Kaduna stakeholders seek unified climate action ahead of COP31
By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna
Stakeholders in Kaduna State have called for stronger coordination of climate interventions and financing as the state moves towards developing a unified position ahead of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP31.
The call was made on Wednesday, at the Kaduna State Climate Parley convened by the Kaduna State Climate Accountability Mechanism (KADCCAM) in collaboration with the Transparency and Accountability in Totality Initiative (FollowTaxes).
The one-day parley brought together civil society organisations, community-based groups, environmental activists, media practitioners and researchers to examine local climate realities, ongoing interventions and transparency in climate financing.
Speaking at the parley, Musa Suleiman, CS Co-Chair of the Climate Governance Technical Working Group, said the meeting was aimed at harmonising Kaduna’s climate voice and establishing a unified goal for climate implementation.
He said the stakeholders would develop a policy document to guide their communications, meetings and engagements leading to COP31, stressing that any Kaduna representative attending the global climate conference should be able to articulate the specific challenges confronting communities in the state.
“If we have representatives at COP31, it is essential that they speak directly to local realities and the specific climate challenges facing Kaduna,” Suleiman said.
He added that the meeting would help organisations implementing climate initiatives in the state understand one another’s work, identify areas of alignment and establish a united voice for climate advocacy.
Suleiman said the outcome of the engagement would feed into an official communiqué and strengthen advocacy on climate governance and financing in Kaduna.
The facilitator, Zinta Akpoko, said understanding the lived experiences of residents was critical to assessing the environmental and climate changes affecting communities.
Akpoko noted that residents who had lived in Kaduna for several decades had witnessed different environmental trends over the years, adding that such experiences could help provide a clearer picture of the state’s local climate realities.
He said some of the observed trends were negative and were already affecting communities, making it necessary to examine them alongside broader discussions on climate action and climate finance.
Akpoko also stressed the importance of understanding how climate and environmental changes affect different communities across Kaduna metropolis, noting that residents’ experiences vary according to their locations.
The organisers said the parley would seek to align climate initiatives in Kaduna, strengthen accountability around climate financing and produce a common grassroots position that could contribute to engagements ahead of COP31.
