SOStainabilityWeekly
By Oke Epia, E-mail: sostainability01@gmail.com | WhatsApp: +234 8034000706
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SOStainability has secured help from the College of Staffordshire, United Kingdom, to develop a complete digital dashboard for renewable vitality adoption and net-zero development for companies, charities, and public entities.
The help is a part of the Superior and Digital Applied sciences Innovation Accelerator (ADTIA) programme on the college, which is funded by the Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council by means of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
The dashboard is being developedas a complete, multi-purpose platform targeted on renewable vitality alternatives and net-zero pathways. It is going to showcase a various vary of options on provide, together with air flow, lighting, heating, refrigeration, compression, and renewable vitality expertise similar to photo voltaic, wind, battery storage, and electrical car (EV) chargers, amongst others.
The main target of the expertise is to assist companies, households, and different entities simply make the most of listed alternatives, which vary from public sector grants, delicate loans, trade facilitations, and personal sector-driven incentives,together with reductions, energy buy agreements, and different help programs that result in the adoption of renewable energypractices.
Past the affords, the appliance will primarily facilitate and maintain connections between service suppliers and renewable vitality customers, supporting beneficiaries in figuring out, measuring, recording progress, and attaining their net-zero targets.
Talking on the initiative, Oke Epia, Chief Government of SOStainability, mentioned the dashboard is a vital software to assist companies, charities, communities, and even households plan and implement their decarbonisation and energy-efficiency objectives in a structured, standardized, and sustained method by means of using expertise.
He mentioned: “The event of this utility is a really important step for us. As we make progress within the growth of this progressive expertise, we look ahead to the immense potentialities this utility brings, significantly for enhancing vitality effectivity and lowering prices in houses and companies.
Traits and Threads
Forestland: Why Nigeria’s timber are extra than simply inexperienced backdrops
For a lot of Nigerians, the phrase “forest” would possibly call to mind obscure photographs of shaded woodlands removed from metropolis life—locations that appear distant from the each day issues of households, markets, school rooms, and cities. Some consider forests merely as sources of wooden for constructing or gas. However this restricted view misses a deeper fact: forests live, dynamic programs that intersect with each a part of life in Nigeria; folks, local weather, economic system, tradition, and future alternative.
Forests are nature’s long-term funding in our local weather stability. They soak up carbon launched by vehicles, factories, and farms and retailer it in wooden, leaves, and soil. This invisible work quietly cools the Earth and slows the tempo of local weather change. Forests additionally maintain water of their roots, stabilize soils, nurture biodiversity, and supply meals, medication, and supplies that tens of millions of Nigerians rely on each day. When forests shrink, the implications ripple out: rainfall patterns shift, droughts and floods intensify, rural incomes undergo, and the nation’s means to satisfy its local weather objectives weakens.But regardless of these important roles, Nigeria’s forests are beneath extreme pressure,and that ought to matter not simply to environmentalists however to each citizen who cares about meals safety, jobs, well being, and the way forward for the nation.
A disaster hidden in plain sight: The fast lack of forests
Nigeria’s forests have been diminishing at a tempo that may be alarming in any context. Official statements and environmental assessments present that greater than 90 percentof the nation’s unique forest cowl has been depleted, with over 400,000 hectares misplaced yearly to logging, agricultural enlargement, fuelwood dependence,mining,and fast city development. Vice President KashimShettimarecently described this not solely as an environmental disaster however as an “financial emergency.”
In keeping with the Meals and Agriculture Group (FAO), Nigeria’s forest space has fallen drastically over the previous many years, now standing at lower than 10 million hectares, a fraction of what as soon as existed. This decline is not only about timber;it represents a large launch of saved carbon into the ambiance, worsening local weather change.Each hectare of forest cleared releases carbon that has been saved for many years. As soon as gone, it takes generations to rebuild that storage capability.
What drives this loss? In rural and peri-urban communities, wooden continues to be the first supply of cooking gas for a lot of households. Small-scale clearing for farms, mixed with authorized and unlawful logging, mining, and sprawl from increasing cities, steadily chips away at remaining forests. Weak monitoring, restricted enforcement of forestry legal guidelines, and competing land-use pressures solely speed up these traits. This fast disappearance has actual prices. Past dropping timber, Nigeria loses the local weather advantages they supply, the habitats of numerous plant and animal species, and the livelihoods tied to wholesome forests.
