YOUNG people in Nigeria have been encouraged to get as much information as possible about global warming and its consequences.
They should also be aware of and avoid those tendencies that aggravate the problem while promoting activities and lifestyles that would limit the causes and effects of global warming.
Speaking at a symposium organized by the Ansar-Ud-Deen Youth Association of Nigeria tagged: " Man versus Earth: Effects of climate change on our environment," at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, recently,
Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Muiz Banire noted that climate change reflects abnormal variations to the expected climate within the earth’s atmosphere.
According to him, the intergovernmental panel on climate change states that man has played a major role in climate change by overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
He affirmed that a sure step towards reversing the trend would be by raising young people who would grow into adults, fully aware of the things that cause the phenomenon and who would take conscious, informed actions to reduce and halt global warming.
He told them the effects of climate change on the environment and consequently, man are numerous and vary in degree, depending on the region of the world.
He added that the gases also cause increase in temperature, which scientists worldwide have now agreed may be attributed to increases in concentration and variety of the green-house gases penetrating the atmosphere as a result of varied human activities.
" For instance, climate change threatens the basic elements of life for people around the world, especially Africans. It threatens access to water, food, health, the ecology, land use and even the environment."
To check the effects of climate change, Lagos State government through the Ministry of Environment, Banire said, has embarked on massive campaign tagged " Our Environment, Our Pride," which is centred on " how to and how not to treat the environment, together with school advocacy through the re -launch of Climate Change Clubs in public schools with the aim of catching the students young and inculcating in them the right attitude towards the environment.
"Also, the Lagos State government has taken the lead in using power-saving energy sources and the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) aimed at reducing carbon footprint among other advantages," he said.
According to the organizers, the topic was chosen because climate change and global warming are global issues, which require urgent attention.
They called for controlled human activities on the environment as several current trends have clearly demonstrated that global warming is having direct impact on rising sea level, the melting of ice caps and significant world wide climatic changes.
The symposium, which was declared open by the chairman, Mr. Kayode Sofola, who was represented by Mr. Afolabi Babatunde Sofola, also featured speakers including Mr. Leslie Adogame of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Lagos, Alhaji Hassan Sanusi, General Manager Lagos State Environment Protection Agency (LASEPA) and many others.