Greener environment and retrofitting of buildings have been suggested as a means of guarding against the incessant heat being experienced due to climate change.
Dr. Olumuyiwa Adegun, a Senior Lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), who made the submission in his remarks at a stakeholders forum tagged “Heat, Health and Housing: Addressing Challenges Through Data-Driven Approaches” in Lagos, also disclosed that “retrofitting our buildings makes them heat resistant and climate smart”.
Dr. Adegun, who disclosed thar there are lots of health implications attached to heatwave such as dizziness, skin rashes and skin stroke, noted: “Apart from the increase in daytime and nighttime temperature due to the effects of climate change we also find the aspect of urban heat island, that’s the concrete jungle we’ve created for ourselves. Instead of soaking in the heat, it’s sending it back, taking the heat and sending it back. So that’s one factor causing a lot of heat in cities.
“We also have the aspect of the building materials or the kind of materials you used to build affects how you were exposed to heat. So, if you use somebody like maybe Adobe, you may not have as much heat as using the sandcrete wall in order to protect you, if you use something like zinc you live in the zinc house, compared to an adobe house is much more thermally uncomfortably trapped. For example, people who live in slums with no designated kitchen cook in the living room, all these human activities also exposed people to heat.”
The Principal Investigator on the project “The Accessing Intra-Urban Heat Vulnerabilities” also noted that most of the buildings in urban centres are with no proper ventilation, adding: “So, when we build we should have vegetation, trees, shrubs, grasses, not just all concrete paving. So, the idea is when there is absence of vegetation, there is increasing heat. What if we have more vegetation in where we live where we work, where we play; of course, it will bring down the temperature, it has cooling effect.”
On his part, Olumide Idowu, the Executive Director, International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI), identified proper urban management as the only way out of proffering solution to the prevalent cases of heatwave in the country.
He said: “It is very important for the government to look at our urban planning because the way we allocate land that are meant for recreational and other purposes is very alarming. Our policy formations too need to be checked. Yes, we formulate policies, but implementation is not that captured for the people in the local communities.
“Our leaders have to begin to look at climate change as an issue that has come to stay, so implementing issues around it has to be a continuous process, how are we making sure that we have a sustainable solution to it?
“The people need to cooperate and collaborate in making sure that the government is doing the right thing by allocating the right resources to the right places so that everybody can see the fair share of what the environment is all about and we now look at how we can make sure that everybody takes responsibility towards his own immediate environment in ensuring that anything that happens within your environment, you are responsible for it.
In his submission, Prof. Debo Adeyewa, a Director at West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), said: “For Nigeria to make progress the people should elect leaders who are passionate about them into office, they should appoint people who are educated so they can be aware of climate change as it affects people at the grassroots. You don’t need a lot of energy; these are things only educated persons can understand. And this we are also passionate about bringing the results down to the grassroots.”
The project used FESTAC (as formal) and Ebute-Ilaje and Ajegunle Ikorodu (as informal) areas of study with Dr. Tobi Morakinyo presenting a paper on “Heat Vulnerability and Risk Assessment over Lagos Metropolis”. Other members of the research team are Dr. Olusoga Adewale, Victor Arowolo and Ademola Akinbobola.
Dignitaries at the forum include Dr. Funmi Soji-Awotiwon, Assistant Head, Digital Health Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Health; Dr. Peter Elias, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Lagos; Chief Morinsola Oladunjoye, Community Head of Ajegunle Community; representatives from the private sectors and others.
By Ajibola Adedoye