Forests as carbon sinks: Nature-based local weather options in our palms
When a tree grows, it pulls carbon dioxide (a greenhouse fuel)from the ambiance and shops it in its wooden and roots. This “carbon sink” function is among the strongest pure mechanisms for slowing local weather change, which means itreduces the quantity of heat-trapping gases within the ambiance. Nigeria’s forests collectively maintain over half a billion metric tons of irrecoverable carbon, particularly in wealthy ecosystems just like the mangroves of the Niger Delta. These coastal forests rank among the many most important carbon reservoirs in Africa. Defending forests retains this carbon locked away somewhat than releasing it again into the ambiance, the place it might speed up warming. In financial phrases, that is an invisible service with immense worth, one which the rising carbon market framework in Nigeria goals to acknowledge and reward.
Research present that Nigeria holds tons of of tens of millions of tonnes of irrecoverable carbon, carbon that can not be changed inside our lifetime if forests are destroyed.Defending forests is due to this fact one of many quickest and most cost-effective methods Nigeria can cut back emissions whereas adapting to local weather change.
Carbon markets: Anew lens on forest safety
In response to this disaster, Nigeria has begun to shift its method, seeing forests as belongings value defending, not wastes to clear for short-term achieve. One of the crucial necessary developments on this shift is the nation’s work on a carbon market framework, which connects forest safety with local weather finance.A carbon market works like this: actions that forestall emissions or take away carbon from the ambiance,similar to defending present forests or restoring degraded ones,could be measured and licensed. Every measured quantity of carbon discount turns into a tradable carbon credit score. Governments, corporations, and buyers should buy these credit to satisfy local weather objectives or help environmental tasks, making a monetary reward for holding forests standing.
The Nationwide Council on Local weather Change Secretariat has launched the draft Nigeria Carbon Market Activation Coverage, marking the federal government’s effort to determine a home carbon market aligned with local weather objectives. This framework contains forestry and land use as precedence sectors the place carbon credit could be generated, encouraging reforestation, improved forest administration, and conservation.The coverage outlines measures for forest restoration, improved forest administration, elevated safety, and diminished fuelwood harvesting, recognizing that forests may help the nation meet its local weather commitments whereas creating financial worth. This framework is necessary as a result of it treats forests not solely as environmental buffers but additionally as sources of climate-linked revenue. When timber are preserved as a substitute of cleared, the carbon they proceed to retailer turns into a measurable good that may be offered to fund growth, present jobs, and help native companies.
The coverage dovetails with Nigeria’s local weather commitments beneath the Paris Settlement, significantly in its most up-to-date Nationally Decided Contribution (NDC 3.0). In that up to date plan, Nigeria explicitly targets a discount in deforestation fee by 60 p.c and goals to extend forest space by means of afforestation and reforestation at a fee of 250,000 hectares per 12 months, with particular actions to guard and restore degraded forests, mangroves, and group forest areas.
An instance of this new course is the primary large-scale voluntary forest carbon credit score challenge launched in Nigeria by Co2carboncredit Know-how in partnership with the Federal College of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB). This initiative is verifying tens of millions of indigenous timber and producing tradable forest carbon credit,turning forest safety into monetary worth.
Who holdsresponsibility for the forests?
Forest safety in Nigeria entails a series of actors, every with distinct roles. On the federal degree, the Federal Ministry of Setting and its Division of Forestry are central to coverage, regulation, and worldwide local weather reporting. The Nationwide Council on Local weather Change (NCCC)coordinates local weather planning, together with carbon markets, and works carefully with the federal forestry equipment. Collaboration with worldwide establishments, such because the Meals and Agriculture Group, beneath initiatives like AIM4Forests, is strengthening Nigeria’s capability to observe forests and put together them for carbon finance participation.
