Nigeria’s transportation sector: Climate change and adaptation strategies (1)

Nigeria’s transportation sector is the gateway to the nation’s economy. It is the backbone of trade and very strategic in the facilitation and sustenance of movement of people, goods and services. Climate change is one of its major threats globally and it is imperative Nigeria develops better strategies to manage its impact as well as create more awareness about it. Additionally, it is important for the sector to double its adaptation strategies to avoid situations like that of Nauru, Boston, Virginia Beach, Charleston, Atlantic City, Miami, New Orleans and New York City etc.

The threats and adverse effects of climate change are the reasons why transportation systems are structured to withstand all types of weather. It is also the reason why transportation engineers refer to historical records of climate and extreme weather conditions when designing infrastructure for transport such as ports, airports, railway tracks, bridges, roads etc.

The effectiveness of environmental sustainability policies in the sector, as well as its potentials of supporting adaptation and mitigation, are yet to be fully realized because most of the policies remain very broad and cannot provide the required focus to respond to climate change concerns. While climate change is mentioned in some key government policies, there are yet to be specific policies or strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation especially in relation to the sector. Also, the policy framework for aligning human development and climate change management remains largely undeveloped.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the conventional energy sources used for transportation are known to be the main reason for the global warming, which started changing the climates and posing great threat to the planet

Nevertheless, the government has recognized the need to adapt existing national policies, strategies and plans to address climate change and to ensure its adaptation and mitigation concerns are properly integrated into current national development plans, known as Vision 20:2020.

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Nigeria’s total Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in 2014 were 492.44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), totalling 1.01 percent of global GHG emissions. 38.2 percent of GHG emissions came from the land-use change and forestry sector, followed by the energy, waste, agriculture and the industrial processes sector, which contributed 32.6 percent, 14.0, 13.0 percent and 2.1 percent respectively to GHG emissions.

According to CAIT data, a suite of online data and visualizations tools that support the many dimensions of climate policymaking and provides free, open, user -friendly access to world-class climate data from a desktop, tablet or mobile device, enabling analysis whenever it’s needed, Nigeria’s GHG emissions increased by 25% (98.22 MtCO2e) from 1990 to 2014. The average annual change in total emissions was 1%. In its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), Nigeria pledged to unconditionally reduce GHG emissions by 20% by 2030, compared to business as usual (BAU) emission levels. It aims to achieve this goal by improving energy efficiency by 20%, providing 13 GW of renewable electricity to rural communities that are currently not connected to the electric power grid, and by ending the flaring of gas.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the conventional energy sources used for transportation are known to be the main reason for the global warming, which started changing the climates and posing great threat to the planet. It has now become very crucial to find new ways of integrating sustainable energy in the strategic implementation of the automotive infrastructure development plans in order to minimize the emission of these gases into the atmosphere to boost sustainable environment.

It is interesting to note that countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have already decoupled their economic growth from emissions. From 2004 to 2014, OECD countries grew their economies by 16% altogether, while cutting fossil fuel consumption by 6% and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6.4%. Results of international energy association study shows that global emissions remained flat in 2014, while GDP rose marking a historical milestone.

It is also important to point out that extreme weather conditions and events such as hurricanes/cyclones and floods have the potentials of disrupting routes in inland and coastal transport systems. Although there are other climate factors that may affect transportation such as climate change-driven changes in temperature, humidity and precipitation, coastal transportation infrastructure. Seaports are also impacted by sea-level rise, which exacerbates coastal flooding during extreme storm events. Therefore, it is important to identify viable adaptation measures to promote better implementation strategies as well as obtain accurate climate projection data for broad range of climate indicators that would help increase awareness and solve climate change challenges.

The importance of undertaking projects that promote a better understanding of climate change, extreme weather conditions and best practices would also add more value especially as demand for the sector grows daily in line with global economy, trade and world population. Transportation has been traditionally looked upon as a challenge in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and a lot of effort has been directed at solving this issue such as providing guidance on the use of indicators for sustainable and liveable transportation planning.