http://allafrica.com/stories/201205310870.html

 

The Executive Director, Women Environment Programme Mrs Priscilla Achakpa has said that Nigerian women and children were the most vulnerable to the threat of climate change.

 

Achakpa made the observation at the opening of a two-day workshop on gender sensitive leadership and training on climate change adaptation.

She said that the response to climate change impact would only be effective if linked with broader array of governance, policies and development. "Any initiative to limit greenhouse gas emission would necessarily require the political will of the government, planning and corresponding measures in the areas of articulating policies that would address these issues," she said.

The D-G noted that adaptation to the adverse impact of climate change has assumed a prominent place on the climate agenda of many countries as failure to address it would undo or reverse social and economic gains.

She said that Nigerians were already feeling the impact of climate change,as the nation's forest coverage area has reduced drastically in the last decade.

"In Nigeria there is also the challenge of lack of information for planning on issues of climate change," she added.

In an address at the workshop, Dr Samuel Adejouwon, Head of Climate Change Department at the Federal Ministry of Environment said that human induced climate change had become more evident in the last few years.

Adejouwon said that gender was a cross-cutting issue hence the need to bring about understanding on the various strategies on how to cope with the vulnerability of climate change.