Paris Agreement and Climate Change Mitigation in Nigeria, 2015-2025

Abstract

The study examined Paris Agreement on climate change and the strategies for its mitigation in Nigeria. Dependency theory served as an analytical framework of this paper. Research design adopted is descriptive design. Data is collected from both the primary and secondary sources; analysis of data was done using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative descriptive techniques. Purposive sampling technique is utilized in the article. The findings of the research revealed that, the Paris Agreement and climate change are deeply intertwined in a global response to the defining environmental challenges of our time. On assessing the impacts of Paris Agreement on mitigating climate change in Nigeria, the paper has found out that the policies and strategies aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and increase the use of renewable energy, and promote sustainable practices by Paris Agreement has not been effectively felt in Nigeria. The study findings also shows that, a number of policies, strategies, plans, and actions such as; Climate Change Act, The National adaptation strategy and plan for climate change Nigeria (NASPA CCN), National Adaptation Plan Framework, and Climate Change Policy and Response Strategies have been formulated to meet the need for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Nigeria and also finds that the heavy reliance on agriculture, weak infrastructure, lack of public awareness about the dangers of climate change, dependent on the sale of oil and gas activities like gas flaring, lack of institutional expertise and reluctance to acknowledge the pressing need for climate action by the Nigerian government and poor adaptation strategies significantly hinders efforts of Paris Agreement in mitigating the effect of climate change in Nigeria. Finally, the study recommends that, the Nigerian government must pair its gas development with a hard cap on methane emissions and that Nigeria must fully operationize the Climate Act by compelling all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to set and specific percentage of their annual capital budgets to climate adaptations projects