Taking action for climate change: A personal account of climate change advocacy among secondary school students in Ilorin, Nigeria

For quite some time, I have been actively involved in some social impact and development programmes with focus on climate and environmental sustainability. Reasons are not far-fetched as society suffers devastating impacts of climate change and a fast degrading environment today. In August 2021, I was selected as a Climate Leadership Fellow by Climate Smart Nigeria in partnership with Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Environment and Access Bank Plc . The Climate Leadership Fellowship (CLF) programme is an initiative geared at empowering Climate Leaders to advance climate change literacy among secondary school students in Nigeria. The programme featured, initially, intensive trainings and workshops for all fellows to deepen the knowledge on the subject, discuss related problems, and mainstream solutions. Some of these sessions featured interactions with Nigeria's Minister of Environment,?and other experts. These interactions revealed evidences of the impacts of climate change on various sectors of the country's economy. Issues of food insecurity, loss of livelihoods, poverty, climate disasters and health problems associated with climate change within the country, necessitates urgent and impact-driven actions. Moving forward, one of the ways to achieve this is by educating youngsters and inspiring their creativity in developing solutions to adapt to and militate against the impacts of climate change through climate advocacy.

Climate advocacy today

Climate advocacy in today's world has never been more important than it is now. First, the effects of climate change are now more obvious than ever. News reports on increased events of droughts, flooding, wildfires, unpredictable weather conditions, rise in sea levels, increased temperature, etc have been linked to the changing climate. These evidences have been reported in various studies and research. It is therefore necessary to build climate advocacy around them. More so, there has been support from international organizations (such as the United Nations, World Bank, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, among others) geared towards climate action, driving the essence of climate advocacy. Many people are at present leveraging the availability of innovative technologies and sustainable solutions to suggest alternative practices to help cope with and reduce the impacts of climate change. Scientists, researchers, and innovators have developed and are still developing alternative technologies and sustainable solutions. For instance, biogas, wind, solar power, can be used as alternative sources of energy; recycling non-biodegradable materials is a better and more sustainable practice, etc. Additionally, the media enables everyone to reach out to a large audience, locally and globally, with relevant information on how to tackle present day challenges of climate change. This information can now easily get to people that are largely impacted by climate change. However, it is also important that advocacy reaches young children, tomorrow's leaders, school students who are more vulnerable to these impacts and have the ability to shape what the future will look like. Exploring their creativity and youthfulness in solving this present crisis is therefore a step in the right direction.

"I have never heard of climate change before…;" my experience with secondary school students

I began a climate advocacy exercise in Pearls International School, Ilorin, Nigeria in October, 2021.

I was opportune to meet with and educate an average of seventy (70) secondary school students. Secondary school students are usually excited and would always look forward to extracurricular activities that take them away from the regular teaching style and pattern of learning. This was the case as I introduced conversations on climate change simply and creatively. The focus of our engagement on the first day was on The Introduction to Climate Change. It was interesting to discover that about 70% of the students had never heard of the term climate change. One of them stated, "I have never heard of climate change before. What does that even mean?" While it was a strange thing to these students, a few confirmed that although they had heard about it, they never knew what it meant. This became a very good foundation upon which my advocacy would be built. These students need to be aware. When asked what they thought climate change meant, one of them hilariously said, "When the climate changes." While that may seem a little funny, it is just what it is - the change in the climate.

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The concept and science of climate change

Climate change is a long-term change or shift in temperatures and weather patterns which today is driven by the increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases have become a threat to the existence of mankind because it has been introduced in excess into the atmosphere by human activities. These greenhouse house gases include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons. The accumulation of these gases in the atmosphere creates a thick layer of gaseous blanket in the atmosphere which traps and emits excess heat energy. The more the GHGs in the atmosphere, the more the radiant energy from the sun being trapped and the more the heat emitted. This is the major factor that accounts for global warming today – a rise in global temperature – and this is increasingly affecting lifestyle, agriculture, health, and the environment. Different locations across the world have in recent times reported a change in their local and regional climate. These changes today have led to rising temperatures, frequent and intense droughts and storms, warm and rising sea levels, food insecurity, poverty and public health risks.

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Continuing the interaction with the students, they were introduced to the climate, global warming, greenhouse gases, and some evidences of climate change. I realized that the students were aware of some of these evidences within their immediate environment. They attested to increasing thermal discomfort, loss of food crops, etc., but were not aware that these were all driven by climate change. The students came to understand the truth about climate change and strongly got the message that there is an urgent need to embrace climate action.

Subsequent interactions with the students helped them develop a better understanding of the impacts of climate change within their immediate environment and what they can do to address these problems. The students, having been well-taught, were able to describe climate change in their own words and tell stories of the impacts that they had experienced or heard from people within their communities. A significant example is the story of a farmer who lived within the neighborhood of one of the students. The farmer had planted maize on his farm expecting the rains. The rains never came and the grains were damaged. When the rains finally came, he planted again, but this time, the rains were very intense and ended up damaging majority of the crops. This was a huge loss for him and his family and affected their income that year. It is obvious that the impacts of climate change are being felt even within our local communities, and likewise affect these students. The students also shared experiences of their exposure to harsh weather conditions which affect their abilities to learn and assimilate in class. Physiothermal discomfort is one of the challenges they reported to be faced with daily as students.

During one of the sessions with the students, I had asked them to study their immediate environment and identify some impacts of climate change around them. The students diligently carried out this study and came up with interesting findings, some of which are presented below:

·????????Unusual and increased heat intensity

·????????Unpredictable weather conditions

·????????Heavy rainfall leading to the destruction of houses

·????????Flooding affecting structures and farmlands

·????????Wells drying up due to rainfall scarcity

·????????Crop plants drying up in farms and gardens, among other problem

It was really amazing to realize that the students can dutifully observe their environment to come up with these findings. Climate change is real and they could relate with its impacts. They became more interested and inquisitive. They had a lot of questions to ask. They wanted to know why these things were happening. They wanted to know how to be part of the solutions. Students are actually interesting to engage. They are willing to learn. They are creative, active and innovative. I further inspired them to think of solutions to the problems they had identified. Interestingly, they came up with several, some of which includes the following:

·????????Stop or reduce burning to help reduce intense heat in the environment

·????????Watering plants in gardens and farms both during the day and night

·????????Clearing the drains and gutter to allow for free passage of excess rainfall

The students were happy that they have the ability to contribute to addressing these challenges. We thereafter emphasized the roles we all can play as individuals. We discussed several solutions that can be implemented on different levels. They all committed themselves to be good climate and environment ambassadors. While concluding the advocacy with them, they decided to take pictures and videos, and make placards for publicity within and outside their school. The students had really exciting things to say as they had all learnt new things and are willing to share their knowledge in various ways. One of them said, "I will tell my friends of climate change."

Moving forward

Climate change is real. The impacts are far-reaching and they threaten the lives and livelihoods of people, especially the most vulnerable populations. Everyone needs to be aware, as well as contribute to tackling these impacts. To drive this awareness, climate advocacy is a necessary tool. And if we must make sustainable impacts, climate advocacy should reach the younger generation, the future of the planet. Secondary school students should continually be engaged in climate change awareness programs. If a little interaction with these secondary school students can spur their interest and creativity in taking responsibility for climate actions, howbeit when all students across Nigeria and the world at large are informed. They are part of the solutions we seek. Climate change is real, let us all take action.

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors;?we borrow it?from our children.”

“Climate change is real. It is happening right now, it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”