As the dust continues to settle on the expectations and disappoints of COP27, with the hope that
COP28 in Abu Dhabi will deliver on the missed expectations, I am taking consolations in the shared
red-letter moments of listening and learning from the stories of hope of grassroots actors, particularly
young people who are leading innovative solutions in their communities through a sheer force of will,
and the rich exchanges with like-minded individuals that formed the highlights of my participation at
COP27.
The race to 1.5 has repeatedly communicated its urgent need for a deliberate, and concerted efforts,
one that should be intersectoral and intergenerational, with justice at its center. However, while
acknowledging that winning the race against #climatechange won’t happen overnight, it remains
disappointing to see the continued lack of ambition in the commitments from world leaders, at least
not so much it can align solutions with the problems at the needed scale to achieve set goals by
2030.
Several reports have documented that the people most at risk to the impacts of climate change are
those from countries who depend on natural resources and #agriculture that is rainfed for economic
mainstay. Unfortunately, this illustration fits the realities of my region, and home country (Nigeria),
where agriculture, despite accounting for about 1/3 of the country’s GDP, is still largely rainfed, and
the high dependence and exploitation of natural resources for livelihoods and subsistence cannot be
overemphasized, suggesting that, indeed the worst is yet to come for the smallholder farmers whose
income is already not reflective of their investment as a result of the current late onset and early
cessation of rainfall, coastal dwellers whose lives and livelihoods are currently ravaged by the rising
seas, droughts in northern Nigeria that remains the major driver of conflict-causing forced migration
of herders, and other frontline and most at risk communities, except improved measures are
innovated, and met with formulated and implemented need-based polices. While these expectations
were cut short at COP27, I join other climate leaders in different parts of the world in the hope that
COP28 next year will be the COP filled with ambitions, celebrates progresses and successes, and
advances us forward in terms of implementation and delivery on pledges, without holding back.