FROM : LarryBravo Nwaiwu, Enugu

Worried by the greenhouse gas emissions and its effect on human beings and the environment, the Enugu State Government has launched an aggressive campaign targeted at regulating and curtailing the harmful impacts posed by the emissions and other activities capable of eroding the climate.

The state government, as a deliberate step to achieving this, has commenced  training and capacity building programme on environment and climate change for staff of the state’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and other public workers.

The government stressed that the governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, was poised for a net-zero commitment to making a huge difference in the fight against climate change.

Speaking at the training on Thursday, via Zoom at a training session orgainsed for the staff in Enugu, the Senior Advisor to the Governor on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke, said the state was commencing the series of training and capacity building with the staff of the Ministry to help them lead the campaign and mitigate the activities threatening the environment.

He noted that the government would stop at nothing in restoring a livable, friendly and healthy ecology in the state, even as he maintained that the campaign and sensitisation were designed in phases for communities, schools, industrialists, stakeholders, and town-hall engagements on later dates.

On his part, an environmental consultant, Mr. Ozorgwu Chinedu, who spoke on the theme, “Monitoring Tools and Checklist for Telecom Infrastructure,” introduced staff of the Ministry to the different approaches and tools of monitoring telecommunication infrastructure and evaluating their impacts on the environment.

According to him, these tools could be used to check the ratios of radiation, gases, noise from telecom infrastructure and how they affect the environment, warning that lack of compliance to globally accepted standard provided by the Environmental Impact Assessment Act as well as the National Environmental (Standard for Telecoms & Broadcast Facilities) Regulations, 2011,

could spell doom to human existence.

Mr. Chinedu underscored the importance of having telecom infrastructure frequently monitored and checked because of their negative impacts on the ecosystem.

He stated that most telecoms were using generators to power their networks, thus releasing nauseous gases to the air and causing harm to the environment over time.

“These greenhouse gases or emissions go up to the atmosphere, and subsequently trap heat which make the planet warmer. It is only when you monitor these infrastructures that you can see the extent of what they produce and the effect of their pollution,” he said.