By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Salako on Monday in Nairobi said Nigeria is a strong advocate of nature-based solutions, which offer a cost-effective way to address global environmental, economic, climate and societal challenges.
He said this at the Side event of the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) Side Event, on Intergovernmental Consultations on Nature Based Solutions: “Moving forward with the recommendations” holding o
The Side event was co-hosted by Nigeria and Costa Rica.
According to the Minister “Nigeria is a strong advocate of nature-based solutions, which offer a cost-effective way to address global environmental, economic, climate and societal challenges.
“One of the key components of Nigeria’s Great Green Wall program is the establishment of a 1,359 km contiguous shelterbelt from Kebbi State in the northwest to Borno State in the northeast, which serves as a windbreak. The results of this important work speak for itself and show how greatly this initiative benefits our national efforts.
“As of today, thanks to the Great Green Wall program, in Nigeria 7.6 million plants and seedlings were produced, 2,801 hectares of land reforested, 373 hectares of multipurpose gardens were created, 1,205 people trained and 1,396 jobs created.
“The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) established by the Nigerian government with one of its key mandate being to restore oil degraded mangroves is using nature based solutions. So far, HYPREP has produced a contextual manual for mangrove restoration in the Niger Delta, delineated 3000 hectares for mangrove restoration, rehabilitated 460 hectares of mangrove and is expected to plant 10 million of mangrove seedlings over the next 3 years.
“The Great Green Wall and the mangrove restoration project are setting bold precedents of how nature-based solutions can deliver multiple benefits for nature and people by restoring biodiversity; helping our communities to adapt to climate change; providing food and water security; and bringing peace, jobs, and sustainability to the region.
