Participants at a World Environment Day event in Akwa Ibom pledged to end bush burning, plant more trees and promote nature-based solutions as experts warned that climate change is already disrupting farming and food production.
Agrarian communities in Akwa Ibom have been asked to adopt nature-based solutions, such as tree planting, sustainable farming, and ending bush burning, to mitigate the growing impact of climate change on livelihoods and food production.
Participants at a World Environment Day 2026 event held in Nkana, Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, on 5 June and organised by Peace Point Development Foundation (PPDF), a civil society organisation promoting ecological justice in the Niger Delta, said communities must take practical steps to protect the environment and strengthen resilience against climate-related challenges.
The event, themed “Climate Action and the Role of Nature-Based Solutions,” brought together select farmers from agrarian communities across the Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom.
PREMIUM TIMES previously reported that the federal government of Nigeria plans to explore additional nature-based solutions to address climate change in the country.
Speaking at the event, the coordinator of PPDF, Umo Isua-ikoh, said climate change had become a daily reality for rural communities whose livelihoods depend largely on agriculture.
He said farmers were already experiencing the effects through irregular rainfall patterns, prolonged dry spells, flooding, soil degradation, rising temperatures and declining crop yields.
“For our farmers, climate change is no longer a distant concept discussed only by scientists and policymakers. It is becoming a daily reality,” Mr Isua-ikoh said.
He noted that nature-based solutions offered some of the most affordable and effective responses to the climate crisis.
According to him, such measures include planting and protecting trees, restoring degraded lands, preserving wetlands, preventing bush burning, protecting water bodies and adopting sustainable agricultural practices.
“These actions help communities adapt to climate change while improving agricultural productivity and strengthening local economies,” he said.
Mr Isua-ikoh urged farmers to maintain tree cover on farmlands, embrace organic manure and cultivate economic trees that could provide both environmental and economic benefits.
He stressed that climate action was a collective responsibility and not the duty of governments and development organisations alone.
“Every tree planted matters. Every bushfire prevented matters. Every effort to preserve our natural resources matters,” he said.
In a presentation on climate action and nature-based solutions, an environmental associate with PPDF, Idongesit Essien, highlighted how changing weather patterns were affecting farming communities.
Mr Essien said excessive heat, the disappearance of the traditional harmattan season and irregular rainfall had made farming increasingly difficult.
He noted that many farmers previously relied on predictable seasonal patterns for planting and harvesting, but could no longer accurately forecast rainfall.
“Recently, there has been no harmattan as we used to know it. Farmers relied on that season for some agricultural activities, including harvesting crops such as cocoyam,” he said.
He added that excessive heat and changing weather conditions had contributed to reduced harvests in many communities.
Mr Essien attributed much of the climate crisis to human activities, identifying deforestation, biodiversity loss, bush burning and the excessive use of chemicals, particularly herbicides, as major drivers.
He lamented the disappearance of family forest reserves that once helped preserve biodiversity and ecological balance.
“Our forebears planted trees. Today, we cut them down without replacing them. The trees that should trap greenhouse gases are no longer there,” he said.
He urged communities to return to environmentally friendly agricultural practices and to embrace nature-based solutions that restore ecosystem health while improving food production.
“When nature is healthy, it provides food through improved yields,” he said.
Some participants pledged to apply the lessons learned during the programme.
A farmer, Eno Pius, said the training had deepened her understanding of the links between environmental protection and agricultural productivity.
She pledged to stop bush burning and increase tree planting in her environment.
A community leader, Ebong Ituen, called on oil companies operating in Akwa Ibom to take climate action more seriously and asked government agencies to strengthen environmental regulation.
Mr Ituen assured organisers that participants would share the knowledge gained with other community members.
“We will cascade these lessons to others in our communities so that everyone can contribute their quota to climate action,” he said.
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