TheCable

Despite directly impacting our communities, health and livelihood, climate-related reports usually take a back seat to dominant news beats like politics and business. Climate Watch aims to ensure you never miss important stories on climate change and actions being taken towards limiting its impact.

Here is a round-up of last week’s climate stories:

• The Nigerian Meteorological Agency has warned of a possible rise in temperature in different parts of the country in January despite the harmattan being witnessed in Nigeria. In a weather advisory released by the central forecast office on January 5, the agency said certain states in the north and southern parts of the country will experience extreme heat. It therefore advised that to cope and stay safe in the extreme heat, Nigerians need to drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration and avoid leaving humans or animals in the car, especially young children. It also advised that it is best to stay in the shade such as trees if you have to wait outside and avoid wearing dark colours but light and bright clothing. 

• It is one thing to make climate information available, it is another thing to properly get the message across to people who need them. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) seems to be having some challenges with getting climate and weather information across to farmers who need them for cultivation. Mansur Matazu, director-general of NiMet, said traditional beliefs and language barrier are some of the challenges  hindering the delivery of weather information to farmers. He further identified technical scientific information and poor communication as other factors affecting the delivery of agro-meteorological information to farmers. Read more here. 

• In a bid to preserve Nigeria’s biodiversity, WildAid, a non-profit wildlife conservation organisation, launched a wildlife conservation campaign in Nigeria last week. Sharon Ikeazor, minister of state for environment, who was in attendance said the campaign is a welcome development because the rate of poaching and trading of wildlife in Nigeria has put the country on the spotlight of wildlife crime. She said bush-meat consumption in Nigeria poses environmental risks and is a threat to public health. Read more here. 

• To improve the climatic forecast in the country, Mansur Matazu, director-general of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), said the agency will deploy additional 30 automatic weather observing stations. According to him, it became necessary to help advance current and accurate weather forecasts across the country because changes in the nation’s climate have become more obvious in recent times. This is as a result of observed anomalies in the occurrence of extreme weather and climate events. Find out more here.