President Buhari, left, at the African Union event in New York

Nigeria is strongly committed to the adoption of a legally binding universal agreement to mitigate climate change, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

In his statement during a Summit on Climate Change in New York on Sunday, Buhari said: “In Nigeria, we have seen extreme weather variations, rising sea levels, encroaching desertification, excessive rainfall, erosion and floods, land degradation, all of which threaten the ecosystem.

“These developments have devastating human costs and are affecting food security, livelihoods and the very survival of our people.

“To address these negative effects, we have developed a National Policy to guide Nigeria’s response to Climate Change. Our response is broadly based on the twin strategy of Mitigation and Adaptation”.

He commended the countries that have announced their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) ahead of the October 2015 deadline.

These contributions, he said, would go a long way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Buhari said that the INDCs would serve as a yardstick for measuring the commitment of parties to the Framework Convention.

“As we approach Paris, the Nigerian position, which reflects the African consensus, is that a legally binding universal instrument will be beneficial to all State Parties.

“Nigeria will continue to champion the core principles and goals of the new Sustainable Development Agenda and hopes that the next Conference of Parties will eventually become a global milestone to combat and cushion the dire impacts of climate change,” he said.

The president said the Paris agreement should be rules based, predictable, robust to adequately address Climate Change vulnerabilities.

He said it was essential that the Least Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States receive the institutional capacity support for Mitigation, Adaptation, Gender and Climate Change linkages towards building a sustainable environment.

“Collective action remains the only viable option to addressing the challenges of global warming and the ever growing impact of climate change.

“We have no other choice but to protect our environment for the benefit of the present and future generations.
“Collectively, we have to work towards achieving this all important objective,” Buhari said.