FasasiThe Nigerian government has expressed fear that the emergency of Donald Trump as the President of the United States could portend great danger to Paris climate change agreement.
One of the striking features of the Paris agreement was a commitment by all Parties to limit global temperature at 1.5 C in order to significantly reduce risks and impacts of climate change.
However, many commentators had feared that the emergency of Donald Trump as the President- elect of the US could scuttle the climate change deal.
Mr. Trump had never hidden his disdain for the environment, particularly, issue of climate change, which he described during one of his campaigns as a ‘hoax’.
Addressing journalists on the Nigeria’s participation at the UNFCCC, COP22, holding in Marrakech, the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, expressed similar concerns about Trump’s position on the issue of climate change.
She said the earlier he understood that those things he said during the campaigns had no basis in reality, the better for the US and also for the whole global community.
According to the minister, so many evidences abound across the world to convince anyone that climate change is real.
She said, “We congratulate the American people for their process with democracy. That has really tested them. We are looking see exactly what it is President elect, Donald Trump is going to do in reality.
“In his election campaign, he said a number of things that gave grave concern to governments around the world. You cannot say that climate change is not real today. Science has proven it, so also has the extent of human suffering and attendant loss of lives and valuable property, given credence to it.
“We can make those connections. This agreement has gone very far, we want US to be part of this because they would benefit as well as us. Our job, when we go to COP this time, is to sit with the delegation and make sure they knowthe importance of transitioning to the President elect with clear indications of how important it is to remain at the table with their commitments.”
Mohammed, however, said if the US refused to be persuaded, the world would not wait, saying that “it will not have effect if they don’t go the way they are supposed to go.”
Fasasi
