The Executive Director of Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), Barrister Chima Williams, has charged tertiary institutions to move beyond classroom discussions and actively drive climate solutions while advancing environmental justice.
The 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner for Africa gave the charge at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State’s 2026 International Multidisciplinary Hybrid Conference on Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability: Global Perspectives and Local Issues, where he was special guest and keynote speaker.
Williams urged urged universities to create spaces for challenging established assumptions, sharing innovative ideas, and forging partnerships that extend beyond campus walls. These steps, he said, are essential if institutions are to contribute meaningfully to solving environmental crises rather than merely studying them.
Williams said climate change is no longer a distant prediction or an abstract scientific concept but a lived reality, as the global community now experiences rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, heat waves, devastating floods, sea-level rise, biodiversity loss, desertification, and increasing threats to food security and public health.
He explained that “these challenges are a reminder that environmental sustainability is not merely an environmental concern but fundamentally a matter of justice, development, human rights, peace, and survival”.
Williams said the international community has made commendable efforts through frameworks such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement.
Yet, despite these commitments, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and vulnerable communities, particularly in developing countries, continue to bear the greatest burden of a crisis they contributed least to creating.
He said Nigeria presents a compelling example of this paradox.
“Across our country, communities face severe environmental degradation from oil pollution, gas flaring, deforestation, erosion, flooding, desertification, and the growing impacts of climate variability.
“The Niger Delta remains one of the most environmentally impacted regions in the world, while northern Nigeria continues to confront desert encroachment and water scarcity. Coastal communities face increasing threats from erosion and rising sea levels, while urban centres struggle with flooding caused by poor planning and inadequate waste management. Examples abound!” Williams stated.
The EDEN boss explained that the climate crisis also presents an opportunity, as it invites the global community to rethink models of development, transform energy systems, promote circular economies, restore degraded ecosystems, and build societies founded on justice, sustainability, and resilience.
He noted that the choices made today will determine the environmental legacy the current generation leaves to future generations.
In his recommendations, Williams pointed out the need for participants to engage across disciplinary lines, challenge current assumptions and share innovative ideas beyond the event, insisting that environmental justice is not only about protecting nature but also about protecting humanity.
He requested the university authority to support students to form the FUNAI branch of the Students Environmental Assembly Nigeria.
Through the association, he pledged to institute two awards: the Vice Chancellor’s Award for the Cleanest Faculty in the University and the Dean of Faculty of Arts Award for the Cleanest Hostel in the University, with cash prizes of N200,000 and N100,000 respectively.
The lawyer explained that the essence of the awards is to encourage students’ involvement in the environmental sustainability of the institution, among other offers by the Ebonyi State Civil Society Leaders.
Before the conference commenced, the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Chief Sylvester Nwenugwu Nwite, led Williams, the Dean of Faculty of Arts, Prof. Arua Oko, leaders of Ebonyi State Civil Society Organizations, professors and academic leaders of the university on a tree planting exercise as part of climate resilience practices.