WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY: Distinguished Prof Hilary I. Inyang to speak on Climate Change Induced Hazards and Framing of Adaptations in Developing Nations
By Eyo Nsima
As Climate change and other environmental challenges threaten the globe, the stage has been set for the Distinguished Professor Hilary I. Inyang, to set agenda, targeted at tackling them in developing countries.
The agenda would be set at the World Environment Day, lecture, organized by The Daily, a very widely energy-pro intelligence, focusing on Africa and other parts of the world, in association with Spaces for Change and Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria, on Saturday, June 4, 2022, at 11 am West African Time, WAT.
Abstract
According to the Distinguished Professor in his Abstract, the lecture is important and timely, especially in Africa.
He stated: “As early as 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), estimated that the average global temperature will increase by 1.8-4.0 degrees centigrade within this century. There is consensus that the emission of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluoro-gases) is largely responsible for the observed global temperature increase, the primary cause of climate change.
“Although developing countries produce a relatively low fraction of the global total of the emitted greenhouse gases, they will continue to bear the brunt of the impacts of global climate change due to the inadequacy of adaptation and mitigation systems relative to the capacities of the technologically advanced countries.
“All African countries are essentially in the developing category. UNEP estimates that the costs of adapting to climate change across Africa could reach $50 billion per year by 2050, even if temperature increase is kept within 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.
“Globally, climate change has already manifested as changes in rainfall patterns, temperature extremes and increases in frequency of storms which have in turn, enhanced phenomena such as drought, coastal erosion, sandstorms, wildfires, sedimentation of water bodies, and displacement of pests. Activation of stressors by climate change have generated indirect impacts such as domestic and economic water scarcity, impairment of transportation, habitat loss, desertification, food shortage, weather enhanced diseases and even inter-community clashes over natural resources with significant spatio-temporal variability across the developing countries.”
He added: “In this public lecture, with focus on Africa where climate change poses a major threat to the attainment of SDGs 2030, Africa Agenda 2063 and many other regional and national development plans, the speaker will analyze the factors that lead to global climate change; discuss both observed and potential impacts in Africa; and propose adaptation and mitigation systems. Climate change issues will be addressed within the context of sustainable development. The benefits of a new climate economy to African countries will also be discussed.”
Profile
The Distinguished Professor Hilary I. Inyang, is a Visiting International Research Fellow, Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), HSRC, Pretoria, South Africa; Visiting Professor of Geoenvironmental Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), Mumbai, India; and President, Global Institute for Sustainable Development, Advanced Analyses and Design (GISDAAD), Concord, NC, USA.
He is a world-renowned researcher, expeditionist and educator in the areas of environmental science and engineering, geohazards, energy systems and international development. He is a member of the Education Caucus of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and served for two terms (1997-2001) as Chair of the Science Advisory Board (Engineering Committee) of USEPA in Washington DC, USA.
He is also the former Duke Energy Distinguished Professor and Director of the Global Institute of Energy and Environmental Systems of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA: former DuPont Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science and Director of CEEST, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA, former President of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria, and former Vice Chancellor of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology.
He chaired the Steering Committee of the Africa Science Plans under the auspices of the International Council for Science, UNESCO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Currently, he is a UNESCO Consultant on Water Security and Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), Mumbai, India.
He has authored several research proposals and won research grants from several agencies including the US National Research Foundation, Sandia National Laboratories (USA), General Electric Corporation, US Environmental Protection Agency, and the African Development Bank. He has won more than 20 professional prizes and is a former AAAS/USEPA Environmental Science and Engineering Fellow, US National Research Council Young Investigator and Eisenhower/Randolph Fellow. He has authored about 275 publications and served on 29 journal editorial boards. He won the 2013 Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) in science and technology and is a Fellow of both the African Academy of Science and the Geological Society of London. He is also a Proost Poet.
Attendance
Attendees are required to use, ZOOM LINK: https://bit.ly/3Gy909E, CONTACT PERSON: Eyo Nsima | EMAIL: eyonsima1@gmail.com | PHONE: (+234) 0703-158-0345.
