Delta Green Economy Initiative ‘ll alleviate poverty, says Uduaghan

[MrVan]

ASABA – Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has vowed to go ahead with the state green economy initiative as this will alleviate poverty and ensure sustainable development of Delta State in line with his vision of 'Delta beyond oil'.

Governor Uduaghan made this declaration in Rio, Brazil, during the United Nation's Sustainable Development conference, at the panel of Governors of R20 members, led by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, (former governor of California) an international organisation, committed to combating climate change by building climate resilient projects.

Governor Uduaghan, who is the Vice Chairman of R20 (Africa and Middle East), expressed frustration at the inability of national governments to make progress in reaching agreement on how to tackle climate change.

He however expressed the hope that through sub-national governments, some actions are being taken, stating that Delta State is serious about its climate change programme, adding: "Delta desires to diversify her energy economy from overreliance on traditional fossil fuel and environmentally degrading sources to clean and renewable sources."

Continuing he said: "The state and the Niger delta region particularly as I have often said, has suffered a lot of environmental degradation.  The livelihood of our people particularly farmers, fishermen, etc., have been eroded.

"Our focus is to ensure we develop projects that not only help address this problem but that is also economically sustainable. We also need to find a way of using green economy to create jobs and alleviate poverty of the poor in our society" he added.

Vanguard Nigeria