National Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility Programme, Mrs Ibironke Olubamise, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), stated in Abuja yesterday that climate change is a major threat to agricultural development.
Olubamise further stated that there is a need for a concerted effort by global players to curb the effect of climate change, which becomes an emergency, particularly with regards to food security.
National Coordinator said the decreased yield suffered by farmers was due to largely increased of temperature and erratic rainfalls, which lead to flooding, drought, crop loss and erosion.
Olubamise added that if the agricultural practice is affected, then food is affected, adding that the ecosystem which has being distorted due to man’s activities was affecting agricultural sub-sectors like fisheries.
National Coordinator further stated that the disruption of the ecosystem has led to a warmer waters, making them uninhabitable for sea life, including fish, a major source of protein for man, stressed that in spite of increasing demand for fish due to its health benefits, which held less oxygen required by fish to survive.
Olubamise added that some of the natural disasters that claimed several lives and made some people homeless are not natural disasters, but the negative effects of man’s activities over time.
National Coordinator blamed nonchalant attitude of people toward natural resources, ignorance, and poverty as well as greed; for climate crisis in Nigeria and the whole world.
Olubamise says that in as much as we can use technology to predict weather patterns and all that, it does not mean we should continue to destroy the environment.
Join our twitter community :