties to the UNFCCC is to “cooperate in preparing for adaptation to the impacts of climate change; develop and elaborate appropriate and integrated plans for coastal zone management, water resources and agriculture, and for the protection and rehabilitation of areas, particularly in Africa, affected by drought and desertification, as well as floods.”
In this respect, the UNFCCC embraces one of the underlying principles of environmental protection: the ‘duty to cooperate’ and recognises the transboundary impact of pollution. Hence, the Conference of the Parties (COP) is a forum for periodic examination of the constraints and progress of the climate agenda. This forum has been particularly instrumental to commitments from States and non-state groups as climate resilience and environmental protection stakeholders.
The ground-breaking Paris Agreement set goals for all stakeholders to achieve climate resilience at CoP 21 and until the latest CoP, States have iterated the goals to fit critical environmental challenges of the day, affirming the use of science and technology as a tool for measuring the impact of environmental damage and embracing adaptation measures, considering the impact of sea-level rise to small island states and embracing indigenous knowledge as a tool for the preservation of traditional climate resilience measures.
"Remember the 2022 floods that had devastating effects across about six States, displacing millions of people and destroying properties. A significant proportion of the floods affected agriculturally rich States and we are not a country known to recover as quickly as we fall."
Over the years, Nigeria has participated in these forums. Gains from the controversial CoP 28 have been highlighted in a previous article but the speech delivered by the immediate past president, Mohammadu Buhari at CoP 26 highlighted Nigeria’s most significant outing so far. While acknowledging the relationship between climate change and economic prosperity, the speech advocated for not only climate resilience but also climate justice which is hardly discussed across the board. In his words, ‘Africa and other developing countries produce only a small proportion of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to industrial economies.
Yet, we are the hardest hit by the consequences of climate change as we see in the sustained droughts in Somalia and floods of unprecedented severity in Pakistan’. The speech ended with an unequivocal call for equitable financing based on the context of all members of the international community. Not much has changed afterwards in terms of achieving equitable climate commitments but for the first time, the question of State obligations for climate change has come before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), hoping for an advisory opinion that would potentially unlock the door to binding international obligations for climate change.
Is Nigeria in denial of the climate problem?
Speaking of the advisory opinion on climate change, Nigeria’s absence is felt both at the ICJ and ITLOS. For the ICJ Advisory Opinion, the General Assembly Resolution bid led by Vanuatu was supported by 18 countries including African countries like Angola, Morocco, Sierra Leone and Uganda. For the ITLOS, the request was submitted by the Commission of Small Island States (COSIS). Both requests are for the court and tribunal to clarify the legal obligations of States concerning climate change.
Between these two advisory opinion requests, States, NGOs and regional organisations have put forward statements highlighting the nuances of their respective concerns, all in a bid to guide the court to a just opinion on the question. At the time of writing, 88 submissions have been made to the ICJ while 34 States have submitted their statements to the ITLOS. This may perhaps be the most engaged advisory request before the international forums, receiving overwhelming support across regions of the world.
Some African States have shown serious interest in their submissions. For example, Sierra Leone’s submission to the ITLOS reflects Buhari’s CoP 26 speech. It recalls the paradox of Africa’s low contribution to Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions and its high impact on the effects of climate change and calls for ‘an equitable way forward, firmly rooted in the Convention (UNCLOS) for sharing the burden among States’. A part of its submission explains West Africa’s dependence on agriculture and fishing and its complex geography which exposes it to erosion and drought. Djibouti’s submission highlights an international obligation for States to cooperate in achieving the ‘highest possible mitigation efforts’ for environmental harm and also presents its case as a least-developed country requiring even more deliberate collaborative efforts to meet its GHG reduction targets.
Curiously, Nigeria seems uninterested and not involved. Everyone on the street would ask if matters concerning the environment are worth our national investment. The immediate response is: why not? Like it or not, the impact of climate change is felt around us: coastal flooding in Nigeria has become a concerning mid-year routine problem in the last decade.
Remember the 2022 floods that had devastating effects across about six States, displacing millions of people and destroying properties. A significant proportion of the floods affected agriculturally rich States and we are not a country known to recover as quickly as we fall. The effect on the economy was enormous and we presently still suffer our losses from that situation. This flooding crisis continued in 2023 and is expected to continue until properly mitigated through the construction of drainages and other preventative measures.
On the other end of the spectrum, the incidence of drought is increasing in Nigeria. Declining rainfall in some parts of Northern Nigeria and dry belt areas accounts for an average loss of about 350,000 hectares of land annually according to the Federal Ministry of Environment. For context, this is about the size of Mauritius. This is not to be taken lightly. Much of Nigeria’s hope for agricultural productivity depends on the vast arable lands of the North, yet crop failure, migration of farmers and their livestock, biodiversity loss and other environmental effects slow down production and result in huge economic losses for the country.
The National Emergency and Management Agency (NEMA) provides relief materials to displaced people in times of severe environmental hardship, but we cannot out-relief the negative recurring effects of climate change. It was also in February 2024 that Nigerians experienced up to 40°C heatwave, the highest so far in some parts of West Africa.
Yet we are not alone: our North African counterpart, Tunisia has been grappling with years of severe drought leading to years of food shortages and economic stagnation. As a result, it declared a state of emergency on the use of water, which involved imposing water restrictions in farming and cleaning public areas.
In Southern Africa, Zambia has also recently lost an estimated one million hectares of planted crops due to drought which has been declared a national disaster. As both economies take the hit of this humanitarian disaster of severe magnitude, their governments now explore sustainable solutions to tackle this potentially recurring climate hazard. Some of these alternative options include desalination and purification of wastewater taking Spain’s example, to meet their hydration needs. Nigeria is advised to take its flooding and drought issue seriously, cooperate with neighbours of similar hardship and participate in the global movement for climate equity and justice.
Next steps
Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech at CoP 26 emphasising the minimal contribution of developing countries to GHG was applauded for addressing the elephant in the room. It was a call to action founded upon equity and environmental justice. Yet, it remains what it is – a call to action, a springboard. Now is the time for Nigeria, Africa and the developing world to robustly participate in the process that delivers environmental equity.
The key questions before the ICJ and the ITLOS focus on what State obligations are to ensure the protection of the climate system, to prevent, reduce and control pollution in relation to the deleterious effects that result or are likely to result from climate change and what the legal consequences should be for significant harm to the environment.
In all of this, Nigeria should not be missing. As a country that experiences the challenge of flooding and drought in agriculturally important regions, we have a case to submit and a perspective to share. A case that should compel the international community to choose equity in determining State obligations and more importantly, to ensure firm consequences for any breach resulting in a negative environmental impact on our lands.
Silence or indifference is not an option.
Author
Elizabeth Nwareuze | Sr Analyst, Foreign Policy | e.n@borg.re