NEWS
Global Coalition on Climate Change FormedLagos, February 7,2007
This Day
A Nigeria based Non Governmental Organisation, Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA), and 25 other civil society from 23 countries, have formed a global coalition over the latest report from the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change.
The coalition was established in response to many biased and alarmist claims about human-induced climate change, which are used to justify calls for urgent action by governments.
A release signed by Director, IPPA, Thompson Ayodele, said "the primary objective of Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change is aimed at challenging the unjustified alarmism and promote rational debate".
It noted that "three decades ago, temperatures were so low some scientists told us we were all going to be chilled. At the dawn of 21st century, the same group of people still tell us our planet is on fire and very soon we are all going to be fried. True, global emissions of Co2 have risen in the last 130 years, but they do not exceed eight per cent of the overall Co2 emissions".
"This means 92 per cent of global Co2 emissions will remain unaffected by all interventionist projects be it Kyoto, the Stern Report or IPPC," he said.
Ayodele said, " Nigerians would not eat Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. Nigeria will be better off if she relied on her own initiatives to ensure resilience to climate change.
He said the coalition is seeking to offer a more rational and impartial approach to the issue, based on independent evaluations of the evidence and assessments of the policy options.
"As interest groups exaggerate the threat of climate change to support their call for urgent global and national regulation of carbon emissions, governments, intergovernmental bodies and even supposedly objective academies of science reinforce this by issuing alarmist reports - such as the UK Government's 'Stern Review' and the IPCC's much hyped Fourth Assessment Report.
"While many of the proposed policies over climates are likely to harm a society like Nigeria than the climate changes they are intended to control.There is a great need for more rational thinking on this issue - which is what the coalition intends to provide", he said.
The right atmosphere, not alarmism, is needed to encourage efforts at enhancing maximum resilience. What should be the primary concern of country like Nigeria and other African countries is to build market-friendly institutions. This has the twin benefit of creating prosperity and economic freedom and above all, enable citizens to enjoy wider civil and political liberties.
"Adopting these will promote investment, trade and wealth creation, which will in turn guarantee access to new and clean technologies to enable us adapt spontaneously, instead of creating fear in the minds of the people over outcome-oriented mechanisms," Ayodele said.
The coalition shares a commitment to improve public understanding about a range of public policy issues from environment to wealth creation.