DEVELOPING NATIONS ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE TO GLOBAL WARMING

– PROFESSOR KOLAWOLE

Professor L. B. Kolawole, the Dean, College of Natural Sciences, at the Redeemer’s University has said that the developing nations are the most vulnerable to the effect of climate change in the world. He made this assertion on Wednesday May 20, 2009 at the University Auditorium while delivering a paper titled: “Climate Change and Global Warming” at the third College of Natural Sciences quarterly Research Seminar. According to Professor Kolawole, though the developed nations produced most of the green house gases, yet with technology, these developed nations have put in place measures to check the effect on their environment. He added that God created a perfect and good world, but as a result of human activities, the environment had been greatly damaged thus leading to climate change and global warming.  

He disclosed that climate change was one of the most serious environmental threats facing the world today. He said that its impact would be felt across the world, as sea-level rise threatened the existence of some small island states and put millions of people at risk. As he put it, “as temperature increases, drought and flooding will affect people’s health and way of life, and cause the irreversible loss of many species of plants and animals”. He called for effective policies to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases so that the world could experience a significant degree of climate change. He further disclosed that most national governments had signed and ratified the Kyoto protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He said that however there was ongoing political and public debate worldwide regarding what, or if any action should be taken to reduce or reverse future warning or to adapt to its expected consequences.

Professor Kolawole said that climate change and global warming should be the concern of all the inhabitants of the world. He noted that there were forty things to be done by every individual to prevent global warming. The most important according to him was that we should make effort to plant trees around our houses. Other things to be done included throwing less food away thereby producing less methane; recycling household rubbish; using labels to choose products that have lower impact on the environment; taking a walk instead of putting your car on the road; using cars that consumed less fuel, etc. He concluded that if every individual practiced the suggestions above, “you are making your own modest contribution to the control of climate change and global warming”.