State forestry companies and native governments are equally important, as a result of a lot land administration and enforcement occur on the sub-national degree. Conventional authorities and rural communities who stay alongside forests and rely on them for each day sources are important stewards, providing generational information about land care and sustainable use.
Civil society organizations, educational establishments, and group teams act as watchdogs and companions, serving to make sure that forest monitoring is correct, native voices are heard, and advantages attain those that want them most.
Who Advantages and How?
If carbon markets are to work for Nigeria, they need to transcend producing tradable credit. They need to handle deep questions on accountability, group advantages, and transparency.
Who owns the carbon saved in forests? When carbon credit are offered, how are the revenues shared,particularly with rural communities that shield and nurture these forests? How clear are the measurement and verification programs that affirm carbon financial savings are actual and lasting?
Throughout Africa and globally, poorly designed carbon market tasks have generally generated credit whereas bypassing native wants, or counting carbon financial savings that have been by no means independently verified. Nigeria has the chance to keep away from these pitfalls by constructing robust Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) programs and clear benefit-sharing guidelines, guaranteeing that communities should not merely passive bystanders however energetic companions in local weather options.
Why this issues now
The urgency round forest safety in Nigeria can’t be overstated. Shedding forests means dropping local weather resilience, financial alternative, biodiversity, and cultural heritage. However seeing forests as local weather allies, residing carbon sinks whose safety could be rewarded,opens a brand new chapter the place environmental stewardship and financial curiosity align.
Nigeria is at a crossroads. By defending forests and integrating them into carbon market schemes backed by robust insurance policies and equitable governance, the nation can faucet into billions in local weather finance, create jobs, and strengthen rural economies. However this future is determined by considerate implementation: guaranteeing transparency, upholding group rights, and constructing programs that reward those that preserve somewhat than those that exploit.
Washing and hushing
Nigeria’s agrochemical sector is lagging in sustainability
Nigeria’s agrochemical sector performs a pivotal function within the nation’s agricultural transformation, immediately impacting meals safety, rural livelihoods, and financial development. But, regardless of its centrality to the nation’s agricultural growth agenda, the sector stays largely invisible within the dialog on sustainability. Whereas the worldwide agrochemical market is beneath growing scrutiny on account of its environmental and social footprint, Nigeria’s agrochemical corporations proceed to function with minimal transparency relating to their sustainability efforts.
The nation’s Nationally Decided Contributions (NDCs) spotlight the significance of agricultural sustainability in addressing local weather change; but the sector’s response to those objectives stays unclear. Because the agrochemical trade expands in keeping with rising agricultural calls for, it’s important that these corporations start to align with evolving world requirements for environmental stewardship. However a take a look at the net presence of those companiesshows abaffling silence. There aren’t any clear sustainability insurance policies, no complete reporting, and no measurable targets.
On this version of SOStainability Weekly, we flip our focus to the agrochemical corporations working in Nigeria. We aren’t inspecting the broader agricultural panorama or the regulatory frameworks; the query is extra pointed: With growing world and native strain for sustainability, why are Nigerian agrochemical corporations nonetheless largely absent from the dialog on environmental accountability?
The visibility hole: Why it issues
We utilized the Sustainability Visibility Scan (SVS) framework to judge company transparency primarily based on sustainability insurance policies, reporting, targets, and governance, offering a strong lens for understanding the present state of the agrochemical trade in Nigeria. What is straight away obvious from the findings is a disturbing lack of transparency in key corporations throughout the sector. This absence of seen sustainability initiatives not solely hinders accountability but additionally damages the sector’s popularity as stakeholders turn into more and more involved about environmental and social governance.
Globally, industries are being held to increased requirements of transparency and accountability, as evidenced by the rising demand for sustainability reporting throughout sectors. Within the context of agrochemicals, a sector carefully linked to environmental impacts like soil well being, water contamination, and biodiversity loss, the absence of clear commitments and visual efforts is a strategic blind spot. Corporations in Nigeria’s agrochemical sector, nevertheless, stay largely silent on their sustainability journey, regardless of the present pattern in world requirements and the regulatory setting.
