The presentation of the team that represented Kaduna State at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, was applauded and contributed a lot to the success of the conference.
Chairman of Lere Local Government Council, Honourable Abubakar Buba expressed this when fielding questions from newsmen on Tuesday night in Kaduna.
He said that Kaduna’s well received presentation bordered on afforestation and livestock farming.
“It was a successful outing. We got lots of partners there in Madrid, after our presentation, questions were asked and we met other bodies that are related to climate change globally.
“We picked issue of livestock and afforestation because afforestation brings in more plants and trees, it helps with challenges of carbon emission we are facing and livestock farming, besides eliminating crisis between farmers and herders, also has potentials of hosting the state’s economy through jobs creation, wealth creation and taking advantage of value chain,” he said.
“As a sub national we made presentations bordering on afforestation and livestock farming. The conference also known as COP 25 was held in Madrid Spain, from December 2 to 13, 2019,” he said.
Speaking further, he said that they are optimistic that the presentation which was enlightening, has potentials of attracting donor funds and grants to the state in respect t of the areas of focus.
“Kaduna as a sub national was represented by a team led by a commissioner. This was our second participation. We were there at COP 24 last year and in Madrid it was COP 25.
“We are using one stone to kill two birds because the twin issues of afforestation and livestock farming will sanitize the environment.
“The livestock farming is putting the colony of livestock in one place, providing schools, and all amenities they need. It reduces menace of clashes with farmers.
“The issue of afforestation, just as His Excellency, Governor Nadir el-Rufai has always emphasized, when you fell one tree, you replace it with three,” he said.
Speaking further, he said that there is preparation ongoing and there is some commitment from state govt and LGAs in respect of the livestock and afforestation.
“For example in my LGA, we launched tree planting campaign, using secondary school students.
“From the Madrid experience, we want to get more funding. We have some sampled LGA to use for pilot scheme for the livestock colony. The afforestation is for the entire state,” he stressed.
Honourable Buba however, appealed to the global community to reduce the bureaucratic bottlenecks associated with funds, to enable access to funds necessary for such projects.
“Kaduna as sub national pushed for a grant through the African Bank and they picked interest in Kaduna and it is being processed,” he disclosed.
He assured that his LGA has taken steps towards reducing fellibg of trees for energy and their efforts are yielding results.
“In Lere LGA, we have taken lot of measures in reducing felling trees for cooking.
” As a result, we are beneficiaries of UN Clean Stove. There is a plant in the LGA for clean stove manufacturing. This will reduce the hazard of smoke on the health of our wives and mothers,” he emphasized.
