HOMEF: Adopt Agroecology as a Solution to Climate Change

• Say’s COP27 not for Africans

Sunday Ehigiator

A Non-governmental organisation, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria and other African countries to adopt agroecology as a viable solution to climate change. It also said the forthcoming Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP27) scheduled to hold from November 6 to 28, 2022, in Egypt, is not inclusive of Africans as expected’

The group made this call recently during a media training organised in Ikeja, Lagos, aiming to educate journalists on the benefits of adopting agroecology in tackling climate change in the country, and COP27.

Speaking during the event, The Executive Director of HOMEF, Rev Nnimmo Bassey stated that to successfully address the challenge of climate change there is a need to change the way people relate to the ecosystem; the way natural resources are exploited and consumable food is produced.

He also stated that countries on the receiving end of climate change must carefully examine the narratives driving the conversations and negotiations at the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

According to him, “This is important because for years the debates have regressed from demanding real actions to defending lifestyles and dominant geopolitical power positions. Although the COP is presented as a democratic space it has always been clear that it is actually a space for imperial and indeed colonial domination.

“Calling COP27 that will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and an African COP is simply a tale that has a tail aimed at presenting the false notion that this is an opportunity to solve the ravages of climate change on the continent and other vulnerable nations and territories. That this will not be so should be clear.

“This will be the fifth COP to be held on the African continent — it has been held once in Kenya, twice in Morocco and once in South Africa. Indeed, around the time it was held in Durban, South Africa, storms battered the region leaving stark warnings and tales of woes. Since then cyclones on the South Eastern seaboard of the continent have inched up the latitudes and snuffed the lives out of thousands of Africans.

“Locust invasions of virtually biblical proportions have stripped dreams of robust harvests and left desolate, hungry populations in the east and horn of Africa.

“Yet, none of the COPs have shifted grounds to take real climate actions, especially recognizing the fact that the now chic notions of carbon capture or even carbon removal must be approached from the sensible understanding that continual extraction and burning of fossil fuels are counterproductive and injurious to the planet, the people and other beings.”

He said climate change increases the vulnerabilities and uncertainties of Nigerian farmers while agroecology reduces the environmental footprint of agriculture as opposed to fossil-fuels-driven industrial agriculture.

He urged, “We must desist form production measures which disrupt ecosystem balance and which pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.” He added.