THE ROLE OF LAW IN COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE IN NIGERIA

Climate change has become one of the greatest global challenges of our time. The use of fossil fuels in Nigeria is a major contributor to climate change that has several devastating effect on the environment. This paper found, firstly that the excessive use of non-renewable energy sources, industrialization and the non-implementation of planning laws are responsible for climate change and global warming. Secondly, it found that climate change has negatively impacted the Nigerian environment in terms of flooding, desertification, acid rains and destruction of the ecosystem. It also found that although there are laws at the national and international levels, these laws at the national level are not effectively enforced while those at the international level are not legally binding. As a result of its undesirable effects, it has become necessary to deal with climate change. The United Nations has attempted to address the issues of climate change by adopting several resolutions leading to the establishment of the Climate Change Regime, (CCR) in 1992. In Nigeria however, it was not until 2007 that concrete steps towards addressing this salient challenge of climate change was taken. This led to the legislation adopting the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA) which became operational in 2007. This paper therefore examines the role of law in combating climate change in Nigeria. It looks at how the national laws in Nigeria complements the international laws and response mechanism to combat climate change. It analyses the effectiveness of these laws and the extent to which these laws effect climate change control in Nigeria.