r
IDAILY TRUST
ss I
Thu rsday, May 12,2011
environment@dailytrust.com HOTLINE: 08036417326
Environment
NOA to educate public on dangers of flooding, epidemics From Atune<! Mohammed, Baudli THE National Orientation Agency (NOA) has completed arrangements to educate the public on dangers of flooding and epidemic diseases in all the 20 local government areas of the state. The State Director of NOA,
Hajiya Jurnmai Liman Bello stated this in a statement Signed by Head of Information of the agency, DanMusa Mohammed She said, "the agency will liaise with relevant agencies in the state for a joint enlightenment campaign to sensitize the public on the dangers of floodingandotherepidemicdiseasei'
Hajiya Jurnmai also stated that the issue of weather forecast for sustainable early warning has received the attention of the Federal Government through its various agencies and appealed to people to co-operate with government at all levels in this direction. She also urged the people to start clearing their
surroundings of rubbish, in order to ensure a clean envirorunent She said the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. NIMET, has predicted that this year 2011 there will see more rainfulI than normaland stressed the need for all to have open and clean drainages in order to avoid floodingandoutbreakofwater-bome
epidemiC diseases. The direc.or stressed the importance of environmental sanitation to our health, socioeconomic and moral well being and called on the Bauchi State Government and the 20 local government council to support the agency.
'Climate migration will not wait for scientific certainty on global warming' RESEARCH says millions are displaced annually as a result of climate disasters. We must take the precautionary approach. Droughts and floodswon'twait for us to find absolute scientific proof-we must act on the evidence. Imagine if the world acted only when 100% scientific proof was in place. We would still be insulating buildings with cancer-causing asbestos and fuelling cars with lead additives, damaging babies' brains. Thecirculation in fridges would also be done by chemicals that, by thinning the EarthS protective owne layer, would probably have led to a.sharp increase in cases of skin cancer worldwide. But this is not happening. In those cases, governments assessed the emerging science, consulted on the risks and accepted that the evidence outweighed the uncertainties. Internationally, it is called the precautionary approach: you and I might call it acting responsibly, prudently or just being smart Climate change pemaps triggers some of the most polarised debate between precaution and those who say that without scientific perfection it is all just hot air. This has re-surfaced in recent weeks over the issue ofclimate change and migration. It has been sparked by a map, produced bya UNEP-collaborating cen·tre in Norway, overlapping vulnerable areas of the globe and forecasts of climate impacts. The map was linked to scientific projections, made in 2005, suggesting there might be 50 million "climate refugees" by 2010. Presenting complex data is a challenge for any public or private institution - in respect of migration, rising populations, unsustainable use of resources, poverty and civil war all contribute to vulnerability in the face of natural and weather-related~ ters. The science has moved on since 2005, as has the debate at about how best to classify people affected by natural hazards, either temporarily or permanently and within or across national borders. Looked al today, the map overSimplifies the message, which is why
A green environment is essential to fighting climate change we asked for it to be renioved. Yenhe question remains - are there people being displaced by rumate change, and what of the future? These are questions that are likely to behighon nations' minds when the UN Security Council debates climate change and security in July to review a growing body of informed opinion and evidence. 'In 200S, analysts for the Pentagon in the US concluded that extreme weather events linked With climate change could lead to mass migration in some parts of the world TIlis year the International Institute for Strategic Studies in the UK stated: "In areas with weak or brittle states, climate change will increase the risks of resource shortages, mass migrations and civil conflict:' Some attempts. such as the 2005 estimate, have also been trying to put
possible numbers on the likely numbers displaced. The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) looked at the data for 2008. The data suggests that at least 36 million people were displaced by"sudden-onset natural disasters': ofwhom more than 20 million were displaced owing to the sudden onsetofweatherrelated disasters, including about 65 million people because of floods in India. ''Researchfromothersourcessuggests that many millions ofpeople are also displaced annually as a result of ' slow-onset climate-related disasters such as drought;' it adds. Munich Re, there-insurance company, recently concluded that in 20 10, "the high number of weather-related
natural catastrophes and record temperatures, both globally and in different regions of the world, provide further indications ofadvandng climate
agement demands action. The role ofinstitutions such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is to continuously review emerging science, subject it to change~ The company mentions the careful peer review and ensure thal floods in Pakistan, where about a it is available to public policymakers and, indeed, the public. , million people were displaced. We could say with greater cerTo declare a phenomenon such tainty that many victims of rising as climate change non·existent until greenhouse gas emissions were we have unraveled all aspects of already with us, if only the existing atmospheric science and impacts on science was able to disentangle the the biosphere and on human beings climate signature from the 'other would be reckless and irresponsible. complexities and challenges many Although reviewing science is people across the world increasingly an integral part of knowledge generation, we should not allow the cri· face. The question we must continu- tique to paralyse emerging science oh ously ask ourselves in the fa"" of sci- climate change from reaching society entific complexity and uncertainty, - espeCially when the lives and livebut also growing evidence of climate lihoods of considerable numbers of change, is at what point precaution, people are at risk Culled from gllardiJln.co.uk commonsense or prudent risk man-
Bauchi govt to construct solar powered boreholes in schools From Atune<! Mohanvned, Baudli
GOVERNOR Jsa Yuguda ofBauchi State has reiterated hiscommitment to construct boreholes and provide electricity in Tsangaya schools in the state. Special Adviser to the governor on IsIarilic Education Sheikh Sidi Ali
Dahlr disclosed this while interacting with proprietors of'Thangaya schools in Bauchi North senatorial district He said "govenUnent intends to come in and assist the Tsangaya schools in order to give them the con-' ducive atmosphere for learning. Sidi Ali who visited all the seven
local government areas in the wne, said the governor intends to construct additional classroom blocks and hostel accommodation, sink solar bore holes and provide them with electricity and learning materials. He said the aim of the interaction is to know the basic problems of the
schools and their needs in order to advise government to enable it assist them in their effort· to eduGate the young ones. He therefore sought for their co-operation to enable the government contribute significantly to the development ofeducation. The proprietors of the schools
that spoke at the session expressed their gratitude to the government for coming to the aid ofTsangaya schools and thanked the governor for assisting them with food items, clothes and mats and pledged their co:operation towards the development of the schools.