REPORT OF THE NIGERIA YOUTH POST COP 26 CONFERENCE

HELD ON THE 22^ND OF JANUARY, 2022 AT THE SAAT CONFERENCE ROOM, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AKURE, ONDO STATE, NIGERIA.

THEME: The outcome of COP 26 and where do we go from here?

DURATION: 9:30am – 1:00pm

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Prof. Ahmed Balogun – Department of metrology and climate science FUTA; Topic: Unleashing youth energy and creativity to combat climate change

PANELISTS SESSION A:

1. Dr. Akinbobola A – H.O.D Department of Metrology and climate science FUTA
2. Dr. (Mrs) Arifalo S.F – Natural resources Economist, department of Agricultural resource and economic
3. Dr. Awolala David – Climate chnge Economist Research fellow, DAAD ClimapAfricaa and Dept of Agricultural & Resource Economics, FUTA.

PANELISTS SESSION B:

1. DR. Oladeji S.O – Department of Ecotourism and Wildlife management FUTA, President (NECOR)
2. Mr. Gboyega Olorunfemi – senior pproject officer, Green and Resilient post- Covid-19 Recovery, West Africa. Society for planet and prosperity
3. Dr. Muyiwa Adegun – Department of Architecture, federal university of Technology, Akure.

• COP26 (conference of parties) is a united nation climate change conference held every year to discuss how to tackle climate change and greenhouse gases.
• It was held in Glasgow on the 1^st to 12^th of Nov, 2021
• Climate change is caused by natural and man-made factors (anthropogenic)
• Modern climate change is caused by humans, in form of greenhouse gases which are emitted through the burning of fossil fuels
• The bottom line of COP 26 is the planting of trees especially economic trees
• Nigeria now has a bill on climate change which is a sign that Nigeria is serious about reducing carbon footprints in the country.
• Emissions emerge from carbondioxide, chloroflorocarbons (CFCs), buildings, electricity, agriculture, industries, transports, waste.
• The role of youths in combating climate change is taking action plans
• Youth can even harness this opportunity to create job opportunities for themselves.
• There is need to reduce our carbon footprints to contribute to the solution to climate change.
• Plant economic trees like cash crops, fruit crops
• Be climatesmart by utilizing water efficiently, utilize energy efficiently, utilize natural resources efficiently, waste less, turn waste to wealth and embrace climatesmart agricultural practices
• Carbon credit, emission credit is the amount of carbon permitted to be emitted per year
• Carbon tax is the tax paid on the carbon emitted into the atmosphere.
• The economics of waste is the turning of waste to wealth to reduce the cost of waste
• Management of natural resources includes recycling, reusing, planting of trees and reducing food wastage.
• Emission calculator can be used at home to calculate the amount of carbon emitted per day.
• Reduce the use of single-use plastics
• Stop the consumption of endangered and threatened species of animals as bush meat
• Always go to the market with your shopping bag to reduce the use of plastics especially the single-use plastics.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

• Professor Ahmed Balogun: He gave the presentation on what climate change is, the causes, how climate change is affecting us and how we can take action. In his presentation, he made mention of some other aspects like:
• The global temperature has rised to 1°C since 1900.
• One of the solutions to climate change is what our clubs (ECC) and Elomgrenie are doing (which include planting of trees, etc.)

SESSION A PANEL

Dr. Akinbobola, Dr. (Mrs) Arifalo, Dr. Awolala

• The major causes of climate is as a result of the increase in green house gases. Although, without them, we cannot live on earth.

HOW TO TAKE ACTION

• Creation of more meteorological station for more accurate data.
• We should look out for funds for adaptation and mitigation action.
• Recycling of wast and converting them to other useful materials such as Christmas trees, building materials, etc.
• Reducing our carbon footprint

Funds can be gotten through:

• Green finance
• GEF e.t.c.

SESSION B PANEL

Dr. S.O Oladeji, Mr. Gboyega Olorunfemi, Dr. Muyiwa Adegun

• Dr. Oladeji explained the origin of the NECOR and ECC club, his achievements so far and the current role of hosting world environmental conference. He also spoke on biodiversity management and the need to preserve biodiversity.
• Mr Olorunfemi Gboyega explained how young people should take action. In his speech, he said “we need to dive into assessment of what we promised”. By assessment, it means we must be able to measure the level of our action for instance if we have a goal of 1million trees at the end of 2022, we must divide it into months and see if it is achievable. He also said we need to get the local government involved. He also said that there are adaptation and mitigation project ready to be funded.
• Dr. Muyiwa Adegun spoke about the innovative aspect of it. He explained this in one of the examples he gave that Cement and steel are very important in building and that how do we find alternative to this.