Climate change: NIQS counsels Nigerian Government against highly polluting carbon intensive development

The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), has advised the Federal governments to move away from expensive, unreliable, and highly polluting carbon-intensive developments to a more climate-resilient society, through low carbon growth.

Mr Abba Tor, President of NIQS gave the advice on Wednesday in Abuja, at a news conference to brief journalists ahead of the Biennial Conference/General Meeting of the institute on climate change and global disasters.

Tor said initiating such an idea would go a long way to mitigate the influence and huge challenges of climate change in the country.

He said the management of the institute had taken a giant stride in inviting industry professionals, with knowledge of sustainable development, to make presentations on challenges to the implementation of sustainable construction practices.

The NIQS President listed other areas of focus to include; the imperatives of the government’s policy framework for the implementation of sustainable infrastructure development in Nigeria and the roles of stakeholders in the implementation of sustainable infrastructure in the country.

Tor said the conference would also address strategies for achieving carbon reduction in the design of sustainable infrastructure projects, the place of digital technologies in the implementation of carbon reduction in construction, including the rules of NIQS in sustainable infrastructure development.

According to him, it was no longer news that climate change posed huge threats to humankind and to the survival of our shared world, hence the need for professional bodies, including NIQS, to synergise and address its challenges in the construction sector of the country.

“According to the global status report, buildings and construction jointly account for 36 per cent of global final energy use and 39 per cent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

“The report suggested that the intensity per square meter (m2) of the global building sector needs to improve on average by 30 per cent by 2030 in order to be in line with global climate ambitions set out in the “Paris Agreement” COP25.

“The Nigerian government should consider moving away from expensive, unreliable, and highly polluting carbon-intensive development to a more climate-resilient society, through low carbon growth with the right financing in place, ” Tor advised.

The NIQS President further advised that the building and construction sector should be among the primary targets for “Green House Gas (GAS) emissions mitigating efforts by the government in tackling challenges posed by climate change in Nigeria”.

The theme for the upcoming conference is, “Climate change and global disasters: Developing sustainable infrastructure amidst declining economic development”.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that NIQS is a professional body in Nigeria responsible for total cost and procurement management, for the achievement of clients’ objectives in all types of capital projects.

The institute was also created to contribute to developments from conception to commissioning and maintenance, in all sectors of the economy for the attainment of sustainable national development, among others. (NAN)