By: Abdssalam A. Adepoju
“…And everyone has a goal which dominates him” (Quran 2: 149). It is the second quarter of 2024, less than a decade from the year 2030, our self-selected target to achieve our new and ambitious heights of the mutually dependent goals of environmental sustainability, global equity, and progress for the human race as a whole. It therefore seems that the marking of another World Environment Day would be a most fitting occasion for us to check our scorecards on this affair. The direct instructions of Allah recorded in the Qur’an point to maintenance of the earth, provision of basic needs of life and general welfare of the human race. Qur’an chapter 7 verses 57 reads “and create not disorder in the earth after it has been set in order”. This is a direct instruction that points to sustaining the legacies of the creator of the universe. The Qur’an further declares “it is provided that thou wilt not hunger therein nor wilt thou be naked. And thou wilt not thirst therein nor wilt though be exposed to the sun” Qur’an 20 verses 119 and 120.
The Basis
The bedrock of all climate change concerns are the observations by environmental scientists that the earth has been progressively getting warmer since records began and that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions account for a significant portion of the causes. While green gases exist in the atmosphere naturally and play the significant role of making our natural environment warm and habitable, several human activities— (mostly burning of fossil fuels for electricity generation, industry, transportation, and home heating),—since the industrial revolution have significantly altered GHG compositions (chiefly CO2) in the earth’s atmosphere. The increased presence of these gases in the atmosphere results in excessive heat retention on Earth, leading to a cascade of environmental issues such as heightened instances of floods due to erratic precipitation, more frequent droughts, accelerated desertification, and subsequent alterations to the planet’s biodiversity.
How do we deal with this?
To some extent, there is evidence to support these theories as there have been more unfavorable climatic events recently, including droughts, in many parts of the world. (2,3) But a crucial fact that remains to be proven is the extent to which human activities account for these changes, especially given the consensus that present human emissions of CO2 (our largest GHG contribution) is only 5% of natural emissions. (3) To make things more complex, there are scientific ice age theories stating that the earth’s climate runs in very long cycles involving perishingly cold ice ages interspersed with periods of more habitable climate conditions (greenhouse periods). Furthermore, the ice age theories are linked with the idea that the human species evolved to survive better than some other species that became extinct as the present ice age unfolded. Could the current changes to atmospheric conditions be merely the ‘normal’ features of the present ice age? Well, all of that is, for now, only theories. What is quite clear and undoubted however, is that there have been increasing adverse climatic events all around the world in recent years and that the progressive rise in the earth’s temperature is a likely explanation. Therefore, it is better for us to take action to try and achieve a reasonable target that can avert, or, at least, significantly limit these events. In the 2015 Paris agreement, most governments around the world jointly upheld this view, agreed on critical required actions, and, to varying extents, have been committing resources towards achieving these targets.
2024 World Environment Day and the SDGs
Combating desertification, improving our land use practices, and resisting drought form the theme for the 2024 World Environment Day and correspond to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 15. Along with four other environment related SDGs, it is closely linked with SDG 13 on climate action. In turn, climate action is interdependent with economic progress—as we can see with the electric vehicle transition programs and their fortunes—and in the last 5 years, this has seen a level of disruption not seen since the 1940s, initially due to the pandemic and later due to large conflicts around the world. As can be seen from the Global SDG reports (GSDR) 2022, and 2023 draft reports, there have been far more negative than positive changes recently. While more countries have collaborated to safeguard biodiversity under the Nagoya Protocol, progress in protecting crucial biodiversity areas has slowed. More people around the world also now have access to internet and mobile phones and this should help improve data availability from developing and least developed countries, a key factor limiting available knowledge on the progress of SDGs 13 and 15 and a handful of others.
Bringing it closer home
It is important that any review of Nigeria’s performance on the SDGs is done in the context of her global economic position. Our nation remains embattled by political instability which feeds into erratic policy changes and a socioeconomic environment that is not suited to measurable progress. Indeed, our many problems also include an inability to gather adequate data on our situation at any particular point in time, and this includes the SDGs. The 2022 GSDR highlights farmland expansion and livestock grazing to be the largest contributors to global deforestation, culprits for which anecdotal evidence certainly exist in Nigeria. Unfortunately, more detailed data does not exist. Nevertheless, available statistics suggest an improvement in global SDGs ranking position, climbing 14 points from 160 to 146 of 166 countries. While our governments have not completely neglected the SDGs; with the federal government appointing a special adviser on SDGs and the Lagos government committing to a regular annual SDGs week, the overwhelming awareness of more pressing national concerns makes it difficult to see these efforts as little more than theatrics.
A threshold for change?
A burning question that has recently come to the fore like never before— in the last 10 centuries— is whether a different global system could help achieve the SDGs better and more equitably. Global partnership for worldwide progress has been recognized since the adoption of the original Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), re-emphasized in the SDGs and, with lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, found to be even more important than ever previously thought. As the world now faces what seem to be a new global race for dominance and the threshold for a structural shift in the administration of global affairs, it remains to be seen how humans will fare in the near future. The present Global head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has consistently stressed that the world must review its approach to the delivery of justice and that failing this, the human race risks unprecedented calamities as predicted by the founder of the community and as enshrined in the Holy Qur’an (and demonstrated in history) Chapter 30: 42 which reads:
“Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what men’s hands have wrought, that He may make them taste the fruit of some of their doings, so that they may turn back from evil.”
It is relevant to also consider the Qur’an’s teachings in Chapter 20, verse 51 which reads thus:
“…Our Lord is He Who gave unto everything its proper form and then guided it to its proper function.”
Can it not be said that if we as humans adopt justice in its proper form and function, the earth that we inhabit, which has been created for our service will equally adopt its proper form and function?
Parting word: “…And peace shall be on him who follows the guidance” (Qur’an 20: 48)
References
- World Environment Day 2024: Accelerating land restoration, drought resilience & desertification progress (2024) UNEP. Available at: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/statements/world-environment-day-2024-accelerating-land-restoration-drought (Accessed: 13 May 2024).
- Riebeek, H. (2011) The carbon cycle, NASA. Available at: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/CarbonCycle (Accessed: 14 May 2024).
- – SDG indicators (2022) United Nations. Available at: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/ (Accessed: 15 May 2024).
- Adegboye, A. (2023) Independence Day Special: Nigeria’s SDG scorecard, Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/thebaselineblog/independence-day-special-nigerias-sdg-scorecard-c9e91e224bf9 (Accessed: 15 May 2024).
- Openquran.com
- History.com Editors (2023) Ice age – definition & timeline, History.com. Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/ice-age (Accessed: 16 May 2024).
- Miller, J. (2020) Climate Change Publications, House of Commons Library. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/topic/science/environment/climate-change/ (Accessed: 16 May 2024).
Acknowledgements: The contribution of respected Dr Sodiq Abdulsalam is much appreciated.
