By Mashe Umaru Gwamna
As the world celebrates world environment day( WED).
The federal government said it has implemented programmes that will restore degraded landscapes. and promote sustainable land management practices that will enhance the resilience of communities to drought and desertification.
Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal stated this in Abuja during the commemoration of 2024 Wold environment day tagged; ”Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience”.
Lawal said this year’s theme revealed “not just the importance of protecting what we have but also the need to restore and rejuvenate our agricultural landscape”.
He said this is in order to ensure food security and to sustain a healthy ecosystem for the future generation.
The Minister reiterated that the action resonates deeply with this administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda aimed at sustainable development and environmental stewardship.
He emphasized that even though there are challenges, the government has done a lot towards restoration of the environment, saying much work still needs to be done.
The Minister also called for recommitment to the goal of accelerating land restoration, enhancing drought resilience, and combating desertification.
“We have strengthened partnerships with local communities, civil society organizations, and international partners to mobilize resources and expertise towards reviving our lands, ecosystem and the environment in general”, he said.
He emphasized that air, water and soil pollution poses severe threats to public health and the environment. He explained that, “To attain enviromental sustainabilty, we must strengthen pollution control measures and promote sustainable waste management practices. Our efforts to reduce plastic waste and encourage recycling must be intensified at all levels”.
He said “For us to restore our lands the more, it requires concerted efforts of all stakeholders, includingGovernment Agencies, Private Sector, Academia, and Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) to but all hand on deck to fight challenges.
Similarly,the state minister for environment, Iziaq Adekunle ,in his paper presentation titled NIGERIA: Mobilizing for Nature For Our Future, stated that Nigeria is known as a global hotspot for primate species with most endangered gorilla subspecies on earth, Gorilla gorilla diehill found only in a couple of protected areas in the county.
He said the benefit of Nigeria’s biodiversity is estimated to be over 8 billion USD per annum. “Nigeria’s biodiversity is a global public good that has value for the entire world. Thus, we should be frontal in leading to galvanize world attention to nature-based solutions and nature financing”.
While calling on the nations of the Global North to shake off the current apathy around their commitment to deliver at least 20 billion USD annually in international biodiversity finance to developing countries by 2025 and 30 billion USD by 2030.
“ I call for more investments on nature in Nigeria and the global south countries, who today ate the stewards of global biodiversity. When we invest in nature, we protect our ecosystems, safeguard our people, provide good jobs.
Others are ensures food security, invites further investment, stabilizes our economy, shelters ourselves from climate change, and preserves our indigenous ways of life. Investing in nature is investing in our future and will yield dividends in multiple folds”, Salako said.
While also launching the climate justice youth ambassadors and annual environmental schools quiz competition(the ministers cup), the Climate Justice Project Coordinator, OXFAM, Kenneth Akpan,said the launched was borne out of the AACI project to tap into the strength and capacity of our youths as solution bearers to our country’s climate challenges.
He said it is also to support the government as foot soldiers to deepen and carry out governments drive to solve the global climate crises at the grassroot, Local, states, National, regional and global levels, with the mission to see how Nigerian Youths can become global leaders and reference point to the global climate crisis starting from home.
Akpan disclosed that the ministers cup quiz is an Idea of the New Administration of Federal Ministry of Environment adopt this as an entry point to promote Environment and climate change education, and interest amongst our younger generation, knowing that the future in which government diverse programmes is trying to protect and secure belongs to them, this is an avenue to raise climate conscious generation and also revive and establish ENVIRONMENT CLUBS in all schools in Nigeria, this project is fully supported by OXFAM in Nigeria, through the AACI project.
“We believe that more stakeholders will come on board to make it bigger and better as the Federal Ministry of Environment adopts it and Launch it as an ANNUAL event going forward”,he said.
Furthermore, the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP) Resident Representative, Elise Attafuah reiterated the need we shouldn’t take environmental degradation for granted.
She we must take government approach to handle environmental degradation through advocacy, leadership across all sectors.
“We all have to know that every day is earth day , every thing we do must response to the environment and what it does us”.
Meanwhile, MD, NNPC Foundation Ltd/Gte Emmanuella N. Arukwe (Mrs.), said “We have commenced engagements with the Katsina State Government to plant one million trees in the state, as part of our efforts to tackle desertification.
“We will be embarking on the first phase in July this year.Planting of trees around our locality, apart from addressing land erosion, desertification and drought”.
She said there are other enormous benefits, ranging from climate regulation, oxygen production, wildlife preservation, air purification, noise reductio and social and economic benefits.
Arukwe emphasized that as “We collaborate on combatting environmental challen and with the initiatives of the NNPC Foundation, we will reclaim eroded land n roll back desertification and drought, to revitalize our ecosystem”.
