The Nigerian Academy of Engineering has emphasised the need to deploy a multidisciplinary approach to mitigate the impact of climate change on the environment.
The NAEng also recommended reduction or removal of emissions, implementation of global climate change agreement and sensitisation of the public on the effects of climate change.
An energy consultant, Dr. Funmi Coker, led the call at a forum on “Climate Change, COP26 and the Nigerian engineer” at a webinar organised by the NAEng in Lagos.
He said engineers must identify how, where and when best to deploy available technological solutions, balancing technological, economic and social factors as well as developing and implementing engineering design standards and practices for changes in climate.
He stressed the need to also develop and implement low GreenHouseGas emission power supply, transportation systems and industrial facilities, low GHG agriculture, human and agriculture waste management and energy efficiency systems.
Coker said climate targets and the UN Sustainable Development Goals could not be achieved without engineers, urging multidisciplinary approaches to respond to climate crisis.
He recommended that policy makers, professionals and stakeholders come together to build on fundamental scientific evidence and rapidly implement solutions that were affordable, efficient, equitable, respectful and inclusive for all.
The Chairman, Engineering and Environment Management Services ltd, Prof. Samuel Adefila, explained that climate change challenges could only be managed through trans-disciplinary application of Political, Economic, Social Technological, Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) as a framework to ensure the sustainability of human civilisation on earth.
According to him, the climate crisis was a complex problem but engineering had the solutions, warning that a rise of temperature above 1.5 degree would have severe impact on humans.
The Chairman, Environment and Climate Change Committee of NAEng, Prof. Salihu Mustafa, said actions to address the root causes of climate included embarking on nature-based solution, reducing methane leakages from manufacturing industries, replacing GHG emitting fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas with renewable.
Others, according to him, were retrofitting old buildings and new structures to make them energy efficient, and using more electric and solar powered vehicles.
“Policy measures and documents were produced by the Federal Government to address impacts of climate change and these include: Climate Change Act 2021; National Climate Change Policy for Nigeria 2021-2030; Nationally Determined Contribution, and National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) Act of 2015, National Strategy for REDD+ and recent United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) meeting of COP15 in Cote d’Ivoire,” he said.
Source: Punch