Experts Commence Research to Tackle Climate Extremes
Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo
Climate experts drawn from the University of Lagos, Lead City University, Ibadan, and the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) are set to tackle climate extremes in the country.
The landmark collaborative research code-named ‘A Pan-African and Trans-disciplinary Lens on the Margins – Tackling the Risks of Extreme Events (PALM TREES)’, was jointly conducted by Research Teams in an efforts to beam searchlight at climate extremes.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting over the weekend, one of the researchers, Professor Mayowa Fasona of the University of Lagos, noted that such extremes include floods, droughts, heat waves and their impacts on the marginalised rural and urban populations.
The don stressed that PALM-TREEs research project is funded under the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) Programme of the UK International Development and Canadian International Development Research Center (IDRC).
According to him, “As part of the efforts of the Research Team to make the research participatory and inclusive with a view to co-designing and co-producing the study, the institutions involved organised an inception workshop/ stakeholders’ engagement comprising of representatives from rural communities, government MDAs, NGOs, Academia and the private sector in Ilorin on May 15, 2024.”
He said: “The research project, which is going on simultaneously in six African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, DRC Congo, Kenya and South Africa, brought together stakeholders with a view to informing them of the project and gathering their initial lived experiences.”
Professor Fasona, while presenting the essence of the project, highlighted that the project is focused on the live experiences with climate extreme events of those living on the margins, including women, people with disability, elderly and orphans.
The don emphasised that: “This will help to frame how they prepare, adjust, and cope and the impacts of climate extremes on their livelihoods and health with the view to designing and implementing transformational interventions to strengthen their resilience.”
In the same vein, Professor Andrew Onwuemele of NISER emphasised the need for adoption and uptake of the expected research outputs by all concerned as it is only through this that the research will aid sustainable development, particularly in the area of strengthening the adaptation and resilience of the marginalised people and communities to climate change.
Also, in her remarks at the event, Professor Grace Oloukoi of Lead City University, Ibadan, hinted that the first stakeholders’ workshop was held in Lagos, while the Ilorin event was to gather inputs from the relevant stakeholders in Kwara State to see how climate extremes have impacted their livelihoods so as to enrich the expected outputs of the research.
She made it cleared that “the expected outputs, according to the research team, include, among others “reduced barriers to sustainable knowledge networks, more equitable relationships between communities, practitioners, researchers and policymakers sustainable change and transferable methodology to understand and respond to multidimensional compound extremes.”
However, during the focused group discussion with the stakeholders, they unveiled a lot of the challenges they are facing with regards to certain extremes such as flooding and drought, especially as they affect their farming activities, health, lifestyles and existence.
The researchers then appreciated the stakeholders and sought for their cooperation as they move into the rural communities to further engage community members in order to make appropriate policy recommendations that will strengthen the adaptive capacity of the people.
