NGO tasks local governments on adoption of climate change framework

A non-governmental organisation, Kabetkache Women Development and Resource Centre has urged local governments in the Niger Delta to adopt a climate change framework on how to tackle the climate change crisis in their communities.

The founder and Chief Executive Director of Kabetkache, Dr Emem Okon, made the appeal during the 2023 Niger Delta Women Day of Action for Environmental Justice, held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, with the theme, “Building a Feminist Economy for Ecosystem Restoration in the Niger Delta.”

Okon, who lamented that women are the worst hit by the environmental impact occasioned by climate change, noted that the framework would position communities to access green climate finance so as to address climate issues bedevilling their local governments.

She said: “We have been campaigning for local governments to adopt a climate change framework and if they have a framework in place, they can position themselves to access green climate finance and begin to respond to the climate crisis in their local governments.”

Okon also called for the localisation of national gender policy in all the states, where the local governments would adopt it as a bylaw, saying that such would unbundle the patriarchal nature of communities and enhance women’s participation in the socio-economic and political development of their localities.

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“What we are advocating for is that national gender policy should be endorsed by different state governments and should be localised. This would enhance gender equality, empowerment, and development in our communities.

“It is not easy to penetrate into the patriarchal nature of our communities; it’s difficult to go to communities to advocate that women should be part of village council meetings or chieftaincy council.

“The local governments can bring it down and adopt it as a bylaw. We are also looking at the gender and climate change national action plan; it should also be localised,” she said.

In her keynote speech titled “Women and Ecosystem Restoration,” Professor Roibito Ekpiken-Ekanem of Cross River State University stated that if the ecosystem must be restored, women must have access to funding.

Ekpiken-Ekanem, who noted that women have shouted, but their voices for the needed change in society were not enough to be heard by government, said a lot needed to be done.

On his part, the country director of Oxfam, a donor agency and major funder of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Mr Tijani Ahmed, said his organisation was proud to partner with the NGO as well as offer their little support to keep the group going since 2013 till date.

He said: “By focusing this convergence on a feminist economy, I think you are not only addressing environmental concerns but also recognising the crucial role that gender equality plays in achieving long-lasting, inclusive growth, which is critical in Oxfam.”