Lagos Council has launched its own collection of climate change actions, having looked at the effects that climate change already is having on the municipality.
The 'Municipal Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change' has been approved in a Council meeting, and assesses the short, medium and long-term effects of climate change in order to minimise the natural, social and economic impacts.
Global warming, largely caused by human actions, makes climate change the biggest challenge and public policies are being changed to incorporate 'sustainable development,' not that many Councils seem to know what this means.
Conscious of the reality of the world’s largest challenge and also aware of the geography of the municipality of Lagos, the Council has accessed an 'Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources' grant that paid for a professional report to be produced by the Centre for Regional and Urban Development Studies.
The strategy is based on 46 measures and 145 specific actions, structured according to four major strategic objectives related to the increase in air temperature; the decrease in rainfall and the increase of the frequency and severity of droughts; the rise in the sea level; and extreme wind and rain events.
The document establishes an action plan with priority interventions such as the conversion and energy certification of municipal buildings; the revision of the Municipal Forest Fire Protection Plan; a diversification of drinking water sources and awareness on how to save water; the protection of the Lagos shoreline from coastal flooding; and the creation of a system for monitoring and warning of risks form bad weather.
The ambitious plan will be reviewed and voted on by the Municipal Assembly, which meets on January 29th.
