The Climate Change Unit in the Taraba State Ministry of Environment and Climate Change will be upgraded to the status of a department.
The state Commissioner of Environment and Climate Change, Hajia Aishat Barde, who disclosed this to EnviroNews on Monday, August 7, 2023, added that the new Department of Climate Change would feature units such as Adaptation, Mitigation and Vulnerability.
Hajia Barde, who was sworn in on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at a ceremony presided over by Governor Agbu Kefas, shed some light on some of her plans to effect a change in the state.
She said: “To a considerable extent, the people of Taraba State are ignorant of climate change effects, causes and attendant dangers. Hence, I shall sensitise Tarabans through awareness campaigns and sensitisation workshops, while targeting the three arms of government, clearly spelling out their roles and responsibilities.
“I will involve youths, being the powerful agents of change, and women, as the most vulnerable to climate change impacts, in afforestation programmes and all other climate change related endeavours in the state.”
Barde started her career as a staffer in the Department of Climate Change of the Federal Ministry of Environment, from where she was recently deployed to the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), a council under the Presidency vested with the highest authority in mainstreaming climate change affairs in Nigeria.
Barde is a geologist, environmentalist, climate change and gender activist, as well as greenhouse gas waste expert.
