The UN Development Programme (UNDP) on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 in Abuja restated its continued support to address environmental degradation in Nigeria.

Mr Faris Khader, UNDP Regional Technical Advisor, Climate Change Mitigation and Energy, said this at a two-day 11th Global Environment Facility (GEF) National Steering Committee Meeting in the federal capital city.

The GEF is a global fund provider to address the issues of environment such as biodiversity, climate change, ozone layer, international waters and pollution.

Khader, who said UNDP was part of the implementing agencies of GEF projects, commended the Federal Government for its active participation in the implementation of GEF projects in the country.

“I will like to congratulate the Honourable Minister for Environment for his dynamic leadership, as evidenced by his recent active participation in GEF Assembly in Vietnam.

“I wish to therefore, assure him of UNDP’s continuing support, especially with developing responsive interventions that are fully aligned with Government’s Change Agenda and national priorities,” he said.

According to him, people live in an incredibly complex and interconnected environment, which is a life supporting system for human survival.

“While a properly managed environment can be geared towards productive requirements, a poorly managed one can easily threaten human survival.

“This underpins the critical role that GEF investments play in the scaling up sustainable local solutions for global benefits,” Khader said.

His words: “As we all know, we live in an incredibly complex and interconnected environment, which is a life supporting system for human survival. While a properly managed environment can be geared towards productive requirements, a poorly managed one could easily threaten human survival. This underpins the critical role that GEF investments play in the scaling up sustainable local solutions for global benefits.

“Noteworthy, is the inclusion of State actors and local communities in this two-day consultation. A recognition of the significant roles they play in designing of sustainable programmatic interventions and harnessing grassroots solutions and innovations that will sustainably address the key drivers of environmental degradation in Nigeria, while maximizing the benefits of GEF at all levels.

“The longstanding UNDP-Federal Ministry of Environment is of significant value. Together, our current GEF programming covers biodiversity and climate change, with the overall vision of delivering value to the poor and marginalized (especially women and youths), empowering policy makers and unlocking private sector investments for nature-based solutions. We at UNDP look with excitement into the future filled with limitless possibilities of working with the Government of Nigeria in their quest to build a sustainable and prosperous future for its people.”

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Alhaji Sheu Ahmed, who declared the meeting open, thanked the UNDP for its efforts in assisting Nigeria in its task at ensuring a desirable environment.

Ahmed, who was represented by the Director, Department of Climate Change in the ministry, Dr Peter Tarfa, said that the federal government was working to upscale the Nigerian environment.

He said that the ministry was implementing programmes and projects to eradicate plastic pollution that posed threats to lives and aquatic lives and causing depletion to the ozone layer, an incidence very harmful to human existence.

The permanent secretary expressed the federal government’s determination to maximize benefits accruable from the opportunities available in terms of getting more funds into the nation’s system through GEF-funded projects.

By Deji Abdulwahab

As Nigeria continues to explore actionable ways to address the menace of climate change, one of the greatest challenges experienced in the drive to achieve this is gross division among various stakeholders sitting on different ends of the negotiation table.

In a bid to address this, Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) through the Climate and Sustainable Development Network of Nigeria (CSDevNet) recently developed a framework for a stronger coalition for key stakeholders and more efficient delivery by other active organisations.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are said to play a vibrant role in addressing issues around climate change and sustainable development.

The PACJA/CSDevNet framework was determined during the National Consultative Workshop on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Talanoa Dialogue held in Abuja on Tuesday, August 28, 2018.

Facilitated by PACJA’s Secretary General, Mr. Mithika Mwenda, the entire coalition was at the the end of the day redistributed across six sectors namely: Finance, Gender, Adaptation, Mitigation/Energy, Media/Information, and Intergenerational/Innovative Technology.

The heads of the newly created sectors, known as “Conveners”, will work closely with the CSDevNet board in implementing the numerous PACJA programmes in Nigeria

According to Mwenda, the newly designed civil society framework will accommodate many other stakeholders across the six geo-political regions of Nigeria to act in the national interest in implementing the Paris Agreement in the country.

Furthermore, he said, this will afford organisations an opportunity to work collectively as against working in silos and together strengthen engagements to timely actualise the implementation of the NDCs in the five priority areas: Energy, Oil & Gas, Agriculture & Land use, Power, and Transport.

The National Consultative Workshop had “Accelerating NDCs & Paris Agreement Implementation in Nigeria” as its theme.

By ‘Seyifunmi Adebote, Abuja