Nigeria seeks fresh funding to address deforestation
Over 60 representatives of forest communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), investors, federal and interested state government officials, technical experts, project managers, academia and the media participated in the meeting which also validated the draft Nigeria Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) document, expected to be submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF).Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, […]
Over 60 representatives of forest communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), investors, federal and interested state government officials, technical experts, project managers, academia and the media participated in the meeting which also validated the draft Nigeria Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) document, expected to be submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF).
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Taiye Haruna, who inaugurated the meeting on behalf of the Minister of Environment, Hadiza Mailafia, assured participants of government’s commitment to REDD+ as an important component of the national development agenda.
“Today marks another milestone in this epic journey as Nigeria gets set to expand its reach on the programme by accessing the FCPF. Having approached the FCPF since 2009, the organisation in November 2012 invited Nigeria to prepare and submit a draft R-PP for its consideration,” he said.
Nigeria Coordinator of the REDD+ Programme, Mr Salisu Dahiru, declared at the close of the consultation that, “we have examined the key elements of the draft R-PP document in public discussions and thematic groups. We are pleased with the structure, policy thrusts, strategy options and implementation framework of the draft R-PP.
“We confirm that broad-based multi-stakeholder and multi-level consultation and validation of the draft R-PP document were held. We therefore confirm our support for the submission of the Draft R-PP document to the FCPF accordingly.”
If the proposal succeeds, Nigeria will be accessing a grant of up to $3.6 million from the FCPF.
Nigeria accessed a $4 million grant from the UN-REDD, giving birth to the nation’s first REDD+ readiness programme that is being implemented within a three-year span (commencing from late 2012), allowing Nigeria to craft the REDD+ mechanism through an innovative, two-track approach consisting of actions at both federal and state levels.
REDD+ implies Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.