Key findings of the sustainability scan
Our evaluation, primarily based on the Sustainability Visibility Scan (SVS), targeted on a number of main Nigerian agrochemical corporations, together with Dangote Fertilizers, Golden Agri Inputs, and Notore Chemical Industries. The outcomes revealed a gaping lack of visibility in sustainability efforts throughout the board.
Take, for instance, Dangote Fertilizers, which scored 3 out of 12 on the SVS. Whereas the corporate gives broad statements on its dedication to social accountability and enhancing agricultural productiveness, it lacks a devoted sustainability coverage. The sustainability content material on their web site is obscure, missing in measurable targets or detailed reporting. This absence of clear, actionable insurance policies signifies that regardless of Dangote’s important presence in Nigeria’s fertilizer market, it stays largely unaccountable when it comes to sustainability affect.
Golden Agri Inputs Restricted (GAIL) scored 0/12, as they haven’t any seen sustainability insurance policies, stories, or measurable targets. Equally, OCP Africa Nigeria and Hamdala Fertilizer additionally obtained 0/12 scores, underlining the sector-wide problem of transparency in sustainability practices. These corporations don’t current any governance buildings associated to sustainability, nor do they disclose any particular local weather objectives or environmental impacts on their web sites.
Notably, Notore Chemical Industries carried out barely higher, with a rating of 5/12, due to its Environmental Coverage. Nonetheless, this coverage, which was found by means of a Google search somewhat than being clearly accessible on their web site, nonetheless falls brief in offering measurable targets or detailed governance buildings, highlighting a structural subject in visibility and public engagement on sustainability.
The enterprise case for sustainability visibility
The findings underscore a essential subject: the shortage of sustainability visibility inside Nigeria’s agrochemical sector just isn’t merely a regulatory concern; it’s a strategic danger. Because the world pivots towards sustainability, corporations that fail to make their commitments seen danger being left behind, each when it comes to competitiveness and reputational standing.
Sustainability visibility affords tangible strategic benefits for corporations. First, it helps construct belief with stakeholders, from buyers to regulators. Transparency in sustainability insurance policies and reporting alerts that an organization just isn’t solely compliant with native rules but additionally aligned with world requirements. That is more and more necessary as buyers, significantly these targeted on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, are paying extra consideration to sustainability efforts when making funding selections.
Moreover, monetary establishments and insurance coverage corporations are more and more linking sustainability reporting to danger evaluation. Corporations that lack seen sustainability practices could discover themselves at a drawback when looking for financing or negotiating long-term contracts. Then again, those who proactively exhibit their dedication to sustainable practices place themselves as leaders within the trade, getting access to higher funding phrases and strategic partnerships.
Lastly, in a world the place shopper preferences are shifting towards sustainable merchandise, corporations with seen sustainability insurance policies have a transparent market benefit. The general public is turning into extra discerning, selecting manufacturers that align with their values. Agrochemical corporations that fail to reveal their environmental impacts or decide to sustainability danger dropping out on market share.
A name for motion
The Sustainability Visibility Scan (SVS) reveals a sector in determined want of transformation. For Nigeria’s agrochemical corporations to thrive in a world that more and more values transparency, sustainability visibility should be a prime precedence. These corporations should take step one by publishing clear sustainability insurance policies, setting measurable targets, and establishing governance buildings devoted to sustainability.
By doing so, they not solely align with the regulatory panorama, which is evolving quickly in keeping with world sustainability objectives, however in addition they place themselves as leaders within the trade. The shift from being silent members to energetic leaders in sustainability won’t solely enhance their competitiveness but additionally guarantee they’re a part of the answer to the urgent environmental challenges of at this time.
Because the Nigerian agrochemical sector continues to increase, embracing sustainability visibility is not only a strategic selection; it’s an crucial. It’s time for these corporations to take possession of their function within the sustainability dialog and to exhibit their dedication by means of actionable insurance policies, clear reporting, and measurable targets.
The highway to sustainability just isn’t a straightforward one, however it’s a crucial one. Agrochemical corporations in Nigeria that prepared the ground in transparency would be the ones that reap the rewards when it comes to funding, regulatory compliance, and popularity, and form the way forward for sustainable agriculture for the nation.
